Black History Month Presentation

1. A Century of Black Life, History , and Culture Black History Month Presentation

2. Introduction • Black History Month • Founder: Dr. Carter G. Woodson • Launched Negro History Week in 1926, chosen in the second week of February between the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, which evolved into Black History Month in 1976 • Known for writing the contributions of black Americans into the national spotlight, received a Ph.D at Harvard University • Founded the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History in 1915, founded the Journal of Negro History in 1916 • Author of the book, "The Miseducation of the Negro", published in 1933

3. ????? Why is it important to celebrate diversity? • Knowledge is the key to tolerance. • To gain a new perspective on the lives of others around you as well as around the world • To overcome ignorance and prejudice • To understand others perspectives, to broaden our own, and to fully experience and educate ourselves. • Understanding people and their backgrounds is crucial to personal and community growth.

4. Famous Actors • Famous Actors • Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1895 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. She is best known for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first African American to win an Academy Award.

5. Athletes • Before Richard Sherman there was Charles Follies. • The National Football League was officially founded in 1920, but its origins date back to 1869, at which point Blacks were barred from playing due to segregation. Charles Follies is celebrated as the first African-American to play professional football, as a member of the Shelby Athletic Club in 1902. • 1902 2015

6. Famous Actors • James Baskett • This African-American actor was the first male to win an Honorary Oscar in 1948 for his performance as Uncle Remes in the Disney film, “Song of the South.” Although it was an honorary award, Baskett was still the first black man to take home an Academy Award of any kind.

7. Athletes • Before Adrian Peterson there was • Woody Strode • Along with Kenny Washington, LA Rams picked up Woody Strode in 1946, ending a nearly 12-year ban on Black athletes in the NFL. Both Strode and Washington were formerly teammates with baseball legend Jackie Robinson on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team.

8. Famous Actors • Sindey Poitier • Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win the Best Actor Oscar and the only one until Denzel Washington forTraining Day (2001), 38 years later. By a strange coincidence, Washington won the Best Actor award on the same night when Poitier received an Honorary Oscar. An actor who refused to play stereotypical roles.

9. Athletes • Before Marshawn Lynch there was Kenny Washington • Kenny Washington • After 31 years of limited immigration that granted athletes such as Charles Follis the opportunity to play, the NFL implemented a full ban on Black athletes in 1933. The ban was lifted in 1946, and the LA Rams became the first team to integrate after hiring Kenny Washington, a stand-out star on the football field at the University of California Los Angeles.

10. Famous Actors • Louis Gosset Jr. • Academy Award fo Best Actor in a Supporting RoleAn Officer and a Gentleman (1982) 

11. Athletes • Before Kobe Bryant there was Nat Clifton • Joining Chuck Cooper and Earl Lloyd in making history was Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, the first to sign an NBA contract with the New York Knicks, where he played for seven seasons.

12. Famous Actors • Denzel Washington • Second African-American actor to receive an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Thirty-eight years after Sidney Poitier.

13. Athletes • Before Lebron James there was Chuck Cooper. • Also in 1950, along with Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper entered the NBA when he was drafted by the Boston Celtics. He would also be the first African-American to be drafted by a professional basketball team.

14. Famous Actors • Whoopi Goldberg • She is the first African American to have received Academy Award nominations for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. • Received award for Best Supporting Actress for her character Oda Mae Brown in the film ghost.

15. Athletes • Before Ken Griffey, Jr. there was Jackie Robinson. • There is no other athlete more associated with the term “breaking the color barrier” than Jackie Robinson, who became the first Black player in major league baseball when he signed on to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

16. Famous Actors • Cuba Gooding Jr. • Best Actor in a Supporting RoleJerry Maguire (1996) 

17. Athletes • Before Michael Jackson there was Earl Lloyd • Earl Lloyd • When Earl Lloyd entered the National Basketball Association in 1950, he and three other players became the first Black players to do so. In addition, Lloyd, a member of the Washington Capitals, became the first African-American to play in an NBA game when his team took on the Rochester Royals that year.

18. Famous Inventors • Frederick M. Jones • Designed and patented a portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying perishable food and a thermostat control.  • In 1944, he became the first African American elected to the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers.

19. Athletes • Before P.K. Subban there was Willie O’Ree • Willie O’Ree broke the color barrier on the ice when he was hired by the Quebec Aces, a minor-league team affiliated with the Boston Bruins, in 1956. 

20. Famous Inventors • Benjamin Banneker • Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs and writer.

21. Athletes • Before Vanessa and Serena Williams, there wasAlthea Gibson • Tennis prodigy Althea Gibson conquered African-American tennis tournaments and, in 1950, she was given the opportunity to shatter even more records when she became the first African-American woman to compete at the U.S. Open. In 1951, she made her first appearance at Wimbledon. She was winner of the French Open in 1956, Wimbledon in 1957 and 1958, and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958.

22. Famous Inventors • Granville T. Woods • His second invention, an improved telephone transmitter. One of his most important inventions was the "troller," a grooved metal wheel that allowed street cars (later known as "trolleys") to collect electric power from overhead wires.

23. Athletes • Before Tiger Woods there was Charlie Sifford • Charlie Sifford • Golfer Charlie Sifford became the first Black PGA Tour member in 1962, paving the way for other Black golfing greats such Peter Brown, the first African-American to win a PGA tournament, and Tiger Woods, the first person of color to win the Masters.

24. Famous Inventors • George Cook • In 1899, black American inventor George Cook of Louisville, Kentucky, received a U.S. patent for an "Automatic Fishing Device" 

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26. Famous Inventors • William H. Richardson • William H. Richardson patented an improvement to the baby carriage in the United States on June, 18, 1889.

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28. Famous Inventors • Alexander Ashbourne • The biscuit cutter was invented in 1875 by Alexander P. Ashbourne, an African-American inventor and dry goods grocer from Oakland, California.

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30. Famous Inventors • Charles Drew • Charles Drew was an African-American surgeon who pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the U.S.

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32. Famous Inventors • Thomas Elkins • n 1872, a U.S. patent was issued to Thomas Elkins for a new article of chamber furniture which he designated a "Chamber Commode"

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34. Famous Inventors • George T Sampson •  He was an African-American inventor for the clothes dryer.  His dryer had a combination of frames for drying and supporting clothes. It included a long pan that was utilized as a receptacle for wet clothes.  Sampson's invention was to suspend clothing in close relation to a stove by means of frames.

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36. Famous Inventors • Samuel R. Scrottron • The invention has relation to that class of metallic curtain-rods adapted to be secured.

37. Famous Inventors • William S. Grant • The curtain rod support was invented by William S. Grant on August 4, 1896. The invention of the curtain rod support came about four years after S.R. Scottron invented the curtain rod.

38. Famous Inventors • Osbourn Dorsey • The U.S. Patent Office received a submission made for improvements on a door-closing device by an African American inventor named Osbourn Dorsey. Door knobsand door handles are now a vital part of modern doors!

39. Famous Inventors • Willie Johnson • It was a double acting machine with two chambers. Batter could be beaten in one section and eggs could be beaten in another section, or one section could be cleaned while the other section could continue beating.

40. Famous Inventors • Lewis Latimer • Latimer's deep knowledge of both patents and electrical engineering made Latimer an indispensible partner to Edison as he promoted and defended his light bulb design.

41. Famous Inventors • Alexander Miles • Alexander Miles was an African-American inventor who was best known for being awarded a patent for an automatically opening and closing elevator door design in 1887

42. Famous Inventors • Powell Johnson • On November 2,1880, Johnson Powell received a patent for an eye-protector for use of furnace men, puddlers, firemen, and others exposed to glare of strong light.

43. Famous Inventors • Joseph W. Winters • Joseph Richard Winters was an African-American abolitionist and inventor who, on May 7, 1878 received U.S. Patent number 203,517 for a wagon-mounted fire escape ladder.

44. Famous Inventors • Thomas Marshall • Marshall's fire-extinguishing sprinkler system has been in use in the United States since 1874. It was commonly used in large factories as an effective means of putting out large and potentially catastrophic fires. Today, sprinkler systems are required by code in the United States in buildings more than 75 feet tall.

45. Famous Inventors • Leonard C. Bailey • He invented and received patents for a series of devices, many designed for military or government use. These included a folding bed,[2] a rapid mail-stamping machine, a device to shunt trains to different tracks, and a hernia truss adopted into wide use by the U. S. Military.

46. Famous Inventors • Nathaniel Alexander • On July 7, 1911 Nathaniel Alexander of Lynchburg, Virginia patented a folding chair. According to his patent, Nathaniel Alexander designed his chair to be used in schools, churches, and other auditoriums. His design included a book rest that was usable for the person sitting in the seat behind and was ideal for church or choir use.

47. Famous Inventors • Walter B. Purvis • William Purvis of Philadelphia invented and patented improvements to the fountain pen in 1890. William Purvis made several improvements to the fountain pen in order to make a "more durable, inexpensive, and better pen to carry in the pocket.

48. Famous Inventors • David A. Fisher • David Fisher, a black inventor createda device that holds furniture parts together. His device came in handy because originally, a worker had to work in slow steps, pausing at different times to combine pieces of wood together so one could bind them. Fisher fixed the delay in the process.

49. Famous Inventors • Garrett Morgan • But Morgan's most prolific accomplishments came in his role as an inventor. He received a patent for the first gas mask invention in 1914, Garrett Morgan's other famous invention – the traffic signal – was also invented to help save lives.

50. Famous Inventors • George T. Grant • He set about to improve the game of golf and as a result he received U.S. patent No. 638,920 on December 12, 1899 for an improved golf tee.George Grant was also recognized internationally for his invention of the oblate palate, a prosthetic device he designed for treatment of the cleft palate.