Late 20th Century drug lord Ricky Donnell Ross was born on January 26th, 1960 in Troup, Texas. He is better known as “Freeway Rick,” the convicted drug trafficker turned philanthropist who established himself as kingpin in the 1980’s. Ross grew up in Los Angeles, California, moving there in 1963 … Read MoreFreeway Rick Ross (1960- )
Singer Joyce Bryant was born Ione Emily Bryant in Oakland, California on October 14, 1928. She was the third of eight children. Her parents were Whitfield Bryant, a railroad chef and devout Seventh-Day Adventist, and Dorothy Green Withers. She was raised in San Francisco, California but at 14 … Read MoreJoyce Bryant (1928- )
Rayful Edmond III was born on November 26, 1964 in Washington, D.C. to Rayful Edmond, Jr. and Constance “Bootsie” Perry. Both of his parents worked for the U.S. government but were also drug dealers on the side in their Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Near Northeast. Rayful was … Read MoreRayful Edmond (1964- )
Louis Bennett Butler, Jr. became the first black justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2004 and served on the court until 2008. Butler also became Wisconsin’s first Public Defender to ever argue before the United States Supreme Court in 1988 during the trial of McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of … Read MoreLouis B. Butler, Jr. (1952- )
As one of the country’s most notorious gangsters and drug kingpins, Frank Lucas led a very public life, even having his story depicted in the film American Gangster. Lucas was born to Mahalee Jones Lucas and Fred Lucas, on September 9, 1930 in La Grange, North Carolina. … Read MoreFrank Lucas (1930-2019)
The Prison Abolition Movement is a social campaign to eliminate prisons. The movement began in the 1980s following the War on Drugs whose consequence was to increase the U.S. prison population from 500,000 in 1980 to 1.3 million in 1990 and 2 million in 2000. The leaders of this movement felt … Read MoreThe Prison Abolition Movement (1985- )
Audrey Forbes Manley, who would eventually be acting Surgeon General of the United States, was born in Jackson, Mississippi on March 25, 1934 to Ora Lee Buckhalter Forbes and Jesse Lee Forbes. In 1955, Forbes earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia … Read MoreAudrey Forbes Manley (1934- )
Major General Marcelite J. Harris of the U.S. Air Force was born on January 16, 1943 in Houston, Texas to Cecil O’Neal Jordan and Marcelite Terrill Jordan, Harris grew up in Houston and graduated from Kashmere High School in 1960 before enrolling at Spelman College where she earned a bachelors in … Read MoreMarcelite J. Harris (1943- )
Muriel E. Poston is an accomplished botanist and dedicated educator working to increase underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her extensive science career crosses many universities and institutions, including Howard University, and the National Science Foundation. Her expertise in botany lies in the flora of Central and South America, specifically Panama, Nicaragua, and Ecuador with … Read MoreMuriel E. Poston (1950- )
Bernard P. Randolph, career Air Force officer, was born on July 10, 1933 to Phillip J. Randolph and Claudia Randolph, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1954. In 1964, he earned a Bachelor … Read MoreBernard Peter Randolph (1933- )
