"Raye-Jean-Jordan-Montague" (January 21,1935-October 9,2018)

Was an internationally registered professional engineer (RPE)with the U.S. Navy who is credited with the first computer-generated rough draft of a U.S. naval's first female program manager of ships (PMS-309),Information Systems Improvement Program,she held a civilian equivalent rank of captain.She was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2018.

Raye was born in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Rayford Jordan & Flossie Graves Jordan.She attended St. Bartholomew School before moving to Merrill High School in Pine Bluff ( Jefferson County), graduating in 1952. She attended Arkansas AM&N (Now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff),wanting to study engineering,because no college in Arkansas were awarding such degrees to African American women in the 1950s, she took a degree in business,graduating in 1956.She was married three times: Weldon A.Means in 1955,to David H. Montague in 1965,and to James Parrott in 1973.After her marriage to James ended,she returned to the Montague, the same last name as her only child,David R. Montague.

In 1956, Raye began her career with the navy at the old David Taylor Model Basin (now the Naval Surface Warfare Center) in Carderock,Maryland as a digital computer systems operator.She later advanced to the position of computer systems analysts at the Naval Ship Engineering Center and served as the program director for the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Integrated Designs Manufacturing, and Maintenance Program as well as the division head for the Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) program. On January 22,1984 she accepted the newly created position of deputy program manager of the navy's Information Improvement Program.

Raye's career spanned the development of computer technologies, from the UNIVAC I, the world's first commercially available computer,down to modern computers.She successfully revised the first automated system for selecting and printing ship specifications and produced the first draft for the FFG-7 frigate ( the oliver Hazard Perry-class,or Perry-Class,ship) I'm eighteen hours.This was the first designed by computer.

In 1972,she was awarded the U.S. Navy's Meriitorious Civilian Service Award,the navy's third-highest honorary award.Raye was the first woman professional engineer to receive the society of Manufacturing Engineers Achievement Award (1978) and the National Computer Graphics Association Award for the Advancement of Computer Graphics (1988). She was also received a host of other honors from military branches, industry, and academia.Raye worked on the USS Dwight D.Eisenhower (CVN-69) and the navy's first landing craft helicopter-assault ship (LHA).The last project with which she was affiliated was the Seawolf-class submarine (SSN-21).
Raye retired in 1990.In 2006,after fifty years spent in the metropolitan Washington DC area,she returned to Arkansas,living in west little rock,where she remained active with lifequest,The Links inc., the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority,and the American Contract Bridge League.She also mentored inmates through a community re-entry program through the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) as well as students at the Estem Elementary Public Charter School in Little Rock.In 2017,with the movie Hidden Figures having awakened an awareness of the previously unacknowledged contributions of African American engineers and mathematicians in the American defense and space industries,Raye was featured on the T.V. show Good Morning America and dubbed a "real life hidden figure." Rayed died of congestive heart failure.

"Moses-Rodgers"[April 27,1845-October 22,1900]

He built He was an African American miner and mining engineer of California.He was born a slave in Kentucky and came to California in 1849.Moses became prominent during the Gold Rush as a successful mining engineer,making a lucrative career excavating gold in mines he owned Hornitos in Mariposa County.Many sought his intelligence and professional  opinion of metals.He quickly became known as an expert in the state,and investors went to him for advice regarding mining claims.He became so expert  at it that  in post-Civil War  he was appointed superintendent of several  mines (Mount Gaines Mine & Washington Mine). The stockholders of these mines were both Africa American & whites.

Moses best known mine,for which he was a stock-holding superintendent ,was the Washington Mine,which he established in 1869.It was a successful operation,which employed Chinese workers.There were years when this mine took over half a million dollars in gold.The Washington mine,in the mid-1880s,was one of the area's largest,employing over 30 men.Five main shafts and over 10,000 feet of underground workings brought the gold/silver ore to the surface where it was hand sorted and then sent by wagon to the mine's concentration mill.A merced newspaper said  of  Moses "there is no better mining man in the "State."

The house that he built in 1898 at 921 South San Joaquin St.,Stockton,California, is registered at the National Register of Historic Places.He built for his wife Sarah,their five daughters,to all of whom he gave as good an education California afforded.One daughter Vivian Rodgers graduated from the University of California,Berkeley,with the class of 1909 majoring in Science and letters.
Moses Rodgers Virtual Academy,302 W. Weber Avenue,Stockton, is a home based public charter school program offered by Stockton Unified School District to students in grades K-12 throughout California's San Joaquin county.

"Andre-Pinto-Reboucas" (January 13,1838-April 9,1898)

Was a Brazillian military engineer,abolitionist and inventor,son of Antonio Pereira

Reboucas (1798-1880) and Carolina Pinto Reboucas.Lawyer,member,of Parliament (representing the Brazillan state of Bahia) and advise to Pedro II f Brazil,his daddy was the son of a manumitted slave and Portugese tainlor.His brothers Antonio Pereira Reboucas Filho & Jose Reboucas were also engineers.


Andre became famous in Rio de Janeiro,at the time capital of the Empire of Brazil,solving the trouble of water supply,bringing it from fountain-heads outside the town.


Serving as military engineer during the Paraguayan War in Paraguay,Andre developed a torpedo,which was used successfully.


Alongside Macado de Assis and Olavo Bilac,Andre was a very important middle class representative with African descent,he also was one of the most important voices for the abolition of slavery in Brazil.
 
He encouraged the career of  Antonio Carlos Gomes,author of  the opera O Guarani.


In the 1880's,Andre began to participate actively in the abolitionist cause,he helped create the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society,alongside Joaquim Nabuco,Jose do Patrocino and others.


After the Republician coup dEtat Andre went exile with Pedro II Europe.For two years he stayed exiled in Lisboa,as a correspondent for The Times of  London.


In 1892,facing financial problems,Andre went to Launda,and after that,Funchai,in Maderia.In 1898 his body was found at the shoreline.He supposedly  committed suicide.

"Frederick-Mcdonald-Massiah" (December 12,1886-July 7,1975)

Born in Bardados,he immigrated to the United States in 1909,where he

started as a laborer,working during the day and studying architecture at night.He studied at the Pennsylvania School of the Fine Arts and earned a degree in Civic Engineering at what is now Drexel University.By the early 1920s,he established his own business and was among the first successful African American contracting engineers in the country.He established a construction business during a time when it was almost impossible for African Americans to obtain financing,insurance,and acceptance in trade unions.

His methods of using reinforcements in concrete pre-dated the existence of widespread building codes in the 1920s.By using a combination of conconcrete and steel acting as a unit,rebar in concrete.High tensile qualities of steel allow concrete to stretch and twist with greater yield strength than concrete that is not reinforced,while  helping prevent cracks in the structures from changes of temperature and shrinkage.

His many accomplishments included the elliptical dome of the Ascension of Our Lord Church (the first structure of its kind in the U.S.),the William  Donner X-Ray laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania,and the Sewage Disposal Plant in Trenton,New Jersey.

Frederick was awarded the Harmon Foundation for Engineering in recognition of the outstanding beam and girder work.During a 45-year span of activity stretching into the late 1960s,Frederick was responsible for building many structures.

"Abram-Hannibal" (1697?-1781)

He was born in the Eritream highland,north of the Mareb River in a town called Logon"the son of the reigning African prince.At the age of eight he was captured and taken to Turkey,where he was once again kipnapped and taken to Moscow.Abram was given to to the Czar,Peter the Great,who grew fond of him because of his intelligence.For ten years Abram went everywhere with Perer,who gave him the name Abram (after the famous African general ) Petrovich (after himself) Hanibal.


He completed his early schooling and was found to have a natural gift for mathematics and engineering.With his skill,he helped to assemble the naval port and fortress town of  Kronstadt,which played an important role in the history of Russia.The Czar sent Abram to Paris to study engineering,and he stayed in France for six years.During that time,he joined the French Army as a "commander," taking part in the Spanish war of the Czar's Guard as an engineer lieutenant.Peter died in 1725 and immediately was banished to Siberia.There he built the fortress of Selenchinsk,escaping only to be recaptured and returned to exile.


In 1741,a new ruler came to power and Abram was restored to honor in the army,quickly rising to the rank of general.With his skill and intelligence,Abram made many contributions to Russia: He secured the boundary line between Russia and Sweden,and was appointed to a post to inspect the forts of Russia.Abram greatest achievement were his selection as a commander of the city of  Reval,and his promotion to a major in the Tomesk Stronghold.After retiring from service in 1733,with the accession of Peter the Great's daughter Empress Elizabeth,he returned to the Court in 1741.She awarded him military promotions,enineering projects and an estate near St.Petersburg where he retired in 1762.


Abram illegally married Christina Regina Von Shoberg,the daughter of a German officer.They had 11 children and in 1799,their granddaughter Nadezhda gave birth to Alexander Pushkin,the father of  modern Russian literature and that country's greatest poet.

"Elijah J.McCoy" {May 2,1844-October 10,1929}

He was born in Colchester,Ontario Canada.His parents were George & Emillia McCoy,former slaves from Kentucky who escaped through the Underground Railroad.George joined the Canadian Army,fighting in the Rebel War and then raised his family as free Canadian citizens on  A 160 acre homestead.
At an early age he showed a mechanical interest,often taking items apart and putting them back together again.Recognizing his abilities,George & Emilla saved enough money to him to Edinburgh,Scotland,where he could study mechanical engineering.After finishing his studies as a "master mechanic and engineer"Elijah returned to the United States which had been just seen the end of the Civil War-and the emergence of the "Emancipation Proclamation."Elijah moved to Ypsilanti,Michigan he was unable to find work as an engineer.Elijah was forced to take on a position as a fireman/oilman on the Michigan Central Railroad.As a fireman,he was responsible for shoveling coal onto fires which would help to produce steam that powered the locomotive.As an oilman,Elijah was responsible for ensuring that the train was well lubricated.After a few miles,the train would be forced to to stop and he would have to walk alongside the training applying oil to the axles and bearings.In an effort to improve efficiency and eliminate the frequent stopping necessary for lubrication of the train,Elijah set out to create a method of automating the task.In 1872 he developed a "lubricating cup"that could automatically drip oil when and where needed.He received a patent for the device later that year.The "lubricating cup"met with enormous success and orders for it came in from railroad companies all over the country.Other inventors attempted to sell their own versions of the device most companies wanted the authentic device,requesting "the Real McCoy.In 1868,Elijah married Ann Elizabeth Stewart she,passed away just four years later.He married for the second time in 1873 to Mary Eleanor Delaney.They moved to Detroit where Elijah found work.Mary helped found the Phillis Wheatley Home for aged Colored Men in 1898.He remained interested in continuing to perfect his invention to create more.Elijah sold some percentages of rights to his patent to finance building a workshop.He made continued improvements to the 'lubricating cup.' The patent application described it as a device which 'provides for the continuous flow of oil on the gears

"Moses-Logan Rodgers"{April 27,1845-October 22,1900}

Was born a slave in Kentucky and came to California in 1849.He became prominent during the Gold Rush as a successful mining engineer,making a lucrative career excavating gold mines he owned in Hornitos in Mariposa County.Many sought his intelligence and professor opinion of metals.He quickly became known as as an expert in the state,and investors went to him
for advice regarding mining claims.He became such an expert at it that in post-Civil War he was appointed superintendent of several mines(Mount Gaines Mine & Washington Mine).The stockholders of these mines were both African American & whites.
Moses best known mine,for which he was a stock-holding supertendent,was the Washington Mine,which he established in 1869.It was a successful operation,which employed Chinese workers.There were years when this mine took out over a half million dollar in gold.The Washington Mine,in the mid-1880s,was one of the area's largest,employing over 30 men.Five main shafts and over 10,000 feet underground workings brought the gold/silver ore to the surface where it was hand sorted and then sent by wagon to the mine's concentration mill.A merced newspaper said of Moses "there is no better mining man in the state."
The house which he built in 1898 at 921 South San Joaquin St.,Stockton,California,is registered at The National Register of Historic Places.He built for his wife Sarah and their five daughters,to all whom he gave a good education California afforded.One daughter Vivian Rodgers graduated from the University of California,of Berkeley with the class of 1909 majoring in Science & Letters.

"Wesley Anthony Brown" {April 3,1927-May 22,2012}

Wesley was born in Baltimore Maryland and grew up in Washington

DC,where his daddy delivered groceries and his mama worked in a dry cleaning shop.His great-grandparents were slaves.He was a 1944 Dunbar High School graduate and served in the Army reserves as a teenager.He grew up in a row house on Q Street near Logan Circle.Wesley was the first African American graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis and served 20 years in the Navy as a civic engineer.He helped design a water treatment facility in Cuba,roads across Liberia,and an air station in the Philppines and nuclear plant in Antarcitica.Regarding Annapolis,since is founding in 1845.Five other African American midshipmen had come before him;none had graduated.Most were force to resign from the academy because of a hostile racial climate.According to the 2005 book "Breaking the color Barrier"by naval historian Robert J.Schneller Jr.,Commander Brown was the victim of a hazing campaign orchestrated by Southern upperclassmen who sought his dismissal.Upon enrollment in 1945,Wesley endured racial epithets and ostracism from his classmates.A group of upperclassmen gave him so many demerits during his first term mostly for fabricated infracations or petty offenses that he was threatened with expulsion.Commander Brown once said in a later interview "I get asked that question often,Did you ever think about quitting?" "And i say "Every Single Day.' "When i came to the academy i learned that there were all kinds of prejudices against Jews,Catholics,even the Irish,"Commander Brown said in 2005 interview wth the Baltimore Sun.And i looked around and thought that these prejudices were instilled in them by their families,and they could not be blamed for feeling they did."Eventually,sympathetic upperclassmen came to his aide and helped guide Commander Brown's development as a future naval officer.Among them was his teammate,A Georgia peanut farmer's son named Jimmy Carter.On June,1949 Commander Brown was commissioned as a Navy officer,graduating 370th out of his class nearly 800.Many newspapers covered his graduation as a landmark achievement in military history.Commander Brown. saw it differently.I feel it is unfortunate the American people had not mature enough to accept an individual on the basis of his ability and not regard a person as an oddity because of his color," he told the New York times in 1949."My class standing shows that around here I am an average "Joe."Wesley retired from the Navy in 1969.In 2008,the Naval Academy dedicated its $50 million indoor track facility in Comander Brown honor.

"Norbert Rillieux" [March 17,1806-October 8,1894]

Was born into a prominent Creole family in New Orleans Louisiana.He was the son of Vincent Rillieux,a white plantation owner,engineer and inventor,and his place,Constance Vivant,a free person of color.Norbert was the oldest of seven children.His siblings were:Barthelemy,Edmond,MarieEugenie,Louis,Marie Elosie,& Cecile Virginie.His aunt on his father's side,Marie Celeste Rillieux ,was the grandmother of painter Edgar Degas.His aunt on his mama side,Eulalie Vivant,was the mama of Bernard Soulie,one of the wealthiest Gen de Couleur Libre in Louisiana.As a Creole Norbert had access to education and privileges not available to lower-status free African Americans or slaves.Baptized Roman Catholic,he received his early education in private Catholic schools in Louisiana before traveling to Paris,France,in the early 1820s attend a famous Parisian engineering school,the Ecole Centrale.While there,Norbert studied physics,mechanics,and engineering.He became an expert in steam engines and published several papers about the use of steam t work devices.These early explorations became the foundations of the technology Norbert would later implement in his evaporator.At 24,he became the youngest teacher at Ecole Centrale,instructing  in applied mechanics.He was also a competent blacksmith,an expert machinist and fluent in French.He published a series of papers related to "the Functions and Economic implicationsof the Steam Engine." In 1834,Norbert returned home to his daddy's plantation which was now also being used to process and refine sugar.Sugarcane had become the dominant crop within Louisiana,the sugar refining process employed at that time was extremely dangerous and very inefficient.Known as the "Jamaica Train,"the process called for sugarcane to be boiled in huge open kettles and then strained to allow the juice to be separated from the cane.The juice was then evaporated by boiling it at extreme temperatures,resulting in granules being left over in the form of sugar.The danger stemmed from the fact that workers were forced to transport the boiling juice from one kettle to another,chancing the possibility of suffering severe burns.It was also a very costly process considering the large amount of fuel needed to heat the various kettles.During the 1830s,France witnessed the introduction of the steam-operated single pan vacuum.The vacuum pan was enclosed in an area with the air removed (this was necessary because liquids can boil at a lower temperature in the absence of air than with air present,costing less).Norbert decided to improve greatly on this efficiency a second and later a third,pan with each getting heating by its predecessor.By 1833,Norbert was approached by a New Orleans sugar manufacturer named Edmund Forstall.Because numerous sugar producers had received complaints about product quality,Edmund persuaded Norbert to become the Chief Engineer of the Louisiana Sugar Refinery.Unfortunately,almost soon as Norbert took the job an intense feud developed between Edmund and his daddy,Vincent Rillieux.Out of loyalty to his daddy,Norbert left his position with the company.A few years later,Norbert was hired by Theodore Packwood to improve his Myrtle Grove Plantation refinery.In doing so he employed his triple evaporation pan system which he patented in 1843.It was an enormous success and revolutionized the sugar refining industry improving efficiency,quality and safety.In the 1850s,New Orleans was suffering from and outbreak of Yellow Fever,caused by disease-carrying mosquitoes.Norbert devised an elaborate plan for eliminating the outbreak by draining the swamplands  surrounding the city and improving the existing sewer system,removing the breeding for the insects and therefore the ability for them to pass on the disease.Unfortunately,Edmund Norbert's former employer was a number of the state legislature and spoke out against the plan.Edmund was able to turn sentiment against Norbert and the plan was rejected.Disgusted with the racism prevalent in the south as well as the frustration of local politics Norbert eventually left New Orleans and moved back to France (ironically,after a number of years which time the Yellow Fever continued to devastate New Orleans,the state legislature was forced to implement an almost identical plan introduced by white engineers.After returning to France,Norbert spent much of his time creating new inventions and defending his patents as well as traveling abroad.

"David-Crosthwait"(May 27,1898-May 1976)

Was an  African American mechanical electrical engineer,inventor,and writer.He was born in the city of Nashville Tennessee.David grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.Once he completed high school he received a Bachelor of Science (1913) and a Masters of Engineering (1920) from Purdue University.He was granted an honorary doctoral degree in 1975.He died one year later.David expertise was on air ventilation,central air conditioning,and heat transfer.With knowledge David created many different heating systems,refrigeration methods,temperature regulating devices,an vacuum pumps.For these inventions he holds 39 U.S. patents,as well as 80 international patents.In the 1920s,& 1930s,David invented a vacuum pump,a boiler,and a thermostat control,all for more effective heating systems for larger buildings.Some of his greatest accomplishments were for creating the heating systems for the Rockefeller Center and New York's Radio City Music Hall.David later wrote an instruction manual and guides for heating and cooling with water and guides,standards,and codes that dealt with heating,air conditioning,and ventilation.After retiring in 1971,David began to teach a course on steam heating theory and control systems at Purdue.

"Frank Mann"{November 22,1908-November 30,1992}

His parents wanted him to be a become a schoolteacher,from

 

childhood,had had a natural ability to fix things.At age 11,he had his own mechanic shop.As a teenager,he worked alongside airplane mechanics,repairing engines.By the age of 20,he had designed and built several of his own Model-T cars.It was unheard of in the 1920s for An African American man to have anything to do with cars,trains,or airplanes.His life-long friend Howard Hughes was instrumental in opening doors for Frank's exceptional talents.Frank attended the University of Minnesota & UCLA where he earned a mechanical engineering degree.Wold War II equipment that revolutionized military weaponry would not exist if not for his involvement.Sadly,few Americans are aware of Frank.He was the first African American commercial pilot for American Airways.Frank was also a distinguished military officer.In 1935,following Italy's invasion of Ethiopia,Frank flew reconnaissance missions for the Ethiopian army.He served in the World War II Army Air Corps and was the primary civilian instructor of the famous Tuskegee airmen in 1941.Frank left there after a rift with the U.S.government,which didn't want the Squadron,an all African-American unit,flying the same high caliber of airplanes as their white counterparts. An angry Frank had refused to have his men fly old "World War I biplanes crates," because his airmen had proven themselves equals.They were being giving inferior equipment and materials,their squadron never lost a plane,bomber,or pilot,and they were nicknamed the "Red Tails." After the war,Frank was instrunmental in designing the first Buick LeSabre and the first communications satellite launched for commercial use.

"Meredith Charles Gourdine"(November 26,1929-November 20,1998)

A physicist and engineer,was an inventor with dozens of patents with gas dispersion and conversion.He was also a star athlete who won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki Finland.He was born in Newark,New Jersey,and raised in Brooklyn,New York.His father,  a laborer,advised him to stay in school so he would have better opportunities in life.After graduation from Brooklyn Tech High School,he turned down an athletic scholarship (for swimming)from the University of Michigan and chose to attend Cornell University.At Cornell,he earned the nickname "Flash"as an intercollegiate track champion,competing,in sprints,low hurdles,and long jumps.He received a B.S. in engineering from Cornell in 1952,the same year he won his Olympic medal.Meredith served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and did graduate work engineering at the California Institute of Technology,supported by a Guggenheim fellowship.He worked as a senior research scientists the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory for two years and was awarded his doctorate in 1960.In 1964,after working in private industry,Meredith founded his own research and developed firm Gourdine Systems,in Livingston New Jersey.In 1973,he founded another company,Energy Innovations,in Houston,Texas.Energy Innovations produced direct energy conversion devices from his patented designs.The devices converted low grade coal to high-voltage electrical energy.A pioneer in the field of electrogas dynamics,he invented an engineering technique known as incineraid to disperse smoke from buildings;it was later adapted to disperse fog from airports.Another of his inventions,Focus Flow Heat Sink,was used to cool computer chips.Meredith married twice.He is survived by his wife Carolina Bailing;one son,Meredith Jr.,daughters (rom a previous marriage)Teri,Traci,and Toni,at the time of his death they were five grandchildren.

"Cornelius Robinson Coffey"(6-9-1903-March 2,1994)

Was born in Newport,Arkansas just months before the Wright brothers' initial flight.His family

moved to Omaha,Nebraska when he was a teenager.His father a widower with three children,worked for the railroad.Cornelius became "hooked" on aviation after he took his first airplane ride when he was 13.Cornelius went to Chicago to work in 1919,supporting himself himself by repairing cars and motorcycles.In 1925 he enrolled in a trade school on the South Side of Chicago to study automobile mechanics.John Robinson a friend of Cornelius shared a similar desire to fly.Commerical flying schools would not accept them because of their race,but an African America businessman lent the two a vacant storefront where they built a one-seat airplane powdered by a motorcycle engine.They then taught themselves to fly.Emil Mack employed the two as auto mechanics.He was a white man who owned a Chevrolet dealership in Elmwood Park Illinois,when they applied and were accepted at the Curtiss Wright School of Aviation in Chicago for an aviation mechanics-training course.Upon reporting to the school for the start of classes,Cornelius and John were refused admittance when it was discovered they were African American.The school attempted to reimburse the two for their tuition,Emil,threatened to sue the school if they were not allowed to enter.The school backed down and allowed Cornelius and John to attend.Two years later they graduated at the top of their class.Cornelius was the first African American to hold both a pilot's license and mechanic's license in America.He obtained his commercial license on August 15,1938 (#36609) in the late 1930s,Cornelius established the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport,located South of Chicago at 87th Street and Harlem Avenue.From 1938 to 1945 more than 1,5000 African American students went through the school,including many who would later become Tuskegee Airmen.After World War II,Cornelius served as an instructor at the Lewis School of Aeronautics in Lockport,and then at Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago,training school some of the first African Americans to be hired as mechanics by commercial airlines.Cornelius left teaching in 1969,he was no means retired.His experience and skills kept him employed in Illinois as A&P aircraft inspector (AI)for decades.Cornelius received the Charles Taylor Mechanic Award and a foundation was established in his name at American Airlines maintence school in Chicago.His last application for renewal of his certification as an AI in 1993 was one year before his death at 91.Cornelius was a recipient of the "Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award" from the Federal Aviation Administration and was the first African American to have an aerial navigation intersection named after them by the FAA (the "Coffey Fix," a viewpoint located on the VICTOR 7 airway over Lake Calumet,provides electronic course guidance to Chicago Midway Airport Runway 31 Left).He also design a carburetor heater that prevented icing and allowed airplanes to fly in all kinds of weather.Devices similar to his are still in use today.

"Howard St.Claire Jones,Jr.[8-18-1921]

One of three children He grew up in Richmond, Virginia He stayed in his hometown to go to Virginia Union University,where he graduated in 1943 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics.After college,he moved to Washington,D.C. to be a government engineer.He came to Howard University's government training program as a junior engineer and took a job at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS).While in the Army,Howard taught basic mechanical engineering courses to commission and noncommission officers.He returned to the NBS in 1946 as an electronic physicist.The NBS became the Harry Diamond Laboratory.As an electronic engineer,this was the premier research lab during much his 37-year career there.He was chief of the lab's microwave research and development branch developing inventions.In 1972,he was named inventor of the Year and has received numeroushonors for his achievements.Howard received his master's degree in electronic engineering Bucknell University and honrary doctorates from Virginia Union and Trinity College.He was also named a fellow in several professional associations,including Institute of Electricial and Electronic Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.After retiring in 1980,he was consultant,lectured at universities and colleges across the country encuraging others,particularly minority students,to pursue careers in engineering.Howard lived in Washington,D.C. with his wife Evelyn for many years.

"Hebert Macauley"{November 14,1864-May 7,1946}

Early African Independence advocate,was born in Lagos,Nigeria.His father was the founder and first principal of the Church Missionary Society Grammar School in Largos,and his mother was a daughter of the Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther,the first registered student of West Africa's oldest University,Fourah Bay College.Herbert started his tertiary education at Fourah Bay College,which the British established in 1827 to train talented English speaking West Africans to serve the colonial government in various administrative positions.In 1890,obtained a scholarship to study in Plymouth England,England where he qualified as a land surveyor and a civil engineer.Upon his graduation in 1893,he returned to Nigeria where the colonial government appointment him surveyor of crown lands for the colony of Lagos.In1898,he resigned from his position and established a private civil engineering company in Lagos,Nigeria.During the 1920s,a period in Nigerian history associated with the beginning of political agitation for self-rule,Herbert became a leading figure in the first generation of Nigerian Nationalists.In 1921,he passionately led protests in Lagos over water rates,land issues,and mishandling of the railroad finances.In 1922,he helped a Lagos chief in his legal battle with the colonial government who had forcefully taken some of of his land for government purposes.The highest court in England heard the case and returned the land to the chief.This victory inspired Herbert to establish in 1923 Nigeria's first political party,the Nigerian National Democratic Party whose members were the first to sit in the Legislative Council.The Nigerian National Democratic Party dominated Nigerian politics throughout the 1920s until the 1930s.In 1934,the NNDP lost its dominant position to newly organized student groups such as the Nigerian Youth Movement to form the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons,NCNC.The NCNC led by Herbert was not a political party,it was a nationalist organization designed to advocate for an independent Nigeria.He did not live to see the attainment of independence in 1960.He died in Lagos.

"Archie Alphonse Alexander"(May 14,1888-January 4,1958)

Was an African-American mathematician and engineer and an early African-American graduate of the University of Iowa and he was the first to graduate from the University of Iowa's College of Engineering.He was also a governor of the U.S.Virgin Islands.Archie was born in Ottawa,Iowa,the son of Price and Mary Alexander.When the family moved to a farm outside Des Moines,Price became head custodian at the Des Moines National Bank,which at that time was a prestigious job for a black man.Attending,Oak Park Grammar School,Oak Park High School and Highland Park College for one year,Archie began his engineering education at the State University of Iowa(The University of Iowa).He initially went to Des Moines College and attempted to join the white-only American football team there,he was declined.As a result,he played tackle from 1910 to 1912.During the summer he worked as a draftsman for Marsh Engineers, a Des Moines bridge-designing firm and in 1912,he received a bachelor of science degree becoming The University of Iowa's first black football player and engineer.After graduation,Archie worked as a foreman for a bridge-building company before going into business for himself in 1917.Continuing his education at the University of London,Archie studied bridge design in and obtained a degree in civil engineering in 1925  from the State University of Iowa.In 1929,he formed Alexander & Repass where he would work until his death.They were responsible for the construction of many roads and bridges,including the Whitehurst Freeway,the Tidal Basin Bridge,and an extension to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.With his business partner,George Higbee,Archie designed the Tuskegee Airfield and the Iowa State University heating and cooling system.In 1934,Archie was appointed as one of a 12-member commission to investigate the social  and economic conditions in Haiti.In 1946,he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering by Howard University.In 1954,Archie was appointed Governor of the United States Virgin Islands Dwight D. Eisenhower.He was the first Republican governor there since the establishment of the civil government.His tenure at the post short and controversial.In 1955,he was highly criticized for favoring old business partners in contracts for road building on St.Thomas.The U.S.House of Representatives launched a probe and he subsequently resigned on August 18,1955,ostensibly for health reasons.He died in 1958,in Iowa.He married Audra Linzy of Denver,Colorado in 1913.Their Des Moines home was designed and built by Archie.They had a son,Archie Alphonso,Jr.Who died in childhood.He left a trust fund for his wife,and upon her death in 1973 the remaining $315,000 was divided equally for engineering scholarships at the University of Iowa,Tuskegee Institute,and Howard University.