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Black Innovators in Digital Technology

DUE: Friday, March 13

As a tribute to Black History Month, you will each create a webpage containing a short biography of a black innovator who has contributed to the field of Digital Technology.

People You Could Choose From

You don't have to choose from this list, but it gives you some ideas (disclaimer: AI generated list!):

🖥️ Early Computing & Foundational Tech

Mark Dean

  • Co-inventor of the IBM PC architecture

  • Holds 3 of the original 9 IBM PC patents

  • Helped develop the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus

  • Led development of early gigahertz processors at IBM

    💡 Tie-in: Hardware architecture & computer engineering.

Gladys West

  • Mathematician whose calculations contributed to GPS development

  • Her geodetic modeling work made modern navigation possible

    💡 Tie-in: Algorithms, satellite data, real-world math in computing.

Roy Clay Sr.

  • Key figure in developing HP's computer division

  • Considered a pioneer of Silicon Valley

    💡 Tie-in: Early computing industry & representation in tech leadership.

🌐 Internet & Web Technology

Radia Perlman

  • Inventor of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

  • Fundamental to how Ethernet networks avoid loops

    💡 Tie-in: Networking fundamentals (great for CS classes).

Kimberly Bryant

  • Founder of Black Girls Code

  • Expanded access to computing education

    💡 Tie-in: Equity in tech education & future pipeline development.

Tope Awotona

  • Founder of Calendly

  • Built a billion-dollar SaaS platform

    💡 Tie-in: Software startups & cloud-based services.

🤖 AI, Algorithms & Data Science

Timnit Gebru

  • AI ethics researcher

  • Known for research on bias in facial recognition systems

    💡 Tie-in: Algorithmic bias, responsible AI.

Joy Buolamwini

  • Founder of the Algorithmic Justice League

  • Research exposed racial bias in facial recognition AI

    💡 Tie-in: Machine learning datasets & fairness in AI.

Rediet Abebe

  • First Black woman to earn a PhD in computer science from Cornell

  • Researches algorithms and social good

    💡 Tie-in: Ethical algorithm design.

💻 Software, Gaming & Digital Media

Jerry Lawson

  • Developed one of the first cartridge-based video game systems

  • Pioneer in video game hardware

    💡 Tie-in: Gaming systems architecture.

John Henry Thompson

  • Created Lingo programming language (used in Macromedia Director)

  • Early digital media & animation software

    💡 Tie-in: Programming languages & multimedia software.

📱 Modern Tech & Industry Leaders

Ursula Burns

  • First Black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company (Xerox)

  • Led Xerox through digital transformation

    💡 Tie-in: Business + digital transformation.

Arlan Hamilton

  • Founder of Backstage Capital

  • Invests in underrepresented tech founders

    💡 Tie-in: Startup ecosystems & tech funding.

🚀 Cybersecurity & Advanced Research

Lisa Gelobter

  • Helped develop Shockwave technology

  • Contributed to early web animation and streaming media

    💡 Tie-in: Multimedia evolution of the web.

Required Elements:

  • Title (Person’s Name)

  • Short biography (1–2 paragraphs) containing

    • Some background about them
    • Their impact on technology

  • One image

  • One meaningful quote
  • A short "Why this matters today" reflection (2–4 sentences)

Method of Completion:

Run the update. A new folder should be created called Other, with a subfolder called black-history. Open this up in Visual Studio code and look at the index.html file. You can see this file rendered in the browser using the same Live Server extension we use for JavaScript.

Fill your content into the appropriate sections you see in the template. We'll go over some basic HTML in case you want to somewhat customize the look of your page.