People, Locations, Episodes

Adolphus Hailstork, Composer and Educator born

*Adolphus Hailstork was born on April 17, 1941. He is a Black composer and educator. Adolphus Cunningham Hailstork III was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Albany, New York, where he studied violin, piano, organ, and voice. He is of African, Indigenous, and European ancestry. His works blend musical ideas from the […]

Bob Dylan, Singer, Composer, and Artistic Activist born

*Bob Dylan was born on this date in 1941. He is a white Jewish-American folk music singer, composer, artist, and activist. He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Range west of Lake Superior. Dylan’s paternal grandparents, Anna Kirghiz and Zigman Zimmerman, emigrated from […]

The National Negro Opera Company is Founded

On this date in 1941, opera singer Mary Cardwell Dawson founded the National Negro Opera Company.

Based in Pittsburgh, the Opera Company remained in the steel city until 1960 and lasted outright until 1962.

William Louther, Choreographer born

*William Louther was born on this date in 1942. He was a Black ballet and modern dancer, teacher, and choreographer.  He was born in Brooklyn, NY. He studied at the High School of Performing Arts and the Juilliard School with Tudor and Graham and danced in O’Donnell’s company in 1958. He subsequently performed with the […]

William T. Williams, Artist born

*William T. Williams was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black painter and art educator. William T. Williams was born in Cross Creek, North Carolina. At age 4, his family moved to Queens, New York City, though he spent his childhood summers in Spring Lake, North Carolina. After the family’s move to […]

Sylvia Snowden, Artist born.

*Sylvia Snowden’s birth, on this date in 1942, is celebrated. She is a Black abstract artist. Sylvia Snowden was born in Raleigh, NC. Snowden attended Howard University, where she studied under David Driskell and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree. Snowden received a scholarship to Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in […]

Judith Jamison, Dancer, and Artistic Director born

Judith Jamison was born on this date in 1943. She is an African American modern dancer, dance director, educator and author.

Nikki Giovanni, Poet, and Activist born

On this date in 1943, Nikki Giovanni was born. She is an African American writer, poet, commentator, activist, educator, and publisher.

She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., in Knoxville, TN, and although she grew up in Cincinnati, OH, she and her sister returned to Knoxville each summer to visit their grandparents. Nikki graduated with honors in history from her grandfather’s alma mater, Fisk University.

Maurice Hines, Dancer, Singer, and Choreographer born.

*Maurice Hines was born on this date in 1943. He was a Black actor, director, singer, and choreographer. He was Gregory Hines’ older brother. Maurice Robert Hines Jr. was born in New York City to a Catholic couple, Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines Sr., a dancer, musician, and actor. Hines began his career […]

Roy McBride, Poet born

*Roy McBride was born on this date in 1943. He was a Black teacher, writer, community activist, and poet/spoken word artist. Roy Chester McBride was the firstborn of Roger and Lacinea McBride and was from Magnolia, Arkansas. As a child, McBride fell in love with books and recited words. The Arkansas native moved to the […]

Lou Bellamy, Theatrical Director born

*Lou Bellamy was born on this date in 1944. He is an African American Theatric Director, actor, entrepreneur and educator.

Jalal Nuriddin, Poet, and Musician born

*Jalal Nuriddin was born on this date in 1944. He was a Black poet and musician. Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin was born Lawrence Padilla in the Fort Greene housing project in Brooklyn, New York. As a youth, Nuriddin ran with a local gang, the Fort Greene Chaplains; they fought a street rivalry with the Bed-Stuy Bishops […]

Gregory Hines, a Complete Entertainer born

*The birth of Gregory Hines is marked on this date in 1946. He was an African American tap dancer, choreographer, dramatic and comic actor, singer, and director.

Joyce Solomon Moorman, Composer and Educator born

*Joyce Solomon Moorman was born on May 11, 1946. She is a Black composer and educator. Joyce Solomon was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She attended segregated public schools through high school. Moorman earned a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in 1968 and, in 1971, a Master’s Degree from […]

Andre Watts, Classical Pianist born

Andre Watts was born on this date in 1946. He is an African American concert pianist, and the first Black concert pianist to achieve international super stardom.