John C. Norman Jr: Cardiovascular Surgeon and Artificial Heart Pioneer

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John C. Norman Jr: Cardiovascular Surgeon and Artificial Heart Pioneer

John C. Norman Jr., a pioneer cardiovascular surgeon was born May 11, 1929, in Charleston, West Virginia. His mother Ruth Stephenson Norman was a longtime educator in Kanawha County; his father John Norman Sr. was an architect and structural engineer. Norman graduated valedictorian from Garnet High School in 1946. He enrolled at Howard University, later []

Source: Black Then

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Wright, Jeremiah A. (1941-- )

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1941 to Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr., a Baptist minister who served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Germantown, and Mary Henderson Wright. Wright completed primary and secondary school in that city and in

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Jones, John Melvin (1944- )

John Melvin Jones was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Guyana in 2008. Nominated by President George W. Bush on June 30, 2008, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and arrived in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, on October 8 of that year. Due to health issues, the result of injuries sustained while

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Sowande, Olufela (Fela) Obafunmilayo (1905-1987)

Musician, composer, professor, and conductor Fela Sowande was born May 1905 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was the son of Emmanuel Sowande, who was an Anglican priest and influential in the development of Nigerian sacred music. Fela Sowande was a musician and composer of music in the classical

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Brooke, Edward, III (1919-2015)

Edward William Brooke III was the first African American to be elected by popular vote to the United States Senate. Brooke, an African American, Protestant Republican, won elective office in the overwhelmingly white, Catholic, Democratic state of Massachusetts and emerged as a leader in the US

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Charlotte Ray (First African American Woman Lawyer)

Dates: January 13, 1850 - January 4, 1911

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Jan

13

1850

Harris, Patricia Roberts (1924-1985)

Patricia Roberts Harris was born on May 31, 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois. She excelled academically and received a scholarship to Howard University. During her time at Howard, Roberts was elected Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1945. While she was in college Roberts participated in

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Source: Black Past

Mar

23

1985

Ralph J. Bunche

Ralph J. Bunche, director of the UN Trusteeship division and former professor of political science at Howard University, awarded the Nobel Peace prize (September 22) for successful mediation of the Palestine conflict. He was the first Black to receive a Nobel citation.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

27

1950

Jenkins, Joseph Charles (1914-1959)

Joseph Charles Jenkins, the first African American naval officer, paved the way for the beginning of desegregation in the United States Coast Guard. Jenkins was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1914. Unfortunately, there is little information regarding his

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Evans, Annie/Evanti, Lillian (1891-1967)

Lillian (Evans) Evanti, one of the first African American women to become an internationally prominent opera performer, was born in Washington D.C. in 1891. Evanti was born into a prominent Washington, D.C. family. Her father, Wilson Evans, was a medical doctor and teacher in the city. He was

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Dec

6

1967

Reed, Frankie A. (1954- )

Frankie Annette Reed is a career Foreign Service officer who has held a variety of diplomatic postings in Europe, Africa, and Pacific Island nations. Between 2011 and 2013, she served as concurrent Ambassador to the Republic of the Fiji Islands, the Republic of Nauru, the Kingdom of

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Dorothy Height - Visionary

Dorothy Height was born on this

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

12

1912

N. Anthony Coles

N. Anthony Coles, M.D. is Founding Investor, Chairman & CEO of Yumanity Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company focused on transforming drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, Coles was Chairman and CEO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by

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Jamaican students fear for future after ICE declaration - Stabroek News

(Jamaica Star) Tahj-jai Sharpe, a Jamaican at the Howard University in Washington DC, in the US, had made plans to advance into post-grad school, but he is now worried about his future. The article Jamaican students fear for future after ICE declaration appeared first on Stabroek News.

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Born on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio as Chloe Anthony Wofford, Toni Morrison is an American author, editor and professor who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature for being an author “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of

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Source: Black History Resources

Feb

18

1931

Fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, founded at Howard University, 1914

Fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, founded at Howard University, 1914

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Jan

9

1914

Norman, Jessye (1945- )

Best known as an opera singer, Jessye Norman has also lent her rich, dramatic, and powerful voice to recordings and recitals of spirituals and hymns– including a particularly compelling version of “Amazing Grace” and Christmas carols, in addition to recording jazz. She has never limited

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Sep

11

2001

Brazeal, Aurelia Erskine (1943- )

Ambassador Aurelia Erskine Brazeal was a career diplomat and the first black woman to be named ambassador by three Presidents. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush appointed her ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. Three years later President Bill Clinton named her ambassador to

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(1994) General Colin Powell Urges African American Students to Reject Racial Hatred

By 1994 Colin Powell, the son of a Jamaica-born Harlem merchant, had already served as National Security Adviser to President George Herbert Walker Bush and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War. He would become the first African American Secretary of State in 2001 under

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May

14

1994

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. founded

Zeta Phi Beta sorority, with the help of Phi Beta Sigma Robert Samuel Taylor, was founded at Howard University by Arizona Stemmons, Myrtle Faithful, Pearl A. Neal, Fannie Watts and VIola Goings.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

20

1920

Davis, Ruth A. (1943 - )

At the time of her retirement from the United States Foreign Service in 2009, Ambassador Ruth A. Davis was the longest serving Career Ambassador and at the rank of Director General of the Foreign Service, had achieved the highest ranking position in the Foreign Service. She was also the first

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Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author and anthropologist of the 19th century. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama. Her parents John and Lucy Ann Hurston were former slaves. John Hurston was a pastor and he moved his family to Florida when Zora was still a young child. He

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

7

1891

Winters, Lawrence (1915–1965)

Lawrence Winters was born Lawrence Whisonant on November 12, 1915, in Kings Creek, South Carolina, one of three sons of Eliza Whisonant (née Smith) and Marion Frank Whisonant, a farmer. He took private voice lessons before entering Howard University where he was coached by the distinguished African

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Sep

24

1965

Left of Black with Khalil Muhammad and Ben Carrington

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Atkinson, Kelvin (1969- )

A Democratic member of the Nevada Senate, Kelvin Atkinson made history in April 2013 by becoming the fifth openly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) member, and the first black gay member of the Nevada legislature. He revealed his sexual orientation during a legislative debate surrounding

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2014

When Patricia Era Bath was born on November 4, 1942, she could have succumbed to the pressures and stresses associated with growing up in Harlem, New York. With the uncertainty present because of World War II and the challenges for members of Black communities in the 1940′s, one might little expect

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Nov

26

2012

Brown, Wesley (1927-2012)

Wesley Brown earned distinction in 1949 as the first African American to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. Wesley Brown grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended Dunbar High School. A “voracious reader,” Brown joined the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History

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Source: Black Past

Sullivan, Louis Wade (1933- )

After witnessing poverty and discrimination in Depression-era Georgia, Louis Wade Sullivan committed his career to education and public service, rising to become Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush. He also was the founder and long-time president of Morehouse

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Dr. Herman Branson -- Physicist, Chemist

Born: August 14, 1914

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

14

1914

A Black scientist helped save thousands of lives

A Black scientist helped save thousands of lives during World War II. Dr. Charles Richard Drew set up and ran the pioneer blood plasma bank in Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. This bank served as one of the models for the system of banks operated later by the American Red Cross. On October

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1

1940

Taylor, Teddy B. (1953- )

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1953, Teddy Bernard Taylor graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Florida A&M University in 1975. During his time in Tallahassee, Taylor became a member of the Omega Psi Phi

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