People, Locations, Episodes

Darwoud Bey, Photographer born

*The birth of Dawoud Bey is marked on this date in 1953.  He is a Black photographer and educator.  Born David Edward Smikle in New York City’s Jamaica, Queens neighborhood, Smikle attended PS 131 grade school and graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School.  He changed his name to Dawoud Bey in the early 1970s, […]

Oprah Winfrey, Multi-Media Icon born

*Oprah Winfrey was born on this date 1954. She is an African American businesswoman, actress, multi-media entrepreneur, and television talk show host.

Marsha Warfield, Television Actress born

*Marsha Warfield was born on born on this date in 1954. She is a Black Lesbian actress and comedian. Marsha Francine Warfield grew up on Chicago’s South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She received her big comic career break as a member of Richard Pryor’s TV sketch program in 1977. Warfield has appeared in feature films […]

Carmen Jones, (The Movie Musical) Debuts

*The movie Carmen Jones debuted on this date in 1954.  This was an American musical film starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay was based on the lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, from the 1943 stage musical of the same name, set to the music of […]

Denzel Washington, Actor, Director, and Producer born

Denzel Washington was born on this date in 1954. He is an African American film, television, and stage actor and occasional director.

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr., was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He has an older sister, Lorice, and a younger brother. His father, Virginia-born Reverend Denzel Washington, was an ordained Pentecostal minister, who worked for the Water Department and at a local department store. His mother, Lennis, a beauty parlor owner, was born in Georgia and raised in Harlem.

Paris Barclay, TV, and Film Director born

Paris Barclay was born on this date in 1956. He is an African American television director and producer.

Born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Paris KC Barclay was one of the first African Americans to attend the La Lumiere School, a prestigious, private preparatory school in La Porte, IN, on scholarship. He went to Harvard College, where he was active in student musical theatre productions. While at Harvard, he wrote 16 musicals, including the annual Hasty Pudding shows; he was a classmate of Supreme Court Judge John Roberts.

Fred Hickman, TV Broadcaster born

*Fred Hickman was born on this date in 1956. He was a Black sports broadcaster, anchor, and managing editor for the evening newscast. Frederick Hickman was born in Springfield, Illinois, to George Henry and Louise Winifred Hickman. He graduated from Springfield Southeast High School in 1974, then earned a B.S. in sociology at Coe College […]

Sinbad, Comedian, and Actor born

*Sinbad was born on this date in 1956. He is an African American comedian, writer and actor.

Mario Van Peebles, Actor, and Director born

Mario Van Peebles was born on this date in 1957. He is an African American director and actor. He is the son of writer, director and actor Melvin Van Peebles and German actress Maria Marx. He was born in in Mexico City, Mexico, and is the brother of Megan Van Peebles and Max Van Peebles.

Marlon Riggs, Filmmaker, and Educator born

*On this date we mark the birth of Marlon Troy Riggs. He was an African American documentary filmmaker and educator who used video to oppose racism and homophobia.

LeVar Burton, Actor, and Author born

*On this date in 1957 Levar Burton was born. He is an African American Actor and author. From Landstuhl, Germany.

Spike Lee, Film Director, and Producer born

*Spike Lee was born on this date in 1957. He is an African American filmmaker, writer, actor, and producer.

From Atlanta, Georgia, Sheldon Jackson Lee (his name at birth) is the son of jazz composer Bill Lee and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Lee graduated from John Dewey high school and majored in communications at Morehouse College, where he directed his first Super-8 films. In 1978, he enrolled in New York University’s Graduate Film School. While attending these two schools, he met future collaborators, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson and co-producer Monty Ross.

Nelson George, Writer, and Filmmaker born

*Nelson George was born on this date in 1957.  He is a Black author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He graduated from St. John’s University in Brooklyn, after which he interned at the New York Amsterdam News before being hired as Black music editor for Record World. He later served as a music […]

Michael Clarke Duncan, Actor born

*Michael Clarke Duncan was born this date in 1957. He was an African American laborer, bodyguard and Academy Award nominated actor.

Prince, Musician, Producer, and Artist born

Prince was born on this date in 1958. He was an African American singer, producer, musician, and global multi-media entertainer.