October 24, 2005 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, the Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement, died. Parks was born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to obey a bus drivers order to give up her seat to a White passenger and was arrested. Her arrest […]
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October 23rd in African American History – Paul Kagame
October 23, 1957 Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, was born in Ruhango, Rwanda. Kagame began his military career in 1979 when he joined the National Resistance Army (NRA) and spent years fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Uganda. In 1985, Kagame co-founded the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) political party. In […]
October 23rd in African American History – Michael Eric Dyson
October 23, 1958 Michael Eric Dyson, academic, author, and minister, was born in Detroit, Michigan. Dyson received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Carson-Newman College in 1982 and his masters and Ph.D from Princeton University in 1991 and 1993, respectively. Dyson is a longtime professor, lecturer and author who address’ issues of […]
October 22nd in African American History – Cleavon Jake Little
October 22, 1992 Cleavon Jake Little, film and stage actor, died. Little was born June 1, 1939 in Chickasha, Oklahoma. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dramatic Arts from San Diego State University and received a full scholarship to graduate school at Juilliard. After completing Juilliard, he trained at the American Academy of […]
October 22nd in African American History – Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr.
October 22, 2004 Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr., the first African American in the United States Navy to be commissioned an officer, died. Gravely was born June 4, 1922 in Richmond, Virginia. He enlisted in the Naval Reserves in 1942 and in 1944 successfully completed midshipman training, becoming the first African American commissioned as an officer […]
October 21st in African American History – Valerie Thomas
October 21, 1980 Valerie Thomas received patent number 4,229,761 for her invention of the Illusion Transmitter which allowed the user to render three dimensional illusions in real-time. Thomas was born in May, 1943 and graduated from Morgan State University with a degree in physics. She went to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration […]
October 21st in African American History – Charles Edward Anderson
October 21, 1994 Charles Edward Anderson, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Meteorology, died. Anderson was born August 13, 1919 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from Lincoln University in 1941. After graduating, Anderson enlisted in the United States Air Force and was sent to […]