Donny Hathaway—singer, pianist, producer, composer, and one of R&B’s strongest talents—was born Donny Edward Pitts on October 1, 1945, in Chicago, Illinois. Hathaway was raised in the Carr Square Housing Projects of St. Louis, Missouri by his grandmother Martha Pitts. At the age of three, Hathaway began singing in … Read MoreDonny Hathaway (1945-1979)
Ernest Adolphus Finney, Jr. was the first African American elected to the South Carolina General Assembly, the first African American Circuit Court Judge in South Carolina, and the first chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. Finney was born in Smithfield, Virginia in 1931, the son of Ernest A., Sr. … Read MoreErnest Adolphus Finney, Jr. (1931-2017)
Toussaint Tourgee Tildon was a physician and psychiatrist with the Hospital for Sick and Injured Colored World War Veterans (1923), later named the Veterans Administration of Tuskegee, Alabama (1923) from October 1923 until his retirement as Hospital Director on January 31, 1958. Tildon’s writing on African American veterans appeared in the VA Medical Bulletin (1925) and the Journal … Read MoreToussaint Tourgee Tildon, M.D. (1893-1964)
Ronald Vernie Dellums was born on November 24, 1935, in Oakland, Californiato Willa Terry Dellums and Vernie Dellums. His father, Vernie Dellums, was a longshoreman, and his mother was a labor organizer. As a child, he attended St. Patrick Catholic School in Oakland. After high school, Dellums served … Read MoreRonald Vernie Dellums (1935-2018)
Thirty-eight-year old politician Melvin Carter III was born in 1979 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the first African American to serve as Mayor of the second-largest city in Minnesota. Carter was elected in November 2017 and sworn in on January 2, 2018. During his campaign, he received … Read MoreMelvin Carter (1979- )
Rev. Theodore Judson Jemison was a civil rights leader and president of the National Baptist Convention. He was responsible for leading the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott in Louisiana in 1953, the first large-scale bus boycott protesting racial segregation in the South and advised Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on leading the Montgomery (Alabama) bus boycott two years later. … Read MoreTheodore Judson Jemison (1918-2013)
Johnnie Wilson is a retired Four-Star United States Army General. His generous service to the Ordnance Corps led to him being inducted into the Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. Wilson was born on February 4, 1944 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father worked in a steel mill … Read MoreJohnnie E. Wilson (1944- )
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- )
Jack Greenberg was a prominent civil rights lawyer, directing the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) for 23 years and arguing crucial cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was born in New York City, New York on December 22, 1924 to Jewish immigrant parents Max and Bertha Greenberg. During World War II, … Read MoreJack Greenberg (1924-2016)
Warren M. Washington is a pioneering meteorologist and an expert in atmospheric science, climate research, and computer modeling of the earth’s climate. Washington was born in Portland, Oregon on August 28, 1936, to Edwin Washington Sr., a waiter and Pullman porter, and Dorothy Grace Morton, a practical nurse. Advised … Read MoreWarren M. Washington (1936- )
