August 4, 1961 Barack Hussein Obama II, the first African American President of the United States, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a specialty in international relations from Columbia University in 1983. From 1985 to 1988, he worked as a community organizer for the Developing […]
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August 3rd in African American History – Roland Wallace Burris
August 3, 1937 Roland Wallace Burris, the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois, was born in Centralia, Illinois. Burris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Southern Illinois University in 1959 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Howard University School of Law in 1963. After graduating from law […]
August 1st in African American History – Ronald Harmon Brown
August 1, 1941 Ronald Harmon Brown, the first and only African American to serve as United States Secretary of Commerce, was born in Washington, D.C. Brown earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 1962. He served in the United States Army from 1963 to 1967 rising to the rank of captain, and […]
July 30th in African American History – John Garang de Mabior
July 30, 2005 John Garang de Mabior, Sudanese politician and rebel leader, died in a helicopter crash. Garang was born June 23, 1945 in Bor, Sudan. In 1962, he joined the first Sudanese civil war, but, because he was so young, the leaders encouraged him to pursue an education. He went on to earn his […]
July 21st in African American History – Albert John Lutuli
July 21, 1967 Albert John Lutuli, South African teacher and politician, died. Lutuli was born around 1898 in Bulawayo, South Rhodesia. After completing a teaching course, Lutuli began running a small primary school in the Natal uplands. In 1920, he received a government scholarship to attend a higher teacher’s training course at Adams College and […]
July 20th in African American History – Everett Frederick Morrow
July 20, 1994 Everett Frederick Morrow, businessman and the first African American to hold an executive position at the White House, died. Morrow was born April 20, 1906 in Hackensack, New Jersey. Morrow graduated from Bowdoin College in 1930 and was employed by the National Urban League and the NAACP as field secretary before entering […]
July 18th in African American History – Martha Rose Reeves
July 18, 1941 Martha Rose Reeves, R&B singer and former politician, was born in Eufaula, Alabama but raised in Detroit, Michigan. In 1957, Reeves formed a vocal group called the Del-Phis with three other female teenagers and they recorded one single, “I’ll Let You Know”, in 1961. In 1962, the group, minus one member, signed […]