Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the current Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the first non-physician to hold the position. Ghebreyesus was born in 1965 in Asmara, Eritrea, East Africa, to Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Melashu Weldegabir. He attended the University of Asmara … Read MoreTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (1965- )
Ermias Joseph “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom was a Grammy-nominated rapper and songwriter. Nipsey Hussle was born on August 15, 1985 in Los Angeles, California, to Dawit Asghedom, an Eritrean immigrant, and Angelique Smith an African American from Los Angeles. He also had an older brother, Samiel … Read MoreNipsey Hussle (1985-2019)
Emperor Menelik II was one of Ethiopia’s greatest leaders, ruling as King and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913. He was born Sahle Miriam on August 17, 1884, in Ankober, Shewa, Ethiopia. His mother, Woizero Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo, was a palace servant, and his … Read MoreEmperor Menelik II (Sahle Miriam) (1844-1913)
Haben Girma, both blind and deaf, is a disability rights advocate and attorney who became the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School in Massachusetts when she graduated with a Juris Doctor degree (JD) in 2013. Girma was born on July 29, 1988, … Read MoreHaben Girma (1988- )
The Second Italo-Abyssinian War was Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia, a process it began after the 1885 Partition of Africa. Italy was defeated in its first attempt at conquest at the battle of Adwa in 1896, allowing Ethiopia to become the only African nation to remain … Read MoreThe Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935–1936)
Following the Partition of Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1885, Prime Minister Francesco Crispi of Italy began his nation’s colonization in Africa. Italy focused on the Red Sea because of its trade routes to Asia and East Africa, and subsequently stationed troops in the … Read MoreThe Italo-Abyssinian War (1889-1896)
Ambassador William Davis Clark was born in 1941. Currently, he is retired and resides with his wife, Katsuko M. Clarke, in Maryland. Clarke has two sons William Clarke Jr. and Robert Clarke, and one daughter, Christina Armstrong. In 1963, Clarke earned his bachelor’s degree at … Read MoreWilliam D. Clarke, Sr. (1941-)
Ambassador Sue Katherine Brown is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor. In 2011 President Barack Obama nominated her to become the U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro, the first African American to hold this post and only the second … Read MoreSue K. Brown (1948- )
John F. Hicks is a diplomat and global educator who served as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN). A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, Hicks was born in 1949. Hicks holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Morehouse College, a diploma … Read MoreJohn F. Hicks (1949- )
In the extended article that appears below historians Daudi Abe and Quintard Taylor explore the history of African Americans in King County from 1858 to 2014. They analyze the forces which encouraged people of African ancestry to settle in the county and discuss the rapid … Read MoreFrom Memphis and Mogadishu: The History of African Americans in King County, Washington, 1858-2014
