How To Get Alicia Keys's Rope Twists From 'So Done' Music Video

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams is a Grammy nominated singer, former beauty queen and television and film actress. She was born on March 18, 1963 in Bronx, New York but soon moved to a more fashionable neighborhood. Her parents, Milton and Helen Williams, both worked as music teachers and so Williams and her

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

18

1963

Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson is a legendary African American actress. She is known for her remarkable performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and The Help, and has been nominated for a BAFTA Award and won two Emmy Awards. She was also nominated for highly prestigious Academy Award and the Golden

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Source: Black History Resources

Tone Lōc

Tone Lōc is an American rapper and actor who is best known for his song “Wild Thing”. He was born Anthony Terrell Smith on March 3, 1966 to Margaret Smith, who was the manager of a retirement home and James Smith. During his youth, Smith was a member of a street gang called SouthSide

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

23

1989

Mos Def

The renowned actor and rapper, Mos Def is widely known for his hip hop songs that depict a social themes and consciousness. Fans also identify his memorable performances in Hollywood flicks such as Guide to the Galaxy, The Italian Job and

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

11

1973

Flip Wilson

Flip Wilson was an American Comedian and Actor who was extremely famous due to his own weekly series, “The Flip Wilson Show”. Wilson was one of the first African-Americans to not only have a title show of his own, but one that primarily had a white audience. Wilson was featured on Time

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

8

1933

Kathleen Battle, operatic soprano

1948 : Kathleen Battle, operatic soprano, winner of Grammy awards in 1987 and 1988, born

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

13

1948

Chingy

Howard Bailey Jr, best known as Chingy, is an American rapper and actor, born on March 9, 1980 in St. Louis, Missouri. While his music simply adheres to the Hip Hop genre, Chingy is best known for plain delivery of lyrics in upbeat music. His familiarity with singing in a nursery rhyme style makes

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

9

1980

Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington was a popular singer from the 1950s who sang jazz, blues, R&B and pop. Her birth name was Ruth Lee Jones. She was born on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and moved to Chicago at a very young age. Her first exposure to music stemmed from the church, where she learned to

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

29

1924

"Yes We Can": Barack Obama's Road to the White House, 2008

Barack Obamas campaign for the Presidency in 2008 has been described by many political analysts as brilliant and virtually flawless. Despite his inexperience in national politics and limited experience in state politics (Obama was first elected to political office in 1994), he assembled

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Source: Black Past

Diana Ross

Diana Ross is an American singer and actress, who is one of the most successful recording artists with record sales exceeding 100 million copies. She was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. She began singing in high school and formed a band with her friends Mary Wilson, Florence

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

26

1944

Akon

Akon is an American Hip Hop artist who has produced several platinum albums, appeared in television and film roles, received several Grammy nominations and owns two record labels. He was born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam in St. Louis, Missouri on April

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

16

1973

Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers is an American actor and former professional football player. He was born on January 14, 1948 in New Orleans and graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1966. He registered at Long Beach City College but could not play football there due to an ankle injury. He then

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

14

1948

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter and actress who has been making hit records for almost 25 years. She was born on January 11, 1971 in the Bronx, New York to Cora and Thomas Blige. She grew up in a very neglected and disastrous neighborhood and her childhood was marked by

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

11

1971

Ashanti

Name at birth: Ashanti Douglas

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

(1843) Henry Highland Garnet, "An Address To The Slaves Of The United States"

The National Negro Convention of 1843 was held in Buffalo, New York drawing some seventy delegates a dozen states. Among the delegates were young, rising leaders in the African American community including Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Charles B. Ray and Charles L. Remond. Twenty-seven

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Source: Black Past

Michael Jackson, entertainer wins 8 Grammys

Musician and entertainer Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards. His album, Thriller, broke all sales records to-date, and remains one of the top-grossing albums of all time.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

28

1984

Stevie Wonder

Born: 5/13/1950 Saginaw, Michiganknown by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he became one of the most creative and loved musical performers of the late 20th century. Wonder signed with Motowns

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Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock was born on April 12, 1940, in Chicago Illinois into a musical family. His father was a government meat inspector and mother was a secretary. Herbie began studying piano at the age of 7, he started his education with classical music. On February 5, 1952, along with Chicago Symphony

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Source: Black History Resources

Feb

5

1952

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was a blues and jazz vocalist, who was extremely popular in the 1920s and 1930s. She was born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Laura and William Smith. Her father was a Baptist preacher who died shortly after her birth, and she was raised by her mother along with her

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

15

1894

Ella Fitzgerald Born

Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song, born. In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

25

1918

B.B. King

Riley B. King, better known by his stage name “B.B. King” is a famous African American blues musician. He was born on September 16, 1925 on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, to Albert King and Nora Ella Farr. His father left the family when King was very young, and his mother

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Source: Black History Resources

Sep

16

1925

Top 10 Richest African Americans

No one can understand the value of freedom as the African Americans do. They were led into slavery by whites and kept as petty slaves by land owners deprived of any rights. It took some time for the black to fathom their true potential as human beings deserving of equal respect, rights and social

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Mya

Mya Marie Harrison, or simply Mya, is a Grammy award winning singer, actress and dancer who has appeared in a variety of roles over the years. Named after acclaimed poet Maya Angelou, Mya was born on October 10, 1979 in Washington D.C. Her father Sherman is an African American while her mother

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Source: Black History Resources

Oct

10

1979

John Legend

Name at birth: John Stephens

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

The Utah Territory Slave Code (1852)

An Act in Relation to Service

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Source: Black Past

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is renowned American musician, known for his trumpeting, composing and teaching abilities. Born on October 18, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Marsalis has won almost 9 Grammy Awards promoting the sanctity and depth of Jazz and Classical music to young

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Source: Black History Resources

Oct

18

1961

Bankhead, Mary Lucille Perkins (1902–1994)

Mary Lucille Perkins Bankhead, lifelong resident of Salt Lake City and member of the Genesis Group leadership, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 9, 1902. Her father, Sylvester Perkins, was a cowboy and farmer. Her mother, Martha Anne Jane Stevens Perkins Howell, was a homemaker and

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Source: Black Past

Jun

16

1994

Chris Rock

Chris Rock is an American comedian, actor, writer, director and producer who shot to fame with the hit television show “Saturday Night Live”. He was born on February 7, 1965 to Rosalie Rock, a school teacher and social worker, and Julius Rock, a truck driver and newspaper delivery

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

23

1996

Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was an American actress, singer, dancer and model. She was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, New York to Diane and Michael Haughton. Enrolled in voice lessons by her mother at a very young age, Aaliyah soon began performing at weddings, the church choir and various charity

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

16

1979

Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross was an American R&B singer and songwriter who was well known for being a background vocalist for many famous artists as well as the lead singer for the group “Change”. He was born on April 20, 1951 in Manhattan, New York City to Mary Ida Vandross and Luther

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

20

1951

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