Aoua Kéita was a Malian independence activist, politician, feminist, writer, and midwife. Born on July 12, 1912, in then Bamako, French Sudan to Karamogo Kéita, a member of the colonial hygiene service and Miriam Coulibaly, Aoua was one of the few African girls allowed to enroll in the first girls’ school in Bamako. She graduated from the École des filles […]

Beny Jene Primm, a pioneer in HIV/AIDS research and treatment and an anesthesiologist, was born on May 28, 1928, in Williamson, West Virginia, to a funeral director father, George Oliver Primm, and a mother, Willie Henrietta Martin Primm, who taught school. He had one brother, Gerome Primm, who became a funeral director. In 1940 the family moved to The Bronx, […]

Johnie Driver is one of the few non-violent civil rights activists to emerge in Utah in the 1960s.  Yet, even to this day, very little is known about him beyond the fact that he was President of the Salt Lake Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP). The only information available on him is from […]

Trainee Black chartered accountants need more mentoring and psychological support. Milan Markovic Every year the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants administers the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). This board exam is the last hurdle for an aspiring chartered accountant en route to qualifying. The latest results, released in late February, had an overall pass rate of 52%. The pass […]

Louis Cameron Gossett Jr., one of the most commanding American actors in television and film, as well as a producer, director, and social activist, was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, the only child to Louis Cameron Gossett Sr. and Hellen Rebecca Wray. A product of public education, Gossett attended the Mark Twain Junior High School and […]

Margaret Vernell James Strickland was a leading scientist on termite diversity and a Civil Rights activist. She was the first professionally trained Black woman entomologist and the third Black female zoologist in the United States. She was born Margaret Vernell James on September 4, 1922, in Institute, West Virginia, to Rollins Walter James, who had worked with scientist George Washington […]

US Army World War II veteran Maceo Snipes was killed in 1946 in Taylor County, Georgia because he voted. Snipes was born in Taylor County Georgia on March 25, 1909. His parents, Lula and John, were landowners in Taylor County who owned 202 acres as were his grandparents, Henry and Elizabeth Snipes, who owned acreage in neighboring Schley County. Snipes, […]

Alonzo Logwone Mitz was a National Football League (NFL) defensive end who played professionally for the Seattle Seahawks and the Cincinnati Bengals. Mitz was born on June 5, 1963, in Henderson, North Carolina, and raised by his mother Rosa Lee Winbush, and his grandparents. Mitz attended Fort Pierce Central High School in Fort Pierce, Florida, and played high school football […]

Surgeon, professor, and philanthropist John Henry Hale was born on June 5, 1878, in Estill Springs, Tennessee, to Aaron Hale and Emma Gray Hale. John’s elementary education was obtained in Estill Springs. Hale received a Bachelor of Science from the historically Black Walden University in Nashville (Central Tennessee College) in 1901. Afterward, he enrolled in Meharry Medical College in Nashville, […]

Expert business developer, entertainment legal advisor, and strategist Paul Ernest Butler was born on March 31, 1969, and has lived most of his life in Atlanta, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Interdepartmental Studies (African American Studies) from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, in 1991, where he was the co-winner of the Seth H. […]