Reflections in Black

Born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio in 1931, Toni Morrison was educated at Howard and Cornell Universities. Morrison had a career as an educator at Howard, Yale and Princeton Universities, but her writing career is legendary. Her novel Sula was nominated for the National Book Award and Beloved would become a film starring Oprah Winfrey. Morrison also won the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes in literature. This is her story.

W. Harold Flowers was born in Stamps, Arkansas in 1911. While on a trip with his father to Little Rock in 1927, he witnessed the lynching of John Carter, an incident that propelled Flowers into a life of fighting for civil rights, racial justice and educational equality. He was counsel to Silas Hunt, who was known for integrating the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1948, and served as president of both the Arkansas branch of the NAACP and later the African-American National Bar Association. This is his story.

Born in Alabama in October 1929, Autherine Lucy Foster earned her bachelor's degree in English from Miles College in Fairfield in 1952 and, in 1956, became the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. Lucy Foster was expelled weeks later after riots broke out when residents learned of her admission but eventually returned to graduate with a master's degree in 1992. She received an honorary doctorate from the school in May 2019. This is her story.

Ermias Joseph Asghedom, known professionally as Nipsey Hussle, was a community activist, rapper and entrepreneur. On March 31, 2019, he was shot and killed outside his store, Marathon Clothing, in South Los Angeles. This week's Reflections in Black examines Nipsey Hussle's life.

June Jordan was born July 9, 1936 to Jamaican immigrants. She dove into the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and took part in the Freedom Rides. She was also part of the production team for the 1963 documentary The Cool World. She later wrote her first book of poetry in 1969, and in 1970 she served as editor on a text of African American poetry from children. This is her story.