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Esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks, winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry - the first African-American to be honored with that award in any category.
Essential The Official African American Thread#2
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Esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks, winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry - the first African-American to be honored with that award in any category.
Breh kinda look like Pharrell.
Barzillai Lew: Also, known as “Zeal,” was born in 1743 to free-black parents in Massachusetts. He served with distinction during the Revolutionary War as a soldier, fifer, and drummer. Prior to the Revolutionary War, he was a fifer in Captain Thomas Farrington’s Company with the English forces and was probably present at the capture of Montreal, Canada by the British. When the Revolutionary War began, he enlisted in Captain John Ford’s Company, 27th Regiment. He fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill – one of the most important battles in the Revolutionary War but lesser known about the Battle are the dozens of African-Americans, including Lew, that fought. And, in 1777, Lew joined Captain Joseph Bradley Varnum’s militia. After the war, Lew returned to his farm which he purchased with his earned wages and worked also as a cooper. He and his family (his wife and children) were well-known musicians. He died in 1822 and his wife, Dinah Lew, petitioned and did receive from Massachusetts a pension for Lew’s military service during the Revolutionary War.
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Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American painter who frequently depicted biblical scenes and is best known for the paintings "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus," "The Banjo Lesson" and "The Thankful Poor." He was the first African-American painter to gain international fame.
Synopsis
Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1859. As a young man, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1891, Tanner moved to Paris, and after several exhibits, gained international acclaim—becoming the first African-American painter to receive such attention. "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus" is one of his most famous works. He's also known for the paintings "The Banjo Lesson" and "The Thankful Poor." Tanner died in 1937 in Paris, France.
Early Life
A pioneering African-America artist, Henry Ossawa Tanner was born on June 21, 1859, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The oldest of nine children, Tanner was the son of an Episcopal minister and a schoolteacher.
When he was just a few years old, Tanner moved with his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he would spend most of his childhood. Tanner was the beneficiary of two education-minded parents; his father, Benjamin Tanner, had earned a college degree and become a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. In Philadelphia, Tanner attended the Robert Vaux School, an all-black institution and of only a few African-American schools to offer a liberal arts curriculum.
Despite his father's initial objections, Tanner fell in love with the arts. He was 13 when he decided he wanted to become a painter, and throughout his teens, he painted and drew as much as he could. His attention to the creative side was furthered by his poor health: After falling significantly ill as a result of a taxing apprenticeship at a flourmill, the weak Tanner recuperated by staying home and painting.
Finally, in 1880, a healthy Tanner resumed a regular life and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There, he studied under Thomas Eakins, an influential teacher who had a profound impact on Tanner's life and work.
Tanner ended up leaving the school early, however, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he would teach art and run his own gallery for the next two years.
In 1891, Tanner's life took a dramatic turn with a visit to Europe. In Paris, France, in particular, Tanner discovered a culture that seemed to be light years ahead of America in race relations. Free from the prejudicial confines that defined his life in his native country, Tanner made Paris his home, living out the rest of his life there.
Artistic Success
Tanner's greatest early work depicted tender African-American scenes. Undoubtedly his most famous painting, "The Banjo Lesson," which features an older gentleman teaching a young boy how to play the banjo, was created while visiting his family in Philadelphia in 1893. The following year, he produced another masterpiece: "The Thankful Poor."
By the mid-1890s, Tanner was a success, critically admired both in the United States and Europe. In 1899, he created one of his most famous works, "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus," an oil painting on canvas depicting the biblical figure Nicodemus's meeting with Jesus Christ. For the work, he won the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' Lippincott Prize in 1900.
Also in 1899, Tanner married a white American singer, Jessie Olssen. The couple's only child, Jesse, was born in 1903.
Throughout much of the rest of his life, even as he shifted his focus to religious scenes, Tanner continued to receive praise and honors for his work, including being named honorary chevalier of the Order of the Legion Honor—France's most distinguished award—in 1923. Four years later, Tanner was made a full academician of the National Academy of Design—becoming the first African-American to ever receive the distinction.
Death and Legacy
Henry Ossawa Tanner died at his Paris home on May 25, 1937.
In the ensuing years, his name recognition dipped. However, in the late 1960s, beginning with a solo exhibition of his work at the Smithsonian, Tanner's stature began to rise. In 1991, the Philadelphia Museum of Art assembled a touring retrospe
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Autherine Juanita Lucy became the 1st African-American admitted to the all white University of Alabama.
In 1952, Autherine was accepted to University of Alabama. When the university discovered that she was African-American, they informed her that it was against state law for her to attend. Autherine’s lawyer, Thurgood Marshall assisted her in suing the university. In 1955, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that Autherine could attend University of Alabama. She attended her 1st class on February 3, 1956.
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Jimi Hendrix playing guitar while in the Army during the early 1960’s
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George Roberts, a native of the Baltimore neighborhood Canton, served in the War of 1812. He served on board Thomas Boyle’s Chasseur and was considered to be among the “Old Defenders” of Baltimore .
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Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (1915-2010) was a visual artist and author who had a great influence on the cultural and artistic world of the United States, especially around the Chicago area, with a focus on African-American experience. She co-founded important avenues for artistic expression such as the Ebony Museum of Chicago and the Lake Meadows Art Fair.
The Ebony Museum, today called the DuSable Museum of African American History, started out in her living room in 1961, and today is the oldest museum dedicated to black culture in the entire country. Both her art and her writing celebrate African-American experience and cultural identity.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American painter who frequently depicted biblical scenes and is best known for the paintings "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus," "The Banjo Lesson" and "The Thankful Poor." He was the first African-American painter to gain international fame.
Synopsis
Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1859. As a young man, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1891, Tanner moved to Paris, and after several exhibits, gained international acclaim—becoming the first African-American painter to receive such attention. "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus" is one of his most famous works. He's also known for the paintings "The Banjo Lesson" and "The Thankful Poor." Tanner died in 1937 in Paris, France.
Early Life
A pioneering African-America artist, Henry Ossawa Tanner was born on June 21, 1859, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The oldest of nine children, Tanner was the son of an Episcopal minister and a schoolteacher.
When he was just a few years old, Tanner moved with his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he would spend most of his childhood. Tanner was the beneficiary of two education-minded parents; his father, Benjamin Tanner, had earned a college degree and become a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. In Philadelphia, Tanner attended the Robert Vaux School, an all-black institution and of only a few African-American schools to offer a liberal arts curriculum.
Despite his father's initial objections, Tanner fell in love with the arts. He was 13 when he decided he wanted to become a painter, and throughout his teens, he painted and drew as much as he could. His attention to the creative side was furthered by his poor health: After falling significantly ill as a result of a taxing apprenticeship at a flourmill, the weak Tanner recuperated by staying home and painting.
Finally, in 1880, a healthy Tanner resumed a regular life and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There, he studied under Thomas Eakins, an influential teacher who had a profound impact on Tanner's life and work.
Tanner ended up leaving the school early, however, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he would teach art and run his own gallery for the next two years.
In 1891, Tanner's life took a dramatic turn with a visit to Europe. In Paris, France, in particular, Tanner discovered a culture that seemed to be light years ahead of America in race relations. Free from the prejudicial confines that defined his life in his native country, Tanner made Paris his home, living out the rest of his life there.
Artistic Success
Tanner's greatest early work depicted tender African-American scenes. Undoubtedly his most famous painting, "The Banjo Lesson," which features an older gentleman teaching a young boy how to play the banjo, was created while visiting his family in Philadelphia in 1893. The following year, he produced another masterpiece: "The Thankful Poor."
By the mid-1890s, Tanner was a success, critically admired both in the United States and Europe. In 1899, he created one of his most famous works, "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus," an oil painting on canvas depicting the biblical figure Nicodemus's meeting with Jesus Christ. For the work, he won the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' Lippincott Prize in 1900.
Also in 1899, Tanner married a white American singer, Jessie Olssen. The couple's only child, Jesse, was born in 1903.
Throughout much of the rest of his life, even as he shifted his focus to religious scenes, Tanner continued to receive praise and honors for his work, including being named honorary chevalier of the Order of the Legion Honor—France's most distinguished award—in 1923. Four years later, Tanner was made a full academician of the National Academy of Design—becoming the first African-American to ever receive the distinction.
Death and Legacy
Henry Ossawa Tanner died at his Paris home on May 25, 1937.
In the ensuing years, his name recognition dipped. However, in the late 1960s, beginning with a solo exhibition of his work at the Smithsonian, Tanner's stature began to rise. In 1991, the Philadelphia Museum of Art assembled a touring retrospe
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson, 1893
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Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor, 1894
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
"Soul Food" a brief history | African American Registry
Soul Food A Brief History
Date:
Wed, 1492-02-24
*This dates Registry from 1492, offers a brief article on the origins of Soul food.
Soul Food is a term used for an ethnic cuisine, food traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans of the Southern United States. Many of the various dishes and ingredients included in "soul food" are also regional meals and comprise a part of other Southern US cooking, as well. The style of cooking originated during American slavery. African slaves were given only the "leftover" and "undesirable" cuts of meat from their masters (while the white slave owners got the meatiest cuts of ham, roasts, etc.).
We also had only vegetables grown for ourselves. After slavery, many, being poor, could afford only off-cuts of meat, along with offal. Farming, hunting and fishing provided fresh vegetables, fish and wild game, such as possum, rabbit, squirrel and sometimes waterfowl. Africans living in America at the time (and since) more than made do with the food choices we had to work with. Dishes or ingredients commonly found in soul food include:
Biscuits (a shortbread similar to scones, commonly served with butter, jam, jelly, sorghum or cane syrup, or gravy; used to wipe up, or "sop," liquids from a dish).
Black-eyed peas (cooked separately or with rice, as hoppin' john).
Butter beans (immature lima beans, usually cooked in butter).
Catfish (dredged in seasoned cornbread and fried). Chicken (often fried with cornmeal breading or seasoned flour).
Chicken livers.
Chitterlings or chitlins: (the cleaned and prepared intestines of hogs, slow-cooked and often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce; sometimes parboiled, then battered and fried).
Chow-chow (a spicy, homemade pickle relish sometimes made with okra, corn, cabbage, green tomatoes and other vegetables; commonly used to top black-eyed peas and otherwise as a condiment and side dish).
Collard greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Cornbread (short bread often baked in an iron skillet, sometimes seasoned with bacon fat). Chicken fried steak (beef deep fried in flour or batter, usually served with gravy).
Cracklins: (commonly known as pork rinds and sometimes added to cornbread batter).
Fatback (fatty, cured, salted pork used to season meats and vegetables).
Fried fish: (any of several varieties of fish whiting, catfish, porgies, bluegills dredged in seasoned cornmeal and deep fried).
Fried ice cream: (Ice cream deep frozen and coated with cookies and fried).
Grits, often served with fish.
Ham hocks (smoked, used to flavor vegetables and legumes).
Hog maws (or hog jowls, sliced and usually cooked with chitterlings).
Hoghead cheese.
Hot sauce (a condiment of cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, garlic and other spices often used on chitterlings, fried chicken and fish not the same as "Tabasco sauce", which has heat, but little flavor).
Lima beans (see butter beans).
Macaroni and cheese.
Mashed potatoes (usually with butter and condensed milk). Meatloaf (typically with brown gravy).
Milk and bread (a "po' folks' dessert-in-a-glass" of slightly crumbled cornbread, buttermilk and sugar). Mustard greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Neckbones (beef neck bones seasoned and slow cooked). Okra: (African vegetable eaten fried in cornmeal or stewed, often with tomatoes, corn, onions and hot peppers).
Pigs' feet: (slow-cooked like chitterlings, sometimes pickled and, like chitterlings, often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce).
Red beans.
Ribs (usually pork, but can also be beef ribs).
Rice (usually served with red beans).
Sorghum syrup (from sorghum, or "Guinea corn," a sweet grain indigenous to Africa introduced into the U.S. by African slaves in the early 17th century; see biscuits). Succotash (originally, a Native American dish of yellow corn and butter beans, usually cooked in butter).
Sweet potatoes (often parboiled, sliced and then baked, using sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter or margarine, commonly called "candied yams"; also boiled, then pureed and baked into pies).
Turnip greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Yams: (not actually yams, but sweet potatoes).
Though soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants — from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining establishments-are in every African-American community in the nation, especially in cities with large black populations, such as Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Over centuries, soul food has been cooked and seasoned with pork products, and fried dishes are usually cooked with hydrogenated vegetable oil ("shortening" or "Crisco"), which is a trans fat. Unfortunately, regular consumption of these ingredients without significant exercise or activity to work the calories off often contributes to disproportionately high occurrences of obesity, hypertension, cardiac/circulatory problems and/or diabetes. It has also been a factor in African-Americans often having a shortened lifespan. More modern methods of cooking soul food include using more healthful alternatives for frying (liquid vegetable oil or canola oil) and cooking/stewing using smoked turkey instead of pork.
Reference:
Soul food online
Soul Food A Brief History
Date:
Wed, 1492-02-24
*This dates Registry from 1492, offers a brief article on the origins of Soul food.
Soul Food is a term used for an ethnic cuisine, food traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans of the Southern United States. Many of the various dishes and ingredients included in "soul food" are also regional meals and comprise a part of other Southern US cooking, as well. The style of cooking originated during American slavery. African slaves were given only the "leftover" and "undesirable" cuts of meat from their masters (while the white slave owners got the meatiest cuts of ham, roasts, etc.).
We also had only vegetables grown for ourselves. After slavery, many, being poor, could afford only off-cuts of meat, along with offal. Farming, hunting and fishing provided fresh vegetables, fish and wild game, such as possum, rabbit, squirrel and sometimes waterfowl. Africans living in America at the time (and since) more than made do with the food choices we had to work with. Dishes or ingredients commonly found in soul food include:
Biscuits (a shortbread similar to scones, commonly served with butter, jam, jelly, sorghum or cane syrup, or gravy; used to wipe up, or "sop," liquids from a dish).
Black-eyed peas (cooked separately or with rice, as hoppin' john).
Butter beans (immature lima beans, usually cooked in butter).
Catfish (dredged in seasoned cornbread and fried). Chicken (often fried with cornmeal breading or seasoned flour).
Chicken livers.
Chitterlings or chitlins: (the cleaned and prepared intestines of hogs, slow-cooked and often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce; sometimes parboiled, then battered and fried).
Chow-chow (a spicy, homemade pickle relish sometimes made with okra, corn, cabbage, green tomatoes and other vegetables; commonly used to top black-eyed peas and otherwise as a condiment and side dish).
Collard greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Cornbread (short bread often baked in an iron skillet, sometimes seasoned with bacon fat). Chicken fried steak (beef deep fried in flour or batter, usually served with gravy).
Cracklins: (commonly known as pork rinds and sometimes added to cornbread batter).
Fatback (fatty, cured, salted pork used to season meats and vegetables).
Fried fish: (any of several varieties of fish whiting, catfish, porgies, bluegills dredged in seasoned cornmeal and deep fried).
Fried ice cream: (Ice cream deep frozen and coated with cookies and fried).
Grits, often served with fish.
Ham hocks (smoked, used to flavor vegetables and legumes).
Hog maws (or hog jowls, sliced and usually cooked with chitterlings).
Hoghead cheese.
Hot sauce (a condiment of cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, garlic and other spices often used on chitterlings, fried chicken and fish not the same as "Tabasco sauce", which has heat, but little flavor).
Lima beans (see butter beans).
Macaroni and cheese.
Mashed potatoes (usually with butter and condensed milk). Meatloaf (typically with brown gravy).
Milk and bread (a "po' folks' dessert-in-a-glass" of slightly crumbled cornbread, buttermilk and sugar). Mustard greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Neckbones (beef neck bones seasoned and slow cooked). Okra: (African vegetable eaten fried in cornmeal or stewed, often with tomatoes, corn, onions and hot peppers).
Pigs' feet: (slow-cooked like chitterlings, sometimes pickled and, like chitterlings, often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce).
Red beans.
Ribs (usually pork, but can also be beef ribs).
Rice (usually served with red beans).
Sorghum syrup (from sorghum, or "Guinea corn," a sweet grain indigenous to Africa introduced into the U.S. by African slaves in the early 17th century; see biscuits). Succotash (originally, a Native American dish of yellow corn and butter beans, usually cooked in butter).
Sweet potatoes (often parboiled, sliced and then baked, using sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter or margarine, commonly called "candied yams"; also boiled, then pureed and baked into pies).
Turnip greens (usually cooked with ham hocks, often combined with other greens).
Yams: (not actually yams, but sweet potatoes).
Though soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants — from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining establishments-are in every African-American community in the nation, especially in cities with large black populations, such as Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Over centuries, soul food has been cooked and seasoned with pork products, and fried dishes are usually cooked with hydrogenated vegetable oil ("shortening" or "Crisco"), which is a trans fat. Unfortunately, regular consumption of these ingredients without significant exercise or activity to work the calories off often contributes to disproportionately high occurrences of obesity, hypertension, cardiac/circulatory problems and/or diabetes. It has also been a factor in African-Americans often having a shortened lifespan. More modern methods of cooking soul food include using more healthful alternatives for frying (liquid vegetable oil or canola oil) and cooking/stewing using smoked turkey instead of pork.
Reference:
Soul food online
AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK MAGICIAN AND THE FIRST TO GAIN FAME IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, RICHARD POTTER
America's first Black magician, Richard Potter | African American Registry
The birth of Richard Potter in 1783 is celebrated on this date. He was a magician, one of the first Black illusionist in America.
Potter was born in New Hampshire, the son of an English baronet and an African servant woman. He was educated in Europe before beginning his 25-year career as a performer in post-Revolutionary America. He lived with his father in Hopkinton, NH, until he married his wife, Sally, and had three children.
Potter has been credited as America’s first successful stage magician, hypnotist, and ventriloquist. One of the earliest records of Potter advertising his shows was on November 2, 1811, in Boston at the Columbian Museum. The performance featured ventriloquism and magic.
Potter performed in Boston, throughout New England, and Canada. “Legend” says Potter was able to climb a rope and disappear while performing outdoors surrounded by spectators. Officially, his best-known illusion was "crawling through a log" and Potter could skillfully throw his voice, especially using bird sounds. Whether he was the first to use a ventriloquist’s doll or dummy isn’t known.
Potter lived on a 175-acre farm in Andover that he purchased in 1814, The Potter estate consisted of several rooms on the first floor, the second floor was said to be one big room. The Potter's would have lavish dinner parties at there home, where he would entertain.
Potter was very successful and it is said that he made $4800 for a 20-day engagement in Alabama in the early 1800s. Potter’s prestidigitation with eggs, money, and cards was considered of scientific interest, and he often performed at the Columbia Museum in Boston. He could throw knives and touch a hot iron to his tongue, walk on flames, and dance on eggs without breaking them. He performed in New York and all over New England. Charles Brewster, in his history of Portsmouth, NH, refers to Potter as living on what is now State Street. Potter apparently had a son of the same name who performed magic like his father. In 1813, Potter's success allowed him to buy a 175-acre farm in Andover, NH, in the village now known as Potter’s Place. His story intrigued Harry Houdini, who included Potter in his popular magazine of magic.
Potter died on September 20, 1835. Sometime after his death and the death of his wife, Sally, the couple was buried in the front yard of their estate but the house burned down. Potter and his wife’s graves were moved to their present site in 1849 to make room for the railroad. All that remains to this day is a small plot with the gravestones (shown). Inscribed on Richard's stone is "In Memory of Richard Potter, the celebrated Ventriloquist, Aged 52 years. Died Sept. 20 1835.
Reference:
SeacoastNH.com.
PO Box 7158,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802,
603-427-2020
Person / name:
Potter, Richard
America's first Black magician, Richard Potter | African American Registry
The birth of Richard Potter in 1783 is celebrated on this date. He was a magician, one of the first Black illusionist in America.
Potter was born in New Hampshire, the son of an English baronet and an African servant woman. He was educated in Europe before beginning his 25-year career as a performer in post-Revolutionary America. He lived with his father in Hopkinton, NH, until he married his wife, Sally, and had three children.
Potter has been credited as America’s first successful stage magician, hypnotist, and ventriloquist. One of the earliest records of Potter advertising his shows was on November 2, 1811, in Boston at the Columbian Museum. The performance featured ventriloquism and magic.
Potter performed in Boston, throughout New England, and Canada. “Legend” says Potter was able to climb a rope and disappear while performing outdoors surrounded by spectators. Officially, his best-known illusion was "crawling through a log" and Potter could skillfully throw his voice, especially using bird sounds. Whether he was the first to use a ventriloquist’s doll or dummy isn’t known.
Potter lived on a 175-acre farm in Andover that he purchased in 1814, The Potter estate consisted of several rooms on the first floor, the second floor was said to be one big room. The Potter's would have lavish dinner parties at there home, where he would entertain.
Potter was very successful and it is said that he made $4800 for a 20-day engagement in Alabama in the early 1800s. Potter’s prestidigitation with eggs, money, and cards was considered of scientific interest, and he often performed at the Columbia Museum in Boston. He could throw knives and touch a hot iron to his tongue, walk on flames, and dance on eggs without breaking them. He performed in New York and all over New England. Charles Brewster, in his history of Portsmouth, NH, refers to Potter as living on what is now State Street. Potter apparently had a son of the same name who performed magic like his father. In 1813, Potter's success allowed him to buy a 175-acre farm in Andover, NH, in the village now known as Potter’s Place. His story intrigued Harry Houdini, who included Potter in his popular magazine of magic.
Potter died on September 20, 1835. Sometime after his death and the death of his wife, Sally, the couple was buried in the front yard of their estate but the house burned down. Potter and his wife’s graves were moved to their present site in 1849 to make room for the railroad. All that remains to this day is a small plot with the gravestones (shown). Inscribed on Richard's stone is "In Memory of Richard Potter, the celebrated Ventriloquist, Aged 52 years. Died Sept. 20 1835.
Reference:
SeacoastNH.com.
PO Box 7158,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802,
603-427-2020
Person / name:
Potter, Richard
Last edited:
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Chester Middlebrook Pierce (1927 - 2016) Nationally renown psychologist, Pierce dedicated his life to human rights, conservation, and youth education initiatives. Pierce earned his A.B. and M.D. degrees from Harvard and would later go on to teach at his alma mater before retiring in 1997. In 1947, the same year Jackie Robinson was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pierce became the first black college footballer to play below the Mason Dixon line at an all-white university. He was an officer with Commander rank in the U.S. Navy and published over 180 books, articles, and reviews. He made multiple professional trips to Antarctica, where a peak is named for him, and as an expert in the area of child psychology, Pierce was consulted on the creation of “Sesame Street.” Pierce was the first African American full professor at Massachusetts General Hospital, president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His portrait now hangs in the residence hall in which he lived as an undergraduate at Harvard.
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Jocelyn Elders. 1st African American Surgeon General (1993-1994)
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On this day in Black history, we honor Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton. Dr. Hilton was born in the rural town of Little Africa, South Carolina and at the age of 8 years old, decided she wanted to be a doctor. From that day forward her mother called her, Dr. Hilton. She attributes her entire career and the success that followed to that small gesture. She graduated from Spartanburg High School in 2000 and in 2004, graduated Magna Cum Laude from The College of Charleston as a triple major with degrees in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Inorganic Chemistry. She then began her medical studies at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and following graduation in 2008, continued at MUSC to complete of her Anesthesiology residency and Critical Care fellowship. On July 1, 2013, Dr. Hilton became the first African-American female anesthesiologist to be hired at MUSC since its opening in 1824. Throughout her studies health disparities and bridging the gap between physicians and patients has been her primary focus. Dr. Hilton is also an activist for social change and a mentor in her community.
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Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and famous black inventor, has been credited with making many advances in science. She first developed an interest in science and mathematics during her childhood and conducted experiments and studies, such as those on the eating habits of honeybees. She followed this interest to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she received a bachelor, and doctoral degree, all in the field of physics. In doing so she became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT.
Jackson conducted successful experiments in theoretical physics and used her knowledge of physics to foster advances in telecommunications research while working at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Jackson conducted breakthrough basic scientific research that enabled others to invent the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and call waiting.
Currently, Jackson is the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the United States, and recently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation's top 50 universities. The mission of Rensselaer since its founding in 1824 has been to "apply science to the common purposes of life." Dr. Jackson's goal for Rensselaer is "to achieve prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier world-class technological research university, with global reach and global impact."