DID YOU KNOW?  

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas.

She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her autobiographical books: All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), The Heart of a Woman (1981), Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), Gather Together in My Name (1974), and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), which was nominated for the National Book Award. Among her volumes of poetry are A Brave and Startling Truth (Random House, 1995), The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994), Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993), Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987), I Shall Not Be Moved (1990), Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? (1983), Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975), and Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), which was nominated for the Pulitzer prize.

In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1961 to 1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1981 as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request.

The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou has written, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of a five-part television miniseries "Three Way Choice." She has also written and produced several prize-winning documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden Eagle Award. Maya Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in Roots (1977).

Phil Freelon is a native of Philadelphia, PA. Following graduation from North Carolina State University's College of Design with a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) and top design honors, he went on to earn his Master of Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. Phil worked as a designer for firms in Boston and Houston, returning to North Carolina in 1982 to join the firm of O'Brien/Atkins Associates where he served as a senior designer, project manager and Vice President of Architecture for the 140 person firm. He left O'Brien/Atkins in 1990 to start his firm. Since its inception, The Freelon Group has grown from one individual to 58 total staff (21 licensed architects) with offices in Raleigh/Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina. Freelon's firm has successfully delivered buildings that have had a positive impact on the communities in which they are built.
 
As a designer, Philip Freelon's work has received AIA awards and has been published in Progressive Architecture and Architectural Record. His furniture design has been recognized nationally including first prize in the PPG Furniture Design Competition and a design contract with Herman Miller. Over the last 5 years, The Freelon Group has received ten (21) AIA design awards (regional, state and local) and has also received the North Carolina AIA Outstanding Firm Award for 2001.
 
Freelon's impact on the profession extends beyond his individual and firm achievements. He has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design, North Carolina State University, having taught architectural design studio, photography and professional practice. In 1989, Freelon was the recipient of the prestigious Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has lectured at Harvard University, Howard University, NC State University, Hampton University, the University of Utah and the California College of Arts and Crafts among others. In 2003, Freelon was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award from the College of Design, NC State University, and delivered their commencement address.
 
In addition to his AIA state and local involvement, Freelon has been a seminar presenter at the AIA national convention and is a founding member of the North Carolina chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. Freelon was recently elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

TJ Reddy was born in Savannah, GA on August 6, 1945, and spent his later youth in Brooklyn, NY. He earned a BA in history and a master's degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and has done graduate study in the MFA program at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. He has spent more than 30 years developing his skills as a painter, poet, performing artist and educator.
 

tj reddy is an African American Social Realist painter who constructs mixed media paintings with acrylics and natural materials, including paper, sand, wood, fabric and clay. He is not only a studio painter, he is also a creator and coordinator of murals and public art projects. His work is inspired by travels throughout the Caribbean and seacoast islands of the southern United States, and by the migrations of people of African and Caribbean descent to the Americas. His paintings are richly textured two-dimensional narratives with a spiritual and universal quality that expresses a profound appreciation for culture, which he defines as shared human values.

Dr. Maulana Karenga is professor and chair of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. He is also chair of the President's Task Force on Multicultural Education and Campus Diversity at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Karenga holds two Ph.D.'s; his first in political science with focus on the theory and practice of nationalism (United States International University) and his second in social ethics with a focus on the classical African ethics of ancient Egypt (University of Southern California).

He also is the director of the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies, Los Angeles, and national chairman of The Organization Us, a cultural and social change organization. The Organization Us which simply means us Black people, is so named to stress the communitarian focus of the organization and its philosophy, Kawaida, which is an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world. Dr. Karenga and Us have had a profound and far-reaching effect on Black intellectual and political culture. Through the teaching and practice of Kawaida, Us emerged in the 60's as a vanguard organization. Us has played a vanguard role in shaping the Black Arts Movement, Black Studies, Black Student Union Movement, Afrocentricity, rites of passage programs, the study of ancient Egyptian culture and the founding of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, the independent school movement, and African life-cycle ceremonies, the Simba Wachanga youth movement, and Black theological and ethical discourse.

Dr. Karenga and Us have also played a key role in Black United Front efforts serving on the founding and executive committee of the Black Power Conferences of the 60's, the National Black United Front, the National African American Leadership Summit, the Black Leadership Retreat and the Million Man March/Day of Absence. They also created the National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO) as a cooperative framework for the many organizations who subscribe to Kawaida philosophy but maintain their own independent structures. Celebrating its thirtieth anniversary in 1995, Us continues its activities under the motto, "Anywhere we are, Us is" and with three basic focuses of "Struggle, service and institution-building."

Dr. Karenga is author of numerous scholarly articles and twelve books. Included in his works are Introduction to Black Studies, the most widely used intro text in Black Studies; his retranslation and commentary on ancient Egyptian texts which is titled, Selections From The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, and The Book of Coming Forth By Day. An activist-scholar of national and international recognition, he has lectured on the life and struggle of African peoples on the major campuses of the U.S.A. and in Africa, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Trinidad, Britain and Canada.

Dr. Karenga is also widely known as the creator of Kwanzaa, an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated also in Africa, the Caribbean, South America--especially Brazil, and African communities in Britain and other European countries.

Moreover, he is the recipient of numerous awards for scholarship, leadership and community service including: The National Leadership Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievements in Black Studies from the National Council for Black Studies and The Diop Exemplary Leadership Award from the Department of African American Studies--Temple University. He also served as a Visiting Professor in Black Politics at Stanford University and as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Black Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

Finally, Dr. Karenga, as chairman of Us, served as a member of the executive council of the National Organizing Committee of the Million Man March/Day of Absence and authored the Mission Statement for this joint project, as well as co-edited the recent book: The Million Man March/Day of Absence: A Commemorative Anthology.

Dorie Miller, a Navy messman on the USS Arizona, who had no weapons training, was responsible for bringing down four Japanese fighter planes during the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. On May 27, 1942, Miller received the Navy Cross, one of the highest honors in the Navy issued for combat bravery and extraordinary heroism, and second only to the Medal of Honor. Because of his physical prowess, Miller was assigned to carry wounded fellow Sailors to places of greater safety.

During the 1941 attack, an officer ordered him to the bridge to aid the mortally wounded Captain of the ship.  He subsequently manned a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun, which he had not been trained to operate, until he ran out of ammunition and was ordered to abandon ship.  Miller said about firing the machine gun during the battle, "It wasn't hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us." The Navy Cross was awarded to Miller by Fleet Admiral (then Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Nimitz remarked: “This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I'm sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts.”  

In the spring of 1943, Miller was on board the newly constructed USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56) an escort carrier that was assigned to Operation Galvanic, the seizure of Makin and Tarawa Atolls in the Gilbert Islands. While cruising near Butaritari Island, a single torpedo from a Japanese submarine struck the escort carrier near the stern sinking the warship within minutes. Listed as missing following the loss of that escort carrier, Miller was officially presumed dead November 25, 1944. 

In addition to the Navy Cross, Miller was entitled to the Purple Heart Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal. On June 30, 1973, the Navy commissioned the USS Miller (FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate, was named in honor of Doris Miller.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Frederick Douglass Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute, to coordinate fund-raising efforts for historically black private colleges, founded The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in 1944.

Today the program boasts 39 member schools and has raised more than $1.7 billion in its 57 years of existence.  In 1996, the UNCF established The Frederick Douglass Patterson Research Institute.

The Institute collects data and issues The African American Education Databook, a three-volume detail of the educational status and attainment of the African-American from pre-school through adulthood.

In  1921, Bessie Coleman became the first African-American worldwide to become a licensed airplane pilot.

She received this accreditation from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in France after she was denied flying lessons in the U.S. because of her race and sex.

After returning to the U.S., Coleman began touring with air shows.

On the Labor Day weekend of 1922 she appeared for the first time as a stunt flyer and astounded the audience with her daring maneuvers. Coleman planned to establish a flight training school for African Americans, but she was killed during a test flight in 1926 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The first national park to honor an African-American, the George Washington Carver National Monument, opened in Joplin, Missouri in 1951. George Washington Carver, an artist, educator, humanitarian, and world-renowned scientist, was born near Diamond Grove, Missouri, the son of former slaves of the planter Moses Carver. 

Shortly after his birth, he and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate bushwhackers. He was found in Arkansas and returned to the Carvers, but his mother was never seen again.  Because the identity of his father remained unknown, Moses and Susan Carver reared George and his brother as their own children. 

The park consists of 210 acres of the original 240-acre Moses Carver homestead. The visitor center includes a museum with exhibits that trace George Washington Carver's life from his birth through his youth at the Carver farm, through his accomplishments as a scientist. Included at the monument are the Carver bust, birthplace site, boyhood statue, William's Pond, 1881 Moses Carver dwelling and Carver family cemetery. 

"It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success." -- George Washington Carver

In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space.  Ms. Jemison, who holds a Medical Doctorate (M.D.) from Cornell Medical School, was a science-mission specialist aboard Spacelab-1, the Shuttle Endeavor, a joint U.S.-Japanese effort.  Jemison performed experiments to measure the reactions of living organisms in the zero-gravity environment of space and was a co-investigator on a human bone cell-research experiment.

Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mae Jemison knew she wanted to go into space in kindergarten.  She once proudly announced to a teacher who asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, that her intentions were to be a scientist.  The teacher replied, “Don’t you mean a nurse.”  Mae meant a scientist, and through the support and encouragement of her parents, who took her to libraries to read books on astronomy and space flight, Mae excelled in school.  At age 16, she entered Stanford University on a scholarship.  There she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, and African and Afro-American Studies.

After graduating from Cornell Medical School, Mae Jemison spent a summer as a volunteer in a refugee camp in Thailand.  She then served as a Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia.  When she returned to the United States, Ms. Jemison went into private practice while taking graduate courses at UCLA where she was preparing to join the space program.  She applied to NASA and was accepted for astronaut training in 1987 (one of 15 chosen from nearly 2,000 applicants). Within four years, she was selected for the Spacelab 1 flight.

In 1993, Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA and founded the Jemison Group, Inc. a private company that focuses on projects that integrate social science issues into the design, development and implementation of technologies. Among her current projects are several that focus on improving healthcare in Africa. Dr. Jemison is also a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.

Bill Picket was one of the most famous performing cowboys of his day. He is credited with inventing the rodeo event called bulldogging, also known as steer-wrestling, in 1903.  It all began in Bovine, Texas, where Pickett encountered a stubborn Texas Longhorn steer that refused to enter a corral. The steer threw a tantrum – pawing and causing such a ruckus that the herd was scattering.  Legend has it that Bill Pickett grew so impatient with the steer that he drove his horse full speed toward the steer, leaped from the horse, and wrestled the snorting steer by his horns, to the ground. The Longhorn continued to resist and Bill Pickett bit the steer’s lower lip and slammed the animal onto the dirt!  People were so impressed that they would pay cash to see Bill Pickett "bulldog" steers. 

Bulldogging, as a modern rodeo event, requires jumping from a speeding quarter horse onto the back of a steer running at full-speed (20 to 25 miles per hour), grabbing its horns, and wrestling it to the ground. However, no one bites the bulls anymore! 

The oldest of 13 children and the son of a former slave, Bill Pickett became the most famous Black rodeo performer throughout Europe and the United States. Today, The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo is America's only touring Black rodeo. Part of the profits go to the Bill Pickett Memorial Scholarship Fund, which was set up for students who either compete in rodeo and/or are working towards a degree in equine science or animal science.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, was a pioneer in open heart surgery. Born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania 1856, Dr. Williams performed the first open heart surgery by removing a knife from the heart of a stabbing victim in 1893. After removing the knife, Dr. Williams sutured, or sowed up the wound and the patient recovered and lived for several years afterward.  

The son of a deeply religious barber, Dr. Williams’ father communicated a sense of pride in his eight children. It was that pride that drove Daniel to excel at all that he did.  When his father died of tuberculosis, his mother moved the family to Baltimore to live with relatives. Daniel became an apprentice to a shoemaker, but by age 17, he also became a successful barber. He attended high school and later an academy where he graduated at the age of twenty-one. He began his studies of medicine as an apprentice under Dr. Henry Palmer, a prominent surgeon. Dr. Palmer had three apprentices and all were accepted in 1890 into a three-year program at the Chicago Medical School. At the time, it was considered one of the best medical schools and Dr. Williams graduated with a M.D. degree in 1883. 

He began his practice in Chicago at a time when there were only three other black physicians in the city. He was considered a thoughtful and skilled surgeon, and his practice grew as he treated both black and white patients. But he was very aware of the limited opportunities for black physicians. In 1889, he was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Health and worked with medical standards and hospital rules. He was concerned about the prejudice against black patients in hospitals, and the inferior treatment they received. In 1890, Reverend Louis Reynolds, whose sister Emma was refused admission to nursing schools because she was black, approached Dr. Williams for help. This led to his founding of the Provident Hospital and Nursing Training School in 1891.  

Dr. Williams insisted that his physicians stay informed about emerging medical discoveries. It was then that Dr. Williams earned widespread acclaim as a surgeon in July 1893 performing the surgery to repair a tear in the heart lining. While proud of his and his staff’s accomplishments at Provident Hospital, Dr. Williams recognized that the hospital would need to grow to accommodate patients. In 1896, a new 65-bed hospital was opened. 

In 1893, Judge Walter Q. Grisham, requested that Dr. Williams apply for the position of surgeon-in-chief at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. where he eventually served from 1894 until 1898. He established an internship program for graduate physicians. In December 1895, he helped organize the National Medical Association (NMA), which was, at the time, the only national organization open to black physicians. He served as its first vice president. In 1898, after he married Alice Johnson, a school teacher, they returned to Chicago and Provident Hospital where he became chief of surgery and in 1902 performed another breakthrough operation, successfully suturing a patient's spleen. He continued to develop his private practice in Chicago and to expand his involvement in community affairs. 

Within a decade of his opening his hospital, there were 10 black hospitals, and Dr. Williams felt these hospitals had helped reduce the high mortality of blacks. He felt that their role in training could make even larger contributions. Throughout his career, he urged black physicians to become leaders in their communities. 

After a sustaining a stroke in 1926, Dr. Williams died in 1931.  At his death, he left donations to many organizations he had supported including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Meharry Medical College, Howard University and other institutions. These gifts helped provide expanded medical education opportunities for black students.