People, Locations, Episodes

Henrietta Lacks, Cancer Cell Donor born

*Henrietta Lacks was born on this date in 1920. She was an African American housewife, mother and the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. This is now known as the HeLa cell line.

John Ramos Jr., Doctor, and School Board Member born

*John F. Ramos, Jr. was on this date in 1920. He was an African American Physician and School Board Member.

John Francis Ramos, Jr. was from Boston, MA. He received a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall College in Newark, New Jersey and attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. His internship and residency in radiology occurred at the old General Hospital No. 2, Kansas City’s hospital for Black Americans. He was the first resident to complete his training at the hospital and was certified by the American Board of Radiology in 1950.

Otis Boykin, Lab Assistant, and Inventor born

The birth of Otis Boykin in 1920 is marked on this date. He was an African American inventor.

Nancy Leftenant, Nurse and Officer born

*Nancy Leftenant was born on this date in 1920. She was a Black nurse and military officer. Also known as “Lefty,” she was born in Goose Creek, South Carolina, to James and Eunice Leftenant. She graduated from Amityville High School, Amityville, New York, in 1939 and New York’s Lincoln School of Nursing in 1941. She […]

William Morgan, Dentist, and Tuskegee Airman born

*William Morgan was born on this date in 1921. He was an African American dentist and Tuskegee Airman.

William Bethel Morgan Jr. was from Wyano, Pennsylvania (Westmoreland County), a small coal mining community. His father was William Bethel Morgan, Sr., a coal miner, and his mother was Susie Harris Morgan a farmer. When he was just 8, in 1929, Morgan’s father died in a Wyano coal mining accident. Young Morgan and his mother moved onto a farm in Yukon, Pennsylvania as the only black family in town.

Helen E. Nash, Pediatrician born

*Helen Nash was born on this date in 1921.  She was a Black pediatrician and administrator.  Helen Elizabeth Nash was born to Homer Erwin Nash and Marie Antoinette Graves Nash. Her father returned from World War I and started a medical practice called Herndon Building in 1910. Helen was the third of six children in […]

Howard Jones, Engineer, and Inventor born

*Howard St. Claire Jones, Jr. was born on this date in 1921. He was an African American engineer.

One of three children Jones grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He stayed in his hometown to go to Virginia Union University, where he graduated in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics. After college, he moved to Washington, D. C. to be a government engineer. He came to Howard University’s government training program as a junior engineer and took a job at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS).

Ozzie Williams, Engineer born

*Ozzie Williams was born on this date in 1921. He was an African American Engineer.

Edith DeVoe, Naval Nurse born

*Edith DeVoe was born on this date in 1921.  She was a Black nurse.  Edith Mazie DeVoe was born in Washington, D. C. to Sadie Frances (née Dent) and Joseph Edward DeVoe. Her parents were employed in government service, and the family consisted of four children: Elizabeth, Edith, Joseph, and Sadie. Her brother died in 1934, […]

Wendell Cotton, Orthodontist born

*On this date in 1922, Wendell Cotton was born. He was an African American dentist and community activist and the first black Orthodontist to open a private practice west of the Mississippi River.

Benjamin F. Scott, Chemist born

*Benjamin Franklin Scott was on this date in 1922.  He was a Black chemist.  Born in Florence, South Carolina, he was the son of Benny and Viola Scott and had two older sisters, Mary and Rosa.  Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1942 from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Scott continued his education at […]

Marie Van Brittan Brown, Inventor born

*Marie Van Brittan Brown was born on this date in 1922. She was an African American nurse and inventor.

Born Marie Van Brittan in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, in 1966 she had the idea for a home surveillance device. She applied for a patent along with her husband Albert Brown in 1966 for a closed circuit television security system. They created a system for a motorized camera to show images on a monitor. The patent, #3,482,037 was granted. Her devise was the forerunner to the modern home security system.

Beatrix A. Hamburg, Psychiatrist born

*Beatrix A. Hamburg was born on this date in 1923.  She was a Black Psychiatrist and advocate for children. Beatrix Ann McCleary was born to Minor and Beatrix Ann Downs in Jacksonville, Florida. Her father was a surgeon who died when she was young. They moved to Long Island in New York shortly after his […]

Rufus Stokes, Pioneer of Environmental Justice born

*On this date, in 1924, Rufus Stokes was born.  He was a Black mechanic, scientist, and inventor.  Rufus Stokes grew up in the rural South and attended public school in Alabama until he was 18. On November 5, 1940, just before receiving his high school diploma, Stokes enlisted in the US Army at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the Quartermaster Corps.  While […]

The Afro American Sons and Daughters Hospital Opens

*On this date in 1924, the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital opened. In Yazoo City, Mississippi, the Afro-American Hospital “offering death and hospitalization benefits to its members.” After being organized, it had 35,000 members by the 1930s. The Afro Americans Sons and Daughters members used the hospital on a fee basis for non-members. There were […]