Grace P. Campbell, the first of three African Americans to join the Communist Party, USA, was born in Georgia in 1882 to Emma Dyson Campbell, an African American woman from Washington, D.C., and William Campbell, an immigrant from Jamaica. After briefly relocating to Texas, the … Read MoreGrace P. Campbell (1883-1943)
Cyril Lionel Robert James was born in the British colony of Trinidad on January 4, 1901. James was a bright youth who absorbed literature, history, music, sports, and art-the foundational texts of Western civilization. He attended Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain, but chafed … Read MoreC.L.R. James (1901-1989)
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)
Samora Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, was born on September 29, 1933, in the village of Chilembene, in the Gaza Province of Mozambique. He was of the Shangana ethnic group and was born into a family of farmers. Machel attended a Catholic mission … Read MoreSamora Moises Machel (1933-1986)
Eduardo Mondlane, an educator, nationalist, and leader of the Mozambique independence movement, was born on June 20, 1920, in the Gaza District of Southern Mozambique, which at the time was under the colonial rule of the Portuguese. He was the child of a Tsonga chief, … Read MoreEduardo Chivambo Mondlane (1920-1969)
Amílcar Cabral, also known as Abel Djassi, was a leader in the struggle for independence in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Cabral was a writer, agronomic engineer, and Marxist nationalist. He was born on September 12, 1924, in Bafata, Portuguese Guinea. His father, Juvenal Cabral was … Read MoreAmílcar Lopes Cabral (1924-1973)
Hugh Mulzac, the first African American ship commander, was born on March 26, 1886 in the British West Indies’s Union Island in Saint Vincent Grenadines. After graduating from high school, Mulzac served on British merchant vessels. He earned a mate’s license from Swansea Nautical College … Read MoreHugh Mulzac (1886-1971)
The Angolan Civil War, beginning at the time of the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975, was a 27-year struggle involving the deaths of over 500,000 soldiers and civilians. Initiated at the height of the Cold War, pro- and anti-communist forces in Angola set the … Read MoreAngolan Civil War (1975-2002)
Brock Peters, who emerged as a prominent actor of the 1960s, was born George Fisher in 1927, to Sonny and Alma Fisher in New York City. Prior to concentrating on an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, he attended the University of Chicago, and … Read MoreBrock Peters (1927-2005)
Redd Foxx was born John Elroy Stanford on December 9, 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1926 his father, an electrician, abandoned the family. Shortly afterward, he and his mother moved to Chicago to live with his grandmother. While in high school he formed a … Read MoreRedd Foxx (1922-1991)
