Janie Porter Barrett was an influential social reformer and educator. She founded the Locust Street Settlement House in Hampton, Virginia, which provided educational and social services to African American communities. In the mid-1920s the Russell Sage Foundation identified it as one of the five best such schools in the country. Barrett’s work focused on empowering […]
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Susan La Flesche Picotte was a groundbreaking physician and social reformer. She was the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree and dedicated her life to providing healthcare to the Omaha tribe. She was also the first person to receive federal aid for professional education. In 1913, two years before her death, she
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James Carter is an acclaimed track and field athlete who competed in the 400 m hurdles. His personal best of 47.43 was set when winning the silver medal at the 2005 World Championships. He has also been ranked as the 15th fastest-ever in the world and 9th fastest-ever in the USA. A 3-time United States
Allyson Kay Duncan is a distinguished jurist who has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Prior to her service in the judiciary, Duncan was appointed a Commissioner of the North Carolina Utilities Commission in 1991 and remained in that post until 1998, when she joined the
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Elisabeth Omilami is an actor, activist and humanitarian known for her work in social justice and community empowerment. The daughter of the late civil rights pioneers Juanita and Hosea Williams, she grew up fighting for freedom alongside her parents and working to combat hunger. After graduating from college, she created the People’s Survival Theatre, producing
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Brandon Mychal Smith is a talented actor known for his roles in various television shows and films. Smith’s career began at a young age, with roles in movies like Gridiron Gang and television shows like Bones. He has also appeared in films like Let It Shine and Dirty Grandpa. In 2010, he starred in the Disney
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William Henry Sheppard was an early African American missionary to the Congo Free State in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a missionary in Africa, ethnographer, art collector, and human rights advocate. He is known for his work in exposing the atrocities committed against the Congolese people under King Leopold II of Belgium.
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Albert J. Edmonds is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as director of the Defense Information Systems Agency from 1994 to 1997. His distinguished military career includes serving as the Commander, Air Force Materiel Command. Edmonds was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious
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George Washington Fields was an early graduate of Hampton Institute and a lawyer, politician, and educator. He was the first African-American graduate of Cornell Law School and among the first class of African-Americans to graduate from Cornell University. He is believed to be the only formerly enslaved individual to graduate from Cornell. He also served
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Stephen Junius Wright, Jr. was an academic administrator and esteemed college president. In 1944, after a brief teaching experience in high school, Wright began his college teaching career at North Carolina College at Durham, before returning to Hampton Institute as professor of education and later as dean of the faculty. In 1953, Wright was appointed
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John A. Kenney Sr. Â was a distinguished physician and surgeon. He was the medical director and chief surgeon of the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, from 1902 to 1922. He so also served as secretary of the National Medical Association (NMA) from 1904 to 1912 and was elected
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William H. Ash was an early graduate of Hampton Institute. A former enslaved person, he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates during the 1887–1888 session. He was a successful teacher and regularly petitioned friends at Hampton for donations of reading material and other classroom supplies. In 1884, while attending a summer institute