Julius “Nipsey” Russell was a comedian, dancer, and poet. Russell was born on October 13, 1924 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother gave him the nickname Nipsey, and he embraced it because he liked the way it sounded. Russell attended Booker T. Washington High School in … Read MoreNipsey Russell (1918-2005)
Lovett Huey Fort-Whiteman was an American political and civil rights activistand member of the Communist International. He is regarded as the first American-born black Communist and first African American to attend a Comintern training school in the Soviet Union. Fort-Whiteman organized the Communist Party-affiliated American Negro Labor Congress and was labeled by Time magazine as … Read MoreLovett Fort-Whiteman (1889-1939)
Image Ownership: Public domain Lusia “Lucy” Harris, a former American basketball player, is considered to be one of the pioneers of women’s basketball. She played for Delta State University in Mississippi and won a silver medal with the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team in the 1976 … Read MoreLusia Harris (1955- )
“Image Ownership:Public Domain” Orlando Ashford is the president of Holland America Line. He assumed this position in December 2014. Holland America Line was founded in 1873, and until 1989, it was a Dutch-owned passenger and cargo shipping line operating primarily between the Netherlands and North America. In 1989 … Read MoreOrlando Ashford (1968– )
On November 8, 2016, Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate from California, becoming the second African American woman to sit in that body after Carol Mosely-Braun of Illinois was elected to represent Illinois 24 years earlier in 1992. Before her election to the … Read MoreKamala Devi Harris (1964– )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” African American artist and dancer Thelma Johnson Streat was born in Yakima, Washington on August 29, 1912, the second of Gertrude Beatrice Carson and James A. Johnson’s five children. Streat’s artistic ability was evident at a young age. She graduated from … Read MoreThelma Beatrice Johnson Streat (1912-1959)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Career Foreign Service Officer Bernadette Mary Allen was commissioned into the U.S. diplomatic service in January 1980. Twenty-five years later, on October 26, 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Allen to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Niger. She … Read MoreBernadette Mary Allen (1955- )
Image Ownership: Public Domain Canadian entrepreneur Viola Desmond was arrested in 1946 for refusing to leave a segregated section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre. She was physically injured by police in the incident but was convicted and fined by local courts. She was posthumously … Read MoreViola Davis Desmond (1914-1965)
When Jack Roosevelt (Jackie) Robinson took the field on April 15, 1947 wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, he became the first African American in over fifty years to play on a major league baseball team. In the process, he broke through baseball’s color line that … Read MoreJackie Robinson (1919-1972)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Michael Norman Manley, longtime prime minister of Jamaica, was born December 10, 1924 in the suburbs of Kingston, Jamaica to a well-off family. His father, Norman Manley, was a lawyer and political activist in Jamaica and considered by many to be … Read MoreMichael Norman Manley (1924-1997)