Marsha Smiley Collection: Crossing Opportunity's Threshold

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A
Dr. Sam Abram: Superintendent, C.A.P.E., NDEA Fellow
Rev. Clyde Adams: Founded One Church, One Offender
Fred Andrew Adams: Allied Trades, Adams Real Estate Co., 1st Manager of Greenfield Square Complex
Verna M. Adams: First African-American Woman Faculty Member at St. Francis College and Principal in FWCS
Frances and Emma Anderson: Beauty Shop Owners (1877)
Jeremiah and Zimriah Anderson: Barbers of Kendallville (1860)
Warner Anderson: 1st African American to Graduate from Fort Wayne College of Medicine (1895)
Bonnie J. Andrews: Pioneer of Neighborhood Civic Duty
Paula Autry: Lutheran Hospital CEO
B
Patricia Ann Ballou: 1st African American Female Foreman, General Electric Co.
Dr. E. Sharon Banks: Educator and Community Leader
Mary Frances Woodson Barksdale: 1st Black Female in International Harvester Management - Employment Supervisor
Roosevelt Barnes: Building Contractor (1954-1994), Creation & Construction of Suburban Heights Neighborhood
Betty Cox Black: 1st African American Female to Be a Salesclerk and Work at a Cash Register at Hutner's Apparel Department Store
Miriam M. Blanks: Seizing Opportunities
Rena Bradley: Architect, American Institute of Architects, BGCMC Community Development Coordinator, S.E. Area Partnership
Samuel Bradshaw: 1st Known Black Chiropodist in Fort Wayne
Terra Brantley: Indiana's Longest Serving African-American News Anchor
Caroline Brewer: Author, Speaker, Literary Activist, Founded Unchained Spirit Enterprises
William Briggs: 1st African American State Court Judge of Allen County, IN
Corrinne Mudd Brooks: Organized 1st African-American Girl Scout Troop in Fort Wayne, Activist, Leader
Grace Brooks: 1st African American to Be Hired by St. Joe Hospital
Helen P. Brown: Education Leader
Payne Brown: THINK450, Business Leader, Strategic Initiatives
Synovia Brown: 1st Female President of the Fort Wayne Urban League
Thomas D. Brown: Thomas D. Brown: Urban Development
Thomas E. Brownlee: Thomas Brownlee's Tax Service
Thomas Larry Brownlee: Owner of Brownlee & Sons Market (est. 1979)
Victor Eugene "Gene" Butler: Community Pharmacist, Owner of Community Care Pharmacy
C
Henry & Caroline Cannady: Early Allen County, IN Pioneers
Michelle Chambers: 1st African-American Woman to Hold an At-Large Fort Wayne City Council Seat
Bessie Coleman: Civil Aviator
Dr. W. H. Conner: Began His Medical Practice in Fort Wayne in 1914
Dr. George W. Cooper: 1st Black American to Hold Membership in the American Veterinary Medical Assn. (AVMA)
John Edward Crunkleton: Master Machinist & Toolmaker
Mary Brooks Curry: 1st African American Legal Secretary in Fort Wayne
D
Barker Davie, Jr.: A Top Arson Investigator in the U.S. & Canada
Fire Chief Tim Davie: First African American FWFD Fire Chief
Henry Davis, Jr.: Electronics Engineering (1950s)
Toma Tanzy Davis: Entrepreneur/Golden Opportunities Store (Owner)
E
Lydia Mae Early: Animated Inveterate Small Business Owner
Cletus Edmonds: Fort Wayne City Council, Labor Relations Director International Harvestor and City of Fort Wayne
A.C. Eldridge: 1st African American Head Varsity Basketball Coach
George Eldridge: Labor Leader
Edward Elkins: Single Handedly Empowered Fort Wayne's African American Community
F
Daniel Ferguson: Photographer and Ferguson & Sons Barbershop, Wabash (1851)
Clifton Files: Co-Counsel for Plantiff Class Parents for Quality Education with Integration
G
Edwin A. Gibson: Indiana's First Black Registered Architect
Dr. Deborah Godwin-Starks: Owner of a Full-Gospel Radio Station
Fran Grant: First Television Personality of Fort Wayne, IN
H
Eric Hackley: Hackonomics
Garry Hamilton: Fort Wayne's First Black Police Chief
Clemmie Harris: Conducted Laboratory Analysis on International Harvester Products, Microbiologist
William Hayden: First Local Black Bank Executive/People's National Bank
Johnny Hayes: 1st Black Licensed Electrician in Indiana
Clarence E. Haynes: Haynes Pharmacy Owner
Heather Headley: Singer, Actress
Glynn A. Hines: Councilman and Community Volunteer
Vernon Howell: Extraordinary Businesswoman
J
Laura Jackson: First African American Fort Wayne Police Department Policewoman
Mae Jemison: 1st African-American Woman to Go Into Space
Dianne Jenkins: 1st African American Executive Secretary to Serve the Fort Wayne Board of Public Works
Benjamin & Winifred Jones: One of the 1st Families of Whitley Co., IN. (1835)
James Jones: Youth Development and Mentor
L. B. Jones, Sr.: 1st African American Male Parole/Correctional Officer in Fort Wayne
Joe Jordan: Fort Wayne Boys & Girls Clubs President and CEO
Michael Joyner: FWPD Public Information Officer
K
Ronald Kennedy: Indiana State University
L
James Lattimore: Innovator-Inventor and Tuskegee Airman
Joseph H. Lattimore: Fort Wayne Newspapers
Nancy Lester: St. Joseph Hospital's First African American Registered Nurse
Judith Lindsay: 1st African American Executive Secretary of a Fort Wayne Mayor
Richard Leslie Michael Lord: 1st Black Person to Play Varsity Hockey in the U.S.
Preston Lyons Sr.: Owned Lyon's Trucking Co. (1920-1975), Douglas Cash Market (1940s), Lyon's Fish Market (1950s)
M
Alan W. McGee, MD: Orthopedic Surgeon
DeLois McKinley-Eldridge: FWCS Case Manager, Allen County Council, Metropolitan Human Relations
Gertrude L. (Anderson) Merrill: Stenographer/Bookkeeper (1920)
Ellis Micheaux: 1st African American Owned Funeral Home
Lavonne Cunningham Miller: Led Fight to Desegregate F.W.C.S.
Bobby Milton: Player, Coach, and Ambassador of Harlem Globetrotters
William C. Mizzell: Black Data Processing Associates, Minority Spectrum
N
Forrest Nelson: Technician at International Telephone & Telegraph
John Nuckols: The First African-American City Councilman
P
Eugene E. Parker: Attorney and Sports Agent
Rae Pearson: Living Her Calling, President & CEO of Alpha Rae Personnel, Inc.
Helen S. Pickett: 1st Black Female Licensed Mortician in Indiana
Mallie Powell, Jr.: 1st African American Blue Collar Worker to Obtain Management Position at International Harvester
R
Charles B. Redd: Civil Rights Leader and Community Activist
James Redmond: A Passion for Photography
Leah Reeder: Registrar, Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Vytas Reid: News Broadcaster, Meteorologist, American Meteorological Society
Adeline Rhodes: Outstanding Civil Leader
Condra Ridley: Storyteller, Chief, Survivor, Keeper of the Flame
James Ridley: I.A.F.F., Assistant to the General President
Richard Ridley, Jr.: Fort Wayne's First African-American Firefighter
Wendy Robinson: FWCS Superintendent
Bertha Rogers: Youth Development/Mentor, Community Servant
Thelma Russell: Owner of The Gingerbread House
S
Connie Scott: First African American Library Director of Indiana Tech. -Servant Leader, Information Manager, Writer
Levan Scott: First African-American Principal in FWCS
Ty Simmons: HANDS Utopian Community Grocery (1st Phase)
Lewis Sims: First African American Bus Driver for the Public Transit Corp.
Christine Slaughter: Employed in Corporate America/Engineering
Ephraim Smiley, Jr.: Organic Urban Farmer, Environmentalist
Chauntiel Smith: 1st Female Sports Agent in Northeast Indiana, CEO and Founder of Capture Sports Agency
Cleo D. Smith: 1st African American to Graduate from IIT With Electrical Engineering Degree
Edward Neil Smith: Attorney and Publisher
Gertrude Smith: Indiana Black Republic Council and Her Highness Beauty Salon
Dr. Linda L. Smith: Dentist, US Army Colonel, West Point Graduate
Mamie Smith: Administrative Dietician
William Smith: 1st African American Federal Employee in Fort Wayne (1915)
Robert Starke: Director of McCulloch Recreational Center
Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.: Wayne Township Trustee
Jerry Stewart: 1st Black Political Cartoonist
Roma Jones Stewart: 1st Pioneer Families of Allen County
Sallie Wyatt Stewart: President of N.A.C.W., 1st African American Woman in U.S. to Become Licensed Real Estate Broker
Al Stiles: Musician and Businessman
Hana Stith: One of the First African-Americans Hired in FWCS
Harold Stith: Fort Wayne's First African American Plumbing Contractor, Noted Fort Wayne Philanthropist, "The Little Giant"
Clarence Stuart: Pioneer Businessman, BRE Inc., Sentry Supply, Stuart Manufacturing
T
Walter Tharp, Jr.: A Gifted Artist
Lionel Tobin: CEO of WireAmerica Inc., Owner of Stuart Integrated Systems
Veronica Townes: The Essence of Beauty
Sharon Tucker: 1st African American Woman to Serve 6th District on the Fort Wayne City Council
Jamarcus Turner: Hollywood Script Writer
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Leo Underwood: Unparalleled Generosity
Edgar J. Unthank: Phyllis Wheatley Social Center and Fort Wayne Urban League (1925-1940s)
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Linda Diane Wade: CEO of Nature-Nurture Urban Consultants
Narada Michael Walden: Multi-Platinum Producer and Musician
Verbie Walder: 1st African American Head High School Football Coach in the Summit City (1974)
Dr. Kristal Walker: Sweetwater, Vice President of Employee Well-Being
Charles "Charlie Bob" Wallace: Entrepreneur, Visionary
William Warfield: 1st Black Real Estate Investor in Fort Wayne
Denita Washington: 1st African American and 1st Woman Elected Trustee of Adams County
Tanisha L. Washington: Director of Business Development (BCT Partners)
William Watson, Sr.: FWCS Guidance Dept., Mayor's Commission on Human Relations, Director of Manpower Development
Charles William West: 1st Black Owned Funeral Home in Fort Wayne / 1921
Bishop Jesse White: Civil Rights Leader
Marshall White: CEO and Founder of Unity Performing Arts Foundation
Arthur Williams: 1st African American FWPD Police Officer (1917)
Beauford Thomas Williams: Singer "Eddie Blue"
Edna Roland Williams: First African American Social Worker in Allen County
Jesse Williams: Jesse & Sons, the Oldest Black Owned Barbershop in Fort Wayne
Dr. J. Henry Williams: Columnist for the Journal Gazette (1915)
William G. Williams: Eradicating Oppression
Eric Wilson: Vice President at mCapitol Management
Genois Young Wilson: First Female Fort Wayne Fire Department Firefighter
Rodney Wilson, Sr.: Electronic Engineering, Bio Med Electronics, Sweetwater Sound
Dr. Roland Wilson: 1st African American Doctor in a City Hospital in Fort Wayne
Marilyn Wimbley: Fashion Designer
Amber Woodson: New Haven's 1st African-American Female Police Officer
Charlotte Williams Woods-Burwell: 1st African American Woman Nominated to Run for the Indiana State Legislature
Marti L. Wright: 1st African American Prime Time Anchor WPTA-TV
Y
Doris Yerger: Civil Disobedience