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Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, producer and director. He was born as Emmitt Perry Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He had three other siblings, and a very difficult childhood. His father was a carpenter and used to frequently physically abuse his family. Perry mentioned in
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Source: Black History Resources
Sep
13
1969
Donald, Arnold (1954- )
Arnold Donald is an American businessman and CEO of Carnival Corporation headquartered in Miami, Florida. He has held the position since 2013. Prior to this position, he was a senior executive at Monsanto in
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Source: Black Past
(1884), Alexander Crummell, “Excellence, an End of the Trained Intellect”
In an address to women of  the graduating class of the Colored High School in Washington, D.C. on  June 6th 1884, Rev. Alexander Crummell urges them to put their intellect and their education in the service of racial advancement.  The address appears
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Source: Black Past
Adams, Victoria Jackson Gray (1926-2006)
Born in Hattiesburg, Virginia on November 5, 1926, Victoria Jackson Gray Adams became one of the most important Mississipians in the Civil Rights Movement.  Her activities included teaching voter registration courses to domestics and sharecroppers, opening of the Freedom Schools during
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Source: Black Past
Nov
5
1926
Nas
American rapper Nas was born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in Queens, New York on September 14, 1973 to jazz musician Olu Hara and Fannie Ann Jones. He was musically inclined from his childhood and began playing the trumpet at the age of 4. He initially wanted to be a jazz musician but turned to rap
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Source: Black History Resources
Sep
14
1973
Lawrence, Brenda (1954– )
Brenda L. Lawrence is a well-known and high-profile Democratic Party politician from Michigan who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for the state’s Fourteenth Congressional District. Before her election to Congress, Lawrence served as the mayor of Southfield, Michigan, from 2001 to
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Deion Sanders
A world-renowned sports athlete, professional and currently a TV show host, Deion Sanders was never meant to be mediocre at anything he set his eyes on. One of very few athletes to have ever professionally played football as well as baseball at the national level, Sanders’ marvelous athletic
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Intellitech
Aug
9
1967
Ernie Banks
Ernest Banks, his family’s first son and second child, was born in Dallas, Texas on January 31, 1931 and devoted the first few years of his childhood to helping around the house and attending Church and Sunday school. For a while, his mother thought that Banks would take after his grandfather to
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Source: Black History Resources
Jan
31
1931
LeBron James
LeBron James is an American basketball superstar who currently plays for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team “Cleveland Cavaliers”. He is six feet, eight inches tall and weighs 250 pounds. He was born to a 16 year old single mother named Gloria Marie James on December
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Source: Black History Resources
Telling Secrets, Spying Freedom: A Novel Account of Mary Bowser's Civil War Espionage
In the following account historian and novelist Lois Leveen describes how she came to write her critically acclaimed novel, The Secrets of Mary Bowser, the account of a black woman who served as a Union spy in the Confederate White House during the American Civil
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Gwendolyn Brooks
Born on June 7, 1917, to a family who belonged to Kansas but later moved to Chicago, Gwendolyn Brooks was an American poet and teacher. Even though both of her parents wanted to pursue their careers as doctors but were unable to do so due to financial constraints, they were supportive of their
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Source: Black History Resources
Jun
7
1917
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds belongs to a family with a history of playing baseball, it can be convincingly said that baseball runs in his family. He was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California. He was born to Pat and Bobby. Bobby was a high-school baseball star, he chose baseball over football. He played
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Source: Black History Resources
Flowers, Vonetta (1973- )
The first person of African descent, male or female, to wina gold medal at the Winter Olympics was Vonetta Flowers when she won gold inthe womens bobsled event in 2002 at SaltLake
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Source: Black Past
(1953) Thurgood Marshall, “Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education”
Many historians and legal scholars consider the U.S. Supreme Courts 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education to be one of the most important and far reaching pronouncements in the history of the Court.  On December 8, 1953 Thurgood Marshall, the chief legal counsel of the National Association
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Source: Black Past
Dec
8
1953
Jeter, Howard Franklin (1947- )
Howard Jeter, U.S. Ambassador to Botswana and later to Nigeria, was born in Maple Ridge, Union County, South Carolina on March 6, 1947 to James Walter Jeter, Jr. and Emma Mattocks Jeter. Howard Jeter first attended school in a one-room schoolhouse in Maple Ridge. The school had no
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Mar
6
1947
Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley is a well known talk show host and media personality. He was born on September 13, 1964 in Gulfport, Mississippi to a single teenaged mother named Joyce Marie Roberts. Joyce married a US Air Force Officer named Emory Garnell Smiley, and Tavis was named after his stepfather. He did not
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Source: Black History Resources
Sep
13
1964
Conyers, Jr., John (1929- )
John Conyers, Jr. was born on May 16, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan.  He attended public schools and graduated in 1947 from Northwestern High School.  After high school, he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the United Automobile Workers Union  (UAW).  Conyers worked for the Lincoln Car
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA) Boston Professional Chapter
May
16
1929
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is an American rapper who is famous for his gangster image and rap meets reggae style of music. He was born Calvin Broadus on October 20, 1971 in Long Beach, California to Beverly Broadus and Vernall Varnado. His father was a war veteran and singer, who was rarely present in his
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Source: Black History Resources
Oct
20
1971
Murphy, John Henry, Sr. (1840-1922)
Born on December 25, 1840, in Baltimore, Maryland, John Henry Murphy grew up as a slave and freed by the Emancipation Act of 1863. He enlisted in the military at age 24, during the Civil War and quickly progressed to the rank of Sergeant by the end of the conflict.  When he returned home to
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Source: Black Past
Dec
25
1840
Langston University (1898-- )
In March 1897 the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature created a land grant college to train African American teachers, calling it the Colored Agricultural and Normal University.  Classes opened in the fall of 1898 in a church in the town of Langston.  Langston had been founded in 1890 as part of an
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Freeman, Joseph (1953– )
In 1978 Joseph Freeman became the first man of African ancestry to be granted the priesthood after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that any male could be ordained, regardless of race or color.  Freeman was born July 24, 1953, in Vanceboro, North Carolina, to Rose Lee Smith
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Source: Black Past
Kentucky State University [Frankfort] (1886- )
Kentucky State University, the largest predominantly black institution of higher learning in the state, began as a state normal (teacher training) school.  On October 15, 1885, Kentuckys political leaders held a conference in Louisville to discuss the ways to improve the welfare of the Commonwealth
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Source: Black Past
Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson is a famous American singer and songwriter, who had a successful career both as part of the group “The Miracles” and as a solo artist. He was born as William  Robinson, Jr. on February 19, 1940 to a poor family in Detroit. His mother died when he was very young so he was
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Source: Black History Resources
Feb
19
1940
Jones, David “Deacon” (1938-2013)
National Football League star David “Deacon” Jones was a dominant player in the League.  During Jones’ years on the football field he singlehandedly revolutionized the defensive end position. Throughout his fourteen-year stint in the NFL Jones managed to play in 190 games, missing only
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Source: Black Past
Jun
3
2013
Chuck Berry
Charles Anderson Edward Berry, better known as Chuck Berry, is popularly considered the father of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He was born on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri to Martha and Henry Berry, who were grandchildren of slaves. His ancestors had migrated from the rural south to Missouri to look
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Greater Boston Veterans Collaborative
Oct
18
1926
Dominique Wilkins
Jacques Dominique Wilkins is a retired professional basketball player who is known as one of the best dunkers in NBA history. He was born on January 12, 1960 in Paris, France as his father was an Air Force Officer who was stationed there at the time of his birth. His family moved back to the United
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Source: Black History Resources
Jan
12
1960
Motley, Constance Baker (1921-2005)
Constance Baker Motley was born on September 14, 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut.  She was the ninth child in a family of 12 children.  Her parents were emigrants from the island of Nevis in the West Indies. Motley grew up attending New Haven’s integrated public schools and soon became an avid
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Sep
28
2005
Warfield, William (1920-2002)
Concert bass-baritone singer, actor, and teacher William Caesar Warfield was born on January 22, 1920 in West Helena, Arkansas to a family of sharecroppers. When Warfield was a young child, his family moved to Rochester, New York, where his father served as a pastor for Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Christo Rey New York High School
Aug
25
2002
Black students are banned from a Little Rock high school, by Arkansas governor O
Black students are banned from a Little Rock high school, by Arkansas governor Oval Faubus who calls out the National Guard, 1957
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Sep
4
1957
Bridges, Leon (1932- )
Leon Bridges is recorded as the founder of the second African American-owned firm in Seattle. He was born on August 18, 1932 in Los Angeles, California. In high school he was told by a counselor that he couldnt become an architect because he was black, and then while a student in high school he met
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Source: Black Past
Aug
18
1932
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