November 29, 1997 Coleman Alexander Young, Detroit’s first African American Mayor, died. Young was born May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He moved to Detroit in 1923 and graduated from Eastern High School. During World War II, he served in the 477th Medium-Bomber Group, Tuskegee Airmen, as a bombardier and navigator and played a role […]
About Chimsima Zuhri
November 28th in African American History – Ernest Davis
November 28, 1961 Ernest Davis became the first African American to be awarded the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player of the year. Davis was born December 14, 1939 in New Salem, Pennsylvania, but raised in Elmira, New York. He attended Syracuse University where he was a running back from 1959 to 1961, winning […]
November 28th in African American History – Elbert Frank Cox
November 28, 1969 Elbert Frank Cox, the first black person in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, died. Cox was born December 5, 1895 in Evansville, Indiana. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Indiana in 1917. After serving in the United States Army in France […]
November 27th in African American History – Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard
November 27, 1997 Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard, hall of fame Negro league baseball player, died. Leonard was born September 8, 1907 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He left school at the age of 14 because no high school education was available to black children in his hometown.
November 27th in African American History – William Karnet Willis
November 27, 2007 William Karnet Willis, hall of fame football player, died. Willis was born October 5, 1921 in Columbus, Ohio. He played college football at Ohio State University and in 1944 was named an All-American. After graduating in 1945, Willis took a job as the head football coach at Kentucky State College.
November 26th in African American History – Vivien Theodore Thomas
November 26, 1985 Vivien Theodore Thomas, surgical technician and animal surgeon, died. Thomas was born August 29, 1910 in New Iberia, Louisiana. After graduating from high school, he had hoped to go to college and become a doctor. However, the Great Depression derailed his plans and in 1930 he secured a job with Dr. Alfred […]
November 26th in African American History – Ed Wilson
November 26, 1996 Ed Wilson, sculptor, died. Wilson was born March 28, 1925 in Baltimore, Maryland. After serving in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946, Wilson earned his Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1953. Wilson’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement is apparent in his works like “Minority […]