In 1939 during the Jim Crow era, baritone Clarence Fountain, bass Johnny Fields, baritone and guitarist George Scott, baritone Ollice Thomas, and tenor Velma Trayler, all elementary school students attending the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind and singing in its glee club, formed an … Read MoreThe Blind Boys of Alabama (1939 – )
Tuskegee Airman Rudolph “Val” Archer was born in Woodlawn, a South Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois on April 13, 1929 to Osborn Archer, railroad laborer, and artist and homemaker Ruth Luella Seay. Ruth Archer passed away when Rudolph was twelve, and he began to deliver … Read MoreRudolph “Val” Archer (1929-2020)
Beulah Mae (Gregory) Donald is best known for filing a civil lawsuit against the United Klans of America after Donald’s youngest child Michael Donald was found hanging from a tree in Mobile, Alabama on March 21, 1981. Henry Hays (26 years old at the time) … Read MoreBeulah Mae Donald (1919-1988)
Frank Calvin Mann was an engineer and designer who worked with entrepreneur and industrialist Howard R. Hughes on projects that included the Spruce Goose, at the time the largest airplane ever built. Mann was born on November 22, 1908 in Houston, Texas. Mann first displayed … Read MoreFrank Calvin Mann (1908-1992)
T’wina Nobles is a Washington State Senator representing the 28th Legislative District, which includes the cities of Fircrest, University Place, Lakewood, Steilacoom, DuPont, and a portion of Tacoma, Washington, as well as Ketron Island, Anderson Island, and McNeil Island and Joint Base Lewis McChord. She is currently … Read MoreT’wina Nobles (1993- )
George Watson was a United States Army private who during World War II was responsible for rescuing several soldiers from drowning at sea near Porlock, Harbor, New Guinea. Watson was born in 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Colorado A&M University (now Colorado State University) … Read MoreGeorge Watson (1915-1943)
Nikema Williams is the first Black chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, a former state senator, and the first woman to serve as representative of Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, filling the seat held since 1987 by the late civil rights icon John Lewis. Williams was … Read MoreNikema Williams (1978- )
Clyde Foster, scientist and mathematician, was a significant figure who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His calculations helped launch rockets into space and throughout his career he was an advocate for African Americans in Science. Foster was born in Birmingham, Alabama … Read MoreClyde Foster (1931-2017)
On January 13, 1997 Lieutenant Charles L. Thomas was awarded the Medal of Honor for “heroism in action” in Climbach, France during World War II. born on April 17, 1920 in Birmingham, Alabama. Thomas’s family relocated to Detroit, Michigan as part of the Great Migration. … Read MoreCharles L. Thomas (1920-1980)
Dorothy Butler Gilliam is a journalist, editor, media educator, feminist, author, and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists. She was the first African American female reporter hired by The Washington Post. Born in the Dixie Homes Project in Memphis, Tennessee, Gilliam was … Read MoreDorothy Butler Gilliam (1936- )
