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– )
Many particulars regarding the birth, career, and death of the man of African origin known as Yasuke are cloaked in mystery. The few Portuguese and Japanese sources that mention his brief presence in Japan and as a Samurai omit essential details, leaving him a shadowy … Read MoreYasuke (ca. 1555-?)
Amzie Moore was a prominent figure in the Mississippi civil rights movement and voter registration campaign. He was born on September 23, 1911, on the Wilkins plantation near Greenwood, Mississippi, to black sharecropper parents. When Moore was fourteen, his mother died leaving him to care … Read MoreAmzie Moore (1911-1982)
Seyyid Said, also known as Said bin Sultan, was a resourceful and energetic sultan of Oman who moved the capital from Arabia to Zanzibar in order to initiate clove production and also greatly expanded the East African slave trade. Said’s father, Sultan bin Ahmad (?–1804), … Read MoreSeyyid Said (1790–1856)
Edward A. Carter Jr. was a career non-commissioned officer for the United States Army and one of the few African American recipients of the Medal of Honor during World War II. Carter was born May 26, 1916, in Los Angeles, California, to missionary parents and … Read MoreEdward A. Carter, Jr. (1916-1963)
On November 3, 2020, Kamala Harris was elected Vice-President of the United States on a ticket she shared with winning Democratic Party Presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. She was officially inaugurated as the 49th Vice President of the United States on January … Read MoreKamala Devi Harris (1964- )
Camille J. Billops, artist, filmmaker, archivist, and professor, was born on August 12, 1933, in Los Angeles. Her parents were Alma Gilmore and Lucius Billops, and she has one sister, Billie. She married James V. Hatch, a professor of theater at the University of California, … Read MoreCamille Billops (1933-2019)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Clyde Bishop is a diplomat and public policy educator who served as a United States Ambassador to the Marshall Islands. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Bishop holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Delaware State University (1964), a master’s degree in … Read MoreClyde Bishop (1942- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador James David McGee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service in the class of Minister Counselor, spent the majority of his 30-year Foreign Service career overseas working in support of U.S. Government policy. Most of his work included political-military … Read MoreJames D. McGee (1949- )
Roger D. Pierce, U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Pierce earned his B.A. degree in Spanish Language and Latin American Studies at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. He received his M.A. in Latin American Literature at the University … Read MoreRoger Dwayne Pierce (1951- )
