Following the Partition of Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1885, Prime Minister Francesco Crispi of Italy began his nation’s colonization in Africa. Italy focused on the Red Sea because of its trade routes to Asia and East Africa, and subsequently stationed troops in the … Read MoreThe Italo-Abyssinian War (1889-1896)
Ertharin Cousin, a diplomat and leading advocate for ending global hunger, was born on May 12, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois to Anne Cousin, who worked in social services, and her husband Julius Cousin, who was a property owner and community development activist. Cousin grew up … Read MoreErtharin Cousin (1957- )
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)
One of the few painters from the Americas with a degree of African ancestry who was active in the 1800s and has representative works in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France is Guillaume Guillon-Lethière. Born January 10, 1760, near Sainte-Anne on the island of Guadeloupe … Read MoreGuillaume Guillon-Lethière (1760-1832)
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” Afro-Italian boxing champion Leone Jacovacci (a.k.a. John Douglas Walker and Jack Walker) was born in 1902 in the village of Pombo in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), the son of Umberto Jacovacci, a contracted Italian agronomist, and … Read MoreLeone Jacovacci (1902–1983)
Thabo Sefolosha, the first Swiss-born National Basketball Association (NBA) player, was born May 2, 1984, in Vevey, Switzerland, to Patrick Sefolosha, a South African musician, and Christine Sefolosha, a Swiss painter. Sefolosha is a member of the Swiss National basketball team and currently plays for … Read MoreThabo Sefolosha (1984– )
Depending on the source consulted, Spanish Baroque painter Juan de Pareja was born in the region of Andalusia, Spain, either in Seville or the much smaller city of Antequera 82 miles southeast, reputedly to a female of African descent and a native Spanish male whose … Read MoreJuan de Pareja (ca. 1606-1670)
George Shirley is an educator, lecturer, and internationally acclaimed tenor whose leading roles in 28 operas with the Metropolitan Opera (“Met”) for 11 seasons helped push open doors on operatic stages for many African American tenors. In 1956 Shirley became the first African American member … Read MoreGeorge Irving Shirley (1934- )
“Image Ownership: Miss Schweiz Organisation AG” Whitney Toyloy won the title of Miss Switzerland in 2009 at the age of 17, the youngest of 16 candidates. The young beauty queen won a car worth over 38,000 Swiss Francs (about $38,649 in US dollars) and the … Read MoreWhitney Toyloy (1990- )
