People, Locations, Episodes

Syl Jones, Media Consultant, and Playwright born

Syl Jones was born on this date in 1951. He is an African American author, playwright, and media consultant.

He was born Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Sylvester and Juanita Jones. His family migrated north from Arkansas through Chicago in the early 1930s. After high school, Jones attended and graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis in 1973 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts.

Delroy Lindo, Actor born

*Delroy Lindo was born on this date in 1952. He is a Black British-American actor. Delroy George Lindo was born in Lewisham, southeast London, the son of Jamaican parents who had immigrated to the United Kingdom. Lindo grew up in nearby Eltham and became interested in acting like a child when he appeared in a […]

Lynn Whitfield, Actress born

*Lynn Whitfield was born on this date in 1953. She is a Black actress. From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Whitfield made her film debut in Dr. Detroit in 1983. Three years later, she played the title character in the fact-based TV movie Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI, the story of the first Black female FBI agent. After […]

Robin Harris, Comedian born

Robin Harris was born on this date in 1953. He was an African American comedian and actor.

He was born in Chicago, where his father was a welder and his mother a factory seamstress. In 1961, the family moved to Los Angeles where he attended Manual Arts High School. A track star, Harris got a scholarship and attended Ottawa University in Kansas. It was during this time that Harris began to hone his craft of comedy. He worked for Hughes Aircraft, a rental car company, and Security Pacific Bank to pay his bills. In 1980, he debuted at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store with little response.

Alfre Woodward, Actress born

Alfre Woodard, an African American actress, was born on this date in 1953.

Born in Tulsa, OK, she is the youngest of three children. She was named by her godmother, who claimed she saw a vision of Alfre’s name written out in gold letters. A former high school cheerleader and track star, Alfre was bitten by the acting bug after being persuaded to audition for her school play by a nun at her school.

Oprah Winfrey, Multi-Media Icon born

*Oprah Winfrey was born on this date 1954. She is an African American businesswoman, actress, multi-media entrepreneur, and television talk show host.

Marsha Warfield, Television Actress born

*Marsha Warfield was born on born on this date in 1954. She is a Black Lesbian actress and comedian. Marsha Francine Warfield grew up on Chicago’s South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She received her big comic career break as a member of Richard Pryor’s TV sketch program in 1977. Warfield has appeared in feature films […]

Carmen Jones, (The Movie Musical) Debuts

*The movie Carmen Jones debuted on this date in 1954.  This was an American musical film starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay was based on the lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, from the 1943 stage musical of the same name, set to the music of […]

Denzel Washington, Actor, Director, and Producer born

Denzel Washington was born on this date in 1954. He is an African American film, television, and stage actor and occasional director.

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr., was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He has an older sister, Lorice, and a younger brother. His father, Virginia-born Reverend Denzel Washington, was an ordained Pentecostal minister, who worked for the Water Department and at a local department store. His mother, Lennis, a beauty parlor owner, was born in Georgia and raised in Harlem.

Paris Barclay, TV, and Film Director born

Paris Barclay was born on this date in 1956. He is an African American television director and producer.

Born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Paris KC Barclay was one of the first African Americans to attend the La Lumiere School, a prestigious, private preparatory school in La Porte, IN, on scholarship. He went to Harvard College, where he was active in student musical theatre productions. While at Harvard, he wrote 16 musicals, including the annual Hasty Pudding shows; he was a classmate of Supreme Court Judge John Roberts.

Fred Hickman, TV Broadcaster born

*Fred Hickman was born on this date in 1956. He was a Black sports broadcaster, anchor, and managing editor for the evening newscast. Frederick Hickman was born in Springfield, Illinois, to George Henry and Louise Winifred Hickman. He graduated from Springfield Southeast High School in 1974, then earned a B.S. in sociology at Coe College […]

Sinbad, Comedian, and Actor born

*Sinbad was born on this date in 1956. He is an African American comedian, writer and actor.

Mario Van Peebles, Actor, and Director born

Mario Van Peebles was born on this date in 1957. He is an African American director and actor. He is the son of writer, director and actor Melvin Van Peebles and German actress Maria Marx. He was born in in Mexico City, Mexico, and is the brother of Megan Van Peebles and Max Van Peebles.

Marlon Riggs, Filmmaker, and Educator born

*On this date we mark the birth of Marlon Troy Riggs. He was an African American documentary filmmaker and educator who used video to oppose racism and homophobia.

LeVar Burton, Actor, and Author born

*On this date in 1957 Levar Burton was born. He is an African American Actor and author. From Landstuhl, Germany.