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.
Alfred-Amédée Dodds, one of the ablest French army generals in the late 19th century, was mixed-race. Dodds was born February 6, 1842 in Saint-Louis, Senegal. He was the oldest of the seven children of Antoine Henry Ermery Dodds, a metis (mixed race) director of the … Read MoreAlfred-Amédée Dodds (1842-1922)
Barack Obama Sr., father of the 43rd President of the United States, was born in the Rachuonyo District, in the then British colony of Kenya, on June 18, 1936, to Onyango Obama and Habiba Akumu Nyanjango. He was raised in the Nyang’oma Kogelo village, Siaya … Read MoreBarack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936-1982)
Derek Burton, the former University of Michigan distinguished classics professor, is the current Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong. Born August 24, 1965 in Washington, D.C., he is the son of retirees James Burton Collins, who had worked as … Read MoreDerek Burton Collins (1965- )
The transition of African American actress Meghan Markle to Duchess of Sussex in 2019 brought about by her marriage to Prince Harry, a member of the British royal family, overshadowed the earlier occurrence of the first person of African descent to marry into European royalty … Read MorePrincess Angela of Liechtenstein (née Angela Gisela Brown, 1958- )
The East African presence in the royal courts of India can be traced back to the 13th century. By the 16th century several Abyssinians (or Habshis as they were known there), the descendants of Ethiopian slaves, had become military generals and government ministers in Delhi … Read MoreIkhlas Khan (a.k.a. Malik Raihan Habshi, ?-1656)
In the northernmost of Nordic countries and the one with the smallest minority race population, a person of African heritage was crowned 2019 Miss Universe Iceland. Brita Abiba Þórhallsdóttir (the Icelandic letter Þ is the equivalent of th in English) was born January 9, 1999, … Read MoreBrita Ababa Þórhallsdóttir (1999- )
Herman Perry was the target of the “Greatest Manhunt of World War II.” In fact, there is no comparable search for a fugitive soldier in the annals of U.S. military history. Perry was born in poverty on May 16, 1922, in rural Monroe, North Carolina, … Read MoreHerman Perry (1922-1945)
In 2019 Ernest N. Ezeajughi was elected Mayor of the London Borough of Brent, population 331,000. He was born in 1960 in Awgbu Town in southern Nigeria, Anambra State, the son of Sir Simeon Okeke Ezeajughi, an educator and prominent politician. After attendance at Aguata … Read MoreErnest Nnaama Ezeajughi (1960- )
Few in the audience that began watching the 2019 Miss Universe Ireland Contest could have predicted that the winner, Fionnghuala O’Reilly, would not only be of African descent but also had arrived far from the shores of the Emerald Isle. Born August 20, 1993 in … Read MoreFionnghuala Isibeal Tome O’Reilly, (1993- )
One of the most prominent government ministers in Singapore in the 1950s was Mak Pak Shee whose “very dark” skin tone did not seem to retard his other careers as doctor and businessman. Often said to have been of part Chinese, part Indian ancestry, it … Read MoreMak Pak Shee (1916- ?)
