The first president of independent Guinea Bissau was Luis Severino de Almeida Cabral who was born on April 10, 1933, in the city of Bissau in what was then Portuguese Guinea. His parents were from the Portuguese colony of Cape Verde which consisted of several … Read MoreLuis Cabral (1931-2009)
Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds is a St Kitts and Nevis politician who served as the first Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis from 1983 to 1995. He was born on April 12, 1936, to Bronte Clarke and the late Arthur Simmonds and attended public … Read MoreSir Kennedy Simmonds (1936- )
On May 20, 2019, Reverend Lakeesha Walrond, Ph.D., made history when she was appointed President of the New York Theological Seminary (NYTS), founded in 1900 as the Bible Teacher’s College. Walrond is the first woman and first Black woman to serve as president of NYTS, … Read MoreLakeesha Walrond (1971- )
Karine Jean-Pierre is an American political campaign organizer, political commentator, author, university lecturer, and activist. She is the first “Black, gay, immigrant woman” to hold the position of White House Press Secretary. Born in Fort-de-France, Martinique to Haitian parents on August 13, 1977, Karine Jean-Pierre … Read MoreKarine Jean-Pierre (1977- )
Educational administrator Lyman Beecher Brooks, the first president of Norfolk State University, was born on May 27, 1910, in Blakes, Virginia, to a farmer and pianist, John Robert Brooks, and Mary Anna Burrell Brooks, a schoolteacher, and graduate of Virginia Union University. He began reading … Read MoreLyman Beecher Brooks (1910-1984)
Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Ayyad al-Tantawi, one of the youngest teachers of Arabic studies in Egypt (at that time the Ottoman Empire), traveled to and worked in Russia. During his residence in Russia, he was the first to compile an Arabic grammar manual in the Russian … Read MoreSheikh Muhammad Ayyad al-Tantawi (1810-1861)
Venture Capitalist Laurence (Larry) Morse was born July 2, 1951, in Birmingham, Alabama. Little is known about his years in Birmingham but beginning in 1969, he enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and graduated four years later with a B.A. degree in economics. He … Read MoreLaurence C. Morse (1951- )
Black librarians have always gathered at meetings to discuss the relevance of their profession and the needs and desires of the African American community. As far back as the beginning of their first library school for Negroes at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia, … Read MoreBlack Caucus of the American Library Association (1970- )
Online real estate entrepreneur Robert Reffkin was born June 7, 1979, in Berkeley, California. His mother was Israeli and his father was African American. When Reffkin was born, his mother’s parents disowned their daughter for having a child with a black man. Reffkin’s father also … Read MoreRobert Reffkin (1979- )
Nick Aaron Ford, critic, pedagogic, and activist, was born on August 4, 1904, in Ridgeway (part of Columbia), South Carolina, to Nick Aaron Ford, Sr., a laborer who was born enslaved, and Carrie Ford, a substitute teacher. Nick was introduced to reading by his mother … Read MoreNick Aaron Ford (1904-1982)
