The novelist William Edward Demby Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Christmas day, 1922, to William and Gertrude Demby. He was raised in their family of seven children in the Fairywood district of Pittsburgh’s West Side. The family moved to Clarksburg, West Virginia, shortly after Demby’s graduation … Read MoreWilliam Demby (1922-2013)
Vasco De Gama Hale, educator, blinded veterans’ association organizer, and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official, was born in Crawford, Mississippi, to Brotop and Jane Hale on February 16, 1915. His father, Brotop, toiled as a sharecropper for a short time … Read MoreVasco De Gama Hale (1915-2002)
Vernon Napoleon Johns was an American minister and civil rights activist. Johns was best known as the predecessor to Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1948–1953. Johns was born in Darlington Heights, Prince Edward County, … Read MoreVernon Napoleon Johns (1892-1965)
Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was a teacher who became a leading mathematical engineer in the first aerospace program with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and the first African American woman promoted to supervisor in the program. Vaughan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on … Read MoreDorothy Johnson Vaughan (1910-2008)
Katherine Goble Johnson, heralded as the first African American woman in Aerospace Engineering, was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, a city where schooling for “colored” people ended with the eighth grade. In 1937, she graduated summa cum laude (with … Read MoreKatherine Goble Johnson (1918-2020)
Marcenia Lyle “Toni” Stone Alberga was the first of three African American women to play professionally in the Negro Leagues. She was born on July 17, 1921, in Bluefield, West Virginia. Her parents, Willa and Boykin Stone, moved the family to St. Paul, Minnesota, when … Read MoreToni Stone (1921-1996)
“Image Ownership: Ashley Schumaker” In August 2021 Dr. Brian O’Harold Hemphill will become the first black president of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He has previously served as president of Radford University in Radford, Virginia from 2016 to 2021 and was the tenth president … Read MoreBrian O’Harold Hemphill (1969– )
Oscar Wayman Holmes Jr., the first African American commissioned officer in the United States Navy and its first black aircraft pilot, was also the first black air traffic controller. Born January 31, 1916, he was the son of Oscar Sr. and Grace Holmes of Dunbar, … Read MoreOscar Wayman Holmes Jr. (1916-2001)
Roger D. Pierce, U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Pierce earned his B.A. degree in Spanish Language and Latin American Studies at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. He received his M.A. in Latin American Literature at the University … Read MoreRoger Dwayne Pierce (1951- )
Arlene Render became a Foreign Service officer in 1970 and has since served in many influential positions in the U.S. Department of State, including as Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, and ambassador to Gambia, Zambia, and Ivory Coast. In 1994-1995, Render played … Read MoreArlene Render (1943- )
