Best known as the co-founder of the Crips, the largest street gang in the United States, Stanley Tookie Williams lived in a life of crime and violence. He was born on December 29, 1953, in New Orleans, Louisiana to a mother who was seventeen years old at the time of … Read MoreStanley (“Tookie”) Williams, III (1953-2005)
Born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1950, John Charles Thomas, the first African American to sit on the Virginia Supreme Court, began his higher education at the University of Virginia in 1968, and four years later he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American in … Read MoreJohn Charles Thomas (1950- )
Charlotte Wesley Holloman was an opera singer and voice teacher who taught at Howard University for over twenty years as the only vocal faculty member. She was a prominent opera star in Europe with credits in twenty-two operas in Germany, Switzerland, and France. After an accomplished performing career, Holloman resumed her career in music education. She returned to Washington D.C. in … Read MoreCharlotte Wesley Holloman (1922-2015)
Roberta Alexander is an internationally famous American opera soprano. After performing in numerous operas in the United States and Europe, she established herself as one of the leading American sopranos in the latter quarter of the twentieth century, both on the operatic stage and as … Read MoreRoberta Alexander (1949- )
Jacques Roumain (Born Jean-Baptiste Roumain) was a Haitian author, poet, novelist, essayist, political activist, and diplomat born on June 4, 1907. He was one of the more famous twentieth century Haitian intellectuals. Jacques Roumain was born in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. He was the first … Read MoreJean Baptiste Roumain (Jacques) / Roumain, Jacques (1907-1944)
Image Ownership: Public domain Elton Clay Fax, a prolific African-American cartoonist, author, and illustrator, was born on October 9, 1909, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Mark Oakland Fax, a clerk, and Willie Estelle Fax, a seamstress. Elton’s younger brother, Mark, was a music prodigy … Read MoreElton Fax (1909-1993)
Fencing champion and multiple Olympic medalist Laura Flessel-Colovic was born November 6, 1971, in Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest city on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, one of four children of Edouard Flessel, a meteorologist, and Marie-Éva Flessel, a school teacher. Self-described as a tomboy in … Read MoreLaura Élodie Flessel-Colovic (1971- )
Philanthropist Darren Walker is the tenth president of the seventy-seven-year-old Ford Foundation, the second largest philanthropy in the world. Walker was born August 28, 1959, at a charity hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana, to a single mother and was raised in East Texas. He received two … Read MoreDarren Walker (1959– )
Robert A. Wood is a diplomat who has spent his career in public affairs, helping to shape the image of the United States, and in roles that guide the country’s relations with multilateral organizations. Wood received his bachelor’s degree from the City University of New … Read MoreRobert A. Wood (ca. 1966- )
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– )
