African American Biographies

8/12/2019 African American Biographies

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African American Biographies

Rebecca Cole (18461922) was the second African-American female doctor. She graduated in 1867 from the

Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania and received her clinical training at Elizabeth Blackwells New

York Infirmary for Women and Children. In 1873, she opened a Women's Directory Center to provide medical

and legal services to poor women and children. She practiced medicine for over 50 years working primarily

with needy women and children. Only a few records of her accomplishments survive and no images of her

remain.

Daniel Louis Armstrong(August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) was a great jazz trumpet

player, composer, and singer. He was nicknamed Satchmo because some people said

that his mouth was like a satchel. Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and

soon became a well-known cornet player in clubs and on riverboats along the

Mississippi River. He became world famous for his incredible musical talent, especially his improvised solos.

Armstrong also sang "scat," a style in which nonsense words are used in a song. Armstrong was featured in

many recordings, television shows, and movies. Armstrong celebrated his birthday on July 4.

Blanche Kelso Bruce(March 1, 1841-1898) was the first African-American who served a

full term in the U.S. Senate. Senator Bruce was born a slave on the Farmville Plantation,

Virginia. He was educated by his owner's son, and he later went to Oberlin Colllege (in

Ohio). Bruce was a Republican senator representing Mississippi; he served from March 5,

1875 until March 3, 1881. During his term, Bruce fought for the rights of minority groups,including African-Americans, Native Americans, and Asian immigrants. After his term as

senator, Bruce was appointed registrar of the treasury. He rejected an offer of a ministerial appointment to

Brazil because slavery was still legal.

Dr. Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.(November 22, 1942) was the first African-American in

space. A NASA astronaut, he flew aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle mission STS-8 as a

mission specialist. The flight lasted from August 30, 1983, until September 5, 1983. Dr.

Bluford is an aerospace engineer with a Ph.D from the Air Force Institute of Technology.He is also a colonel in the US Air Force. He later flew on other space missions, and Bluford

has logged over 688 hours in space. Dr. Bluford became a NASA astronaut in August 1979.

Dr. Bluford is married and has two children.

Dr. Charles Richard Drew(June 3, 1904 - April 1, 1950) was an American medical

doctor and surgeon who started the idea of a blood bank and a system for the long-term


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preservation of blood plasma. His ideas changed the medical profession and have saved many, many lives. Dr.

Drew set up and operated the blood plasma bank at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, NY. Drew's

project was the model for the Red Cross' system of blood banks. Drew resigned his position as director after the

US War Department issued an order stating that blood taken from white donors should not be mixed with blood

taken from black donors. Dr. Drew strongly objected, and stated "the blood of individual human beings may

differ by blood groupings, but there is absolutely no scientific basis to indicate any difference in human bloodfrom race to race." Dr. Drew also formed Britain's blood bank system. A U.S. postage stamp was issued in 1981

to honor Dr. Drew.

Sarah E. Goode(1850-1905) was a businesswoman and inventor who was born into

slavery and freed after the Civil War. Goode invented the folding cabinet bed, a space-

saver that folded up against the wall into a cabinet. When folded up, it could be used as a

desk, complete with compartments for stationery and writing supplies. Goode owned a

furniture store in Chicago, Illinois, and invented the bed for people living in small

apartments. Goode's patent was the first one obtained by an African-American woman

inventor (patent #322,177, approved on July 14, 1885).

Mae Carol Jemison (October 17, 1956 - ) was the first African-American woman in space

Dr. Jemison is a medical doctor and a surgeon, with engineering experience. She was

accepted into NASA's astronaut program in 1987. In 1992, she flew on the space shuttle

Endeavor as the Mission Specialist. Jemison was the youngest of three children; she was

born in Decatur, Alabama, but was brought up in Chicago, Illinois. In 1977, she graduated

from Stanford University with degrees in chemical engineering and Afro-American studies.

She received a medical degree in 1981 from Cornell University. Dr. Jemison speaks fluent Russian, Japanese,

and Swahili. Jemison appeared on an episode of the TV show "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1993.Dr.

Jemison founded the International Science Camp in Chicago in 1994. Jamison has practiced medicine in

Western Africa and founded the Jemison Group to research an develop technology and the Jemison Institute for

Advanced Technology in Developing Countries at Dartmouth College.

Phillis Wheatley(1753-1784) was a young child when she was taken from

her family in Africa with about 80 other captured people on a slave ship. The

slave ship came to Boston, Massachusetts in 1761 and a man named John

Wheatley bought Phillis. When Phillis was fourteen she started to write poems.

She became famous for her poetry. People from other colonies came to meet


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the poet. In 1773, Phillis had a chance to go to England. She was not even 20 years old. She was able to get her

poems published. It was the first book ever published by a black person from North America. When Phillis

came back to America, Boston was caught up in the Revolutionary War. Phillis wrote a poem about George

Washington and sent it to him. General Washington wrote back to her and thought she was very talented. But

Phillis did not have an easy life. She was sick a lot and died when she was only 31 years old.

Madam C. J. Walker(December 23, 1867 - May 25, 1919) was an African-

American inventor, businesswoman and self-made millionaire. Her real name was

Sarah Breedlove Walker. She developed many beauty and hair care products that

were extremely popular. Madam Walker started her cosmetics business in 1905.

Her first product was a scalp treatment that used petrolatum and sulphur. She added

Madam to her name and began selling her new "Walker System" door-to-door. Walker soon added new

cosmetic products to her line. The products were very successful and she soon had many saleswomen, called

"Walker Agents," who sold her products door to door and to beauty salons.She settled briefly in Pittsburgh in1908, then established her permanent headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1910.Madam Walker eventually

became a millionaire from her business, which was at its peak from 1911 through 1922; she employed

thousands of people. Walker moved to New York in 1916 and became active in influencing the arts and

philanthropy.. The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company is no longer in business.

Maggie Lena Walker(July 15, 1867-December 15, 1934) was the first woman in the USA to become a local

bank president. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, to former slaves. In 1886, Maggie

married Armstead Walker, Jr. She worked first as a teacher, and then as an agent for the

Woman's Union Insurance Company, quickly rising to become the executive

secretary/treasurer of the company. She founded the newspaper, the St. Luke Herald, in

1902. In 1903, she started the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank and was its president. In 1929, atstart of the

economic depression, her bank bought all the local black-owned banks in town and renamed itself the

Consolidated Bank and Trust Company.

Elijah McCoy(May 2, 1844October 10, 1929) was born in Colchester,

Ontario. His parents, George and Emillia, were former slaves who escaped from

Kentucky via the Underground Railroad. His first invention, a lubricating cup

was used in steam cylinders of the trains and other machinery. Other inventors

tried to copy McCoy's oil-dripping cup. But none of the other cups worked as

well as his, so customers started asking for "the real McCoy." That's where the


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expression comes from. Some of Elijahs other inventions were the ironing board and the lawn sprinkler.

During his lifetime, Elijah was awarded over 57 patents and became known as one of the great Black inventors

of the 19th century.

Maya Angelouwas born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928. She was born and

raised in St. Louis, Arkansas. She overcame racial inequalities that existed during her

childhood to become a historian, producer, director, author, poet, playwright, and civil-

rights activist. Dr. Angelou travels and lectures worldwide. She is the author of ten

best-selling books and periodical publications. These publications have earned her

National Book Award nominations. In 1993, Maya Angelou composed and delivered a speech during former

President Bill Clintons first inauguration.Dr. Angelou speaks four languages: French, Italian, Spanish, andWest Fanti.

Mary McLeod Bethune(July 10, 1875May 18, 1955) was an educator and school founder

who served as an unofficial advisor on African-American issues to presidents Franklin D.

Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Born to parents who had grown up as slaves, Mary was the

only one of 17 children in her family to go to school. After attending Bible College in

Chicago, she dedicated herself to educating others. She founded Florida's Daytona Normal

and Industrial Institute for Girls in 1904. The school merged with the Cookman Institute for Men in 1923 and

became Bethune-Cookman College, one of the few black colleges in the country. In 1935 she founded the

National Council for Negro Women, and in 1936 she was appointed by President Roosevelt as the director of

the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, a post she held until 1943. She also served

as a consultant to the United Nations, and was a vice president of the National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People. One of the most famous black women leaders of her day, Bethune has been honored with a

memorial in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. (1974) and a U.S. postage stamp (1985).

Henry "Hank" Aaron (February 5, 1934 ) hit 755 home runs during his major league

baseball career, making him America's all-time home run leader for the next threedecades. Aaron hit number 715 on 8 April 1974, moving him past the record 714 career

homers of Babe Ruth. Much like Roger Maris, Aaron was criticized by some fans who

thought he was somehow unfitbreak Babe Ruths record.Aaron retired after the 1976

season, holding the all-time records for home runs (755) and RBIs (2297)and having played in a record 24 All-

Star Games. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982. Aaron published his autobiography, I Had a


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Hammer, in 1991. San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds passed Aaron's home run record by hitting his

756th home run on 7 August 2007.

Jackie Robinson(January 31, 1919October 24, 1972) was the first African-Americanto play in baseball's major leagues in the modern era. Only white players were accepted

in the major leagues until 1947, when Robinson was called up to play for the Brooklyn

Dodgers. He made his first major league appearance on 15 April 1947. Robinson was

named Rookie of the Year for 1947 and went on to appear in six World Series in ten

seasons with the Dodgers (1947-56). Other major league teams soon followed Brooklyn's lead and hired black

players of their own. Robinson's stellar play, and his role in breaking the color barrier, led to his 1962 induction

as the first African-American in baseball's Hall of Fame. In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of Robinson's first

year with the Dodgers, Major League Baseball permanently retired Robinson's uniform number, 42. He is the

only baseball player ever to have been so honored. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of

Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

The daughter of sharecroppers, Althea Gibson(August 25, 1927September 28, 2003)became a tennis sensation in the 1950s. Her 1956 triumph at the French Tennis

Championships (later known as the French Open) made her the first black woman ever to

win a major singles title. The next year she won singles titles at both Wimbledon and the

U.S. Championships, and repeated the feat in 1958. Gibson retired as an amateur after the

1958 season, having become an acclaimed public figure. She later toured as a celebrity with the Harlem

Globetrotters and then chose golf as a second career. She played on the LPGA tour from 1964-71. Gibson was

inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971.

Jesse Owensi(September 12, 1913March 31, 1980)was the son of a sharecropperand grandson of a slave. The seventh child of Henry and Emma Alexander Owens was

named James Cleveland when he was born in Alabama on September 12, 1913. "J.C.",

as he was called, was nine when the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where his newschoolteacher gave him the name that was to become known around the world. The

teacher was told "J.C." when she asked his name to enter in her roll book, but she thought he said "Jesse". The

name stuck and he would be known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life. Jesse Owens is best remembered for

winning four track and field gold medals at a single Olympics in 1936. The Summer Games that year were held

in Berlin, where Nazi leader Adolf Hitler seemed determined to display the superiority of the German "Aryan"

race. Owens, an African-American, put that notion to rest with victories in the 100- and 200-meter dash, the


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broad jump and the 4x100-meter relay. The performance made him both an Olympic hero and a lasting symbol

of black pride. In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Owens the prestigious Medal of Freedom.

Documents

African American Biographies