Mark Damone Johnson is a professor of neurological surgery and Senior Consulting Vice Provost for Mentorship, Leadership and Transformation at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the UMass Memorial Medical Center. Previously, he was an associate … Read MoreMark D. Johnson (?- )
Ball handling wizard Elgin “Rabbit” Baylor was born Elgin Gay Baylor on September 16, 1934, in Washington, D.C. to John Wesley Baylor from Caroline County, Virginia, and Uzziel Lewis Baylor from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. His brothers were John L. Baylor and Kermit Baylor, and his … Read MoreElgin “Rabbit” Baylor (1934-2021)
Although Black Americans have lived on the outskirts of major American cities since colonial times, Black suburbanization, that is the significant presence of African Americans in suburban communities, is a post-1960 phenomenon. The modern American suburb is a 20th century development as homebuilders, responding to … Read MoreA Brief History of African American Suburbanization
William Amos Craven was the first African American elected as mayor in the state of Washington. He was appointed in 1975 and later elected in 1976 as mayor of the town of Roslyn, Washington. William Craven was born September 18, 1938 the son of Samuel … Read MoreWilliam Amos Craven (1938- )
Over a century before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened colleges and universities to all students, public and private colleges were established in the United States to meet the educational needs of African Americans. These institutions, now called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), … Read MoreBlack Collegiate Education in the United States (1828-2019)
Theo Shaw is the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Shaw obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2012. He attended the University of Washington School of Law beginning in … Read MoreTheo Shaw (1989- )
On May 18, 2021, longtime University of Washington Professor Emeritus Thaddeus Spratlen died in Seattle, Washington at the age of 90. Few people knew his name, but his work transformed black economics in the United States. In the article below, Professor William Bradford, former Dean … Read MoreThaddeus H. Spratlen: Scholar and Philanthropist Generating Economic Change in Black America
Who are they: Charles Mitchell was born into slavery in 1847 on the Marengo Plantation in Maryland. He was born to a free white man, also named Charles Mitchell, and a slave woman whose name is unknown. In 1855, he was brought to the Washington … Read MoreCharles Mitchell, Slavery, and Washington Territory in 1860 [Children’s Edition]
Grafton Tyler Brown was a cartographer, lithographer, and painter, widely considered the first professional African American artist in California. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1841, Brown learned lithography in Philadelphia and then became part of a cohort of African Americans who sought better economic and … Read MoreGrafton Tyler Brown (1841-1918)
What happened Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is an African American viral immunologist on the front lines of the global research for a COVID-19 vaccine. Unlike the common flu, COVID-19 has a significantly higher death rate which has caused a pandemic that has killed millions around the … Read MoreKizzmekia Corbett (1986- ) [Children’s Edition]
