Prominent African Americans in West Virginia

1. Prominent African Americans in West Virginia

3. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman The first African-American woman to head a West Virginia state government agency

4. Mildred Mitchell- Bateman

5. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman was the first African-American woman to be named to a high ranking office in West Virginia state government. In 1962, she became director of the Department of Mental Health and served in that capacity for fifteen years.

6. J. R. Clifford Pioneer journalist, lawyer, and civil rights leader

7. J. R. Clifford was a trailblazer in many aspects of West Virginia's black history. He broke ground in education, journalism, law, and civil rights.

8. Some of Clifford's most important contributions to black history were in the field of law. He was the first African American to pass the West Virginia bar examination. In 1896, Clifford brought the first legal challenge of the state's segregated school system to the court.

9. In the case of Martin v. Board ofEducation, the Supreme Court ruled the Martin children were not allowed to attend the white school even though the alternative meant not receiving an education. The Martin decision upheld the state's segregation policy, which was not overturned until the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.

10. John W. Davis President of West Virginia State College and civil rights leader

11. John Warren Davis

12. John Warren Davis emerged from the prejudices of the Deep South to become one of the nation's most distinguished educators and earliest civil rights leaders.

13. John Warren Davis became president of West Virginia Collegiate Institute (present-day West Virginia State College) at Institute upon the personal recommendation of famed educator Carter G. Woodson.

14. During Davis' tenure, West Virginia State became one of the leading black colleges in the country in both academics and athletics.

15. Martin Delany The highest ranking black officer in the Union Army during the Civil War

16. Martin Delany

17. Martin Delany

18. Martin Delany was born a slave and rose to the rank of major, the highest ranking African American in the Union Army during the Civil War.

19. Delany was involved in the early planning stages of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. He was interested in establishing a safe haven for runaway slaves. However, Delany and other prominent blacks, such as Frederick Douglass, distanced themselves from Brown as his actions became more militant and unpredictable.

20. During the Civil War, Delany served as a physician and became the first commissioned black officer in the Union Army.

21. Elizabeth Simpson Drewry The first African-American woman elected to the West Virginia Legislature

22. Elizabeth Simpson Drewry

23. In 1950, Elizabeth Simpson Drewry became the first African- American woman elected to the West Virginia Legislature. In 1948, she ran for the House of Delegates (McDowell County) for the first time, but was defeated in the primary election

24. In 1950, Drewry ran again and won the fifth spot on the Democratic ticket. In the general election, she received nearly 18,000 votes, becoming the first African-American woman elected to the legislature.

25. In 1927, Minnie Buckingham Harper was appointed to succeed her late husband in the West Virginia Legislature, becoming the first black woman in the nation to serve in a state legislature. However, Harper was never elected.

26. Henry Louis Gates Jr. Renowned black literary scholar and chair of Harvard University's African- American Studies Department

28. With the publication of his 1989 book, The Signifying Monkey: Toward a Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, Gates was recognized widely as one of the leading scholars of African- American studies.

29. In 1991, Gates was named chair of Harvard University's African-American Studies Department. In 1994, Gates' award-winning book Colored People was published, chronicling his youth and the black community in Mineral County.

30. Hal Greer Huntington native and member of the basketball hall of fame

31. Hal Greer is the only black West Virginia native enshrined in a major sports hall of fame. He was born in Huntington on June 26, 1936, and was a basketball standout at Frederick Douglass High School.

32. In 1955, coaching legend Cam Henderson recruited Greer, a 6'2"-guard, to attend Marshall College (now Marshall University). Greer became the first African American to play for a major college team in the state.

33. During his fifteen-year career with Syracuse and the Philadelphia 76ers, Greer was one of the NBA's most dominant guards, averaging 19.2 points per game.

34. Greer's number 15 jersey was retired by the 76ers and in 1981, he was elected to the Naismith Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.

35. Greer was honored by his native city of Huntington on two occasions. In 1966, Mayor R. O. Robertson hosted "Hal Greer Day.” Twelve years later, 16th Street, which runs by Marshall's campus, was renamed Hal Greer Boulevard.

36. John C. Norman Jr. Noted thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon and researcher

38. Noted thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon and researcher John C. Norman Jr. was born May 11, 1930, in Charleston, West Virginia.

39. After graduating valedictorian from Garnet High School in 1946, John Norman entered Howard University. He later transferred to Harvard and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1950. John Norman received his M. D. from Harvard Medical School in 1954.

40. While in Boston Norman began important research into a left ventricular assist device for cardiac patients. This research took him to the prestigious Texas Heart Institute in 1972. For the next several years, Norman worked on development of the first abdominal left ventricular assist device (ALVAD), which could be implanted temporarily in patients suffering cardiac failure after open-heart surgery.

41. For his work in medical research, Norman was awarded the 1985 Congressional High Technology Award. He previously was honored as the Charleston Gazette-Mail's West Virginian of the Year for 1971.

42. Christopher Payne The first black member of the West Virginia Legislature

43. Christopher Payne was the first African American to serve in the West Virginia Legislature. He was born a slave in Monroe County on September 7, 1848, and was educated by his mother.

44. After attending night school in Charleston, he became one of the first black teachers in present-day Summers County. Payne was ordained as a Baptist minister and organized the Second Baptist Church in Hinton.

45. Payne was a pioneer in the field of black journalism and established three newspapers -- the West Virginia Enterprise, The Pioneer, and the Mountain Eagle.

46. In 1896, Payne was elected to the West Virginia Legislature as a Republican delegate from Fayette County.

47. Samuel W. Starks Local and national leader of the black Knights of Pythias fraternal order

48. On September 18, 1892, Starks formed a West Virginia Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, one of the leading secret black fraternal orders of the day. The organization included representatives from lodges at Raymond City, Huntington, Charleston, and Montgomery.

49. The black Knights of Pythias was an important social organization for African Americans. "It and other secret orders enhanced the sense of community and national connection among blacks, providing them with opportunities to share in business, social, and civil activities under the lodge's aegis.”(Dr. Ancella Bickley)

50. Leon Sullivan Charleston native and civil rights leader