Francis Lewis Cardozo was a minister, educator, and politician, who was born free in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 1, 1836. Cardozo was of mixed ancestry, as his father, Isaac Nunez Cardozo, was a Sephardic Jew, and his mother, Lydia Williams Weston, was a free … Read MoreFrancis Cardozo (1836-1903)
Lonna Romaine Hooks is an attorney and the first Black secretary of state for New Jersey. Hooks was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father was head of the art department at Fisk University, and the Hooks family lived on campus. While attending her … Read MoreLonna Hooks (1959- )
Carmen Arlene Balthrop-Delaney, soprano and arts advocate, was born May 14, 1948, in Washington, D.C., to John W. Balthrop, who was employed by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Printing Office, and Clementine E. Jordan Balthrop, a homemaker. Carmen was the youngest and only … Read MoreCarmen Balthrop (1948-2021)
Fulfilling a dream he held onto for nearly a decade, on September 23, 2020, three-star Gen. Richard M. Clark, at a ceremony in Falcon Stadium, took command as top administrator of the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in … Read MoreRichard Milo Clark (1964- )
Dr. Herbert Charles Smitherman Sr. was a chemist and the first African American to be employed at Proctor & Gamble as a doctorate-level employee. He helped improve formulas for products such as Crest toothpaste, Bounce fabric softeners, Folgers’ coffee, and Safeguard soap. Smitherman was born … Read MoreHerbert Charles Smitherman Sr. (1937-2010)
African investment banker Tidjane Thiam who was co-CEO of Credit Suisse from 2015 to 2020, was born one of seven children into a politically prominent family in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) on July 29, 1962. His father, Amadou Anna Thiam, was a journalist and … Read MoreTidjane Thiam (1962- )
The academic historian and university administrator Julius Franklin Nimmons Jr. was born on September 11, 1939, in Danville, Virginia, to Julius Franklin Nimmons Sr. from Scotia, South Carolina, and Mozella Flannagan of Danville. He has two sisters. Nimmons graduated from Langston High School in the … Read MoreJulius Franklin Nimmons Jr. (1939- )
Dr. Chester Brown is a medical geneticist who currently serves as the St. Jude Chair of Excellence in Genetics, the Division Chief of Genetics at the University of Tennessee Health Center, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and is a professor of pediatrics, genetics, … Read MoreChester Brown (1963- )
In the article below, attorney and Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Contributor Robert Gray describes the founding and early history of the oldest Black think tank in the United States. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (formerly the Joint Center for … Read MoreThe Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies: A Brief History
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, environmental strategist, and policy expert. Born on August 23, 1980 to a teacher and an architect, Johnson was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Johnson earned a BA in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University in 2002. … Read MoreAyana E. Johnson (1980- )
