Ernest Adolphus Finney, Jr. was the first African American elected to the South Carolina General Assembly, the first African American Circuit Court Judge in South Carolina, and the first chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. Finney was born in Smithfield, Virginia in 1931, the son of Ernest A., Sr. … Read MoreFinney, Ernest Adolphus, Jr. (1931-2017)
Operatic soprano Camilla Williams was born October 18, 1919, in Danville, Virginia to Fannie Carey Williams and Cornelius Booker Williams. The youngest of four siblings, Williams began singing at a young age and was performing at her local church by age eight. At age 12, she began taking … Read MoreCamilla Williams (1919-2012)
Albert Turner Reid, born in Hampton, Virginia, November 13, 1927, the son of William Thaddeus Reid and Mae Elaine Beamon Reid, was a renowned mathematician who earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University in 1949 but never completed a graduate degree in his chosen field, believing further supervised study … Read MoreAlbert T. Bharucha-Reid (1927-1985)
Lieutenant General Larry R. Jordan is a former Army officer, former Senior Vice President of Burdeshaw Associates, Ltd., and current Principal of LNJ Group, LLC. Jordan served for 35 years as member of the U.S. Army, completing two active combat tours in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm(Iraq). Jordan ended his … Read MoreLarry R. Jordan (1946- )
Linton Kwesi Johnson, political activist, poet and reggae artist, was born in Chapelton, Jamaica in 1952. After his parents’ divorce, Johnson was raised by his grandmother. Johnson left his small parish in 1963 and moved to London, UK to be with his mother, where he attended Tulse Hill secondary school. Johnson became increasingly aware … Read MoreLinton Kwesi Johnson (1952– )
Major General Marcelite J. Harris of the U.S. Air Force was born on January 16, 1943 in Houston, Texas to Cecil O’Neal Jordan and Marcelite Terrill Jordan, Harris grew up in Houston and graduated from Kashmere High School in 1960 before enrolling at Spelman College where she earned a bachelors in … Read MoreMarcelite J. Harris (1943- )
Rev. T. J. Jemison With Students at Southern University Who Had Just Been Released From Jail for Civil Rights Protest, 1960 Image Ownership: Public domain Rev. Theodore Judson Jemison was a civil rights leader and president of the National Baptist Convention. He was responsible for leading the Baton Rouge Bus … Read MoreTheodore Judson Jemison (1918-2013)
Frank M. Snowden, Jr. was a distinguished historian, professor, and diplomat most notably in the area the lives of blacks in the ancient world. Of his many esteemed works, Blacks in Antiquity is his most significant scholarship. Snowden was born on July 17, 1911, in York County, Virginia. His family moved to … Read MoreFrank M. Snowden, Jr. (1911-2007)
Joseph Paul Reason was the first African American to attain the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy. Reason was born March 22, 1941, in Washington, D.C., the son of Howard University librarian and French language professor Joseph Henry Reason, and schoolteacher Bernice … Read MoreJoseph Paul Reason (1941- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Physicist and university administrator Robert Ambrose Thornton was born in Houston, Texas, on May 6, 1902 to Frank Thornton, a laborer, and the former Mary Jane Sullivan, a midwife. Thornton attended Houston Colored High School but later graduated from Los Angeles … Read MoreRobert Ambrose Thornton (1902-1982)