Ples Sterling Stuckey, Jr. was a professor of history best known for his impact on shifting slavery studies from examinations ancillary to enslaved African American lives to the study of their history, culture, and sociopolitical expression as central to the understanding of African American and … Read MorePles Sterling Stuckey, Jr. (1932-2018)
Dolphus Milligan was an internationally acclaimed American chemist, best known for his spectroscopic studies of free radicals and other reactive molecules. Dolphus Edward Milligan was born on June 17, 1928 in Brighton, Alabama. Little is known about his childhood, but his secondary education always centered around chemistry. … Read MoreDolphus Milligan (1928-1973)
Chemist James Tyson Tildon was born August 7, 1931 in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young boy he had an innate curiosity for how things work, often taking apart toys, toasters, etc., and reassembling them. When Tildon was in elementary school, his parents bought him a chemistry set, … Read MoreJames Tyson Tildon (1931-2006)
Geraldine Woods is known for her lifelong dedication in using science to contribute to community service, and her establishment of programs that give opportunities to people of color in STEM fields. Woods was born on January 29, 1921 in West Palm Beach, Florida to parents Susie and Oscar Pittman. After graduating from … Read MoreGeraldine Pittman Woods (1921-1999)
Throughout his career as a scholar and author, Ivan Van Sertima worked to transform the way people viewed and taught African history. Van Sertima was born on January 26, 1935, in Kitty Village, Guyana when it was still a British colony. After completing high school, he worked as a Press and Broadcasting … Read MoreIvan Van Sertima (1935-2009)
Rev. Dr. Katie Cannon was the first African American woman to be ordained into the United Presbyterian USA denomination. Rev. Cannon was ordained in Shelby, North Carolina, on April 24, 1974, by the Catawaba Presbytery. Katie Cannon was born on January 3, 1950, in Kannapolis, North Carolina. She … Read MoreKatie Geneva Cannon (1950-2018)
In 2018, Dr. Odette Harris of Stanford University in California became the second African American female professor of neurosurgery in the United States, following Dr. Alexa Canady who was appointed in 1981. Harris’s research and clinical focus is on traumatic brain injury and peripheral nerve neurosurgery. Born in Jamaica in 1970, Harris took an interest … Read MoreOdette Harris (1970- )
Afro-German politician, human rights activist, and scholar Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana was born in Bamako, Mali, but grew up in Dakar, Senegal, the daughter of a Cape Verdean mother, Dona Joaquina Semedo-Lopès, who was Christian, and a Guinean father who was Muslim. Her early experience with nationalities and religions greatly influenced the course of her life. A … Read MorePierrette Herzberger-Fofana (1949- )
Hazel Carby is an African-American Studies scholar, a professor at Yale University in Connecticut, and holder of the Charles C. and Dorothea S. Dilley Chair in African American Studies. Hazel Vivian Carby was born on January 15, 1948 in Okehampton, in Devon county, United Kingdom. She was born to … Read MoreHazel V. Carby (1948- )
Paul Beatty is an African American author, poet, essayist, and professor who is credited with the creation of the “hip-hop” novel. Beatty was born on June 9, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. His father left the family early in Beatty’s childhood, leaving his mother to raise their two daughters and … Read MorePaul Beatty (1962- )
