June 19th, 1865 marks the date that American slavery was effectively outlawed in U.S. territories. Two years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston Texas with news that all slaves were free, and with resources to enforce said freedom.
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Credit: HuffPost Black Voices
Today would be Julian Percy’s 115th birthday. I celebrate his legacy and the accomplishments he made during a time when African Americans seldom received credit for their work.
Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was a U.S. research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants.[1] He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry’s production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills.
He later started his own company to synthesize steroid intermediates from the Mexican wild yam. His work helped greatly reduce the cost of steroid intermediates to large multinational pharmaceutical companies, helping to significantly expand the use of several important drugs.
Julian received more than 130 chemical patents. He was one of the first African-Americans to receive a doctorate in chemistry. He was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, and the second African-American scientist inducted from any field. Credit: Wikipedia
This photo of a finely dressed black mother and daughter — standing below a “Colored Entrance” sign at a bus station in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1956 — was taken by Gordon Parks, one of the seminal figures of twentieth century photography. A humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice, Parks left behind a body of work that documents race relations, poverty, civil rights and urban life.
From one dreamer to another… Thank you for your sacrifice.
Egos & Buffaloes 