Black History, Firsts, Government
Henry A. Rucker
Mr. Rucker, born a slave, had been owned by the King family of Athens, Georgia (in-laws of Atlanta journalist Henry Grady). Following the Civil War, Mr. Rucker opened a barber shop on Decatur Street in Atlanta; attended Atlanta University; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois (1880); was appointed by the President Grover Cleveland as a clerk in the internal revenue collector’s office in Atlanta (1880-1885, 1889-1893).
He was later appointed to the position of Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Georgia by President William McKinley. Henry Rucker was the only African American to receive such an appointment. He served from 1896 to 1910. Mr. Rucker was active in the Niagara Movement and the NAACP.
He married Annie Eunice Long (1865-1933) and had eight children: Henry, Jr., Elizabeth (Bessie), Lucy Lorene, Jefferson, Neddie, Hazel, Alice, and Ann L. The family resided on Piedmont Avenue.
Black History, Law, Politics
She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but at the age of 12 her family moved to Atlanta, Ga. She received a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Wellesley College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a M.P.P. in business and government policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
During the Obama Campaign for President, Patience served on the Obama/Biden Metropolitan and Urban Policy Advisory Committee and the Economy, Globalization, and Trade Policy Advisory Committee. In this role, she worked alongside others to provide local information to campaign leads. She downplays her role saying there were several people on the committee but whether there were 5 or 100 members we’re certain Patience contributed greatly.
In addition to working on policy Committees, Patience beat the
pavement locally, working on BWFO4Change phone banks and
volunteering in Virginia evenings and weekends to help elect Senator Barack Obama to the Presidency. When the campaign came to a close, she did not lose steam—she informed the campaign office that she was willing to go anywhere in Virginia to help out on Election Day. She didn’t expect them to say, “Great, we need help in Martinsville, VA.â€� It is important to note that Martinsville is 300 miles from Washington, DC and only 13 miles from the North Carolina border.
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Black History, Inventions
Otis Boykin
1920-1982 – An electronic scientist and inventor, Otis Boykin devised the control unit in artificial heart stimulators, invented a variable resistor device used in many guided missiles, small components such as thick-film resistors used in IBM computers, and many other devices including a burgular-proof cash register and a chemical air filter.
Starting as an assistant in a laboratory testing airplane automatic controls, Boykin was soon developing a type of resistor now used in many computers, radios, television sets and other electronically controlled devices.
Many products made from his discoveries are manufactured in Paris and throughout Western Europe. One of his products was approved for use in military hardware for the Common Market.
Black History, Inventions
Michael Croslin held more than 40 patents for medical inventions and established his own company, Medtek Corporation. His inventions include a computerized, digital blood pressure measurement device; a refractometer (used to measure the index of refraction of a substance) that measures levels of urinary sugar and protein; and a pump that measures and dispenses intravenous medications.
Born in 1933 in the U.S. Virgin Islands in Frederiksted, St. Croix, Michael Croslin was abandoned as a baby. A family named Britto gave him a home as a child and named him Miguel (later Anglicized as “Michael”). By the time he was 12, he fled the islands for the mainland United States. He worked odd jobs, living in Georgia for a time, and he obtained a brief education at a Jesuit school. He eventually wound up in Wisconsin, where he was adopted by the Croslin family. He, in turn, adopted their name.
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Black History, Inventions
Thomas J Martin, a Black inventor, was awarded a patent for the Fire Extinguisher on March 26, 1872. His invention is listed in the U. S. Patent Office in Washington, DC under patent number115,603.
The patent refers to pipe and valves and not the wall hanging type of extinguisher that is normally displayed.
Black History, The Arts
Thomas Andrew Dorsey
“the father of black gospel music”
Thomas Andrew Dorsey born in Villa Rica, Georgia. He is known as “the father of black gospel music� and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as “dorseys.� Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.
As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. His conception also deviates from what had been, to that time, standard hymnal practice by referring explicitly to the self, and the self’s relation to faith and God, rather than the individual subsumed into the group via belief.
Dorsey was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. His best known composition, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord�, was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and “Peace in the Valley�, which was a hit for Red Foley in 1951 and has been performed by dozens of other artists, including Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
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