Louis Brody was a prominent German actor and musician. He was born M’bebe Mpessa in Douala, Cameroon, on February 15, 1892. Little is known about his early life in Cameroon, formerly known as Kamerun. He attended the German colonial school in Douala where he learned to speak German. It is … Read MoreLouis Brody (a.k.a. Lewis Brody), 1892-1952)
Internationally acclaimed Afro-Cuban violinist Claudio José Domingo Brindis de Salas y Garrido was born in Havana, Cuba, on August 4, 1852, the son of Claudio Brindis de Salas Monte, director of the popular orchestra Concha de Oro (Golden Shell) who played the violin and double bass, … Read MoreClaudio Brindis de Salas (1852-1911)
For over six decades Dr. Yusef A. Lateef was a major developer in the international improvisational musical field. A saxophone and flute virtuoso, his early success in the blues and jazz fields led him to push himself beyond educational barriers, becoming a contemporary renaissance artist … Read MoreYusef Abdel Lateef (1920-2013)
Willie Dixon was a pioneering Chicago blues musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, producer, and philanthropist. He was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1915 to Anderson Bell and Daisy Dixon, was married to Marie Booker, and had 12 children (five with wife Marie, and seven with Eleanora … Read MoreWilliam James [“Willie”] Dixon (1915-1992)
Solomon Northup was a free black man who was illegally held in bondage for twelve years before he regained his freedom. Northup was born to free parents in Minerva, New York in 1808. Little is known of his mother other than she was born a … Read MoreSolomon Northup (1808-?)
Lucien-Leon Guillaume Lambert was a pianist, composer, arranger, and music teacher. Born in 1858 in Vernouillet, France, a then-small village near Paris, he was the son of Charles Lucien Lambert, an American, and an unknown French mother. Guillaume Lambert was one of several renowned musicians … Read MoreLucien-Leon Guillaume Lambert (1858-1945)
Jose Silvestre de Los Dolores White y Lafitte in 1856 Image Ownership: Public Domain Composer and violinist Jose Silvestre White was born in Matansas, Cuba in 1835 to Don Carlos White and an Afro-Cuban mother. His father gave White his first instruction in violin, and … Read MoreJoseph Silvestre White (1835–1918)
Charles Lucièn Lambert, Sr., also known as Lucièn Lambert, Sr., was an internationally prominent classical musician and composer, and part of the middle generation of acclaimed Lambert musical artists. Both his father, Charles-Richard Lambert, and his son, Lucièn-Léon Guillaume Lambert, had distinguished careers in classical … Read MoreCharles Lucièn Lambert Sr. (1828-1896)
Willard Carroll Smith, Jr., better known as Will Smith, actor, rap and recording artist, was born in Wynnefield, Pennsylvania on September 25, 1968. His father, Willard Carroll Smith, is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a refrigerator engineer, and his mother, Caroline Bright … Read MoreWill Smith/Willard Carroll Smith II (1968- )
Lois Jean Barron White, the first African American president of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), was born in Nashville, Tennessee on March 21, 1938. She was raised by her grandmother, Rosa Barron, as her own mother lived away in Massachusetts. White’s grandmother taught her … Read MoreLois Jean White (1938 – )
