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.
Afro-British musician, composer, and orchestra leader Joseph Antonio Emidy is believed to have been born sometime in the year 1775 in Guinea, West Africa. Enslaved at age 12, Portuguese traders brought him to Brazil, where Jesuit priests, recognizing his natural talent and intelligence, taught him … Read MoreJoseph Antonio Emidy (a.k.a. Joseph Emedy and Joseph Emedee, 1775-1835)
Hilarius Gilges is the most well-known Afro-German activist who fought against the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party in the early interwar period. The son of a textile worker named Maria Stüttgen and an African boatman working on the Rhine, Gilges was … Read MoreHilarius Gilges (a.k.a. Lari Gilges, 1909-1933)
Clémence Botino, born to an Indo-Caribbean mother, Katia Botino, and an Afro-Caribbean father, Oliver Botino, on January 22, 1997, in Baie-Mahault on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, was named Miss France 2020. Her parents encouraged her interest in fashion, dance, music (she plays piano), … Read MoreClémence Botino (1997- )
Dr. Guillermo Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering, Professor of Surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, and the director of the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering (CARE). Dr. Ameer joined the … Read MoreGuillermo Ameer (?- )
Jesuit priest, missionary, diplomat, orator, and theologian Antônio Vieira was born in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, on February 6, 1608, the first of the four sons of Maria de Azevedo, a mulatto woman and civil servant Cristóvão Vieira Ravasco. At age six, when … Read MoreAntônio Vieira (1608-1697)
Polish freedom fighter, jazz musician, and British citizen August Agboola Browne was born in British-controlled Lagos, Nigeria, on July 22, 1895. He was the son of Jozefina and Wallace Browne, a longshoreman. Browne traveled to London as a young man and found work in a … Read MoreAugust Agboola Browne (1895-1976)
John Edmonstone was a Guyanese-born enslaved person and taxidermist who later became a taxidermy teacher in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edmonstone was best known as a mentor of young Charles Robert Darwin, who would become a renowned naturalist and geologist. Edmonstone was born into slavery on a … Read MoreJohn Edmonstone (? – ?)
Charles Wade Mills was a notable Caribbean-American political philosopher and distinguished professor. He was born in London on January 3, 1951 to Jamaican parents, Winnifred and Gladstone Mills, who were both pursuing their graduate degrees in the city. The couple returned to Kingston shortly after … Read MoreCharles Wade Mills (1951-2021)
Percy Chen, an Afro-Trinidadian Chinese lawyer, businessman, and political activist, was a founding member of the Hong Kong Bar Association. Born in Belmont, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 1901, he was the eldest of his parents’ seven children. His father, Eugene Chen, a Chinese lawyer … Read MorePercy Chen (1901-1989)
