People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

The Black Arts Movement In America, a story

*The Black Arts Movement (BAM) is celebrated on this date in 1965. They were a Black-led art movement active during the 1960s and 1970s. BAM created new cultural institutions through activism and art and conveyed another message of black pride. The beginnings of the Black Arts Movement focus on when Amiri Baraka moved uptown to […]

Awadagin Pratt, Classical Pianist born

*Awadagin Pratt was born on this date in 1966.  He is a Black classical concert artist and pianist. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois, he also began studying violin. At 16, he entered the University of Illinois, where he studied piano, violin, […]

The First World Festival of Negro Arts is Held

*The first World Festival of Negro Arts was held on this date in 1966. Also known as FESMAN, it is a month-long culture and arts festival in Africa every ten years. The festival features poetry, sculpture, painting, music, cinema, theatre, fashion, architecture, design, and dance from artists and performers around the African Diaspora. The festivals were […]

The Negro Ensemble Company Begins

*On this date in 1967, The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) started. This was a New York City-based theater company and workshop established by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation. The company’s focus on original works with themes based on the Black experience with an international perspective created a canon of theatrical works and an […]

The Billie Holiday Theatre Opens

*The Billy Holiday Theatre’s opening in 1968 is celebrated on this date. Serving some 30,000 people annually for more than 30 years, the Audelco and Obie award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre has garnered a well-earned reputation for providing outstanding professional theater productions at affordable prices. The 200-seat theater has a 40-week season and is training ground for aspiring theater professionals. It has nurtured the careers of Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L.

The Last Poets, Musicians, and Nationalistic Group Formed

*The Last Poets were formed on this date in 1968. They were a progressive group of Black Nationalist poets and musicians that evolved from the late 1960s American Civil Rights movement. Their name was taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile; the original users of that name were the trio […]

Franklin Meets Charlie Brown In The ‘Peanuts’ Cartoon

*On this date in 1968, Franklin appeared in the Peanuts cartoon. He was the first Black character used by Charles Shultz, the cartoonist creator of Peanuts. In the episode, Charlie Brown lost his beach ball; it was found and returned to him by a Black boy named Franklin.  The episode ended with the two proceeding to […]

Christopher Ofili, Artist born

*Christopher Ofili was born on this date in 1968. He is a Black British artist (painter). Ofili was born to May and Michael Ofili in Manchester, the UK. When he was eleven, his father left the family and returned to Nigeria. Ofili was educated at St. Pius X High School for Boys and then at […]

Radcliffe Bailey, Mixed-Media Artist born

*Radcliffe Bailey was born on this date in 1968. He was a Black contemporary visual artist noted for mixed-media, painting, and sculpture works. Radcliffe Bailey was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey. At age four, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. His interest in Art began with childhood visits to the High Museum of Art and drawing classes Bailey […]

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters is Formed

*On this date in 1969, the “Black Academy of Arts and Letters (BAAL)” was founded.

The Dance Theater of Harlem is Founded

*This date in 1969 marks the founding of the Dance Theater of Harlem (DTH). Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook started this classical dance company.

Kara Walker, Artist born

Kara Walker was born on this date in 1969. She is an African American contemporary artist known for her exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and identity in her works.

She was born in Stockton, CA. Her father was a painter and a teacher. Walker’s education includes an Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at Rhode Island School of Design in painting/printmaking, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in painting/printmaking at Atlanta College of Art.

Purlie (the musical) Debuts

*Purlie was first performed on stage on this date in 1970. It was a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis’s 1961 play Purlie Victorious, which became the 1963 film Gone Are the Days!  The cast included Cleavon Little, John Heffernan, […]

The First Black wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

*On this date in 1970, the first Black won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.  The award came to Charles Gordone, an American playwright, for the Broadway production of No Place to Be Somebody.  His gritty barroom drama was based on his work at a New York City Greenwich Village bar.  No Place to Be Somebody, […]