Ruth Dorothea Kennedy Ellington, the only sister of jazz composer and band leader Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington, is significant in her own right. In 1941, Ellington and the “Duke” established Tempo Music, Inc., and he appointed Ruth Ellington president of the company, allowing her to oversee her famous brother’s copyrights, contracts, publishing, recordings, and financial affairs. She focused on Tempo’s […]

Nancelia Elizabeth Scott Jackson was one of the early Black residents of North Cherry Creek, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Her grandfather, William Pitts, was born into slavery in Missouri. Eventually, Pitts settled in Denver and encouraged his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Pitts Scott and Paris, to move from Chicago to Denver.  They had six children including Nancelia, who was […]

Business executive, tech entrepreneur, and activist Damilola Odufuwa, a Yoruba woman, born in 1991 and reared in Lagos, Nigeria, has emerged as a prominent figure advocating for women rights across Africa. Odufuwa grew up in a society marked by a deeply ingrained male supremacist culture but she was born into a family that emphasized education and social justice.  She has […]

Tekesha A. Martinez, born April 2, 1978, is an American politician who was the first Black mayor of Hagerstown, a city of 44,000 in western Maryland, from 2023 to 2024. Martinez, the daughter of Delores A Martinez, was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland. Prior to her mayoral appointment in Hagerstown, Martinez was elected to a seat on the City […]

Charles E. Bussey Jr., was the first African American mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was also the first African American elected to serve on the Little Rock City Board of Directors (City Council) since Reconstruction and the first African American deputy sheriff of Pulaski County. Bussey was born in Stamps, Arkansas on December 18, 1918, to Charles Bussey Sr. […]

Carolyn M. Finney, storyteller, actress, columnist, environmental advocate, and geographer who focuses on cultural awareness, competency, race, gender, and the environment, was born in 1959, adopted when she was six months old, and reared on a 12-acre estate owned by a wealthy, Jewish family in Mamaroneck, New York by an African American couple Henry L. Finney and Rose E. Finney […]

Lyricist, Singer, dancer, arranger, and trumpeter Valaida Snow was born on June 2, 1905, in Chattanooga, Tennessee to John Snow, a minister who assembled a troupe of child performers known as the Pickaninny Troubadours who toured throughout the South performing on Black theater and vaudeville stages. Her mother was Etta Snow, a Howard University-educated music teacher, who taught her children […]

Civil Rights Attorney Michael Joseph, a first-generation Haïtien American and the first Black mayor to lead the city of North Miami in its 100-year history, was born on August 18, 1981, in Miami, Florida, at Jackson Memorial Hospital to Louis Joseph, a pastor, and Elvina Joseph, from Port-de-Paix, Haïti.  He and his sister, Lucy Joseph, were reared in the Little […]

Lyric Contralto Jazz artist Samara Joy (McLendon) was born on November 11, 1999, and raised in the Castle Hill neighborhood of the Bronx, New York, by her parents, Antonio McLendon, a rhythm-and-blues artist and bassist, and Ruth McLendon. Her grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon led the Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes. Samara has a younger brother, Zachary McLendon. At […]

Super Bowl 41 was the first Super Bowl contest pitting teams led by two African American coaches, Tony Dungy, of the Indianapolis (Indiana) Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago (Illinois) Bears in the National Football League (NFL). The game was played on February 4, 2007, in Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida. Tony Dungy was born in Jackson, Michigan on […]