Lorraine Patricia Baa, commentator, entrepreneur, and cancer cure advocate was born in Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, on February 1, 1953, to Orlando J. Baa, Sr. from the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) and Rosalia Potter Baa from Anegada, British Virgin Islands. Her siblings … Read MoreLorraine Patricia Baa (1953-2021)
Kedist Deltour was a most unlikely winner of the 2021 Miss Belgium beauty pageant. At the time she was 24 and a native of East Africa. Born in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa on July 29, 1997, Deltour was the oldest of three children. … Read MoreKedist Deltour (1997- )
Rosemary Sauvageau Nestingen is a musical composer, a pianist, and the first African American woman to be crowned Miss North Dakota. Sauvageau was born on January 31, 1988, in Fargo, North Dakota. Sauvageau was a musical child prodigy, as she began playing the piano at … Read MoreRosemary Sauvageau Nestingen (1988- )
In the northernmost of Nordic countries and the one with the smallest minority race population, a person of African heritage was crowned 2019 Miss Universe Iceland. Brita Abiba Þórhallsdóttir (the Icelandic letter Þ is the equivalent of th in English) was born January 9, 1999, … Read MoreBrita Ababa Þórhallsdóttir (1999- )
Few in the audience that began watching the 2019 Miss Universe Ireland Contest could have predicted that the winner, Fionnghuala O’Reilly, would not only be of African descent but also had arrived far from the shores of the Emerald Isle. Born August 20, 1993 in … Read MoreFionnghuala Isibeal Tome O’Reilly, (1993- )
Beauty pageant queen, model, and actress Denny Andreina Méndez de la Rosa was born on July 20, 1978 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her mother, Lidia Chavez, who had divorced her biological father, met a vacationing Italian, Sergio Casabianca, who became her stepfather. At age five, … Read MoreDenny Méndez (1978- )
Actress Pam Grier is best known for her portrayal of tough and sexy crimefighters in the 1970s genre of “blaxploitation” films. Her later work in the 1998 film Jackie Brown earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Pamela Suzette Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina … Read MorePam Grier (1949- )
Born in Pocatello, Idaho, on May 9, 1945, Dorthy (spelled without the second “o”) L. Johnson, became a semi-finalist in the 1964 Miss USA pageant after winning the title of “Miss Idaho.” The nineteen year-old was not the first African American to compete in The … Read MoreDorthy Johnson (1945- )
