“Image Ownership: Public Domain” William Benjamin Scott, known in the racing world as “The Professor” because of his other career as a college instructor and administrator, was a second-generation African American race car driver. He was born on February 4, 1945 in Los Angeles, California. … Read MoreBenny Scott (1945–2009)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Prentice Herman Polk, acclaimed photographer, was born November 25, 1898 in Bessemer, Alabama, to Jacob Prentice Polk, a miner, and Christine Romelia Ward, a seamstress. Mr. Polk was a portraitist who was especially adept with the effects of light and dark. … Read MorePrentice Herman Polk (1898-1985)
“Image Ownership: Rollin Riggs” D’Army Bailey, founder of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Tennessee, was a political and civil rights activist whose career spanned over half a century. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 29, 1941, Bailey was one of three children … Read MoreD’Army Bailey (1941-2015)
Ambassador George E. Moose’s career in international diplomacy resulted from his spending a college summer in the 1960s building a three-room schoolhouse in Tanzania. The high point of that career came in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be U.S. Ambassador to Benin … Read MoreGeorge E. Moose (1944- )
James A. Joseph is a lifelong educator and public policy activist who served as the first African American U.S. ambassador to post-apartheid South Africa from 1996-1999. Joseph has worked to promote leadership opportunities in both the corporate world and through the Federal government. The father … Read MoreJames A. Joseph (1935- )
Dr. Leonard Hall O’Connell Spearman was the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda and Lesotho. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Spearman was born July 8, 1929. In 1947 Spearman graduated from Florida A&M College (now Florida A&M University), in Tallahassee, Florida, with a B.S. in biological sciences. … Read MoreLeonard H.O. Spearman (1929-2008)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Roy Leslie Austin spent most of his life as a university scholar before becoming a U.S. diplomat at the age of 61. When Austin was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago he was … Read MoreRoy L. Austin (1939- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Dwight Bush had a 35 year career in finance and corporate management before he became a U.S. diplomat. He has served as an executive within numerous financial institutions and sat on the board of directors for several corporate, educational, and … Read MoreDwight L. Bush (1957 – )
Of the 167 enlisted black soldiers of the 25th Infantry discharged from the U.S. Army “without honor” by order of President Theodore Roosevelt after the shooting in Brownsville, Texas in 1906, Pvt. Dorsie Willis was the only to live long enough to see justice. According … Read MoreDorsie Willis (1886-1977)
Ambassador Charles A. James was born in 1922 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he attended public schools. After high school, James enrolled at Westchester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania (now Westchester University) where he studied for one year before enlisting … Read MoreCharles A. James (1922- )
