University professor and political activist Beverley Bryan was born in 1950 in Portland, Jamaica. Her Jamaican parents were part of the “Windrush” generation, the post-World War II migration Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Great Britain, Northern Europe, and the United States. Bryan’s family eventually settled in the Brixton section of London, UK where there was … Read More … Read MoreBeverley Bryan (1950- )
In 1958, Barbara Ann Posey, then a high school student, emerged as one of the most important youth leaders in the campaign which began that year to desegregate the major public accommodations in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Posey’s public stand against racial injustice began when she … Read More … Read MoreBarbara Ann Posey Jones (1943- )
The Changamire dynasty of rulers emerged from the Shona people who had founded the state of Monomutapa around 1500. Named after its founder Changa (also known as Changamir), Changamire had been a province of Monomutapa but with the rise of civil wars and the Portuguese … Read More … Read MoreChangamire (ca. 1500-1830)
Bridget “Biddy” Mason, born a slave in Mississippi in 1818, achieved financial success that enabled her to support her extended family for generations despite the fact that she was illiterate. In a landmark case she sued her master for their freedom, saved her earnings, invested … Read More … Read MoreBridget “Biddy” Mason (1818-1891)
Linda Thomas-Greenfield is the new United States Ambassador to the United Nations, a Cabinet-level post in the President Joseph Biden Administration. Born in Baker, Louisiana circa 1952, Linda Thomas-Greenfield graduated from a segregated high school in 1970. The first in her family to graduate from … Read More … Read MoreLinda Thomas-Greenfield (1952- )
Sheryl Patrice Underwood is a comedian, actress, and talk show host. Underwood was born on October 28, 1963, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Joyce Evelyn and Cleo Underwood. She has been very vocal about the various traumas she has experienced in her life since birth. … Read More … Read MoreSheryl Patrice Underwood (1963- )
Actor and comedian Kenan Thompson was born on May 10, 1978, to Fletcher and Elizabeth Ann Thompson in Columbus, Ohio. When he was nine months old, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. At age five, his mother enrolled him in acting classes. Thompson’s first acting … Read More … Read MoreKenan Thompson (1978- )
Internationally regarded as a thoughtful and compassionate voice for social justice, Randall C. Robinson, the son of Richmond, Virginia school teachers, was born July 6, 1941. He spent three years at Norfolk State College on a basketball scholarship and after service in the military earned … Read More … Read MoreRandall Robinson (1941- )
Tommy Johnson is one of the most exemplary of all the Delta bluesmen. Though he recorded only fourteen titles between 1928 and 1930, almost all of these compositions became classics: for example “Big Road Blues,” “Cool Drink of Water,” and “Slidin’ Delta.” One of them, … Read More … Read MoreTommy Johnson (1896-1956)
Whitney Houston, singer and actress, sold close to 100 million albums worldwide during her lifetime. Her recognitions include two Emmy Awards, five Grammy Awards, 19 American Music Awards, five People’s Choice Awards, five Soul Train Awards, and seven NAACP Image Awards. Houston was born in … Read More … Read MoreWhitney Houston (1964-2012)
