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- )
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)
Ivy Ruth Taylor, the first popularly elected African American mayor of San Antonio, Texas, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 27, 1970. Her parents moved to Brooklyn from Wilmington, North Carolina, before she was born and later divorced when she was a child. … Read MoreIvy Ruth Taylor (1970- )
Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born on February 10, 1937 in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Her father Laron Leroy Flack was a self-taught jazz pianist and her mother, Irene Flack, was church pianist. At the age of nine her family moved to Arlington, Virginia. There she … Read MoreRoberta Flack (1937- )
Alexis Herman, US Secretary of Labor, political activist, civic leader, social worker, and entrepreneur, was born on July 16, 1947 in Mobile, Alabama to politician Alex Herman and educator Gloria Caponis. Herman graduated from Heart of Mary High School in Mobile in 1965 and enrolled … Read MoreAlexis Margaret Herman (1947- )
Civic and educational leader Gloria Dean Randle Scott, the first African-American president of the Girl Scouts of America and the twelfth president of Bennett College, was born on April 14, 1938 in Houston, Texas to Juanita Bell and Freeman Randle. Scott grew up in Houston, … Read MoreGloria Dean Randle Scott (1938- )
Ericka Dunlap, Miss America, 2004, is the seventh black woman to win the Miss America crown. She was born on December 29, 1981 in Orlando, Florida, the daughter of James and Fannie Dunlap. She is also the first black woman to win the Miss Florida … Read MoreEricka Dunlap (1981- )
Image Ownership: Public Domain Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Delta), one of four college sororities for African American women, was founded on January 13, 1913 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. by 22 colligate women. Delta is a nonprofit organization whose principles … Read MoreDelta Sigma Theta Sorority (1913- )