Throughout his 20 seasons in baseball, Derek Jeter established himself as a New York Yankees legend. Growing up as a Yankee fan and having played his entire career with the franchise, his play was synonymous with the team’s success. With on-field talent matching his charismatic … Read MoreDerek Jeter (1974- )
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a cooperative organization of musicians that became the leading influence on musical genre of free jazz. It is a non-profit organization founded in May of 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, by Muhal Richard Abrams, Jodie Christian, … Read MoreAssociation for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (1965– )
On July 14, 1946, four African American sharecroppers were lynched at Moore’s Ford in northeast Georgia in an event now described as the “last mass lynching in America.” Yet the killers of George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcolm, and Dorothy Malcolm were never brought … Read MoreThe Moore’s Ford Lynching (July 1946)
Dr. Leonard Hall O’Connell Spearman was the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda and Lesotho. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Spearman was born July 8, 1929. In 1947 Spearman graduated from Florida A&M College (now Florida A&M University), in Tallahassee, Florida, with a B.S. in biological sciences. … Read MoreLeonard H.O. Spearman (1929-2008)
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers were a musical group primarily active between 1962 and 1966, singing “freedom songs” in order to fundraise and organize on behalf of SNCC. The Freedom Singers emerged out of the Albany Movement of 1962. After witnessing the Albany Movement’s mass … Read MoreSNCC Freedom Singers (1962-1966)
George Duke was a musician who covered a number of genres including bebop, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, and alternative rock. As performer, arranger, composer, producer, and educator for five decades, he worked with a wide variety of performers and among his many achievements was his … Read MoreGeorge Duke (1946-2013)
After the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, open skirmishes took place between Southern slave catchers and Northern abolitionists who despised slavery and what they saw as its encroachments on the liberty and freedom of residents of the free states. Armed altercations and confrontations … Read MoreChristiana Riot of 1851
Image Ownership: John Turner Korla Pandit, the first African American to have his own television show, was a composer, organist and pianist who starred in TV’s first all-music series. He was known as the godfather of “Exotica,” a musical genre that became popular in the … Read MoreKorla Pandit (1921-1998) (aka Redd, John Roland, aka Rolando, Juan)
Actor, singer, comedian, and musician, Jamie Foxx was born Eric Marlon Bishop in Terrell, Texas on December 13, 1967. He was adopted by his maternal grandparents Mark and Estelle Tolley after his parents’ divorce when he was still an infant. His grandmother introduced him to … Read MoreJamie Foxx (1967- )
Image Ownership: BeeCeePhoto (CC BY-SA 4.0) Harold “Hal” Jackson, legendary broadcaster, radio station owner, and philanthropist was born November 3, 1915 in Charleston, South Carolina to Eugene and Laura Jackson. Eugene Jackson owned a successful tailor shop in Charleston allowing the family to live in … Read MoreHal Jackson (1915-2012 )
