Born September 25, 1946, in Temple, Texas, Charles Edward Greene would be known to posterity by another name, “Mean Joe” Greene, and as one of the most dominant football players of his era at the professional level. With limited collegiate football options after playing on … Read MoreCharles Edward “Mean Joe” Greene (1946- )
In 2021 Ed Gainey was elected the 61st mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the first African American to be mayor of the city. Ed Gainey was born on February 20, 1970 in East Liberty, Pennsylvania to a single, teenage mother, Darlene Gainey-Craig. His mother, … Read MoreEdward C. Gainey (1970- )
The first African American major of Atlantic City, James Leroy Usry, was born February 2, 1922, in Athens, Georgia. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey where Usry attended local schools. In 1939 he graduated from Atlantic City High School. … Read MoreJames Usry (1922-2002)
Alvin Austin Attles Jr. was a basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA) who played his entire career with the Golden State (California) Warriors and later became one of the first African American coaches in the NBA, where he coached the Warriors to their … Read MoreAlvin Austin Attles Jr. (1936-2024)
Dr. Oscar James Cooper, a physician, is most remembered as one of the co-founders of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., the first Greek letter fraternity founded by students at an HBCU (Howard University). Other cofounders were his classmates Edgar Amos Love and Frank Coleman and … Read MoreOscar James Cooper (1888–1972)
Six-foot-eight NBA Superstar legend Connie Hawkins, one of the first basketball players capable of swooping and soaring in flights to the hoop, was born Cornelius Lance Hawkins on July 17, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. A playground legend, he was dunking at the age of … Read MoreConnie Hawkins (1942-2017)
Anthony “Spice” Adams is a former American football player for the National Football League (NFL), actor, comedian, and television host. He was born on June 18, 1980, to Anthony Adams Sr. and Constance Davis in Detroit, Michigan. Adams, who had two siblings, attended Martin Luther … Read MoreAnthony “Spice” Adams (1980- )
On September 6, 1966, Charles DeLesline Foster became the first African American to enroll in The Citadel Corps of Cadets, the military institution in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1842. Foster was born on November 26, 1948, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to … Read MoreCharles DeLesline Foster (1948-1986)
Robert Charles O’Hara Benjamin, also known as R.C.O. Benjamin, was a Caribbean-born political activist, newspaper editor, minister, poet, teacher, author, and lawyer. He was born on the island of St. Kitts on March 31, 1855. Information about his parents is unknown, but we do know … Read MoreRobert Charles O’Hara Benjamin (1855-1900)
Beny Jene Primm, a pioneer in HIV/AIDS research and treatment and an anesthesiologist, was born on May 21, 1928, in Williamson, West Virginia, to a funeral director father, George Oliver Primm, and a mother, Willie Henrietta Martin Primm, who taught school. He had one brother, … Read MoreBeny Jene Primm (1928-2015)
