October 17, 1956 Mae Carol Jemison, physician and the first African American woman to travel in space, was born in Decatur, Alabama. Jemison entered Stanford University at the age of 16 and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in African and Afro-American Studies. She earned […]
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October 16th in African American History – Leon Howard Sullivan
October 16, 1922 Leon Howard Sullivan, minister, civil rights leader and activist, was born in Charleston, West Virginia. Sullivan became a Baptist minister at 18 and moved to New York where he graduated from the Union Theological Seminary in 1945 and earned a Master’s in Religion from Columbia University in 1947.
October 16th in African American History – Arthur Art Blakey
October 16, 1990 Arthur “Art” Blakey, jazz drummer and bandleader, died. Blakey was born October 11, 1919 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By the time he was a teenager he was playing the piano full-time and leading a commercial band. Shortly afterwards, he taught himself to play the drums. In 1947, Blakey recorded with a group led […]
October 15th in African American History – The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
October 15, 1966 The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. In 1967, the organization marched on the California State Capitol to protest a selective ban on weapons and they published their official newspaper “The Black Panther.” By 1968, the party had expanded into many […]
October 15th in African American History – Ernest C. Withers
October 15, 2007 Ernest C. Withers, photojournalist, died. Withers was born August 7, 1922 in Memphis, Tennessee. He worked as a photographer in the United States Army during World War II and opened a studio in Memphis when he returned. He also worked for three years as one of the first African American police officers […]
October 14th in African American History – Oscar McKinley Charleston
October 14, 1896 Oscar McKinley Charleston, Negro League baseball player and manager, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Charleston joined the U. S. Army at the age of 15 and served in the Philippines. He began his professional baseball career in 1915 with the Indianapolis ABC’s and over his career he had a .348 batting average […]
October 14th in African American History – Julius Kambarage Nyerere
October 14, 1999 Julius Kambarage Nyerere, first President of Tanganyika (now known as Tanzania), died. Nyerere was born April 13, 1922 and received a scholarship to attend Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda where he earned a teaching diploma. He taught biology and English for three years before getting a scholarship to attend the University of […]