People, Locations, Episodes

Patrick Ellis, Gospel Disc Jockey born

*Patrick Ellis was born on this date in 1943.  He was a Black radio show host and production director.   Patrick Connery Ellis was born at Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.  His mother, Ida Delaney Ellis, was a teacher, and his father, Roy Alexander Ellis, was a government labor relations specialist. He had one brother, Roy M. Ellis. After attending public schools, Ellis […]

Georg Stanford Brown, Actor and Director born.

*Georg Stanford Brown was born on this date in 1943. He is an Afro Cuban actor and director. Brown was seven years old and born in Cuba when his family moved from Havana to Harlem, N.Y. At 15, he formed The Parthenon singing group. Brown quit high school at 16 and left New York to move to […]

Altovise Davis, Dancer born

*This date in 1943 marks the birth of Altovise Davis. She was an African American actress and dancer. She also was the wife of Sammy Davis Jr.

Born Altovise Gore in Charlotte, North Carolina she was the only child of Altovise and John Gore. When she was very young her family moved to Brooklyn, N. Y. where she graduated from the School of Performing Arts in 1961. After school she began her career as a dancer on Broadway.

The Negro Soldier (film) Debuts

*The release of the film The Negro Soldier is celebrated on this date in 1944. The United States Army created this documentary film and used the film as propaganda to convince Black Americans to enlist in the Army and fight in the war. During World War II, while the U.S. Army was officially racially segregated, […]

Judy Richardson, Media Producer, and Activist born

*Judy Richardson was born on this date in 1944. She is a Black Film producer, author, educator, and activist.   Born in Tarrytown, New York, her father was autoworker William King Richardson, and her mother was office worker Mae Louise Tucker Richardson. Richardson grew up in the “under the hill” section of Tarrytown. The town was […]

Anthony Barboza, Photographer born

*Anthony Barboza was born on this date in 1944. He is a Black photographer, historian, artist and writer. From New Bedford, Massachusetts, he has family roots in Cape Verde. From work that began in commercial art more than forty years ago, Barboza’s artistic talents and successful career helped him to cross over and pursue his passions in the […]

Roscoe Orman, Actor, and Children’s Advocate born

*Roscoe Orman was born on this date in 1944. He is a Black actor, writer, artist, and child advocate. Orman was born in The Bronx, New York. While a student at New York City’s High School of Art and Design, Orman made his theatrical debut in the 1962 topical revue “If We Grow Up.” He […]

Denise Nicholas, Actress, and Writer born

*Denise Nicolas was born on this date in 1944.  She is a Black retired actress and writer.  From Detroit, MI, Nicholas attended the University of Michigan and studied acting in New York.  Her stage career began as an apprentice with the Free Southern Theater, touring rural Louisiana and Mississippi during the American Civil Rights Movement.  […]

Tim Reid, Film/TV Actor, Director, and Producer born

*Tim Reid was born on this date in 1944. He is a Black actor, film director, and media philanthropist. Timothy Lee Reid was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in the Crestwood area of Chesapeake, Virginia, formerly Norfolk County, Virginia. He is the son of William Lee and Augustine (née Wilkins) Reid. He earned his […]

Vonetta McGee, Actress born

*Vonetta McGee was born on this date in 1945. She was an African American actress.

Lawrence Vonetta McGee (named after her father) was born in San Francisco. Her family planned for her to have a career in law, and she began studying pre-law at San Francisco State College, but she became involved in amateur theater and was bitten by the acting bug. McGee left college without graduating and joined the many American actors who moved to Rome in the 1960s to find work at the Cinecittà film studios.

Dennis Johnson, TV Executive born

*Dennis Johnson was born this date in 1945. He was an African American Television producer and director.

From Kenbridge, Va., and attended Temple University and UCLA. While studying at UCLA in the 1970s, Johnson began working at NBC as a page, for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He then climbed the production ladder as an associate producer before moving into the programming department.

Ron Glass, Actor born

*Ron Glass was born on this date in 1945. He was an African American actor.

Haile Gerima, Filmmaker born

*Haile Gerima was born on this date in 1946. He is an Ethiopian American filmmaker.

Born in Gondor, Ethiopia in 1946, Gerima is the fourth child of ten children. His father was a writer and his mother a teacher. As a youth Gerima performed in his father’s theater troupe, which presented original and often historical drama, always submersed in the genuine culture of Ethiopia.   Gerima came to the U.S. in 1967 to study at the Goodman School of Drama. He slowly realized that “with cinema I could control many more things than n the theatre.”

Suzanne De Passe, Media Entrepreneur born.

*Suzanne De Passe was born on this date in 1946. She is a Black media entrepreneur. De Passe was born in New York City to a Harlem-born mother of Jamaican descent and a father of Haitian and French descent. She attended Manhattan High School and later Syracuse University. De Passe began her career in show […]

Danny Glover, Actor, and Activist born

Danny Glover was born on this date in 1946. He is an African American actor and director and an activist.

Danny Lebern Glover was born in San Francisco. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University. As a young man he was a member of the Black Panther Party.

At the University, he met and married his wife, Asake Bomani, in 1975; they have one child named Mandisa.