Emma Harris was a multi-talented African American cultural influencer in Europe, the Russian Empire (later the Soviet Union) as well as the Middle East. Harris was born into a poor family in Georgia on October 7, 1871. Her parents were washerwoman Sarah Green and millworker … Read MoreEmma Harris (1871-1940)
The current president of Mali is Assimi Goita. Goita is the son of a military officer and director of the military police who grew up in the military barracks near Bamako. As a child, he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the … Read MoreAssimi Goita
(1983- )
The current president of the Central African Republic (CAR) is Faustin-Archange Touadera who was born on April 21, 1957, in Bangui, the capital. His father was a driver and farmer. Touadera attended school in Bangui. His secondary school was Barthelemy Boganda College. He then attended … Read MoreFaustin-Archange Touadera
(1957- )
Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Ayyad al-Tantawi, one of the youngest teachers of Arabic studies in Egypt (at that time the Ottoman Empire), traveled to and worked in Russia. During his residence in Russia, he was the first to compile an Arabic grammar manual in the Russian … Read MoreSheikh Muhammad Ayyad al-Tantawi (1810-1861)
American basketball player Brittney Yevette Griner was born on October 18, 1990, to Sandra Griner and Raymond Griner in Houston, Texas. She attended Chester W. Nimitz Senior High School in Houston, where she played for the school basketball and volleyball teams. During her sophomore year, … Read MoreBrittney Yevette Griner (1990- )
Antonio Agostinho Neto, fondly honored by Angolans as the “Father of Modern Angola” served as the first president of independent Angola. Not only was he a remarkable politician, but Neto was also a noted physician and famous poet. Antonio Agostinho Neto was born on September … Read MoreAgostinho Neto (1922-1979)
Négritude cinema director, activist, feminist Sarah Maldoror was born Sarah Ducados on July 19, 1929, in Condom, France, of emigrant parents from the Francophone Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe. She later selected her name after the hero of the Comte de Lautréamont’s novel Les Chants de … Read MoreSarah Maldoror (1929-2020)
The details of the birth and appearance of Russian shipbuilder and military Gen. Mikhail M. Egypteos remain uncertain. There are two competing stories: One is that as a teenager from an aristocratic Ethiopian family he was taken, perhaps by force, to the Russian Empire by … Read MoreMikhail Milhailovich Egypteos (1861-1932)
It took nearly a century for Philip Jordan to receive proper recognition as a first-hand observer and informal reporter on the Russian Revolution of 1917. Believed to be the son of a slave, Jordan was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1868. He spent his … Read MorePhilip Jordan (1868-1941)
