Jacob Hudson Carruthers Jr. was a historian and educator. Carruthers was born on February 15, 1930, to unnamed parents in Dallas, Texas. The family relocated to Houston, Texas, where he attended Phyllis Wheatley High School. After graduating high school, he attended Samuel Huston College in … Read MoreJacob Hudson Carruthers Jr. (1930-2004)
Historian, thespian, activist Georgette M. Norman was born on January 27, 1946, in Montgomery, Alabama, to George Maggie Norman, a real estate broker from Hope Hull, Alabama, and Juliet Graham Norman, who taught at W.B. Paterson Elementary School and was from Montgomery. Georgette’s early education … Read MoreGeorgette M. Norman (1946- )
Ed Dwight, the first African American astronaut candidate, IBM computer systems engineer, real estate developer, professional sculptor, and former Air Force test pilot, was born in Kansas City, Kansas on September 9th, 1933. From a young age, Dwight was an avid reader and a talented … Read MoreEd Dwight (1933- )
William Robert Harvey is an educator, businessman, academic administrator, and the longest-serving tenured HBCU president in history, as the 12th president of Hampton University. Harvey was born on January 29, 1941 in Brewton, Alabama, to Mamie Claudis and Willie D. C. Harvey. He graduated from … Read MoreWilliam Robert Harvey (1941- )
David Clyde Driskell was an artist, art historian, curator, and professor. He was known as one of the world’s leading authorities on African American art and was recognized for establishing it as a distinct field of study. Driskell died on April 1, 2020, at a … Read MoreDavid Clyde Driskell (1931-2020)
Alton Parker Hornsby, Jr., author, historian and professor, was born on September 3, 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia to Lillie Mae Newton Hornsby, an entrepreneur and voting rights activist, and Alton P. Hornsby, an automobile painter. Hornsby was one of six children whose parents briefly owned … Read MoreAlton Hornsby, Jr. (1940-2017)
Historian and scholar Dr. Ralph Le Roy Crowder was born on March 29, 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents Ralph L. Crowder and Allie Crowder. An only child, Crowder attended public schools in Des Moines where he played football, basketball, and track. He graduated … Read MoreRalph L. Crowder (1947-2020)
James N. Eaton, archivist, curator, museum founder, distinguished professor of history and pioneering architect of the Black studies movement in Florida was born in Richmond, Virginia on September 14, 1930 to Sarah Cousin Eaton, a domestic, and John Jasper Eaton, Sr., a broom maker, World … Read MoreJames Nathaniel Eaton, Sr. (1930-2004)
David L. Lewis is a twice Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. He was born on May 25, 1936 in Little Rock, Arkansas to John Henry Lewis, Sr., a Yale Divinity School graduate and college president, and the former Alice Urnestine Bell, a public school math teacher. He … Read MoreDavid Levering Lewis (1936- )
Historian, educator and clergyman Rev. Miles Mark Fisher was pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina from 1933 to 1965. He published a number of important scholarly works on African American culture and the Baptist missionary movement to Africa. In 1953 … Read MoreMiles Mark Fisher (1899-1970)
