As a child, concert violinist and professor Elwyn A. Adams was a musical prodigy of some notoriety in the African American community of Cleveland, Ohio, where he was born on August 3, 1933. At age five he gave his first violin recital at East Mt. … Read MoreElwyn Albert Adams (1933-1995)
Olympic and world heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam was born in Namur, Belgium, 43 mile southeast of Brussels, on August 19, 1994, one of the four children of Bamba Thiam, a native of Senegal who worked as a sculptor and painter, and Belgian citizen Danièle Denisty … Read MoreNafissatou Thiam (1994- )
Donald Jasper Harris is a Jamaican American economist, author, and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University in Stanford, California, since his retirement in 1998. He is now best known as the father of Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Nominee. Harris joined the Stanford faculty in … Read MoreDonald Jasper Harris (1938- )
Alfred-Amédée Dodds, one of the ablest French army generals in the late 19th century, was mixed-race. Dodds was born February 6, 1842 in Saint-Louis, Senegal. He was the oldest of the seven children of Antoine Henry Ermery Dodds, a metis (mixed race) director of the … Read MoreAlfred-Amédée Dodds (1842-1922)
Having achieved considerable success after switching careers, Thomas “Detour” Evans has been in big demand as a muralist and portrait artist. Born December 12, 1984 in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Leroy M. Evan, an Army lieutenant colonel, Evans lived on military base on two … Read MoreThomas Neil-Abraham Evans (1984- )
World-class symphony conductor Rafael Payare was born February 23, 1980 in the northern port city of Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, the son of cartographer Juan R. Payare and elementary school teacher Trina Torres de Payare. In 1994, at age 13, Payare began studying French horn … Read MoreRafael Payare (1980- )
Gilbert Edward Noble was a pianist, producer, professor, news anchor, television host, and documentarian. His entry into media was largely due to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Born in Harlem, New York on February 22, 1932 to Jamaican parents Iris Villiers Noble, a … Read MoreGil Noble (1932-2012)
Manu Dibango was a saxophonist from Cameroon whose 60 years of experience in the music industry inspired some of the world’s most famous artists. Dibango was also one of the first high-profile people to die after catching COVID-19, the coronavirus. Dibango was born in the … Read MoreEmmanuel “Manu” N’Djoké Dibango (1933-2020)
