“Image Ownership: Bettye Lane” Activist Aileen Clarke Hernandez was born Aileen Clarke to Jamaican immigrant parents on May 23, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Ethel Louise Hall, was a theatrical seamstress, and her father, Charles Henry Clarke, was a brush maker for the … Read MoreAileen Clarke Hernandez (1926-2017)
Stephanie Diana Wilson is an American NASA astronaut, engineer, and is the second African American woman to go into space, following Mae Jemison. Wilson was born September 27, 1966, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1984 she graduated from Taconic High School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and four … Read MoreStephanie Diana Wilson (1966- )
Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a Nigerian-American doctor who is best known for discovering chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain injury affecting former National Football League players, among others. Omalu’s discovery and the reaction to it prompted the 2015 film Concussion starringt the actor Will Smith. … Read MoreBennet Ifeakandu Omalu (1968- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Civil rights activist and education reformer Marnesba Tillmon Tackett was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Ivory and Elizabeth Edwards Adkins on February 4, 1908. She grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. After graduating from Sumner High School in 1926, she … Read MoreMarnesba Tillmon Tackett (1908-2007)
Odessa Cox is the principal founder of Los Angeles Southwest College (LASC), which serves a predominantly black and brown community in South Central Los Angeles, California. Born Odessa Brown on June 8, 1922, in Whatley, Alabama, she was a second-generation community activist. Her father, Chester … Read MoreOdessa Cox (1922–2001)
McKissack &McKissack is the oldest African American-owned architecture, construction, and engineering firm in the United States. The firm’s history began when Scotsman John McKissack, the owner of a construction and brick building company in West Tennessee, purchased an enslaved West African Ashanti ancestor (1790–1865). John … Read MoreMcKissack & McKissack Company (1905- )
Tristan Walker “Image Ownership: Rog Walker” The Silicon Valley (California) entrepreneur Tristan Walker is best known as the founder and CEO of Walker & Company Brands Incorporated. Walker was born in the Queens area of New York City, New York, on July 5, 1984. When … Read MoreTristan Walker (1984– )
“Image Ownership: Kevin Clark/The Herald” Carl Gipson was the first African American city council member in the city of Everett, the county seat of Snohomish County, Washington, serving from 1971 until 1995. Born in Lincoln County, Arkansas, on January 11, 1924, Gipson grew up as … Read MoreCarl Gipson (1924– )
McKinley Thompson, the first major African American auto car designer, was born on November 8, 1922, in New York City, New York. As a child, Thompson was intrigued with automobiles. In an oral history interview in 2001, he discussed the first time he had seen … Read MoreMcKinley Thompson (1922-2006)
Coming from the biological term symbiosis, meaning the interdependence of different species, the Symbionese Liberation Army was a radical leftist revolutionary organization that sought to unify all left-wing struggles under one banner. The Berkeley, California-formed group of mostly upper middle class, educated young whites, led … Read MoreThe Symbionese Liberation Army (1973-1975)
