June 15, 1952

Charles Sumner Duke, a trailblazing Black engineer and architect who fought for housing rights and educational opportunities for African Americans, died in Rochester, Minnesota, from complications related to surgery. Duke’s family arrived in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) after being run out of Selma, Alabama, due to his father writing and publishing an article condemning lynching. The family quickly became a part of Pine Bluff’s middle class. After graduating from what is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Duke enrolled in Harvard University and became the first African American to graduate from the institution with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics, as well as the first to complete a Master of Science in civil engineering.