DID YOU KNOW? for December 9 – 23, 2024 

Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco (March 25, 1935 – February 15, 2021) was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, and record producer who became known as the Godfather of Salsa. He popularized the term "salsa" by founding the Fania All-Stars, a musical group formed in 1968 to feature the leading artists of the genre, which played a critical role in the evolution of Latin music and brought Pacheo international fame. Pacheco became a leading figure in the New York salsa scene in the 1960s and 1970s as the founder and musical director of Fania Records.

Learn more about Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco here.

DID YOU KNOW? for November 26 – December 9, 2024 

Amaza Lee Meredith (August 14, 1895 – 1984) was a teacher, artist, and architect who lived an exceptional personal and professional life for a Black Queer woman under Jim Crow segregation laws. Unable to work as an architect due to her gender and race, she redirected her career towards the arts, first as an art teacher and later founding the art department at Virginia State University. She co-founded Azurest North, a vacation community for Black middle-class Americans in Sag Harbor, New York. She also designed homes for family and friends and sought a more socially just world for Blacks during the interwar era. 

Learn more about Amaza Lee Meredith here.

Dr. Isabella Abbott (June 20, 1919 –  October 28, 2010) was a Hawaiian phycologist, educator, and ethnobotanist. As the first Native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science, Abbott went on to discover more than 200 new species of algae and authored over 150 publications. Learn more about Dr. Isabella Abbott here. 

DID YOU KNOW? for October 29 ­– November 11, 2024 

James McCune Smith (1813 – 1865) was the first African American to earn a medical degree. He earned his degree from the University of Glasgow, since no American university would admit him due to his race. Besides being a medical doctor, Smith was one of his era’s leading abolitionists and a prolific writer. Born enslaved, he directed his time, energy and talents to the eradication of slavery. 

Learn more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/james-mccune-smith-america-first-black-physician-180977110/ 

DID YOU KNOW? for October 15 ­– 28, 2024

William Eldon "Willie" O'Ree (born on October 15, 1935) also known as the "Jackie Robison of hockey", was the first black player in the National Hockey League. Despite the racism he faced, he played for the Kitchener Canucks of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1955-56, the Quebec Aces for the 1956-57 season, and on-and-off for the Boston Bruins where he played in 43 games, scored four goals and made ten assists to score 14 points. O'Ree went on to receive many awards and honors.  Learn more about O'Ree and his interesting life as a pioneering Canadian athlete. 

DID YOU KNOW? for October 1 ­– 14, 2024 

Elijah McCoy (May 2, 1844 – October 10, 1929) was born in Canada, to parents who had fled slavery. McCoy trained as an engineer in Scotland as a teenager. Unable to find an engineering position in the United States, he took a job working for a railroad and later invented a lubrication device to make railroad operations more efficient.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/inventors/elijah-mccoy

DID YOU KNOW? for September 17 – 30, 2024

The western hemisphere, the lands between the Atlantic and the Pacific, have been occupied and cultivated from coast to coast for millennia. Ned Blackhawk has documented the stories of these indigenous citizens in The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. Blackhawk has produced a comprehensive history that carefully presents the facts of indigenous people living on the North American continent before contact with European settlers. Numbering well over 100, these groups occupied virtually all the land from Atlantic to Pacific in the years before their removal. If you suspect that your own education about America’s more distant past is a bit light, you are invited to read this well-written treatise published by Yale University Press. as well as visit the link below to learn more.

Learn more about The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk.

DID YOU KNOW? for September 3 – 16, 2024

Did you know that PLATO's Education Fund supports the UW Odyssey Project? This award-winning UW-Madison program takes a whole family approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through access to education, giving adult and youth learners a voice, and increasing confidence through reading, writing, and speaking. Learn more about how the UW Odyssey Project is overcoming adversity and achieving dreams through higher education and about PLATO's Education Fund through the links below.

Learn more about UW Odyssey Project.

Learn more about PLATO'S Education Fund.

DID YOU KNOW? for August 13 – September 2, 2024

Warren M. Washington (b. 1936), the second African-American to earn a doctorate in the atmospheric sciences, received the highest scientific honor bestowed by the U.S. President, the National Medal of Science, for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of Earth's coupled climate system through numerical simulation, leadership in U.S. science policy, and inspiring mentorship of young people of all backgrounds and origins.

Learn more about Warren M. Washington.

DID YOU KNOW? for July 30 – August 12, 2024 

Did you know that one of the local community programs that PLATO's Education Fund supports is Maydm? PLATO's annual donation supports Maydm's ability to host immersive after school programs and workshops designed to enhance the STEM skills of middle and high school students in Madison, WI. Maydm equips students with the skills, confidence, and opportunities they need to succeed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics making strides toward a more inclusive and innovative STEM field. 

Learn more about Maydm and PLATO's Education Fund.