On July 2, 2018, Lieutenant General Darryl A. Williams became the first African American to be sworn in to lead the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of former Army officer Lonnie Buford Williams, Darryl A. … Read MoreDarryl Atwell Cecil Williams (1961- )
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)
Anthony Brown served as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. Martin O’Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore, was his gubernatorial running mate. Prior to becoming lieutenant governor, Brown was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates to represent Prince George’s County. State Delegate … Read MoreAnthony Brown (1961- )
The only person of African descent known to have had a face-to-face conversation with the infamous Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler was the economist Milton Samuel J. Wright. Born in Savannah, Georgia, on June 28, 1903, the son of William Wright and Edith Burnside Wright, he … Read MoreMilton S. J. Wright (1903-1972)
Few in the audience that began watching the 2019 Miss Universe Ireland Contest could have predicted that the winner, Fionnghuala O’Reilly, would not only be of African descent but also had arrived far from the shores of the Emerald Isle. Born August 20, 1993 in … Read MoreFionnghuala Isibeal Tome O’Reilly, (1993- )
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- )
Meadow “Meadowlark” Lemon III was most famous as the longtime star player of the Harlem Globetrotters. Lemon was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on April 25, 1932. He adopted the name “Meadowlark” while he was with the Harlem Globetrotters. Lemon attended Williston Industrial School in … Read MoreMeadow “Meadowlark” Lemon III (1932-2015)
On June 9, 2020, four-star general Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the be the Air Force’s representative on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), thus becoming the first African American to both head a branch of the military … Read MoreCharles Quinton Brown Jr. (1962- )
Professional basketball player Rui Hachimura was born on February 8, 1998 to a Japanese mother, Makiko Hachimura, father, Zakari Jabil, an African immigrant from Benin, in Toyama Prefecture of Japan. Hachimura also has three younger siblings, one brother and two sisters. He got involved playing … Read MoreRui Hachimura (1998- )
