Walter Charles Carrington served as the United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Senegal from 1980 to 1981, and to Nigeria from 1993 to 1997. He married Arese Ukpoma, a Nigerian physician, and has lived in three Nigerian cities since the late 1960s. Carrington was … Read MoreWalter Charles Carrington (1930-2020 )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Samuel Eugene Kelly, soldier and educator, was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on January 26, 1926 to James Handy Kelly, a minister, and Essie Matilda Allen-Kelly, a homemaker. Educated at Greenwich public schools, Kelly dropped out of high school in 1943 and … Read MoreSamuel Eugene Kelly (1926-2009)
Jeh (pronounced “Jay”) Charles Johnson, a civil and criminal trial lawyer, was the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Johnson received his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1979 and obtained his J.D. from Columbia University in 1982. Nominated by President Barack Obama in October 2013, and … Read MoreJeh C. Johnson (1957- )
Don Thompson, president and Corporate Executive Officer of McDonald’s Corporation, was born near the Cabrini-Green Housing Project on Chicago, Illinois’s Near North Side. Little is known about his childhood except that he was raised by his grandmother. Thompson was a bright student who entered the … Read MoreDon Thompson (1963- )
Ralph Johnson Bunche, American political scientist, renowned scholar, award winner, and diplomat, was one of the most prominent African Americans of his era. Bunche was born on August 7, 1903 or 1904 (there is some disagreement about the year of his birth) in Detroit, Michigan. … Read MoreRalph J. Bunche (ca. 1903-1971)
Jefferson August Beaver, banker, businessman, local politician, and civil rights activist, was born in Warren, Arkansas on May 20, 1908 to parents Rev. Robert Jefferson Beaver, a minister with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and Ethel Jordan. Beaver’s family resided in Monticello, Arkansas before … Read MoreJefferson A. Beaver (1908-1991)
William H. Lewis, was a world-class collegiate athlete, lawyer, and politician. Lewis, the son of former slaves Ashley Henry Lewis, a Baptist minister, and Josephine Baker, was born in Berkeley (now Norfolk), Virginia in 1868. He began his college education at Virginia Normal and Collegiate … Read MoreWilliam Henry Lewis (1868-1949)
Bernard Anthony Harris Jr. is a scientist, surgeon, astronaut, entrepreneur, and leader. He is best known for having been the first African American to walk in space, and developing the non-profit known as the Harris Foundation. Harris was born on June 26, 1956 in Temple, … Read MoreBernard A. Harris Jr. (1956- )
Dr. John Quill Taylor King Sr., U.S. Army general and college president, was born on September 25, 1921, in Memphis, Tennessee. King’s father, John Quill Taylor, who had graduated from Meharry Medical College, served as a medical doctor in the U.S. Army while King’s Mother, … Read MoreJohn Q. Taylor King Sr. (1921-2011)
John E. Jacob, civil rights leader, former president of the National Urban League, business executive, and administrator, was born to Claudia and Emory Jacob in Trout, Louisiana on December 16, 1934. Jacob’s father, Emory Jacob, was an impoverished Baptist minister who moved his wife and … Read MoreJohn Edward Jacob (1934- )
