Cordy Tindell (C.T.) Vivian

by Pat | Aug 22, 2017 | honoree

The “greatest preacher to ever live” has been a man of vision, leadership, activism IN 2007, SENATOR BARACK OBAMA spoke at historic Brown Chapel A.M.E. church in Selma, Alabama, recognizing and honoring Dr. C.T. Vivian by quoting the words of Dr. Martin L. King Jr.,...

Erskine Hawkins

by Pat | Aug 21, 2017 | honoree

Hall of Fame trumpeter, composer and bandleader scored big with musical homage to his hometown ERSKINE HAWKINS, BORN IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA on July 26, 1914, was a renowned trumpeter, big bandleader, and composer. Nicknamed the “Twentieth-Century Gabriel,” because of...

Willie Ruff

by Pat | Aug 20, 2017 | honoree

Alabama Jazz Hall of Famer has had distinguished career as performer, educator and writer DR. WILLIE RUFF, THE RECENTLY RETIRED YALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC PROFESSOR and founder of the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale, is a musician, writer and educator of wide-ranging...

Isaac White, Sr.

by Pat | Aug 2, 2017 | honoree

Humble barber teaches valuable skills, shares love and friendship ISAAC WHITE,SR. WAS BORN TO SHARECROPPERS in Wilkerson County, Mississippi, in 1919. When he arrived in Mobile, Alabama in 1942, he didn’t realize he would become a pillar in the community, but that is...

Nell Carter

by Pat | Aug 1, 2017 | honoree

Her love of music carried her to stardom on stage and screen NELL CARTER WAS BORN NELLIE RUTH HARDY in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 13, 1948, to Edna Mae and Horace Lee Hardy. Carter, the fifth of nine children, loved music and sang in church groups around...

Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson

by Pat | Jul 30, 2017 | honoree

NASA engineer is one of a select group of African American female physicists DR. SHELIA NASH-STEVENSON MADE HISTORY IN 1994 when she became the first African American female from Alabama to earn a Ph.D. degree in physics. She was among the first African Americans to...