Internationally renowned academic administrator and engineer Makola Mjasiri Abdullah was born Makola Packard on June 22, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois, to Richard Howard Packard, a graduate of the University of Chicago, and Samella Abdullah, a clinical psychologist who graduated from Howard University. In 1986, Abdullah … Read MoreMakola Mjasiri Abdullah (1969- )
André Pinto Rebouças was a Brazilian engineer and abolitionist, best known for creating one of the world’s first self-propelled torpedoes during the Paraguayan War. Rebouças was born on January 13, 1838 in Cachoeira, Brazil. The son of Antônio Pereira Rebouças, a prominent lawyer and politician and an unidentified black … Read MoreAndré Rebouças (1838-1898)
Charles Ward Chappelle was an American engineer and businessman best known for his award-winning long-distance airplane in 1911 and his tenure as president of the African Union Company from 1913 to 1930. In January of 1911, Chappelle presented at the First Industrial Aero Show, a showcase of aircraft and … Read MoreCharles Chappelle (1872-1941)
Navy Admiral Cecil Haney was born into a struggling family in “humble surroundings” in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1955. After graduating from the city’s Eastern High School he left for Annapolis, Maryland, where he was a distinguished midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, … Read MoreCecil Eugene Diggs Haney (1955- )
Image Ownership: U.S. Coast Guard Joseph Charles Jenkins, the first African American naval officer, paved the way for the beginning of desegregation in the United States Coast Guard. Jenkins was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1914. Unfortunately, there is little information regarding his childhood. He … Read MoreJoseph Charles Jenkins (1914-1959)
John and Mary Slaughter, 2017 Image Ownership: Public domain John Slaughter was the first professional employee hired by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to work at the Hanford Energy site in the Tri-Cities, Washington. Very little is known about Slaughter’s childhood beyond his birth in … Read MoreJohn Slaughter (1933- )
Joseph Wafula Sitati, petroleum manager and the first man of black African descent to become a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born in Bungoma, Kenya, on May 16, 1952. His parents were … Read MoreJoseph W. Sitati (1952– )
Kase Lawal is a Nigerian-born businessman best known for his large oil company CAMAC headquartered in Houston, Texas as well as leading a diverse group of affiliate companies that comprise the second largest African-American owned company in the United States with more than 1,000 employees … Read MoreKase Lawal (1954- )
Charles Harrison was one of the most prolific industrial designers of the twentieth century. One of only a handful of early African American industrial designers, he specialized in creating a variety of practical household goods emphasizing form and function. Harrison’s output of innovative consumer products … Read MoreCharles A. “Chuck” Harrison (1931–2018)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Frederick McDonald Massiah was one of the first African Americans to receive a civil engineering degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was also one of the first successful African American contracting engineers in the country. Massiah was born in … Read MoreFrederick McDonald Massiah (1886–1975)
