In the following article, Dr. Gary B. Nash, Director, National Center for History in the Schools and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, describes his new book, Forbidden Love: The Hidden History of Mixed-Race America. His book provides a counter … Read MoreCrossing Boundaries of Race, Crossing Boundaries of Love
Leonard Reed, noted dancer and entertainment businessman, co-created the famous Shim Sham Shimmy tap routine that has been replicated for centuries by tappers the world over. He was also associated with Joe Louis (1914-1981) during the heavyweight boxer’s efforts to break down golf’s color barrier. … Read MoreLeonard Reed (1907-2004)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eight-time Grammy Award-winning singer Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Haywood, County, Tennessee. The youngest daughter of a family of sharecroppers, Turner’s father, Floyd Richard Bullock, was an African American … Read MoreTina Turner (1939-2023)
John Willis Menard, abolitionist, author, journalist and politician, was born in 1838 in Kaskaskia, Illinois, to French Creole parents. He was the first African American elected to Congress, but was not seated after a dispute over the election results. Menard attended Iberia College, an abolitionist … Read MoreJohn Willis Menard (1838-1893)
Juano G. “Juano” Hernández, Hollywood’s first Afro-Latino actor, was a polylingual self-educated Puerto Rican stage and film actor who was born Juan G. Hernández on July 19, 1896, in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a father from San Juan and a mother from Rio de … Read MoreJuano Hernandez (1896-1970)
Alex Manly was editor of the Daily Record, a black newspaper from Wilmington, North Carolina at the time of the Wilmington Riot in 1898. Manly was born near Raleigh, North Carolina in 1866. He was reportedly a descendent of Governor Charles Manly and Corrine Manly, … Read MoreAlex Manly (1866-1944)
George Bonga was a 19th century fur trader of black and Native American heritage. He lived along the shores of Lake Superior, one of the Midwestern Great Lakes. Fluent in French, English, and Native American languages, Bonga served as an interpreter during Indian-U.S. negotiations and … Read MoreGeorge Bonga (1802-1880)
Adrian Malik Fenty was born to Philip and Jan Fenty, an interracial couple, on December 6, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Fenty’s parents were both runners and they owned the athletic shoe store Fleet Feet in Washington, D.C. Fenty graduated from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School … Read MoreAdrian M. Fenty (1970- )
