Since the beginning of time, many african americans have dedicated their time, sweat, blood, and tears to the progression of modern society, from our innovative inventions like the traffic light (Garrett Augustus Morgan), hair products (Madame C. J. Walker), or even dynamite (George Washington-Carver.) With iconic African Americans such as these who have paved the way for both global and national improvement whether mathematically, in the arts, or engineering . It would be simply be an amateurish mistake to ignore the contributions that Katherine Johnson has made to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Her calculations helped skyrocket the United States past Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the space race, as well as launch the first American man into space, and much more.
Born during the times of segregation and blatant and racist Jim Crow Laws, Katherine Johnson was birthed to Joylette and Joshua Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918. Her mother was a school teacher at the local school for negro children, and her father was a farmer and a janitor. She had three older brothers and was the youngest of four children. For fun, she enjoyed
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This was mainly because jobs for women, especially ones of color, rarely opened up for careers outside of those fields. One of her professors; Dr. W.W Schiefflin Clayton encouraged her to take more challenging math courses. At times, Mrs. Katherine was the only one taking such courses. In 1937, at the age of eighteen, Katherine Johnson graduated from West Virginia State College with top honors. She decided to enter graduate school at the flagship school of West Virginia. However, during the first semester of higher education, she decided to start her family with her previous husband, James Goble. They had three daughters together, Constance, Katherine, and
Sheila Johnson was born on May 11, 1999 she was born to her mother Mandy and father Mike. She had two older siblings, the oldest Sydney and the middle child and only boy Nathan. Sheila was 7 pounds 8 ounces when she was born at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Sheila was born with brown hair and hazel eyes with one dimple on her left cheek. As a child Sheila enjoyed watching Telly Tubbies while cuddling the blanket, she would never go anywhere without. She was a daddy’s girl as she grew up. Therefore, she had him wrapped around her finger.
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
Bessie Elizabeth Coleman was born January 28,1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Her mother wanted to move back to Texas by that time Bessie was only 2 years old. Waxahachie, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. She was the tenth out of thirteen children in her household with her two parents Susan and George Coleman. Susan and George were married for 17 years with up’s and down. George was mixed with African American and part Cherokee.
One of the leading black female activists of the 20th century, during her life, Mary Church Terrell worked as a writer, lecturer and educator. She is remembered best for her contribution to the struggle for the rights of women of African descent. Mary Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee at the close of the Civil War. Her parents, former slaves who later became millionaires, tried to shelter her from the harsh reality of racism. However, as her awareness of the problem developed, she became an ardent supporter of civil rights. Her life was one of privilege but the wealth of her family did not prevent her from experiencing segregation and the humiliation of Jim Crow laws. While traveling on a train her family was sent to the Jim Crow car. This experience, along with others led her to realize that racial injustice was evil. She saw that racial injustice and all other forms of injustice must be fought.
Many African Americans participate in the U.S. Air Force today, but before World War II they were segregated from joining. They had very few rights and many believed they did not have the same talents as white Americans. These men wanted to make a difference by fracturing racial stereotypes in society; they wanted to prove that African Americans had talents and strengths just like other Americans did. African Americans came together in Tuskegee, Alabama to form the Tuskegee Air Force group and fought to change negative racial perceptions. African Americans learned from teachers on how to properly fly with the right techniques.
When one thinks of prominent figures in African American history the direct correlation is that those leaders lived and died long ago, and are far removed from present-day society. In lieu of Dr. Mary Frances Early’s achievements, she is a “Living Legend” walking amongst the faculty, staff, and students here at Clark Atlanta University.
African or black history was not a study that was done by many until the last century. Studying African Americans accurately as part of American History was an even newer field of history. John Hope Franklin’s obituary calls him, “the scholar who helped create the field of African-American history and dominated it for nearly six decades.” He would call himself an historian of the American South.
Philadelphia, PA: Davis University Press, Inc. Smith, J, & Phelps, S (1992). Notable Black American Women (1st Ed). Detroit, MI: Gale & Co. Webster, Raymond B. (1999). African American Firsts in Science & Technology (1st Ed.).
"The African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century." U.S. Department of the Interior. N.p.. Web. 5 Feb 2014. .
Child’s birth name was Julia Carolyn Williams on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California. She was the eldest of three children; Dorothy Dean and a brother John III. She attended three boarding schools growing up. Child enjoyed playing sports including tennis, basketball, and golf. She attended Smith College and graduated in 1934 with a major in English. Julia moved to New York and had several different jobs that included her major, which included working for an advertising company and also in publications.
Marguerite Ann Johnson, commonly known as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4th, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri during the midst of the depression developing in the United States. She was the daughter of Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter, and she had an older brother named Bailey Johnson Jr. Maya Angelou's nickname came from her older brother who called her Maya, shortened for, “my sister.” For a young, insecure African-American child like Maya, it was surpassingly difficult to gro...
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town.
The time has come again to celebrate the achievements of all black men and women who have chipped in to form the Black society. There are television programs about the African Queens and Kings who never set sail for America, but are acknowledged as the pillars of our identity. In addition, our black school children finally get to hear about the history of their ancestors instead of hearing about Columbus and the founding of America. The great founding of America briefly includes the slavery period and the Antebellum south, but readily excludes both black men and women, such as George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes, and Mary Bethune. These men and women have contributed greatly to American society. However, many of us only know brief histories regarding these excellent black men and women, because many of our teachers have posters with brief synopses describing the achievements of such men and women. The Black students at this University need to realize that the accomplishments of African Americans cannot be limited to one month per year, but should be recognized everyday of every year both in our schools and in our homes.
Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Barbadian parents. When she was three years old, Shirley was sent to live with her grandmother on a farm in Barbados, a former British colony in the West Indies. She received much of her primary education in the Barbadian school Her ideals were perfect for the times. In the mid-1960s the civil rights movement was in full swing.
In this portion of my research, I will be writing about the biography of Katherine Mansfield. Katherine Mansfield was born on October 14, 1888, in Wellington, New Zealand. Her father, Harold Beauchamp, was the chairman of the