Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda, was born on March 8, 1937, in Gasiza, in the Gisenyi province of what was at this time the Ruanda-Urundi mandate, controlled by Belgium. Habyarimana was an Hutu, whose parents, Jean-Baptiste Ntibazilikana and Suzanne Nyirazuba, were Christians. He went to a Catholic primary school, but then … Read MoreJuvénal Habyarimana (1937-1994)
Berta de los Angeles Soler Fernandez is a Cuban dissident and activist. She is the co-founder and current leader of Ladies in White, or Damas de Blanco, an all-female organization of the wives and female relatives of political prisoners. Soler was born July 31, 1963 in Matanzas, Cuba. She studied … Read MoreBerta Soler (1963- )
Harry Cole, the first black justice on the Maryland Supreme Court, was born on January 1, 1921, in Washington, D.C., to a tailor and his wife. Shortly after his birth, Cole’s father died, and his mother moved him and his four siblings to her hometown, Baltimore, Maryland. Cole attended Douglass High School, … Read MoreHarry A. Cole (1921-1999)
Habib Koité is a Malian musician, born in Thies, Senegal, in 1958. He grew up in a family of griots, who are story-tellers and musicians of the Khassonke ethnic group. Koité entered the Institute of Art of Bamako (INA) in Bamako, the capital of Mali, in 1978, and … Read MoreHabib Koité (1958- )
Josef Nassy was an Afro-Jewish artist and Holocaust survivor. Born on January 19, 1904 in Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana), he was one of seven children born to Adolf Philipus Nassy, a prosperous Jewish businessman who was elected to the Surinam Parliament, and Elisabeth Carolina Natalia Nassy (born de Maesschalk), a Surinamese … Read MoreJosef Johan Cosmo Nassy (1904-1976)
In 1978 David Wabeladio Payi created a writing system he dubbed “Mandombe.” He ascertained that the script was revealed to him in a dream where he saw two figures formed by mortar joints on his wall. The mirror figures he saw on the joints looked … Read MoreDavid Wabeladio Payi (1957-2013)
Lutrelle Horne on the Sesame Street Set Image Ownership: Public domain Lutrelle Horne is a producer who worked for Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Shop). He was one-time Executive Vice-President of Children’s Television Workshop and Executive Producer and Director of its International Division. Horne was … Read MoreLutrelle Horne (1937?- )
Otto Huiswoud and Claude McKay in Moscow, 1922 Image Ownership: Public domain Otto Huiswoud was the first black member of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), as well as one of its founders. He was born in Paramaribo, Suriname (then the … Read MoreOtto Huiswoud (1893-1961)
Jacques Roumain (Born Jean-Baptiste Roumain) was a Haitian author, poet, novelist, essayist, political activist, and diplomat born on June 4, 1907. He was one of the more famous twentieth century Haitian intellectuals. Jacques Roumain was born in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. He was the first … Read MoreJean Baptiste Roumain (Jacques) / Roumain, Jacques (1907-1944)
Laurent-Désiré Kabila, or Laurent Kabila, was born in 1939 and was murdered on January 16, 2001. Beginning in May 1997, he was the leader of a rebellion against the President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko. Following this insurrection, he became President of Zaire and returned … Read MoreLaurent-Désiré / Kabila, Laurent Kabila (1939-2001)
