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Owens, Jesse
Owens, Jesse, 1913–80, U.S. track star, b. Alabama. He was also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J. C. Owens. After his family moved to Cleveland he excelled at track and field events in high school. He won the broad-jump titles at the outdoor
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Kelly, Samuel Eugene (1926-2009)
Samuel Eugene Kelly, soldier and educator, was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on January 26, 1926 to James Handy Kelly, a minister, and Essie Matilda Allen-Kelly, a homemaker.  Educated at Greenwich public schools, Kelly dropped out of high school in 1943 and joined the United States Army the
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Source: Black Past
Jan
26
1926
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is a successful and widely respected American actor and director, who has received 4 Oscar nominations along with winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar Award for the movie “Million Dollar Baby”. Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee in June 1937. He lived with his
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Source: Black History Resources
Rust College [Holly Springs] (1866- )
Rust College was founded in 1866 by the Freeman’s Aid Society’s missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church with the goal of providing basic education for adults and children who had formerly been enslaved. Located outside Holly Springs, Mississippi, the College is currently affiliated with the
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts
Ike Turner
Ike Turner was a popular twentieth century African-American musician, bandleader and lyricist. He was also a record producer and is given credit for introducing rock and roll in 1950s. Turner came to stardom in 1960s and 1970s with his former wife Tina Turner and their record
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Dec
12
2007
Beah, Ishmael (1980– )
Ishmael Beah is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his personal history, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider. Beah was born on November 23, 1980, in Mattru Jong, Bonthe District, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The Sierra Leone Civil War started in March
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Source: Black Past
Nov
23
1980
Debbie Allen
Deborrah Kaye Allen, better known as Debbie Allen, is an American choreographer and dancer from Houston, Texas. She was born on January 16, 1950 to Arthur Allen and Vivian Ayers. Her mother was a strong role model in her life, who took care of Debbie and her siblings when her parents got
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Source: Black History Resources
Jan
16
1950
Bell Smith, Leopoldine Emma Doualla (1939– )
Leopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith is the world’s first black flight attendant. Smith was born in Cameroon which, at the time, France controlled. Smith was a princess of the royal Douala family of Cameroon. She was offered a rare after-school employment opportunity in her hometown of Douala, then
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Source: Black Past
Feb
11
1958
Lunceford, Jimmie M. (1902-1947)
James Melvin “Jimmie” Lunceford, a popular band leader during the swing era, was born near Fulton, Mississippi, in Itawamba County to James Leonard and Beulah Idella Tucker Lunceford in June, 1902. His grandparents, Daniel and Gracie Lunceford, had arrived in Mississippi as slaves from
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Source: Black Past
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain (born Wilton Norman Chamberlain) was an American basketball star who played for several NBA teams. Chamberlain  was born on August 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at Overbrook High School where he played on his school’s team for three years, scoring more than
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by New York University
Aug
21
1936
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball star who plays for the Yankees. He was born on June 26, 1974, in Pequannok, New Jersey to mixed race parents. His father is African American and worked as a drug abuse counselor whereas his mother is of German and Irish descent. His parents gave him
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Source: Black History Resources
Jun
26
1974
Smith, Hale (1925–2009)
Performer, composer, arranger and teacher, Hale Smith, Jr., encompassed the worlds of jazz and classical music. Beginning with his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, he trained in jazz and classical composition, performance, and teaching. His collaborations and influence crossed multiple fields where he
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Jun
29
1925
Pollard, Fritz (1894-1986)
Fredrick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard, born in 1894, was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In high school he was an all-around athlete excelling as a running back, a three-time Cook County track champion, and a talented baseball player. Upon graduation, for a short time, he played football for
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Source: Black Past
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
Arroyo, Martina (1936- )
Born to a Puerto Rican father and African American mother, Martina Arroyo was a world-renowned operatic soprano from the 1960s through 1989, the year of her professional retirement. She and her contemporaries were the first generation of African American opera soloists to attain international
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Source: Black Past
(1970) Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, “I Am For the Equal Rights Amendment.”
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm became in 1968 the first African American woman elected to Congress.  Four years later in 1972, she launched a bid to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, another first for an African American woman.  Throughout her career in Congress
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Source: Black Past
Aug
10
1970
Dinkins, David N. (1927- )
In 1989, David N. Dinkins defeated his challenger, former federal prosecutor Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani, to become the first African American mayor of New York
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Source: Black Past
Gibson, Kenneth A. (1931- )
Kenneth Allen Gibson, the first African American mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was born in 1931 in the town of Enterprise, Alabama.  He graduated from high school in Enterprise in 1950 and joined the U.S. Army as a civil engineer.  He remained in the Army until 1958. After his discharge, he took
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Source: Black Past
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill is a singer, songwriter and actress who shot to fame in the 1990s with her R&B band “The Fugees” and later as a solo performer. She was born on May 26, 1975 in New Jersey to Valerie and Mal Hill. Her mother was an English teacher and her father was a management
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Source: Black History Resources
May
26
1975
Fisher, Ada M. (1947- )
Dr. Ada M. Fisher is a retired physician and a recurrent Republican candidate for office. Fisher was born on October 21, 1947 in Durham, North Carolina, the daughter of Rev. Miles Mark Fisher, a son of a former slave and his Seminole Indian wife. Rev. Fisher was also a Republican, as well as his
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Oct
21
1947
Bluford, Guion Stewart, Jr. ["Guy"] (1942- )
Guy Bluford, a member of the SDS-8 space shuttle Challenger crew in 1983, was the first African American in space.  Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bluford was interested in math and science and knew he wanted to work in aerospace engineering before graduating high school.  His high school
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
Aug
30
1983
Gautier, Freddie Mae Hurd (1930–2001)
Freddie Mae Gautier, civil rights activist, political advisor, businesswoman, and mentor was arguably the most politically influential black woman in Seattle in the latter half of the twentieth century. Born at the Seattle General Hospital on July 15, 1930, Gautier never knew her birth
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Source: Black Past
Watt, Melvin Luther (1945- )
Carolina in the 20th century, Mel Watts is a current member of the United States House of Representatives. Watts was born on August 26, 1945 in the small community of Steele Creek in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and attended high school in Charlotte. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAP) Boston Chapter
Aug
26
1945
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffery Jordan is an American basketball legend who played for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards for 15 seasons. Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. In high school he played baseball, football, and basketball. When he
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts
Feb
17
1963
Moses Malone
Moses Eugene Malone is widely considered as of the greatest NBA centers in history. He was born on March 23, 1955, in Petersburg, Virginia. He attended Petersburg High School and was set to attend college at University of Maryland to play basketball. However, he was recruited by the American
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Source: Black History Resources
Mar
23
1955
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson is a retired professional basketball player. He was born on November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee. He lived in a segregated housing project and attended a segregated high school called Crispus Attucks High School. He learned to play basketball at a very young age. His
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Source: Black History Resources
Nov
24
1938
Henry Louis Gates
Henry Louis Gates Jr. was born in September 16, 1950 in West Virginia and excelled in studies from an early age, regardless of his underprivileged family background. Graduating from high school as valedictorian in 1968, Gates attended a local college before enrolling in Yale University from where
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Source: Black History Resources
Sep
16
1950
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
James, Charles A. (1922- )
Ambassador Charles A. James was born in 1922 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he attended public schools.  After high school, James enrolled at Westchester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania (now Westchester University) where he studied for one year before
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Sep
16
1976
Walt Frazier
Walter Frazier is a retired professional NBA player who played for the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He was born on March 29, 1945 in Atlanta, Georgia and was the eldest of nine children. An exceptional athlete since childhood, Frazier was the star of the football, baseball and
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Source: Black History Resources
Mar
29
1945
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