The following are short descriptions of the women and men who have contributed to the shaping of Global African 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.
Maria Firmina dos Reis was the founding mother of Afro-Brazilian literature. Úrsula (1859) was the first abolitionist novel written by a woman and it included the perspective of the enslaved. She was born on October 11, 1825 (or March 11, 1822 depending on source) in … Read MoreMaria Firmina dos Reis (1825-1917)
María Elena Moyano Delgado was an Afro-Peruvian community organizer and mother whose assassination by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) sparked a public outcry bringing attention to her work and the plight of economically marginalized women. Born on November 23, 1958 in Barranco District, Lima to … Read MoreMaría Elena Moyano Delgado (1958-1992)
Lydia Fedorovna Arkhipova was a prolific painter who achieved fame in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and abroad. She also developed her original style which challenged the major trends in Soviet-era art. Arkhipova’s father was Frederick Bruce Thomas, widely known before the Russian Revolution … Read MoreLydia Fedorovna Arkhipova (1914-1997)
María Teresa Vera was an Afro-Cuban guitarist, singer, and composer, who is held up as an example of the Cuban “trova” movement. Trova is a rural folk style of music and Vera’s career was extraordinary for a woman of her time. “Viente Anos,” (Twenty Years) … Read MoreMaría Teresa Vera (1895-1965)
Dominga de la Cruz-Becerril, socialist, lecturer, poet, and declamadora, was born April 22, 1909 in Bueno Aires, Ponce, Puerto Rico (PR) to Catalina Becerril of Fajardo and Domingo Clarillo Cruz of Ponce. Reared in Mayagüez, both parents and godparents died while she was a pre-teen. … Read MoreDominga Cruz-Becerril (1909-1981)
Clive Mensah died at the hands of police in his own back yard in Mississauga, Ontario, a city west of Toronto, on Nov. 20, 2019. In March 2021, the Ontario police watchdog unit ruled there would be no criminal charges against the officers involved in … Read MoreClive Mensah (1989-2019)
John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was a politician who served as the fifth President of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021. Magufuli was born on October 29, 1959, in Chato, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), to John Joseph Magufuli and an unnamed mother. Growing up, Magufuli attended the Chato … Read MoreJohn Pombe Joseph Magufuli (1959- )
On April 6, 2020, 26-year-old D’Andre Campbell of Brampton, Ontario, called 911 for help because he was in mental distress and wanted to go to a hospital. Within minutes of Peel Regional Police arriving at his home, two officers tasered him and one shot and … Read MoreD’Andre Anthony Campbell (1993-2020)
Robert Kyagulanyi “Bobi Wine” Ssentamu is a Ugandan politician, singer, actor, and businessman. Bobi Wine was born on February 12, 1982 in Nkozi, Uganda. He grew up in the Kamwekya slums in the northeast part of Kampala, Uganda and attended Kitante Hill Senior Secondary School, … Read MoreRobert Kyagulanyi “Bobi Wine” Ssentamu (1982- )
Conductor, clarinetist, and composer W. Rudolph Dunbar was born on November 26, 1907, in Nabaclis, Guyana. At the age of nine, his musical genius apparent, he was invited to serve as a clarinetist in the British Guiana Militia Band. After a brief apprenticeship for stellar … Read MoreW. Rudolph Dunbar (1907-1988)
