By 1963 Alabama Governor George Corley Wallace had emerged as the leading opponent to the growing civil rights movement. Six months later he gained international notoriety for his stand in the door of the University of Alabama to block the entrance of two black students, … Read More(1963) George Wallace, “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever”
Contralto singer Carol Brice was born in Sedalia, North Carolina on April 16, 1918 into a musical family. Eventually she became one of the first African American classical singers with an extensive recording repertoire. Brice trained at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia and then enrolled … Read MoreCarol Brice (1918-1985)
Tarea (Ty) Hall Pittman was a civil rights worker, social worker, and community activist. Born in Bakersfield, California in 1903, she was the second of the five children of William Hall and Susie Pinkney. Her father, a farm laborer who moved from Alabama to Bakersfield … Read MoreTarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991)
Terrycina “Terri” Sewell, the current U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 7th district, was born January 1, 1965 in Huntsville, Alabama to Andrew and Nancy Sewell. Sewell grew up in Selma, Alabama where both of her parents were employed by the local school district. Her father, Andrew, … Read MoreTerri Sewell (1965- )
Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate founded a Pentecostal denomination and became one of the first American women to hold the title of Bishop. Born in Vanleer, Tennessee on January 5, 1871, to Belfield Street and Nancy (Hall) Street, she married her first husband, David Lewis, at … Read MoreMary Magdalena Lewis Tate (1871-1930)
In the article below Clarence Spigner, DrPH., Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, briefly describes the saga of Henrietta Lacks whose cells have been used without her family’s permission for over sixty years of bio-medical research. Dr. … Read MoreHenrietta Lacks and the Debate Over the Ethics of Bio-Medical Research
No. 85-999 Argued: November 12, 1986 — Decided: February 25, 1987 JUSTICE BRENNAN announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion in which JUSTICE MARSHALL, JUSTICE BLACKMUN, and JUSTICE POWELL join. The question we must decide is whether relief awarded in this case, … Read More(1987) United States v. Paradise
In August 1955 at the age of 20, Raven Wilkinson became the first African American woman to receive a contract to dance full time with a major ballet company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo of New York City. She was promoted to soloist during … Read MoreAnne Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018)
Pioneering African-American Aviators Featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas is a study of little known black women and men who participated in the first four decades of U.S. aviation history. The book began originally in 2006 as a biography of Milton Pitts Crenchaw, a native … Read MoreArkansas Pioneers in Flight: African Americans in Aviation from the Natural State, 1932 to 1953.
Pearl L. Stewart, freelance journalist and journalism educator was the first African American woman to lead a major daily newspaper when she was hired in 1992 to head the Oakland Tribune. In 2002 she founded the website Black College Wire (blackcollegewire.org), an online news service … Read MorePearl Stewart (1950- )
