People, Locations, Episodes

Shirley Bassey, Singer born

*Shirley Bassey was born on this date in 1937. She is a Black British singer.

Billy Dee Williams, Actor born

*Billy Dee Williams was born on this date in 1937.  He is a Black actor, voice actor, and artist.   William December Williams Jr. was born in New York City, the son of Loretta Anne, a West Indian-born elevator operator at the Lyceum Theatre. She was an aspiring performer from Montserrat, and William December Williams, Sr., a Black and Native American caretaker from Texas.  He grew up in Harlem.  He used to go […]

Robert Hooks, Actor, and Theatre Advocate born

*On this date in 1937, Robert Hooks was born.  He is a Black actor, producer, and activist.   The youngest of five children, Hooks was born in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C.  His mother was Mae Bertha (Ward), a seamstress, and Edward Hooks, who had moved from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with their four other children, Bernice, Caroleigh, Charles Edward “Charlie,” and James Walter “Jimmy.” Named […]

Melvin Edwards, Artist, and Teacher born

*Melvin “Mel” Edwards was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black contemporary artist, teacher, and abstract steel metal sculptor. Additionally, he has worked in drawing and printmaking. Early life and education Melvin Eugene Edwards, Jr., was born in Houston, Texas, to Thelmarie Edwards and Melvin Edwards Sr, and was the eldest of […]

Robert Thompson, Painting Artist born

On this date in 1937, Robert Louis Thompson was born. He was an African American painter and one of the youngest black artists of his day to gain fame in the United States.

Ron O’Neal, Actor born

*Ron O’Neal was born on this date in 1937. He was an African American actor.

From Utica, NY he got his big break when he was cast in Charles Gordone’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play No Place to Be Somebody, which began at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater and later went to Broadway in 1969. The producers of “Superfly,” urban crime film were impressed with his work. They cast him as the movie’s lead character, a cool cocaine dealer named Youngblood Priest. “Superfly” became an unexpected hit, one of the defining films of the twentieth century Blaxploitation genre.

Yaphet Kotto, Actor born

Yaphet Kott, an African American actor, was born on this date in 1937.

Yaphet Frederick Kotto was born in New York Cit. His father was an Igbo Jewish man from Cameroon and Kotto is a practicing Jew by faith. His father was royalty in Cameroon, making Yaphet the son of the Crown Prince of the Royal Bell family of the Doualla region of West Africa’s Cameroon.

Simon Estes, Classical Vocalist born

*The birth of Simon Estes in 1938 is marked on this date. He is an African American classical concert vocalist.

Ernie Barnes, Artist and Athlete born

*Ernie Barnes was born on this date in 1938. He was an African American Neo-Mannerist artist and former professional football player.

Mercedes Ellington, Dancer born

*Mercedes Ellington was born on this date in 1939. She is a Black Dancer and choreographer.  Mercedes Ellington was born in New York City to Ruth Silas Batts, trumpet player and conductor Mercer Ellington, son of composer and bandleader Duke Ellington. She was raised by her maternal grandparents, Louise Petgrave Silas and Alfred Silas, who enrolled her in dance […]

Charles Fuller, Playwright born

*Charles Fuller was born on this date in 1939. He is an African American playwright.

From Philadelphia, Fuller is the son of Charles H., a printer, and Lillian (Anderson) Fuller. From 1956-1958, young Fuller attended Villanova University, and from 1965-1968, LaSalle College where he earned a D.F.A..

Bobb Vann, Artist born

*Bobb Vann was born on this date in 1939. He is a Black artist, teacher, and lecturer. Vann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Timothy and Eleanor (Ashford) Vann. He started drawing at age six and, after high school, attended the Philadelphia College of Art from 1959 to 1962. Vann worked as a designer […]

Cleavon Little, Actor born

*Cleavon Little was born on this date in 1939. He was a Black stage, film, and television actor. Cleavon Jake Little was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, the son of Malachi Little and DeEtta Jones Little. He was the brother of singer DeEtta Little West; he had another sister, Rosemarie Little Martin, and two brothers, Everett […]

Barbara Chase-Riboud, Artist, and Author born

*Barbara Chase-Riboud was born on this date in 1939. She is a Black visual artist and sculptor, novelist, and poet. Barbara Chase was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was the only child of Vivian May Chase, a histology technician, and Charles Edward Chase, a contractor. Chase displayed an early talent for the arts and began attending the […]

Quincy Troupe, Writer born

*Quincy Troupe was born on this date in 1939. He is an African American poet, performer, and editor.