People, Locations, Episodes

Nthato Harrison Motlana, Physician and Activist born.

*Dr. Nthato Harrison Motlana was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black South African businessman, physician, and anti-apartheid activist. He was born in Marapane, near Pretoria, South Africa. He attended Kilnerton High School in Pretoria and the University of Fort Hare, where he obtained a B.Sc. degree. He also took medicine at […]

Carolyn Robertson Payton, Psychologist born

*Carolyn Robertson Payton was born on this date in 1925. She was an African American Psychologist and global peace administrator and advocate.

Franz Fanon, Writer born

*Frantz Fanon was born on this date in 1925. He was an Afro Caribbean author, psychiatrist, and political philosopher. Frantz Omar Fanon was born on the Caribbean island of Martinique.   His father, Félix Casimir Fanon, was a descendant of African slaves and worked as a customs agent. His mother, Éléanore Médélice, was of Afro […]

Emmett Chappelle, Biochemist born

Emmett W. Chappelle, an African American scientist, was born on this date in 1925.

He was born in Phoenix, AZ. In 1950, he received a Bachelor of Science from the University of California. From 1950 to 1953, Chappelle an instructor in Biochemistry at the Meharry Medical College. A year later, he received a Master of Science from the University of Washington. Between 1955 and 1958, Chappelle was a research associate at Stanford University. He was appointed scientist and biochemist for the Research Institute of Advanced Studies at Stanford University, a post he held until 1963.

James Forte, Chemical Lab Assistant born

*James Forte was born on this date in 1927. He was a Black Lab Assistant and health director. From Brooklyn, New York, Forde, in 1944, was hired by the Union Carbide and Carbon Company and began working on the Manhattan Project. He worked at the Nash Garage Building at Columbia University, where scientists worked on […]

Morris Miller, Nurse, and Health Care Advocate born

Morris Miller was born on this date in 1927. He was an African American nurse and health care advocate.

Florence Saunders Farley, Psychologist and Educator born

*Florence Saunders Farley was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black psychologist, educator, politician, and community activist. Florence Saunders was born in Roanoke, Virginia, to Neoda and Stacious Saunders. She attended Harrison Elementary School in Roanoke. After graduating as the salutatorian of her class from Lucy Addison High School in 1946, Farley […]

Alyce Gullattee, Activist born

*Alyce Gullattee was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black psychologist, educator, and activist. Born and raised in Detroit, her family had moved from Georgia during the Great Migration. Neither of her parents made it to high school, and her father worked at a Chrysler plant as a furnace stoker. But Gullattee’s […]

Eugene Hickman Sr., Pharmacist, and Educator born

*The birth of Eugene Hickman Sr. is celebrated on this date in 1928. He was a Black Pharmacist and educator. From Louisiana, Hickman excelled in his pre-collegiate education in the segregated public schools of Louisiana and Texas. After a tour of duty in the United States Army, he enrolled at Texas Southern University. He completed […]

Mary Munson Runge, Pharmacist born

*Mary Munson Runge was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black Pharmacist and medical rights advocate.  She was born Mary Lowery in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Runge’s father, John Harvey Lowery, was a pharmacist and physician notable for establishing the first pharmacy in Donaldsonville.   Runge graduated from the College of Pharmacy at Xavier […]

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.

Betty Smith Williams, Nurse, and Administrator born

*Betty Smith Williams’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1929. She was a Black nurse and administrator. Betty Smith was born in South Bend, Indiana. Her father was a minority rights activist and member of the NAACP chapter. She was raised to advocate for equality and did just that. In 1954, Williams earned her […]

Meredith Gourdine, Physics Researcher, and Engineer born

Meredith C. Gourdine was born on this date in 1929. He was an African American physicist, and engineer.

He was born in Newark, N.J. he received a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 1953, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1960. While at Cornell, he ran track and won a silver medal in the long jump at the Olympic Games in 1952.

Ida Owens, Biochemist, and Researcher born

On this date in 1929, Ida Stephens Owens was born. She is an African American biochemist.

She was born in Newark, and received a Ph.D. in Biology-Physiology from Duke University in 1967. At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), biochemist Dr. Owens conducted studies in the genetics of detoxification enzymes. This research was aimed at shedding light on how the human body defends itself against poison.

Owens is currently with the Section of Genetic Disorders of Drug Metabolism, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD.

Samuel Kountz, Doctor, and Kidney Sepcialist born

*Samuel Kountz was born on this date in 1930. He was an African American doctor and kidney specialist.

From Lexa, Ark. the son of a Baptist minister, at the age of eight, young Kountz, decided to become a doctor. He failed the entrance exam at Arkansas AM&N College and then appealed to the college president, who gave him another chance. Kountz subsequently earned A’s and B’s.