On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, an African American man, was left paralyzed after being shot by a white police officer in front of an apartment complex in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While there are conflicting details surrounding Blake’s arrest, the incident occurred during the aftermath of … Read MoreJacob Blake (1991- )
Mandela Barnes is a Democratic politician, former state representative for Madison, Wisconsin, and the 45th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Barnes was born on December 1, 1986, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in one city’s poorest sections and in a zip code that has one of the highest … Read MoreMandela Barnes (1986- )
Lucius J. Barker was an African American political scientist who broke through racial barriers to become a leader in constitutional law, civil liberties, and African American politics. Born in Franklinton, Louisiana on June 11, 1928, Barker was the fifth of six children of teacher and … Read MoreLucius J. Barker (1928-2020)
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- )
Jessie Isabelle Price is known for her work as a veterinary microbiologist who developed vaccines to fight off organisms killing ducks and waterfowl. Born on January 1, 1930 in Montrose, Pennsylvania, she was raised by her single mother, Teresa Price who encouraged working hard in school. After … Read MoreJessie Isabelle Price (1930-2015)
Charles Edward Anderson, meteorologist, Air Force officer, and weather officer, was born August 13, 1919 in the inner suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri on a farm in University City. Both his mother and father were from Mississippi. Anderson resided in St. Louis until he graduated the valedictorian of the Sumner High … Read MoreCharles Edward Anderson (1919-1994)
Harry S. McAlpin was the first African-American reporter to attend a press conference at the White House. McAlpin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 21, 1906. He grew up in St. Louis and then attended the University of Wisconsin where he studied journalism and advertising and received his degree … Read MoreHarry S. McAlpin (1906-1985)
Louis Bennett Butler, Jr. became the first black justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2004 and served on the court until 2008. Butler also became Wisconsin’s first Public Defender to ever argue before the United States Supreme Court in 1988 during the trial of McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of … Read MoreLouis B. Butler, Jr. (1952- )
Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on December 30, 1949, Tom Colbert was the first African American Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Raised by his single mother, Edith Colbert, with four other siblings, he grew up in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, a small town near Oklahoma City, and graduated from … Read MoreTom Colbert (1949- )
For more than 25 years the Innocence Project has been shedding light on systemic failures of the United States criminal justice system. The authors of the Bill of Rights in the 1780s and 1790s enumerated more than a dozen specific protections for criminal defendants including the right … Read MoreThe Innocence Project: A Short History Since 1983
