*Louis Draper was born on this date in 1935. He was a Black art photographer. Louis Hansel Draper was born in Richmond, Virginia. He and his sister Nell attended a private Catholic school near Richmond, the Van deVere Institute, and Virginia Randolph High School in Glen Allen, VA. In 1953, he enrolled in Virginia State […]
learn more*Charles E. Johnson was born on this date in 1871. He was a Black dancer. From Saint Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri, he grew up in Minneapolis. As a teenager, he worked at the Nicollet Hotel. His wife, Dora Babbige, was born in Kentucky. The couple met while performing as part of the same vaudeville […]
learn more*The Regent Theater opened on this date in 1916, in Baltimore, MD. As a Family operation, the Regent Theater was owned by Louis Hornstein and his two sons, Simon and Isaac, who opened the theater on the former site of a coal yard at 1629 Pennsylvania Avenue. Advertised as the “largest, coolest, best-ventilated house in […]
learn more*Josie Woods was born on this date in 1912. She was a Black British dancer, choreographer, and activist. Woods was born Josephine Lucy Wood in Canning Town, London, in 1912. Her father, Charles Wood, was from Dominica, and her mother, Emily, had Gypsy ancestry. As a teenager, Woods worked as a seamstress before entering vaudeville. […]
learn more*Anne Kennedy was born on this date in 1920. She was a Black classical pianist and piano professor. Anne Lucille Gamble was born in Charleston, West Virginia, to Dr. Henry Floyd Gamble and the former Nina Hortense Clinton. She was the younger of two children born into that union. Gamble had two older step-siblings as […]
learn more*Angelbert Metoyer was born on this date in 1977. He is a Black Afrofuturism-themed artist. He is from Houston, Texas, and began his artistic career through Rick Lowe’s Project Row Houses in Houston. He held his first solo exhibition there in 1994. He moved to Atlanta to study drawing and painting at the Atlanta College […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Carmen de Lavallade was born on this date in 1931. She is a Black actress, choreographer, dancer, and teacher. De Lavallade was born in Los Angeles, California, to Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by her aunt, Adele, who owned one of Central Avenue’s first African American history bookshops. De Lavallade’s cousin, […]
learn more*Walter Craig was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black violin soloist and orchestra director. Walter F. Craig was born to Charles A. and Sarah E. Craig in Princeton, New Jersey. He moved to New York City in 1861, where he went to Colored School No. 7 under principal Charlotte Smith, who […]
learn more*Kendrick Lamar was born on this date in 1987. He is a Black rapper and lyricist. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California. He is the first child of former gang hustler Kenneth “Kenny” Duckworth and hairdresser Paula Oliver. Both of his parents are African Americans from the South Side of Chicago. As teenagers, […]
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