Poet, lyricist, short story writer, and playwright Georgia Douglas Johnson was born to George and Laura Douglas Camp in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 10, 1877. Johnson graduated from Atlanta University in 1896, attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1902, and married Henry Lincoln Johnson, a … Read MoreGeorgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson (1877-1966)
In August 1955 at the age of 20, Raven Wilkinson became the first African American woman to receive a contract to dance full time with a major ballet company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo of New York City. She was promoted to soloist during … Read MoreAnne Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018)
Alan Gilbert, University of Denver political scientist and anti-racist activist, is the author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence, one of the few works that examines the free and enslaved blacks who joined the American Patriots and the … Read MoreFighting for Freedom on Both Sides of the American Revolution
The Republic of New Africa (RNA) is a black nationalist organization that was created in 1969 on the premise that an independent black republic should be created out of the southern United States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, which were considered “subjugated … Read MoreRepublic of New Africa (1968- )
Jennie R. Patrick became the first African American woman to earn a PhD in chemical engineering when she completed graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979. Patrick was born in Gadsden, Alabama on January 1, 1949. Her parents only had sixth … Read MoreJennie R. Patrick (1949- )
Dr. Lawrence Howland Knox, noted chemist, was born on September 30, 1906 in New Bedford, Massachusetts to William Jacob and Estella Knox. Knox was one of five children, two girls and three boys, and remarkably for that time, all of the boys earned PhDs; the … Read MoreLawrence Howland Knox (1906-1966)
Born in Florence, South Carolina, October 19, 1922, Benjamin Franklin Scott was an African American chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II. The son of Benny and Viola Scott, Benjamin had two older sisters, Mary and Rosa. Scott earned his Bachelor … Read MoreBenjamin Franklin Scott (1922-2000)
In the account below Central Washington University anthropologist Mark Auslander describes why he wrote The Accidental Slaveholder, which describes the curious ways in which the legacy of slavery extend into the contemporary era. I grew up in Washington D.C. in a secular Jewish family in … Read MoreRemembrance in the Cemetery: In Search of “The Accidental Slaveowner”
Reginald McKnight is a novelist, short story writer, and educator born on February 26, 1956 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany to Frank and Pearl McKnight. Reginald’s father Frank was a career Air Force sergeant, causing the family to be frequently relocated during Reginald’s childhood. Before age 16 … Read MoreReginald McKnight (1956- )
Civic and educational leader Gloria Dean Randle Scott, the first African-American president of the Girl Scouts of America and the twelfth president of Bennett College, was born on April 14, 1938 in Houston, Texas to Juanita Bell and Freeman Randle. Scott grew up in Houston, … Read MoreGloria Dean Randle Scott (1938- )
