Visionary businessman Onie Burnett Granville, a Los Angeles, California Realtor, founded two black-owned and operated state-chartered banks in the 1960s, the Bank of Finance in Los Angeles in 1964 and the Freedom Bank of Finance in Portland, Oregon in 1968. Both banks were the first of their kind in their respective cities and among the … Read MoreOnie Burnett Granville (1916-1998)
Pioneering physician–physicist Roderic I. Pettigrew was born in Waynesboro, Georgia, on March 26, 1951, one of the three children of Dr. Cleveland W. Pettigrew, president of Fort Valley State University from 1973 to 1982, and the former Edwina l. Phinazee. An exceptional student at Monroe High School in Albany, Georgia, … Read MoreRoderic Ivan Pettigrew (1951- )
George Goldsby, a.k.a. George Gooseby, a.k.a. William Scott, was a veteran of the Union Army and a sergeant in the Tenth U.S. Cavalry (“buffalo soldiers”). His involvement in a shooting incident near Fort Concho, Texas and subsequent disappearance created an aura of frontier mystery surrounding his name. Goldsby appeared as … Read MoreGeorge Goldsby (1843-1922)
Johnnie Harrison Taylor was an R&B and gospel singer prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. His career crossed genres and generations spanning around four decades and resulting in three Grammy nominations. He has released dozens of albums and was inducted in to the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 1999. Taylor was born … Read MoreJohnnie Harrison Taylor (1934-2000)
Morris Overstreet was the first African American in Texas state history to be elected to a statewide office and the second (after Judge Louis Sturns) to sit on one of the two highest courts in the state, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. Overstreet was born on … Read MoreMorris Overstreet (1950-2024)
Billy King Solomon is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General. Born November 16, 1944 in Oakwood, Freestone County, Texas, he attended Prairie View A&M University and graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture. While at Prairie View he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps … Read MoreBilly King Solomon (1944- )
Drusilla Elizabeth (née Tandy) Nixon, civil rights activist, community advocate, and music educator, was born on July 15, 1899 in Toledo, Ohio, the daughter of Maud Grant Tandy and John Clifford Tandy. She attended Toledo’s Waite High where she was the only black student in her class. Drusilla wrote for the school magazine, … Read MoreDrusilla Elizabeth Tandy Nixon (1899-1990)
Lieutenant General Alonzo Earl Short, Jr. was at one point one of the highest-ranking African American officers on active duty in the Untied States Army. Short’s responsibilities during his service included managing the communications systems between the White House and various military branches. Short was born … Read MoreAlonzo Earl Short, Jr. (?- )
Justice Adrienne C. Nelson is the first African American justice on the Oregon State Supreme Court, having been appointed on January 2, 2018. Justice Nelson graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with degrees in English and Criminal Justice and earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University … Read MoreAdrienne C. Nelson (1967- )
Carolyn Downs was a member of the Seattle, Washington Chapter of the Black Panther Party (SCBPP) founded by Elmer and Aaron Dixon in 1968. She was born on May 18, 1953 in Marshall, Texas as the 13th child in a family of 16 children. Her parents moved the family from Texas to Seattle in … Read MoreCarolyn Downs (1953-1978)
