People, Locations, Episodes

Robb Armstrong, Cartoonist born

*Robb Armstrong was on this date in 1962.  He is a Black artist and cartoonist.    Armstrong was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his mother, Dorothy, was a seamstress. He has four siblings.  He started drawing sketches of Charlie Brown at age five and lists Charles M. Schulz as one of his influences and heroes.  Armstrong […]

Andre Braugher, Actor born.

*Andre Braugher was born on this date in 1962. He was a Black actor. Andre Keith Braugher was born in Chicago, the youngest of four children born to Sally, a postal worker, and Floyd Braugher, a heavy equipment operator. He lived in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep […]

The First Black Actor is Cast in an American TV Soap Opera

On this date in 1962, the first Black actor integrated American day time television.

African American actor, Rex Ingram, appeared as an ordained minister named Victor Graham on the show “A Brighter Day.”

In August on that year, the show made history by creating the first daytime television contract role for an Black, but had no time to make much of an impact, as the show was cancelled two weeks later on September 28.

Hatti McDaniels and Louise Beavers Die On The Same Day

This date in 1962, marks the twin deaths of two award winning African American actress’. Hatti McDaniel, 67, Gone With The Wind and Louise Beavers, 62 Beulah Beulah died.

Vanessa Williams, Singer, and Actress born

*Vanessa Williams was born on this date in 1963.  She is a Black singer, actress, and fashion designer. Vanessa Lynn Williams was born in The Bronx, New York. Her paternal great-great-grandfather was William A. Feilds, a Black legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives.   Her maternal great-great-grandfather, David Carll, served in the 26th United […]

The First Black Actor Wins The Oscar for (Best Male Actor)

On this date in 1963, the Oscar for best actor by the Academy of Motion Pictures was given to an African American for the first time.

Sidney Poitier won the honor for his performance in Lilies of the Field.

Suzan-Lori Parks, Playwright born

*Suzan-Lori Parks was born on this date in 1963.  She is a Black playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist.   She was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She grew up with two siblings in a military family. Parks enjoyed writing poems and songs and created a newspaper with her brother called the “Daily Daily”. Parks attended high […]

Jennifer Beals, Actress born

*Jennifer Beals was born on this date in 1963. She is a Black actress and photographer. Early life Beals was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Bronzseville community. She’s the daughter of Jeanne Anderson, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. Beals’ father was Black, […]

Neneh Cherry, Singer born

On this date in 1964, Neneh Cherry, an African European pop singer, was born.

She was born Neneh Mariann Karlssson, the daughter of West African percussionist Amadu Jah and artist Moki Cherry in Stockholm, Sweden. Raised by her mother and her jazz trumpeter stepfather (Don Cherry) in both Stockholm and New York City, she left school at 14. In 1980, Cherry moved to London to sing with the punk group the Cherries.

LisaGay Hamilton, Actress, and Producer born

*LisaGay Hamilton was born on this date in 1964. She is an African American actress and film director and producer.

From New York City and raised in Long Island, she is a graduate of fine arts from New York University, she studied drama at the Julliard School where she earned a Master’s Degree. Hamilton’s first paid acting role was as a spear-carrier in the Joseph Papp Public Theatre production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night but she soon moved on to appear opposite Kevin Kline and Andre Braugher in “Measure for Measure” in the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Gloria Reuben, Actress, and Dancer born

*Gloria Reuben was born on this date in 1964. She is a Black Canadian actress and dancer.

Tavis Smiley, Media Commentator born

*Travis Smiley was born on this date in 1964. He is a Black media commentator and writer.  The third of ten children, he was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the son of Joyce M. and Emory G. Smiley. When he was very young, his father, an Air Force non-commissioned officer, was transferred to Grissom Air Force […]

Fredricka Whitfield, Television Journalist born

*Fredricka Whitfield was born on this date in 1965.  She is a Black television journalist and news anchor.  From suburban Washington, D.C., she is the daughter of Mal Whitfield and Nola Whitfield.   She has a brother and a sister and graduated from Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland, in 1983. In 1987, she earned a bachelor’s […]

Viola Davis, Actress, and Producer born

*Viola Davis was born on this date in 1965. She is a Black actress and producer. Viola Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Mary Alice (née Logan) and Dan Davis and was born on her grandmother’s farm on the Singleton Plantation. Her father was a horse trainer, and her […]

Antonie Fuqua, Media Producer born

*Antoine Fuqua was born on this date in 1966. He is a Black Filmmaker. A native of Pittsburgh, Fuqua studied engineering at West Virginia University before moving to New York in 1987 to direct music videos. After forming his own production company, Reel Power, he directed his debut short film ‘Exit.’ Fuqua’s debut feature film, […]