Bessie Virginia Blount, pioneer physical therapist, inventor, and scientist, was born in Hickory (today Chesapeake), Virginia, on November 24, 1914. In the sixth grade, she had to discontinue her elementary education, although she would later earn a GED after her family moved to New Jersey. She studied nursing at the Community … Read MoreBessie Blount Griffin (1914-2009)
George Washington Carver began life inauspiciously on the frontier of southwestern Missouri. Born a slave, the precise date, indeed, even the year, is unknown. He never knew either of his biological parents, but was raised by his former owners as if he were their own. … Read MoreGeorge Washington Carver (1864?-1943)
Warren M. Washington is a pioneering meteorologist and an expert in atmospheric science, climate research, and computer modeling of the earth’s climate. Washington was born in Portland, Oregon on August 28, 1936, to Edwin Washington Sr., a waiter and Pullman porter, and Dorothy Grace Morton, a practical nurse. Advised … Read MoreWarren M. Washington (1936- )
Marguerite Thomas Williams, born in 1895, was the first African American (male or female) to earn a Ph.D. in geology. Like Roger Arliner Young, Williams was mentored by African American biologist Ernest Everett Just. Williams earned her bachelor’s degree in geology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1923. Just considered … Read MoreMarguerite Thomas Williams (1895-1991?)
ENTRY SPONSOR: Virginia Wyman A prolific scholar and passionate educator, Dr. Charles Henry Turner made significant contributions to the fields of zoology, entomology, and psychology. Over a thirty-year career, he published widely on not only scientific topics, but also civil rights and education, authoring over seventy articles in total. … Read MoreCharles Henry Turner (1867-1923)
Image Ownership: Public domain Physicist and university administrator Robert Ambrose Thornton was born in Houston, Texas, on May 6, 1902 to Frank Thornton, a laborer, and the former Mary Jane Sullivan, a midwife. Thornton attended Houston Colored High School but later graduated from Los Angeles … Read MoreRobert Ambrose Thornton (1902-1982)
Image Ownership: Public domain Kimberle Crenshaw is a Professor of Law and an advocate and educator for civil rights, race studies, constitutional law, and social inclusion. She currently teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as Columbia University. Crenshaw was born … Read MoreKimberle Williams Crenshaw (1959- )
W.E.B. DuBois Greeting Unidentified Delegate, Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference, Tashkent, Soviet Union, 1958 Image Ownership: Public domain The Afro–Asian Writers’ Conferences were a series of gatherings of literary figures from Asia and Africa that took place over two decades to denounce imperialism and to establish cultural … Read MoreAfro-Asian Writers’ Conferences (1958-1979)
Amadou Diallo was a Guinean immigrant who lived in Manhattan, New York, and is unfortunately best known for being killed by New York City police after he was fired upon forty-one times outside his place of residence. Diallo was born on September 2, 1976, in … Read MoreAmadou Diallo (1976–1999)
Physicist George Campbell Jr. was born on December 2, 1945, in Richmond, Virginia, to Lilia and George Campbell. George’s parent divorced when he was in elementary school. Because of the disappearance of his father’s financial support and his mother’s low-paying domestic job, Campbell grew up … Read MoreGeorge Campbell Jr. (1945- )