People, Locations, Episodes

Gordon Parks, Photographer, and Film Producer born

*On this date in 1912, Gordon Parks was born. He was an African American photographer and filmmaker.

Gordon Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas and was the youngest of fifteen children. His mother’s death at a young age and his father’s inability to manage the household led to the family’s break-up, and Parks moving to Minneapolis with his married sister. Unwelcome in his brother-in-law’s house, he soon found himself living on his own struggling to attend school and support himself.

Oliver Harrington, Cartoonist born

*This date marks the birth of Oliver Harrington in 1913. He was an African American cartoonist best known for his character Bootsie.

Frank Silvera, Actor born

Frank Silvera was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American actor.

He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moved to the United States with his family, where he grew up and attended Boston Public Schools.

Edna Mae Harris, Actress born

*Edna Mae Harris was born on this date in 1914. She was an African American actress.

Harris was born in Harlem, New York, to Sam and Mary Harris. Her father was a boxer and customs inspector and her mother worked as a maid for gay 90s pin-up Lillian Russell. Harris’ family was among the first African American families to migrate to Harlem. They settled near the Lafayette Theater. After the relocation, Harris was encouraged to pursue a career in show business by performers Ethel Waters and Maud Russell who frequently dined at the Harris household.

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, Actress, and Playwright born

*Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was born on this date in 1914. She was a Black playwright, film, and stage actress.   Born Salley Gertrude Crawford Hadley in Urbana, Arkansas, her mother was a homemaker. Willis Lawrence Hadley, her father, taught at a Native American reservation near Spiro, Oklahoma.  Jeannette had five brothers and one sister and grew up on a farm. The family moved […]

The Film, ‘Birth of a Nation’ is Released

*On this date in 1915, the film The Birth of a Nation was released. Originally called The Clansman, it was an American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D. W. Griffith and starring white-American actress Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from the novel and play The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. Griffith co-wrote the script with Frank E. Woods and co-produced the film with Harry Aitken. The Birth of a Nation is […]

Orson Welles, Stage and Film Director born

*Orson Welles was born on this date in 1915. He was a white-American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the son of Richard Head Welles and Beatrice Ives Welles. His parents separated and moved to Chicago in 1919. His father, who made a fortune as an […]

The Lincoln Motion Picture Company is Formed

The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded on this date in 1916, the first movie company owned and controlled by Black filmmakers.

Willie Best, Actor born

*Willie Best, sometimes known as Sleep n’ Eat, was born on this date in 1916. He was a Black television and film actor. A native of Sunflower, Mississippi, William “Willie” Best came to Hollywood, California, as a chauffeur for a vacationing white couple. He decided to stay in the region and began his performing career with a traveling show in southern California. He […]

Lena Horne, Singer, and Actress born

This date marks the birthday of Lena Horne in 1917. She was an African American singer and actress whose refusal to be cast in stereotypical roles helped transform the popular image of Black women.

Earl Cameron, British Actor born

*Earl Cameron was born on this date in 1917. He was an Afro Caribbean Black British actor. Earlston Jewett Cameron was born in Pembroke, Bermuda, and grew up on Princess Street, Hamilton, UK. His father was a stonemason who died in 1922, after which Cameron’s mother took on various jobs to support the family. As […]

Claudia McNeil, Actress born

*Claudia McNeil was born on this date in 1917. She was an African American actress.

Isabel Sanford, Actress born

*On this date in 1917 Isabel Sanford was born. She is an African American actress.

From New York City, Sanford’s life story is the type that those in show business enjoy because it gives the struggling artist hope. After education in New York, she joined the Star Players (later the American Negro Theater) in the 1930s. Sanford worked with them until World War II started and the theater temporarily split up. After the war, Sanford had home obligations that put her career on hold. But her husband’s death was inspiration for Sanford’s dream.

Ossie Davis, Actor, and Activist born

Ossie Davis was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American actor, writer, producer, director, and a “giant of civil rights.”

Raiford Chatman Davis (his birth name) was the oldest of five children born to Laura Cooper and Kince Davis in Cogden, GA. He picked up his nickname others mistook his mother’s articulation of his initials, “R.C” as “Ossie.” He headed for Howard University, where he studied under drama critic Alain LeRoy Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar. Davis began his career as a writer and an actor with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem in 1939.

Pearl Bailey, Actress, and Entertainer born

*On this date, Pearl Bailey was born in 1918. This African American singer, actress and entertainer, known for her comedic timing and charm, was honored for her service to American troops, and named as special delegate to the United Nations (UN).