Maria Quintana, Author at

Academic Historian

Maria L. Quintana is Assistant Professor of History at Sacramento State University, where she teaches courses on race and empire, civil rights and labor history, immigration history, and Latinx history. She is the author of Contracting Freedom: Race, Empire, and U.S. Guestworker Programs (2022) and received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2016. Before moving to Sac State, she taught at San Francisco State University in the College of Ethnic Studies for three years. She was also a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University’s Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration.

Gordon McHenry Jr. (1957- )

Image Courtesy of Seattle University Gordon McHenry is a contemporary community leader in Seattle’s non-profit social services institutions. McHenry’s father, Gordon McHenry, was the first in his family to graduate from college and the first African American engineer promoted into management at the Boeing Company. … Read MoreGordon McHenry Jr. (1957- )

Freeman A. Hrabowski III (1950- )

Influential educational leader Freeman A. Hrabowski III has occupied many roles in his life, as a child civil rights activist in the 1960s, as professor, as university president, as philanthropist, and as consultant. He was born on August 13, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama to parents … Read MoreFreeman A. Hrabowski III (1950- )

Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

Artist Jean Michel Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960 to a Puerto Rican mother, Matilde Andradas, and a Haitian father, Gérard Basquiat, who raised him in the Puerto Rican barrio of Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York. Fluent in English, Spanish, and French, Basquiat … Read MoreJean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

Godwin O. Ajala (1968-2001)

Godwin Ajala is remembered as a U.S. national hero who fought to save the lives of countless people as they escaped from the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001. He is also the only Nigerian listed among the nearly 3,000 people who died … Read MoreGodwin O. Ajala (1968-2001)

Celia Cruz (1925-2003)

Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa,” was one of the most notable 20th Century ambassadors of Cuban culture. Cruz was born “Ursula Hilaria Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso” to working-class parents in Havana, Cuba. Her father, Simon Cruz, was a railroad stoker, and her mother, Catalina … Read MoreCelia Cruz (1925-2003)

Usain St. Leo Bolt (1986- )

Image Courtesy of Erik van Leeuwen (GNU Free Documentation) Usain Bolt, known as the “fastest man on earth,” has won a phenomenal eight Olympic gold medals the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, making Olympic history. He has also broken multiple world records Bolt was born … Read MoreUsain St. Leo Bolt (1986- )

bell hooks/Gloria Jean Watkins (1952-2021)

Writer, teacher, and cultural critic bell hooks was born Gloria Jean Watkins on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to a working-class family. Her father, Veodis Watkins, was a janitor for the local post office, and her mother, Rosa Bell Watkins, was a homemaker, raising … Read Morebell hooks/Gloria Jean Watkins (1952-2021)

Ashanti Empire/ Asante Kingdom (18th to late 19th century)

The Ashanti Empire was a pre-colonial West African state that emerged in the 17th century in what is now Ghana. The Ashanti or Asante were an ethnic subgroup of the Akan-speaking people, and were composed of small chiefdoms. The Ashanti established their state around Kumasi … Read MoreAshanti Empire/ Asante Kingdom (18th to late 19th century)

Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817)

Islamic preacher, reformer, scholar, and statesman, Usman dan Fodio was born on December 15, 1754 in the village of Maratta, in the Hausa city-state of Gobir, in what is today northern Nigeria. He was a descendant of the early Fulani settlers in Hausaland in the … Read MoreUsman dan Fodio (1754-1817)

Addie Waites Hunton (1866-1943)

Educator, civil rights activist, writer, suffragist, and political organizer, Addie Waites Hunton was born in Norfolk, Virginia on June 11, 1866, to Jesse and Adeline Waites. After her mother died when she was very young, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts to live with her maternal … Read MoreAddie Waites Hunton (1866-1943)