As part of Black History Month October 1 – 31, Engine Inclusion has put together an amazing site that showcases some of the most talent and inspiring people from history.
Please visit : https://ourhistoryissharedhistory.com
Just to name a few we have:
DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS
‘Daniel Hale Williams founded the first black-owned hospital in America, and performed the world’s first successful heart surgery. At age 20, Williams became an apprentice to a former surgeon general for Wisconsin. Williams studied medicine at Chicago Medical College.
Medical textbooks of the time said that operating on a human heart was too dangerous, and there was no precedent for opening the chest, Long-time Tribune science and medical reporter Ronald Kotulak wrote more than a century later the facts and details of that surgery, “With a scalpel, he cut a small hole in Cornish’s chest,” But the damaged sac had to be closed. With Cornish’s heart beating 130 times a minute beneath his nimble fingers, Williams closed the wound with catgut.”
Cornish lived, and Williams went on to acclaim. In 1894, Williams was appointed chief surgeon at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington D.C., which gave care to formerly enslaved blacks. Cornish lived, and Williams went on to acclaim. In 1894, Williams was appointed chief surgeon at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington D.C., which gave care to formerly enslaved blacks.
MARY JANE SEACOLE
“Mary Seacole was a nurse and businesswoman who provided sustenance and care for British soldiers at the battlefront during the Crimean War. Mary nursed many soldiers during this war and she became known as ‘Mother Seacole’ because of how great she was at caring for the injured. Many sources compare Seacole and Nightingale’s life and work, as if they were at all similar. They only met for about 5 minutes (during the Crimean War) and played very different roles in it.
The NHS Seacole Centre at Headley Court, Surrey, was named in honour of the pioneering nurse Mary Seacole, and provides specialist rehabilitation care for patients who are recovering from COVID-19 in the Surrey region. “
EARL CAMERON
Earl Cameron, was one of the first black actors to win leading roles in British screen dramas, His work ranged from 1950s British films exploring racial politics to Thunderball, Doctor Who and many other projects on stage and screen.
Cameron began his acting career on the London stage in 1941 but his breakout film debut was in ‘Pool of London’ in 1951, a film noir about a group of sailors on shore leave. Mr. Cameron ‘s role, which he co stared with Susan Shaw, was at a time when Black leading men and women were virtually nonexistent on British screens, His character developed a romance with a white woman, This in itself was a milestone as it was the first interracial relationship in British cinema. The first time the subject had been sensitively handled in a British film. Earl Cameron died in July 2020, aged 102.
MARY JACKSON
“Mary Jackson was the first African American female engineer to work at the National Aeronautics and Space. Mary Jackson, American mathematician and aerospace engineer who in 1958 became the first African American female engineer to work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space. Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology, She was honoured with a building in her name, the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building appropriately sits on ‘Hidden Figures Way,’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA’s history who contributed to this agency’s success. “
We would like to thank Engine Inclusion for putting together this awesome site.