Carol Johnson-Dean was the first black woman superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. She held that post from 1997 to 2003. Johnson-Dean was born 1948 to Mrs. Willie Rawls and Buddy Rawls. She grew up in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee about 50 miles northeast of Memphis. … Read MoreDr. Carol Johnson-Dean (1948-)
Carolyn J. Purnell, a 1971 graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Law, is one of two women who are the first Black women known to have graduated from that institution (Gwendolyn Howard is the other). William McDonald Austin, the first Black man, graduated … Read MoreCarolyn Purnell (1939- )
Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, was born in 1948, and raised in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee during the time of Racial segregation in the United States. The daughter of Callie and Robert Peterson, she is a prominent Philadelphia physician and Medical School professor. Mitchell received her … Read MoreEdith P. Mitchell, MD (1948- )
Altha Jeanne Stewart is a psychiatrist who served as the first African American President of the American Psychiatric Association. Stewart was born on October 28, 1952, on the south side of Memphis, Tennessee. Her mother was a librarian and her father was a civil service … Read MoreAltha Stewart (1952- )
Megan Piphus Peace is a financial analyst, comedic actress, musician, ventriloquist and puppeteer for the long running PBS network television series, Sesame Street. Piphus was born on October 29, 1992, in Illinois. Her mother is a speech pathologist for Cincinnati Public Schools, and her father … Read MoreMegan Piphus Peace (1992- )
Kelly Miller Smith Sr, named after the prominent educator and civil rights leader Kelly Miller, was a Baptist preacher, author, and civil rights activist best known for participating in the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville, Tennessee. Smith was born on October 28, 1920, in the … Read MoreKelly Miller Smith Sr. (1920-1984)
Major George William Ford was an original member of the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) and later a Major with the Second Battalion of the 23rd Kansas Volunteers during the Spanish American War. Ford was born on November 23, 1847, on the Mount Vernon Plantation in … Read MoreGeorge William Ford (1847-1939)
Jazz musician Donald Ulysses Walden was born to Gracie Buck and Louis Walden on July 12, 1938. The family lived in Clarksville, Tennessee from 1938 to 1946. Being musically gifted, Walden’s mother took him to see bands that toured the South. After seeing the Silas … Read MoreDonald Ulysses Walden (1938-2008)
Clarice Evone Salone Phelps, a nuclear chemist was part of the research team responsible for the discovery of a new element, 117 also known as tennessine, was born in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and reared in the Edgehill Housing Projects in Nashville, Tennessee, by a … Read MoreClarice Evone Salone Phelps (1981- )
Isaac Lane was born March 4, 1834, in Madison County, five miles from the city of Jackson, Tennessee. His mother, Rachel, was an enslaved person belonging to his master and white father, Cullen Lane. Virtually abandoned by his parents, Lane suffered many of the harsh … Read MoreIsaac Lane (1834-1937)
