The following are short descriptions of the women and men who have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Educator Lulu Merle Johnson was born on September 14, 1907, in the town of Gravity, Iowa to Jeanette (Burton) and Richard Johnson. Her mother was the daughter of freed slaves, and her father, formerly enslaved, owned and operated his own barbershop. The family were the … Read MoreLulu Merle Johnson (1907-1995)
Paul B. Cornely is remembered today as a public health pioneer and civil rights leader whose activism contributed to the desegregation of national healthcare. Dr. Cornely was born on March 9, 1906. on the island of Guadeloupe in the West Indies and grew up in … Read MorePaul B. Cornely (1906-2002)
Poet and activist Amanda S. C. Gorman was born on March 7, 1998, in Los Angeles, California. She has an older brother, Spencer, and a twin sister, Gabrielle. All three were raised by single mother Joan Wicks, a sixth grade English Teacher. Amanda was born … Read MoreAmanda S. C. Gorman (1998- )
Robert Rihmeek Williams, also known as Meek Mill, is a rapper, songwriter, and activist. Williams was born on May 6, 1987 to Kathy Williams and an unnamed father in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Williams’s father died when he was five years old in a robbery attempt. Growing … Read MoreMeek Mill/ Robert Rihmeek Williams (1987- )
Legendary rapper, composer, actor, and activist Kurtis Blow was born on August 9, 1959, in Harlem, New York, as Kurt Walker. His mother was a dancer in Harlem during the Renaissance at the Savoy and the Cotton Club. At the age of seven, Blow’s mother … Read MoreKurtis Blow (1959- )
Opera singer, actor, and pedagogic Adele Addison Berger was born on July 24, 1925, in Harlem, New York. Addison, a soprano, began singing and studying piano at an early age. She was also diagnosed with type two diabetes at the age of five, and her … Read MoreAdele Addison Berger (1925- )
The 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion Zaila Avant-garde was born in 2007, in Harvey, Louisiana, to Alma Heard and Jawara Spacetime. Her father gave her the last name Avant-garde in tribute to his favorite album by musician John Coltrane of the same name. Avante-garde … Read MoreZaila Avant-garde (2007- )
Frederick Stephen Humphries Sr., university president, professor, and HBCU advocate, was born December 26, 1935, in Apalachicola, Florida to Minnie Fry Henry, a domestic servant and teacher, and Thornton Govan Humphries Sr., a lumber mill worker and salter. A lifelong Catholic, Humphries was influenced by … Read MoreFrederick Humphries (1935-2021)
Bobby Eugene Wright, Pan-African clinical psychologist, mental health administrator, and theorist, was born March 1, 1934 in Anniston, Alabama. Reared in Hobson City, Alabama’s first all-Black town, by mother Myrtle M. Johnson, stepmother Zellar C. Royle, and father, Bennie Henry Wright (1904-1949), a Monsanto Chemical … Read MoreBobby Wright (1934-1982)
Rapper and songwriter Cardi B was born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, New York, on October 11, 1992. Her mother, Carla, is from Trinidad, and worked as a cashier, and her father Carlos, is from the Dominican Republic and worked … Read MoreBelcalis Marlenis “Cardi B” Almanzar (1992- )
