Walter Peyton Manning was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and the only one known to be lynched as a prisoner of war. Born on May 3, 1920 in Baltimore, Maryland to Winifred Manning, he grew up in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By the age … Read MoreWalter Peyton Manning (1920-1945)
In the following article independent historian Charles Kastner describes the 1944-1945 tour of Alberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals who became the first black USO performing unit to Visit the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. The China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of World War Two, was … Read MoreAlberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
Margaret Tynes is an African American opera, concert, and oratorio soprano and singing actress. Tynes was born on September 11, 1919 to parents Rev. and Mrs. J. W. Tynes, in Saluda, Virginia. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1939. While there she … Read MoreMargaret Tynes (1919-2024)
Operatic soprano Camilla Williams was born October 18, 1919, in Danville, Virginia to Fannie Carey Williams and Cornelius Booker Williams. The youngest of four siblings, Williams began singing at a young age and was performing at her local church by age eight. At age 12, she began taking … Read MoreCamilla Williams (1919-2012)
Basso cantante (Lyric Bass) Arthur Woodley was born in New York City, New York in 1949 and raised in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands where his family farmed sugar cane and raised animals. Most of his family and childhood friends still live there. In 2016 Woodley gave two fundraising concerts … Read MoreArthur Woodley (1949-2020)
Donna Summer, a five-time Grammy winner, was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Andrew and Mary Gaines. Her father, a butcher, and her mother, a schoolteacher, were parents to seven children. Her experience singing in a church choir was enough to convince … Read MoreDonna Summer (1948-2012)
Ryan S. Green is bass-baritone opera singer. Born April 1, 1986 in Suffolk, Virginia, his parents, Cecil and Valerie Green, separated when he was a child. The divorce forced his mother, an Air Force veteran, to move her children to a crime-ridden housing project in Suffolk. Green suffered … Read MoreRyan Speedo Green (1986- )
Mohammed Ali “Nicholas” Said, an enslaved African from Bornu in what is now northeastern Nigeria, traveled through Europe to the United States. He was born in Kouka, Bornu, the thirteenth of nineteen children to Barca Gana and his wife, Dalia, in 1836. His father was … Read MoreMohammed Ali “Nicholas” Said (1836-1882)
As a classical music conductor, Michael Morgan has been instrumental in bringing his eclectic orchestral leadership style to a diverse audience. Since becoming musical director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra in 1990, Morgan has become well respected, particularly in the African American community … Read MoreMichael Morgan (1957-2021)
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first (1848-1856) and seventh (1872-1876) president of Liberia. Roberts was born free in Norfolk, Virginia on March 15, 1809. His father was of Welsh origin, and his mother, Amelia, was described as a mulatto. His mother married a free black … Read MoreJoseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876)
