Lloyd J. Austin is the first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense. He was nominated by President Joseph Biden and confirmed by the United States Senate. A former four-star General in the U.S. Army, Austin was born in Mobile, Alabama on August … Read MoreLloyd James Austin III (1953- )
Larry Spencer is a retired Air Force 4-star General who began his military service in 1971 as a eighteen-year-old private. Spencer was born on August 1, 1954 in Washington, D.C. to Alfonzo Spencer, a disabled career Army mechanic, and Selma Gaines Spencer. After graduating from Central High School … Read MoreLarry Oneil Spencer (1954- )
The Charlotte Riot of 2016 was a protest that lasted for three days and came in the wake of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting. Beginning on September 20, the riot resulted in violence with one protester killed and numerous injured police officers. On September 20, a black Charlotte-Mecklenburg police … Read MoreCharlotte Riot of 2016
One of the biggest riots in the history of Charlotte, North Carolina came in reaction to the shooting involving Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man. The shooting, along with the ensuing riot, garnered international news attention. It also advanced the debate promulgated by the Black Lives Matter movement on … Read MoreKeith Lamont Scott (1973-2016)
Army 4-star General Dennis L. Via was born in 1958 in the industrial town of Martinsville, Virginia, the son of Henry Via, a house painter and small-contract repairman, and Margaret Via, a homemaker. He had worked in a local textile mill and intended to skip college and … Read MoreDennis L. Via (1958- )
Air Force 4-star General Darren W. McDew was born in Rantoul, Illinois, on September 29, 1960. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1982 from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. With his officer’s commission, McDew trained as pilot in the 82d Flying Training Wing, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. He … Read MoreDarren Wayne McDew (1960- )
Mathematical physicist and university administrator Arlie O. Petters was born in the Central American city of Dangriga in the nation of Belize (formerly British Honduras) on February 21, 1964, the son of civil engineer Oswald Vasquez. His mother, Velina, left him when he was a child to work in the … Read MoreArlie Oswald Petters (1964- )
In 2007, Ambassador John L. Withers II, a second generation diplomat, was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve as ambassador to Albania. Withers was born in 1948 in Guilford, North Carolina, to John L. Withers, Sr. and Daisy P. Withers. His father had briefly worked as a political science professor … Read MoreJohn Lovelle Withers, II (1948- )
The Charleston Church Massacre took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015. Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, killed nine people including the senior pastor and South Carolina State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney during a prayer service at the … Read MoreThe Charleston Church Massacre (2015)
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)
