Part Eleven

Rosa Parks (1913- ) – “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” 1955

Ella Baker (1903-1986) – Early civil rights activist, 1957

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908-1972) –First black congressman from the northeast, 1944

Andrew Young (1932- ) – First black U.S. Ambassador, 1972

Midian Othello Bousfield (1885-1948) –Colonel in the Army Medical Corps, 1940s

Louis Wright (1891-1952) – Member of the American College of Surgeons, 1945

Benjamin Carson (1951- ) – Surgeon, separated Siamese twins in 1987

Tom Molineaux (1784-1818) –First American international boxing champion, 1808

Jack Johnson (1878-1946) – First African American heavyweight boxing champion, 1908

Joe Louis (1914-1981) – Heavyweight boxing champion and national sports hero, 1940s

Muhammad Ali (1942- ) –Heavyweight champion and political activist, 1960s

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) – 19 th century African American painter

William Johnson (1901-1970) – 20 th century African American painter

Augusta Savage (1892-1962) – 20 th century African American sculptress

Billy Eckstine (1914-1993) – Jazz singer known as “Mr. B”

Billie Holiday (1915-1959) – Jazz singer, known as “Lady Day”

Ray Charles (1930-2004) – Singer and pianist known as the “Father of Soul”

Jon Hendricks (1921- ) – Jazz singer,” Poet Laureate of Jazz”

Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) – Jazz singer, the “Divine One”

Lionel Hampton (1908- ) – Band leader, first jazz “vibes” player

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) –Jazz pianist and composer, “First Lady of Jazz”

Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) – Trumpeter, pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz and bebop

John Coltrane (1926-1967) – Saxophonist, innovator of “free jazz”

Miles Davis (1926-1991) – Legendary trumpeter and band leader

Wynton Marsalis (1961- ) – Contemporary trumpeter in both jazz and classical music.

James Augustine Healy (1830-1900) – First black Catholic priest, 1854

Barbara Harris (1930- ) – First woman Bishop in the Anglican Church, 1988

George Moses Horton (1797-1883) – First black man to publish a book of poetry, 1829

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) – First nationally known black poet, 1890

Countee Cullen ( 1903-1946) – Award winning poet/writer, 1927

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917- ) – First black poet to win a Pulitzer Prize, 1950

Margaret Walker (1915-1998) – First writer to publish a modern novel about slavery, 1966

Nikki Giovanni (1943- ) –Black poet during the Black Power Movement, 1967