J. Paul Reason was the first African American to attain the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy. Reason was born March 22, 1941, in Washington, D.C., the son of Howard University librarian and French language professor Joseph Henry Reason, and schoolteacher Bernice … Read MoreJoseph Paul Reason (1941- )
Vincent K. Brooks is a distinguished general in the US Army and is currently the commander of the UN Command, Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea. He was born on October 24, 1958, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Leo Brooks Sr., an army general, and … Read MoreVincent K. Brooks (1958- )
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Michael Augustine Healy was an American captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service, which is commonly known now as the United States Coast Guard. As such, he was the first African American officer in the Coast Guard. Healy was known … Read MoreMichael Augustine Healy (1839–1904)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Michelle Taylor is a 22 year old African American woman who was crowned Miss Alaska in 2013. Taylor was the first black woman to hold that title. After winning the title of Miss Alaska, she went on to compete in the … Read MoreMichelle Taylor (1992- )
Communist Party Leaders: Claudia Jones, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Pettis Perry & Betty Gannet, ca. 1951 "Image Ownership: Public Domain" U.S. Communist Party leader Pettis Perry was born on January 4, 1897, on a tenant farm near Marion, Alabama. His mother died when he was a … Read MorePettis Perry (1897-1965)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Prominent lawyer and civil rights advocate Mahala Ashley Dickerson was born on October 12, 1912 in Montgomery County, Alabama. She was dedicated to human rights causes and as a lawyer she often took on the cases involving the rights of women … Read MoreMahala Ashley Dickerson (1912-2007)
In 2010, retired lieutenant colonel Allen West became the first black Republican to represent Florida in Congress since Rep. Josiah T. Walls, who served during Reconstruction. Congressman West was born on February 7, 1961 in Atlanta, Georgia to Herman and Elizabeth West. His father was … Read MoreAllen West (1961- )
U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Timothy Eugene Scott is the first black Republican elected to the Senate from the South since Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce served in that body representing Mississippi from 1876 to 1881. He is also the first Republican Senator elected since Edward Brooke … Read MoreTimothy Scott (1965- )
Image ownership: Public Domain In 2006 Sophia Danenberg became the first African American and first black woman from anywhere in the world to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest in the Himalayas (Nepal). Sophia Marie Scott was born in 1972 in Homewood, … Read MoreSophia Danenberg (1972- )
The black presence in Alaska has been severely under recorded. This is particularly the case for the role of African American women. One of the most remarkable black leaders was Blanche Louise Preston McSmith, a native of Marshall, Texas, who, like the majority of African … Read MoreBlanche McSmith (1920-2006)