Jeh (pronounced “Jay”) Charles Johnson, a civil and criminal trial lawyer, was the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Johnson received his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1979 and obtained his J.D. from Columbia University in 1982. Nominated by President Barack Obama in October 2013, and … Read MoreJeh C. Johnson (1957- )
“Image Ownership: Flacourtphile (CC BY-SA 4.0)” Rodney D. Bennett is the current president of the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the institution’s tenth president and the first African American president of a predominantly white college or university in Mississippi. His presidency was announced February … Read MoreRodney D. Bennet ( 1966- )
Canzetta Maria Staton was born on March 13, 1940, in Hanceville, Alabama. Her father worked as a farmer and a coal miner and her mother was a homemaker. At age eight, Staton was already singing in a gospel group, the Four Golden Echoes, with her … Read MoreCandi Staton (1940 – )
“Image Ownership: Presbyterian Historical Society” Reverend Gayraud Stephen Wilmore was an American pastor, educator, historian, and theologian. Born on December 20, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmore attended Central High School where he was active in the drama club, wrote for the student newspaper and, for … Read MoreGayraud Stephen Wilmore (1921-2020)
General Fred A. Gorden was the first black Commandant of Cadets, the officer in charge of the training, discipline, and physical condition of the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Commandant of Cadets position is second only to … Read MoreFred Gorden (1940- )
Famous Major League baseball pitcher Robert “Bob” Gibson was Pack and Victoria Gibson’s seventh child born November 9, 1935 in Omaha, Nebraska. Pack died three months before Bob Gibson was born. Young Gibson suffered with asthma, pneumonia, rickets, hay fever, and a rheumatic heart. He … Read MoreRobert “Bob” Gibson (1935-2020)
Along with its neighbors Ebenezer Baptist and Big Bethel AME, Wheat Street Baptist Church has been a major contributor to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of Atlanta, Georgia, particularly within its African American community. A group of parishioners from First Baptist Church founded Wheat … Read MoreWheat Street Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia (1869- )
Charles W. Eagles, Winner of the 2010 Lillian Smith Book Award “Image Ownership: Public Domain” The Southern Regional Council (SRC) was formed in 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia. It evolved out of the earlier Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), which was established in 1919 to lessen … Read MoreThe Southern Regional Council (1944- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Vanoye Aikens was a star dancer and choreographer for the famous Katherine Dunham Dance Company. The Dunham Company popularized African American dance and pioneered the Dunham Technique, which combined Caribbean and African dance with European ballet. A native of Georgia, Aikens … Read MoreVanoye Aikens (1917-2013)
Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is the oldest African American church in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Like Wheat Street, First Congregational, and the King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, Bethel A.M.E. has been a religious, social, economic, and cultural pillar of the African American community in … Read MoreBig Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia (1847- )
