Black History Month continues with Franklin lobby exhibit
February 15, 2011 •
Have you seen the new lobby display near the Franklin Building elevators? In recognition of Black History Month, UCOP’s Black Staff/Faculty Organization (BSFO) has installed a display celebrating eight African American inventors.
Included in the display are stories about physicist George Alcorn, ophthalmologist Patricia Bath, chemical engineer Thomas Mensah, NASA scientist Valerie Thomas and entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, who was born in Louisiana to former slaves and built an empire developing hair products for black women.
Check the Franklin lobby this week for additional posters honoring African American California Firsts, men and women who graduated from or have a direct affiliation with the University of California. The displays were researched and produced by BSFO members working in several subcommittees.
Black History Month originated in 1926 as Negro History Week, the brainchild of Carter G. Woodson, a historian, Harvard scholar and son of freed slaves. Woodson’s goal was to educate the American people about the culture and achievements of African Americans.
Since 1976 Black History Month has also commemorated the events around the African Diaspora. It is celebrated each February in the United States and Canada and each October in the United Kingdom.
Click here for more achievements and inventions by African Americans.
