*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 from Magnolia, Arkansas, and was the firstborn of Roger and Lacinea McBride, McBride fell in love with books and reciting words as a child. The Arkansas native moved to the […]
learn more*The birth of Adolf Gustaf Badin is celebrated on this date c1750. He was an Afro Swedish court servant and chronicler. He was born in Africa or the Danish island Saint Croix and enslaved at birth. He said that the only thing he remembered about his past was his parents’ hut burning. It is known […]
learn moreDaren Hill is an artist, visual explorer, and art entrepreneur. In this segment, he shares his reasoning for wanting more literature and art in E-12 classrooms
learn more*Lari Gilges was born on this date in 1909. He was a Black German actor and communist. Born Hilarius Gilges in Düsseldorf, Germany, he was one of the few Black Germans born in the country before the First World War. His mother Maria Stüttgen was a white textile worker in Düsseldorf; the origin of his […]
learn more*Percival Borde was born on this date in 1922. He was an Afro Caribbean dancer-choreographer educator and scholar. From the Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago, Percival Sebastian Borde was the son of veterinarian George Paul Borde and Augustine Francis Lambie. He was raised in Trinidad and attended school at the Queen Royal College. In his […]
learn more*Bel Abbey was born on this date on this date in 1916. He was a Black Native American Coushatta Indian Blowgun Maker, Wood Carver, herbalist, and Koasati Storyteller. Abbey was from a Koasati settlement five miles north of Elton, Louisiana. Abbey was in the last generation to be raised in the traditional Koasati social and […]
learn more*The Tragedy of Othello was first performed on this date in 1604. This is one of the first stage classics featuring a Black lead character. Termed the Moor of Venice, more commonly known simply as Othello, it is a tragedy by William Shakespeare written around 1603. The first performance took place at Whitehall Palace with Shakespeare’s friend […]
learn more*Delroy Lindo was born on this date in 1952. He is a Black British-American actor. Delroy George Lindo was born in Lewisham, southeast London, the son of Jamaican parents who had immigrated to the United Kingdom. Lindo grew up in nearby Eltham and became interested in acting like a child when he appeared in a […]
learn more*The birth of Willard Wigan is celebrated on this date in 1957. He is a Black British micro-artist and sculptor. From Wolverhampton, England, as a child, he had dyslexia and Asperger syndrome, neither of which were diagnosed until adulthood. Wigan was ridiculed in a class by his primary school teachers for not learning to read. […]
learn more*The birth of Susie Edwards is celebrated on this date in 1894. She was a vaudeville singer. From Pensacola, Florida, as a young blues singer and actress Susie Hawthornes met singer-dancer Jodie “Butterbeans” Edwards in the Black touring revue “The Smart Set.” She married Jody Edwards during a show in 1917 when a publicity agent offered them […]
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