The Legacies at Washington Road

02/29/2024

02/19/2024

Henry Blair (1807 - 1860)
A farmer and a free man before the Emancipation Proclamation, Henry Blair invented two devices to increase agricultural productivity. The first was the corn planter in 1834, and the second was the cotton planter in 1836. His goal was to reduce inefficiencies from manual labor. The Mechanics Magazine published August 6, 1836, described it as “saving the labor of eight men.” Blair’s discoveries helped farmers grow more food for the masses, not just their local communities. For Feeding America, farmers are at the heart of what we do. A large percentage of the food our neighbors receive at their local food pantry is packaged right on the farm where it’s grown thanks to our partnership with the USDA. Inventions like Blair’s are what fuel the heartland.

02/19/2024

Big Mama Thornton

“Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984) was an influential African American blues singer and songwriter whose career extended from the 1940s to the early 1980s. She was called “Big Mama” for both her size and her robust, powerful voice. She is best known for her gutsy 1952 rhythm and blues recording of “Hound Dog,” later covered by Elvis Presley, and for her original song “Ball and Chain,” made famous by Janis Joplin.” - Encyclopedia of Alabama

Willie Mae Thornton
(December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984)

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02/17/2024

The Owls Club was a Black women's softball team formed in the late 1930s in Seattle. The Owls won the first women's Washington State Softball Championship in 1938, playing at Sick's Stadium which went on to become the site of Rainier Avenue Lowe's.

The team, renamed the Brown Bombers, won the Championship again in 1939. Left handed pitcher Lillian Brown struck out 12 batters on the Manette team in the Championship game at the Civic Field which went on to become the site of Memorial Stadium.

Info from The Historical Negro League Baseball Site.

02/17/2024

02/11/2024

Celebrating Black History Month - Aviator Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license. In 1922, she then became the first African American woman to stage a public flight in America.

Read more here: https://www.biography.com/history-culture/bessie-coleman

02/11/2024

Dorothy John joined our Avionics Lab in 1956 as a mathematician who specialized in analyzing computer logic for guidance systems and later developed guidance and navigation techniques for space vehicles. She graduated from Virginia State College with a degree in mathematics in 1951.

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02/11/2024

Cora Fluker

“Cora Fluker grew up on a cotton plantation near
Livingston, Alabama. From an early age she sang in the cotton fields leading a family work gang. A deeply traditional artist with a large repertoire of work songs, spirituals, blues and ballads…” - Dr. Barry Lee Pearson, The Country Blues

“Others, I don't pay them no mind. You brush them off. Because they ain't taking care of you. You taking care of yourself. And they do what they want to do and I do what I want. And as you sweep around your own door, you ain't got time to sweep around mine. It's a person made a song about "sweep around your own door." That's the best song that's ever been made in this world.” - Cora Fluker

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