The astonishing appearance of a high-ranking Black military officer in late 18th century Poland who led troops across Europe and in the Caribbean is further evidence of the breadth of the African diaspora. The product of an illicit affair in Paris between British-born Princess Maria … Read MoreWladyslaw Franciszek Jablonowski (1769-1802)
Fatima Djalor was an international children’s welfare activist and the first woman of African ancestry to appear regularly on television in the Republic of Moldova. Born in 1989 in Moldova’s capital city of Chișinău, she was one of the three children of a local woman … Read MoreFatima Djalor (1989-2019)
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)
Conductor, clarinetist, and composer W. Rudolph Dunbar was born on November 26, 1907, in Nabaclis, Guyana. At the age of nine, his musical genius apparent, he was invited to serve as a clarinetist in the British Guiana Militia Band. After a brief apprenticeship for stellar … Read MoreW. Rudolph Dunbar (1907-1988)
On January 1, 2020, Dr. Antoine J. (Tony) Allen Sr. became the 12th President of historically Black Delaware State University in its 129-year history. The son of a Lamar Allen, Jr., who never completed the 11th grade and a mother who raised him as a … Read MoreTony Allen (1970- )
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)
Marcel Pliat was one of several French nationals who served in the Russian Imperial Army during World War I but he was the only black man to serve in the Russian Imperial Air Force. Pliat was born in French Polynesia (now Tahiti) around 1890. His … Read MoreMarcel Pliat (ca. 1890-1917?)
Born in 1980 in apartheid-dominated Johannesburg, South Africa, Sizwe Lawrence Ndlovu was a member of a family of seven. His interest in athletics began when he was exposed to the typical South African sports, cricket, European football, and rugby. Once he became older, he discovered rowing, which would become his major sport. Ndlovu … Read MoreSizwe Lawrence Ndlovu (1980- )
The second person of African descent to be elected to the lower house of Poland’s Parliament (called Sejm) was Killion M. Munyama, born the son of farmers July 10, 1961 in Monze, Zambia. A scholarship allowed him to travel to Poland in 1981 to learn the language and study … Read MoreKillion Munzele Munyama (1961- )
Denyce Graves is a renowned mezzo-soprano opera singer. She has performed at opera houses around the world and is best known for her roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila. Denyce Graves was born on March 7, 1964 to parents Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner in Washington D.C. She was raised by her … Read MoreDenyce Graves (1964- )
