A00043 - Mohammed Akef, Muslim Brotherhood Leader

Akef, Mohammed
Mohammed Mahdi Akef (Arabic: محمد مهدى عاكف) (b. July 12, 1928, Kafr Awad Al Seneita, Dakahliya Province, Egypt – d. September 22, 2017, Cairo, Egypt) was the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamic political movement, from 2004 until 2010. He assumed the post, that of "general guide" (Arabic: المرشد العام - frequently translated as "chairman") upon the death of his predecessor, Ma'mun al-Hudaybi. Akef was arrested on July 4, 2013. On July 14, 2013 Egypt's new prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen.

Akef was born in 1928 in Kafr Awad Al Seneita in Dakahliya Province, in the north of Egypt. The year of his birth was the year the Muslim Brotherhood Movement was founded.

Akef obtained his Primary Certificate of Education at Al Mansoura Primary School, and obtained his Secondary Certificate of Education at Cairo- Fuad 1st Secondary School. He then joined the Higher Institute of Physical Education and graduated in May 1950, after which he worked as a teacher at Fuad 1st Secondary School.

Akef first became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1940, which was then led by Hassan al Banna.

Akef joined the Faculty of Law and assumed responsibility for the Brotherhood's training camps at Ibrahim University (present-day Ain Shams University).  This was during the struggle against the British occupation in the Canal preceding the 1952 Revolution, after which he left responsibility to Kamaleddin Hussein, then National Guard Chief.

The last Sections Akef headed in the Muslim Brotherhood before 1954 were the Students Section and the PE Section at the Groups Headquarters.

Akef was arrested on August 1, 1954 and stood trial on charges including smuggling Major General Abdul Munem Abderraoof (one of the Army chiefs who spearheaded the ouster and expulsion of King Farouq), and was sentenced to death in absentia before the ruling was commuted to life imprisonment.

Akef was released in 1974 and was reappointed General Manager of Youth – a department affiliated to the Ministry of Reconstruction.

Akef then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work as an advisor for the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and was in charge of its camps and conferences. He took part in organizing the biggest camps for the Muslim youth on the world arena; in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia, Mali, Kenya, Cyprus, Germany, Britain and America.

Beginning in 1987, Akef was a member of the Steering Bureau (Guidance Bureau) of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Akef was elected Member of Parliament in 1987 for the East Cairo electoral constituency.

In 1996, Akef was court-martialed, charged with being head of the Muslim Brotherhood International Organization, and was sentenced to three years. He was released in 1999.

In 2005, he denounced what he called "the myth of the Holocaust" in defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, and accused the United States of attacking anyone who raised questions about the Holocaust. 

On October 19, 2009, Egyptian newspapers reported that Akef had resigned as the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood after a dispute among various leaders in the group. However the following day reports on the Muslim Brotherhood website stated that Akef had not resigned and would continue to serve as the group's general guide until elections in January 2010.

Akef's health deteriorated while he was imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities after the 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat, his daughter affirmed that he was isolated in the prison hospital and was only allowed a visit once a week, despite his old age and poor health.

He died on September 22, 2017 at the age of 89.

A00042 - Gus Savage, Chicago Congressman

Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. 

Savage was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946 and then worked as a journalist from 1954 to 1979, owning a chain of weekly community newspapers in the Chicago area.

Savage founded Citizen Newspapers, which became the largest black-owned chain of weekly community newspapers in the Midwest. He sold the chain in 1980 and was elected that year to represent Illinois’s Second Congressional District.

Savage was unsuccessful in his candidacy for the House of Representatives in 1968 and 1970, losing the Democratic primary both times, but won election to the House in 1980, representing the 2nd District on Chicago's South Side for 6 terms, from January 1981 to January 1993.

Savage was criticized for racist and anti-Semitic statements against both white and Jewish people. Savage once gave a speech in which he listed the names of all of the Jewish donors living outside of the Chicago area who donated money to his opponent. This led to a backlash, to which Savage responded that only white people could be racist.

In 1989, Savage was accused of trying to force himself on a female Peace Corps worker in Zaire.  He denied the allegations and blamed them on the "racist press." The House Ethics Committee decided that the events did indeed occur, but it did not take disciplinary action only because Savage wrote a letter of apology.

Savage had long been controversial even in his own district, never winning a primary election with more than 52% of the vote, and usually facing multiple challengers. For the 1992 election, his district had been extended further into Chicago's south suburbs by redistricting and Savage faced Mel Reynolds, who had challenged him in the 1988 and 1990 primaries. Savage claimed that "racist Jews" were donating to Reynolds, while Reynolds claimed that Savage was involved in a drive-by shooting that injured him. Although Savage accused Reynolds of staging the shooting, he lost the 1992 election to Reynolds by a margin of 63%-37%.

In one of his final acts as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, excavation and construction at the site of the African Burial Ground in New York City was temporarily halted in 1992, pending further evaluation by the General Services Administration, after Savage was able to leverage his reputation as a national political figure to bring attention to the more controversial aspects of the project.

Savage died on October 31, 2015, one day after his 90th birthday.

A00041 - Leon Bibb, Actor, Folk Singer, and Civil Rights Activist

Leon Bibb (February 7, 1922 – October 23, 2015) was an American folk singer and actor who grew up in Kentucky, studied voice in New York, and worked on Broadway.  His career began when he became a featured soloist of the Louisville Municipal College glee club as a student. He lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after 1969.

Bibb was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and was one of the performers at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959.  He also had his own NBC television talk show. During the late-1950s and early-1960s, Bibb was one of a number of American entertainers, such as his good friend Paul Robeson, who were blacklisted for alleged ties to left-wing groups and causes. 

Bibb became involved in the civil rights movement early on, taking part in voter-registration drives in the South and performing at the 1963 March on Washington.  Bibb traveled to Mississippi to join Dick Gregory and others in the fight against racial segregation in the United States. In 1965, he performed in front of the statehouse in Montgomery with Joan Baez, Oscar Brand and Harry Belafonte, whom he had known since their acting days at the American Negro Theater in Harlem.

In addition to his civil rights activism, Bibb continued to perform, and around 1963–64 he was featured singing on the national TV show, Hootenanny, on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed with Bill Cosby on tours.  Bibb also provided the soundtrack to Luis Bunuel's 1960 film The Young One. His a cappella vocals blend his classical, spiritual and blues influences.

While on tour with the revue “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” Bibb became enchanted with Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and moved there in the early 1970s. For the next 40 years he performed frequently in Canada and the United States. In 2009, Bibb was made a Member of the Order of British Columbia. At the time of receiving this honor, at the age of 87, Bibb was still an active performer.

Leon Bibb died on October 23, 2015.   His two marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Dorie and his son, Eric, a singer and musician, he was survived by his partner, Christine Anton; another daughter, Amy Bibb-Ford; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. He was the father of the Helsinki, Finland-based acoustic singer/songwriter Eric Bibb, and grandfather of Swedish dancer and performer Rennie Mirro. 

A00040 - Cicely Tyson, Emmy and Tony Award Winning Actress

Cicely Tyson,  (born December 19, 1924, New York, New York), American model and actress noted for her vivid portrayals of strong African American women.

Tyson, the daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean island of Nevis, grew up in a devoutly religious household in Harlem.  Discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony magazine, she quickly rose to the top of the modeling world. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway productions, and the following decade she appeared in several short-lived Broadway shows. She won minor roles in a few feature films before portraying Portia in the 1968 film version of Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.  

Because she was committed to presenting only positive images of black women, Tyson did not have steady work in film and television. Her next notable role was as Rebecca Morgan in the popular and critically acclaimed film Sounder (1972), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best actress. In 1974 she appeared in perhaps her best-known role, that of the title character in the television drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, adapted from the eponymous novel by Ernest J. Gaines.  Her performance as the 110-year-old former slave whose life is depicted up through the civil rights movement of the 1960s won Tyson two Emmy Awards. 

Tyson subsequently took on supporting roles in the television miniseries Roots (1977; based on Alex Haley's book) and The Women of Brewster Place (1989; based on Gloria Naylor's novel) before winning another Emmy for her performance in the TV movie Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994). She then starred as the title character in a 1998 television adaptation of Haley’s Mama Flora’s Family. Tyson’s additional feature film credits include Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Hoodlum (1997), The Help (2011), and several popular movies directed by Tyler Perry. In 2013 she returned to Broadway, after nearly 30 years, to play the lead in a revival of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful; her performance earned her a Tony Award. She also starred in the 2014 television adaptation of the play.

Apart from her acting career, Tyson was known for her relationship with jazz musician Miles Davis (married 1981–88). She was honored by the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Council of Negro Women. In 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. She was named a Kennedy Center honoree in 2015.

A00039 - William Grier, Psychiatrist Who Delved Into "Black Rage"

William H. Grier (b. February 7, 1926, Birmingham, Alabama - d. September 3, 2015, Carlsbad, California) was a psychiatrist whose 1968 book “Black Rage,” written with his colleague Price M. Cobbs, drew widespread attention to the psychic damage inflicted by racism and the causes of black anger, a topic of intense interest in the aftermath of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther. 

A00038 - Leonard Harmon, Navy Cross Recipient

Leonard Roy Harmon (January 21, 1917–November 13, 1942) was an African American sailor who died in action during World War II and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.

Harmon, born in Cuero, Texas, was 22 years of age when he enlisted in the United States Navy in June 1939. He trained as a Mess Attendant, one of the few jobs available to African American men in the Navy at that time. The basic job description consisted of serving food to officers and crew aboard ship. However, like all members of a ship’s crew they were also trained in damage control and had stations to report to during general quarters. 

During his service he became a Mess Attendant First Class and was serving aboard the USS San Francisco (CA-38) when on November 12, 1942 he was killed in action. During the course of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, he was assigned to assist pharmacist's mate Lyndford Bondsteel in caring for the wounded. While doing so he deliberately interposed himself between Bondsteel and enemy gunfire in order to protect his shipmate. This action resulted in his death.

Harmon was awarded the Navy Cross. Two ships were named in his honor. The HMS Aylmer had been provisionally named USS Harmon (DE-72) but was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion. The second ship, the USS Harmon (DE-678) served from 1943 to 1947 and remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1967; it was the first United States warship to be named after an African American. 

The citation issued for Leonard Roy Harmon's Navy Cross read:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Mess Attendant First Class Leonard Roy Harmon, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in action against the enemy while serving on board the Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), during action against enemy Japanese naval forces near Savo Island in the Solomon Islands on the night of on 12–13 November 1942. With persistent disregard of his own personal safety, Mess Attendant First Class Harmon rendered invaluable assistance in caring for the wounded and assisting them to a dressing station. In addition to displaying unusual loyalty in behalf of the injured Executive Officer, he deliberately exposed himself to hostile gunfire in order to protect a shipmate and, as a result of this courageous deed, was killed in action. His heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, maintained above and beyond the call of duty, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

A00037 - Bromley Armstrong, Jamaican Canadian Civil Rights Leader

Bromley Lloyd Armstrong (b. February 9, 1926, Kingston, Jamaica), a Jamaican Canadian civil rights leader who was active in the nascent civil rights era in Canada, beginning with his arrival in 1947. Armstrong was a committed union activist who worked to improve conditions for workers in industry. He was also active in promoting equal rights for African Canadians and was involved with the National Unity Association (NUA) in sit-ins in Dresden, Ontario restaurants that refused to serve people of African descent. Armstrong travelled to Dresden following the activities of Hugh Burnett and the NUA — the NUA had been urging the local town council (unsuccessfully) to create laws that would put an end to discrimination against people of African descent in the town. In response to delegations to the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto, in the early 1950s, Ontario Premier Leslie Frost brought two laws into place, the Fair Employment Practices Act and the Fair Accommodation Practices Act. The first outlawed discrimination in the workplace, the second outlawed it in businesses that served the public. Enacted in April 1954, the Fair Accommodation Practices Act stated: "No one can deny to any person or class of persons the accommodation, services or facilities usually available to members of the public." The Act triggered the repeal of the largely ineffective Racial Discrimination Act of 1944, which outlawed "the publication or display, on lands, premises, by newspaper or radio, of any notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation indicating racial discrimination."

After local Dresden businesses refused to comply with the Fair Accommodation Practices Act, the same year it was enacted, Armstrong and other activists from the Toronto-based Joint Labour Committee for Human Rights conducted sit-ins in Dresden restaurants, testing the owners' non-compliance with the law, and then using that information to urge Premier Frost to eventually press charges against the restaurant owners. The owners were taken to court and the law held; the legal case was Canada's first successful test of laws making discrimination illegal. Armstrong played a figurative role in the sit-ins, on one occasion calmly demanding service of a bigoted restaurant owner, who was angrily wielding a meat cleaver in his restaurant kitchen.

In 1994, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. 

Armstrong's story is told in his autobiography: Bromley: Tireless Fighter for Just Causes.