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African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans) are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry....
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Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham (22 June 1909 – 21 May 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator and activist who was trained as an anthropologist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European...
Date of birth:
- Jun 22, 1909
Date of death:
- May 21, 2006 (age 96 years)
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science...
Date of birth:
- Jun 22, 1947
Date of death:
- Feb 24, 2006 (age 58 years)
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray "Chip" Delany, Jr. (born April 1, 1942, New York City) is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and nonfiction essays on...
Date of birth:
- Apr 1, 1942 (age 67 years)
Bell Hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins (born September 25, 1952), better known by the pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing has focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce...
Date of birth:
- Sep 25, 1952 (age 57 years)
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols (born Grace Nichols; December 28, 1932) is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting. Her most famous role is that of communications officer Lieutenant...
Date of birth:
- Dec 28, 1932 (age 77 years)
Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah (pronounced /əˈliːə/), was an American recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan....
Date of birth:
- Jan 16, 1979
Date of death:
- Aug 25, 2001 (age 22 years)
Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956(1956-07-30)) is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence...
Date of birth:
- Jul 30, 1956 (age 53 years)
Blind Blake
"Blind" Blake (born Arthur Blake, circa 1893, Jacksonville, Florida; died: circa 1933) was an influential blues singer and guitarist. He is often called "The King Of Ragtime Guitar".
Blind Blake recorded about 80 tracks for Paramount Records between...
Date of birth:
- 1893
Date of death:
- 1933 (age 40 years)
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds. He debuted in the Major Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 and joined the San Francisco Giants...
Date of birth:
- Jul 24, 1964 (age 45 years)
Blind Willie McTell
William Samuel "Blind Willie" McTell (May 5, 1898 (sometimes reported as 1901 or 1903) – August 19, 1959) was an influential American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a twelve-string finger picking Piedmont blues guitarist, and...
Date of birth:
- May 5, 1901
Date of death:
- Aug 19, 1959 (age 58 years)
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 12?, 1929) was a blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues".
Jefferson's singing and self...
Date of birth:
- Sep 24, 1893
Date of death:
- Dec 12, 1929 (age 36 years)
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown ("Brownie") McGhee (November 30 1915 - February 16 1996) was a blues singer and guitarist best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.
Brownie McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and grew up in Kingsport,...
Date of birth:
- Nov 30, 1915
Date of death:
- Feb 16, 1996 (age 80 years)
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960 in Roosevelt, New York), better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the late 1980s as the...
Date of birth:
- Aug 1, 1960 (age 49 years)
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, having served since 1991. Justice Thomas is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall,...
Date of birth:
- Jun 23, 1948 (age 61 years)
Charles Alston
Charles Henry Alston (November 28, 1907 – April 27, 1977), born in Charlotte, North Carolina, was an American artist, muralist, and teacher. Alston graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City, then attended Columbia College and...
Date of birth:
- Nov 28, 1907
Date of death:
- Apr 27, 1977 (age 69 years)
Colin Powell
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was sworn in as the 65th
Secretary of State in 2001 after unanimous confirmation by the U.S.
Senate. He served in the military for 35 years, and rose to the rank of
4-star General. His last assignment, from...
Date of birth:
- Apr 5, 1937 (age 72 years)
Charles Evers
James Charles Evers (born September 11, 1922) is an important civil rights advocate in the United States. The older brother of civil rights martyr Medgar Evers, Charles Evers is a leading civil rights spokesman within the Republican Party in his...
Date of birth:
- Sep 11, 1922 (age 87 years)
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus, Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and pianist. He was also known for his activism against racial injustice.
Mingus is considered one of the most important composers and...
Date of birth:
- Apr 22, 1922
Date of death:
- Jan 5, 1979 (age 56 years)
Edward Mitchell Bannister
Edward Mitchell Bannister (ca. 1828 – January 9, 1901) was an African American painter whose tonalism and predominantly pastoral subject matter owed much to his admiration for Millet and the French Barbizon School.
Bannister was born in St Andrews,...
Date of birth:
- 1828
Date of death:
- Jan 9, 1901 (age 73 years)
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (born circa 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of...
Date of birth:
- Feb 17, 1818
Date of death:
- Feb 20, 1895 (age 77 years)
Gary Coleman
Gary Wayne Coleman (born February 8, 1968) is an American actor, best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986). He works as the Secretary Controller for Simmons Media Group in Salt Lake City, Utah....
Date of birth:
- Feb 8, 1968 (age 41 years)
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor (born Gloria Fowles, September 7, 1949, Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer, best-known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" (Hot 100 #1, 1979), "Never Can Say Goodbye" (Hot 100 #4, 1974), "Let Me Know (I Have A Right)" (Hot...
Date of birth:
- Sep 7, 1949 (age 60 years)
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (January 1864 – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the Southern United States. The day and year of his birth are unknown; he...
Date of birth:
- Jan 1864
Date of death:
- Jan 5, 1943 (age 79 years)
Halle Berry
Halle Berry (pronounced /ˈhæli ˈbɛri/; born August 14, 1966) is an American actress, former fashion model, and beauty queen. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy...
Date of birth:
- Aug 14, 1966 (age 43 years)
Hank Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron (born February 5, 1934), is a retired American baseball player whose Major League Baseball (MLB) career spanned the years 1954 through 1976. Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In...
Date of birth:
- Feb 5, 1934 (age 75 years)
Ice T
Tracy Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known by his stage name Ice-T, is a Grammy Award and NAACP Image Award-winning American rapper, actor and author. He is credited with helping in pioneering gangsta rap, in the late 1980s. As an actor, he...
Date of birth:
- Feb 16, 1958 (age 51 years)
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006), originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and...
Date of birth:
- May 3, 1933
Date of death:
- Dec 25, 2006 (age 73 years)
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born October 8, 1941) is an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from...
Date of birth:
- Oct 8, 1941 (age 68 years)
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an African-American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to...
Date of birth:
- Aug 22, 1917
Date of death:
- Jun 21, 2001 (age 83 years)
Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills (born 18 June 1963 in Detroit, Michigan U.S.A.) is an influential Techno DJ and producer from Detroit.
In the 1980s, Mills was an influential radio DJ on WJLB under the pseudonym "The Wizard." Mills' sets were a highlight of the nightly...
Date of birth:
- Jun 18, 1963 (age 46 years)
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist and the first African-American painter to become an international art star. He gained popularity first as a graffiti artist in New York City, and then as a successful...
Date of birth:
- Dec 22, 1960
Date of death:
- Aug 12, 1988 (age 27 years)
Joseph Yoakum
Joseph Elmer Yoakum (February 20, 1890-December 25, 1972) was a self-taught artist of African-American and Native American descent who drew landscapes in a unique and highly individual style. He was 76 when he started to record his memories in the...
Date of birth:
- Feb 20, 1890
Date of death:
- Dec 25, 1972 (age 82 years)
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was the first African American Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As...
Date of birth:
- Jan 31, 1919
Date of death:
- Oct 24, 1972 (age 53 years)
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an African American painter; he was married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", though by his own account the primary influence was not so much...
Date of birth:
- Sep 7, 1917
Date of death:
- Jun 9, 2000 (age 82 years)
James Alan McPherson
James Alan McPherson (born September 16, 1943 in Savannah, Georgia) is a United States short story writer and essayist, and a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973.
McPherson won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, for his short story...
Date of birth:
- Sep 16, 1943 (age 66 years)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis 'Lew' Alcindor on April 16, 1947) is an American retired basketball player. During his 20-year professional career in the NBA, from 1969 to 1989, he scored the highest points total of any player in league...
Date of birth:
- Apr 16, 1947 (age 62 years)
Mr. T
Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud on May 21, 1952) is an American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler....
Date of birth:
- May 21, 1952 (age 57 years)
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American R&B; singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to...
Date of birth:
- Mar 27, 1970 (age 39 years)
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an African-American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as "perhaps the best known...
Date of birth:
- Apr 24, 1954 (age 55 years)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he...
Date of birth:
- Jan 15, 1929
Date of death:
- Apr 4, 1968 7:05pm (age 39 years)
Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt (July 3, 1893 or March 8, 1892 — November 2, 1966) was an influential country blues singer and guitarist. He sang in a loud whisper, to a melodious finger-picked guitar accompaniment.
Born John Smith Hurt in Teoc, Carroll...
Date of birth:
- Mar 8, 1892
Date of death:
- Nov 2, 1966 (age 74 years)
Miles Davis
Miles Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the...
Date of birth:
- May 26, 1926
Date of death:
- Sep 28, 1991 (age 65 years)
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player and active businessman. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest...
Date of birth:
- Feb 17, 1963 (age 46 years)
Mance Lipscomb
Mance Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – January 30, 1976) was an influential blues singer, guitarist and songster. Born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas, he as a youth took the name of 'Mance' from a friend of his oldest brother Charlie (Mance...
Date of birth:
- Apr 9, 1895
Date of death:
- Jan 30, 1976 (age 80 years)
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice.
Freeman received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street...
Date of birth:
- Jun 1, 1937 (age 72 years)
Ozzie Smith
Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith (born December 26, 1954) is a retired American professional baseball player who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. Nicknamed "The Wizard," Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis...
Date of birth:
- Dec 26, 1954 (age 54 years)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life, one poem in the collection Ode to Ethiopia. In...
Date of birth:
- Jun 27, 1872
Date of death:
- Feb 9, 1906 (age 33 years)
Ron Carter
Ron Carter (born May 4, 1937, Ferndale, Michigan) is an American jazz double-bassist. His unique sound has made him a long sought after studio man. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history,...
Date of birth:
- May 4, 1937 (age 72 years)
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, and collage.
Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended De Witt Clinton High School in the...
Date of birth:
- Sep 2, 1911
Date of death:
- Mar 12, 1988 (age 76 years)
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama,...
Date of birth:
- Feb 4, 1913
Date of death:
- Oct 24, 2005 (age 92 years)
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He also teaches film at New York University and Columbia University. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over...
Date of birth:
- Mar 20, 1957 (age 52 years)
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often...
Date of birth:
- Mar 21, 1902
Date of death:
- Oct 19, 1988 (age 86 years)
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (1797 – November 26, 1883) was the self-given name, from 1843, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York. Her best-known speech, Ain't I a...
Date of birth:
- 1797
Date of death:
- Nov 26, 1883 (age 86 years)
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (between July 1867 and January 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed...
Date of birth:
- 1867
Date of death:
- Apr 1, 1917 (age 50 years)
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – Present), also known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He has sold 75 million albums to date and is one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In addition to...
Date of birth:
- Jun 16, 1971
Date of death:
- Sep 13, 1996 (age 25 years)
Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams, (born 1936 in Philadelphia) is the John M Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is also a syndicated columnist and author known for his libertarian views.
Wlliams holds a bachelor's degree in...
Date of birth:
- 1936 (age 73 years)
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and former fashion model. A relative to several prominent soul singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha...
Date of birth:
- Aug 9, 1963 (age 46 years)
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American athlete, and in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games, despite...
Date of birth:
- Jun 23, 1940
Date of death:
- Nov 12, 1994 (age 54 years)
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American folklorist and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her...
Date of birth:
- Jan 7, 1891
Date of death:
- Jan 28, 1960 (age 69 years)
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and...
Date of birth:
- Aug 14, 1959 (age 50 years)
