ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On April 5, 1856, educator and reformer Booker T.Washington was born in Franklin County,VA

Althea Gibson...American Tennis Player,Professional Golfer,Teacher, First Black Athlete of Either Gender to Cross the Color Line of International Tennis

Althea Gibson 1927-2003 brought grace, dignity and power to the world of tennis in the 1950's. She intimidated opponents with her powerful serve, pinpoint volleys and thundering overhead. But she is best remembered for having the courage to take on major tennis' all-white establishment. Gibson was a pioneer who broke several racial barriers in the sport and paved the way for future stars such as Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, and Venus and Serena Williams. The first African-American to win the Wimbledon singles title (she did it twice, in 1957 and 1958), she also won the French Open and U.S. Open singles titles.

Born to a South Carolina sharecropper who moved his family to New York City in 1930, Gibson grew up in Harlem during the great Depression. She shot pool with the local sharks and played basketball with the boys in her neighborhood -- but she was especially adept at paddle ball. During the summer of 1941, a Police Athletic League supervisor watched Gibson win a local tournament and suggested she take up tennis. Gibson began taking lessons, beating all comers and rapidly rising through the ranks of New York's all-Black American Tennis Association (ATA). In 1947, Gibson won the first of her 10 consecutive ATA national championships. She continued to dominate the ATA circuit while remaining shut out of all-white United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) events.

After years of lobbying on the part of ATA officials and contemporaries such as former Wimbledon champion Alice Marble, Gibson made tennis history when she stepped onto Court 14 at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York on August 28, 1950 to compete in women's singles at the U.S. Championship. Gibson became the first African-American -- male or female -- to play in a major USLTA event. She defeated England's Barbara Knapp in straight sets, but lost to former Wimbledon champion Louise Brough in the second round. She made history again at Wimbledon that year, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Over the next five years, Gibson continued to win ATA titles, but her success in USLTA events was somewhat uneven until she returned from an exhibition tour of Asia for the U.S. State Department in 1955. She won 16 of 18 USLTA matches during the 1956 season, including the French Championships on May 20, becoming the first African-American to win a major tennis singles title.

Gibson was nearly 30 when she won her first Wimbledon title in 1957. She returned to a hero's welcome and ticker-tape parade in New York. She won her first U.S. Championship later that year and became the top-ranked female tennis player in the world. After winning her second U.S. title in 1958, Gibson retired from amateur competition. She took up golf and broke another color barrier by becoming the first African-American woman to compete on the LPGA circuit. She won one tournament during a seven-year career.

After retiring from professional competition in 1971, Gibson taught tennis and also served as athletic commissioner for the State of New Jersey from 1975 to '77. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

They said it: "Ain't that a blip, that a Harlem street rebel would go on to become a world tennis champion?" -- Gibson

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/30/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althea_Gibson

Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry...Pastor,Actor,Educator,Community Leader,Author,Activist

The Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry hails from a family that has produced five generations of Black church leaders.  Currently National Presiding Minister of The House of the Lord Churches, he has previously served as Chairman of the National Black United Front as well as Founder and President of the African People's Christian Organization.  More than 50 years of involvement in church and community service has earned him the title, "The People's Pastor."

Rev. Daughtry's long career of activism began with the civil rights struggles in the 1950s working with Brooklyn CORE and Operation Breadbasket, and continued in the fight for community control of schools in the late 1960s. He subsequently helped to found several organizations, including Black Leadership 

Commission on AIDS, Alonzo Daughtry Memorial Family Life Services, which serves the community through innovative programming such as Families of Victims Against Violence, and Alonzo Daughtry Memorial Day Care Center, which provides early childhood education under the motto, "Nurturing and Educating the Leaders of Tomorrow."  He currently serves as Chair of National Religious Leaders of African Ancestry Concerned about Darfur.

Reverend Daughtry has previously served as Chair of the New York Citywide African-American Clergy Council, African American Clergy and Elected Officials, and the Association of Brooklyn Clergy for Community Development, which built and renovated more than 500 units of housing for low- and middle-income families in Brooklyn. 

His commitment to global human rights and self-determination has led Rev. Daughtry to travel and lecture extensively around the world, and he has participated in dozens of international conferences and conventions, including speaking at United Nations subcommittee meetings regarding South African apartheid, Cuba, the Middle East, and the state of U.S. civil rights.

Currently, Reverend Daughtry is one of a handful of community leaders working with Forest City Ratner Companies to build Atlantic Yards, a $5 billion complex that includes a 19,000 seat arena to house the New York Nets.  Daughtry was instrumental in the creation of the landmark Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement that ensures delivery of a wide variety of services to the Brooklyn community, including a state-of-the-art health facility, an intergenerational center, and a community foundation as well as housing opportunities for low- and middle-income New Yorkers, construction jobs for minorities and women, and thousands of other employment opportunities.

Ordained to the Ministry in 1958, Reverend Daughtry was installed as the third National Presiding Minister of The House of the Lord Churches in October 1959.  His father, Alonzo, had served as the Church's founder and first Presiding Minister.  Daughtry has pastored the Brooklyn congregation since 1958.  In 2010, he established a Jersey City branch of the Church, and he also serves as pastor there.

In the field of religion, he has served in various capacities with the World Council of Churches; has studied and done research at the Theological Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland; and has been the preacher in residence at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. Rev. Daughtry has also lectured at Harvard University School of Divinity and at both Union and New York Theological Seminaries in New York City. Additionally, he was one of the principal lecturers at the 150th anniversary of the Virginia Theological Seminary and his lecture, “A Theology of Black Liberation: the Who, What and How,” was published in the school’s journal.

Rev. Daughtry is a prolific author. His book, No Monopoly on Suffering: Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights and Elsewhere, published by Africa World Press in 1997 with a foreword by Dr. Cornel West, gives a chronology of the building of a movement in Brooklyn which can serve as a guide for the empowerment of any people. His other books include My Beloved Community, published by Africa World Press, Effectual Prayer and Dear 2pac: Letters to a Son, published by Seaburn Press. Other publications to his credit include “Jesus Christ: African in Origin, Revolutionary and Redeeming in Action,” “South African Reader,” “Seize the Future,” “From Magnificence to Wretchedness: The Sad Saga of Black Humanity,” “Inside the Storm: A Report on the Uprising in Crown Heights,” and another work on Tupac Shakur – who joined his congregation at the early age of 11 – entitled, “A Seed Planted in Stone: The Life and Times of Tupac Shakur.” 

The pastor appeared in Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues as the minister who married Bleak Gilliam (Denzel Washington) and Indigo Downes (Joie Lee).

Reverend Daughtry is married to Reverend Dr. Karen Smith Daughtry.  They have four adult children:  Leah, Sharon, Dawnique, and Herbert, Jr; and three grandsons, Lorenzo, Herbert III, and Myles.

http://holc.bluestatedigital.com/pages/presiding-minister

http://www.holnj.org/nationalpresider.html

Reverend Dr Cain Hope Felder...Minister,Educator,Historian,Theologian,Author

Cain Hope Felder is Professor of New Testament Language & Literature and Editor of The Journal of Religious Thought and Chair of the Academic Standing and Doctoral Programs committees at the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC. His listing of accomplishments is equally remarkable. Some of his publications include the first African American New Testament Commentary True to Our Native Land (Augsburg Fortress, 2007); Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family (Orbis Books, 1989)-18th printing; Editor, Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation (Fortress Press, 1991)-14th printing;The Seasons of Lent: Proclamation Commentary (Fortress Press, 1991); The Original African Heritage Study Bible (Winston Derek, 1993); "Commentary on the Epistle of James" in The International Bible Commentary (Liturgical Press, 1998); Consulting Editor and Contributor, African American Jubilee Bible (New York: American Bible Society) 1999; and Co-Editor Jubilee Legacy Bible (Nashville: Townsend Press, (2000); Introduction and Critical Notes on the Epistle of James in the New Oxford Annotated Bible (2001); Epistle to Philemon in the New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI, 2001; and Race, Racism and the Biblical Narratives (Fortress Press, 2002). Felder taught at Princeton Theological Seminary and was the first national director of the United Methodist Black Caucus. He is also founder of the Biblical Institute for Social Change, Washington, D.C. – an organization dedicated to inform, inspire, affirm and transform the Christian community through scholarship and research. This organization serves as a catalyst for a renewed interest in Biblical Interpretation in diverse quarters: prisons, half way houses, local churches, and campus ministry settings.

From 1969 to 1972, Dr. Felder worked as the first National Director of the United Methodist Black Caucus which was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church, he served as Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in New York City (1975-1977). Currently, Rev. Felder now serves as an Elder in the Second Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he has been appointed by Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson as the Resident Biblical Scholar for the District. He is an active member of Hemingway Memorial AME Church, located in District Heights, MD.

From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Felder served as Chair of the Implementation Panel for the National Center for African American Heritage & Culture at Howard University. He has been on Howard's faculty since 1981, having come to Washington from Princeton Theological Seminary where he taught as a member of the Department of Biblical Studies (1978-1981). His educational background is extensive: Ph.D., M. Phil., Columbia University in Biblical Languages and Literature; Diploma of Theology, Oxford University, England; Master of Divinity, Union Theological Seminary, New York; BA in Philosophy and Classics, Howard University, Washington, DC; and Diploma, Boston Latin School.

Maintaining dual residences in Washington, DC and his home haven in Mobile, Alabama that he shares with his bride, Dr. Jewell, affectionately called “Dr. J.”, Dr. Felder is the proud father of one daughter, Miss Akidah Felder, a graduate of Spellman College and current dual Masters student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/interview-with-dr-cain-hope-felder-of-howard-university-7716/

http://www.divinity.howard.edu/2_faculty_felder.shtml

Reverend Dr. James Henry Harris...Professor,Theologian,Pastor,Author

James H. Harris is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at the School of Theology, Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia. A leader in the practice and teaching of preaching, he is author of Preaching Liberation (1995) and Pastoral Theology: A Black Church Perspective (1991). One reader said about Dr Harris' book No Longer Bound: A Theology of Reading and Preaching “James Henry Harris is the only preacher and professor I know who can so easily blend together in one book the plaintive messages of American slave songs of the nineteenth century, the rigorous inquiry of European philosophy of the twentieth century, and the challenges confronting black preachers in the twenty-first century. . . . All preachers would do well to read this challenging and insightful book and apply its lessons to their pulpit ministry!”—Marvin A. McMickle, President and Professor of Church Leadership, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Dr. James Henry Harris is an expert in the teaching and practice of African American preaching with extensive experience in all areas of Black Church leadership and administration. He teaches practical theology, but is trained also in ethics and philosophy which leads him to postulate that philosophical theology is practical theology for the Black preacher. He teaches courses on introductory and advanced preaching and worship, the theology and preaching of Martin Luther King Jr., interpretation theory, preaching and literature, liberation preaching, theology and preaching, expository preaching, dialectical preaching, texts and textuality, preaching and the imagination, and prayer and scripture reading. His writings are a reflection of his efforts to bridge the work of the Church and the academy. He is both a practical and philosophical theologian, a literary and social critic, and a gifted preacher with a keen social conscious. He holds five  graduate and professional degrees and has written over ten books and many journal articles.

http://store.fortresspress.com/store/contributor/474/James+H.+Harris

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-harris/61/555/890

http://www.amazon.com/James-H.-Harris/e/B001HCW01C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Dr. Julianne Malveaux…President Emertia of Bennett College,Economist,Activist,Civic Leader and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Member

Julianne Malveaux was born September 22, 1953, in San Francisco, California. Dr. Julianne Malveaux is President Emertia of Bennett College for Women. She is an economist, author of Wall Street, Main Street, and the Side Street: A Mad Economist Takes a Stroll (1999) and Surviving & Thriving 365 Facts in Black Economic History (2010) as well as commentator who’s popular writings has appeared in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms.Magazine, Essence Magazine, the Progressive and many more.

Well-known for appearances on national network programs, including CNN, BET, PBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN and others; Malveaux is booked to offer commentary on subjects ranging from economics to women's rights and public policy. She has also hosted television and radio programs.

A committed activist and civic leader, Dr. Malveaux has held positions in women’s, civil rights, and policy organizations. Currently she serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute, The Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, DC, and the Liberian Education Trust. Malveaux is also President of PUSH Excel, the educational branch of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

She has also lectured at more than 500 colleges/universities corporate events. For the last 5 years Dr. Malveaux has focused and centered her efforts on public speaking appearances and her work as a broadcast and print journalist, and author.

http://www.juliannemalveaux.com/#!about/c1yaw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julianne_Malveaux

W.E.B. Du Bois was a black civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts,in The United States. Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Du Bois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagra Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by Booker T. Washington which provided that Southern blacks would work and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic educational and economic opportunities. Instead, Du Bois insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, which he believed would be brought about by the African-American intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the talented tenth and believed that African Americans needed the chances for advanced education to develop its leadership.

Racism was the main target of Du Bois's polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. His cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to free African colonies from European powers. Du Bois made several trips to Europe, Africa and Asia. After World War I, he surveyed the experiences of American black soldiers in France and documented widespread bigotry in the United States military.

Du Bois was a prolific author. His collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, was a seminal work in African American literature;and his 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction in America challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction era. He wrote the first scientific treatise in the field of sociology; and he published three autobiographies, each of which contains insightful essays on sociology, politics and history. In his role as editor of the NAACP's journal The Crisis, he published many influential pieces. Du Bois believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and he was generally sympathetic to socialist causes throughout his life. He was an ardent peace activist and advocated nuclear disarmament. The United States' Civil Rights Act, embodying many of the reforms for which Du Bois had campaigned his entire life, was enacted a year after his death. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95 August 27 1963, where he passed away in the city of Accra.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10710.W_E_B_Du_Bois?bf=500&from_search=true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

Dr Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant ..Psychologist, Educator, Lecturer. Advice Columnist. and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Member

Dr Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant is the author of The Best Kind of Loving: A Black Woman's Guide to Finding Intimacy (1995) ,Unusual Calling: The Value of Pain and Suffering (Spiritual Authority Series)with Gerald Mcray (2005) and Walking Proud: Black Men Living Beyond the Stereotypes with George Edmond Smith (2001). She also had an advice column,Between Us, in Essence Magazine for over ten years. She is a member of Phi Delta Kappa; Phi Kappa Phi; National Council of Negro Women; and National Association of Black Journalists.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/448892.Gwendolyn_Goldsby_Grant

http://www.answers.com/topic/gwendolyn-goldsby-grant