On December 1, 2005, Mark Mallory was sworn in as the first black mayor elected by popular vote in Cincinnati, Ohio. Three other black mayors preceded him but were chosen by the City Council. He served in that position until December 1, 2013. Born on … Read MoreMark Mallory (1962– )
Cover of Benjamin Banneker’s 1792 Almanac Image Ownership: Public Domain Benjamin Banneker, free black, farmer, mathematician, and astronomer, was born on November 9, 1731, the son of freed slaves Robert and Mary Bannaky, probably near the Patapsco River southeast of Baltimore, Maryland, where his father owned a … Read MoreBenjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
David L. Lewis is a twice Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. He was born on May 25, 1936 in Little Rock, Arkansas to John Henry Lewis, Sr., a Yale Divinity School graduate and college president, and the former Alice Urnestine Bell, a public school math teacher. He … Read MoreDavid Levering Lewis (1936- )
In the article below retired California State University, Fresno historian Robert Mikell explores the history of the only all-black town created in the Golden State. He traces that history including the role of its principal founder, Colonel Allen Allensworth, from 1908. Centennial Celebration at Allensworth … Read MoreCalifornia The History of Allensworth (1908- )
Image Ownership: Public domain The first African American pilot hired by a commercial passenger airline carrier owed his achievement to Marlon D. Green who fought a six-year court battle that opened the industry to minority-race aviators. Born on June 6, 1929 in El Dorado, Arkansas, … Read MoreMarlon DeWitt Green (1929-2009)
Merritt Talking to Police Officer Image Ownership: Public domain Afro-Filipino author, journalist, and government official, Jesus V. Merritt was born in Agoo, a city in the province of La Union in the Philippines, on October 15, 1913. He was the son of Julius Merritt of … Read MoreJesus Villanueva Merritt (1913- ?)
Image Ownership: Public domain Pioneering cartographer and meteorologist Jean-Baptist Lislet-Geoffroy was born August 23, 1755 in Saint-Pierre, Réunion, a French island colony in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar and southern Africa. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, a white French engineer, and an … Read MoreJean Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy (a.k.a. Geoffroy L’Islet, 1755-1836)
Image Ownership: Public domain Internationally acclaimed British-based architect David Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on September 22, 1966, the son Affram Adjaye, a diplomat from Ghana, and Cecilia Adjaye, also a Ghanaian national. Because of the nature of his father’s work, as … Read MoreDavid Frank Adjaye (1966- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Yapi N’Cho Blaise Didier of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), often referred to as Didier Yapi, was a prolific information technology (IT) inventor/ researcher in Africa from about 1998 until his death in 2015. Yapi was born in 1976, in the Gôh … Read MoreDidier Yapi (1976-2015)
Hans Pape and Jean Marcel Nicholas in Paris, Date Unknown Image Ownership: Public domain Expatriate, impersonator, and concentration camp survivor Jean Marcel Nicholas was born October 5, 1918 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, one of the three children of Hilderic Nicholas, a secretary of the British Embassy … Read MoreJean Marcel Nicholas (a.k.a. Johnny Nicholas, 1918-1945)