York was born the son of Old York and Rose who were the slaves of John Clark lll, William Clark’s father. York was William Clark’s lifelong body servant willed to him by his Father on July 24th, 1799. He born sometime in 1770 in Ladysmith, Caroline County Virginia and passed away some time before 1832.

Everyone knows Lewis & Clark, but did you know that there was a Black man who was also part of the expedition? His name was York. As William Clark’s slave from boyhood, he participated as a full member of the expedition and was present when the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean. [Read more…]

Gladys Mae West (Born 1930/31 in Sutherland, Virginia) is an American mathematician who is known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the earth and her work on the development of satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System aka, GPS.

Gladys Mae West not only overcame the oppression of discrimination and segregation, she majored in mathematics and along with other women of the times dispel the myth that women are not good in Math. Whether you’re a pilot, soldier, driver, fisherman, golfer or in any other profession that uses GPS, we have Gladys Mae West and her team to thank for developing the foundation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). [Read more…]

James Zwerg was born in Appleton, Wisconsin where he lived with his parents and older brother, Charles. His father was a dentist who provided free dental care to the poor on one day per month. He was very active in school and took part in student protests in high school.

On Mother’s Day May 14th 1961, a group of Freedom Riders were traveling by bus from Washington DC to New Orleans. They were met an angry white mob in Anniston, Alabama who attacked the bus with baseball bats and iron pipes. Rather than stopping, the bus driver continued past the bus station however the angry mob followed the bus in their cars then slashed the tires and a fire bomb was thrown into the bus. [Read more…]