Attorney and businessman Gary D. Gayton has spent most of his adult life as a civil rights advocate for those without a representative voice, including African Americans, Native Americans, and women. He was the country’s first black Assistant U.S. Attorney, appointed to the position by … Read MoreGary D. Gayton (1933- )
Image Courtesy of the New York Amsterdam News (Fair Use) Former Tuskegee University president Benjamin Franklin Payton was born in 1932 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. His father, Reverend Leroy Payton, was a Baptist minister, farmer, and teacher while his mother, Sarah Mack Payton, was a … Read MoreBenjamin F. Payton (1932-2016)
Image Ownership: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project (Fair Use) Clergyman and civil rights activist John Hurst Adams was born November 27, 1927 in Columbia, South Carolina to Reverend E.A. Adams and homemaker Charity Nash Adams. John Adams graduated from Booker T. Washington … Read MoreJohn H. Adams (1927– )
James Pierpont Comer, a leading black child psychiatrist and educational reformer, was born into a working class family in East Chicago, Indiana on September 25, 1934. Although his parents, Maggie and Hugh Comer, had little education themselves, they strongly supported their children’s education. All five … Read MoreJames P. Comer (1934- )
Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., NASA’s first permanent black administrator, was born to Charles Frank and Ethel Bolden, both teachers, on August 19th, 1946 in Columbia, South Carolina. He rose to the rank of Major General in the United States Marine Corps and was a National … Read MoreCharles F. Bolden Jr. (1946- )
Educator and theologian Samuel DeWitt Proctor was born in Norfolk, Virginia on July 13, 1921. Both of his grandparents had received a university education, which was considered unusual for the time. Proctor as a child attended the Congregational Church in Norfolk founded by his great-grandfather, … Read MoreSamuel DeWitt Proctor (1921-1997)
Noted historian Charles Harris Wesley was born in Louisville, Kentucky on December 2, 1891, and attended local schools as a boy. He graduated from Fisk University in 1911 and, in 1913, earned a Master’s degree from Yale University. In 1925, Wesley became the third African … Read MoreCharles H. Wesley (1891-1987)
A.T. Walden (left) Image Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Fair Use) Austin Thomas (A.T.) Walden, a noted attorney and civil rights leader, was one of few African American lawyers in Georgia during early 20th century. Walden was born in Fort Valley, Georgia on April 12, 1885 … Read MoreA.T. Walden (1885-1965)
Frederick Douglass Patterson, renowned educator and founder of the United Negro College Fund, was born in Washington, D.C. on October 10, 1901. He was orphaned at the age of 2 and his older sister cared for him. Patterson attended Prairie View Normal and Industrial Institute … Read MoreFrederick D. Patterson (1901-1988)
Lee Andrew Archer Jr., Tuskegee Airman in World War II, was born on September 6, 1919 in Yonkers, New York. His father was Lee Archer, Sr. and his mother was May Piper Archer. He was raised in Harlem and attended New York City’s Dewitt Clinton High … Read MoreLee Archer (1919-2010)
