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Janet Mock is an African American, Hawaiian, and Transgendered person. She was born on March 3, 1983 in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised there and in Oakland, California and Dallas, Texas as Charles Mock III. Her father is Charles Mock II and her mother is Elizabeth … Read MoreJanet Mock (1983- )

Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester has served in the cabinet of two Delaware governors, including five years as Deputy Secretary of Health and Social Services and three years as the Secretary of Labor for Governor Tom Carper, and as State Personnel Director for Governor Ruth Ann … Read MoreLisa Blunt Rochester (1962- )

Julius “Nipsey” Russell was a comedian, dancer, and poet. Russell was born on October 13, 1924 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother gave him the nickname Nipsey, and he embraced it because he liked the way it sounded. Russell attended Booker T. Washington High School in … Read MoreNipsey Russell (1918-2005)

James Richardson Bacote was an artist, preservationist, historian and co-founder of the Geechee Kunda Cultural Center in Georgia. Bacote was born on December 18, 1948 in Brunswick, Georgia, to Sally and James Bacote Sr. He attended local schools on the Georgia Coast, as well as … Read MoreJames R. Bacote II (1948-2018)

Reconstruction-Era Attorney Joseph E. Lee was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 15, 1849. Lee graduated from Howard University’s law school in 1873 and then moved to Florida where he was admitted to the state bar and became Jacksonville, Florida’s first African American lawyer. Lee, … Read MoreJoseph E. Lee (1849-1920)

William F. Powell, a late 19th Century politician, was born in Troy, New York on June 26, 1848. When he was young, his family moved to New York City where he attended public schools. Powell had a diverse education as a young man. He attended … Read MoreWilliam F. Powell (1848-1920)

Irene Amos Morgan Kirkaldy was a civil rights activist who won her 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case in Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which declared interstate transport racial segregation to be unconstitutional, nearly a decade before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Irene Amos was born … Read MoreIrene Morgan Kirkaldy (1917-2007)

Andrew Demese Gillum served as the 126th Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida the 2018 election. Gillum was born on July 26, 1979 in Miami, Florida. His father Charles was a construction worker, and his mother Frances was … Read MoreAndrew D. Gillum (1979- )

Victorine Quille Adams was a Baltimore Public School teacher, business manager of the Charm Center, Founder of the Colored Women’s Democratic Campaign Committee, Co-Founder of Woman Power, Incorporated, and first African American Baltimore City Councilwoman. She was a native Baltimorean whose contributions sought to improve … Read MoreVictorine Quille Adams (1912-2006)