In celebration of Black History Month, each week GumGummers will be spotlighting inspiring Black Americans throughout history through the present day who have made an impact and mark in the world.

This week we’ll be highlighting Bayard Rustin, Bryan Stevenson, Bessie Coleman, Jessie Owens, Opal Lee, and Paul R. Williams.

Read more about them below.

BAYARD RUSTIN (1912-1987) - Dr. King is usually credited for the March on Washington in August 1963. But it was Rustin who organized and strategized in the shadows. As a gay man who had controversial ties to communism, he was considered too much of a liability to be on the front lines of the movement. Nonetheless, he was considered to be one of the most brilliant minds and served his community tirelessly while pushing for more jobs and better wages.

BRYAN STEVENSON (1959 - Present) - Stevenson has been representing capital defendants and death row prisoners in the deep south since 1985. Since 1989, he has been executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private, nonprofit law organization he founded that focuses on social justice and human rights in the context of criminal justice reform in the United States. EJI litigates on behalf of condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct.

When asked recently "How do you think our current era of criminal justice and policing is a continuation of our past?" He responded in part..."Even before the Civil War, law enforcement was complicit in sustaining enslavement. It was the police who were tasked with tracking down fugitive slaves from 1850 onwards in the north. After emancipation, it was law enforcement that stepped back and allowed black communities to be terrorized and victimized. The police don’t think they did anything wrong over the past fifty or sixty years. And so, in that respect, we have created a culture that allows our police departments to see themselves as agents of control, and that culture has to shift. And this goes beyond the dynamics of race. “We have created a culture where police officers think of themselves as warriors, not guardians.”

BESSIE COLEMAN (1892-1926) - Despite being the first licensed Black pilot in the world, Coleman wasn’t recognized as a pioneer in aviation until after her death. Though history has favored Amelia Earhart or the Wright brothers, Coleman—who went to flight school in France in 1919—paved the way for a new generation of diverse fliers like the Tuskegee airmen, Blackbirds, and Flying Hobos.

JESSE OWENS (1913 - 1980) - Owens was a track-and-field athlete who set a world record in the long jump at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin—and went unrivaled for 25 years. He won four gold medals at the Olympics that year in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, along with the 100-meter relay and other events off the track. In 1976, Owens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990.

OPAL LEE (1926- Present ) She is referred to as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth." She's been working to make it a federal holiday for decades, and about 6 years ago (when she was 89), she did symbolic walks across several cities stretching from Fort Worth, TX to DC to promote the idea. She actually got to be at the ceremony when the Juneteenth federal holiday was signed into law last year, and she was recently nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Addtional Information About Opal:
https://variety.com/2021/politics/features/activist-opal-lee-juneteenth-holiday-1234998507/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/style/opal-lee-juneteenth.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opal_Lee

PAUL R WILLIAMS (1894-1980 ) Paul Revere Williams was an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. He practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, Barbara Stanwyck, and Charles Correll. He also designed many public and private buildings.

Take a look at his distinguished resume:

He won an architectural competition at age 25, and three years later opened his own office. Known as an outstanding draftsman, he perfected the skill of rendering drawings "upside down." This skill was developed because in the 1920s many of his white clients felt uncomfortable sitting directly next to a Black man. He learned to draft upside down so that he could sit across the desk from his clients who would see his drafts right-side-up.
Became the first African-American member of the American Institute of Architects
He won the AIA Award of Merit for his design of the MCA Building in Beverly Hills (now headquarters of the Paradigm Talent Agency)
Was the architect to the stars including Frank Sinatra, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lon Chaney, Sr., Lucille Ball, Julie London, Tyrone Power (two houses), Barbara Stanwyck, and others

Check back next week for more Black History Month spotlights and check out the #Voice slack channel for daily Black History Month updates and shares.

GumGum Black History Month Spotlights : Week 2