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Dr. Debi Thomas

Born on March 25, 1967, in Poughkeepsie, New York, Dr. Debi Thomas had two goals for herself from a young age: she wanted to be a doctor and an Olympic figure skater. She would eventually achieve both of her dreams.

Thomas first stepped into the skating rink at the age of five, and by the time she was nine, she was taking formal lessons and winning competitions. At age ten, Thomas signed on with coach Alex McGowan, who guided her career as she trained for the Olympics. Thomas entered the figure skating scene in 1986 when she won the National and World Figure Skating Championships during her freshman year at Stanford University. She was the first African American to win the women's title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and then went on to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada.

It was during these Olympics that she became the first African American to win a medal in the Winter Olympic Games. The women’s figure skating event became known as “The Battle of the Carmens" because both Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas independently elected to skate to the music of Bizet's opera Carmen in their respective extended programs. Debi became the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, finishing behind Canada's Elizabeth Manley and East Germany's Katarina Witt. That same year, Thomas went on to win the U.S. Championships again.

Four years after the 1988 Olympics, Debi left professional skating to attend medical school. She graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1997 and decided to continue her medical training as an orthopedic surgeon. In 2010, she opened her own practice in Virginia to specialize in knee and hip replacements. Years later, she went through several hardships in her personal life but has recently returned to the ice at age 55 to start skating again and become a part of the World Figure and Fancy Skating movement.

Citations:
–Adirondack Daily Enterprise. (2023, February 23). Debi Thomas makes comeback in Lake placid. News, Sports, Jobs - Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Retrieved from https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/sports/local-sports/2023/02/debi-thomas-makes-comeback-in-lake-placid/
–Biography.com Editors. (2021, May 17). Debi Thomas Biography. Biography.com. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.biography.com/athletes/debi-thomas
–Black History in America. (n.d.). Dr. Debi Thomas. Debi Thomas: African American skater. Retrieved from https://www.myblackhistory.net/Debbie_Thompson.htm

Roberta Flack

Renowned singer, musician, and humanitarian Roberta Flack was the daughter of a church organist. Flack was classically trained on the piano from an early age and received a music scholarship at age fifteen to attend Howard University. She was later discovered singing and playing jazz at a DC nightclub by jazz musician Les McCann and was immediately signed to Atlantic Records. McCann later commented on Flack: "Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I've ever known. I laughed, cried, and screamed for more... she alone had the voice."

In 1969, Flack teamed up with producer Joel Dorn to make First Take, the debut effort in a recording career that would bring her 18 Billboard-charting songs, four Grammy awards, and 13 nominations. Covering many genres of music, from pop to soul to folk to jazz, Flack topped the Billboard charts with numerous Number 1 singles throughout the 70s and 80s, including two famous duets with Donny Hathaway: Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. Her two earliest hits, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly with His Song, earned her the Grammy for Record of the Year two years in a row in 1973 and 1974, making her the first singer in history to receive that honor.

Flack has inspired countless artists with her musical brilliance and honesty and has made room in her repertoire for generations of singer-songwriters to explore new genres and push the music industry forward. She worked with black composers like Eugene McDaniels to invent a unique style of R&B known as “quiet storm,” a genre built around musical all-inclusiveness; years later, it is now a prime element in 21st-century pop music.  

Flack is also a well-known mentor and active humanitarian. She founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, which provides free music education to underprivileged students. In 2010, she founded The Roberta Flack Foundation, which aims to support animal welfare and music education.

Roberta later received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for her many contributions to the music world and her unparalleled ability to tell a story through her own music.

Citations:
–Powers, Ann (February 10, 2020). "Why Is Roberta Flack's Influence On Pop So Undervalued?". NPR. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021.
–Robert Flack profile at". Biography.com. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014.
–"Roberta Flack Biography". Robertaflack.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2013.

Reverend Henry Mcneal Turner

Turner was born in 1834 to free black parents and, from a young age, had an insatiable craving for knowledge. By age fifteen, he was employed by a South Carolina law firm to do janitorial tasks, but they soon recognized his high intelligence and, against great odds, helped him earn a well-rounded education. Turner was attracted to the Church, and at the age of 19, received his preacher’s license from the Methodist Church South. He later became a minister, organizer, and missionary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia, eventually rising to the rank of bishop in 1880 and devoting his life’s work to his calling.

At the start of the Civil War, Reverend Turner had already become a national figure and was appointed by President Lincoln as the first African American chaplain in the history of the United States Army in 1863. After the Civil War, he became active in Reconstruction-era politics and was elected a delegate to the Georgia State Constitutional Convention and then to the Georgia State Legislator in 1868. A year later, he was appointed by the Republican administration as postmaster of Macon, Georgia.

In the late 1870s, Turner became increasingly disillusioned with the inability of African Americans to achieve social justice in the United States. By 1880 he had become a leading advocate of emigration back to Africa; he founded two newspapers promoting emigration and eventually helped organize the International Migration Society to promote the return of African Americans to Africa. He remained devoted to his church work and emigrations efforts until his death in 1915.

Citations:
–Angell, S. W. (2002). Henry McNeal Turner. In New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved Aug 14, 2020, from https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/henry-mcneal-turner-1834-1915/
–Spigner, C. (2007, January 17). Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/turner-henry-mcneal-1834-1915