Great thread, OP. I wish we could name and recognize the blue collar workers/unschooled black Americans who, literally, built this country. So many untold, unrecognized contributions and achievements.

My contribution to this thread is Onesimus, an African man sold to the infamous Cotton Mather. At the time, Boston was experiencing yet another smallpox outbreak. Onesimus described how he had been vaccinated against smallpox IN AFRICA! Cotton Mather then work with a Boston physician, despite huge opposition, on testing smallpox inoculation - including inoculating a person enslaved by the doctor who could not have given consent. The inoculations were successful.

https://www.history.com/news/smallpox-vaccine-onesimus-slave-cotton-mather
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1758062/pdf/v013p00082.pdf

Jester Hairston

Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music.[1][2] His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film Lilies of the Field and a 1964 hit for the Impressions, and the Christmas song "Mary's Boy Child."

Anonymous wrote:Charles Hamilton Houston

Civil Rights Leader. He was a prominent African-American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School, and NAACP Litigation Director who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws, which earned him the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow". He is also well known for having trained future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Interesting, he remembered the time before Jim Crow. The Delaney sisters wrote about the transition to Jim Crow years in their book. Just like Confederate monuments, Jim Crow rose long after the Civil War ended.

He is another one buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Suitland.

Charles Hamilton Houston

Civil Rights Leader. He was a prominent African-American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School, and NAACP Litigation Director who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws, which earned him the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow". He is also well known for having trained future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Interesting, he remembered the time before Jim Crow. The Delaney sisters wrote about the transition to Jim Crow years in their book. Just like Confederate monuments, Jim Crow rose long after the Civil War ended.

Ernest Everett Just

Scientist. He was a biologist, zoologist, physiologist and research scientist in the field of physical chemistry. Also a founder of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity at Howard University (November 17, 1911). He pioneered the fields of biology and chemistry at a time when it was extremely difficult for African-Americans to get a scientific education. He overcame many obstacles to leave a scientific legacy for generations to come studying cell life and human metabolism. In addition, he explored egg fertilization. In fact, he was the first person to unlock the secret of cell function and structure.

Also buried in the cemetery in Suitland.

Another person buried locally:
Dr Sarah Marinda Loguen Fraser

Medical Pioneer. She was a pioneer in the field of medicine and one of the first African-American female physicians in America. She was born in Syracuse, New York, the fifth of five children of abolitionist and religious leader Rev. James Loguen and his wife Caroline. Frasier later studied to become a doctor, she was admitted to the Syracuse University College of Medicine in October of 1873. She received her M.D. in the Spring of 1876. In September of that same year, Frasier began her internship at Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her warm manner endeared her to the children in the hospital wards, who called her "Miss Doc." Besides pediatric and obstetric cases, she also frequently encountered nervous or mental patients on her rounds. In the Fall of 1878, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts to fill a six-month vacancy in an internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. In the Summer of 1879, she moved to Washington, D.C. to live with her sister Amelia and an aunt. There Frasier opened an office for private medical practice and soon made the acquaintance of Charles Alexander Frasier, a pharmacist whom she later married in Syracuse on September 19, 1882. The union produced one daughter.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7264677/sarah_marinda-fraser

Anonymous wrote:Great thread, OP.



Katherine Johnson was a mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".

Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson

Anonymous wrote:Garrett Morgan


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Garrett Morgan

Born Garrett Augustus Morgan
March 4, 1877
Claysville, Harrison County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died July 27, 1963 (aged 86)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Other names Big Chief Mason
Occupation
Entrepreneur
Known for Inventing a safety hood protective device and a traffic signal
Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a type of two-way traffic light,[1] and a protective 'smoke hood'[2] notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue.[3][4] Morgan also discovered and developed a chemical hair-processing and straightening solution. He created a successful company called "G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company" based on his hair product inventions along with a complete line of haircare products and became involved in the civic and political advancement of African Americans, especially in and around Cleveland, Ohio.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces' lives during the war.[1] As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew

That's former DC City Council Charlene Drew Jarvis' father.

Charles Drew is buried in the cemetery in Suitland, a bunch if notable AAa from the turn of the century buried there, will find info for some of them.

Miss Jarvis and her son, he kinda looks like her dad.

Anonymous wrote:

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces' lives during the war.[1] As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew

That's former DC City Council Charlene Drew Jarvis' father.

Garrett Morgan


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Garrett Morgan

Born Garrett Augustus Morgan
March 4, 1877
Claysville, Harrison County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died July 27, 1963 (aged 86)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Other names Big Chief Mason
Occupation
Entrepreneur
Known for Inventing a safety hood protective device and a traffic signal
Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a type of two-way traffic light,[1] and a protective 'smoke hood'[2] notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue.[3][4] Morgan also discovered and developed a chemical hair-processing and straightening solution. He created a successful company called "G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company" based on his hair product inventions along with a complete line of haircare products and became involved in the civic and political advancement of African Americans, especially in and around Cleveland, Ohio.

Great thread! Thank you!

Great thread, OP.



Katherine Johnson was a mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".

Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces' lives during the war.[1] As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew

Let's share pics and stories of African Americans who made this country great.



Military figure, Educator, and Memberof the National Bar Association Hall of Fame. He practiced before the US Supreme Court in 1972 at age 83. In an era when opportunities for African Americans were limited, he earned 11 bachelor's degrees and five law degrees (including his first from the Lincoln College of Law in 1935 and another from the Indiana University School of Law in 1946). He learned to speak six languages and was first hired by the Indianapolis Public School system in 1922. In 1927, he was the first teacher assigned to its new Crispus Attucks High School. He was the head of Attucks' foreign language department for 30 years, teaching Greek, Latin, German, Spanish, and French. He also taught history and mathematics and earned an Indiana school superintendent's license. At the time of his death at the age of 108, he was Indiana's oldest living practicing attorney, a veteran, and the last surviving member of the World War I black army unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. For his life of achievements, he was a special White House guest of President George Bush and the subject of a Paul Harvey commentary.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11691/john-morton-finney