Kenneth Davis

     Thank you Robbin, for your kind and encouraging words. They confirm the purpose

and the goal of my intentions, to educate others and also to learn myself. Each post falls

under the proven guidance for adolescents and young adult women, which suggests,

"Because Of Them, We Can". I was even successful to include one of our own CEOs.

There's eighteen days of inspiration remaining, so I hope that you'll continue to be

entertained , amazed and enlightened. Stay safe my friend.....

     Maggie Mae Hathaway (July 1, 1911 – September 24, 2001) was an American activist,

blues singer, actress, sports writer and golfer. She began her career as an actress before

venturing into recording in Los Angeles where she released a few singles. Hathaway

became known in the 1950s for her activism and golfing. In 1960, Hathaway organized

the Minority Association for Golfers (MAG) to support young black golfers by advocating

for golf-related employment.  

      In 1963, Hathaway led a picket during the PGA at the Long Beach municipal golf

course to protest a lack of golf jobs for black professional golfers. She also campaigned 

for an increased black player participation in PGA tournaments. She co-founded the

NAACP Image Awards in 1967. In 1975, Hathaway petitioned for Lee Elder to be invited

to play in the Masters Tournament. During the following decades, she continued to write

for the Los Angeles Sentinel. She organized opportunities for young minorities to play

and received financial help from PGA players, including Jack Nicklaus.

Kenneth Davis

These Young Siblings Could Be The Williams Sisters Of Golf

     Two golf-playing sisters in Compton, California, are drawing attention for their small

size and strong swing. Layla Phillips, 6, won a Southern California PGA drive, chip and

putt competition last week and is now qualified to compete in a junior world contest to

be held in San Diego. Her sister, 4-year-old Roxy, told ABC station KABC-TV that she

prefers “making the putts.” Layla said she is partial to “hitting on the fairway.” Luis

Batson, CEO of the nonprofit organization Help Youth Through Golf, said, “They are

very, very good. I can only compare them to the sisters Williams in tennis.”

     Troy Mullins is a World Long Drive competitor from Los Angeles, Calif. Mullins

competes in events that are sanctioned by the World Long Drive Association, which is

owned by Golf Channel, part of the NBC Sports Group, and a division of Comcast. The

season-long schedule features events airing live on Golf Channel, culminating in the

Volvik World Long Drive Championship in September.

Kenneth Davis

  Mental Health Is Wealth!

Over the past few years, more public figures within the Black community have opened up about their struggles with anxiety and depression, which has only increased under the COVID-19 pandemic.

     Margaret Lawrence, the first African American psychoanalyst and the first pediatric

psychiatrist in the United States, is author of Young Inner City Families: Development of

Ego Strength under Stress (New York, Behavioral Publications, 1975) and The Mental

Health Team in the Schools (New York: Behavioral Publications, 1971). Her work

included clinical care, teaching, and research, particularly into the presence and

development of ego strength in inner-city families. She overcame many hurdles,

including rejection by Cornell’s medical school, which told her a black man before her

“didn’t work out.” (He had died.) “Twenty-five years ago there was a Negro man

admitted,” the dean of the medical school told her, “and it didn’t work out.” That man

had come down with tuberculosis and died, thus failing to graduate. It was excuse

enough to reject her.

     She absorbed the shock, then applied to Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was accepted, on the condition that she would not protest if white patients refused to be seen by her. (None did.) She agreed, and became the only black student in her class of 104, graduating in 1940. Lawrence earned a Master of Public Health degree at Columbia in 1943, working with Dr. Benjamin Spock. From 1943 to 1946, she taught pediatrics and public health at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Alyce Chenault Gullattee 

     An American psychiatrist, medical school professor, activist, and expert on addiction, she was a faculty member in the psychiatry department at Howard University College of Medicine for over fifty years. For more than a half-century, Dr. Alyce Gullattee treated countless drug addicts, AIDS patients and prostitutes in Washington, even if it meant taking to some of the city’s more dangerous streets to help those in desperate need.

     “Dr. G,” as she was affectionately called by patients, became a nationally recognized

expert on substance abuse as an associate professor of psychiatry at Howard University

and director of Howard’s Institute on Drug Abuse and Addiction. She served on White

House committees on substance abuse for three presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford

and Jimmy Carter. Dr. Gullattee (pronounced guh-LAH-tee) died on April 30, 2020 in

Rockville, Md., after testing positive for Covid-19, her daughter Aishaetu Gullattee said.

She was 91. She had suffered a stroke in February and had been hospitalized for weeks.

Kenneth Davis

     Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, a psychiatrist from Atlanta, was the 174th president of the

American Medical Association, and the organization’s first African American woman to

hold this position. Dr. Harris has diverse experience as a private practicing physician,

county public health director, patient advocate and medical society lobbyist. A

recognized expert in children’s mental health and childhood trauma, Dr. Harris has led

efforts on both local and national levels to integrate public health, behavioral health and

primary care services with supports for employment, housing and education.  She is an

adjunct assistant professor in the Emory Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral

Sciences, and an adjunct clinical assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral

sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine.

     Jade D. Kearney is the founder and CEO of She Matters, a new, upcoming app and

community designed to help support Black women through their mental health

struggles. Kearney says that she was inspired to create the platform after suffering from

depression following the birth of her daughter. “I struggled with postpartum 

anxiety/OCD and could not find resources allocated toward Black women,” Kearney told

BLACK ENTERPRISE via email. 

     “I realized that our negative cultural stigmas toward mental health blended with

maternal medical neglect is a dangerous combination for the mental health of Black

mothers. As I began my postpartum mental health journey, I felt it was only right to

create a space where Black women could go to where they felt supported and safe.”

Kearney says while other spaces have been popping up catering to Black people looking

for mental health resources, many of them didn’t have any focus on Black mothers,

specifically, in addition to being a Black woman living in America.

     “Systemic racism is at the crux of every avenue Black women navigate when seeking

maternal health solutions and postpartum mental health solutions,” she said. “She

Matters is focused on changing that path of uncertainty and neglect by providing a

community of safety and trust.”To sign up for notifications and join the community, visit

www.shematters.io.

Kenneth Davis

Charlotte E. Ray (January 13, 1850 – January 4, 1911) was an American lawyer. 

     She was the first black American female lawyer in the United States. Ray graduated

from Howard University School of Law in 1872. She was also the first female admitted to

the District of Columbia Bar, and the first woman admitted to practice before the

Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Her admission was used as a precedent by

women in other states who sought admission to the bar.

     Lutie A. Lytle (November 19, 1875- November 12, 1955 was an American lawyer who

was one of the first African-American women in the legal profession.

     Lytle completed her studies at Central Tennessee College and in September 1897 she

was to practice law in the Criminal Court in Memphis, Tennessee, after she successfully

passed an oral exam.  At the time Lytle was reportedly the first African American woman

to be licensed to practice law in Tennessee, and the third in the United States.  Having

been admitted to the state bar of Tennessee in 1897, she also practiced law in Topeka,

Kansas and Brooklyn, New York. In 1898, she joined the faculty of the law school of her

alma mater, Central Tennessee College of Law becoming the first woman to teach law in

a chartered law school.

Mahala Ashley Dickerson (October 12, 1912 – February 19, 2007) was an American

lawyer and civil rights advocate for women and minorities.

     In 1948 she became the first African American female attorney admitted to the

Alabama State Bar; in 1951 she was the second African American woman admitted to the

Indiana bar; and in 1959 she was Alaska's first African American attorney. In 1983

Dickerson was the first African American to be elected president of the National

Association of Women Lawyers. Her long legal career also helped to pave the way for

other women attorneys. In 1995 the American Bar Association named her a Margaret

Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement honoree. 

FLORENCE V. LUCAS (1916-1987)  lawyer, politician, NAACP leader, and songwriter,

was born in 1916 in New York City, New York. 

     She graduated from John Adams High School, Hunter College, and Brooklyn Law

School. After graduating from law school in 1940, she became the first black woman

from Queens to be admitted to the bar and the first black woman assigned murder cases

in the Queens Borough Prosecutor’s Office. 

Kenneth Davis

Jewel Stradford Rogers Lafontant-Mankarious, (1922-1997) civil rights leader, high-

ranking U.S. Presidential appointee.

     In 1942, Jewel Stradford graduated from Oberlin College, receiving her bachelor’s

degree in political science. That same year she became a founding member of the

Congress of Racial Equality. Stradford attended the University of Chicago Law School

and in 1946 became the first African-American woman to receive a J.D. from that

institution.

Leah Ward Sears (born June 13, 1955) is an American jurist and former Chief Justice of

the Supreme Court of Georgia.

     Sears was the first African-American female chief justice of a state supreme court in

the United States. When she was first appointed as justice in 1992 by Governor Zell

Miller, she became the first woman and youngest person to sit on Georgia's Supreme

Court. Sears received a B.S. from Cornell University in 1976, her Juris Doctor from

Emory University School of Law in 1980, and a Master of Laws from the University of

Virginia School of Law in 1995. At Cornell, Sears became a member of Alpha Kappa

Alpha sorority and the Quill and Dagger society. She holds honorary degrees from

Morehouse College, Clark-Atlanta University, LaGrange College, Piedmont College, and

Spelman College.

Paulette Brown is an American lawyer who was the president of the American Bar

Association for a one-year term from August 4, 2015  to August 2016. 

     She was nominated for the presidency and was later confirmed by the organization's

House of Delegates as president-elect in August 2014. She thus became the first woman

of color and third African-American person to be president of the ABA. Brown is a

partner with Locke Lord LLP, where she is chief diversity officer. She is a mediator for

the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

     She was formerly the president of the National Bar Association and the Association of

Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey. Brown was educated in Baltimore, where she

attended segregated schools. She earned a B.A. from Howard University and a J.D. from

Seton Hall University School of Law. She started her law practice in 1976. 

Melody J. Stewart (born February 19, 1962) is a Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

     She formerly served as a Judge on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. Stewart

earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the

University of Cincinnati; her Juris Doctor as a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow from the

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law; and her Doctor of Philosophy as a Mandel

Leadership Fellow at Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied

Social Sciences.

Kenneth Davis

     The National Council of Negro Women is an “organization of organizations”

(comprised of 300 campus and community-based sections and 32 national women’s

organizations) that enlightens, inspires and connects more than 2,000,000 women and

men.  Its mission is to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent, their

families and communities. NCNW was founded in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune,

an influential educator and activist, and for more than fifty years, the iconic Dr. Dorothy

Height was president of NCNW. 

     Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D. was elected National Chair of NCNW in 2018, ushering

in a new era of social activism and continued progress and growth for the organization.

Dr. Cole is the Seventh President of the National Council of Negro Women.  Today,

NCNW’s programs are grounded on a foundation of critical concerns known as “Four for

the Future”. NCNW promotes education with a special focus on science, technology,

engineering and math; encourages entrepreneurship, financial literacy and economic

stability; educates women about good health and HIV/AIDS; promotes civic engagement

and advocates for sound public policy and social justice.

     Dr. Cole is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Links, Inc. Before

assuming her current position, she served for eight years as the Director of the

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAfA).  The National Museum of

African Art is the only national museum in the United States dedicated to the collection,

exhibition, conservation and study of the arts of Africa.  When she retired from the

museum on March 31, 2017, Dr. Cole was given the title of Director Emerita.  She has

received numerous awards and is the recipient of 68 honorary degrees.  Throughout her

career, she has addressed issues concerning Africa and the diaspora.  And in her

published work, speeches, and community service, she speaks to issues of racial, gender

and all other systems of inequality.

Kenneth Davis

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain,

egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them,

for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.

~W. Somerset Maugham~

     Birthday greetings to you Robert Gholson. From your days walking the halls of BTW,

to Universal Life and finally to The Peyton Company Realtors, you've exemplified one of

the most humble, tolerant and kind persons I've known. Having worked the industry for

41 years, I hope that your classmates, co-workers and home owners concur. As you

celebrate with family today, may you be successfully spoiled and  philanthropically

blessed to remain optomistically engaged, during the wandering days of this

pandemic. I wish you a Rod Williams type of celebration. "Hands Down", may today be

the best day you'll have during the month of March....stay safe my friend....

Kenneth Davis

The American Post Office Department … recognizes the management abilities of women

perhaps more than any other private or governmental organization anywhere.

~Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield~1958

     Mary Katharine Goddard (June 16, 1738 – August 12, 1816) was an early American

publisher, and the postmaster of the Baltimore Post Office from 1775 to 1789. 

     She was the second printer to print the Declaration of Independence. Her copy, the

Goddard Broadside, was commissioned by Congress in 1777, and was the first to include

the names of the signatories. In 1998, Goddard was inducted into the Maryland

Women's Hall of Fame. Mary Katherine Goddard was the only female postmaster in

office when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first

Postmaster General of the United Colonies in 1775, making her the first female

postmaster in the United Colonies, and soon, the United States. After the Civil War, too,

African American women were appointed as Postmasters.  

      “Mrs. Minnie Cox, Postmistress of Indianola- A Faithful and Efficient Official Driven

From Office by Southern White Brutes.”

     Minnie M. Cox (1869-1933) graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee

and obtained a teacher’s certificate. She and her husband, Wayne W. Cox (1864-1916)

were both politically active and supported the Republican Party. It was because of this

support that Mrs. Cox was appointed postmaster of Indianola, Mississippi. Mrs. Cox was

first appointed in 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison, after no white Republican

qualified for the job. She was possibly the first African American woman to hold such a

position. She was reappointed in 1897 under President William McKinley and continued

as postmaster under President Theodore Roosevelt.

     The Indianola position of postmaster was one of the most respected and lucrative

public posts in the area, as it served approximately 3,000 patrons and paid $1,100

annually, a large sum at that time. Mrs. Cox was known for her efficiency and dedication.

She was also known for working long hours and she even personally covered late rent on

post office boxes for Indianola’s citizens so as to avoid any possible conflict with her

patrons. She installed a telephone in the post office, at her own expense, so patrons

could call and check if they had any mail to pick up.

     The first known African American woman to serve as Postmaster was Anna M.

Dumas, who was appointed Postmaster of Covington, Louisiana, on November 15, 1872,

and served until about June 1885.  After Ulysses S. Grant was elected, he appointed

John A. J. Creswell Postmaster General. Prior to 1865, African Americans were banned

from working in the Postal Department, mostly due to the Southern racism of not

allowing blacks to handle the mail. At the end of the Civil War this restriction was lifted,

but white postmasters in major cities around the nation only appointed a few African

American clerks. Immediately when Creswell took office the conservative policy of

appointing only white postmasters ended. When black applicants overcame the difficulty

of posting a bond, Creswell began to appoint black postmasters across the country,

including the South. 

     On November 15, 1872 Creswell appointed Mrs. Anna M. Dumas the first female

African American postmaster in Covington, Louisiana. Creswell ended the policy of

whites only mail carriers and appointed James Christian of Richmond, Virginia, the first

black mail carrier, on June 1, 1869. Five months later Creswell appointed black Union

veteran and first Medal of Honor hero, William Carney, letter carrier of Bedford,

Massachusetts. On April 20, 1870 Creswell appointed John W. Curry Washington D.C.'s

first black postman. Creswell also appointed Isaac Myers of Baltimore the first African

American postal inspector.

Kenneth Davis

     The longest known tenure of any woman Postmaster was that of Mary W. “Mollie”

Stewart, who served as Postmaster of Oxford, Maryland, for more than 63 years. Stewart

was appointed on March 9, 1877, at the age of 19, following the death of her father, the

previous Postmaster. She served until retiring in 1940 at the age of 82, having served

under 13 Presidents and 24 Postmasters General.  She added a small extension onto her

cottage, which served as the local Post Office. At the end of her term, in 1930, the

Republican Committee of Talbot County recommended that a Republican man be

appointed Postmaster, but two things were in Mary’s favor. One, she got the highest

score on the Civil Service exam, while the Republican appointee flunked it, and two,

newspapers of the day swept to her side, with headlines like; “Republicans Try to Kick

Little Old Lady Out of Her Job.” President Hoover reconfirmed Stewart’s appointment

in 1931, and she served as Postmistress until 1940. Her cottage, in private hands, is on

the Historic Register.

     In 1998, Vinnie Malloy was appointed Postmaster of New York, New York — the first

woman to lead the nation’s highest-grossing Post Office. She joined the Postal Service in

1969 as a substitute clerk and served as Postmaster of New York City until her

retirement in 2007. Ms. Malloy has broken many barriers throughout her career, which

has been marked by excellence. From December 1998 until her retirement on February

2, 2007, Ms. Malloy served as the 37th District Manager and New York City Postmaster,

the first woman to hold that distinction. In this position, Ms. Malloy was responsible for

the delivery of mail and customer service for millions of residents and business

customers in New York City. She managed 62 post offices, 46 stations and 15,000

employees. Ms. Malloy joined the Postal Service in 1969, at age 21, as a Substitute

Distribution Clerk in the James A. Farley Building. In the years that followed, Ms.

Malloy held several positions in the Postal Service, including the historic first female

Tour Director and Mail Processing Operations Manager in the New York District, as well

as first female Bronx Postmaster. In 2020, 7,610 of the nation's 13,617 Postmasters were

women, representing more than 55 percent.

Kenneth Davis

     This is an academic or professional degree that, in most countries, qualifies the

degree holder to teach their chosen subject at university level or to work in a specialized

position in their chosen field. A PhD is a globally recognized postgraduate academic

degree awarded by universities and higher education institutions to a candidate who has

submitted a thesis or dissertation, based on extensive and original research in their

chosen field. The specificities of PhD degrees vary depending on where you are and what

subject you’re studying. PhD is short for Doctor of Philosophy. 

     Three women hold the title of first PhDs earned by African American

women. Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898-1989), Georgiana Simpson (1866-

1944), and Eva Beatrice Dykes (1893-1986) all received their degrees in

1921. 

     Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in

economics in the United States, and the first woman to receive a law degree from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was the first African-American woman to

practice law in Pennsylvania, following in her father's footsteps. 

     Georgiana Rose Simpson was a philologist and the first African-American woman to

receive a PhD in the United States. Simpson received her doctoral degree in German

from the University of Chicago in 1921.

     Eva Beatrice Dykes (13 August 1893 – 29 October 1986) was the first black American

woman to fulfill the requirements for a doctoral degree, and the third to be awarded a

PhD. She graduated summa cum laude from Howard University with a B.A. in 1914.

After a short stint of teaching at Walden University in Nashville, Tennessee, Dykes

attended Radcliffe College graduating magna cum laude with a second B.A. in 1917 and a

M.A in 1918.

     Anna Julia Cooper was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1858, she earned B.A.

and M.A. degrees at Oberlin and in 1925 at the age of 67 she received a Ph.D. at the

Sorbonne in Paris. Cooper spent much of her career at an instructor of Latin and

mathematics at M Street (later Dunbar) High School in Washington, D.C. 

     In 1994 Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was elected the

first African American president of the National League of Women Voters.  She became

at that time the 15th president of the League in its 74 year history. A native of Ohio, Dr.

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins majored in Social Science and Education at Western College

for Women in Ohio and received her Master’s in Education in Administration and

Supervision from John Carroll University in Ohio. She then obtained her Ph.D. in Urban

Education and Administration from Cleveland State University in 1991. 

Don't go through life, grow through life.

~Eric Butterworth~

     The word ‘philosophy’ comes from the Ancient Greek philosophia, literally translated

as ‘love of wisdom’. It originally signified an individual who had achieved a

comprehensive general education in the fundamental issues of the present world.

Today, the Doctor of Philosophy still requires a love of wisdom but applies

to individuals who have pursued knowledge in a much more specialized

field.   

Kenneth Davis

     Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass (February 14, 1874 – April 12, 1969) was an American

educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. She also focused on

various other issues such as housing rights, voting rights, and labor rights, as well as

police brutality and harassment. Bass is believed to be the first African-American

woman to own and operate a newspaper in the United States; she published the

California Eagle from 1912 until 1951. In 1952, Bass became the first African-American

woman nominated for Vice President, as a candidate of the Progressive Party. Due to her

activities, Bass was repeatedly accused of being part of the Communist Party, for which

there was no evidence and which Bass herself repeatedly denied. She was monitored by

the FBI, who continued to view her as a potential security threat up until she was in her

nineties.

     During the 1920s, Bass became co-president of the Los Angeles chapter of the

Universal Negro Improvement Association, founded by Marcus Garvey. Bass formed

the Home Protective Association to defeat housing covenants in all-white

neighborhoods. She helped found the Industrial Business Council, which fought

discrimination in employment practices and encouraged black people to go into

business. As editor and publisher of the California Eagle, the oldest black newspaper on

the West Coast, Charlotta Bass fought against restrictive covenants in housing and

segregated schools in Los Angeles.

     The California Eagle was utilized as a tool to change the communities ideology by

challenging the police even comparing their tactics to Hitler's tactics, challenging the

assumption criminal behavior was biological in people of color, and linked fascism to

racism. The California Eagle was a way of reaching global attention to the issues of

people of color. She campaigned to end job discrimination at the Los Angeles General

Hospital, the Los Angeles Rapid Transit Company, the Southern Telephone Company,

and the Boulder Canyon Project.

     During the Great Depression of the 1930s, she continued to encourage black

businesses with the campaign known as "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work". A longtime

Republican, she voted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, in 1936. In 1940,

the Republican Party chose Bass as western regional director for Wendell Willkie's

presidential campaign. Three years later, she became the first African-American grand

jury member for the Los Angeles County Court. Also in 1943, Bass led a group of black

leaders to the office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, Fletcher Bowron's office. They

demanded an expansion of the Mayor's Committee on American Unity, more public

mass meetings to promote interracial unity, and an end to the discriminatory hiring

practices of the privately owned Los Angeles Railway Company. The mayor listened, but

agreed to do no more than to expand his committee. Then later in the 1940s, Bass left

the Republican Party and joined the Progressive Party because she believed neither of

the major parties was committed to civil rights.

     Bass served in 1952 as the National Chairman of the Sojourners for Truth and

Justice, an organization of black women set up to protest racial violence in the South. 

That year, she was nominated for vice president of the United States by the Progressive

Party. She was the running mate of lawyer Vincent Hallinan. Bass became the first

African-American woman to run for vice president of the United States. Her platform

called for civil rights, women's rights, an end to the Korean War, and peace with the

Soviet Union. Bass's slogan during the vice presidential campaign was, "Win or lose, we

win by raising the issues." She was endorsed by Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois and Ada

B. Jackson in campaign material during her run. She began the campaign on her own as

Hallinan served out a six-month contempt of court sentence arising from his legal

defense of union leader Harry Bridges. In 1966, Bass had a stroke and afterwards retired

to a Los Angeles nursing home. In 1967, at age ninety-one the FBI still classified

Charlotta Bass as a potential security threat.

Kenneth Davis

NEUROSURGEON

     Alexa Canady - (born November 7, 1950) is a retired American medical doctor

specializing in pediatric neurosurgery. She was born in Lansing, Michigan and earned

both her bachelors and medical degree from the University of Michigan. After

completing her residency at the University of Minnesota in 1981, she became the first

black woman to become a neurosurgeon. This came after the first American woman was

board certified in neurosurgery in 1960. Canady specialized in pediatric neurosurgery

and was the chief of neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital in Michigan from 1987 until

her partial retirement in 2001. In addition to surgery, she also conducted research and

was a professor of neurosurgery at Wayne State University. After her retirement, she

moved to Florida and maintained a part-time practice at Pensacola's Sacred Heart

Hospital until her full retirement in January 2012. In 1989, Canady was inducted into

the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, and in 1993 she also received the American

Medical Women's Association President's Award. Dr. Canady was known amongst her

peers as a patient-focused surgeon who cared deeply about each of her patients.

     In 1981 Dr. Alexa Canady became the first Black woman and the first woman

neurosurgeon in the United States. Thirty-eight years later, Black women make up less

than 1% of the population of neurosurgeons in the country, which is why Simpson’s story

is so noteworthy. Not only is she a member of an elite group of neurosurgeons, but she is

also a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy where she has served since 2006. Simpson

received her Bachelors of Science from Florida State in 2004 and her Doctor of Medicine

from Georgetown University in 2011. She attended Baylor College of Medicine for

residency from 2011-2018 and her Enfolded Complex Spine Fellowship from 2018-2019.

She is headed to Portsmouth, Virginia to practice neurosurgery with the Navy.

     Dr. Sonia Eden - This doctor is smashing ceilings as the first Black woman to lead the

adult neurosurgery department at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC). The Detroit native

not only made history recently at DMC, but she was also the first Black woman to train

in neurological surgery and complete a residency at the University of Michigan. Dr. Eden

says it’s no secret that there are few minorities in the medical field -- but when it comes

to neurosurgeons, that number is almost non-existent. “About 8 percent are women. Of

those women, approximately 33 are African Americans,” Eden said. “African American

women in neurosurgery make up approximately 0.5 percent of neurosurgeons in this

country.” On top of that, she was one of the first women of color to major in mechanical

engineering at Yale University.

Kenneth Davis

NEUROSURGEON

     My name is Claire Karekezi; I am a neurosurgeon currently working in Rwanda—the

only woman neurosurgeon in Rwanda. I developed my passion for Neurosurgery early in

school; it was very difficult at that time for anyone coming from Sub-Saharan Africa

(SSA) to get into neurosurgery. When I finished my training I said there is no better way

of giving back than working in my own country, treating Rwandese and working with

others to improve care. Neurosurgery for me means simply being able to treat the most

in need wherever and whenever, despite challenges. 

     I received my MD degree from the University of Rwanda College of Medicine and

Health sciences (2009) and completed my Residency in Neurosurgery from the

Mohamed V University of Rabat/WFNS Rabat Training Center for African

Neurosurgeons (2016). I was further involved in fellowship programs in the US and

Canada, received the 2016 AANS International Visiting Surgeon Fellowship in

Neurosurgery/ NeuroOncology at the Brigham and Women Hospital in 2016, and later

completed a Clinical Fellowship in NeuroOncology and Skull Base Surgery at Toronto

Western Hospital, University of Toronto in Canada (2017/2018).

     In 2018, Dr. Odette Harris of Stanford University in California became the second

African American female professor of neurosurgery in the United States, following Dr.

Alexa Canady who was appointed in 1981. Harris’s research and clinical focus is on

traumatic brain injury and peripheral nerve neurosurgery. Prior to completing her

residency at Stanford in 2003, Harris earned a masters’ degree in Public Health at the

University of California, Berkeley in 2001, specializing in epidemiology. She then held

two fellowships.

     The first was the Van Wagenen Fellowship from the University Hospital of the West

Indies in 2004 and the second specialized in Peripheral Nerve at Louisiana State

University in 2007. Immediately afterward, Harris received her board certification in

Neurosurgery from the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 2008. Dr. Odette

Harris has received numerous awards including the Scientific Award from the Caribbean

Association Neuroscience Symposium/ University Hospital of the West Indies in 2011

and the STARS Volunteer Leadership Assembly Honoree from the Stanford Alumni

Association in 2013.

     In the 30 years that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s neurosurgical department

has accepted residents, there has never been a black woman in the ranks. In 2017, Nancy

Abu-Bonsrah became the first black female to be accepted to train as a brain surgeon at

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the school “where the medical discipline of

neurological surgery was founded.” Born in Ghana, Abu-Bonsrah moved to Maryland

when she was 15. She studied chemistry and biochemistry at Mount Saint Mary's

University in Maryland. Then she went to Johns Hopkins University to study medicine.

She is the first doctor in her extended family. Her desire to study neurosurgery was the

result of shadowing a neurosurgeon when she visited Ghana as a junior in college.

Kenneth Davis

Pioneering Women Architects

     Elizabeth Carter Brooks (1867-1951) was an American architect, social activist, and

educator. She was passionate about helping other African Americans achieve personal

success and was one of the first to recognize the importance of preserving historical

buildings in the United States. African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary

names Brooks as "one of the few Black women of the era who could be considered both

architect and patron." Brooks went to New Bedford High School before she attended

Swain Free School which provided students with a strong foundation in design and

architecture skills. She went on to become the first African American graduate of the

Harrington Normal School for Teachers.  In 1918, she was recruited by the War Council

of the National board of the YWCA to supervise and oversee the building of the Phillis

Wheatley YWCA in Washington, D.C.

     Amaza Lee Meredith (August 14, 1895 – 1984) was an American architect, artist, and

educator. As an African-American woman, Meredith was unable to enter the profession

as an architect because of "both her race and her sex"  and so she worked primarily as an

art teacher at Virginia State College, where she founded the art department. She is best

known for Azurest South, the residence where she and her partner, Edna Meade Colson,

lived together. In 1926, she moved to Brooklyn, New York where she attended the

Teacher's College of Columbia University. She studied fine arts, receiving a bachelor's

degree in 1930 and then her master's degree in 1934. She then returned to Virginia

where she founded the Arts Department for Virginia State University in 1935. In 1958,

she retired from teaching but continued to design buildings and paint throughout the

1960s. In the 1970s, Meredith designed logos to be used for a proposed name change for

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Meredith

died in 1984 and is buried alongside Edna Meade Colson at Eastview Cemetery,

Petersburg, Virginia.

     Ethel Bailey Furman née Ethel Madison Bailey (July 6, 1893–February 24, 1976) is

known to be the earliest documented African-American female architect in Virginia. She

was born in Richmond, Virginia as the daughter of Margaret M. Jones Bailey and

Madison J. Bailey. After training in New York City, she returned to Richmond in 1921

and began designing houses for locals. Furman worked for her father and picked up

other jobs to supplement income to raise her three children. As an African-American

woman she experienced discrimination in the architecture community as local

bureaucrats refused to accept her as the architect of record on her own projects.

Consequently, she would often have to submit her job proposals through male

contractors with whom she worked.

     Beverly Loraine Greene, believed to be the first African American woman architect in

the United States, was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 4, 1915. She grew up in

Chicago and was raised by her father, James A. Greene, a lawyer, and her mother, Vera

Greene, a homemaker. Greene earned a Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering

from the University of Illinois in 1936. One year later she earned a Master’s of Science in

city planning and housing from the same university. On December 28, 1942, at the age

of twenty-seven, Greene was registered in the State of Illinois as an architect.

Kenneth Davis

Pioneering Women Architects

     Norma Merrick Sklarek (April 15, 1926 – February 6, 2012) was a revolutionary

African-American architect. Following Georgia Louise Harris Brown and  Beverly

Loraine Greene, she became the third black woman to be licensed as an architect in the

United States. After attending Hunter College High School in New York, Sklarek

attended Barnard College.In 1950, she received her architecture degree from Columbia

University School of Architecture, graduating with just one other woman in her class.

She was the first woman to become a licensed architect in the states of New York (1954)

and later the first woman to be licensed in the state of California (1962) where she

remained the only black female licensed architect until 1980. As production architect at

Gruen Associates in Los Angeles, Sklarek oversaw the completion of such landmark

buildings as the City Hall in San Bernadino (1965), Fox Plaza in San Francisco (1966),

the Commons and Courthouse Center in Columbus, Indiana (1975), and the Pacific

Design Center in West Hollywood (1975).  

     Georgia Louise Harris Brown (1918-1999) practiced in both United States and Brazil

from the mid- to late-1900s. She is recognized as the second African American woman

licensed as an architect in the US (1949 in Illinois), occasionally working with Mies van

der Rohe. She emigrated to Brazil in hopes of escaping the racial prejudice she faced in

America and he created an impressive career within Brazil focusing on industrial

architecture. 

     Leslie Lokko is a successful novelist, architect, and academic. She began her journey

at the Bartlett School of Architecture in 1989 before continuing on to earn a Doctorate in

Architecture from the University of London in 2007. With an interest in the relationship

between race, cultural identity, and the speculative nature of African architecture, she

founded the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in 2015.

As director, she saw the school grow from 11 postgraduate students to 100 students,

becoming Aftrica’s largest postgraduate school of architecture. In 2019, Lokko became

the head of the architecture school at the City college of New York but left the position

after just one year citing a “crippling workload and lack of respect and empathy for black

women”. In addition to writing novels, Lokko is also the editor of “White Papers, Black

Marks: Race Culture Architecture”, a book which examines the ways that racial ideology

is expressed in the built environment. She is editor in chief of FOLIO: Journal of

Contemporary African Architecture” and is on the editorial board of Cambridge

University Press’s ARQ.

     Tamarah Begay received her Bachelor and Master of Architecture from the University

of New Mexico in 2002 and 2004 before becoming the first female Navajo architect.

With 10 years of experience working with Native American Tribes, Tamarah founded

IDS+A (Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture) where she incorporates sustainable

practices into her design and planning work. One of her most notable projects is the

Monument Valley Visitor Center on the border of Arizona and Utah. Her more recent

work for the Navajo Nation focuses on Feasibility Studies and Master Planning. She is a

founding member of the American IndianCouncil of Architects and Engineers and

mentors junior Native American office staff and students. Tamarah is high-level LEED

certified and is a member of the United States Green Building Council.

     With a Ph. D. in American Studies from George Washington University, and a

Master’s in Architectural History and a B. A. in Architecture from Yale University,

Amber N. Wiley is a highly acclaimed academic interested in the social aspects of design

and more specifically how architecture acts as a structure of power. She is an Assistant

Professor of Art History at Rutgers University where she specializes in architecture,

urbanism, and African American cultural studies. In her classes and research, she

focuses on how local and national bodies claim the dominating narrative/collective

memory of cities through design. She explores how architecture and preservation

contribute to the identity and sense of place of a city. 

     In 2016, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine named her a Emerging

Scholar. She was also awarded the first H. Allen Brooks Traveling Fellowship from the

Society of Architectural Historians which allowed her to travel to Mexico, Ghana,

Guatemala, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and India for the 2014-2015 academic year. Amber is

also a member of the National Park System Advisory Board Landmarks Committee and

formerly served on the boards of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Latrobe Chapter of

the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Yale Black Alumni Association.

Kenneth Davis

Pioneering Women Of NASA

     Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and

former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she

served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Jemison joined

NASA's astronaut corps in 1987 and was selected to serve for the STS-47 mission, during

which she orbited the Earth for nearly eight days on September 12–20, 1992. Jemison

left NASA in 1993 and founded a technology research company. She later formed a non-

profit educational foundation and through the foundation is the principal of the 100

Year Starship project funded by DARPA. Jemison also wrote several books for children

and appeared on television several times, including in a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The

Next Generation. She holds several honorary doctorates and has been inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.

     Stephanie Diana Wilson is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew to

space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African American woman

to go into space, after Mae Jemison. Her 42 days in space are the most of any female

African American astronaut. After working at Martin Marietta for two years, she earned

her Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1992 from the University of Texas at

Austin; her graduate research, sponsored by a NASA Graduate Student Researchers

Fellowship, focused on the control and modeling of large, flexible space structures. 

Selected by NASA as an astronaut in April 1996, she flew her first space shuttle mission

in 2006, then flew subsequent shuttle missions in 2007 and 2010. 

     Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham is an electrical engineer and a former NASA astronaut.

She flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-116 as a mission specialist and is

the third African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison and Stephanie

Wilson. Higginbotham began her career in 1987, two weeks after getting her Bachelor of

Science degree at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, as a Payload Electrical

Engineer in the Electrical and Telecommunications Systems Division. Within six months

she became the lead for the Orbiter Experiments (OEX) on OV-102, the Space Shuttle

Columbia. She later worked on the Shuttle payload bay reconfiguration for all Shuttle

missions and conducted electrical compatibility tests for all payloads flown aboard the

Shuttle.

     Yvonne Darlene Cagle is an American physician, professor, retired Air Force Colonel,

and former NASA Astronaut. Cagle joined NASA as an astronaut in 1996. She is one of

six African American female astronauts. She received her bachelor's degree in

biochemistry from San Francisco State University in 1981, and a doctor of medicine

degree from the University of Washington in 1985. She completed a transitional

internship at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, California in 1985 and received a

certificate in Aerospace Medicine from the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air

Force Base, Texas, in 1988. 

     Jeanette Jo Epps is an American aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut. Epps

received both her M. S. and Ph.D degrees in aerospace engineering from the University

of Maryland, where she was part of the rotor-craft research group and was a NASA

GSRP. NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps is slated to make history next year when she

becomes the first Black woman to live on the International Space Station for months at a

time.

Kenneth Davis

Birthday Greetings

to

William "Doc" Arnold

True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils.

Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island...

to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are. 

~Baltasar Gracian~

     A Spanish priest, son of a doctor, author and philosopher, Baltasar wrote a book

entitled "The Art of Worldly Wisdom". Considered a remarkable best-seller -- it became

a long-lost, 300-year-old book of wisdom on how to live successfully, yet responsibly in a

society governed by self-interest. You've been able to live wisely and responsibly among

friends. It is my belief, and I hope others will agree, that you are indeed an honorable

man. One who has become a real friend during our life span of good-bad fortune and one

to keep also as a blessing. May the blessings you inherit today, be symbolic of the greater

love you maintain for your family. Now that spring has arrived, I wish you a Sean

Uliasz day of celebration. May you ever be a Sunburst for anyone having a cloudy or

stressful day....stay safe my friend and enjoy your day.....

Kenneth Davis

Pioneering Women Of NASA

     Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian

origin to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission

specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the

seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's

atmosphere. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of

Honor and several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor.

She is regarded as a national hero in India.

     Jessica Andrea Watkins is a NASA astronaut, geologist, aquanaut and former

international rugby player.NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is a member of the Artemis

Team, a select group of astronauts charged with focusing on the development and

training efforts for early Artemis missions. Through the Artemis program, NASA and a

coalition of international partners will return to the Moon to learn how to live on other

worlds for the benefit of all. With Artemis missions NASA will send the first woman

and the next man to the Moon in 2024 and about once per year thereafter. Through the

efforts of humans and robots, we will explore more of the Moon than ever before; to lead

a journey of discovery that benefits our planet with life-changing science, to use the

Moon and its resources as a technology testbed to go even farther and to learn how to

establish and sustain a human presence far beyond Earth.

     When STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) advocate and aspiring

astronaut Taylor Richardson attended a special screening of "Hidden Figures" at the

White House back in December of 2016, she left with one goal in mind: to raise funds for

100 girls to see the inspiring film about the three African American women who were

behind one of NASA's first successful space missions. Her goal quickly expanded as the

then 13-year-old raised more than $20,000 dollars through a GoFundMe campaign.

She was then able to take 1,000 girls to witness Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and

Janelle Monáe bring the story of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, NASA

supervisor Dorothy Vaughan, and NASA engineer Mary Jackson to life. 

Kenneth Davis

EXTENDING CONDOLENCES 

TO

LINDA BROWN & FAMILY

     Edna "Peaches" Brown, the sister of our Linda Brown, transitioned

March 21, 2021. She resided in Nashville. Peaches was a member of

the BTW Class of 1968 and also graduated from LeMoyne-Owen

College, Class of 1972. Lewis and Wright Funeral Home-Nashville and

R.S.Lewis and Sons-Memphis will host funeral services. Additional

information to follow upon receipt. Please maintain prayers for Linda

and her family.

Kenneth Davis

Sympathy cards or other expressions for the family

should be forwarded to

Ms. Linda Brown.....1025 Capitol Point.....Nashville, TN 37203

Kenneth Davis

     The National Women’s Hall of Fame named nine members of its Class of 2021 set

to be inducted on Oct. 2 . The National Women’s Hall of Fame, is in Seneca Falls, New

York. It is the United States’ oldest membership organization dedicated to honoring and

celebrating the achievements of distinguished American women.

     Forever First Lady Michelle Obama is being inducted into the U.S. National Women’s Hall of

Fame. The National Women’s Hall of Fame said Obama’s induction was due to her being an,

“Advocate, author, lawyer, and 44th First Lady of the United States - the first Black person to serve in

the role - Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most influential and iconic women of the 21st

century. During her eight years as First Lady, Michelle Obama helped create the most welcoming and

inclusive White House in history, transforming the White House into the ‘People’s House.’ Since

leaving the White House, she has continued to have a profound public impact.” 

     Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction

author. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, she became in 1995 the first

science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Born in Pasadena, California, Butler was

raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading

fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. She attended community

college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop was

encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction. She soon sold her first

stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to

pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and

awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington state.

Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the

Huntington Library.

     Rebecca Stevens "Becky" Halstead (born 1959) is a former United States Army officer and the first

female graduate of West Point to become a general officer. She was the 34th Chief of Ordnance and

Commandant of the United States Army Ordnance Center and Schools at Aberdeen Proving Ground,

Maryland. In September 2003 Halstead was assigned as Deputy Commander of the 21st Theater

Support Command in Germany. In September 2004 she was assigned as commander, 3rd Corps

Support Command (COSCOM), including deployment to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In

January 2005, she was promoted to brigadier general, the first female graduate of West Point to

attain general officer rank.

     Joy Harjo born May 9, 1951 is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She is the

incumbent United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She is also only

the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to serve three terms. Harjo is a member of the

Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke) and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). She is an

important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th

century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at

University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA at the University of Iowa in its creative writing

program. Harjo has taught in numerous United States universities, performed at poetry readings and

music events, and released five albums of her original music. Harjo is the author of nine books of

poetry, and two award-winning children's books. Her books include An American Sunrise (2019),

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015), Crazy Brave (2012), and How We Became Human: New

and Selected Poems 1975–2002 (2004). She was a recipient of the 2017 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In

2019, she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Harjo is the Director of For

Girls Becoming, an art mentorship program for young Mvskoke women.

     Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American

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.

     In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016,

she was presented with the Silver Snoopy Award by NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin and a NASA

Group Achievement Award. She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson as a lead character in the 2016

film Hidden Figures. In 2019, Johnson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2021, she was

inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

     Emily Howland (November 20, 1827 – June 29, 1929) was a philanthropist and educator.

Especially known for her activities and interest in the education of African-Americans, she was also a

strong supporter of women's rights and the temperance movement. Howland personally financed the

education of many black students and contributed to institutions such as the Tuskegee Institute. An

active abolitionist, Howland taught at Normal School for Colored Girls (now University of the District

of Columbia) in Washington, D.C., from 1857 to 1859. During the Civil War she worked at the

contraband refugee settlement of Camp Todd in Arlington, Virginia, teaching freed slaves to read and

write as well as administering to the sick during a smallpox outbreak and ultimately serving as

director of the camp during 1864-1866.

Kenneth Davis

     Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art

educator and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation

images, which examine the role of women in history and culture. During the 1970s, Chicago founded

the first feminist art program in the United States at California State University Fresno (formerly

Fresno State College) and acted as a catalyst for feminist art and art education. Her inclusion in

hundreds of publications in various areas of the world showcases her influence in the worldwide art

community. Chicago's work incorporates a variety of artistic skills, such as needlework,

counterbalanced with labor-intensive skills such as welding and pyrotechnics. Chicago's most well

known work is The Dinner Party, which is permanently installed in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center

for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. The Dinner Party celebrates the accomplishments of

women throughout history and is widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork. Chicago was

included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018. 

     Indra Nooyi (née Krishnamurthy; born October 28, 1955) is an Indian-American business

executive and former chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo. She has consistently

ranked among the world's 100 most powerful women. In 2014, she was ranked at number 13 on the

Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women and was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman

on the Fortune list in 2015. In 2017, she was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman once more on the

Forbes list of The 19 Most Powerful Women in Business. She serves on the boards of Amazon and the

International Cricket Council. Philips has proposed that Nooyi join their board in May 2021.

     Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (born March 17, 1972) is an American retired professional

soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion.

Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team

from 1987 to 2004. Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first

professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington

Freedom from 2001 to 2003. She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's

soccer team and helped the team win four consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Soccer

Championship titles. During her tenure with the national team, Hamm competed in four FIFA

Women's World Cup tournaments: the inaugural 1991 in China, 1995 in Sweden, 1999 and 2003 in

the United States. She led the team at three Olympic Games, including: 1996 in Atlanta (the first time

women's soccer was played), 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens. She completed her international

career having played in 42 matches and scored 14 goals at these 7 international tournaments.

Margie McRae (Reed)

Happy Birthday Deacon Arnold!  Hope you are having a wonderful day and will continue to bask in your "birthday season".  You are truly dedicated to BTW, Class of 1970!

Kenneth Davis

     On February 14, 1926, Harriet Louise Johnson was born to Mr. Reggie and Mrs. Bonnie Johnson

in Ashland, Kentucky. In her formative years, the family moved to the cities of Mayslick and Bowling

Green, Kentucky. Mr. Johnson was a minister and his services were required by different church area

congregations. Harriet ultimately graduated from high school, applied to, was accepted and enrolled

at Tennessee State College. Prior to graduation from Tennessee State, Harriet was crowned Miss

Tennessee State in December of 1947. She married Mr. William Lytton Pippin that same year and the

newlyweds moved to Washington DC. As a pharmacy student, William continued his pursuit of a

pharmaceutical degree by attending Howard University. During the extent of his studies, a son was

conceived. The family briefly returned to Kentucky after William graduated from Howard, but moved

to Memphis shortly thereafter. Three daughters were born to the union, extending the family.

     Harriet began teaching within the Memphis Public School System in 1953. She taught English at

Booker T. Washington High School to eleventh and twelfth grade students. Eventually, she received

the opportunity to mold young minds, by teaching sixth grade students at Georgia Avenue

Elementary School. She received great enjoyment from teaching six different subjects, instead of one.

The daily and weekly preparations caused her to learn as well.  There are several members of the

BTW Class of 1970, who were taught by Mrs. Pippin in the sixth grade at Georgia Avenue Elementary.

     Several years ago, the wife of the Tennessee State University President and the current Miss

Tennessee State, began hosting tea parties during homecoming events. They would invite all of the

former queens to attend. Mrs. Pippin accepted the invitation and has attended each year since. She

was the eldest participating former queen attending for the year 2021. Mrs. Pippin is a proud young

lady, but she's proudest to have five living generations, who lovingly cherish her as their

matriarch......