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.
Born around 1480 in West Africa, Juan Garrido is the most prominent among the small group of African freemen who traveled to the Americas to take part in the Spanish conquest of the West Indies and Mexico in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries. … Read MoreJuan Garrido (c. 1480-c.1550)
Warrior king, empire builder and hero of the resistance against the French colonization of West Africa during the 19th century, Samori Touré was born around 1830 in the Milo River Valley in present-day Guinea. His father was a trader, leading Touré to follow his family’s … Read MoreSamori Touré (1830-1900)
Singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading, best known for her influential and eclectic music styles, ranging from soul, pop, and even reggae, was born on December 9, 1950 in Basseterre in Saint Kitts and Nevis. She lived there for seven years until her and her family … Read MoreJoan Armatrading (1950- )
Ahmad Sekou Toure in Bamako Image Ownership: Public Domain Ahmed Sékou Touré, first president of Guinea, trade unionist, Pan-Africanist and authoritarian leader, was born on January 9, 1922, at Faranah, Guinea, a town on the banks of the Niger River. His parents, Alpha Touré and … Read MoreAhmed Sékou Touré (1922-1984)
Born in 1856, Martín Morúa Delgado gained prominence as an Afro-Cuban writer and Cuba’s first black Senate president after the country’s war for independence against Spanish rule in the 1890s. Son of an African-slave mother, Ines Delgado, and Spanish father, Francisco Morúa, Martín Morúa Delgado … Read MoreMartín Morúa Delgado (1856-1910)
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio, prominent Brazilian politician and first Afro-Brazilian member of the senate in the country, was born on April 26, 1942, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to José Tobias de Souza and Maria da Conceição de Souza. Mother of two children, she … Read MoreBenedita da Silva (1942- )
Yvette M. Jarvis has the distinction of being the first African American woman elected to serve on the Athens, Greece City Council from 2002 to 2006. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957, Jarvis traveled to Greece in 1982 after graduating from Boston University (Massachusetts). … Read MoreYvette M. Jarvis (1957- )
Colonel Stephen Blucke led an all-black Regiment that fought for the British during the American Revolution. He settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia in 1783 and became a leader in the Black Loyalist community. During the Revolutionary War, the most famous of the Black Loyalist Military … Read MoreStephen Blucke (?-1792)
Elected in 1963 and named president in 1964, Jomo Kenyatta was the first president of Kenya and is still today often referred to as mzee (the Father of the Nation). Kenyatta was born under the name Kamau to Kikuyu parents in the town of Gatundu, … Read MoreJomo Kenyatta (c. 1894-1978)
Alfred Schmitz Shadd, a black educator, physician, farmer, politician, editor and civic leader was born in Raleigh, Ontario in 1870. He was the fourth son of Garrison and Harriet Poindexter Shadd, a distinguished abolitionist family. Shadd planned to become a doctor but trained as a … Read MoreDr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd (1870-1915)
