Cornelius Coffey achieved a number of firsts, one being the first Black person to establish an aeronautical school in the United States. The Arkansas native was born September 6, 1903. Coffey was born in the town of Newport. After taking a flight at the age of 13, his interest in becoming a pilot grew over […]
Keeth Smart made history in the sport of fencing by becoming the first American to achieve the top rank internationally. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native was born July 29, 1978. Smart’s parents convinced he and his sister, Erinn, to take up fencing at the Peter Westbrook Foundation, an organization began by Olympian and the first African-American […]
Frederick Branch became the first commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps on November 10, 1945. The Kappa man was born May 31, 1922 in Hamlet, N.C. Branch attended high school in New York and attended college at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. before transferring to Temple University, where he eventually earned a […]
Gale Sayers had a brief but extremely productive NFL career as both a halfback and return specialist. The “Kansas Comet” was born on May 30, 1943, and is the youngest inductee ever into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sayers was born in Wichita, Kan. and raised in Omaha, Neb. He was a standout high […]
Eliza Ann Gardner was a Boston abolitionist who went on to become the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church’s missionary society. She was born on May 28, 1831, and was a strong women’s rights advocate. Gardner was born in New York City and moved to Boston where her father became a successful ship […]
Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett was appointed as the U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti in April 1869 by President Ulysses S. Grant, making him the first African-American diplomat ever, and the fourth U.S. ambassador to Haiti. Bassett was born October 16, 1833 in Derby, Conn. To a middle-class and free Black family, despite slavery still being […]
Paul Quinn College is said to be the oldest HBCU in the state of Texas, and the nation’s first “work college” located in an urban area. The school was founded on April 4, 1872 in Austin. The school was initially founded as the Connectional High School and Institute for the Education of Negro Youth by […]
Jim Vance entertained and informed Washington viewers as one of the leading news anchors in the region for Washington NBC news station, WRC-TV. The legendary and ultra-cool newsman died over the weekend after a public and brave battle with cancer. James Howard Vance III was born January 10, 1942 and raised in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, just […]
Patti Grace Smith, one of the leading minds of commercial space travel, has passed after battling pancreatic cancer at the age of 68. Ms. Smith was a close friend of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and the Joyner family, and an inspiration to other technological innovators. Smith was born Patricia Camille Jones November 10, […]
