Benjamin Fletcher, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1890, was the most important African American in the most influential radical union of his time, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Fletcher became active in the IWW while working as a longshoreman, loading and unloading cargo … Read MoreBenjamin Harrison Fletcher (1890-1949)
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)
The Phyllis Wheatley Women’s Clubs were named after Phyllis Wheatley, an enslaved poet who lived from 1753 to 1784. The first Phyllis Wheatley Women’s Club was established in 1895 in Nashville, Tennessee. The founders sought to improve the status of African American women in American … Read MorePhyllis Wheatley Women’s Clubs (1895- )
Beverly Loraine Greene, believed to be the first African American woman architect in the United States, was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 4, 1915. She grew up in Chicago and was raised by her father, James A. Greene, a lawyer, and her mother, Vera … Read MoreBeverly Loraine Greene (1915-1957)
Leading jazz innovator Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins was born in New York on September 7, 1930. He was raised by his grandmother who had migrated to the United States from the Virgin Islands. “Sonny” Rollins came of age in Harlem in the late 1940s and … Read MoreSonny Rollins (1930- )
Rudolph Fisher was a physician, orator, music arranger, and writer during the Harlem Renaissance. While published in many medical journals, his literary work graced the pages of Redbook and Story Magazine. His first short story, “City of Refuge,” which depicted the clashes between the newly … Read MoreRudolph Fisher (1897-1934)
John W. Rogers Jr., business executive, investor, and entrepreneur, was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 31, 1958. Rogers’s mother was Jewel S. Lafontant, a prominent Republican attorney and federal government official and his father was John W. Rogers, a Chicago circuit court judge. Rogers … Read MoreJohn W. Rogers (1958- )
Betty Shabazz, wife and later widow of Malcolm X, became an important political activist after the assassination of her husband in 1965. Betty Shabazz was born Betty Dean Sanders to parents Ollie May Sanders and Shelman Sandlin. Ollie May Sanders was a teenager and Sandlin … Read MoreBetty Sandlin Shabazz (1934-1997)
In 1635, two Spanish ships were wrecked near what is now St. Vincent in the West Indies. The ships held West Africans who were to be sold as slaves in the West Indies. The West Africans escaped from the Spaniards, and hid themselves among the … Read MoreThe Garifuna People
In the following account the authors Anthony D. Hill, associate professor of drama at The Ohio State University, and Douglas Q. Barnett, director, producer, and founder of Black Arts/West in Seattle, discuss why they created the Historical Dictionary of African American Theater, the first comprehensive … Read MoreThe Black Presence in Theater through the Centuries in the Historical Dictionary of African American Theater
