People, Locations, Episodes

Norma Morgan, Artist born

 *The birth of Norma Morgan is celebrated on this date in 1928. She was a Black printmaker, artist, and painter. Norma Gloria Morgan was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Her mother raised her after the early death of her father, and worked as a domestic worker, seamstress, and designer. Morgan showed interest in art from childhood, […]

Jim Hatch, Educator, and Author born

*Jim Hatch was born on this date in 1928.  He was a white-American playwright, educator, collector, and author.   From Oelwein, a small city northeast of Des Moines. James Vernon Hatch’s father, MacKenzie, was a mason, welder, and boilermaker, and his mother, Eunice, was a homemaker.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1949 at the […]

Kermit Moore, Cellist and Composer born.

*Kermit Moore was born on this date in 1929.  He was a Black conductor, cellist, and composer. Moore was born in Akron, Ohio. While still in high school, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In Manhattan, he studied the cello with Felix Salmond at the Juilliard School while simultaneously pursuing a master’s degree […]

Cecil Taylor, Pianist, and Poet born

*Cecil Taylor was born on this date in 1929.  He was a Black pianist and poet.   Cecil Percival Taylor was raised in the Corona, Queens neighborhood of New York City.  As an only child in a middle-class family, Taylor’s mother encouraged him to play music at an early age. He began playing piano at age six and went on to study at the New York […]

James Barnor, Ghanaian Photographer born.

*James Barnor was born on this date in 1929. He is a Black African photographer. Frederick Seton James Barnor was born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. At 17, Barnor was teaching basket weaving at a missionary school, and the headmaster gave him a camera “to play around with––it was a Kodak Brownie 127, made of plastic”. […]

Vincent Smith, Artist, and Teacher born

*Vincent Smith was born on this date in 1929. He was a Black artist, painter, printmaker, and teacher. He was known for his depictions of black life. Vincent DaCosta Smith was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn to Beresford Leopold Smith and Louise Etheline Todd. Both were immigrants from Barbados. He was raised in Brownsville, […]

Frederick Tillis, Composer, Collegiate Educator, born

*Frederick Tillis was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and collegiate music educator. Born in Galveston, Texas, Frederick Charles Tillis was raised by his mother, Zelma Bernice Gardner Tillis, his stepfather, General Gardner, and his maternal grandparents, Willie Tillis and Jessie Tillis-Hubbard. His mother played piano and […]

The Green Pastures Debuts on Broadway

*On this date in 1930, The Green Pastures debuted on Broadway. This is a play written in 1930 by Marc Connelly and adapted from Ol’ Man Adam and His Chillun (1928), a collection of stories by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It had the first all-Black Broadway […]

Raymond St. Jacques, Actor born

*Raymond St. Jacques was born on this date in 1930.  He was a Black actor, director, and producer.   St. Jacques was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut. He had a sister, Barbara Ann. Shortly after his birth, his parents divorced; he moved with his mother and sister to New Haven, Connecticut. Johnson’s mother, […]

Ethel Ayler, Actress born

*Ethel Ayler was born on this date in 1930.  She was a Black character actress.   She was born Ethel Spraggins Ayler in Whistler, Alabama, and attended Fisk University, majoring in voice.  While there, she learned to sing in French, Spanish, Italian, and German.  Ayler moved to Chicago for a singing career and began acting when she won a role in a touring company of Porgy and Bess.  In 1957, […]

Douglas Turner Ward, Playwright born

*Douglas Turner Ward was born on this date in 1930. He is a Black playwright, actor, director, and theatrical producer.   His birth name was Roosevelt Ward Jr., and he was born in Burnside, Louisiana. His mother was Dorothy Ward (née Short), and his father was Roosevelt Ward, both plantation workers. His great, great grandmother […]

Lorraine Hansberry, Playwright, and Activist born

Lorraine Hansberry was born on this date in 1930. She was an African American writer and activist for equal rights for Blacks.

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago, the daughter of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl A. Hansberry, both active proponents of civil rights. Hansberry’s father worked with the NAACP and the Urban League to challenge segregation. and he ran for Congress through his His attempt to break down the barriers of racism continued in the political arena when he ran for Congress.

Geoffrey Holder, Actor, and Choreographer born

*Geoffrey Holder was born on this date in 1930.  He was a Black Trinidadian American actor, voice actor, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, and painter. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Geoffrey Lamont Holder was one of four children to parents of Bajan and Trinidadian descent.  He was educated at Tranquility School and Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain. He made his performance debut at […]

Faith Ringgold, Artist, and Professor born

On this date in 1930, Faith Ringgold was born in New York City. She is an African American artist who has spent her career breaking out of boundaries and clearing spaces for African American creativity, especially that of women.

Alvin Ailey, Modern Dance Leader born

Alvin Ailey was born on this date in 1931. He was an African American dancer and choreographer, and founding director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.