Jose Silvestre de Los Dolores White y Lafitte in 1856 Image Ownership: Public Domain Composer and violinist Jose Silvestre White was born in Matansas, Cuba in 1835 to Don Carlos White and an Afro-Cuban mother. His father gave White his first instruction in violin, and … Read MoreJoseph Silvestre White (1835–1918)
Musician and composer Edmund Dédé was born on November 20, 1827 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents were free Creoles of color who moved to New Orleans from the French West Indies around 1809. Dédé took his first music lessons from his father who was … Read MoreEdmund Dédé (1827-1903)
Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith (“Bricktop”), vaudevillian actress, singer, nightclub owner, and international celebrity host, was born August 14, 1894 in Alderson, West Virginia, to Thomas and Hattie Thompson Smith. Her father passed away in 1898 and Mrs. Smith moved Ada and her … Read MoreAda “Bricktop” Smith (1894-1984)
Charles Lucièn Lambert, Sr., also known as Lucièn Lambert, Sr., was an internationally prominent classical musician and composer, and part of the middle generation of acclaimed Lambert musical artists. Both his father, Charles-Richard Lambert, and his son, Lucièn-Léon Guillaume Lambert, had distinguished careers in classical … Read MoreCharles Lucièn Lambert Sr. (1828-1896)
Image Ownership: Matthieu Riegler (CC BY-SA 3.0) George Pau Langevin is a French lawyer, politician, and author who was born October 19, 1948, in Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe of parents who were teachers. At the age of 17 she journeyed to Paris where she studied … Read MoreGeorge Pau Langevin (1948- )
Image Ownership: Claude Truong-Ngoc (CC BY-SA 4.0) Christiane Taubira is an economist, politician, and writer who was born on February 2, 1952 in Cayenne, Guyana. Founding president of the Guyanese Walwari Party, she is also an author of a number of writings on the topic of … Read MoreChristiane Taubira (Taubira-Delannon, Christiane) (1952- )
Roger Sauvage was one the few pilots of African descent to fly in both the French and Russian Air Forces in World War II. Sauvage was born in Paris on March 26, 1917, the son of a white Frenchwoman, Marie Sauvage, and a black soldier … Read MoreRoger Sauvage (1917-1977)
Image Courtesy of Erik van Leeuwen (GNU Free Documentation) Usain Bolt, known as the “fastest man on earth,” has won a phenomenal eight Olympic gold medals the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, making Olympic history. He has also broken multiple world records Bolt was born … Read MoreUsain St. Leo Bolt (1986- )
Image Ownership: Public Domain William Edmondson was the first black artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York in 1937. He grew up near Nashville, Tennessee. Edmondson’s father, George, died when he was quite young and his mother … Read MoreWilliam Edmondson (c.1870–1951)
Alice Nkom broke barriers for women by becoming the first female barrister in her country of Cameroon. She is also well known among Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) activists worldwide because of her legal advocacy for gay rights. Nkom was born in 1945 … Read MoreAlice Nkom (1945- )
