People, Locations, Episodes

Spike Lee, Film Director, and Producer born

*Spike Lee was born on this date in 1957. He is an African American filmmaker, writer, actor, and producer.

From Atlanta, Georgia, Sheldon Jackson Lee (his name at birth) is the son of jazz composer Bill Lee and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Lee graduated from John Dewey high school and majored in communications at Morehouse College, where he directed his first Super-8 films. In 1978, he enrolled in New York University’s Graduate Film School. While attending these two schools, he met future collaborators, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson and co-producer Monty Ross.

Nelson George, Writer, and Filmmaker born

*Nelson George was born on this date in 1957.  He is a Black author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He graduated from St. John’s University in Brooklyn and interned at the New York Amsterdam News before being hired as Black music editor for Record World. He later served as a music editor for […]

Michael Clarke Duncan, Actor born

*Michael Clarke Duncan was born this date in 1957. He was an African American laborer, bodyguard and Academy Award nominated actor.

Prince, Musician, Producer, and Artist born

Prince was born on this date in 1958. He was an African American singer, producer, musician, and global multi-media entertainer.

Tonya Williams, Actress, and Media Advocate born

*Tonya Williams was born on this date in 1958. She is a Black Canadian actress, producer, director, and media activist. Williams was born in London, England, to Jamaican parents. As a child, she lived in London and Kingston, Jamaica. At age five, she contracted rheumatic fever; she and her mother then moved to Birmingham, England. […]

Reginald Cathey, Actor born

*Reginald Cathey was born on this date in 1958.  He was a Black actor.   Reginald Eurias Cathey was born in Huntsville, Alabama, to Red Cathey, an Army colonel and his wife, a Department of Defense worker and an educator.  He had a sister, Donza, and he spent his childhood with his family on a rural farm in West Germany before returning to Alabama at 14.  His interest […]

Michael Jackson, Singer, and Entertainer born

Michael Jackson was born on this date in 1958. He was an African American singer and entertainer.

Rita Obama, Journalist and Activist born

*Rita Obama’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1960. She is a Black Kenyan-British community activist, sociologist, journalist, and author. Rita Auma Obama is from Nairobi, Kenya, and is the daughter of Barack Obama Sr. and his first wife, Kezia Obama (née Aoko). She is Barack Obama’s older half-sister. After attending a local elementary […]

Kevin Clash, Puppeteer born

*Kevin Clash was born on this date in 1960. He is an African American puppeteer.

From Baltimore, Maryland, Clash is the distinctive voice for Elmo, the Muppet character. Elmo was introduced on “Sesame Street” in the 1980s. Clash began making puppets when he was 10, having been a “Sesame Street” fan from early childhood. He began performing with his puppets at age 12 in his neighborhood, later taking his act to Baltimore’s Harborplace. Local Baltimore television personality Stu Kerr spotted Clash and hired him for his show, “Caboose.”

Robert Chew, Actor, and Acting Coach born

*Robert F. Chew was born on this date in 1960. He was an African American actor and acting coach.

From Baltimore, Maryland, he graduated from Patterson Park High School and then studied music at Morgan State University. Chew acted in plays all over the country and taught young actors for many years. Known best for playing drug kingpin Proposition Joe on the HBO crime saga “The Wire,” Chew also appeared on “Homicide” and “The Corner,” as well as teaching and mentoring young actors at Baltimore’s Arena Players Youth Theatre.

Eddie Murphy, Film/TV, Actor, and Director born

*On this date in 1961, Eddie Murphy was born. He is an African American actor, director, writer and comedian.

Byron Allen, Entertainment Businessman, born

*Byron Allen was born on this date in 1961. He is a Black businessman, comedian, television producer, philanthropist, and the head of the US entertainment company Entertainment Studios. Byron Allen Folks was born in Detroit but grew up in Los Angeles. His interest in show business began during childhood when he accompanied his mother, Carolyn […]

Forest Whitaker, Actor born

*The birth of Forest Whitaker in 1961 is marked on this date. He is an African American actor, producer and director of film, stage and television.

Forest Steven Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas. One of four children, his father Forest Whitaker, Jr. was an insurance man and his mother Laura Francis Smith was a teacher. His mother put herself through college and earned two Masters Degrees while raising her children. Forest has two younger brothers, Kenn and Damon, an older sister Deborah and his grandfather was novelist Forest Whitaker, Sr.

Laurence Fishburne, Stage, TV, and Screen Actor born

Laurence Fishburne was born on this date 1961. He is an African American actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, and producer.

Born in Augusta, GA, he and his mother (a divorced teacher) moved the family to Brooklyn, NY, which he considers his hometown. Fishburne landed a regular role on “One Life to Live” when he was 10. His movie debut was in “Cornbread, Earl and Me” (1975). When he was 14, he began work on “Apocalypse Now” after lying about his age. For the next several years, he was offered only small roles. He eventually landed a part on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

Dwayne McDuffie, Super Hero Writer born

*Dwayne McDuffie as born on this date in 1962. He was an African American writer of comic books and animated television.