Harriet Elam-Thomas is a diplomat and professor who served as United States Ambassador to Senegal from 1999 to 2002. She retired in 2005 from the U.S. State Department as a Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Career Minister. Born on September 15, 1941 … Read MoreHarriet Elam-Thomas (1941- )
On July 2, 2009 President Barack Obama appointed Gayleatha Beatrice Brown to be the United States ambassador to Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa. This was her second ambassadorial appointment. Previously, Brown had been appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as U.S. … Read MoreGayleatha Beatrice Brown (1947-2013)
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- )
Cynthia Shepard Perry, a Republican and 25 year career diplomat, has served three Republican presidents. President Ronald Reagan appointed her as Chief of Education and Human Resources of the U.S. Agency for International Development where she served from 1982 to 1986, and named her Ambassador … Read MoreCynthia Shepard Perry (1928- )
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, longtime dictator and military leader of the Central African Republic, was born in Bobangui, Oubangui-Chari, French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African Republic) on February 22, 1921. Bokassa’s father, a village chief of the Mbaka people, was murdered in November 1927 for refusing to … Read MoreJean-Bédel Bokassa (1921-1996)
The African Democratic Rally, known as Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), was the first French-speaking Pan-African organization. Created in 1946 at Bamako, Sudan (now Mali), it emerged when African nationalist and anti-colonialist movements were growing rapidly at the end of World War II. In 1945 the … Read MoreAfrican Democratic Rally (1946- )
Warrior king, empire builder and hero of the resistance against the French colonization of West Africa during the 19th century, Samori Touré was born around 1830 in the Milo River Valley in present-day Guinea. His father was a trader, leading Touré to follow his family’s … Read MoreSamori Touré (1830-1900)
Alfred Schmitz Shadd, a black educator, physician, farmer, politician, editor and civic leader was born in Raleigh, Ontario in 1870. He was the fourth son of Garrison and Harriet Poindexter Shadd, a distinguished abolitionist family. Shadd planned to become a doctor but trained as a … Read MoreDr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd (1870-1915)
Félix Houphouet-Boigny was born near Yamoussoukro, the southern part of the Ivory Coast, on October 18, 1905. His father was a Boulé tribal chief and a wealthy cocoa farmer. At five years old, Houphouet-Boigny inherited his father’s chief status and his cocoa plantation. He studied … Read MoreFélix Houphouet-Boigny (1905-1993)
