Wes Moore—Rhodes Scholar, banker, and writer—was elected governor of Maryland on November 8, 2022. He is the first African American to hold that office in the state. Moore was born Westley Watende Omari Moore on October 15, 1978, in Washington, D.C., to Westley Moore, a … Read MoreWes Moore (1978- )
On October 1, 2021, Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as the interim president of Guinea. This was after the former president, Alpha Conde, was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by Doumbouya on September 5, 2021. Mamady Doumbouya was born in Kankan, Guinea on March 4, … Read MoreMamady Doumbouya (1980- )
An international human rights and civil rights attorney since 2003, Kimberley Chongyon Motley is well known for her legal practice in both the United States and Afghanistan, as well as her research regarding juvenile justice. Motley is the founder of Motley Legal Services, co-founder of … Read MoreKimberley Motley (1978?- )
Legendary rapper, composer, actor, and activist Kurtis Blow was born on August 9, 1959, in Harlem, New York, as Kurt Walker. His mother was a dancer in Harlem during the Renaissance at the Savoy and the Cotton Club. At the age of seven, Blow’s mother … Read MoreKurtis Blow/Kurt Walker (1959- )
Champion rower Anita Lucette DeFrantz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 4, 1952. As a child growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana, she began her athletic career as a member of her local swim team. She attended Connecticut College, and at almost 6 feet tall, she tried out for the women’s basketball team … Read MoreAnita L. DeFrantz (1952- )
Wayne L. Black is a Brigadier General and Assistant Adjutant General of the Indiana Army National Guard. As Assistant Adjutant General, Black is the primary advisor to the Adjutant General and aids in managing and coordinating the Indiana Army National Guard. Black also acts as a representative of … Read MoreWayne L. Black (1962?- )
Owen Monconduit is a retired brigadier general in the United States Army, who, in 2009, became the first African American to be promoted to the rank of general in the Louisiana National Guard. Monconduit, a native of Pineville, Louisiana, joined the National Guard in 1980 as part … Read MoreOwen Monconduit (1961- )
Lloyd J. Austin is the first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense. He was nominated by President Joseph Biden and confirmed by the United States Senate. A former four-star General in the U.S. Army, Austin was born in Mobile, Alabama on August … Read MoreLloyd James Austin III (1953- )
In the article below independent historian Kyle Haddad-Fonda describes the Asian-African Conference popularly known as the Bandung Conference which was the first significant gathering of independent and soon-to-be independent nations in Asia and Africa. From April 18 to April 24, 1955, delegates from twenty-nine countries … Read MoreThe Asian-African (Bandung) Conference: Fact and Fiction
William Ballard Hurd, the U.S. Representative for Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, was the first African American Republican ever to be elected to congress from the state of Texas. Hurd assumed office on January 3, 2015, representing a district that spans a large portion of the … Read MoreWill Hurd (1977– )
