In the magazine American Legacy, The magazine of African-American History and Culture, I find a wonderful story about " The Man in the Library".
Daniel Alexander Payne Murry is the man in the Library. Daniel Murray was an Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress, the second African American professional to work at the Library of Congress. He created the collection of books and pamphlets by black authors for the 1900 Exhibition Universal, a World Fair. Daniel also was an active and a well known figure in Washington society.
In 1898 he led an all black delegation that met with President William McKinley and wrote essays on African American issues.
In reading the bibliography on http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/murray.html, I found something very fascinating. Daniel Alexander Payne Murry was the first African-American member of the Washington Board of Trade and he testified before the House of Representative on Jim Crow laws and African Americans moving from rural to urban areas. He was twice a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
More to come from the Africana Princess.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The First African American to Compete in NASCAR
Bill Lester was the first African American to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide series in 1999, in NASCAR trucks (2002- 2006) and in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series (2006).
Bill earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984, and worked for Hewlett-Packard Company (H-P). Lester worked for HP and raced cars.
After many years with the Hewlett-Packard Company as a Project Manager, and racing cars on the weekends, Bill Lester decided to be pursue his dream of becoming a professional racer car driver. His dream came true.
Bill Lester still races cars. To review the article on Bill Lester go to http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q3/bill_lester_first_african_american_to_compete_in_nascar_nationwide_series-interview or go to Bill Lester's website http://billlester.com/in.
More to come from the Africana Princess.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)