Vonetta McGee was a talented actress now best remembered as a popular leading lady in blaxploitation films such as Hammer (1972), Blacula (1972), and Shaft in Africa (1973).” Born Lawrence Vonetta McGee on January 14, 1945 to parents Lawrence and Alma (Scott) McGee, she grew … Read MoreVonetta McGee (1945-2010)
Miriam Esther Jiménez Román, professor, editor, archivist, curator, social theorist, author, and activist was born on June 11, 1951 in the coastal city of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico to Arcelia Román Ruiz (1931-2009) of Vega Baja and Afro-Puerto Rican Baldomero Jiménez Font (1928-1999) of Piedras Blancas. … Read MoreMiriam Jiménez Román (1951-2020)
Lisa Gelobter is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and technology executive. Gelobter worked on several pioneering internet technologies, and she is credited with developing the animation used to create GIFs. She served as the Chief Digital Service Officer for the U.S. Department of Education during the … Read MoreLisa Gelobter (1971- )
Rosemary Sauvageau Nestingen is a musical composer, a pianist, and the first African American woman to be crowned Miss North Dakota. Sauvageau was born on January 31, 1988, in Fargo, North Dakota. Sauvageau was a musical child prodigy, as she began playing the piano at … Read MoreRosemary Sauvageau Nestingen (1988- )
Patricia Ann McGrath is founder and CEO of a cosmetic business which in 2018 was valued in excess of $1 billion and she is heralded as the world’s most influential make-up artist. Born June 11, 1970 in Northampton, England, she is the daughter of Jean … Read MorePatricia Ann McGrath (1965- )
Nigerian-born Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a leading contemporary artist. In early 2018 a typically large-scale painting by Crosby sold for $3 million, just a few months after she had won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award worth $624,000. Born in 1983 in Enugu, Nigeria, she is … Read MoreNjideka Akunyili Crosby (1983- )
Sheila Y. Oliver is a politician and the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey. Oliver was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 14, 1952, and raised there. She graduated from Weequahic High School in 1970 and then attended Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) graduating cum laude with a degree in Sociology in 1974. … Read MoreShelia Y. Oliver (1952- )
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- )
In 1924, Edna Guy was the first African American to study professional dance with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Katherine Graham was also later a pupil. Guy loved dance and wanted to perform like Ruth St. Denis. She saw St. Denis dance in concert … Read MoreEdna Guy McCully (1907-1983)
The transition of African American actress Meghan Markle to Duchess of Sussex in 2019 brought about by her marriage to Prince Harry, a member of the British royal family, overshadowed the earlier occurrence of the first person of African descent to marry into European royalty … Read MorePrincess Angela of Liechtenstein (née Angela Gisela Brown, 1958- )
