Prominent Afro-German politician, actor, and author Charles M. Huber was born Karl-Heinz Huber in Munich, Germany, on December 3, 1956, the illegitimate son of Senegalese diplomat Jean-Pierre Faye, a nephew of Léopold S. Senghor, the first president of independent Senegal, and German domestic worker Olga Huber. He was raised by his … Read MoreCharles Muhamed Huber (Karl-Heinz Huber) (1956- )
French teacher and politician Gratien Candace was born on December 18, 1873 in Guadeloupe, a French overseas territory. His father Edouard was born in Guadeloupe as well, only two years before slavery was formally abolished in France, in 1848. Candace is the first French black politician to hold office as a deputy … Read MoreGratien Candace (1873-1953)
Krystian Legierski, an LGBT activist, politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur, is the first openly gay person elected to public office in Poland. He was born on April 22, 1978, in the village of Koniakow in southwestern Poland. His mother is Polish and his father is from … Read MoreKrystian Legierski (1978– )
Jean-Baptiste Belley-Mars, who represented Saint-Domingue in the French National Convention in Paris in 1794, is widely credited with persuading that body to abolish slavery in France and its overseas colonies. Belley-Mars as a boy was kidnapped by slave catchers on the island of Goree near … Read MoreJean-Baptiste Belley-Mars (ca. 1747-ca. 1805)
Poet, editor, diplomat, and cultural theorist Léon Damas was born on March 28, 1912, in Cayenne, French Guiana. He was the youngest of five children born to parents Ernest and Marie Aline Damas. After his mother’s death in 1913, young Léon and his siblings were … Read MoreLéon-Gontran Damas (1912-1978)
Edgardo Ortuno, Afro-Uruguayan professor, politician, and activist for human rights and equal opportunities, was born on June 10, 1970 in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo. Ortuno’s childhood experiences had a profound impact on his adult life. Growing up as an Afro-Uruguayan in a country where … Read MoreEdgardo Ortuno (1970- )
Born in 1856, Martín Morúa Delgado gained prominence as an Afro-Cuban writer and Cuba’s first black Senate president after the country’s war for independence against Spanish rule in the 1890s. Son of an African-slave mother, Ines Delgado, and Spanish father, Francisco Morúa, Martín Morúa Delgado … Read MoreMartín Morúa Delgado (1856-1910)
