Justin Holland, guitarist, pianist, flutist, composer, and civil-rights activist, was born on July 26, 1819, to Exum Holland, a free Black farmer in Norfolk, Virginia. He had two brothers and five sisters. He demonstrated considerable talent when he was eight by using a small book … Read MoreJustin Holland (1819-1887)
Richard Allen Tucker, born on February 13, 1850, was an ordained minister, educator, and poet. He was the son of Reverend Lewis Tucker, the first African-American ordained Baptist minister in the City and Elizabeth “Betsey” Hunter, a seamstress. Richard’s parents were free Blacks before the … Read MoreRichard Allen Tucker (1850-1924)
Philip Nathan Jefferson is an American economist who has been a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2022. Jefferson is the fourth African American to serve as Governor. Jefferson was born and raised in the Kingman Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His … Read MorePhilip Jefferson
On March 7, 2023, Jennifer Leigh McClellan was sworn in as the U.S. representative for Virginia’s 4th congressional district. The former Virginia state senator is the great-great-grandchild of enslaved African Americans and the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress. McClellan was born on … Read MoreJennifer Leigh McClellan (1972-)
The Arnells, a female doo-wop ensemble that also performed as The Teenettes Variations, were all from all-girls Joseph Battin High School in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. The short-lived but talented group, established in 1963, met in the high school corridors. They rehearsed after school … Read MoreThe Arnells (1963-1964)
Pauline Powell Burns was a pianist and a painter who was most well known for her early art exhibitions in California in the 1890s. Powell was born in Oakland, California in 1872, to Josephine Turner, a schoolteacher and domestic worker, and William W. Powell, a … Read MorePauline Powell Burns (1872-1912)
Mary Hatwood Futrell was an educator, who is best known as being the fourth person of color to become President of the National Education Association when she was elected to that post in 1983. Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell was born in Altavista, Virginia, on … Read MoreMary Hatwood Futrell (1940 – )
Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, was born in 1948, and raised in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee during the time of Racial segregation in the United States. The daughter of Callie and Robert Peterson, she is a prominent Philadelphia physician and Medical School professor. Mitchell received her … Read MoreEdith P. Mitchell, MD (1948- )
John “Jack” Albert Holmes, Jr. (also known as “Daddy Jack Holmes”) was Virginia’s first Black disc jockey. He was born to John Albert Holmes, Sr., and Mary Holmes on July 1, 1912, in Merchantville, New Jersey. He graduated from Camden High School in Camden, New … Read MoreJohn Albert Holmes, Jr. (1912-1989)
Shirley Mahaley Malcom, a Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and publisher of the Science family of journals, was born on September 6, 1946, in Birmingham, Alabama to Ben Mahaley and Lillie Funderburg Mahaley. … Read MoreShirley Mahaley Malcom (1946- )
