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 […]

Gladys Mae West, Mathematician born

*The birth of Gladys Mae West is celebrated on this date in 1930.  She is a Black mathematician and teacher known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth.  She was born Gladys Mae Brown in Sutherland, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, rural south of Richmond. Her family was a farming family […]

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 Wyoming, Ohio, Public Schools. He graduated from high school in 1948, was a National Merit Scholar, president of his senior class, Band clarinetist, and member of the “Wyoming […]

David Driskell, Artist, and Art Educator born

*David C. Driskell was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black artist, scholar, professor, and curator recognized for establishing African American Art as a distinct field of study. David Clyde Driskell was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of George Washington Driskell, a Baptist minister, and Mary Cloud Driskell, a homemaker. William […]

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 […]

Vivienne Malone-Mayes, Math Professor born

*Vivienne Malone-Mayes was born on this date in 1932.  She was a Black mathematician and professor.   Vivienne Lucille Malone was born in Waco, Texas, to Pizarro and Vera Lucille Estelle Allen Malone.  Growing up in a Black community in the Jim Crow South was difficult.  This included racially segregated schools, but the encouragement of […]

James A. Harris, Nuclear Chemist born

*James Harris was born on this date in 1932.  He was a Black nuclear chemist involved in discovering elements 104 and 105 (rutherfordium and dubnium).   James Andrew Harris was born in Waco, Texas.  His parents divorced when he was young, after which he moved to Oakland, California, with his mother and finished high school. […]

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.

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 Schools” […]

Annie Easley, Rocket Scientist born

*Annie J. Easley was born on this date in 1933.  She was a Black computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist.  Annie Easley was born to Samuel Bird Easley and Mary Melvina Hoover in Birmingham, Alabama. From the fifth grade through high school, Annie attended Holy Family High School and was valedictorian of her graduating class.  In […]