In three covert military operations, called Moses, Joshua, and Solomon, over twenty thousand Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel to escape hardship. This ancient community, called Beta Israel (House of Israel in English), lived in relative isolation from the rest of the Jewish world for … Read MoreOperations Moses, Joshua, and Solomon (1984-1991)
William Richard Tolbert Jr. was the twentieth president of Liberia from 1971 to 1980, when he was killed in a coup led by then Liberian Army Sergeant Samuel Doe. Tolbert was trained as a civil servant when he entered Liberia’s House of Representatives in 1943 … Read MoreWilliam Richard Tolbert Jr. (1913-1980)
Ali Al’amin Mazrui was a Kenyan intellectual in the fields of political science, African studies, and Islamic studies. The father of the African Liberalism ideology (an economic perspective on Africa critical of western powers and Marxism/Socialism) was an often controversial figure due largely to his … Read MoreAli Al’amin Mazrui (1933-2014)
Suzan Johnson Cook is a religious leader, pastor, motivational speaker, and diplomat who was born on January 28, 1957, in Harlem, New York. Her father, Wilbert Johnson, was a trolley driver and later founder of a successful security company, and her mother Dorothy Johnson, was … Read MoreSuzan Denise Johnson Cook (1957– )
Prominent Virginia journalist Ray Boone Sr. was born February 2, 1938, in Suffolk, Virginia. His parents, foreign-born Japanese father, Tsujiro Miyanski, and mother, Leathia M. Boone, of mixed African and Native American descent, were banned from marrying in Virginia because of their different races. Yet … Read MoreRaymond Harold/ “Ray” Boone Sr. (1938-2014)
In the article below, Carlton McLellan, PhD, a senior fellow at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST), briefly describes the history of the more than one hundred and forty black women and men who have led diplomatic delegations as U.S. Ambassadors in ninety-five … Read MoreAmerica’s Black Ambassadors: A Historical Snapshot
On May 26, 1992, career diplomat Kenton Wesley Keith was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to Qatar. After U.S. Senate confirmation, Keith arrived in Ad-Dawhah (Doha), the capital of Qatar and presented his credentials on September 2, 1992. He … Read MoreKenton Wesley Keith (1939- )
Ambassador Theodore Roosevelt Britton, Jr. was born on October 17, 1925 in North Augusta, South Carolina. In 1936, he and his family migrated to New York City, New York. Britton was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps out of high school soon after the attack … Read MoreTheodore R. Britton Jr. (1925- )
Ambassador Elizabeth Davenport McKune was born on November 15, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. She became a Foreign Service officer in 1973 and specialized in the Middle East. McKune is the daughter of West Point graduate Colonel Clarence M. Davenport, Jr. and distinguished National Institute of … Read MoreElizabeth Davenport McKune (1947- )
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the first woman diplomat to lead a U.S. consulate in the gender conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Malta (appointed in 2011). Gina Kay Abercrombie was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where her mother was a secretary … Read MoreGina Kay Abercrombie-Winstanley (1957- )
