1.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
2.
Temple University
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Temple University is a state-related-public doctoral university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by Baptist Minister Russell Conwell, in 1882, Conwell came to Pennsylvania to lead the Grace Baptist Church while he began tutoring working class citizens late at night to accommodate their work schedules. These students, later dubbed night owls, were taught in the basement of Conwells Baptist Temple, hence the origin of the universitys name, by 1907, the institution revised its institutional status and incorporated as a university. In 2015, Temple received $227.5 million in funding, ranking it 93rd out of 905 institutions in the NSF’s Higher Education Research. Temple is among the nations largest providers of education, preparing the largest body of professional practitioners in Pennsylvania. Conwell came to Pennsylvania in 1882 to lead the Grace Baptist Church while he began tutoring working class citizens late at night to accommodate their work schedules. These students, later dubbed night owls, were taught in the basement of Conwells Baptist Temple, hence the origin of the universitys name, the Grace Baptist Church quickly grew popular within the North Philadelphia area. A temporary board of trustees was created to handle the rapidly growing formalities associated with the churchs programs, when the board conducted its first meeting they named Russell H. Conwell president of The Temple College. Within the following months, Grace Baptist Church appointed a new board of trustees, printed official admissions files, regardless of whether they had the resources to support the school, Conwell’s desire was “to give education to those who were unable to get it through the usual channels”. Philadelphia granted a charter in 1888 to establish “The Temple College of Philadelphia”, by 1888, the enrollment of the college was nearly 600. It was in 1907 that Temple College revised its institutional status, Legal recognition as a university enhanced Temple in noticeable ways including its reputation, professional and graduate programs, overall enrollment, and financial support. Over time, Temple expanded, Samaritan Hospital was founded, a Medical School was added, after the merger, Temple officially reincorporated as Temple University on December 12,1907. Today, Temple is a Pennsylvania state-related university, meaning the university receives state funds, subject to state appropriations, but is independently operated. In U. S. News & World Reports 2017 rankings, Temple is tied for 56th among U. S. public universities, tied for 118th among all national universities, Temple undergraduate college is among the top colleges profiled in The Princeton Reviews The Best 379 colleges. Temples Social Science faculty is also ranked 76-100 in the world in 2015 by ARWU, Temple is ranked 94th out of 643 US institutions in National Science Foundations 2013 Higher education Research and Development Survey. Tylers graduate programs are highly selective, maintaining their reputation for providing one of the finest programs in the nation, as of 2015, Tyler’s overall ranking is 13th in the nation. Tyler’s individual graduate programs, as of 2015, ranked highly in their fields, painting and drawing, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics. Temples Fox School of Business, founded in 1918, is one of the largest business schools in the country, the Fox School offers 13 undergraduate majors,10 professional masters programs, two PhD programs, and the school has a variety of international partnerships
3.
Hank Aaron
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Henry Louis Hank Aaron, nicknamed Hammer, or Hammerin Hank, is a retired American Major League Baseball right fielder who is currently the senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League, Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, in 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its 100 Greatest Baseball Players list. Aaron was born and raised in and around Mobile, Alabama, Aaron had seven siblings, including Tommie Aaron, who later played in MLB with him. Aaron appeared briefly in the Negro American League and in minor league baseball before starting his major league career and he played late in Negro league history, by his final MLB season, Aaron was the last Negro league baseball player on a major league roster. Aaron played the vast majority of his MLB games in right field, in his last two seasons, he was primarily a designated hitter. Aaron was an NL All-Star for 20 seasons and an AL All-Star for 1 season, Aaron holds the record for the most seasons as an All-Star, the most All-Star Game selections, and is tied with Willie Mays and Stan Musial for the most All-Star Games played. He was a Gold Glove winner for three seasons, in 1957, he was the NL Most Valuable Player when the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series. He won the NL Player of the Month award in May 1958, Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in, extra base hits, and total bases. Aaron is also in the top five for career hits and runs and he is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron is in place in home runs and at-bats. At the time of his retirement, Aaron held most of the games key career power hitting records, since his retirement, Aaron has held front office roles with the Atlanta Braves. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, in 1999, MLB introduced the Hank Aaron Award to recognize the top offensive players in each league. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 and he was named a 2010 Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society in recognition of accomplishments that reflect the ideals of Georgias founders. Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Herbert Aaron, Sr. Tommie Aaron, one of his brothers, also went on to play Major League Baseball. By the time Aaron retired, he and his brother held the record for most career home runs by a pair of siblings and they were also the first siblings to appear in a League Championship Series as teammates. While he was born in a section of Mobile referred to as Down the Bay, Aaron grew up in a poor family. His family could not afford baseball equipment, so he practiced by hitting bottle caps with sticks and he would create his own bats and balls out of materials he found on the streets
4.
Ira Aldridge
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Ira Frederick Aldridge was an American and later British stage actor and playwright who made his career after 1824 largely on the London stage and in Europe, especially in Shakespearean roles. He was especially popular in Prussia and Russia, where he received top honors from heads of state and he was married twice, once to an Englishwoman, once to a Swedish woman, and had a family in England. Two of his daughters became professional opera singers, Aldridge was born in New York City to Reverend Daniel and Luranah Aldridge on July 24,1807. At age 13, Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City, established by the New York Manumission Society for the children of black people. They were given an education, with the study of English grammar, writing, mathematics, geography. His classmates at the African free school included Charles L. Reason, George T. Downing, Aldridges first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the African Company, a group founded and managed by William Henry Brown and James Hewlett. In 1821, the built the African Grove Theatre, the first resident African-American theatre in the United States. Aldridge made his debut as Rolla, a Peruvian character in Richard Brinsley Sheridans Pizarro. He may have played the male lead in Romeo and Juliet, as reported later in an 1860 memoir by his schoolfellow. Confronted with the persistent discrimination which black actors had to endure in the United States, Aldridge emigrated to Liverpool, England, during this time the Industrial Revolution had begun, bringing about radical economic change that helped expand the development of theatres. The British Parliament had already outlawed the trade and was moving toward abolishing slavery in the British colonies. Having limited onstage experience and lacking name recognition, Aldridge concocted a story of his African lineage, by 1831 he had taken the name of Keene, a homonym for the then popular British actor, Edmund Kean. Aldridge observed a common practice of assuming an identical or similar nomenclature to that of a celebrity in order to garner attention. In addition to being called F. W. Keene Aldridge, he would later be called African Roscius, on October 10,1825, Aldridge made his European debut at Londons Royal Coburg Theatre, the first African-American actor to establish himself professionally in a foreign country. He played the role of Oroonoko in The Revolt of Surinam, or A Slaves Revenge. According to the scholar Shane White, English people had heard of the African Theatre because of British actor and comedian Charles Mathews, bernth Lindfors says, hen Aldridge starts appearing on the stage at the Royalty Theatre, hes just called a gentleman of color. But when he moves over to the Royal Coburg, hes advertised in the first playbill as the American Tragedian from the African Theater New York City, the second playbill refers to him as The African Tragedian. So everybody goes to the theater expecting to laugh because this is the man they think Mathews saw in New York City, an innovation Aldridge introduced early in his career was a direct address to the audience on the closing night of his engagement at a given theatre
5.
Muhammad Ali
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Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, Cassius Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At age 18, he won a medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. At age 22 in 1964, he won the WBA, WBC, Clay then converted to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his slave name, to Muhammad Ali. He set an example of pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the Civil Rights Movement. He was eventually arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges, Alis actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation. Ali is regarded as one of the leading heavyweight boxers of the 20th century and he remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion, having won the title in 1964,1974, and 1978. Between February 25 and September 19,1964, Ali reigned as the heavyweight champion. He is the boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times. Nicknamed The Greatest, he was involved in historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the first Liston fight, the Fight of the Century, Super Fight II, the Thrilla in Manila versus his rival Joe Frazier, and The Rumble in the Jungle versus George Foreman. At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, as a musician, Ali recorded two spoken word albums and a rhythm and blues song, and received two Grammy Award nominations. As an actor, he performed in films and a Broadway musical. Additionally, Ali wrote two autobiographies, one during and one after his boxing career, as a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammads Nation of Islam and advocated their black separatist ideology. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering initially to Sunni Islam and later to Sufism, after retiring from boxing in 1981, Ali devoted his life to religious and charitable work. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinsons syndrome, which his doctors attributed to boxing-related brain injuries, as the condition worsened, Ali made limited public appearances and was cared for by his family until his death on June 3,2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17,1942, in Louisville and he had a sister and four brothers
6.
Marian Anderson
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Marian Anderson was an American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Music critic Alan Blyth said, Her voice was a rich, most of her singing career was spent performing in concert and recital in major music venues and with famous orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965. Although offered roles with many important European opera companies, Anderson declined and she preferred to perform in concert and recital only. She did, however, perform opera arias within her concerts and she made many recordings that reflected her broad performance repertoire of everything from concert literature to lieder to opera to traditional American songs and spirituals. Between 1940 and 1965 the German-American pianist Franz Rupp was her permanent accompanist, Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused permission for Anderson to sing to an audience in Constitution Hall. The incident placed Anderson into the spotlight of the community on a level unusual for a classical musician. She sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdis Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on stage. She participated in the civil movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs. Marian Anderson was born on February 27,1897, in Philadelphia, the daughter of John Berkley Anderson and her father sold ice and coal at the Reading Terminal in downtown Philadelphia and eventually opened a small liquor business as well. Prior to her marriage, Andersons mother had attended the Virginia Seminary. As she did not obtain a degree, Annie Anderson was unable to teach in Philadelphia under a law that was applied only to black teachers and she therefore earned an income caring for small children. Marian was the eldest of the three Anderson children and her two sisters, Alice and Ethel, also became singers. Ethel married James DePreist and their son, James Anderson DePreist was a noted conductor. Andersons parents were both devout Christians and the family was active in the Union Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. Marians aunt Mary, her fathers sister, was active in the churchs musical life and, noticing her nieces talent. In that role she got to perform solos and duets, often with her aunt Mary, Marian was also taken by her aunt to concerts at local churches, the YMCA, benefit concerts, and other community music events throughout the city. Anderson credited her aunts influence as the reason she pursued a singing career, beginning as young as six, her aunt arranged for Marian to sing for local functions where she was often paid 25 or 50 cents for singing a few songs
7.
Maya Angelou
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Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies and she received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood, the first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, in 1982, she earned the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and she was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture. Her works are used in schools and universities worldwide although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U. S. libraries. Angelous most celebrated works have been labeled as fiction. She made an attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel. Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4,1928, the child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian Johnson. Angelous older brother, Bailey Jr. nicknamed Marguerite Maya, derived from My or Mya Sister, four years later, the childrens father came to Stamps without warning and returned them to their mothers care in St. Louis. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mothers boyfriend and she told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelous uncles, Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated, I thought, my voice killed him, I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never again, because my voice would kill anyone. Shortly after Freemans murder, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother, Angelou credits a teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, with helping her speak again. When Angelou was 14, she and her brother moved in with their once again
8.
Arthur Ashe
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Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was an American World No.1 professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam titles, Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He was ranked World No.1 by Harry Hopman in 1968 and by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph, in the ATP computer rankings, he peaked at No.2 in May 1976. In the early 1980s, Ashe is believed to have contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery, Ashe publicly announced his illness in April 1992 and began working to educate others about HIV and AIDS. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, on June 20,1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the United States President Bill Clinton. Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Arthur Ashe Sr. and he had a brother, Johnnie, who was five years younger. In March 1950, Ashes mother Mattie died from complications related to a pregnancy at the age of 27. Ashe and his brother were raised by their father who worked as a handyman, Ashe Sr. Ashe attended Maggie L. Walker High School where he continued to practice tennis. Ron Charity brought him to the attention of Robert Walter Johnson, a physician, and coach of Althea Gibson, Ashe was coached and mentored by Johnson at his tennis summer camp home in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1953 when Ashe was age 10, until 1960. Johnson helped fine-tune Ashes game and taught him the importance of racial socialization through sportsmanship, etiquette and he was told to return every ball that landed within two inches of a line and never to argue with an umpires decision. In 1958, Ashe became the first African-American to play in the Maryland boys championships and it was also his first integrated tennis competition. Louis teacher, tennis coach and friend of Dr. Johnson, to move to St. Louis, Ashe lived with Hudlin and his family for the year, during which time Hudlin coached and encouraged him to develop the serve-and-volley game that Ashes, now stronger, physique allowed. In December 1960 and again in 1963, Ashe featured in Sports Illustrated and he became the first African-American to win the National Junior Indoor tennis title and was awarded a tennis scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles in 1963. During his time at UCLA, he was coached by J. D. Morgan and practiced regularly with his idol, Pancho Gonzales. Ashe was also a member of the ROTC which required him to active military service after graduation in exchange for money for tuition. He was active in other things, joining the Upsilon chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity on campus, after graduating with a bachelors degree in business administration, Ashe joined the United States Army on August 4,1966. Ashe completed his training in Washington and was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Adjutant General Corps. He was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point where he worked as a data processor, during his time at West Point, Ashe headed the academys tennis program
9.
James Baldwin
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James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, some Baldwin essays are book-length, for instance The Fire Next Time, No Name in the Street, and The Devil Finds Work. An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded upon and adapted for cinema as the Academy Award nominated documentary film, such dynamics are prominent in Baldwins second novel, Giovannis Room, written in 1956, well before the gay liberation movement. Baldwin was born after his mother, Emma Berdis Jones, left his father because of his drug abuse and moved to Harlem. There, she married a preacher, David Baldwin, Baldwin spent much time caring for his several younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 10, he was teased and abused by two New York police officers, an instance of racist harassment by the NYPD that he would experience again as a teenager and document in his essays. His adoptive father, whom Baldwin in essays called simply his father and his stepfather died of tuberculosis in summer of 1943 just before Baldwin turned 19. The quest to answer or explain family and social rejection—and attain a sense of selfhood,24 on 128th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem, where he wrote the school song, which was used until the school closed down. He then went on to DeWitt Clinton High School, in the Bronxs Bedford Park section, there, along with Richard Avedon, Baldwin worked on the school magazine as literary editor but disliked school because of the constant racial slurs. The difficulties of his life, including his stepfathers abuse, led Baldwin to seek solace in religion, at the age of 14 he attended meetings of the Pentecostal Church and, during a euphoric prayer meeting, he converted and became a junior Minister. Before long, at the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, he was drawing larger crowds than his stepfather had done in his day. At 17, however, Baldwin came to view Christianity as based on false premises, Baldwin once visited Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, who inquired about Baldwins religious beliefs. He answered, I left the church 20 years ago and havent joined anything since, Elijah asked, And what are you now. Still, his church experience significantly shaped his worldview and writing, Baldwin reflected that being in the pulpit was like working in the theatre, I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion was worked. Baldwin accused Christianity of reinforcing the system of American slavery by palliating the pangs of oppression, Baldwin praised religion, however, for inspiring some American blacks to defy oppression. He once wrote, If the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, If God cant do that, its time we got rid of him. Baldwin publicly described himself as not religious, a recording of him singing Precious Lord, Take My Hand a cappella was played at his funeral. When Baldwin was 15, his high-school running buddy, Emile Capouya, skipped school one day and, in Greenwich Village, met Beauford Delaney, Capouya gave Baldwin Delaneys address and suggested paying him a visit
10.
Mary McLeod Bethune
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She attracted donations of time and money, and developed the academic school as a college. It later continued to develop as Bethune-Cookman University and she also was appointed as a national adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of what was known as his Black Cabinet. She was known as The First Lady of The Struggle because of her commitment to better lives for African Americans. Born in Mayesville, South Carolina, to parents who had been slaves and she took an early interest in becoming educated, with the help of benefactors, Bethune attended college hoping to become a missionary in Africa. She started a school for African-American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida and it later merged with a private institute for African-American boys, and was known as the Bethune-Cookman School. Bethune maintained high standards and promoted the school with tourists and donors and she was president of the college from 1923 to 1942, and 1946 to 1947. She was one of the few women in the world to serve as a president at that time. Bethune was also active in clubs, which were strong civic organizations supporting welfare and other needs. After working on the campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. She advised him on concerns of people and helped share Roosevelts message and achievements with blacks. At the time, blacks had been disenfranchised in the South since the turn of the century. Upon her death, columnist Louis E. Martin said, She gave out faith and hope as if they were pills, McLeod was born in 1875 in a small log cabin near Mayesville, South Carolina, on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy McLeod, Most of her siblings had been born into slavery. Her mother worked for her master, and her father farmed cotton near a large house they called The Homestead. Her parents wanted to be independent so had sacrificed to buy a farm for the family, as a child, Mary would accompany her mother to deliver white people’s wash. Allowed to go into the white children’s nursery, Mary became fascinated with their toys, One day she picked up a book and as she opened it, a white child took it away from her, saying she didn’t know how to read. Mary decided then that the difference between white and colored people was the ability to read and write. McLeod attended Mayesvilles one-room black schoolhouse, Trinity Mission School, which was run by the Presbyterian Board of Missions of Freedmen and she was the only child in her family to attend school, so each day, she taught her family what she had learned
