Leading jazz innovator Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins was born in New York on September 7, 1930. He was raised by his grandmother who had migrated to the United States from the Virgin Islands. “Sonny” Rollins came of age in Harlem in the late 1940s and … Read MoreSonny Rollins (1930- )
Redd Foxx was born John Elroy Stanford on December 9, 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1926 his father, an electrician, abandoned the family. Shortly afterward, he and his mother moved to Chicago to live with his grandmother. While in high school he formed a … Read MoreRedd Foxx (1922-1991)
Rudolph Fisher was a physician, orator, music arranger, and writer during the Harlem Renaissance. While published in many medical journals, his literary work graced the pages of Redbook and Story Magazine. His first short story, “City of Refuge,” which depicted the clashes between the newly … Read MoreRudolph Fisher (1897-1934)
Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe from its independence in 1980 until he was forced to step down in 2017. He remained in power through his tight control of the government bureaucracy and the armed forces. Robert Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924, at Katuma Jesuit … Read MoreRobert Gabriel Mugabe (1924-2019)
Star baseball player Reginald Martinez Jackson was born on May 18, 1946 in Wyncote, Pennsylvania to Martinez Jackson and Clara Jackson. Young Reggie Jackson was raised by his father, a former Negro League baseball player, after his parents divorced when he was six. Jackson attended … Read MoreReginald Martinez Jackson (1946- )
Hall-of-Fame football player Walter Jerry Payton was born on July 25, 1954 in Columbia, Mississippi. He was one of three children born to Edward and Alyne Payton. Young Payton played a number of sports with his brother, Eddie. Payton attended John Jefferson High School, an … Read MoreWalter Jerry Payton (1954-1999)
Early 20th Century Seattle civil rights activist Letitia Ann Dennie Graves was born in 1863 in Illinois to Martha Murphy and George Dennie. Very little is known about Graves’s early life other than the fact that she and her husband, John Henry Graves, a Kansas … Read MoreLetitia A. Graves (1863-1952)
Homestead Grays was one of the most successful of the professional Negro League baseball teams. They won ten Negro National League Titles (1937-1945, 1948) and three Negro League World Series Titles (1943-1944, 1948), where they played the champion of the Negro American League. The team was … Read MoreHomestead Grays (1912-1950)
Emmett Chappelle, inventor, was born in Phoenix, Arizona on October 25, 1925. His scientific research and the 14 United States patents he received for his inventions make Chapelle’s contributions vital to the scientific world. Much about Chappelle’s earlier life cannot be ascertained. He attended the … Read MoreEmmett Chappelle (1925-2019)
Rhythm and blues (R&B), jazz, and blues singer Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938 in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles to Dorothy Hawkins, who at the time was sixteen years old and unmarried. James received her first professional training as … Read MoreEtta James (1938-2012)
