Dorothy Leigh Maynor was an international concert soprano, founder of the Harlem School of the Arts, the first African American to sing at an American president’s inauguration (Harry S. Truman’s, on January 20, 1949), the first African American artist to perform at Constitution Hall, the … Read MoreDorothy Leigh Maynor (1910-1996)
Andy Palacio was a popular Belizean musician who was born on December 2, 1960 in the village of Barranco in Belize, Central America. Palacio is the most famous musician to emerge from this little-known country. His work has influenced musicians and music-lovers all over the … Read MoreAndy Palacio (1960-2008)
Born in Cuba on April 7, 1917, Mongo Santamaria is an Afro-Cuban percussionist who became an influential musician in the United States in the 1950s. His given name is Ramón Santamaría Rodríguez. Nicknamed Mongo by his father, Santamaria believes his nickname comes from the Mali … Read MoreMongo Santamaria (1917-2003)
Reverend Emanuel Cleaver II, born in Waxahachie, Texas in 1944, is best known as the first African American mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. Cleaver, who grew up in a public housing project in Wichita Falls, Texas, graduated from Prairie View A & M University in … Read MoreEmanuel Cleaver (1944- )
Henry Walton Bibb was the eldest of the seven male children of Mildred Jackson. Henry was told that his father, whom he never met, was a man named James Bibb. He grew up in bondage in the Deep South, and claims to have been owned … Read MoreHenry Bibb (1815-1854)
