Born on February 6, 1898 in Moberly, Missouri, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson is known as one of the most significant African American modernist poets of his time. In addition, Tolson’s work as an educator led Langston Hughes to declare him “the most famous Negro Professor in … Read MoreMelvin B. Tolson (1898-1966)
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio to parents George and Ella Ramah Wofford, novelist Toni Morrison grew up in a working-class family. She received a B.A. from Howard University after majoring in English and minoring in the classics. Wofford earned … Read MoreChloe Anthony Wofford “Toni” Morrison (1931-2019)
Edward Wilmot Blyden, widely known as the father of Pan-Africanism, was born on August 3, 1832 in Saint Thomas, in what are now the U.S Virgin Islands. Blyden was the third of seven children and was born to Romeo and Judith Blyden, a tailor and … Read MoreEdward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912)
Image Courtesy of The History Cooperative William Pickens was born January 15, 1881 in Anderson County, South Carolina. His parents were liberated slaves who migrated to Arkansas when he was a young boy. Young Pickens worked in cotton fields and in sawmills while attending the … Read MoreWilliam Pickens (1881-1954)
Evelyn Boyd was born in Washington, D.C. on May 1st, 1929, the second daughter of William and Julia Boyd. Though she was raised by a single working class mother and attended segregated schools, Boyd became the second black woman in the United States to earn … Read MoreEvelyn Boyd Granville (1924- )
A native of Guayama, Puerto Rico, Pedro Barbosa III is a distinguished entomologist (a scientist who studies insects) who has taught at the University of Maryland since 1979. Born on September 6, 1944, he acquired his bachelor’s degree at the City College of New York … Read MorePedro Barbosa, III (1966- )
Samuel George Harker Philander is Knox Taylor Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Born in Caledon, Republic of South Africa on June 25, 1942, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Town in 1962 and his Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University … Read MoreS. George Philander (1942- )
The son of a sailor, Richard Theodore Greener, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania became the first African American to graduate from Harvard College. He later was assigned to serve the United States in diplomatic posts in India and Russia. Greener lived in Boston, Massachusetts and … Read MoreRichard T. Greener (1844-1922)
Alexa Canady was the first African American woman to become a neurosurgeon. She was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1950 to parents who were graduates of black colleges – her father from the Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry and her mother from Fisk University. … Read MoreAlexa Canady (1950 – )
