“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Human rights activist and political scientist Marcia Alexandra Santacruz Palacios was born in Puerto Tejada, northern Cauca, Colombia, an area exploited by mining companies and whose largely poor Africa-descended population has resided for four centuries alongside indigenous peoples. Aware of the … Read MoreMarcia A. Santacruz Palacios (1977–)
Believed to be the first military aircraft pilot of African descent, Ahmet Ali Çelikten (birth name, zmirli Aliolu Ahmed, a/k/a Arap Ahmet Ali) was born in the coastal city of Izmir (formerly Smyrna), Turkey. Some sources claim he was the grandson of a concubine slave … Read MoreAhmet Ali Çelikten (1883-1969)
Anti-fascist Afro-Italian partisan Giorgio Marincola lived a brief but heroic life. Born September 23, 1923, in the south central coastal town of Mahaday in what was then called Italian Somaliland, he was the son of Italian military officer Joseph Marincola and a Somali woman, Aschiro … Read MoreGiorgio Marincola (1923-1945)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Concert pianist, composer, and music conservatory director José Manuel Jiménez Berroa was born on December 7, 1855, into a musical family in Trinidad, Cuba, a city on the central coast known for its mainly African-descended population, sugar mills, and tobacco production. … Read MoreJosé Manuel Jiménez Berroa (1855–1917)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Psychiatrist and professor, Juliano Moreira was born on January 6, 1873, in the coastal city of Salvador in the state of Bahia, Brazil, an area long known for its predominantly African-descended population. Moreira was the son of a Portuguese public lighting … Read MoreJuliano Moreira (1873–1932)
Prominent Virginia journalist Ray Boone Sr. was born February 2, 1938, in Suffolk, Virginia. His parents, foreign-born Japanese father, Tsujiro Miyanski, and mother, Leathia M. Boone, of mixed African and Native American descent, were banned from marrying in Virginia because of their different races. Yet … Read MoreRaymond Harold/ “Ray” Boone Sr. (1938-2014)
Charles Harrison was one of the most prolific industrial designers of the twentieth century. One of only a handful of early African American industrial designers, he specialized in creating a variety of practical household goods emphasizing form and function. Harrison’s output of innovative consumer products … Read MoreCharles A. “Chuck” Harrison (1931–2018)
In 2013, Brian A. Nichols, career Foreign Service officer with the rank of Minister Counselor, was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to Peru. Nichols was born in 1965, to Charles Harold and Mildred (Thompson) Nichols. Charles Harold Nichols was a Professor … Read MoreBrian A. Nichols (1965- )
Shirley Elizabeth Barnes is a former United States Ambassador to the African country of Madagascar, 1998-2001. Barnes was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 29, 1998 and after confirmation by the U.S. Senate, arrived in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, and presented her credentials … Read MoreShirley Barnes (1938- )
Ambassador William Davis Clarke was born in 1941. Currently, he is retired and resides with his wife, Katsuko M. Clarke, in Maryland. Clarke has two sons William Clarke Jr. and Robert Clarke, and one daughter, Christina Armstrong. In 1963, Clarke earned his bachelor’s degree at … Read MoreWilliam D. Clarke, Sr. (1941- )
