Chuck Leonard, a pioneering disk jockey known for his rich, smooth voice, was born Charles Wesley Leonard in Chicago, Illinois, on March 30, 1937, to Alma Leonard and Charles Leon. Chuck graduated from Hyde Park High School with honors in 1955, where he ran on … Read MoreChuck Leonard (1937-2004)
George Alfred Strait, III, an award-winning journalist, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1945. Strait received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Boston University in 1967 and a Master of Science in Biochemical Genetics from Atlanta University in Georgia in 1969. He is a … Read MoreGeorge Alfred Strait, III (1945- )
Barry Cooper is a journalist, technology entrepreneur, and CEO who founded BlackVoices.com, a groundbreaking website in the early days of the Internet. Cooper graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He began working as a sportswriter for the Orlando Sentinel in 1993. Cooper … Read MoreBarry Cooper (1956- )
Gilbert Edward Noble was a pianist, producer, professor, news anchor, television host, and documentarian. His entry into media was largely due to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Born in Harlem, New York on February 22, 1932 to Jamaican parents Iris Villiers Noble, a … Read MoreGil Noble (1932-2012)
Charles Blow is an American journalist, commentator, and op-ed columnist for The New York Times. Born to Spinner and Billie Blow on August 11, 1970, Charles McRay Blow grew up the fifth of five sons in Gibsland, a town in Bienville Parish in northern Louisiana … Read MoreCharles Blow (1970- )
Former magazine owner Linda Johnson Rice was born on March 22, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois to John and Eunice Johnson. Rice’s father in 1942 founded Johnson Publishing Company which published Ebony and Jet magazines and as a result was the largest black-owned magazine publisher in … Read MoreLinda Johnson Rice (1958- )
A professor, poet, and playwright of English, Dutch, and African descent, Derek Walcott was a 1981 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant recipient who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. Born on January 23, 1930 to Warwick, a civil servant, and Alix Maarlin Walcott, an … Read MoreDerek Walcott (1930-2017)
Simeon Saunders Booker Jr.’s innovative career in journalism transformed how African American readers engaged with news coverage of politics and social injustices. As the first African American reporter for the Washington Post, he provided insight into the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. On August … Read MoreSimeon S. Booker (1918-2017)
Alice Allison Dunnigan was the first African American female correspondent at the White House and the first black female member of the Senate and House of Representatives press galleries. Dunnigan was born April 27, 1906, in Russellville, Kentucky, to Willie and Lena Pitman Allison. Her father worked as … Read MoreAlice Allison Dunnigan (1906-1983)
Ishmael Reed is an African American poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, cartoonist, editor, publisher, lecturer and public media commentator. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 22, 1938, he grew up in Buffalo, New York, after his mother Thelma Coleman moved there during the Great Migration of World War II. When his mother married Bennie Reed, Ishmael … Read MoreIshmael Reed (1938- )
