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)
Willie Hobbs Moore has the distinction of being the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in physics, granted to her from the University of Michigan in 1972. Moore was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on May 23, 1934. In 1952, she relocated to Ann … Read MoreWillie Hobbs Moore (1934 -1994)
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)
Labor leader Layle Lane was born in Marietta, Georgia, on November 27, 1893. 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 March on Washington Movement … Read MoreLayle Lane (1893-1976)
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 and Martha Tibbs. At a very … Read MoreDaisy Lee Tibbs Dawson (1924-2013)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Velvalea “Vel” Phillips was a civil rights pioneer in Wisconsin. She was the first African American and the first woman to serve as an elected official and as a judge in the state. Phillips was born one of three girls … Read MoreVelvalea “Vel” Hortense Rodgers Phillips (1924-2018)
Ivy Ruth Taylor, the first popularly-elected African American mayor of San Antonio, Texas, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 17, 1970. Her parents moved to Brooklyn from Wilmington, North Carolina, before she was born and later divorced when she was a child. She … Read MoreIvy Ruth Taylor (1970- )
