Student Historian

Matthew G. Washington is currently a first year Ph.D. student in history at Morgan State University (Baltimore, Maryland). He graduated from West Chester University (West Chester, Pennsylvania) in 2014 with a Master of Arts in history. Washington attended Kutztown University (Kutztown, Pennsylvania) and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with a history minor. Washington is a member of the Nu-Sigma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta. He also serves as Vice President of the History, African American and Museum Studies Graduate Council (HAFRAM GC) at Morgan State.

In April of 2014, Washington presented an essay entitled, “Nat Turner’s Rebellion and the Role that Terrorism played in It,” at the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. During the summer of 2012, he conducted several oral history interviews with Horace A. Davenport, the first black judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Washington’s current research focuses on northern manifestations of Jim Crow segregation during the 1950s. He has been conducting archival research in Southeastern, Pennsylvania.

 

Gerald E. Thomas (1929- )

Former Naval officer Gerald Eustis Thomas served as United States Ambassador to Guyana and Kenya. Born in Natick, Massachusetts on June 23, 1929 to Walter and Leila Thomas, President Ronald W. Reagan appointed Gerald E. Thomas to both ambassadorships. Thomas began his undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. He transferred to Harvard University … Read MoreGerald E. Thomas (1929- )

Warren H. Wheeler (1943- )

In 1969 black aviator Warren H. Wheeler, a native of Durham, North Carolina, established Wheeler Flying Service (Wheeler Airlines), the first African American owned and operated air service in the United States. He successfully headed Wheeler Airlines for over two decades until its closure in … Read MoreWarren H. Wheeler (1943- )

Leonard H.O. Spearman (1929-2008)

Dr. Leonard Hall O’Connell Spearman was the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda and Lesotho. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Spearman was born July 8, 1929. In 1947 Spearman graduated from Florida A&M College (now Florida A&M University), in Tallahassee, Florida, with a B.S. in biological sciences. … Read MoreLeonard H.O. Spearman (1929-2008)

Larry L. Palmer (1949- )

“Image Ownership: Public Domain” On November 1, 2011, President Barack H. Obama appointed Larry L. Palmer the United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. On March 30, 2012, the U.S. Senate confirmed Palmer’s nomination and he reported to his post in Bridgetown, Barbados. … Read MoreLarry L. Palmer (1949- )