Former University President Ivory Vance Nelson was born on June 11th, 1934 in Curtiss, Louisiana. Not much is available about Nelson’s youth. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Curtiss in 1951 at the age of 16 and then enlisted in the U.S. … Read MoreIvory V. Nelson (1934- )
Donald Dean Haley, was an attorney King County Superior Court judge, one of thirteen founders and past president of the Loren Miller Bar Association, formerly the Loren Miller Bar Club (a black legal association), and a lifelong member and former president of the Seattle-King County … Read MoreDonald Dean Haley (1932-2018)
Russell Westbrook III is American basketball player who played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston (Texas) Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Westbrook was born on November 12, 1988 to Russell Westbrook Jr. and Shannon Horton in Long Beach, California. Westbrook attended Leuzinger … Read MoreRussell Westbrook III (1988- )
Garlin Gilchrist is a politician, entrepreneur, and activist serving as the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. Gilchrist was born September 25, 1982, in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Farmington High School, in Farmington, Michigan. He then attended University of Michigan College of Engineering, graduating with … Read MoreGarlin Gilchrist (1982- )
John H. Vassall, MD is an internal medicine physician in Seattle, Washington. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Victoria and John Vassall, immigrants from St. Elizabeth parish, Jamaica, he was educated entirely at public schools and universities. After graduation from Brooklyn Technical High School he … Read MoreJohn H. Vassall (1950- )
John Brooks Slaughter is an electrical engineer, retired university president, college professor, and the first African American to serve as the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Slaughter was born on March 16, 1934 in Topeka, Kansas to Reuben Brooks Slaughter, a laborer, and … Read MoreJohn Brooks Slaughter (1934- )
Zula Swanson, an enterprising business owner and real estate developer, became one of the largest landowners in the state of Alaska. Swanson was born in Jackson Gap, Alabama in 1891. Little is known of her early life except that she worked on a cotton plantation, … Read MoreZula Swanson (1891-1973)
Manuel Ellis was a 33-year old church musician who died during an arrest by police officers in Tacoma, Washington on March 3, 2020. Ellis was born in 1987 as the middle child of three siblings and grew up in Tacoma and Lakewood, Washington. Known as … Read MoreManuel Ellis (1987-2020)
Nissim Baruch Black, formerly known as D. Black, is an African American Jewish rapper who now lives in Israel. Nissim, whose real name is Damian Jamohl Black, was born on December 9, 1986 to James “Captain” Church Croone and Mia Black in Seattle, Washington. Nissim’s … Read MoreNissim Black (1986- )
In 1966 Huey Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panther Party (BPP) to fight police oppression of blacks in Oakland, California. Two years later the BPP started Peoples’ Free Medical Clinics (PFMC) because of systemic discrimination against blacks in hospitals and private medical practices. … Read MoreBlack Panther Party’s Free Medical Clinics (1969-1975)
