Magazine editor Susan L. Taylor was born in Harlem, New York on January 23, 1946. Her parents, Lawrence, from St. Kitts, and Violet, from Trinidad, came to New York in the 1920s and owned a clothing store for thirty years until it closed in the … Read MoreSusan L. Taylor (1946- )
Joyce Beatty, who represents Ohio’s 3rd congressional district, is a former consultant and business owner. She holds honorary doctorates from the Ohio Dominican University and Central State University, and is the first woman Democratic House Leader in Ohio history. Representative Beatty was born Joyce Birdsong … Read MoreJoyce Beatty (1950- )
Congresswoman Lucia “Lucy” McBath, is a wife, mother, author, and activist for social justice. Lucia Kay Holman was born in Joliet, Illinois on June 1, 1960. Her mother Wilma worked as a nurse, and her father, Lucien Holman, was a dentist. Her father also owned … Read MoreLucia Kay (Holman) McBath (1960- )
Pauline Elizabeth Short Robinson, a long-time educator, was the first black librarian to be hired in Denver, Colorado. Born on January 31, 1915 in Gay, Oklahoma, Robinson’s family emphasized the importance of education at a young age. Her grandfather taught her how to read before … Read MorePauline Short Robinson (1915-1997)
Carolyn Kilpatrick was the U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 13th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. Cheeks was born on June 25, 1945 in Detroit, Michigan to Willa Mae Henry and Marvel Cheeks Jr. Her father worked for the Ford plant and her mother was a … Read MoreCarolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick (1945- )
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)
Fannie Lou Hamer was a grass-roots civil rights activist whose life exemplified resistance in rural Mississippi to oppressive conditions. Born on October 6, 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, to a family of sharecroppers, she was the youngest of Lou Ella and Jim Townsend’s twenty children. Her family moved to … Read MoreFannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)
Dr. Olivia Juliette Hooker is one of the last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots. Born in 1915 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, at the age of six, she lived through the Ku Klux Klan destroying her family’s home along with the 35-block “Black Wall … Read MoreOlivia J. Hooker (1915-2018)
Image Ownership: Public domain Labor leader Layle Lane was born on November 27, 1893, in Marietta, Georgia. She was the fourth of five children of Calvin Lane and Alice Virginia Clark Lane. Lane was vice president of the American Federation of Teachers union and a … Read MoreLayle Lane (1893-1976)
“Image Courtesy of the Dawson Family” Daisy Tibbs Dawson, a Seattle, Washington peace activist and educator, is the only African American to be memorialized in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. Tibbs was born in Toney, Alabama on July 27, 1924 to Calvin … Read MoreDaisy Lee Tibbs Dawson (1924-2013)
