Cover of Benjamin Banneker’s 1792 Almanac Image Ownership: Public Domain Benjamin Banneker, free black, farmer, mathematician, and astronomer, was born on November 9, 1731, the son of freed slaves Robert and Mary Bannaky, probably near the Patapsco River southeast of Baltimore, Maryland, where his father owned a … Read MoreBenjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
Image Ownership: Public domain Pioneering cartographer and meteorologist Jean-Baptist Lislet-Geoffroy was born August 23, 1755 in Saint-Pierre, Réunion, a French island colony in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar and southern Africa. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, a white French engineer, and an … Read MoreJean Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy (a.k.a. Geoffroy L’Islet, 1755-1836)
Image Ownership: Public domain Internationally acclaimed British-based architect David Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on September 22, 1966, the son Affram Adjaye, a diplomat from Ghana, and Cecilia Adjaye, also a Ghanaian national. Because of the nature of his father’s work, as … Read MoreDavid Frank Adjaye (1966- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Yapi N’Cho Blaise Didier of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), often referred to as Didier Yapi, was a prolific information technology (IT) inventor/ researcher in Africa from about 1998 until his death in 2015. Yapi was born in 1976, in the Gôh … Read MoreDidier Yapi (1976-2015)
Hans Pape and Jean Marcel Nicholas in Paris, Date Unknown Image Ownership: Public domain Expatriate, impersonator, and concentration camp survivor Jean Marcel Nicholas was born October 5, 1918 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, one of the three children of Hilderic Nicholas, a secretary of the British Embassy … Read MoreJean Marcel Nicholas (a.k.a. Johnny Nicholas, 1918-1945)
Image Ownership: Public domain French naval hero Camille Mortenol was born November 29, 1859 in Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest city in the French island colony of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea, the son of former slave André Mortenol, a sailor, and his wife, Julienne Toussaint, a … Read MoreCamille Sosthène Héliodore Mortenol (1859-1930)
Vincent K. Brooks is a distinguished general in the US Army and is currently the commander of the UN Command, Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea. He was born on October 24, 1958, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Leo Brooks Sr., an army general, and … Read MoreVincent K. Brooks (1958- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Sophia Angeli Nelson is an author, journalist, lawyer, and political strategist. Nelson was born on January 5, 1967, in Munich, Germany, where her father served overseas in the U.S. Army. She was raised in Somerdale, New Jersey, and attended San Diego … Read MoreSophia Angeli Nelson (1967- )
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 (193?- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Clarence Acox, Jr. is an award-winning American jazz drummer and band director. Born in October 1947, he is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Since his arrival in Seattle in 1971 he has become one of the most influential musical directors … Read MoreClarence Acox Jr. (1947- )