Category: Racial Justice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Hara

Robert O’Hara (born c. 1970)^[1] is an American playwright and director. He has written Insurrection: Holding History and Bootycandy.^[2] Insurrection is a time traveling play exploring racial and sexual identity.^[3] Bootycandy is a series of comedic scenes primarily following the character of Sutter, a gay African American man growing from adolescence to manhood.^[4] It won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama.^[5][6] O’Hara was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his contribution to Slave Play.^[7]

https://pacnyc.org/bio/omari-wiles-2

Ousmane “Omari” Wiles is an African American West African and Vogue dancer. Wiles is best known as, legendary Omari NiNa Oricci, founder of The House of Nina Oricci [est. Oct. 2019] and Creative Director of Les Ballet Afrik dance company.

About

Marie Basse-Wiles was born in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. The Granddaughter of Bambara singer and dancer Maimouna Keita, Marie began her professional career at the age of 9. She began teaching at the age of twelve as a member of the Ballet National of Senegal. Her professional accomplishments include resident work with kin N’Diaye Raise,

https://www.djapo.com/artisticdirectors

Executive Artistic Director

Talise A. Campbell

Talise A. Campbell is a dancer, choreographer, director and educator who strives to connect audiences to the beauty of diasporic music, history, art and folklore. Campbell creates multi-disciplinary and socially engaging dance for theater, screen, stage and the public space. Her work is continuously focused around research, musicality, authenticity and the African-American experience.

Music Director

Weedie Braimah

A Djembist, Composer, Producer and Folklorist of the highest caliber, Braimah has an almost insatiable knack to draw entire audiences into his groove, zigzagging through Africa on a breathtaking rhythmic roller coaster. His sound is the new voice of Djembe Music around the world.

https://gothamist.com/news/charlie-rangel

Charles Rangel, a longtime member of Congress from Harlem and founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94.

Rangel, born in Harlem in 1930 and known as the “Lion of Lenox Avenue,” was first elected to Congress in 1971, defeating Rev. Adam Clayton Powell for his seat. He went on to serve 23 terms in the House of Representatives.

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

William Hunter Dammond (October 26, 1873 – December 8, 1956) was an American civil engineer. He studied civil engineering at the Western University of Pennsylvania and, in 1893, was the first African American to graduate from that institution. As a black man Dammond found it difficult to secure employment as an engineer and, after a number of different roles, in 1897 found work as a professor at Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas. From 1899 Dammond taught at Wilberforce University in Ohio but left to join the Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) in the early 1900s. At MCR he developed the Dammond circuit, a means of providing signals in drivers’ cabs. In 1906 he developed a traffic light-like system for signalling. In 1910 Dammond moved to Britain to promote his signalling systems. Despite an extensive period of testing he was unsuccessful in selling it and found work as a bridge designer with Marcum Company.

Dammond returned to the US in 1916 and worked as a draftsman for US Steel at Farrell, Pennsylvania, and for Boston Structural Steel in Massachusetts. He afterwards moved to Ohio and, in the 1920s, to New York City. Dammond had some success in selling basic versions of his signalling systems to railroads in New York and Pennsylvania but suffered from infringement of his patents. In later life he worked as a draftsman for the New York City Board of Transportation but died a pauper.

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

Hattie T. Scott Peterson (1913–1993)^[1] is believed to be the first African-American woman to gain a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.^[2][3]

In 1947, Peterson began working as a survey and cartographic engineer for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).^[4]

Peterson joined the local U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 1954, making her the first female engineer to work for USACE.^[5] Peterson’s work was focused on flood risk reduction, but she also advocated for engineering as a profession for women and women’s rights as a whole.^[5]

https://www.dougoster.com/doug-oster/ralph-brock-was-pennsylvanias-first-african-american-forester

It was a box of letters discovered in 1966, which reintroduced the world to Ralph Elwood Brock, the first African-American forester in the United States. They date back to the early 1900s. Since then, the stack of letters, ledgers, and notes from Brock had been stored away at the Penn State Monto Alto campus. 

They languished in obscurity again until the late 1990s when they were rediscovered by forestry historians, anxious to retell the story of this pioneer who was in the first class of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy. “He was good with trees, he loved plants, he was a natural,” said Dr. Peter Linehan, associate professor of forestry at the University. Linehan is the latest to carry the torch for Brock. 

He spoke about him in 2016 to a group from the DCNR bureau forestry, keeping Brock’s name alive.

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

Toluse “Tolu” Olorunnipa (Toe-Loo Oh-lo-roon-NEE-pa) is a Nigerian-American journalist and political commentator. He is the first reporter of native African and Nigerian descent to cover the White House.^[1] Of Yoruba heritage, Olorunnipa was named the White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post in July 2022.^[2

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

Gwynne A. Wilcox is an American attorney who has served on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Career

Wilcox is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.^{[citation needed]} She is also a member of the Labor and Employment Law sections of both the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association.^{[citation needed]} She is a partner at Levy Ratner, P.C, an employment law firm that deals with unions.^[2] Part of Wilcox’s work is to represent unions before the NLRB.^[2]