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rj-drive-in · 2 years ago

Text

Quantum Dynamics Department:

If power corrupts, we should define corruption.

The power to customize the universe.

It was keeping him awake at night.

Reba was laying beside him in the dark, curled up, hibernating peacefully, a softly breathing brown shadow in the blue darkness before the dawn. She didn’t know; he hadn’t told her. He had signed a non-disclosure agreement when he was hired by the university and he was the kind of man who had never broken a promise in his life, young as he was. So now he lay there as the long night drew to a close, alone beside his lover, haunted, terrified by the possibilities of the new day ahead.

The power to customize the universe.

That’s how Dr Bruin had put it yesterday as they prepared for today’s final test. But Benjamin wondered if the man knew just how right he was.

It had started as Kindergarten Physics: Sub-elementary wavicle formulae. Accelerator experiments had long hinted at an internal structure to the quark, but what the equations had ultimately led them to was altogether startling. That structure consisted, literally, of the properties of matter in the form of pure information. Properties that controlled mass, charge, spin, location, and more. Much more. String after string of properties for entirely unknown attributes that were as mysterious as they were unpredicted. Whole new branches of physics would need to be developed to study the secrets of those properties.

And then there were the empty properties, the properties just sitting there waiting for values, seemingly an infinite number of them. Dr Bruin’s casual remark had been, “I guess those would be our user-defined properties.”

That simple statement had sent a thrill down Benjamin’s spine, a hot rush of two emotions that often ran hand in hand: Excitement and fear. It was clear that they had really reached the bottom, they had reverse-engineered reality, they had accessed the basic code that ran the universe.

And, furthermore, that code could be rewritten.

The process was simplicity itself: A microscopic sample of lithium was supercooled to Absolute Zero Kelvin, becoming a Bose-Einstein condensate, essentially a single particle with the size and mass of fifty million atoms; large enough so that the same short-wavelength lasers that had robbed it of its molecular motion to begin with could now probe, and tweak, its vast property sheet. But the key was that this strange form of exotic matter could be used as a surrogate for any amount of ordinary matter.

Not to put too fine a point on it, any object in real space could be selected and its properties manipulated as easily as any virtual object in cyberspace.

The possibilities were staggering:

Modify the properties of a few million tons of quartz to match those of water and the desert blooms around a new inland sea.

Copy the property matrix of a cornfield to a toxic waste dump and deadly poison becomes food for the hungry.

Search for and delete cancer cells or germs that had been previously unreachable, and do it non-intrusively without touching healthy tissue.

Change the attributes of a spacecraft so that its location changes to the Alpha Centauri system without it crossing the intervening space.

Digitize and store all the artistic works of humankind within the very structure of the proton, keeping them safe until the end of time.

Design and build new subatomic particles or bosons from the ground up, suited to any imaginable purpose.

Or even use the undecaying quark itself as the ultimate computer, incorruptible and invulnerable.

All this, and much more, was within their grasp.

But, as always, the dangers were proportionally immense.

The Zero Kelvin Exotic Matter could act as a surrogate for any amount of normal matter; a microscopic sample was enough to alter the attributes of anything from a wristwatch to a space shuttle to a planet to a solar system and beyond. Set the coordinates to >0 and any change would affect the entire universe. And this was accomplished with technology that could almost literally be bought off the shelf. The system at the university had been developed by one researcher, two grad students, and himself, Benjamin, the project software jockey.

Which meant that almost anybody could access this power. How long before some wacko terrorist, religious ideologue, rabid nihilist, or even a basement workshop enthusiast with questionable programming skills reduced all of creation to pi mesons?

Benjamin shuddered; he felt very cold.

And he felt compelled to do something, but he didn’t know what the right thing to do was. Here was a technology that could end starvation, disease, and suffering; open up the universe; confer immortality; raise the human race to the level of mythological gods. Did he, a computer programmer barely out of his teens, have the right to deprive humanity of this potential? Was it even possible for him to do so? And if it was, and if he did, would not every starving child be on his conscience from this day forward?

Destroying the machine would be an act of futility; Dr Bruin, Ursula, and Yogi could recreate it in a day. And it would do nothing to prevent the inevitable independent discovery of the process by other researchers.

Perhaps he could hijack the lab. After all, the power of the tech should be enough to protect him. If he used it cleverly enough. Unless they cut off the power. Or distracted him and snuck up on him or otherwise outsmarted him in any of a million different ways. Okay, so it was a crazy idea, a sign of how desperate he felt. And it would, in any event, do nothing to solve the problem of the easy accessibility of the science and the easy availability of the technology.

Still, he spent a few moments in adventurous fantasizing: He’d lock himself in the lab, armed with a disk containing a series of macros he had written at home. It would only take ten seconds for the sequence to execute, and at the end the lab would relocate itself to some safe place, like an inaccessible South American plateau or remote tropical island. Power? Food? No problem. Those macros had blocked and copied everything he needed, from anywhere in the world. Duplicating wasn’t stealing.

All his friends and family, anybody who could be used against him by the ruthless forces who wanted the machine, would be transported to his new base of operations. A new community would be born. The machine would keep them safe and provided for while he, Benjamin, became a mighty benefactor to the world, using the power carefully, judiciously, and with much consideration.

Until someone else put the science together and built their own machine; which wouldn’t take long. Like Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan, the time was now.

Oh, well, it would have made a good movie.

No, he realized that there was only one thing that he could do, if he only had the courage.

Carefully, so as not to disturb Reba’s sleep, he climbed out of bed and got dressed.

*****

Two seconds after he finished uploading the program, he heard their voices in the corridor outside the lab. He wiped his palms on his pants and quickly pulled on his jacket to hide the sweat stains under his arms. He took a deep breath and sat down, hoping that he could refrain from acting blatantly guilty; he was a virgin at the art of deception.

The key turned in the lock and Dr Bruin, looking like Pavarotti in a white lab coat, entered, preceded by the rich aroma of donut shop coffee. He was accompanied by grad students Yogi and Ursula, and, this morning, by a third person. This person was a gray-haired, imposing White man in an army dress uniform, complete with general’s bars and a whole lot of fruit salad on his chest. Benjamin felt like he was about to face a firing squad.

Dr Bruin caught sight of him at his station and smiled. “There he is,” he said. “First on the job, as usual.”

“Good morning,” said Benjamin, in what he hoped was his usual tone.

As Yogi and Ursula went directly across the small lab to put the apparatus through its daily checkout routine, Dr Bruin brought the army officer to Benjamin’s computer station and Benjamin stood up nervously. “Ben, we have a special guest for today’s proof of test,” Bruin said. “This is General Griswold from the Pentagon. General, Ben Janelle.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Benjamin automatically as the general shook his hand in an overly firm Army grip. So the military is involved already, he thought. Now I know I’m doing the right thing.

“Why are you here so early?” the general asked brusquely.

“Oh, I was just getting the junk genes out of the program,” Benjamin replied lightly. The general frowned. “You know, cleaning up the code. Making it pretty.” He smiled. The general didn’t.

“Ben is the most conscientious person I’ve ever met, as well as the fastest programmer in the west,” said Dr Bruin. “We’d be lost without him.”

“Thanks, doc,” said Benjamin.

Bruin winked at him in his uncle-ish way and gestured General Griswold across the tiny lab toward the supercooling apparatus, which was set up on an old wooden door laid across two sawhorses. As he led the general toward the setup, he said, “You thought I was kidding when I called it a tabletop device. Now watch your step.” The floor was a snakepit of cabling.

Benjamin sat down heavily and tried not to hyperventilate. He called up the two interactive programs that read and wrote the property data, as well as the diagnostic tool that constantly scanned the integrity of the complex DLL array those programs used, just as he would have if the test were really going to happen. He wanted everything to look perfectly legit.

Dr Bruin was giving the general his standard speech about the miniaturization of supercooling technology being a concrete benefit of the space station program, but Benjamin barely heard him; he was literally dizzy with anxiety.

Suddenly he realized that everyone in the lab had gathered around his computer and Dr Bruin was speaking directly behind him. “Are we ready, Ben?”

“Ready, steady, go,” he answered quietly.

“You’re a gentleman and a scholar. All right, folks, this is going to be one for the history books. That’s a one-ounce ingot of lead I’ve put in the ceramic bowl on the dias. I suppose it would be more dramatic to change the lead into gold, but I think it would make a more compelling visual impression on our guest if we changed it into mercury. Can we do that, Ben?”

“Sure,” replied Benjamin, swallowing hard. Every second brought him closer to the moment of truth. “That’s easy. Atomic number 82 to atomic number 80. Do you care about isotopes?”

“Nah,” said Dr Bruin. “What’s a few neutrons among friends?”

“I’ll type it in.”

His fingers trembled nervously and, slick with sweat, slid across the keyboard; twice he had to backspace, cursing under his breath, to reenter an incorrect data string.

He felt Dr Bruin’s hand fall gently on his shoulder. “Relax, kid,” he said. “It’s going to work like a charm.”

No, thought Benjamin with a sharp stab of guilt. Actually, I’m about to destroy your life’s work. I wonder if you’ll ever forgive me.

“All set,” he announced at last.

Dr Bruin nodded soberly and took a breath. “Unlike Neil Armstrong and Alexander Graham Bell, I don’t have a quotable quote for the occasion,” he said. “Ben, why don’t you just go ahead and summon the future.”

That sounded pretty quotable to Benjamin, and not just because his name would have been immortalized alongside Bell’s Dr Watson. Unfortunately, the future he was about to summon would not exactly be the one Dr Bruin had so fervently dreamed of.

He reached out and pressed the Enter key.

The monitor screen blacked out for a second, then flickered; a blue status bar appeared, flashed up to a hundred percent almost instantly, then vanished. Micromotors inside the supercooling apparatus began to hum and buzz. Red lights on the four peripheral lasers blinked with an erratic rhythm as the beams established a datastream handshake with the inner structure of the Zero Kelvin Exotic Matter and, by proxy, the very foundation of reality.

And then the machinery paused as a message box sprang up on the computer monitor screen, a message box bearing three simple words. Benjamin sat frozen solid, confronted by the reality of what he had wrought, gripped by a paralysis that no one else in the world could understand. The four people behind him were deathly quiet. They had stopped breathing. In days to come, Benjamin would wonder if their hearts had stopped beating.

The message box said Please Enter Password.

*****

Moving the cursor over the compile button, Benjamin clicked the mouse; then he opened up a blank screen and began to type again. The apartment was dark, lit only by the moonglow of the monitor screen; the only sounds were the soft tapping of his fingers on the keyboard and the quiet hum of the computer itself.

Reba was fast asleep in the bedroom; he still hadn’t found the right words to tell her.

It wouldn’t take them long to learn that it was Benjamin who had sabotaged the project. He had left a copy of his self-executing password program, which was now a part of the fundamental structure of every boson and fermion in the universe, in the root directory of the lab computer. By the time they found it, he would be long gone, but they would decompile the program and learn the password, as he intended. The knowledge would do them no good. Dr Bruin would probably praise his ingenuity, despite everything.

Embedded in the program, they would find a floating cell containing the formula =(22/7). The value of Pi. They would realize that the universe was protected by a password that could never be fully entered because it was transcendent in nature. They would understand that Benjamin had done something that could never be undone and they would, with any luck, give up all hope of ever getting around it.

Which would be very good, because, in the end, he had decided to just go with ‘vermont maple syrup.��

The power to customize the universe. Too much potential to waste.

I can handle this, he told himself firmly, as he compiled macro number 32.

#short story #short fiction #micro fiction #microfiction #science fiction #Rick Hutchins #RJDiogenes

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teachanarchy · 8 years ago

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Black History Month is finally upon us. As part of our BHM kickoff, we’ve compiled a collection of black icons from each state that have made invaluable contributions to America. The people featured in the collection have made monumental (and for the most part, understated) advancements in politics, music, sports, literature and beyond.

While the vast majority of these icons were born in the state they’re featured under, a handful of them weren’t, but did make history in the state.

Their excellence is just another reminder that we too, helped make America.

1 Alabama: Claudette Colvin The Washington Post via Getty Images Before Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin. Born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama, Colvin became the first person to be arrested for rebelling against bus segregation in the city after refusing to give up her seat to a white person in 1955. At the time, Colvin was just 15 years old.

2 Alaska: Blanche McSmith Stan Wayman via Getty Images Blanche McSmith (center left) was born in 1920 in Texas. After moving to Alaska in 1949, McSmith became president of the NAACP’s Anchorage branch. A decade later, Smith made history by becoming the first black representative in the Alaska legislature.

3 Arizona: Dr. Rick Kittles Bob Demers/UANews Dr. Rick Kittles is a highly renowned figure in the field of genetics, known for using DNA testing to explore the ancestry of African-Americans. He currently serves as Chair of Minorities in Cancer Research at the American Association for Cancer Research.

4 Arkansas: John Cross, Jr. POOL New / Reuters John Cross Jr. was born in Haynes, Arkansas in 1925. In 1962, Cross became a pastor at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama where civil rights activists would often convene. In 1963, the church was the site of a bomb by KKK members that killed four young girls. Cross became a leader for the grieving town by continuing his sermons and presiding over the three of the girls’ funerals.

5 California: Octavia Butler Malcolm Ali via Getty Images Octavia Butler, born in 1947 in Pasadena, California, was one of few black female sci-fi writers during the high point of her career in the 1970s. In 1995, her work was prestigiously rewarded when she became the first sci-fi author to receive the MacArthur fellowship or “genius grant.” With the money from the grant, Butler bought a home for her mother and herself.

6 Colorado: Larry Dunn Earl Gibson III via Getty Images Larry Dunn, born in Denver, Colorado in 1953, was the keyboardist of Earth, Wind & Fire for 11 years. He helped create the band’s 1975 hit “Shining Star.”

7 Connecticut: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Washington Bureau via Getty Images Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1908, but New York is where he made history. In 1945, Powell became the first black person to become a U.S. Representative for the state of New York. Many of the bills he proposed during his 15 years in office would eventually be included in the Civil Rights Act of 1965.

8 Delaware: Clifford Brown Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1930, Clifford Brown was an accomplished jazz trumpeter who helped set the standard for the musicians who would succeed him. In 1989, the first Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, which remains an annual event, was held in Wilmington, Delaware to honor the late musician.

9 Florida: Esther Rolle Ron Galella, Ltd. via Getty Images From Broadway shows to the classic sitcom “Good Times,” Esther Rolle, born in 1920 in Pompano Beach, Florida, had a prominent acting career. Audiences loved Rolle’s character on TV sitcom “Maude,” so much so that the show’s producer Norman Lear created “Good Times” as a spinoff series in which Rolle would star.

10 Georgia: Cynthia McKinney Joshua Roberts / Reuters Born in 1955, Cynthia McKinney of Atlanta, Georgia, became the first black woman to represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.

11 Hawaii: Barack Obama Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack Obama made history on November 4, 2008 when he was elected to become America’s first black president. His legacy has been an inspiration for citizens worldwide.

12 Idaho: Victor Wooten Daniel Knighton via Getty Images Born in Mountain Home, Idaho in 1964, Victor Wooten was a member of the jazz band Bela Fleck and the Flecktones before embarking on a career as a solo musician. Wooten is a five-time Grammy winning musician was voted one of the top bassists of all time by a Rolling Stone reader poll.

13 Illinois: Lorraine Hansberry David Attie via Getty Images Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930, Lorraine Hansberry was the first black playwright to have their work staged on Broadway with “A Raisin In The Sun.” She was also the youngest American to receive a New York Critics Circle award.

14 Indiana: Major Taylor Hulton Archive via Getty Images Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was born in 1878 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the first black person to become a champion in a sport and held seven world records by the time he retired at 32-years-old. He retired as one of the richest athletes in history.

15 Iowa: Charity Adams Earley African American Registry Although born in South Carolina in 1918, Charity Adams Earley made history in Fort Des Moines, Iowa when she became one of the first black female officers of the Women’s Army Corps. She later became the first black woman to be commissioned by the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

16 Kansas: Hattie McDaniel John D. Kisch/Separate Cinema Archive via Getty Images Born in 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, actress Hattie McDaniel played Mammy in the classic film “Gone with The Wind.” In 1940, McDaniel’s made history when she became first black person to win an Oscar, taking home the award for best supporting actress.

17 Kentucky: bell hooks The Washington Post via Getty Images Born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1952, noted cultural scholar, award-winning author and black feminist who goes by the namesake of her great grandmother, bell hooks. In 2015, the bell hooks Institute was created at Berea college. The institute allows for a comprehensive study into hooks’ works and theories.

18 Louisiana: Madam C.J. Walker Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images Born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 in Near Delta, Louisiana, Madam C.J. Walker epitomizes the term “self-made.” By inventing and selling hair products, Walker became first American woman to become a self-made millionaire. Walker created a hair routine that’s still popular among black women today referred to as the “Walker System.” Walker donated some of her money to black organizations like the NAACP and the black YMCA.

19 Maine: William Burney -Iznogood- via Getty Images Born in Augusta, Maine in 1951, William Burney was elected the first black mayor of the town in 1988. (Picture unavailable).

20 Maryland: Thurgood Marshall Getty Images Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. As NAACP Chief Counsel, in 1952, he took on the case of Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) on behalf of the plaintiffs. Marshall won the case, which deemed public school segregation to be unconstitutional. In 1967, Marshall would become an even more prolific figure by becoming the first black Supreme Court Justice.

21 Massachusetts: Phillis Wheatley Library of Congress Phillis Wheatley was born in Senegal in 1753 and sent overseas to Boston, Massachusetts where she would become a slave. While enslaved, Wheatley was constantly exposed to books. In 1773, she became the second woman and the first black person to have their poetry published.

22 Michigan: Carole Anne-Marie Gist George Rose via Getty Images Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1969, Carole Anne-Marie Gist made history when she became the first black Miss USA in 1990.

23 Minnesota: Toni Stone Transcendental Graphics via Getty Images Born in 1921 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Toni Stone became the first woman to play in a professional men’s baseball league when she joined the San Francisco Sea Lions of the West Coast Negro Baseball Leagues in 1953. Stone endured endless acts of racial and gender-based discrimination.

24 Mississippi: Fannie Lou Hamer Bettmann via Getty Images Born in 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer was a relentless civil rights advocate. Hamer endured arrests, assault and being shot at by racists upset by Hamer’s activism. Hamer made a notable speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention on being black in America. She helped black citizens register to vote and created organizations to service minority families.

25 Missouri: Maya Angelou Reuters Photographer / Reuters Born in 1921 in St. Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou is a renowned, poet, author and civil rights activist. Her works such as “Still I Rise” and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” have spanned generations. When close friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on her birthday, Angelou went years without celebrating her April 4th birthday.

26 Montana: Geraldine Travis Courtesy of The Montana Legislative Branch Born in 1931 in Albany, Georgia, Geraldine Travis became the first black person elected to be elected to Montana’s State Legislature in 1974. She worked to advance civil rights both in and outside of government.

27 Nebraska: Malcolm X Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images Born Malcolm Little in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X was a fearless civil rights icon and a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. The X that replaced his last name was intended to serve as representation of the loss of his African identity. X was responsible for the popularity of the “any means necessary” philosophy which emphasizes going to any length to protect your rights.

28 Nevada: Kelvin Atkinson Ethan Miller via Getty Images Kelvin Atkinson was born in Illinois in 1969, but he made history in Nevada when he became the first openly gay black man to serve in the state’s legislature where he represented Nevada’s 4th district. The following year, he and his partner also became the first gay couple to marry in the Nevada.

29 New Hampshire: Myrna Adams University of New Hampshire Myrna Adams made history at the University of New Hampshire by becoming the school’s first administrator in 1969 where she aided black students through financial aid and advisement.

30 New Jersey: David Dinkins STR New / Reuters Born in 1927 in Trenton, New Jersey, Howard University alumnus David Dinkins became the first black mayor of New York City in 1989 beating opponent Rudy Giuliani and incumbent Ed Koch. Dinkins went on to teach at Columbia University and has a building named after him in Manhattan.

31 New Mexico: Sheryl Williams Stapleton NM State Representative Sheryl Williams Stapleton/Facebook Born in 1958 in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Sheryl Williams Stapleton became the first black woman to serve as New Mexico Legislature’s floor leader in January 2017. She’s served as a State House representative for New Mexico’s 19th district in 1994.

32 New York: James Baldwin James Foote via Getty Images Born in Harlem in 1924, author James Baldwin’s prolific works like “Go Tell It On The Mountain” and “Giovanni’s Room” have become literary classics. In 1965, Baldwin, an openly gay man, was asked if his status as poor, gay, black man served as an obstacle to his success, he sarcastically replied, “No. I thought I had hit the jackpot!” He was an advocate for LGBT and civil rights.

33 North Carolina: Moms Mabley Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images Born in 1894 in Brevard, North Carolina, Moms Mabley’s success in the male-dominated world of comedy was rare. She was the first female comedian to perform at the Apollo theater and appeared in numerous movies. Her life would become the subject of an off-Broadway play as well as a documentary directed by Whoopi Goldberg.

34 North Dakota: Rosemary Sauvageau Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic In 2012, Rosemary Sauvageau became the first black Miss North Dakota. Following two second place position in 2010 and 2011 pageants, Sauvageau, 24, persevered and resultantly, made history.

35 Ohio: Dorothy Dandridge Archive Photos via Getty Images Born in 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, Dorothy Dandridge was an actress, singer and beauty icon. After starring in the 1954 film “Carmen Jones,” Dandridge became the first black woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress.

36 Oklahoma: Ralph Ellison David Attie via Getty Images Born in 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, novelist Ralph Ellison wrote the classic 1953 National Book Award winner in fiction “Invisible Man.” Ellison was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.

37 Oregon: Geraldine Avery Andy Sacks via Getty Images Geraldine Avery was the first black person to become a police matron in Oregon in 1954. (Picture unavailable).

38 Pennsylvania: Bayard Rustin Robert Elfstrom/Villon Films via Getty Images Born in 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the leader of numerous civil rights movements, Bayard Rustin was a much lesser-known civil rights organizer. Rustin, who was also openly gay, worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and played a significant role in King’s commitment to non-violence.

39 Rhode Island: Ruth Simmons Bloomberg via Getty Images Although from Texas, Ruth Simmons, born in 1945, made history in Providence, Rhode Island when she became the first black person to serve as president of Brown University in 2001. The presidency also made her the first black person to run an Ivy league University.

40 South Carolina: Althea Gibson Bettmann via Getty Images After becoming the first black female professional tennis player, Althea Gibson, born in 1927 in Silver, South Carolina, would go on to become the first black person to hold a number of titles in the sport. She was the first black person to win Wimbledon and the French and U.S. Open.

41 Tennessee: DeFord Bailey GAB Archive via Getty Images Born in 1899 in Smith County, Tennessee, DeFord Bailey was one of country music’s first black notable musicians. His harmonica skills landed him a permanent gig on a radio station until he eventually began recording and performing despite constantly facing racial discrimination.

42 South Dakota: Oscar Micheaux Wikimedia Commons Although born in Illinois in 1884, Oscar Micheaux was living in South Dakota when he wrote the book that would serve as the basis for the first full-length feature film by a black filmmaker. Micheaux, who produced both silent and speaking films that appealed to black audiences, is considered the first black successful film director.

43 Texas: Barbara Jordan Keystone via Getty Images Born in 1936, in Houston, Texas, Barbara Jordan was the first black person and first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Congress when she became a House Representative in 1973. Additionally, Jordan made a memorable opening speech at Richard Nixon’s impeachment just one year later. Although never very open about her sexuality, Jordan was in a domestic relationship with a woman for over two decades.

44 Utah: Abner Leonard Howell Library of Congress Abner Leonard Howell was born in 1877 in Louisiana but raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Howell was a gifted collegiate football player who helped lead University of Michigan’s Wolverines team to success although he didn’t receive public acknowledgement for doing so.

45 Vermont: Alexander Twilight Courtesy of Vermont General Assembly Born in 1795 in Corinth, Vermont, Alexander Twilight is believed to be the first American college graduate. He is also the first black person to serve in a U.S. state legislature after his 1836 election to the Vermont General Assembly.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that Baker was the first living black person to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The story has been updated to reflect that Baker was the only living WWII black service member to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor. This article also misstated that the 16th Street Baptist Church is located in Montgomery, Alabama; it is in Birmingham.

#racism #arts and entertainment #paving the way #united states #black history month #us history

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