Marie Walker Johnson was a Black Creole civil rights activist in Oakland, California, during the 1960s. A mother of five and a nurse, she also played a crucial role in multiple grassroots groups in the East Bay area. In these organizations, she marched, wrote letters, … Read MoreMarie Clara Delpit Walker Johnson (1921-1974)
Gilda Barabino, a biomedical engineer and world-renowned sickle cell researcher, is the first African American and woman president of Olin College of Engineering. She was born on May 28, 1956 in Anchorage, Alaska to Margaret Angus Barnes Barnum and Norman Edward Barnum III. At a … Read MoreGilda Barabino (1956- )
Akwaeke Emezi is part of a small but growing number of transgender Nigerian writers whose unique perspective and the rapidly growing audience for their novels have garnered them international literary acclaim. Emezi identifies as transgender and as an ogbanje. Transgender people do not identify with … Read MoreAkwaeke Emezi (1987- )
Educational administrator Albert Walter Dent was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 25, 1904, to Daisy Dent. Information was not available regarding his father. He had two sisters. Dent graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1926. … Read MoreAlbert Walter Dent (1904-1984)
Shalanda Delores Young is a U.S. policy advisor who is the first Black woman to serve as Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). She previously served as Deputy Director from March 24, 2021, to March 17, 2022 and before that … Read MoreShalanda Young (1977- )
Percy Tyrone Sledge was an American R&B, soul, and gospel singer best known for his 1966 single “When a Men Loves a Woman.” Sledge was born on November 25, 1940, to Fannie Sledge Woods and an unnamed father in Leighton, Alabama. Growing up, Sledge worked … Read MorePercy Tyrone Sledge (1940-2015)
Pierre G. Deslondes (last name sometimes spelled Deslonde) was an African American sugar planter and wealthy free man of color who served as Secretary of State of Louisiana during Reconstruction. He was the son of famed slave rebellion leader George Deslondes and Eloise Belly and … Read MorePierre George Deslondes (1829-1885)
Martha White was a leader of the 1953 Baton Rouge Boycott. Born in Woodville, Mississippi, on April 2, 1922, to sharecroppers Ephraim White and Viola White, she had seven siblings. White moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a teenager after the death of her parents. … Read MoreMartha White (1922-2021)
Catholic nun and philanthropist Henriette Díaz de Lille was born on March 11, 1813, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her great, great, grandmother was enslaved and brought from West Africa. Her mother, Marie-Josèphe Díaz, was a free woman of color, and her father, Jean-Baptiste Lille Sarpy, … Read MoreHenriette Díaz de Lille (1813 -1862)
Alton Sterling, a victim of a police killing, was born on June 14, 1979, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked as a CD vendor, had five children, and lived in the Living Waters Outreach Ministries shelter in Baton Rouge before his death. He was known … Read MoreAlton Sterling (1979 – 2016)
