José María Morelos y Pavón, statesman and Roman Catholic priest, was one of the greatest insurgent military commanders during the Mexican War of Independence. Morelos was born into a poor “pardo” (Afro-Mexican) family in Valladolid, Mexico on September 30, 1765 to José Manuel Morelos y … Read MoreJosé María Morelos y Pavón (1765-1815)
Mururata is a large village located in the tropical valleys of the Yungas region of Bolivia. Although the population of the village is small when compared to neighboring cities, the people who reside there are overwhelmingly of African descent. Mururata is less than 150 miles … Read MoreMururata, Bolivia (ca. 1851- )
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an interracial, all-female jazz band active for 12 years, from 1937 to 1949. The band began at the Piney Woods Country Life School, established in 1909 to train black children in central Mississippi. The original members of the Sweethearts … Read MoreInternational Sweethearts of Rhythm Jazz Band (1937-1949)
Sarah Rector received international attention at the age of eleven when The Kansas City Star in 1913 publicized the headline, “Millions to a Negro Girl.” From that moment Rector’s life became a cauldron of misinformation, legal and financial maneuvering, and public speculation. Rector was born … Read MoreSarah Rector (1902–1967)
Radmilla Cody, GRAMMY-nominated Navajo recording artist, was born on the Navajo Nation and grew up in Grand Falls, Arizona. Cody is of the Tlaa’shchii (Red Bottom People) clan and is also part Naahilii (African American). She was the 46th Miss Navajo Nation, the first bi-racial pageant … Read MoreRadmilla Cody (1975- )
Francis Johnson Webb, newspaper editor, educator, equal rights activist, and the second published African American novelist, was born free on March 21, 1828, in Philadelphia to Louisa Burr and Francis Webb. His mother, Louisa Burr (c1785-1878), was the illegitimate daughter of former vice president Aaron … Read MoreFrancis Johnson [Frank J.] Webb (1828-1894)
Born Richard Pierce Havens, Richie Havens was an esteemed musician, writer, educator, and actor. Havens, the eldest of nine children, was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 21, 1941, to a musically talented parents. His Blackfoot Native American father, Richard Havens, played piano by … Read MoreRichard Pierce [“Richie”] Havens (1941-2013)
Image Ownership: Public Domain In the article below Hilary Burrage, Executive Chair of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation, a United Kingdom (UK)-based non-profit organisation, describes the composer and how she came to regard and preserve his work and legacy. It has taken three times the … Read MoreSamuel Coleridge-Taylor: For His Times and Ours
Hansen Clarke is a Democratic politician, lawyer, and artist who represented the 13th District of Michigan in the U.S. Congress between 2011 and 2013. Born on March 2, 1957 in Detroit, his father, Mozaffar Ali Hashem, was an undocumented Bangladeshi immigrant, and his mother Thelma … Read MoreHansen Hashem Clarke (1957- )
Caterina Jarboro was born one of three children in Wilmington, North Carolina, to an American Indian mother and a black father who was a local barber. She was christened Katherine Lee Yarborough at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Wilmington. She received elementary school education at … Read MoreCaterina Jarboro (1903-1986)
