Jesmyn Ward, an acclaimed American writer and an associate professor of English at Tulane University, was born in 1977, in DeLisle, Mississippi, the town where she grew up and where she now again lives. She is the only woman to have won two National Books Awards, the first in 2011 … Read MoreJesmyn Ward (1977- )
Rosalind G. Brewer is an American businesswoman and the first African American woman to become chief operations officer (COO) of Starbucks. Brewer was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1962. She was the youngest of five children and they were the first generation in her family to go to college. … Read MoreRosalind G. Brewer (1962- )
The Ferguson Unrest and Ferguson Riots were a series of several riots and protest triggered by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, U.S. by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, on August 9th, 2014. Exact details on the incident remain uncertain … Read MoreFerguson Riot and Ferguson Unrest (2014-2015)
Legal scholar and author James Forman Jr. (a.k.a. James Robert Lumumba Forman) was born in New York City, New York on June 22, 1967. His mother, political activist Constancia Romilly, was the daughter of English author and journalist Jessica Mitford; his father, James Forman, Sr., played a prominent role … Read MoreJames Forman Jr. (1967- )
The Vineyard of Château Hough was founded by Mansfield Frazier in 2010 in Hough, a working-class neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. This vineyard at the intersection of 66th Street and Hough Avenue, is among the first in America to build upon repurposed land. It is also unique as it … Read MoreChâteau Hough (2010- )
Justice Michael Douglas is the first African American Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. He was first appointed in 2004 and has twice served as Chief Justice of the court. Justice Douglas was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from California State Long Beach in 1971 and Hastings Law School in 1974. … Read MoreMichael L. Douglas (1948- )
Marielle Franco was a Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) city councilmember, and member of the Party for Socialism and Liberty. She was also a member of the LGBT community and a human rights activist, especially against police brutality in the favelas, or slums of the city. On March 14, 2018, she was shot … Read MoreMarielle Franco (1979-2018)
Thirty-eight-year old politician Melvin Carter III was born in 1979 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the first African American to serve as Mayor of the second-largest city in Minnesota. Carter was elected in November 2017 and sworn in on January 2, 2018. During his campaign, he received … Read MoreMelvin Carter (1979- )
David Khari Webber Chappelle, best known as Dave Chappelle, was born on August 24, 1973, to William Chappelle, Professor of statisitcs at Antioch College, and Yvonne Chappelle, an English Professor at Howard University and the University of Maryland. His childhood was then shared between Yellow Springs, Ohio and Washington D.C. Chappelle was … Read MoreDavid Chappelle (1973- )
Hilton Als is an American writer and art critic who was born in 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, the child of two Barbados immigrants. Raised by his mother with his five siblings, four sisters and one brother, he studied art history at Columbia University but dropped out before graduation and became a … Read MoreHilton Als (1960- )
