Dr. Mae C. Jemison, First African-American Woman in Space (7/1/1992)

  The first African-American woman in space, Dr. Mae C. Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama but considers Chicago, Illinois her hometown. She received a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering (and completed the requirements for a Bachelor in African and Afro-American studies) at Stanford University in 1977. Dr. Jemison also received a Doctorate degree in medicine from Cornell University in 1981. After medical school she did post graduate medical training at the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center. As an area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa, she managed the health care delivery system for U.S. Peace Corps and U.S. Embassy personnel.

  Jemison's background includes work in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and reproductive biology. She also developed and participated in research projects on the Hepatitis B vaccine and rabies. Jemison was a General Practitioner and attending graduate Engineering classes in Los Angeles when she was named an astronaut candidate in 1987. She flew her first flight as a science mission specialist on STS-47, Spacelab-J, in September 1992. She was co-investigator for the Bone Cell Research Experiment on that mission. In completing her first space flight, Jemison logged 190 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds in space. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993. In 1994, she founded and began a term as chair of The Earth We Share (TEWS), an annual international science camp where students, aged 12 to 16, work together to solve current global dilemmas. From 1995- 2002 she was a professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College.

  She is currently director of the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in developing countries. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and several corporate boards of directors on the Texas Governor's State Council for Science and Biotechnology Development. Dr. Jemison published her memoirs, Find Where DE:the Wind Goes:Moments from My Life in 2001. She currently resides in Houston, Texas.

Black Women's History Month - The Internet

The WebDiva

 Back in the mid 1990's there used to be a sista online named Sandra Hall, aka (the WebDiva) her site was the most impressive grouping of Afro-related links that had ever been seen online. Although it's long gone, you'll still find the occasional reference to her and her site, The WebDivas Infocenter, on some of the sites that are still around from the old days.

 Well I'm here to declare, that there is a new WebDiva on line. She's smart, she's good lookin',  she's talented, she's ambitious, she's creative and she's on the move.

 Her name is Jessica Ann Michell and I dare say, if there are more like her coming along, then we can look forward to an Afro Internet Renaissance.

 Ms. Mitchell is of course, as we would expect any "Renaissance Woman" to be, multi-talented. She is  a scholar, poet, playwright, entrepreneur, creator of Black social media, 
a writer and public service volunteer.

She has travelled to several African countries and the Dominican Repulic.

 Mitchell is the owner of The Black Blogger Network and Black Bloggers Connect. These two undertakings alone can potentially revolutionize Black Blogging. I have for years been blogging more or less in a vaacuum, for lack of an easy way to network with other Afrocentric blogs and now that has all changed. I hope to see some interesting collaborative projects coming out of these networks not to mention the extended outreach that the networks make possible.

 Jessica  has a Bachelor’s Degree in African World Studies, a Masters Degree in Pan African Studies and is currently studying to obtain her Masters Degree in Public Relations at Syracuse University.

Ms. Mitchell is also the CEO of Lamzu Media LLC, a consultancy firm that aids companies in directing their online reach to their appropriate target audience.

Look out world, here comes Jessica Ann Mitchell

Click here to listen to an interview on Vibe and Vegas Show

See the clips below for a glimpse of Ms. Mitchell's artictic side.

Oprah's South Africa academy graduates its first class

Oprah's gals Graduate

  Black History Month 2012 is here and there's nothing like a tale of Black History in the making to start the ball rolling. In the future the story of this first graduating class will truly be an historical event to remember. I wonder what will be the result of this memorable event in twenty or thirty years? I wonder what effect this will have on my children or grandchildren? Will this inspire others to take similar steps? Will the young women that benefited from miss Winfrey's generous act, pay it forward and make use of their education for the betterment of their country or the continent?
   I'm sure that this is just the beginning of a new era of cooperation among the peoples of Africa throughout the world, may it continue full throttle with the blessing of The Almighty.