*Kenneth Young was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black artist, educator, and designer. Kenneth Victor Young was born in Louisville, Kentucky. In the 1950s, Young served in the United States Navy. He attended the University of Louisville to study design and physics, followed by additional studies at Indiana University and the […]
learn moreThis date marks the birth of Don Cherry in 1936. He was an African American musician.
Donald Eugene Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, and raised in Los Angeles. He started on trumpet in junior high school and began working with Ornette Coleman in 1956. The Coleman quartet moved to New York City in 1959, creating controversy and making revolutionary albums for Atlantic until it disbanded in late 1961. Shortly thereafter, Cherry worked with a wide array of musicians in this country and Europe: John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Steve Lacy, George Russell, and Albert Ayler.
learn more*James DePreist was born on this date in 1936. He is an African American performer, composer, arranger, and conductor of music and poet.
learn more*Jerry Pinkney was born on this date in 1939. He was a Black artist, illustrator, writer, and teacher of children’s literature. Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia, PA. His parents were Williemae and James Pinkney; he was the middle child of five siblings. Pinkney struggled in school due to dyslexia but excelled at drawing, even […]
learn moreOn 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.
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Tina Allen was born on this date in 1949. She was a Black sculptor. She was born Tina Powell in Hempstead, N.Y. Her father, Gordon “Specs” Powell, was a studio musician for CBS Records who played in “The Ed Sullivan Show” band. Her mother was a writer and a nurse, and one of Allen’s uncles […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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, […]
learn more*Harolyn Blackwell was born on this fate in 1955. She is an African American lyric coloratura soprano and educator.
learn moreThis date marks the birth in 1950 of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He was an African American artist specializing in painting. Initially a street artist, his graffiti-inspired work won international acclaim during the 1980s.
Born to a Haitian father and a first-generation Puerto Rican-American mother, Basquiat grew up in Brooklyn. As a child, he created drawings inspired by comic books and television cartoons. His mother, who often took him to local art museums, nurtured his early interest in art. In May 1968, a car hit Basquiat. He suffered a broken arm and his spleen had to be removed.
learn more*Mark Bradford was born on this date in 1961. He is a Black gay artist born and raised in Leimert Park in South Los Angeles. Bradford moved with his family to a predominantly white neighborhood in Santa Monica when he was 11, but his mother still maintained her business in the old community. His mother […]
learn moreKara Walker was born on this date in 1969. She is an African American contemporary artist known for her exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and identity in her works.
She was born in Stockton, CA. Her father was a painter and a teacher. Walker’s education includes an Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at Rhode Island School of Design in painting/printmaking, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in painting/printmaking at Atlanta College of Art.
learn more*This date celebrates Fabrice Monteiro’s birth, which was in 1974. He is an Afro Brazilian photographer and visual artist. Fabrice Monteiro is an Agouda, the descendant of enslaved Brazilians with Portuguese names. He was born to a Beninese father and a Belgian mother. He was born in Belgium, grew up in Benin, and now lives and works in […]
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