“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Joyce Anne Barr was born in 1951 in Tacoma, Washington. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University in 1976, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Ambassador Barr earned her Master of Public Administration … Read MoreJoyce A. Barr (1951- )
“Image Ownership: Evan Vucci/AP” Political scientist and civil rights activist Ronald Walters was born in July 20, 1938 in Wichita, Kansas to parents Gilmar, a veteran and jazz musician, and Maxine Fray Walters, a civil rights investigator. In the summer of 1958 he organized the … Read MoreRonald Walters (1938-2010)
Image Ownership: Public Domain” Cornell William Brooks, currently the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1961. His family moved to Georgetown, South Carolina, just before he began junior high school. After graduating … Read MoreCornell William Brooks (1961- )
Ambassador Jendayi E. Frazer is currently on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. She has been there since 2009 as the university’s Distinguished Public service Professor in the Heinz College School of Public Policy and Management. Frazer is also the Director of Center … Read MoreJendayi E. Frazer (1961- )
Clarence Clyde Ferguson was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Uganda on March 17, 1970 by President Richard Nixon. He presented his credentials June 30, 1970 and terminated his mission on July 19, 1972. Ferguson was born November 4, 1924 in Wilmington, North Carolina to … Read MoreClarence Clyde Ferguson, Jr. (1924-1983)
Tunis Campbell was one of the most successful black politicians in the Reconstruction Era. Born the eighth of 10 children to free black parents, John Campbell, a blacksmith and his wife (name unknown) in Middlebrook, New Jersey on April 1, 1812, Campbell trained for missionary … Read MoreTunis Gulic Campbell (1812–1891)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” In 2002, Ambassador James Irvin Gadsden, career diplomat, and educator, was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as ambassador to Iceland. Gadsden was born on March 12, 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina, to James who worked as a janitor … Read MoreJames I. Gadsden (1948- )
Harriet Elam-Thomas is a diplomat and professor who served as United States Ambassador to Senegal from 1999 to 2002. She retired in 2005 from the U.S. State Department as a Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Career Minister. Born on September 15, 1941 … Read MoreHarriet Elam-Thomas (1941- )
Samuel Z. Westerfield, Jr., a Career Foreign Service Officer, was appointed ambassador to Liberia July 8, 1969 with the title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. He died of a heart attack July 19, 1972 at the embassy in Monrovia at the age of 52. Westerfield … Read MoreSamuel Z. Westerfield (1920-1972)
Russell S. Gideon was a Seattle, Washington businessman, pharmacist, and pioneer in the development of senior housing. From 1977 until his death in 1985, he was recognized yearly by Ebony magazine as one the nation’s 100 most influential black citizens. He was a respected community … Read MoreRussell S. Gideon (1904-1985)
