Ericka Dunlap, Miss America, 2004, is the seventh black woman to win the Miss America crown. She was born on December 29, 1981 in Orlando, Florida, the daughter of James and Fannie Dunlap. She is also the first black woman to win the Miss Florida … Read MoreEricka Dunlap (1981- )
Professional tennis player Venus Williams was born June 17, 1980 in Lynnwood, California. She is the daughter of Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Both parents coached Venus and her younger sister, Serena, who is also a top-ranked professional tennis player. Venus Williams, the second youngest … Read MoreVenus Ebony Starr Williams (1980- )
Edward Waters College was founded in 1866 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) for the education of newly freed slaves. Located near downtown Jacksonville, Florida, the college currently sits on 23 acres and houses Centennial Hall (a nationally registered historic structure), the school’s oldest … Read MoreEdward Waters College (1866- )
Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), a scholar-librarian and bibliographer was born in Warrenton, Virginia in 1905, to her father, Hayes Joseph Burnett, a physician, and her mother, Bertha Ball Burnett, a tennis champion. After receiving her A.B., from Howard University in 1928, she became the first … Read MoreDorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995)
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is a historically black four-year public institution located on a 419 acre campus in Tallahassee, Florida. With approximately 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, it is the second largest HBCU in the United States. The school was founded as the … Read MoreFlorida A&M University (1887- )
Grant Reynolds was a civic leader, civil rights activist, World War II chaplain, attorney, and educator. He was best known as a leading force in ending segregation in the United States Armed Forces. Reynolds was born July 29, 1908 in Key West, Florida to Emma … Read MoreGrant Reynolds (1908-2004)
Bethune-Cookman University is a private liberal arts institution in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is an Historically Black College University (HCBU) with a strong foundation in the United Methodist Church. Bethune-Cookman University began in 1904 as the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. … Read MoreBethune-Cookman University (1904- )
Community organizer and civil rights activist Hunter Pitts O’Dell was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 11, 1924. His father George Edwin O’Dell worked in hotels and restaurants in Detroit. His mother, Emily (Pitts) O’Dell, who studied music at Howard University, later taught adults to … Read MoreHunter Pitts “Jack” O’Dell (1924-2019)
Florida Memorial University is a private university located in Miami, Florida and is the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Southern Florida. The school’s history dates back to two separate institutions, the Florida Baptist Institute which was founded in 1879, and Florida Baptist … Read MoreFlorida Memorial University (1879- )
Darwin Theodore Troy Turner was an African American literature critic, a poet, and an English professor who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 7, 1931. His grandfather, Charles H. Turner, was the first African American psychologist; his father, Darwin Romanes Turner, was a pharmacist; … Read MoreDarwin T. Turner (1931-1991)
