Those We Lost — July 8

Honoring those we lost on July 8 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

David Blackwell

Full name: David Harold Blackwell

Born April 24, 1919 — died July 8, 2010

Mathematician, statistician, professor, game theory scholar, and first Black scholar admitted to the National Academy of Sciences.

Blackwell made major contributions to statistics, probability, game theory, and decision theory. He taught at Howard University and UC Berkeley, where he became the university’s first tenured Black professor and one of the most respected mathematical minds of the 20th century.

Lydia Flood Jackson

Born June 6, 1862 — died July 8, 1963

Clubwoman, suffragist, civic leader, writer, and Black women’s rights advocate.

Jackson was part of a long tradition of Black women who used education, organizing, and civic work to push for equality. Her life stretched from the Civil War era into the modern civil rights movement, connecting Black women’s club work, suffrage, and community leadership across generations.

Sister Gertrude Morgan

Born April 7, 1900 — died July 8, 1980

Self-taught artist, preacher, musician, missionary, and New Orleans folk-art figure.

Morgan turned her faith into visual art, music, preaching, and public ministry. Her paintings, drawings, and spiritual messages made her one of the most distinctive Black self-taught artists connected to New Orleans religious and cultural life.

Judi Ann Mason

Born February 2, 1955 — died July 8, 2009

Playwright, television writer, screenwriter, producer, and Black storytelling trailblazer.

Mason became one of the youngest writers connected to network television and wrote for shows including Good Times, Sanford, and A Different World. Her plays and screen work helped carry Black family life, humor, struggle, and coming-of-age stories into American popular culture.