Recy Taylor, an African-American woman who grew up as a sharecropper in Abbeville, Alabama, was raped on September 3, 1944, by six white men. Her refusal to remain silent after her rape brought attention to the sexual abuse of African-American women in the Jim Crow South. Born on … Read MoreRecy Taylor (1919-2017)
Lisette Titre is an American video game artist and designer best known for her work as an artist for Electronic Arts. Little is known about her personal life beyond the fact that she was born in 1977. Titre graduated magna cum laude from the Miami International University of Art and … Read MoreLisette Titre (1977- )
Betty Wright was an award-winning soul singer and songwriter who was highly popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first black woman to earn a gold album on her own record label. She released her first album at 14, My First Time Around, and had her first … Read MoreBetty Wright (1953-2020)
Thirty-eight-year old politician Melvin Carter III was born in 1979 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the first African American to serve as Mayor of the second-largest city in Minnesota. Carter was elected in November 2017 and sworn in on January 2, 2018. During his campaign, he received … Read MoreMelvin Carter (1979- )
George Henry Brown, Jr., the first African American appointed to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court, was born on July 16, 1939 and grew up in in Memphis, Tennessee. Brown’s father Alfred was a car cleaner for the Illinois Central Railroad, and his mother Sara was a teacher for the … Read MoreGeorge Henry Brown, Jr. (1939- )
National Football League (NFL) head coach Mike Tomlin was born on March 15, 1972 in Hampton, Virginia to Julia and Ed Tomlin. Mike Tomlin’s birth father was not an extremely prominent figure in his life due to his divorce with his mom at a young age, so he and … Read MoreMike Tomlin (1972- )
Vice Admiral David L. Brewer III is 35-year veteran of the United States Navy and former superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District in California. The retired three-star admiral worked to develop the Navy College Program helping sailors receive higher education and oversaw the Military Sealift Command’s … Read MoreDavid L. Brewer, III (1946- )
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- )
Lieutenant General William E. Brown, Jr. is a former United States Air Force pilot, former commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe and former deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces in Southern Europe. Brown ended his military career with over 5,100 flying hours, the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of … Read MoreWilliam E. Brown, Jr. (1927- )
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- )
