Lena Baker
Lena Baker was the first and only woman to be executed in Georgia’s electric chair. She was executed in 1945, after she was convicted of murdering a man who had imprisoned her.
Tag Archives: African Descent
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Dottie Peoples
Gospel singer and songwriter Dottie Peoples is one of Georgia’s most renowned figures in Christian music. Hailed as the “Songbird of the South” by the late radio host Esmond J. Patterson, Peoples has been compared to gospel and rhythm-and-blues artists Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle.
Edith McGuire
Edith McGuire became the top sprinter of the 1960s, winning six Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. McGuire was also the only American woman ever to hold three AAU titles at different times, in the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump.
Annie L McPheeters
Annie L. McPheeters was one of the first African American professional librarians in the Atlanta Public Library and an influential proponent of African American culture and history.
Mattiwilda Dobbs
The first African American to sing at La Scala in Milan, Italy, and the first African-American woman to be offered a long-term contract by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.
Emma Amos
An artist accomplished in several media, Emma Amos explored difficult issues concerning politics, gender, race, and cultural history in her work. Her highly expressive visual art combined printmaking, painting, and textiles with photography and collage. She was also known as a teacher, curator, writer, and activist.
Beverly Buchanan
Beverly Buchanan found her calling as an artist after pursuing a career in health education and realizing that she wanted to express the images, stories, and architecture of her African American childhood.
Shay Youngblood
Shay Youngblood was a distinguished Georgia writer who followed Black roots and routes. Her novels, short stories, and plays explore themes of family and community, as well as topics such as history, ancestry, and sexual identity.
Babbie Mason
Babbie Mason is an African American contemporary Christian singer-songwriter and author. Her song “All Rise” was one of the most-recorded contemporary Christian songs of the 1990s.
Selena Sloan Butler
Selena Sloan Butler organized the first National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (NCCPT) and cofounded the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, which is now a part of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA).