Anna Micklin

Independent Historian

Anna T. Micklin is a 2008 graduate of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. At Evergreen she focused on expressive arts and cultural studies, specifically Francophone history, literature, art history and philosophy; including an independent project on The Negritude Movement. At UW she has been able to bridge these studies with her focus on African-American history and her continuing study of the French language. In 2006, Anna studied language and art-history in France, where she did research on the Franco-African art communities in Paris. She hopes to continue her work with a career in multi-cultural education and community-based arts.

Artur Davis (1967- )

Former Alabama Congressman Artur Genestre Davis was born on October 9, 1967 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was raised by his mother and grandmother and graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery in 1986. He received his degree Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in … Read MoreArtur Davis (1967- )

Paul Trévigne (1825-1908)

Creole New Orleans newspaper editor Paul Trévigne, the biracial son of a Battle of New Orleans veteran, was born in New Orleans in 1825. Trévigne was part of the free people of color community in Louisiana that protested racial injustice before the Civil War and … Read MorePaul Trévigne (1825-1908)

Louis Charles Roudanez (1823-1890)

Physician and newspaper publisher, Louis Charles Roudanez was born free in June of 1823 in Saint James Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of a French merchant named Louis Roudanez and a black woman named Aimée Potens. Though his baptismal record registers him as white, … Read MoreLouis Charles Roudanez (1823-1890)

Negritude Movement

The literary movement, Negritude, was born out of the Paris intellectual environment of 1930s and 1940s. It is a product of black writers joining together through the French language to assert their cultural identity. Aimé Césaire was the first to coin the word in his … Read MoreNegritude Movement

Homer Plessy (1863-1925)

Plaintiff for a landmark Supreme Court case, Homer A. Plessy was born on March 17, 1863 in New Orleans. He was a light-skinned Creole of Color during the post-reconstruction years. With the aid of the Comité des Citoyens, a black organization in New Orleans, Homer … Read MoreHomer Plessy (1863-1925)

Félix Houphouet-Boigny (1905-1993)

Félix Houphouet-Boigny was born near Yamoussoukro, the southern part of the Ivory Coast, on October 18, 1905. His father was a Boulé tribal chief and a wealthy cocoa farmer. At five years old, Houphouet-Boigny inherited his father’s chief status and his cocoa plantation. He studied … Read MoreFélix Houphouet-Boigny (1905-1993)

Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001)

Scholar, African traditionalist poet, and Senegal’s first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor was born on October 9, 1906 in Joal, Senegal. His father, Basie Diogoye Senghor, was a Malinké landowner. His mother, Gnilane Bakhoum, came from a Christian Fulani family. They gave Senghor a European name … Read MoreLéopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001)

Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986)

Distinguished historian and Pan-Africanist political leader, Cheikh Anta Diop was born in Diourbel, Senegal on December 23, 1933 to a Muslim Wolof family. Part of the peasant class, his family belonged to the African Mouride Islamic sect. Diop grew up in both Koranic and French … Read MoreCheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986)

Frantz Fanon (1925-1961)

Psychiatrist and anti-colonial cultural theorist, Frantz Fanon was born in the French West Indies, in Fort-de-France, Martinique on July 20, 1925. His father, Félix Casimir Fanon, was a black customs service inspector. His mother, Eléanore Médélice, was half French and owned a hardware and drapery … Read MoreFrantz Fanon (1925-1961)

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008)

Legendary poet and politician, Aimé Césaire, was born on July 26, 1913 in the small town of Basse-Pointe on the island of Martinique. His father was a tax inspector and his mother a dressmaker. Unlike the majority of lower-class Martinicans, Césaire was taught to read … Read MoreAimé Césaire (1913-2008)