Olga “Ollie” Burgoyne, also known as Ollie Burgoyne-Calloway, was a singer and dancer specializing in Russian and other ethnic dances. She was also an actress and businesswoman who gained popularity during the Harlem Renaissance and left her mark among the most influential African American dancers … Read MoreOlga (Ollie) Burgoyne (1879-1974)
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)
In the following article, Russian DJ Ivan Tchijevsky describes exclusively for BlackPast.org the long history of black music and black musical performers in Russia. Writing from a musical festival in Odessa, Ukraine in June 2019, he outlines his views below. As I visit festivals of … Read MoreThe Afro-Beat in Russia: The Influence of Black Music on Russian Popular Culture, 1890-2002
In the decades prior to the Russian Revolution, Pearl Hobson became the most popular African American dancer and singer in Imperial Russia. Known by various names but mostly by her Russian stage name which translated into English was “Mulatto Sharpshooter,” Hobson captivated elite audiences from St. Petersburg to Moscow although apparently … Read MorePearl Hobson (1879- ?)
In the 1920s and 1930s a number of African Americans moved to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) because the new Communist government promised a level of racial equality that didn’t exist in the United States at that time. Many of them also believed they could use their … Read MoreRichard Williams (?-?)
Image Courtesy of El Dia Gustavo Pinedo Zabala, professional soccer player, was born in Coripata, Department of La Paz, Bolivia, on February 18, 1988. His mother, Ana, and father, Augusto, were agricultural workers that specialized in the fruit and coffee harvests around Coripata. Pinedo, and … Read MoreGustavo Pinedo Zabala (1988– )
In the following essay independent historian Robert Fikes explores the eclectic experiences of African Americans in the world’s largest nation in the 19th and 20th Centuries It was in May 1824 that Nancy Gardner Prince, rescued from a life of poverty and hardship in Massachusetts … Read MoreIn the Land of Czars and Commissars: African Americans in Russia, the Soviet Union, and Post-Soviet Russia, 1824-2015
Michael Lee-Chin is best known as a business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., a privately held investment company which owns a collection of diversified operating companies in media, tourism, health care, telecommunications, and financial services. He … Read MoreMichael Lee-Chin (1951- )
Mary Jane Grant Seacole was an early nurse in the British Empire during the 19th Century. Born in Kingston, Jamaica as Mary Grant, she was the daughter of a Scottish officer and a black mother. Mary’s mother ran a hospital/boarding house in Kingston and she, … Read MoreMary Jane Seacole (1805-1881)
