*On this date in 1927, the Lindy Hop dance was publicly introduced to the world. Lindy hop is an African American dance that was born in Harlem, New York City. On that date, the Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis airplane completed the first transatlantic flight by air; the Newspaper reported “Lindy Hops the Atlantic,” and the dance […]
learn more*Lilian Thomas Burwell was born on this date in 1927. She is a Black sculptor and painter. Lilian Thomas Burwell was born in Washington, DC., part of a creative family; her father was a photographer, her mother was an artist and craftsperson, and both taught art. Her aunt, Hilda Wilkinson Brown, was a renowned painter. She […]
learn moreOn this date we recognize the birth of Natalie Hinderas in 1927. She was an African American pianist and composer.
She was born Natalie Leota Henderson Hinderas, in Oberlin, Ohio to a musical family; her father (Abram) was a jazz pianist and her mother Leota Palmer was a classical pianist who taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Natalie began playing at the age of three, with formal lessons (piano and violin) beginning at six years of age. A child prodigy, Natalie gave her first full-length recital at eight years old.
learn more*Betty Jackson King was born on February 17, 1928. She was a Black pianist, singer, teacher, choral conductor, and composer. Betty Jackson was born in Chicago. She first started learning music from her mother, Gertrude Jackson Taylor. King’s father, Reverend Frederick D. Jackson, a Community Church of Woodlawn pastor, helped expose her to church hymns […]
learn moreWill Gaines was born on this date in 1928. He is an African American dancer, the last in a long line of Jazz Hoofers.
He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Detroit where he learned his craft. At the age of 20 he saw The Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. From there Gaines worked with such greats as Lucky Thompson, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan and Sonny Stitt at the Apollo, NY 1954.
learn moreWilliam Merriette Pleasant, Jr., an African American artist, was born on this date in 1928.
He was born in Savannah, GA, and a graduate of that cit’s Beach High School. Pleasant attended Savannah State College, Delaware State College, and Tyler School of Fine Arts of Philadelphia, PA. He is a graduate of York College of York, Pennsylvania. He was one of the first members of the Bahai Faith of Savannah, and served on its assembly. Pleasant was a 33 degree Mason, a corporal in the United States Air Force, and a member of the Mu Eta Kappa Fraternity.
learn moreTed Joans was born on this date in 1928. He was an African American painter, trumpeter, and a jazz poet.
From Illinois, He studied trumpet, sang bebop, and earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from Indiana University before moving to Greenwich Village in New York City in 1951. He was one of the first Beat poets, and authored over 30 books of poetry, prose, and collage, including Black Pow-Wow, Beat Funky Jazz Poems, Afrodisia, Jazz is Our Religion, Double Trouble, Wow, and Teducation.
learn more*Cecil Taylor was born on this date in 1929. He was a Black pianist and poet. Cecil Percival Taylor was raised in the Corona, Queens neighborhood of New York City. As an only child in a middle-class family, Taylor’s mother encouraged him to play music at an early age. He began playing piano at age six and went on to study at […]
learn more*James Barnor was born on this date in 1929. He is a Black African photographer. Frederick Seton James Barnor was born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. At 17, Barnor was teaching basket weaving at a missionary school, and the headmaster gave him a camera “to play around with–it was a Kodak Brownie 127, made of plastic”. […]
learn more*Vincent Smith was born on this date in 1929. He was a Black artist, painter, printmaker, and teacher known for his depictions of black life. Vincent DaCosta Smith was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn to Beresford Leopold Smith and Louise Etheline Todd. Both were immigrants from Barbados. He was raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and […]
learn more*Noel Da Costa was born on this date in 1929. He was a Black Nigerian-Jamaican composer, jazz violinist, and choral conductor. Noel G. Da Costa was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to parents from Kingston, Jamaica, who were Salvation Army missionaries. After returning to Jamaica while Da Costa was young, they emigrated to Harlem, New York. […]
learn more*Frederick Tillis was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and collegiate music educator. Born in Galveston, Texas, Frederick Charles Tillis was raised by his mother, Zelma Bernice Gardner Tillis, his stepfather, General Gardner, and his maternal grandparents, Willie Tillis and Jessie Tillis-Hubbard. His mother played piano and […]
learn more*Geoffrey Holder was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black Trinidadian American actor, voice actor, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, and painter. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Geoffrey Lamont Holder was one of four children to parents of Bajan and Trinidadian descent. He was educated at Tranquility School and Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain. At seven, he performed in his […]
learn moreAlvin Ailey was born on this date in 1931. He was an African American dancer and choreographer, and founding director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
learn more*Carol Maillard was born on this date in 1951. She is a Black vocalist and actress. Maillard is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and originally attended the Catholic University of America on scholarship as a Violin Performance major. She began writing music and performing with the Drama Department and eventually changed her major to Theater. This passion […]
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