Tone Johnson, medical doctor, Vietnam hero, and civic leader was born on November 9, 1944 to Lyzer (Elizabeth) Marks Johnson and sawmill worker and farmer Henry Johnson in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. After graduating from Carrie Martin High School in Plain Dealing in 1963, he went … Read MoreTone Johnson Jr. (1944– )
Myles Anderson Paige, the first African American to be appointed a New York City Criminal Court Judge, was born on July 18, 1898 in Montgomery, Alabama. Paige was a star football player at Howard University, graduating from the Washington D.C. institution with a Bachelor of Arts … Read MoreMyles Anderson Paige (1898-1983)
Alonzo Franklin Herndon was an African American entrepreneur who founded and was the first president of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Herndon was born on June 26, 1858 in Walton County, Georgia to Frank Herndon, a white farmer, and Sophenie, his slave. By the time of … Read MoreAlonzo Franklin Herndon (1858–1927)
Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. was a highly decorated Navy officer who pioneered the way with a multitude of firsts for African Americans in the military. Some of his most notable achievements included being the first African American Navy Vice Admiral, the first African American to … Read MoreSamuel Lee Gravely (1922-2004)
William Warrick Cardozo, physician and pediatrician, was a pioneer investigator of sickle cell anemia and a leader in medical research of problems affecting people of African descent. Cardozo, born in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 1905, came from a prominent family of educators and politicians; … Read MoreWilliam Warrick Cardozo (1905-1962)
Leonard Randolph (Lenny) Wilkens was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 28, 1937, son of an African American father and white mother. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section, one of the toughest sections in the city, where he endured many hardships, including the … Read MoreLenny Wilkens (1937- )
The great-grandson of slaves, Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. was born in Dallas, Texas, on March 23, 1938. His father, Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Sr., was a leading figure in the 1930s campaign for black voting rights in Dallas and a founder of Democratic Progressive Voter’s League … Read MoreMaynard H. Jackson Jr. (1938-2003)
John Campbell Dancy, Jr. headed the Detroit Urban League through the tumultuous years of the Great Migration, Great Depression, and World War II. He was born into a prominent family in North Carolina who steered him to the north to obtain degrees from Phillips-Exeter Academy … Read MoreJohn Campbell Dancy Jr. (1888-1968)
Ralph Metcalfe, was an outstanding U.S. sprinter, track coach, and politician born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Chicago, Illinois. During Metcalfe’s years as a student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1932 through 1934, he was arguably the world’s fastest human. His strong … Read MoreRalph Harold Metcalfe (1910-1978)
