Cornelius R. Coffey was the first African American to establish an aeronautical school in the United States. His school was also the only non-university affiliated aviation program to become part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). His pioneering efforts led to the integration of … Read MoreCornelius R. Coffey (1903-1994)
Image courtesy of the South Carolina African American Calendar Born in Columbia, South Carolina on June 19, 1913, Edwin Roberts Russell was an African American chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II which produced the first atomic bombs and initiated the … Read MoreEdwin Roberts Russell (1913-1996)
Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on April 15, 1912, Jasper Brown Jeffries was an African American physicist and mathematician who worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II. The eldest child of Brown and Edna Jeffries, Jasper had three younger brothers, Carl, Hubert, and Robert. … Read MoreJasper Brown Jeffries (1912-1994)
Moddie Daniel Taylor, a chemist by training, was a member of the small, elite group of African American scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the top-secret effort to create an atomic bomb during World War II. Taylor was born in … Read MoreModdie Daniel Taylor (1912-1976)
In 1909 Gilbert Haven Jones became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from a German university. After completing his doctoral studies in philosophy, Jones returned to the United States to take up teaching and administrative positions, primarily at Wilberforce University. Jones was also … Read MoreGilbert Haven Jones (1881-1966)
Chester Arthur Burnett, better known by his stage name Howlin’ Wolf, was a blues performer and bandleader born in White Station, Mississippi to Leon “Dock” and Gertrude Young Burnett. He was married to Lillie Burnett and is survived by two stepchildren, Barbra Marks and Bettye … Read MoreHowlin’ Wolf/Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976)
Bryant Gumbel was the first African American co-host of the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) The Today Show and is well known as a broadcast journalist and sportscaster. Gumbel was born in 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Rhea Alice and Richard Dunbar Gumbel, a city … Read MoreBryant Gumbel (1948- )
Image Ownership: All-Pro Reels (CC BY-SA 2.0) National Basketball Association star player Walt “Clyde” Frazier Jr., was born the oldest of nine children in Atlanta, Georgia on March 29, 1945. While attending the segregated Howard High School in Atlanta, Frazier excelled in football, baseball, and … Read MoreWalt Frazier (1945- )
Civil rights leader and intellectual, Moses Carl Holman, was born to Moses and Mamie Durham Holman on June 27, 1919. Although born in Minter City, Mississippi, Holman was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father worked in a steel mill. As a child Holman … Read MoreM. Carl Holman (1919-1988)
Born March 4, 1908, Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard was a wealthy doctor, successful entrepreneur, and civil rights activist. Born and raised in Murray, Kentucky, Howard seemed destined to follow in his father’s footsteps as a tobacco twister until a white doctor at Murray’s local hospital … Read MoreT.R.M. Howard (1908-1976)
