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300 Black Facts in Topic 'Barack Obama'

Important Cities in African-American History

African Americans have contributed tremendously to the culture of the United States. First brought to America hundreds of years ago to work as slaves, blacks won their freedom after the 19th century Civil War. However, many blacks remained very poor and moved throughout the country seeking better

Source: ThoughtCo

Palmer, Larry L. (1949- )

On November 1, 2011, President Barack H. Obama appointed Larry L. Palmer the United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. On March 30, 2012, the U.S. Senate confirmed Palmer’s nomination and he reported to his post in Bridgetown, Barbados. Born in Augusta, Georgia, on July

Source: Black Past

Robinson, Todd D. (1963- )

Todd D. Robinson is a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer, currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala. Robinson, a Minister Counselor who speaks Spanish, Italian, and Albanian, has had a wide range of postings with the Foreign Service. Since his confirmation as Ambassador to Guatemala in

Source: Black Past

Renowned television talk show host Oprah Winfrey is sometimes called the most influential woman of the 20th century, and perhaps rightly so, as she has her own globally viewed talk show, television network, magazine and millions of fans. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Missouri

Source: Black History Resources

Jan

29

1954

Reed-Rowe, Helen (1949- )

Ambassador Helen Reed-Rowe was a career diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service. Reed-Rowe was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1949 to Gladys and John W. Reed, Sr. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and her Master of Arts degree in National Security

Source: Black Past

Barack Obama says members of Congress showed courage in passing ACA

Barack Obama accepts the Profile in Courage Award, but says members of Congress who voted for the ACA deserve to be recognized for putting people’s health ahead of getting

Source: Black History and Culture

Fighting for Racial Justice in the Pacific Northwest: Lillian Walker and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights

In the following account John C. Hughes, chief oral historian for the Washington State Legacy Project, discusses the life and legacy of Lillian Walker, who has been a civil rights activist in Bremerton, Washington, since World War II. Established in 2008 by Washington Secretary of State Sam

Source: Black Past

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th President of the United States of America and the first African American to have held the post. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. His parents separated when he was an infant and divorced when he was 2 years

Source: Black History Resources

Jan

20

2009

A Marxist Scholar Analyzes the American Legal System

In the following article Professor Malik Simba, an historian at California State University, Fresno describes his professional and personal odyssey that led to the writing of his book, Black Marxism and American Constitutionalism: From the Colonial Background through the Ascendancy of Barack Obama

Source: Black Past

Cousin, Ertharin (1957– )

Ertharin Cousin, a diplomat and leading advocate for ending global hunger, was born on May 12, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois to Anne Cousin, who worked in social services, and her husband Julius Cousin, who was a property owner and community development

Source: Black Past

Sep

9

2009

A List of Famous African-Americans Who Spent Time in Africa

Most people know about the forced emigration of millions of Africans to the Americas as slaves. Far fewer think of the voluntary flow of the descendants of those slaves back across the Atlantic to visit or live in

Source: ThoughtCo

Barack Obama, "What I Want For You--and For Every Child": A Letter to My Daughters

In an open letter to his daughters, Malia and Sasha, appearing in PARADE Magazine on Sunday, January 18, 2009, two days before his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama describes his hopes and dreams for the future with them and with the world. The letter appears

Source: Black Past

(2007) Senator Barack Obama “Voting Rights March Commemoration Speech”

Here today, I must begin because at the Unity breakfast this morning I was saving for last and the list was so long I left him out after that introduction. So I’m going to start by saying how much I appreciate the friendship and the support and the outstanding work that he does each and every

Source: Black Past

Wanda L. Nesbitt (1956-- )

Wanda L. Nesbitt holds the rank of Career Minister in the U.S. Foreign Service. She joined the United States Foreign Service in 1981. She was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar by President George W. Bush and served in that capacity from 2001 to 2004. President Bush appointed her ambassador

Source: Black Past

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin , in full Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.), American singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s. Franklin’s mother, Barbara, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, C.L. Franklin, presided over the New Bethel Baptist

Source: Brittanica

Mar

25

1942

Thomas, Harry K., Jr. (1956- )

Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants. His mother was a social worker and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses. Thomas finished

Source: Black Past

Apr

27

2010

Kenya | FactMonster

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Richmond, Cedric Levon (1973- )

Cedric Richmond is the U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of New Orleans. Richmond, a Democrat, won the post after more than a decade of service in the Louisiana House of

Source: Black Past

Sep

13

1973

Battle, Anthony Michael (1950– )

Michael Battle is an educator, religious leader, and diplomat. Born on July 28, 1950, in St. Louis, Missouri, he was one of twelve children from Jessie Battle Sr., a Pentecostal pastor, and Mary Battle. Michael received his bachelor’s degree from Trinity College (1973), his Master of Divinity

Source: Black Past

Jul

28

1950

Biography of California Attorney General Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris was born Oct. 20, 1964, to a black Stanford University professor and a Tamil Indian physician mother, Harris became the first California attorney general with African American or South Asian ancestry after defeating Republican rival Steve Cooley in the 2010 election for the

Source: ThoughtCo

Jones, Anthony “Van” (1968- )

Van Jones is a social-environmental activist and the Obama administration’s former “Green Czar.” He was born in 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee. His mother and father were a high school teacher and junior-high principal respectively. While growing up, Jones was a stereotypical

Source: Black Past

Brigety II, Reuben Earl (1973– )

Reuben Earl Brigety II is a naval officer, educator, international humanitarian specialist, and diplomat. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 7, 1973, to Dr. Barbara and Dr. Rueben Brigety Sr. In 1965 his father became the first African American to graduate from the University of

Source: Black Past

Sep

7

1973

Bost, Eric M. (1952- )

Ambassador Eric Bost is currently the assistant director of External Relations for the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M University. Bost, a native of Concord, North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology in 1974. In 1985, he

Source: Black Past

Jul

20

2006

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama was born on January 17, 1964. Brought up in Chicago, Illinois, she comes from a multiracial family. She started her school life in Chicago, more specifically in Whitney Young High School and was on the honor roll for four years as well as serving as treasurer for

Source: Black History Resources

Political hip hop

Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning rap music into a call for action and a form of social activism. Inspired by 1970s political preachers such as The Last Poets and musician Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy was the first predominately

Source: ThoughtCo

(2008) Senator Barack Obama, "A More Perfect Union"

Controversial remarks drawn from the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an unpaid campaign advisor to Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, and his pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, emerged as a lingering issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. On March

Source: Black Past

Mar

18

2008

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

In July 2015, Barack Obama visited Kenya for the first time since he became president of the United States. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born in Nyangoma Kogelo and returned to Kenya in 1964, after he graduated from Harvard. Obama, Sr. lived in Nairobi at the time of his death in

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Foxx, Anthony Renard (1971- )

Anthony Foxx, the seventeenth United States Secretary of Transportation, was born April 30, 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised by his mother, Laura Foxx, and grandparents James and Mary Foxx. He graduated from West Charlotte High School in 1989, and four years later received

Source: Black Past

Jul

2

2013

Patrick, Deval L. (1956 - )

Deval L. Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts was elected in 2006. He became at that time only the second African American elected as a state Governor in the history of the United States. Patrick was born on July 31, 1956 in Chicago to Laurdine Pat Patrick and Emily Mae Wintersmith, and raised in

Source: Black Past

Jul

31

1956

Brown, Gayleatha Beatrice (1947-2013)

On July 2, 2009 President Barack Obama appointed Gayleatha Beatrice Brown to be the United States ambassador to Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa. This was her second ambassadorial appointment. Previously, Brown had been appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as U.S. Ambassador to

Source: Black Past

Jul

2

2009

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed | An Online Reference Guide to African American History by Professor Quintard Taylor, University of Washington

Source: Black Past

First inauguration of Barack Obama

The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe

Source: ThoughtCo

Lenhardt, Alfonso E. (1943- )

Alfonso E. Lenhardt is currently Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania from 2009 to

Source: Black Past

Egypt | FactMonster

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Taylor, Teddy B. (1953- )

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1953, Teddy Bernard Taylor graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Florida A&M University in 1975. During his time in Tallahassee, Taylor became a member of the Omega Psi Phi

Source: Black Past

Sep

21

2009

Mikal E. Belicove

Home › About Us - Staff Biographies

Source: Black Past

Mason, Dawn (1945- )

Dr. Dawn Mason is a former Washington State Representative for the 37th District, an adjunct professor and former member of the Board of Visitors at Antioch University Seattle, and Vision and Planning Team Member for Cultural Reconnection (USA and Kenya). Mason was born in Jersey City, New Jersey

Source: Black Past

Jul

2

1945

Simmons, Ruth (1945- )

Ruth Simmons is the first African American to be named President of an Ivy League university. She is also the first African American woman to lead any major university in the United States. Simmons was sworn in as the 18th President of Brown University in autumn 2001 and the University’s first

Source: Black Past

A Marxist Scholar Analyzes the American Legal System

In the following article Professor Malik Simba, an historian at California State University, Fresno describes his professional and personal odyssey that led to the writing of his book, Black Marxism and American Constitutionalism: From the Colonial Background through the Ascendancy of Barack

Source: Black Past

Name at birth: Eric

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and

Source: ThoughtCo

Dec

28

1978

Pilgrim Baptist Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota (1863- )

Pilgrim Baptist Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the oldest African American church in the state of Minnesota. A group of escaped slaves began worshiping together in 1863, and under the leadership of fellow escaped slave Robert Thomas Hickman, the church officially became Pilgrim Baptist Church

Source: Black Past

Nov

15

1866

Obama, Michelle Robinson (1964- )

On January 20, 2009, with the Presidential swearing in of her husband Barack Obama, Michelle Robinson Obama became the first person of African American descent to become First Lady of the United

Source: Black Past

Occupation(s) Stevland Hardaway Morris (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins; May 13, 1950),[1] known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercial

Source: ThoughtCo

The Obama White House

West Wing Week 01/19/17 or, Obama, Farewell - Duration: 6 minutes, 12

Source: Black Inventors

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed | An Online Reference Guide to African American History by Professor Quintard Taylor, University of Washington

Source: Black Past

100 Greatest Rap Songs: 100-91

The best hip-hop songs of all time are those songs that touch our soul. They make us smile, laugh, cry, think, move and shake what our mama (or papa) gave

Source: ThoughtCo

Obama Immigration Reform 2014 Speech: Announcing Executive Action [FULL]

Immigration Reform 2014 News: In an address from the White House, President Obama chose confrontation over conciliation as he asserted the powers of the Oval Office to reshape the nation’s immigration

Source: Smithsonian Black History Teaching Resources

Girma, Haben (1988- )

Haben Girma, both blind and deaf, is a disability rights advocate and attorney who became the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School in Massachusetts when she graduated with a Juris Doctor degree (JD) in

Source: Black Past

Jul

29

1988

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