World-renowned debate coach, philosopher, minister, and orator Thomas Freeman was born Thomas Franklin Freeman on June 27, 1919, in Richmond, Virginia, to Louis H. Freeman Sr. and Louise E. Willis. Young Thomas preached his first sermon at nine years old. He had seven brothers and three … Read MoreThomas Freeman (1919 – 2020)
The first African American mayor of Long Beach, California, Rex Richardson was born at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois on August 18, 1983. His parents divorced when Rex was a toddler. Over the next few years, Rex, his mother, and siblings moved numerous times … Read MoreRex Richardson (1983- )
Damola Adamolekun is a Nigerian-American business executive and restauranteur. He was the first Black CEO of P. F. Chang’s, a major Asian-American fusion restaurant chain. Adamolekun was born in Nigeria to Yoruba parents. His father is a neurologist, and his mother is a pharmacist. He … Read MoreDamola Adamolekun (1989- )
Attorney, newspaper publisher, and world-class athlete Thomas Lucius Berkley was born Thomas Lucius Berkley on August 9, 1915, in DuQuoin, Illinois. His father, Braxton B. Berkeley from Tennessee, was a coal miner and labor union organizer, and his mother, Sophia Jane Holmes, from Tennessee, was … Read MoreThomas Berkley (1915–2001)
Mboka Mwilambwe, born 1970 in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was elected as the first African American mayor of Bloomington, Illinois, in 2021. His father was employed as an official for UNICEF, a specialized United Nations agency focused on improving the … Read MoreMboka Mwilambwe (1970- )
The Berkley Square Housing Project, opened in 1953 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a historically significant project for African Americans because of its unique design and financing. Berkley Square is named after its primary financier, Thomas Lucius Berkley, of Oakland, California, a prominent civil rights … Read MoreBerkley Square Housing Project, Las Vegas (1953-)
Anthony “Spice” Adams is a former American football player for the National Football League (NFL), actor, comedian, and television host. He was born on June 18, 1980, to Anthony Adams Sr. and Constance Davis in Detroit, Michigan. Adams, who had two siblings, attended Martin Luther … Read MoreAnthony “Spice” Adams (1980- )
Charles Smith, a visual artist, historian, activist, and minister, was born on November 11, 1940, to Bertha Mary Smith and an unnamed father in New Orleans, Louisiana. His early life was marked by tragedy when his father was killed in what local officials in New … Read MoreCharles Smith (1940- )
John Thomas Salley is a former National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball star, television and motion picture actor, and a major figure in the emerging U.S. cannabis industry. Salley was born on May 16, 1960, to Quille Salley and Mazie Salley in Brooklyn, New York. Salley … Read MoreJohn Thomas Salley (1964-)
Nathan Hare, the founder of The Black Scholar: A Journal of Black Studies and Research and called by many scholars “the father of Black and Ethnic Studies,” was born on April 9, 1933, in Slick, Oklahoma, to Seddie H. Hare, a sharecropper from Arkansas, and … Read MoreNathan Hare (1933-2024)
