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)
Thomas Blackshear is a renowned painter and sculptor. Blackshear was born in Waco, Texas on November 14, 1955 to Thomas Richman Blackshear, a U.S. Air Force pilot, and his wife, whose name is unknown. Mostly raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Blackshear loved to draw. Upon finishing … Read MoreThomas Richman Blackshear II (1955- )
In the following account University of Cincinnati historian John K. Brackett describes the famous 16th Century painting of a black courtier at the court of Margaret of Austria, the Duchess of Savoy and Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. The name and rank of this courtier … Read MoreJan Mostaert’s Portrait of a Moor (1520-1530)
Bryant Gumbel was the first African-American co-host of the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) The Today Show and is well known as a broadcast journalist and sportscaster. Gumbel was born in1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Rhea Alice and Richard Dunbar Gumbel, a city clerk and … Read MoreBryant Gumbel (1948- )
Vincent Lushington “Roi” Ottley was born in Harlem in 1906 to parents Jerome P. and Beatrice (Brisbane) Ottley who were immigrants from Grenada. Ottley attended New York City public schools where he became known as an exceptional athlete in basketball, baseball and track. Ottley won … Read MoreVincent Lushington (“Roi”) Ottley
