William Thomas Fontaine taught philosophy at Lincoln University, Southern University, Morgan State College, and for twenty years at the University of Pennsylvania. He was born in Chester Pennsylvania on December 2, 1909, the son of steelworker William Charles Fontaine and Mary Elizabeth Boyer. At age … Read MoreWilliam Thomas Fontaine (1909-1968)
Didier Yves Drogba Tebily, international soccer star, was born March 11, 1978 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). His early childhood was spent in poverty. In an attempt to improve their son’s life, Didier’s parents sent him to France when he was just 5 years … Read MoreDidier Drogba (1978- )
Elaine Jones, the first woman to administer the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund (NAACP-LDF), was born in Norfolk, Virginia on March 2, 1944, the daughter of a railroad porter and a school teacher. She received a Bachelor … Read MoreElaine R. Jones (1944- )
Visual artist Lois Mailou Jones was born in 1905 in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas Vreeland and Carolyn Dorinda Jones. Her father was a superintendent of a building and later became a lawyer, her mother was a cosmetologist. Early in life Jones displayed a passion for … Read MoreLois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)
Former Alabama Congressman Artur Genestre Davis was born on October 9, 1967 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was raised by his mother and grandmother and graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery in 1986. He received his degree Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in … Read MoreArtur Davis (1967- )
Daniel Haynes is best remembered for his portrayal of the preacher in the 1929 film Hallelujah, one of the earliest Hollywood films to examine black culture in America. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1894, Haynes made his screen debut as a bit player in the … Read MoreDaniel Haynes (1894-1954)
In an era when both movies and audiences were segregated, Lorenzo Tucker became African America’s leading man. Tucker was born in Philadelphia in 1907 to parents John and Virginia Lee Tucker. Lorenzo Tucker studied photography in trade school and briefly attended Temple University, where he … Read MoreLorenzo Tucker (1907-1986)
Maidie Norman, who appeared in more than 200 Hollywood films, was born in Georgia in 1912 to Louis and Lila Gamble. Her father was an engineer and her mother was a homemaker. Norman received a B.A. in Literature and Theatre Arts from Bennett College in … Read MoreMaidie Norman (1912-1998)
Nina Mae McKinney, one of the first African American leading actresses in Hollywood, was born Nannie Mayme McKinney in 1913. The Lancaster, South Carolina native was reared by her great-aunt, Carrie Sanders on the Estate of Colonel LeRoy Sanders, where her family had worked for … Read MoreNina Mae McKinney (1913-1967)
Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. was a highly decorated Navy officer who pioneered the way with a multitude of firsts for African Americans in the military. Some of his most notable achievements included being the first African American Navy Vice Admiral, the first African American to … Read MoreSamuel Lee Gravely (1922-2004)
