Black Excellence: Richard Theodore Greener

https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu/alumni/richard-theodore-greener

Harvard’s first Black graduate, Richard T. Greener, went on to become the first Black professor at the University of South Carolina and dean of the Howard University School of Law.

Born in Philadelphia in 1844, Richard T. Greener moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his parents at age nine. He dropped out of school at age 11 to help support the family, after his father went to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush and never returned.

Black Excellence: Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson

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

Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson (born October 20, 1947) is an American journalist and news anchor. Pearson’s career first started in Louisville, Kentucky, as an anchor and reporter for WHAS-TV, while also working as a reporter for the Louisville Times. When Pearson moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1975, she became the first female and African-American to anchor the evening news at WSB-TV.

Black Excellence: Elizabeth Francis

https://www.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-francis-oldest-living-person-234300631.html

Elizabeth Francis, who was the oldest living person in the United States, has died. She was 115.

At the time of her death, Francis was the oldest living person in the U.S. and the third-oldest person in the world, according to LongeviQuest, a global database of the world’s oldest individuals. She lived most of her life in Houston, Texas, per a press release from the database.

Black Excellence: Aaron Hutcherson

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/aaron-hutcherson

Aaron Hutcherson is a writer and recipe developer for Food at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, Hutcherson was a freelance writer, recipe developer, photographer and food stylist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Eater, Thrillist, Taste, Serious Eats, Food52 and Simply Recipes, among other publications. Previously working in wealth management, he nurtured cooking and food writing as a hobby and started a blog, TheHungryHutch.com. Eventually, he changed careers, earning a culinary degree in 2012 from the French Culinary Institute in New York (now the Institute of Culinary Education). Hutcherson has gathered a variety of experience in the food and media worlds since, including times as a restaurant line cook, writer, editor, community manager and social media manager.

Black Excellence: Prentis Hemphill

https://prentishemphill.com

Prentis Hemphill (They/Them) is unearthing the connections between healing, community accountability and our most inspired visions for social transformation. Prentis is a therapist, somatics teacher and facilitator, political organizer, writer and the founder of The Embodiment Institute. For over 10 years, Prentis has been working with individuals and organizations during their most challenging moments of change; navigating leadership transitions, conflict, and realigning practice with values. All of this Prentis does through an embodied approach, ensuring that our intentions and ideas can be lived out and practiced in our lives and through our bodies.