Diversity Download: Black History by Victoria Pilate, author of Dorm Rooms to Boardroooms

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Victoria Pilate, Ph.D.

Black History Month

Carter Goodwin Woodson saw African American history in the
history of the United States as a painful, speechless void in a sea
of beautiful voices. Filling this void was his imperative, the sole
purpose of his life.

He understood that lack of recognition of contributions would lead
to misconceptions and lack of appreciation for a people And
ultimately to its devaluation whether deliberate or accidental. He
also understood that the need to claim accomplishments of a
people meant more than taking the credit and accolades that
accompany any accomplishment. He is quoted as saying, "If a race
has no recorded history, its achievements would be forgotten and,
in time, claimed by other groups." In his research he found that
achievements of those of African descent were overlooked,
ignored or even suppressed by writers of history textbooks.

Prior to 1915, America had no knowledge nor acknowledgment of
the contributions and achievements of its black citizens. In 1915,
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, history's only person parented by persons
formerly held as slaves to receive a Ph.D. in history, founded the
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. His goal was
to add a forgotten chapter to history's great body of knowledge.
Later on in 1926, he created Negro History Week which grew to
become Black History Month. Other designated months of study
would follow for the contributions of women, Native Americans,
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

For the majority of his life, he dedicated his life to researching and
recording the facts of African and African American history. He
sacrificed health, happiness and professional gain to write what he
felt was the single most barren, impoverished chapter in the wealth
known as history.

By the end of his life in 1950, Woodson had lived to see his dream
and life's work result in black history being celebrated by parades,
speeches, recitations, and banquets across the country as well as
libraries, schools and museums offering booklets, books and
research on the subject.

"Dorm Rooms to
Boardrooms"
"Dorm Rooms to
Boardrooms"
Victoria Pilate
Dorm Rooms to
Boardrooms "
Victoria Pilate
Dorm Rooms to
Boardrooms
Victoria Pilate
Dorm Rooms to
Boardrooms
Boardrooms"
Victoria Pilate
Dorm Rooms

Blacks in the Fledgling Aviation Industry
When the United States set up licensing laws in 1926, James Herman Banning was
the first black pilot to be licensed. Bessie Coleman was the first black woman pilot;
she died tragically in 1926. Coleman’s dream of a flying school for African
Americans became a reality when William J. Powell established the Bessie Coleman
Aero Club in Los Angeles, California in 1929.

Banning and another pilot, Thomas Allen became the first black pilots to fly coast-
to-coast from Los Angeles to Long Island, NY, in 1932. Using a plane pieced
together from junkyard parts, they made the 3,300 mile trip in less than 42 hours
aloft. However, the trip actually required 21 days to complete because the pilots
had to raise money for gas each time they stopped.

Banning was a passenger in a biplane, sitting in the front without controls, during a
San Diego air show. The Navy pilot at the controls, trying to impress his more
accomplished passenger, pulled the nose of the tiny plane up into a steep climb.
The plane stalled and fell into a fatal spin in front of hundreds of horrified
spectators. Ironically, Banning was refused the use of an airplane by the Airtech
Flying school, because the flying school instructor did not believe Banning to be a
capable pilot.

Colonel Guion “Guy” Bluford, Ph.D.
Colonel Guy Bluford was the first black American to enter space. The Soviet Union
was the first to send an African-descended person into space with its black Cuban
cosmonaut, Col. Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez.

Bluford was born in Philadelphia in 1942. His mother was a teacher and his father
an engineer. In school, he was an Eagle Scout. In high school, a school counselor
encouraged him to learn a trade, since he was not college material.   Bluford
balked at the suggestion and went to college. He received a bachelor’s degree in
aerospace engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 1964 where he
was enrolled in ROTC. He went into the Air Force and attended flight school,
earning his wings in 1966. After a stint in Vietnam, Bluford taught as a flight
instructor.

Afterwards he earned a master of science degree with distinction in aerospace
engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1974, then a doctorate in
aerospace engineering with a minor in laser physics in 1978. That year, he applied
for and was accepted into NASA’s Astronaut Training Program. He and 34 others
were selected from among 33,000 applications.

His first mission was STS-8 aboard the space shuttle Challenger, which launched
from Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 30, 1983. Bluford flew other missions and
retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1993. Based on the NASA website and
space.about.com/

John A. Davis, Sr.
John A. Davis Sr. was the leader of New Negro Alliance. In mid 1930s he boycotted
hamburger stand that had fired its black workers to hire Caucasian replacements
even though its clientele was black. Davis’ slogan “Buy Where You Can Work”
proved a mobilizing force for the community. Under which, Davis organized the
Alliance to pressure other business to hire blacks. The businesses sought an
injunction against them. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1938 which
upheld the Alliance’s right to picket. This victory would later prove useful legal
basis for the Civil Rights Movement.

Later, Davis led the staff that compiled historical and legislative facts for the famed
legal case, Brown vs. Board of Education which eventually ended discrimination in
public education. Davis graduated from Williams College in 1933. He received a
master’s degree from University of Wisconsin then earned a Ph.D. from Columbia
University in political science. He taught at Howard and later at the City University of
New York. He died in 2002 at 90. Based on a New York Times article by Wolfgang
Saxon.

Rep. Charles Rangel, J.D.
Charles Rangel grew up in New York City and had a childhood that never pointed
to greatness. He was a high school dropout who would earn a GED and make a
living in a minimum wage job. Then he was drafted during the Korean War and
sent to Korea. Shortly after arrival, he and his company ran into fierce enemy fire.
He survived and won the Bronze Star for valor.

He would go on to graduate from New York University and St. John’s University
School of Law. Rangel entered public services as an Assistant U.S. attorney then
was elected to the New York State Assembly. He was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1970 and has served there since then. Rangel is now the
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and founded the Congressional Black
Caucus. He is credited with sponsoring legislation to help the poor, elderly,
veterans and ex-offenders.

For more information, read his autobiography, I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since.
Based on the House of Representatives website, PBS website and Tavis Smiley's
2007 interview of Charles Rangel.

Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson grew up in Philadelphia. At an early age she exhibited
extraordinary vocal talent. Her father bought a piano for her when she was 8 but
the family could not afford music lessons. She taught herself. When she was 15,
she began voice lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson, a prominent black
soprano. Shortly afterwards, the Philadelphia Choral Society held a benefit concert
to raise money for her to study with leading contralto Agnes Reifsnyder. He
neighbors were so taken and convinced of her promise that they raised enough
money for her to study under Guisepe Boghetti, a legendary voice teacher. She
had been rejected because of her race from a local music school. From there,
Anderson won a New York Philharmonic Society contest. Then she received a
Julius Rosenwald scholarship to study abroad.

As a contemporary of the fiery Paul Robeson, she was a sharp contrast, dealing
with adversity and racism with a quiet, firm demeanor. She is best remembered for
the 1939 incident in which the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let
her sing in Constitution Hall. That rejection led to a public outrage in which then
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization in protest. In keeping
with her personality, a quiet but effective rebuke took place when the Secretary of
the Interior arranged a free open-air concert for her at the Lincoln Memorial.   She
volunteered with the United Nations Trusteeship Committee which helped people in
Africa and the South Pacific. She died in 1993 at 96.

(based on the Kennedy Center website, www.lkwdpl.org; for more information read
her autobiography My Lord What a Morning)