Celebration: Black Excellence, Black Inventions

Hear from Black scientists, educators, creators and descendants of Black inventors in a celebration of Black innovation and a conversation about why it is important to highlight Black contributions.

This event is moderated by Dr. Carolyn Ransom-Scott, who has been distributing the Black Inventors bookmark for decades and will relaunch a new version available at the Library as part of our More Than a Month, Black History Month commemoration. 

Watch on YouTube.

 

Our Panelists: 

Dr. Frederick L. Gaines is the Chair of Ethnic Studies at the College of San Mateo. He grew up in Oklahoma in the very small town of Prague, Oklahoma where, as late as the late 70s, he witnessed his extended family living in 100-year-old housing without in-door plumbing and running water. He often would ask himself what we did to deserve this as he crossed the clear racially segregated housing barriers that separated his already small town into Black and white residential neighborhoods. 

 

Dr. James McCray, Jr. is the executive director of Tabernacle Community Development Corp., a faith based, affordable housing development corp. whose mission is to reverse the out-migration of African Americans from the City and County of San Francisco. He currently serves on the San Francsico Human Services Commission and has held posts on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board and the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission. He was senior Minister at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco from 1983 to 2008 and Chaplain of The Mentoring Men’s Movement from 2013 to 2020. He currently is an adjunct professor at Redlands University (former San Francisco Theological Seminary). Dr. McCray is a graduate of Morehouse College and the Claremont School of Theology and has received the 2018 UCSF Abundant Life Health Ministries Gloria Rhodes Brown Visionary Award, and in 2014, the San Francisco Branch of the NAACP Service Award, for faith-based, nonprofit affordable housing work in San Francisco. 

 

Sheryl Evans Davis is a changemaker who leads relationship-driven, community-centered initiatives. Named Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in 2016, Dr. Davis is a passionate advocate for equity, access and educational opportunity for all. For nearly three decades, she has made contributions as an educator and leader with expertise in community outreach and engagement, workforce development, youth development and violence prevention. Dr. Davis worked to build out an equity framework with San Francisco community stakeholders and City departments, resulting in the Office of Racial Equity. She also oversees the Equity Studies Task Force, the Blue-Ribbon Panel for Juvenile Justice Reform and the Dream Keeper Initiative, among other programs of the SFHRC. Dr. Davis is frequently requested to speak on issues of community wellness, equity and strategic change work. She holds a BA from San Francisco State University, an MPA from the University of San Francisco and an EdD from USC Rossier. 

 

Neffertice Williams is a mother of four, a student, world traveler and entrepreneur. Poised to graduate UC Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, focused on African American Studies, Sociology and Education in the Spring of 2022. She is a native of San Francisco who is passionate about community, arts and culture. As the granddaughter of the late Ruth Williams (champion and activist in Bayview Hunters Point), and the niece of Eric Williams, inventor of the short sleeve stent and disposal dental valve, Williams is no stranger to what the power of a strong legacy, determination and tenacity, and a positive open mind can accomplish. 

 

Garrett A Morgan IV was born in Cleveland Ohio where he got his BA at Cleveland Institute of Art in Sculpture & Industrial design. He moved to the Bay Area in 2000 to pursue his passion for art and design and for 10-years has been the Master Mold Maker for the renowned Bay Area pottery Heath Ceramics. Whether he is improving the function of a household product or creating an original piece of artwork he is following in his great grandfathers’ footsteps by allowing curiosity to fuel his constant tinkering. Morgan has contributed to his great grandfather’s legacy every year since middle school by engaging with communities that have an interest in Black inventors and humanitarians. One of his more noteworthy engagements was the participation and induction into the inventors Hall of Fame on behalf of his great grandfather. 

 

Kelly Wright is an award-winning American journalist based in Washington, D.C. He currently co- anchors The World Tonight on BNC (Black News Channel). He is also the host and executive producer of The Kelly Wright Show. Prior to that, Wright hosted the program Taking Care of Business on TBN. Wright spent 15 years as an Anchor/Reporter at Fox News Channel, anchoring America’s News Headquarters and co- hosting Fox and Friends Weekend. Wright began his journalism career while serving in the United States Army. He has received numerous awards for his reporting, including two Emmy Awards for developing, reporting and co-producing a documentary and news series on the transatlantic slave trade. Wright is a graduate of Oral Roberts University (ORU). He received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Northwest University. Wright is also an independent recording artist and an author, featured in Chicken Soup For The Soul: Tough Times Won’t Last But Tough People Will. 

 

Captain Robert L. Monroe, Jr. is a retired 31 year-senior pilot for United Airlines. In Monroe’s final years flying, he was based in San Francisco and was pilot-in-command of United’s B777 that flies international routes to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and other International cities and countries. Prior to joining the United pilot’s ranks, Monroe was an Aeronautical Engineer and Pilot in the United Sates Air Force. He is the nephew of Dr. Christine Darden, who was NASA’s leading expert and worldwide spokesperson on Supersonic Aerodynamics and one of the “Hidden Figures” featured in the book of the same name, about the Black women mathematicians during the space race.  Between the years of 1990 and 2000, Monroe flew both in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and United Airlines. He retired at the rank of Major after twenty years of service. Monroe is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA., where he received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Aeronautical Engineering. Monroe resides in The Woodlands, TX. 

 

The Honorable Tania E. Wright is an Administrative Law Judge, and Certified Managerial Instructor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Judge Wright presides over hearings for violations by holders of alcoholic beverage licenses. Since 2016, she has served as Vice-President Judicial Council the highest adjudicatory body (appellate court) of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). She has presented on managing for Government Responsiveness; Blacks in Law Enforcement; Counseling and Treating People of Color; Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council; and AME Evangelism and Church Growth. She is a graduate of the Howard University School of Law and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In 2011, she was named woman of the year by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. Born at Greenville Air Force Base, Mississippi, to the late Adell Wright, a veteran of three foreign wars and bronze star recipient, and Alvora Lightfoot Wright, retired professional chef (DE).  

 

Chief Justice Carolyn Wright-Sanders, is an American lawyer, jurist and a former Chief Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas, serving in that position from 2009 to 2018. Wright was born in Houston, Texas to Adell Willis Wright and his wife Alvora Christin née Lightfoot. She was raised in a career military family and during her childhood lived in a variety of locations in the United States as well as Japan. After high school she attended Strayer University, earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the District of Columbia Teachers College and later received a Juris Doctor degree at Howard University School of Law, which later granted her a Distinguished Alumni Award. She credits her father with encouraging her to attend law school. 

 

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Ransom-Scott is a native of San Francisco who has been proudly invested in her City and community since the early age of ten years old during the civil rights movement. Dr. Ransom-Scott has partnered with a Smart Housing Team to help with affordable housing and served as a member of the Mayor’s Citizen’s advisory Committee (BHPS CAC), Old Skool Café Advisory Board and SF Foundation Faith Council. She mentors InterVarsity students of the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, Mills College, Stanford University and the San Francisco Community, and assists with reading programs in the Elementary Schools. She Ushered in a historical first clinical community nursing program for the UCSF Staff for Frandelja Enrichment Center. She currently serves as SF Commissioner for OCII. One of Dr. Ransom-Scott’s mottos is: “Building better lives and communities with help for today and hope for a brighter tomorrow.” She received her Bachelor's of Arts in Bible and Ministry from the Fellowship Bible Institute College of Theology and Urban Studies. She received her Doctor of Theology degree from the Pneuma Theological Seminary.