Jesuit priest, missionary, diplomat, orator, and theologian Antônio Vieira was born in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, on February 6, 1608, the first of the four sons of Maria de Azevedo, a mulatto woman and civil servant Cristóvão Vieira Ravasco. At age six, when … Read MoreAntônio Vieira (1608-1697)
Constantine Bereng Seeiso, the future King Moshoeshoe II, was born on May 2, 1938, at Thabang, Basutoland (then a British Protectorate which is known as Lesotho today). He was the eldest son of Paramount Chief Seeiso (Simon Seeiso Griffith) and Mofumali Mabereng. He was educated … Read MoreKing Moshoeshoe II (1938-1996)
Politician Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi, whose grandparents were taken to Surinam from Bihar, India, to work as indentured laborers during the 19th century, was born on February 3, 1959, in Lelydorp, Surinam. He is a member of the Progressive Reform Party, which was once an ethnic … Read MoreChandrikapersad Santokhi (1959- )
Booker T. & The MGs (the Memphis Group), a biracial jazz ensemble, was formed in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee. The group’s original members were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), born December 11, 1944; Lewie Steinberg (bass), born September 13, 1933; Al Jackson, Jr. (percussions), born … Read MoreBooker T & the MGs (1962-2017)
The Mad Lads were vocalists of soul/funk, R&B from Memphis, Tennessee. They were led by founding members tenor John Gary Williams who was born in the city on September 15, 1946. Other members included bass/baritone Julius Eichenfeldt Green, born October 30, 1947, in Memphis, tenor … Read MoreThe Mad Lads (1964–1972)
Arabella Fields was a singer and actress known as “The Black Nightingale” and had a storied career performing in Europe. She was born on January 31, 1879, as Sarah Arabella Middleton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early reports state she was performing at the young age of … Read MoreArabella Fields (1879-1933)
In the following article novelist and independent historian Amy Sommers briefly outlines the experience of African Americans in Asia between World Wars I and II. She argues that African American influence in Asia was situated in four broad categories: the performing arts, international relations, faith, … Read MoreThe Black Pacific, 1919-1941: African Americans and Asia in the Interwar Period
Concert musician Calvin Edouard Ward was born on February 10, 1925, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Effie Elizabeth Crawford Ward, a graduate of Spelman Seminary for Women and Girls. His father, Jefferson Sigman Ward, a World War I Veteran, graduated from the Haynes Institute in Augusta, Georgia. … Read MoreCalvin Edouard Ward (1925-2018)
Olly W. Wilson, Jr. was an African American composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, double bassist, musicologist, and educator. Born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 7, 1937, Wilson was the only son of three children of Olly W. Wilson, Sr., an insurance salesman … Read MoreOlly Woodrow Wilson, Jr. (1937-2018)
Donald Jasper Harris is a Jamaican American economist, author, and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University in Stanford, California, since his retirement in 1998. He is now best known as the father of Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Nominee. Harris joined the Stanford faculty in … Read MoreDonald Jasper Harris (1938- )
