People, Locations, Episodes

The First Black Actor Wins The Oscar for (Best Male Actor)

On this date in 1963, the Oscar for best actor by the Academy of Motion Pictures was given to an African American for the first time.

Sidney Poitier won the honor for his performance in Lilies of the Field.

Suzan-Lori Parks, Playwright born

*Suzan-Lori Parks was born on this date in 1963.  She is a Black playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist.   She was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She grew up with two siblings in a military family. Parks enjoyed writing poems and songs and created a newspaper with her brother called the “Daily Daily”. Parks attended high […]

Jennifer Beals, Actress born

*Jennifer Beals was born on this date in 1963. She is a Black actress and photographer. Early life Beals was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Bronzseville community. She’s the daughter of Jeanne Anderson, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. Beals’ father was Black, […]

Neneh Cherry, Singer born

On this date in 1964, Neneh Cherry, an African European pop singer, was born.

She was born Neneh Mariann Karlssson, the daughter of West African percussionist Amadu Jah and artist Moki Cherry in Stockholm, Sweden. Raised by her mother and her jazz trumpeter stepfather (Don Cherry) in both Stockholm and New York City, she left school at 14. In 1980, Cherry moved to London to sing with the punk group the Cherries.

LisaGay Hamilton, Actress, and Producer born

*LisaGay Hamilton was born on this date in 1964. She is an African American actress and film director and producer.

From New York City and raised in Long Island, she is a graduate of fine arts from New York University, she studied drama at the Julliard School where she earned a Master’s Degree. Hamilton’s first paid acting role was as a spear-carrier in the Joseph Papp Public Theatre production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night but she soon moved on to appear opposite Kevin Kline and Andre Braugher in “Measure for Measure” in the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Gloria Reuben, Actress, and Dancer born

*Gloria Reuben was born on this date in 1964. She is a Black Canadian actress and dancer.

Tavis Smiley, Media Commentator born

*Travis Smiley was born on this date in 1964. He is a Black media commentator and writer.  The third of ten children, he was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the son of Joyce M. and Emory G. Smiley. When he was very young, his father, an Air Force non-commissioned officer, was transferred to Grissom Air Force […]

Fredricka Whitfield, Television Journalist born

*Fredricka Whitfield was born on this date in 1965.  She is a Black television journalist and news anchor.  From suburban Washington, D.C., she is the daughter of Mal Whitfield and Nola Whitfield.   She has a brother and a sister and graduated from Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland, in 1983. In 1987, she earned a bachelor’s […]

Viola Davis, Actress, and Producer born

*Viola Davis was born on this date in 1965. She is a Black actress and producer. Viola Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Mary Alice (née Logan) and Dan Davis and was born on her grandmother’s farm on the Singleton Plantation. Her father was a horse trainer, and her […]

Antonie Fuqua, Media Producer born

*Antoine Fuqua was born on this date in 1966. He is a Black Filmmaker. A native of Pittsburgh, Fuqua studied engineering at West Virginia University before moving to New York in 1987 to direct music videos. After forming his own production company, Reel Power, he directed his debut short film ‘Exit.’ Fuqua’s debut feature film, […]

Chris Rock, Comedian and Actor born

*On this date in 1966, Chris Rock was born. He is an African America comedian, author, recording artist, actor, and talk show host.

The First Black Wins Emmy Award for Best Actor

On this date in 1966, Bill Cosby received an Emmy Award for best actor in a television series.

Cosby won because of his role as an undercover agent disguised as a trainer/companion to an international tennis player in the show “I Spy.”

Halle Berry, Actress, and Film Producer born

*Halle Berry was born on this date in 1966. She is an African American actress and model.

R. Kelly, Singer, and Producer born

*R. Kelly was born on this date in 1967.  He is a Black singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist.   Robert Sylvester Kelly was born at Chicago Lying-in Hospital in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.  He is the third of four children with an older sister and brother and a younger brother. His mother, Joanne […]

Lisa Bonet, Actress, and Model born

On this date in 1967, Lisa Bonet was born. She is an African American actress and model.

Lisa Bonet was born to a Jewish mother and a Black father in San Francisco. Bonet’s parents divorced when she was young, and her formative years were spent mostly in New York City and L.A. At age 11, she started auditioning for commercials, and after several years of ads and walk-on TV parts, she landed a coveted role in NBC’s “The Cosby Show.” The show was an immediate hit, and Bonet quickly asserted herself as one of the most memorable kids in the Huxtable clan, the outspoken teenager, Denise.