The following are short descriptions of individuals, places and events which 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.
The African National Congress (ANC) was formed in South Africa on January 18, 1912, when a group of Africans, Colored, and Indians convened a meeting in Bloemfontein to create the South African Native National Congress. The name was officially changed to the African National Congress … Read MoreAfrican National Congress (ANC)
Many Europeans have long exhibited a fascination with the African continent. However their knowledge of Africa was often incorrect or incomplete. In the following article University of Cincinnati historian John K. Brackett describes the Italian idea of Africa during the 15th and 16th Centuries. An … Read MoreAfrica and Africans in the Imagination of Renaissance Italians (1450-1630)
Eshetu Chole was Ethiopia’s leading economist prior to his death in 1998. His research and publications encompassed an extraordinary breadth: agriculture, industrial and social development, fiscal policy, macro- and microeconomics, and human development at national and regional levels. He was also a budding poet. Chole … Read MoreEshetu Chole (1945-1998)
Berhanu Nega was elected mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the Ethiopian general elections, 2005. He is a founding chairman of the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice and a Deputy Chairman of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), for which he served … Read MoreBerhanu Nega (1958- )
Lincoln Alexander, prominent attorney and politician, was born on January 21, 1922 in Toronto, Ontario, the son of West Indian immigrants. His mother was a maid, and his father a carpenter by training. In Canada, however, he had to work as a railway porter, which in … Read MoreLincoln MacCauley Alexander (1922-2012)
Portia White was the first Afro-Canadian singer trained only in Canada to reach an international stage. As an African-Canadian, her popularity helped to open previously closed doors for talented blacks who followed. Portia May White was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, the third child of … Read MorePortia White (1911-1968)
Robert Nesta Marley was born on February 6, 1945, on his grandfather Omeriah Malcolm’s farm in the rural interior of the island of Jamaica at Nine Mile, Rhoden Hall, St. Ann Parish . His mother was an eighteen-year-old black Jamaican named Cedella Malcolm. His father … Read MoreBob Marley (1945-1981)
Born in Ethiopia in 1937, Alexander Skunder Boghossian first rose to prominence at the age of 17 when he won second prize for his painting at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie I. The following year he was awarded a scholarship to … Read MoreAlexander Skunder Boghossian (1937-2003)
Mengistu Haile Mariam, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Ethiopian Army, led a coup which ousted Emperor Haile Selassie from power in 1974. Mengistu took control of the government and served as its Communist head of state in Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He formally … Read MoreMengistu Haile Mariam (1937- )
Born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais in Brazil, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known to the world as “Pelé,” is revered as one of the most influential football (soccer) players in history. From the time he began his legendary football career at … Read MorePelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) (1940-2022)
