Solange Knowles

Yes, perhaps her sister is more famous. I have seen her in concert and read 25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music is Going and F.U.B.U./Solange were on the list. Born Solange Piaget Knowles 6/24/86 in Houston, Texas. She has been married twice and has one kids. Beyonce is her older sister. She was in […]

Pastor Shirley Caesar

Born Shirley Ann Caesar 10/13/38 in Durham, North Carolina. Started recording when she was 12. Began her professional career in 1957 with Albertina Walker and The Caravans. She graduated from college in 1984 and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta. She recorded Hold My Mule 29 years ago. She has 11 Grammys. She released […]

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Townsend sunrise 10/6/17, Montgomery County, Mississippi. Sunset 3/14/77 Mound Bayou, Mississippi She was the youngest of 20 kids. She started to pick cotton at age six. She worked on a plantation. She coined the term Mississippi appendectomy for the involuntary sterilization of black women including herself to reduce the population. She ran unsuccessfully […]

Wanda Sykes

While I was in Austin at the airport a worker told me about the celebrity sightings she saw during Hashtag South by Southwest 2017. She mentioned James Franco in the category as someone who did not take a picture and Wanda Sykes who did. Here are 10 things I learned about Wanda Sykes. Born 3/7/64 […]

Sister Sledge

They formed in 1971 in their hometown of Philadelphia with Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathy. Their mother, Florez Sledge, was an actress, their father, Edwin Sledge a tap dancer on Broadway, their grandmother Viola, an opera singer and protege of Mary McLeod Bethune. We Are Family was released in 1978 and their best known song. […]

Janelle Monae

Born Janelle Monae Robinson 12/1/85 in Kansas City, Kansas. She was a CoverGirl spokeswoman. The Boston City Council named 10/16/13 Janelle Monae Day because of her artistry and social leadership. She voiced the role of the veterinarian in Rio 2. She had her on air film debut in Moonlight in 2016 followed by Hidden Figures. […]

Anita Hill

I met Anita Hill when I was a professor at New College School of Law and we honored her. Since her initial reluctant testimony during the United States Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas, she has continued to be an advocate for eliminating sexual harassment in workplaces. On April 20, 2017 she continues her […]

Daisy Bates

Daisy Lee Gatson Bates sunrise 11/11/14 Huttig Union County, Arkansas, sunset 11/4/99 Little Rock, Arkansas. Her mother was murdered by white men who were never punished. She was President of the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP branches in 1952. She published the Arkansas State Press, a black newspaper. She advised the Little Rock Nine when […]

Brian McKnight

He has sold more than 30 million albums. He has 16 Grammy nods, no wins. He has released 16 CDs. In his show he performs television theme songs like Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, The Love Boat, and Good Times. In addition to singing he plays eight instruments piano, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, trombone, tuba, […]

Howard Thurman

He was African-American. He died in San Francisco. He influenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was the dean of chapels at Howard and Boston Universities and the first black dean of a majority-white university in the United States. He co-founded the first major interdenominational church in the United States, the Church of Fellowship of […]

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