The following folks aren’t generally as widely known as Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass. However, their contributions were enormous and they should be recognized.
Ernest Everett Just. He was a biologist who explored egg fertilization and pioneered the study of cell life and human metabolism. He was the very first recipient of the prestigious Spingarn Medal, awarded annually by the NAACP. The inaugural year for the award was 1915 and the award is given to “the man or woman of African descent and American citizenship who shall have made the highest achievement…in any honorable field of human endeavor.
Hiram Revels. A Republican, Revels was the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. He was elected in 1870 by the state legislature of Mississippi, but when he arrived in Washington, the Southern Democrats opposed his being seated. The Democrats argued that the Dred Scott decision of 1857 had ruled that no blacks were citizens and none could therefore be considered a citizen prior to the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868. Under those circumstances, Revels would not meet the requirement of having been a citizen of his state for at least nine years. Following a vote strictly along party lines, Republicans prevailed and Revels was sworn-in and seated.
Dr. Charles Drew. A preeminent researcher, scientist, surgeon and teacher, Drew helped devise the blood-bank process to store large amounts of plasma. His experiments with plasma transfusions (blood with the cells removed) demonstrated the longer life of liquid plasma as opposed to whole blood which could become contaminated or spoiled. He organized the world’s first blood-bank project, called “Blood for Britain,” and this program was credited with saving the lives of scores of allied troops during the Battle of Dunkirk in World War II.
Charles Henry Turner. He was the first African American to earn a Ph D. from the University of Chicago. A zoologist and research biologist, he was the first person to prove that insects could hear and distinguish pitch and that roaches learn through trial and error. His fascination with bugs and insects led him to study ants, bees, moths and spiders, and he was regarded as a foremost authority on the behavior patters of insects.
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback. Though he served for only a little over a month, Pinchback nevertheless was the first African American governor of a U.S. state. He had been lieutenant governor of Louisiana and moved into the top spot when the governor stepped down to fight impeachment charges that had been lodged against him. A Republican, Pinchback was also the first African American from his state to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate when he won victories in 1874 and 1876. However, the Southern Democrats contested the election results and each time Pinchback lost his seat. In an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and violence, the Democrats who controlled the Congress unseated Pinchback and installed his opponents.
Henry O. Tanner. He was the first African American to win international acclaim as a painter. Tanner experienced much racial prejudice as he tried to develop his talent in the latter part of the 19th century. For example, white students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts were so intolerant of having a black artist on their campus that they once threw Tanner into the street, tied to his easel. Discouraged by this brutal treatment, Tanner eventually moved to France, where he spent most of his professional career. Tanner, who was especially renowned for his religious paintings, received the French Legion of Honor and became the first black American accorded full membership in the National Academy of Art and Design.
Mary McLeod Bethune. Education became her central mission in life, and she founded what is today known as Bethune-Cookman University, an historically black university in Daytona Beach, Florida. Begun in 1904, the school was originally called the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School. When she started her normal and industrial school, she had only $1.50 in cash, and there were just five pupils in a rented cottage. She was an adviser on minority affairs to five presidents, and she became the first black woman to head a federal office when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her as director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration in 1936.
William Still. A free-born African-American abolitionist, Still skillfully organized and managed the Philadelphia branch of the Underground Railroad, a loose network of individuals who sheltered runaway slaves and helped them on their journey toward freedom. He aided over 800 slaves in their escape to freedom and was known as the “Father of the Underground Railroad.” A writer and historian, Still wrote down what the fleeing slaves told him about the humiliation and cruelties they had faced, along with their inspiring descriptions of their determination to escape the hardships of slavery. After the Civil War he published the biographies and stories of those he had helped.
W.C. Handy. In today’s world, with so many talentless, musically-challenged, inane rappers hogging so much attention, few people take time to remember W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues.” He wrote down and arranged the music he heard from poor rural blacks in the Mississippi delta, and this became the roots of rhythm and blues that spread North during the “Great Migration” and of rock and roll. Handy played cornet in bands throughout the South and formed his own band in Memphis in 1905. He published such works as “Memphis Blues,” “Beale Street Blues” and “St. Louis Blues,” his classic work. Although largely forgotten today, he was celebrated in his time, so much so that an estimated 150,000 people lined his funeral route in 1958.
Carter Woodson. It is appropriate to end with Woodson, because he was the one who first suggested a Negro History Week that has evolved into Black History Month. Called the “Father of Negro History,” Woodson believed that the value, contributions and achievements of African Americans had long been neglected and he wrote many volumes of black history to try to address this oversight.
Sources:
“Blacks in the Federal Government,” Empak Enterprises, Inc., 1991
“I Have A Dream, A Collection of Black Americans on U.S. Postage Stamps,” USPS
“Created Equal, the Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators,” James Michael Brodie, Bill Adler Books, Inc., 1993
