Eartha Mary Magdalene White, a prominent African American resident of Jacksonville, Florida, was widely known for her humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors in the northeastern part of that state. White was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on November 8, 1876. Her mother died shortly after childbirth, and, … Read MoreEartha M. M. White (1876-1974)
Cindy Lou Courville is an American diplomat and expert on Africa. Born in Opelousas, Louisiana, to Earnest and Mar Courville in 1954, she grew up attending segregated schools until the eighth grade when she was among the first groups of African American children who began … Read MoreCindy L. Courville (1954– )
Louisa “Lulu” Matilda Jacobs, teacher, equal rights activist, and entrepreneur, was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, on October 19, 1833. She was the daughter of congressman and newspaper editor Samuel Tredwell Sawyer and his mixed-race enslaved mistress Harriet Jacobs. Louisa Jacobs was educated … Read MoreLouisa Matilda Jacobs (1833-1917)
Early 20th Century East San Francisco (California) Bay civic leader and activist, Fannie Franklin Wall, was born in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1860 She married Archy H. Wall, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army who also later worked for the San Francisco Post Office. They … Read MoreFannie Franklin Wall (c. 1860-1944)
Camille J. Billops, artist, filmmaker, archivist, and professor, was born on August 12, 1933, in Los Angeles. Her parents were Alma Gilmore and Lucius Billops, and she has one sister, Billie. She married James V. Hatch, a professor of theater at the University of California, … Read MoreCamille Billops (1933-2019)
Betty Eileen King is a public servant, philanthropist, and diplomat who has spent her career working to improve the lives of people around the world. Born in 1957 on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, King attended Grenadine Girls High School in Kingstown, the island … Read MoreBetty Eileen King (1957- )
In 1930 Bessie Stringfield became the first African American woman to ride her motorcycle across the United States solo. Her feat was credited with breaking down barriers for both women and African-American motorcyclists. Born Betsy Leonora Ellis on February 9, 1911, in Kingston, Jamaica, she … Read MoreBessie Stringfield (1911-1993)
On March 12, 2015, Ariana Miyamoto became the first Miss Universe Japan of mixed-race descent. The beauty queen was born on May 12, 1994, the product of a brief marriage between an African American serviceman and a Japanese woman. Shortly after her birth, her father … Read MoreAriana Miyamoto (1994- )
Twenty-one-year-old Marva Weatherhorn, the first black Miss Guatemala, represented her country in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant. Her mother’s family immigrated to Guatemala from El Salvador to work harvesting bananas. Ms. Weatherhorn’s father and his parents had emigrated from Jamaica to work for the United … Read MoreMarva Weatherhorn (1983- )
“Image Ownership: Mejiaperalta” In 2010, 23-year-old Scharllette Allen Moses became the first Nicaraguan of African ancestry to be crowned Miss Nicaragua. She represented her country in the Miss Universe competition in Las Vegas, Nevada of that same year. Moses joined another Central American, Marva Wright … Read MoreScharllette Allen Moses (1987- )
