>> welcome to heritage focus the adventurers a series of stories about african-american men and women who dare to be different, whose achievements are inspiring, enlightening and in many cases, little known. we want you to know about them, appreciate their dedication and learn from their lives. featured in this half hour, dr. jaymar shall shepherd, -- dr. jay marshall shepherd, meteorologist and clara brown,

>> believe it or not, it was a childhood run-in with and insect that led do dr. marshall shepherd's success in life. >> i was stung by a bee when i was 6. i thought i wanted to be an entymologist but then once i learned i was allergic to bee stings i decided not to. i went to the georgia state science fair and then was bitten by the meteorology weatherbug. all these instruments, ping-pong balls and all kind of neat things around the house and i started taking weather measurements for my community. from that, just through household products, it grew. i would say it grew into a passion. if you ask my wife, she would say a passion, because i have always had it on the weather channel. >> marshall didn't want to forecast weather on t.v. because he was more interested in the how's and why's of weather so

conducting raeer research became his goal. he learned that florida state university had one of the best departments in the country and set his sights on getting there and along the way made a little history. >> the first african-american to receive a ph.d. from that particular meteorology program, which has been around for several decades. it is a bit shocking that in 1999 when i did receive my ph.d. that i was still the first. >> dr. shepherd's honors don't end there. for research on urban climates he received the presidential award, the highest nation for scientists and engineers under the age of 40. he made black enterprise magazine's 2005 hot list of top african-american professionals under 4o one of the other highlights of his career was when he got a job at nasa fulfilling a dream he had in high school. >> i graduated in 1987. in my valedictorian address, i mentioned i hoped to work for nasa one day, having no idea how that would happen.

once i knew that one of my dreams was about to be realized, it was really a rewarding experience, a humbling experience. >> after 12 years as a scientist, he left nasa and continues research for the university at university of georgia in athens and advises graduate and undergraduate students. he said he learned something important leaving one dream job for another. >> a lessen for myself and for others that although you have a nice set of goals you want to achieve in your life, sometimes our god or our circumstance will present another pathway that you might want to go down. i saw an opportunity to still maintain a vigorous and vibrant career, main stain strong ties to nasa, but also from a family perspective move back to my home state of georgia and actually have stronger ties with my family, particularly our parents, my mother-in-law and others in our family as they sage age. >> coming back home was a first

inspiration in achieving his dream. >> i grew up in a single-parent home with my mother who was an educator. she always emphasized the importance of education, and standing on your own and not following the crowd, which is what i wanted to do at that moment. she was a real strong inspiration, as was my sixth grade teacher, lilly mae nash who was very inspirational in teaching me the sigh tinnive -- scientific methods at a young age. >> marshall credits his mother to give him spiritual support to keep moving forward and that's something he and his wife keep alive in their own home. >> our faith keeps us grounded and keeps us moving, i mean, because it would be very easy to get overwhelmed with everything that both he and i have to do not only with the kids, but you know in day-to-day life, so it keeps us grounded. it keeps us knowing that we are striving for a different purpose, a better purpose, you know, that god has a plan for our lives and we have to do certain things to be accountable

to him. >> it strikes a special balance between his work and faith. >> many people that are scientists have a natural sort of tendency to be logical rational thinkers. i think those are ray tributes of scientists naturally, and i would probably fam into that category as well, but when it comes to faith in jesus christ, there there are some things in life that you just place faith in. i can use a meterological analysis, we can't see the winds but the trees blow. that's how we have to think about our spiritual faith as well. >> this perspective is a gift he puts to use spreading the word. >> he has those practical examples that help with the spiritual side, the spiritual growth, so he's able to share that with the class as well, so they have a good time. >> for us, he is a pioneer

because he has come in and just made himself part of this ministry in the church. a lot of times people come in and you have to beg them and pull them and nudge them along to get them to be active in the ministry. that did not happen with marshall. he just came in and got busy. >> according to his wife, there is one thing about marshall that makes all these different things work so well in his life. >> marshall doesn't know what it is to not be able to overcome an obstacle or a challenge, and it's amazing. i mean, to have someone that is always so determined and so driven at whatever it is, whether it's things at church he wants to make sure goes right or if it's with his kids, making sure he makes the right decisions at as the basketball coach, and in his professional career making sure he makes the right choices. >> dr. dr. shepherd's research

on hurricanes, to mentoring and advising to his family life to his work at church, they all share the same purposeful contribution to the greater good. >> hopefully future generations will maybe see me in the same way that i saw george washington carver, i see something in my career, see something in the way i carry myself or through my volunteer work with the fraternal organization or otherwise that inspires them to know that, you know, it's not only about what you do but also what you contribute and give back, not only professionally, but socially, culturely or in your church or wherever, and that's something that has always been a large part of my life as well. >> dr. jay marshall shepherd, using science in service of

>> she was simply known as the lady doctor, colorado's first licensed black female physician, born in 1871, just outside of galesburg, illinois. from the beginning, it seems she was destined to help others. >> from what we know about her family, her mother and her father were slaves, but her mother had this innate ability to be able to nurse people back to health, and so justine that would follow her around and see what she did, and we assume that that's where that ambition came from r >> her mother the nurse

supported her dream of becoming a doctor so she entered chicago's medical college in the early 1890's. >> in that time frame, women didn't do things like that, you know, they married. they raised the kids and they were housewives for the most part, but she was a very determined young lady. she wanted to be a doctor, and nothing would deter her from doing that. >> she finished her training and was licensed as a doctor in illinois in 1899. she set up practice in chicago for a short time, then moved to alabama to work for the state school and run a hospital there. while still in medical school, she married the reverend dr. john e. ford and moved when he later became pastor of zion baptist church in denver. getting licensed there was another matter entirely. >> and she would tell the story that the licensing examiner didn't want to grant her the license because she was colored,

and she was female, you know, two strikes. they called it two strikes, but she fought really hard and finally they did license her to practice medicine in the state of colorado. >> her choice to work mostly in patients' homes as an obstetrician, gynecologist and pediatrician was as a result of the discrimination she faced. >> the colorado medical society, they did not want to acknowledge her at all. they did not want her to work at a hospital, and this was one of the reasons that she just went into homes. she moved forward and didn't let that stop her. she went right on, and, you know, delivered these babies and was a pediatrician, and just helped all of these people throughout the community. >> after practicing medicine in colorado since 1902, she was finally allowed to join the denver and colorado medical society in 1950, gaining with it the right to admit patients to the hospital for the first time

in her career. according to census records between 1910 and 1930, she was denver's only female doctor. by 1950, she was still the only african-american female doctor in the state. even with all these challenges, she still made her mark on the city, and was well loved for the work she did. >> i remember dr. ford as a little lady, small in stature, but very dignified, and a powerful, sweet person. i remember her eyeglasses, and her little black hat and the little black bag she carried. she delivered all six of our kids in northeast denver. my mother never went to the hospital to deliver any of us. dr. ford delivered all six of us at the family home. it didn't matter what race, what culture, what your background was, if you grew up in denver, more than likely dr. ford

delivered you and treated you through childhood diseases and all of that. >> she delivered over, by her estimation, 7,0000 babies and they were african-american, there were some chinese, some japanese, a lot of latino families and i have met polish families. >> she learned a sampling of many languages to serve her immigrant patients and was sensitive to their cultural traditions. many who knew her credit her faith and spirit as the driving forces behind it all. >> she had a spiritual quality about her. she is just kind of innately knew what was happening or what was going on with the person, and she was a religious person, no question about that, but there was a certain quality about her that she just was able to connect with her patients and she had so much empathy for them. >> to serve as first lady of a

church, to deal with your own profession, and to also be the help mate to your husband, who is pastoring a church, you know that that person has to have strong faith. >> dr. ford made time to help others enter her profession, too. >> and a lot of students when she would come from one of her deliveries, this would be a lot of students on her porch. well, they are in good health from all indications so you know it only meant one thing, that they needed help in their studies, and so she was willing and able to oblige them. >> she also bought groceries and called for expecting mothers who couldn't afford, it even cooking dinner for the family while waiting for the baby to arrive, and all this she did without much concern for something in return. >> and the way she was repaid, if they didn't have money sometimes, they would give her a blanket, or things that were hand made, and she did all

right, now, she was not a poor person, but she gave so much of it back to the community. she was just a true humanitarian, just a beautiful, loving dedicated person, no matter whether you had money or not, that was not the issue. good medical care was the focus of her practice, and that's what she dedicated her life to. >> in some ways, dr. justina ford's work in the couldn't continues on today. the black american west museum is located in her former home and office in denver. >> i think it embodies what she believed in, and this is the perfect choice for the black american women community, because she was one of the many stories that brought fort women in these stories and had a hand in so many people's lives. this museum is about sharing those stories and the history and giving a voice to the

voiceless. >> dr. justina ford, pioneering

>> obstacles, trials and tests and pain, all cross our paths at one point or another but few of us can live a lifetime of

hardship and be loving, giving and accepting through it all -- that is, unless your name is aunt clara brown. >> aunt clara brown was born in virginia in 1803 and born to a slave. it took her until she was in her 50's to be able to buy herself out of slavery and at that time, she decided that because she was a good cook, she would team up with a wagon train of prospectors coming out of the west, because bone had been discovered at pike's peak in 1869. >> i got me a job on a wagon train, and i walked over 680 miles from kansas to colorado. >> and when her long journey was over, aunt clara got right down to business, first in denver, and then in central city, colorado. >> aunt clara brown was an entrepreneur. she opened the first laundry in the state of colorado, and she bought property, and she bought land, and within ten years was

considered one of the most wealthy women in the west. >> she was one that money wasn't important to her. it was only important for what she could donate money to, so different churches, individuals that needed money, she made sure they got it. >> she was like the grace of the west. when she came here, there were no hospitals. there were no churches. there were no schools. there were no hotels, and so she supported as a philanthropist anyone who kind of had a spirit to start a church, because she felt it was so wild and wooly and rambunctious that we need anybody who can call the name of god and show up here with a sense of spirit, and so a lot of her story is told in a lot of of the church historical books in colorado. >> aunt clara didn't just give money. when a church in central city didn't have a place to meet, the first sunday school in the area was held in her cabin. that's only one of the ways she gave of herself. >> she was a healer.

she helped to deliver babies. she was always willing to nurse a miner, a sick miner or the wife of one. she was a bone setter. aunt clara brown set bones in a time when the medical procedure of choice was amputation. so that alone earned her the nickname of the angel of the rockies. >> they would say aunt clara, if you would just help me to wash my clothes, if you would nurse me through this sickness, aunt clara, if you would just cook for me, if i strike it big in the mines, then i will share the wealth. of course, i did. and they did. >> when she was in her late 30's, her family was sold away from ler, and she had heard that her daughter was brought to denver, and after she was freed after a lifetime of servitude, she came to denver, and every time when someone came to the town, white or black, she asked

them, have you seen my daughter, this is her name, this is what she looks like. >> i promised myself that i would find eliza jane again before i died. >> aunt clara never gave up on finding her daughter. toward the end of her life, she took a trip that finally let her lay that burden down. >> i couldn't believe my eyes! for who had come to meet me at that train, but eliza jane! i was so happy. it had been 47 years since i seen her, but when i saw that gap in her mouth, i knew that was my baby, and that day was the best day in my life. >> aunt clara had some other good days. when she became the first black

inductee to the colorado society of pioneers, got a memorial seat at the central city opera house and stained glass window in her honor at the state capitol. her legacy more than the awards, good deeds or personal good days. it is her triumph of heart and spirit over the circumstances of her life. >> she had this high spirit that had her do all of this work, being born in incarceration, born in slavery, born in the condition of captivity, and she wasn't able to start any of that journey since she was 56 years old, but the gift aunt clara gave is that radical sense of forgiveness. >> i find inner strength and the lack of bitterness, because she served regardless of black or white or asian. you know, she was there for the community, and she took care of it as a whole. >> now, there have been times

when i felt like the lord was trying and testing me every step and every turn of the way, but somehow, always landed up on higher ground. ♪ there's a leak in this old building and my soul has got to my soul has got to move i said my soul got a little leak in this old building, y'all, and my soul has got to move to a building not made by man's hands ♪

the heritage focus profiles along with a promotional poster are available on dvd for school and/or church study groups at urbanministries.com under media products.