In June 2021, Dr. Chibundu Onuzo exemplified the range of her talents when she released a music video entitled “Good Soil” to accompany the publication of her third novel, Sankofa. Dr. Onuzo is an author, singer, pianist, playwright, screenwriter, regular contributor to The Guardian, and … Read MoreChibundu Onuzo (1991- )
The current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, was born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, Katsina, Nigeria. His parents were Mallam Hardo Adamu and wife, Zulaihat. He was the 23rd child of his father. At the age of 19, Buhari enrolled in the Nigeria Military … Read MoreMuhammadu Buhari (1942- )
Akwaeke Emezi is part of a small but growing number of transgender Nigerian writers whose unique perspective and the rapidly growing audience for their novels have garnered them international literary acclaim. Emezi identifies as transgender and as an ogbanje. Transgender people do not identify with … Read MoreAkwaeke Emezi (1987- )
Nwanyereuwa was an Igbo woman from southeastern Nigeria who became famous because of her leadership in the Aba Women’s War in 1929. Nwanyereuwa’s exact birth and death dates, as well as her exact place of birth are unknown. However, by 1929, she had become an … Read MoreNwanyereuwa (??? – ???)
Rhythm and Blues singer Eddie Holman was born on June 3, 1946 in Norfolk, Virginia and introduced to the piano and guitar at the age of 2. In 1954, his family relocated to New York City and two years later Holman won first prize at … Read MoreEddie Holman (1946- )
The first Black settlers in what is now the western United States were Spanish speakers who came north from what is now central Mexico. Their roots there began in 1519, when Black men were among the Spanish conquistadores who invaded and destroyed the Aztec Empire, … Read MoreNorth from Mexico: The First Black Settlers in the U.S. West
The four century (1460-1860) transatlantic slave trade is responsible for the involuntary migration of 388,000 enslaved Africans to the United States according to historians’ best estimates. However, the U.S. has witnessed a much larger influx of voluntary African migration since the 1960s. Whether it was … Read MoreAfrican Immigration to the United States (1965- )
Pamela Ashley Uba is a scientist and model and the first black woman to be crowned Miss Ireland in that nation’s competition. Uba was born in Anambra State, Nigeria in 1995 to Nigerian parents. Her Igbo name is Onyebuchi. The Uba family business fell apart, … Read MorePamela Uba (1995- )
Abdulrazk Gurnah is an academic, novelist, and first Tanzanian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, first African to win the award since 1986 when Wole Soyinka of Nigeria received the prize, and first black writer to receive the prize since 1993 when Toni … Read MoreAbdulrazk Gurnah (1948- )
Olajide Williams is an American neurologist and the creator of Hip-Hop Public Health. He is the Chief of Staff at Columbia University and a Professor of Neurology. Williams was born prematurely in his mother’s car in Lagos, Nigeria in 1969. Williams spent the first year … Read MoreOlajide Williams (1969- )
