Insurance executive Ivan James Houston was born in Los Angeles, California on June 15, 1925 to Norman Oliver Houston and Doris Talbot (Young) Houston. He attended public schools in Los Angeles and graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1943. Later that year … Read MoreIvan James Houston (1925-2020)
Pioneering physician–physicist Roderic I. Pettigrew was born in Waynesboro, Georgia, on March 26, 1951, one of the three children of Dr. Cleveland W. Pettigrew, president of Fort Valley State University from 1973 to 1982, and the former Edwina l. Phinazee. An exceptional student at Monroe High School in Albany, Georgia, … Read MoreRoderic Ivan Pettigrew (1951- )
William Cowan, known to most as “Mo” Cowan, served in the United States Senate as a Democrat from February 1 to July 16 in 2013, representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick, a fellow Democrat, appointed Cowan on January 30th, 2013 to fill the … Read MoreWilliam “Mo” Cowan (1969- )
Eugene Parker is best known as the first African American sports agent. Parker was born February 24, 1956, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended Concordia Lutheran High School and graduated from Purdue University in 1978. He received a J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law … Read MoreEugene Parker (1956-2016)
Marvin Ellison is the current CEO of Lowe’s, a hardware and home improvement store chain, since July 2018 and the first African American to hold that post. He was previously President and CEO of JCPenney, where he was also the first African American head of … Read MoreMarvin Ellison (1966- )
John Wendell Thompson is currently Chair of the Board of the Microsoft Corporation. Born April 24, 1949, to working-class parents in Fort Dix, New Jersey, John Wendell Thompson climbed the high-tech world’s business ranks from entry level sales to executive positions at International Business Machines … Read MoreJohn Wendell Thompson (1949– )
Michael Lee-Chin is best known as a business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., a privately held investment company which owns a collection of diversified operating companies in media, tourism, health care, telecommunications, and financial services. He … Read MoreMichael Lee-Chin (1951- )
Mary E. Pugh, founder of Pugh Capital Management, a successful investment firm in Seattle, was the first black woman and youngest person to be named Senior Vice President at Washington Mutual Savings Bank. Born to a Boeing engineer father and real estate agent mother, Pugh’s … Read MoreMary E. Pugh (1959- )
Former Nevada State Senator and recently elected United States Representative, Steven Alexzander Horsford was born on April 29, 1973 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Horsford became head of his household at ten years old, taking care of his younger siblings while his mother struggled with addiction … Read MoreSteven A. Horsford (1973- )
Image Courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library San Francisco civil rights activist Tracy Sims, now Tamam Tracy Moncur, was born in 1945 in Oakland, California. Sims moved to San Francisco with her mother and brothers when she was in high school. She later married … Read MoreTracy Sims (1945- )
