In 2011 Antoine M. Garibaldi was named University of Detroit Mercy’s 25th president. He was also the first lay president and first African American at this 1877 Jesuit-founded institution that consolidated with Mercy College of Detroit in 1990. Prior to Detroit Mercy, Garibaldi was the … Read MoreAntoine M. Garibaldi (1950- )
Rosemary Sauvageau Nestingen is a musical composer, a pianist, and the first African American woman to be crowned Miss North Dakota. Sauvageau was born on January 31, 1988, in Fargo, North Dakota. Sauvageau was a musical child prodigy, as she began playing the piano at … Read MoreRosemary Sauvageau Nestingen (1988- )
Ray (Raymond) Emmitt Dandridge was a third baseman in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Dandridge was born on August 31, 1913 to Archie and Alberta Thompson Dandridge in Richmond, Virginia. Dandridge’s early childhood included playing baseball, football, and boxing. Dandridge had to quit playing football after … Read MoreRay Emmitt Dandridge (1913-1994)
Hilton Lee Smith was a right-handed pitcher who played for the Monroe, Louisiana Monarchs and Kansas City Monarchs. Smith was born on February 27, 1907 to Mattie and John Smith in Giddings, Texas. Much of Smith’s early life is unknown but he attended Prairie View … Read MoreHilton Lee Smith (1907-1983)
Monford Merrill Monte Irvin was a baseball player who played the left fielder and right fielder in the Negro Leagues and was one of the few who transitioned to Major League Baseball after the integration of the sport in 1947. Irvin played for the Newark … Read MoreMonford Merrill Monte Irvin (1919-2016)
Historian and scholar Dr. Ralph Le Roy Crowder was born on March 29, 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents Ralph L. Crowder and Allie Crowder. An only child, Crowder attended public schools in Des Moines where he played football, basketball, and track. He graduated … Read MoreRalph L. Crowder (1947-2020)
Educator and politician Lansiné Kaba was born in 1941 in the city of Kankan, Guinea when Guinea was still under French colonial rule. In Guinea, he was educated through the traditional Education system as well as Muslim teachers. He moved to France in 1956 where … Read MoreLansiné Kaba (1941- )
Dale Brown Emeagwali is a distinguished American scientist who is best known for her investigational research in the fields of microbiology and oncology. Emeagwali was born on December 24th, 1954 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the youngest of three children. Her mother, Doris Brown, was a teacher while … Read MoreDale Brown Emeagwali (1954- )
Ples Sterling Stuckey, Jr. was a professor of history best known for his impact on shifting slavery studies from examinations ancillary to enslaved African American lives to the study of their history, culture, and sociopolitical expression as central to the understanding of African American and … Read MorePles Sterling Stuckey, Jr. (1932-2018)
