People, Locations, Episodes

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Dancer, Teacher, and Choreographer born

*Jawole Willa Jo Zollar was born on this date in 1950. She is a Black dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance. She was born Willa Jo Zollar in Kansas City, Missouri, the sixth child of Alfred Zollar Jr. and Dorothy Delores Zollar. From age seven to seventeen, Zollar received her dance education from Joseph […]

Carrie Mae Weems, Photographer, and Teacher born

*Carrie Mae Weems was born on this date in 1953. She is a Black artist who works in text, fabric, audio, digital images, and installation video. She is best known for her photography. Weems was born in Portland, Oregon, and was the second of seven children to Carrie Polk and Myrlie Weems. She began participating […]

Darwoud Bey, Photographer born

*The birth of Dawoud Bey is marked on this date in 1953.  He is a Black photographer and educator.  Born David Edward Smikle in New York City’s Jamaica, Queens neighborhood, Smikle attended PS 131 grade school and graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School.  He changed his name to Dawoud Bey in the early 1970s, […]

Julius Williams, Music Conductor born

*Julius Williams was born on this date in 1954. He is an African American composer, conductor, college professor, and pianist.

He is the son of Julius and Julia Williams and has one brother (Michael). From The Bronx, New York, Julius Penson Williams, was educated in the New York public school system and graduated in 1972 from Andrew Jackson High School, a performing arts school in Queens, New York. Williams attended Herbert Lehman College and the Hartt School, where he received his B.S. and M.M.E. respectively.

Gilda Snowden, Artist born

*Gilda Snowden was born on this date in 1954. She was a Black artist, educator, and mentor. Snowden was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in northwest Detroit. Her father was a dentist. Her parents and grandparents migrated from Alabama and Texas to Detroit early in the 20th century, part of the great migration of Blacks […]

Patricia Smith, Writer, and Spoken Word Artist born

*Patricia Smith was born on this date in 1955. She is a Black poet, spoken-word performer, playwright, author, writing teacher, and former journalist. Patricia Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Southern Illinois University and the University of Northwestern. She has published poems in literary magazines and journals, including TriQuarterly, Poetry, The Paris Review, and Tin House, as […]

Hamid Drake, Drummer and Percussionist born.

*Hamid Drake was born on this date in 1955. He is a Black jazz drummer and percussionist. Hamid Drake (Henry Lawrence Drake) was born in Monroe, Louisiana, and when he was a child, his family moved to Evanston, Illinois. There, he started playing with local rock and R&B bands, eventually bringing him to the attention […]

Harolyn Blackwell, Vocalist born

*Harolyn Blackwell was born on this fate in 1955. She is an African American lyric coloratura soprano and educator.

Anton Armstrong, Choral Conductor born

*Anton Armstrong was born on this date in 1956.  He is a Black choral music professor and choral conductor.   Anton Eugene Armstrong was born in New York City to William Benfield Armstrong and Esther Louise Holder William was born in Antigua. Esther was born in New York City to Herbert Henry Holder and Leander Hassell, both from St […]

Chi-Chi Nwanoku, Musican and Professor born.

*Chi-Chi Nwanoku was born on this date in 1956. She is a Black British double bassist and professor of Historical Double Bass Studies. Chinyere Adah “Chi-Chi” Nwanoku was born in Fulham, London, and is of Nigerian and Irish descent. She is the oldest of her parents’ five children, Dr. Michael Nwanoku and his wife Margaret […]

The African Jazz-Art Society & Studio is formed

*The African Jazz-Art Society & Studio (AJASS) was formed on this date in 1956. It was initially called the Jazz-Art Society and later remained the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios. The organizers were young African American artists, designers, musicians, hairdressers, writers, and jazz enthusiasts. Elombe Brath, Kwame Brathwaite, Robert Gumbs, Afrank Adu, Chris Acemandese Hall, […]

James ‘Chip’ Thomas, Doctor and Artist born

*This date in 1957 is celebrated as the birth date of James “Chip” Thomas, a Black doctor and mural artist. Dr. Thomas graduated from the Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College School of Medicine in 1983. He works in TONALEA, AZ, and two other locations and specializes in Family Medicine. Dr. Thomas is […]

Willard Wigan, Micro Artist born

*This date in 1957 is celebrated as the birth date of Willard Wigan, a Black British micro-artist and sculptor.  From Wolverhampton, England, as a child, he had dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome, neither of which was diagnosed until adulthood. Wigan was ridiculed in class by his primary school teachers for not learning to read. Wigan attributes […]

The American Society of African Culture, a story

*On this date in 1957, we celebrate the American Society of African Culture (AMSAC), an organization of African American writers, artists, and scholars. The society was founded in 1956, following the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, based on the idea of the French Société Africaine de culture. In the summer of 1957, five African […]

Julie Felix, Ballerina, and Teacher born

*Julie Felix’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1958. She is a retired Black British ballerina and teacher. Having grown up in Ealing, west London, in the 60s, Felix knew about racial distinction. She did not often notice any faces that weren’t white in the neighborhood or at college, she says. After her mother […]