Clarence Spigner, Author at • Page 2 of 2

Academic Historian

Clarence Spigner is a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina where he was raised in poverty and segregation. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health & Community Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. He has joint appointment in the International Health Program, the African Studies Program, and in the American Ethnic Studies Department. Spigner teaches and conducts research in the areas of health and race/ethnic relations and popular culture. He has published on tobacco-related behaviors among Asian youths and on knowledge and perceptions about organ donation among minority populations.

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Olaudah Equiano, whose father was an Ibo chief, was born in 1745 in what is now Southern Nigeria. At the age of 11 years, Olaudah was captured by African slave traders and sold into bondage in the New World. Equiano, given the name Gustavus Vassa … Read MoreOlaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Woody Strode (1914-1994)

Born July 28, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, Woody Strode (Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode) was first of the star football athletes to become a successful film actor. He and Kenny Washington integrated the National Football League (NFL), and Strode played for the Los Angeles Rams … Read MoreWoody Strode (1914-1994)

James Brown (1933-2006)

Born May 3, 1933, into poverty in racially segregated Barnwell, South Carolina, James Brown became the most assertively black rhythm and blues singer ever accorded mainstream acceptance before audiences throughout the world. Arrested for breaking and entering at age 15, Brown’s early run-ins with the … Read MoreJames Brown (1933-2006)

Harry Baird (1931-2005)

The physical presence that black British actor Harry Baird brought to the movie screen was largely a consequence of the United Kingdom going through the birthing pain of racism during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Guyana, this premier black actor was no Paul Robeson, … Read MoreHarry Baird (1931-2005)

Thomas E. Miller (1849-1938)

Politician and educator, Thomas E. Miller was born in Ferrebeeville, Beaufort County, South Carolina on June 17, 1849. Miller was the son of free black parents, and moved with them to Charleston, South Carolina in 1851 where he attended the all-black schools in the city. … Read MoreThomas E. Miller (1849-1938)

Louis T. Wright (1891-1952)

Louis Tompkins Wright, medical researcher, war hero and political activist, was born to former slaves in La Grange, Georgia on July 23, 1891. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Atlanta’s Clark University in 1911 and a medical degree from Harvard University Medical School in 1915. … Read MoreLouis T. Wright (1891-1952)

Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915)

Black Nationalist, repatriationist, and minister, Henry M. Turner was 31 years old at the time of the Emancipation. Turner was born in 1834 in Newberry Courthouse, South Carolina to free black parents Sarah Greer and Hardy Turner. The self-taught Turner by the age of fifteen … Read MoreHenry McNeal Turner (1834-1915)