He was born Eric H. Holder, Jr., in the The Bronx borough of New York City, to parents with roots in Barbados. Holder's father, Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (1905–1970) was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados and arrived in the United States at the age of 11.
Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10. When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually-gifted students. He went on to attend Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball and was co-captain of his team and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history in 1973. Holder received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976. He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney during his second summer.
32 years later, after many distinguished accomplishments, on December 1, 2008, Barack Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General. He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28. Following his confirmation by the full Senate on February 2, 2009, he became the first African-American Attorney General of the United States. Holder was confirmed by a 75-21 vote on February 2, 2009.
BLACK HISTORY IN THE MAKING- THIS HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!!
Marcus Foster arrived in Oakland in 1970, already a celebrated and proven educator.
He was Oakland, California's first black Superintendent of Public Schools.
Alex Haley, Roots author, observed, "Marcus Foster holds up a candid mirror to educators, students, parents, school boards, and communities, so that all who are involved may look at themselves."
Dr. Foster viewed the three R's and critical thinking as the building blocks of education. But in addition he emphasized the need for art programs, team sports, and school activities that reflected the life circumstances of the students.
In the short time he was in Oakland, Dr. Foster created a climate that gave life to a number of firsts: the Arts Magnet School, Far West School, Street Academy, Montera Film Festival (now the National Educational Film Festival), and the Oakland Education Institute (now the Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute.)
The scope of these accomplishments is rooted in Dr. Foster's conviction that group action can unite individual efforts to accomplish great things, and that such collaboration is as essential as it is effective.
In a message to Oakland school employees, Dr. Foster observed that "when the pieces are in place, when we are done with the temporary preoccupation and the catchphrases, when we feel the power and exhilaration of real movement toward our objectives, then will come an important realization. Our success will come not because of Board directives, or the Superintendent's notions, or the staff's creativity, or the community's yearning. We will make it because we have the common need to draw on each other, and the audacity to believe that in concert, we are equal to the great tasks."
-information accessed from www.marcusfoster.org, 2/3/09
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