Johan Henri Eliza Ferrier was a Surinamese politician who was the first President of Suriname, serving from November 25, 1975, to August 13, 1980. He was also the country’s last governor-general before independence, serving from 1968 to 1975. Ferrier was born on May 12, 1910, … Read MoreJohan Ferrier (1910–2010)
Pioneering scholar in black women’s history, Rosalyn Marian Terborg-Penn was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 22, 1941, to Jeanne Van Horn Terborg, a clerical worker, and Jacques Arnold Terborg, a jazz musician born in Suriname. Terborg and her brother Jacques Jr., spent their … Read MoreRosalyn Terborg-Penn (1941-2018)
Franciscus “Franc” Max Weerwind is the first black mayor of a major city in the Netherlands; moreover, he has been the mayor of three cities in that nation. The younger of the two sons of immigrant parents who arrived in the Netherlands in 1959, his … Read MoreFranc Weerwind (1964- )
In the article below, culinary historian Diane M. Spivey describes the centuries-old diaspora of African foods and cooking traditions in North and South America. Africa has been a major contributor to the cuisine of North and South America although this contribution has long been overlooked, … Read MoreTransAtlantic Food Migration: The African Culinary Influence on the Cuisine of the Americas
John Leerdam is an Afro-Dutch politician and theater director. Leerdam was born to African-descended parents on July 23, 1961 in the capital city of Willemstad, Curacao, an island dependency of the Netherlands in the southern Caribbean Sea. His father, John Arnold Walther Julius Leerdam was … Read MoreJohn Leerdam (1961- )
Anton de Kom (Cornelis Gerhard Anton de Kom) was a Surinamese author, anti-colonial activist, trade unionist, and World War II resistance fighter. De Kom was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, a colony of the Netherlands, on February 22, 1898 to a former slave and farmer Adolf de Kom and a free woman Judith … Read MoreAnton de Kom (1898-1945)
Josef Nassy was an Afro-Jewish artist and Holocaust survivor. Born on January 19, 1904 in Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana), he was one of seven children born to Adolf Philipus Nassy, a prosperous Jewish businessman who was elected to the Surinam Parliament, and Elisabeth Carolina Natalia Nassy (born de Maesschalk), … Read MoreJosef Johan Cosmo Nassy (1904-1976)
Otto Huiswoud and Claude McKay in Moscow, 1922 Image Ownership: Public domain Otto Huiswoud was the first black member of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), as well as one of its founders. He was born in Paramaribo, Suriname (then the … Read MoreOtto Huiswoud (1893-1961)
Paramaribo is the largest city, chief port, and capital of Suriname, a country located on the north coast of South America and the continent’s smallest nation. The city had a population of 250,000 people in 2014 who comprised about half the population of the entire … Read MoreParamaribo, Suriname (1630- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” At twenty years old, Petra Hoost, born January 16, 1976, in the city of Enkhuizen, Netherlands, became the first Afro-Dutch woman to win the Miss Netherlands pageant in 1996. She went on to represent Netherlands at the Miss World pageant held … Read MorePetra Hoost (1976- )
