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.
Queen Nandi was a South African Zulu Queen, mother to Shaka Zulu. She was born Nandi Ndlovukazi kaBhebe in Melmoth, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in the 1760s. The word, Nandi, means The Sweet One. Her father, Bhebhe, was a minor chief. According … Read MoreQueen Nandi (1766-1827)
Bibi Titi Mohammed was a Tanzanian politician and activist. She was born in June 1926 in Dar es Salaam, then the capital of the British colony of Tanganyika. Mohammed was a member of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the party that fought for Tanzanian … Read MoreBibi Titi Mohammed (1926-2000)
Lewis Chitengwa was a Zimbabwean golfer who, in 1993, became the first black person to win the South African Amateur Championship. Chitengwa was born on January 25, 1975, to Lewis Muridzo and an unnamed mother in Harare, Zimbabwe. Chitengwa’s father was an accomplished golf professional … Read MoreLewis Chitengwa (1975-2001)
Cape Verde independence activist, women’s rights activist, and pharmacist Isaura Tavares Gomes was born on February 22, 1944, in Santiago, Praia, Sotavento Islands, Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), one of the smallest nations globally, comprising ten islands and five islets off the western coast of the … Read MoreIsaura Tavares Gomes (1944- )
Thérèse Sita-Bella, born Thérèse Bella Mbida in 1933, was a Cameroonian film director who is widely acknowledged as the first female filmmaker in Africa. She was born to the Beti tribe in southern Cameroon, then a French colony, and received her education from Catholic missionaries. … Read MoreThérèse Sita-Bella (1933-2006)
Aviation pioneer Sibongile Sambo, who was born in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa, in 1974, holds the distinction of being the first woman to become a South African airline executive. Sambo founded SRS Aviation in 2004. She is a graduate of the College of Zululand, where … Read MoreSibongile Sambo (1974- )
Stella Chinyelu Okoli is a Nigerian pharmacist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. She is the founder and current CEO of Emzor, a pharmaceutical company she started in 1977. Okoli was born on July 30, 1944, in Kano State to Felix Ebelechukwu and Margaret Modebelu. She attended All … Read MoreStella Chinyelu Okoli (1944- )
Yewubdar Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou was an Ethiopian nun and musician. Her music reflected a life that experienced several unexpected moves as well as a devotional commitment to Christian orthodoxy. Yewubdar was born in Addis Ababa on December 12, 1923, to Kessaye Yelemtu, a relative of … Read MoreEmahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (1923-2023)
In the article below, historian Amy Sommers describes the February 1936 meeting of Howard Thurman in India with Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of that nation’s non-violence campaign for political independence from Great Britain. She argues that the meeting influenced Thurman’s views on the subject and … Read MoreOn the Origins of Non-Violence in the Civil Rights Movement: Howard Thurman in South Asia, 1935-1936
In a sport historically defined as elitist and white, Privel Hinkati, born in Caen, France, and dual citizen of Benin, pushed past stigma and became one of only a handful of Black athletes (and the first from Benin) in history to compete in the sport … Read MorePrivel Hinkati (1988-)
