People, Locations, Episodes

Robert Guthrie, Psychologist, and Author born

*Robert V. Guthrie was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black psychologist, author, and educator. Guthrie and his twin brother were born in Chicago. As a baby, his father, a school principal, picked up the family and moved to Richmond, Ky., then to Lexington, Ky., towns in great need of teachers for […]

Robert L. Williams, Psychologist born

*Robert Williams was born on this date in 1930. He is a Black professor emeritus of psychology and African and Afro-American studies.  Robert Lee Williams was born in Biscoe, Arkansas. His father, Robert L. Williams, worked as a millwright and died when his son was five. Williams’ mother, Rosie L. Williams, worked in the homes […]

Douglass Hospital, (Kansas City, MO.) Opens

“On this date in 1930, Douglass Hospital of Kansas City, MO, opened. The original building was housed in Kansas City General Hospital No. 2, serving the indigent Black population of the city.  When the new building opened, national public health experts joined the local communities in considering the new facility the finest Black public hospital […]

John R. Cooper, Chemist born

*John R. Cooper was born on this date in 1930.  He was a Black chemist, community leader, and inventor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cooper was educated in public schools in Wyoming, Ohio. He graduated from high school in 1948, was a National Merit Scholar, president of his senior class, Band clarinetist, and member of the […]

Harriette Gillem Robinet, Biologist and Author born

*Harriette Gillem Robinet was born on this date in 1931. She is a Black research biologist, professor, and author. Born in Washington, D.C., Harriette Gillem spent her childhood summers in Arlington, Virginia. She is the daughter of Richard Avitus (a teacher) and Martha (a teacher; maiden name, Gray) Gillem. Her mother’s father was enslaved under […]

Dr. Maurice Rabb Jr., Ophthalmologist born

*Dr. Maurice F. Rabb Jr. was born on this date in 1932. He was an African American ophthalmologist, author and administrator.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a story

On this date we remember the Tuskegee Syphilis study. This African American episode is part of the recurring chapter of racism against blacks in the United States.

In 1932, the American government promised 400 men, all residents of Macon County, Alabama, all poor, and all African American, free treatment for Bad Blood, a euphemism for syphilis which was epidemic in the county.

A Black Man Patents The Automotive Gearshift

On this date in 1932, a Black man received a patent for an automatic gear shift for cars. Major companies welcomed his inventions.

He invented a beer keg tap which Milwaukee Brewing bought. He invented automobile directional signals, which were first introduced in the Pierce Arrow, and soon became standard in all automobiles. For his innovative designs of transmission and gear-shifting devices, Spikes received over $100,000.00 in the 1930s.

Joseph White, Psychologist, and Educator born

On this date in 1932, Joseph L. White was born. He is an African American educator, mentor, administrator, clinical supervisor, writer, consultant, and practicing psychologist.

He was born in Lincoln, NE, the son of Dorothy Lee and Joseph L. White. His family moved to Minneapolis when he was an infant, where he attended Catholic Schools and also grew up in Pillsbury Community House programs.

Clara Adams, Educator, and Chemist born

*The birth of Clara Adams is marked on this date in 1933.  She was a Black educator, administrator, chemist, and advocate for women’s equity.  From Baltimore, MD., Dr. Clara Isabel Adams was the daughter of William S. Adams Sr., a Bethlehem Steel Corp. longshoreman, and his wife, Mary Emma Cornish “Mimi” Adams, a domestic worker.  […]

Dr. Nathan Hare, Sociologist born

*Nathan Hare was born on this date in 1933. He is a Black sociologist, activist, academic, and psychologist.    Nathan Hare was born on his parents’ sharecropper farm near the Creek County town of Slick, Oklahoma. He attended a segregated public school, L’Ouverture Elementary School, named after the Haitian revolutionary and general Toussaint Louverture; they were part of the “Slick Separate […]

Joycelyn Elders, Physician, and Administrator born

*Joycelyn Elders was born on this date in 1933. She is an African American physician, chemist, administrator, former U. S. surgeon general and educator.

William Gibson, Dentist, and Activist born

The birth in 1933 of Dr. William F. Gibson, an African American dentist and civil rights leader, is celebrated on this date.

He was born in Greenville, SC, the son of a brick mason and a schoolteacher. He became a dentist at Harlem Hospital in New York, returning to his hometown in 1959. While attending a voter registration meeting at Springfield Baptist Church in 1961, he decided to devote his life to civil rights. He organized the Black Council for Progress which helped get blacks into local and state political offices during the 1970s.

Louis Sullivan, Physician, and Educator born

*Louis Sullivan was born on this date in 1933. He is a Black health policy leader, minority health advocate, author, physician, and educator.  Louis Wade Sullivan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, although his parents moved to rural Blakely, Georgia, shortly after his birth. His father was a mortician, and his mother was a teacher. His parents sent him and his brother Walter to live […]

Etta Z. Falconer, Math Educator born

*The birth of Etta Falconer in 1933 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American mathematician and educator.