Singer and songwriter known by the stage name H.E.R. was born Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson on June 27, 1997, in Vallejo, California. Wilson is of mixed ancestry, as her mother, Agnes, is Filipino, and her father, Kenny, is African American. Her father was a member of … Read MoreH.E.R. / Gabriella Wilson (1997- )
Bella Forsgrén is the first black woman elected to the Parliament of Finland. Born February 10, 1992, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, she was adopted at age 3 by a Finnish couple. Her official, legal name is Asha (meaning hope, given by her … Read MoreBella Forsgrén (aka Asha Maria Belaynesh Forsgrén) (1992- )
Composer, arranger, pianist, lyricist J.J. Jackson was born Jerome Louis Jackson on November 8, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. However, most of his life was spent living in the Bronx. While there is little information on his formative years, he was an ingenious celebrated belter … Read MoreJ.J. Jackson (1942- )
Popular singer Dionne Warwick was born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940, in East Orange, New Jersey, to Mantrel Warrick, a Pullman porter, chef, and promoter and distributor of recorded music, and Lee Warrick, who managed the gospel group, Drinkard Singers. Warwick was singing … Read MoreDionne Warwick (1940- )
Maria Firmina dos Reis was the founding mother of Afro-Brazilian literature. Úrsula (1859) was the first abolitionist novel written by a woman and it included the perspective of the enslaved. She was born on October 11, 1825 (or March 11, 1822 depending on source) in … Read MoreMaria Firmina dos Reis (1825-1917)
Olympic and world heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam was born in Namur, Belgium, 43 mile southeast of Brussels, on August 19, 1994, one of the four children of Bamba Thiam, a native of Senegal who worked as a sculptor and painter, and Belgian citizen Danièle Denisty … Read MoreNafissatou Thiam (1994- )
Donald Jasper Harris is a Jamaican American economist, author, and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University in Stanford, California, since his retirement in 1998. He is now best known as the father of Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s Vice-Presidential Nominee. Harris joined the Stanford faculty in … Read MoreDonald Jasper Harris (1938- )
Historian and scholar Dr. Ralph Le Roy Crowder was born on March 29, 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents Ralph L. Crowder and Allie Crowder. An only child, Crowder attended public schools in Des Moines where he played football, basketball, and track. He graduated … Read MoreRalph L. Crowder (1947-2020)
Mathematician Floyd Leroy Williams was born on September 20, 1939 in Kansas City, Missouri. He attended his local schools, and in his senior year of high school, he was offered a scholarship to Lincoln University of Missouri to study music. Williams studied Classical Piano and … Read MoreFloyd Leroy Williams (1939- )
