South African News

Windhoek, Namibia (1840- )

Windhoek, also known by its more traditional names—|Ai||Gams (in the Khoekhoe language) and Otjiomuise or Otjoherero, all of which mean “place by streams”—is the capital and largest city of Namibia, as well as its cultural and economic center. Though likely named for the mountain

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Source: Black Past

Grose, William (1835-1898)

Before the Civil War, when he was 18, William Grose left his home in Washington, D.C. and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Assigned to the USS Vincennes in 1853, he went to South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia and the Arctic during his tour of duty. Grose, who was honorably discharged in San

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Source: Black Past

Amin (Dada), Idi (1925-2003)

Idi Amin was the Ugandan military dictator and President from 1971 to 1979. During his reign Amin’s military forces are estimated to have killed 500,000 people and exiled roughly 70,000 non-Ugandan nationals (mostly Indians) from

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Source: Black Past

W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois also known as William Edward Burghardt (b. Feburary 23, 1868) was a an African-American historian, civil rights activist and the first sociologist to ever have an article published on the rights of African-Americans. His great-grandfather was French-American and his family had

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Source: Black History Resources

Bonds, Margaret (1913-1972)

Margaret Bonds was a pianist and composer noted for her musical adaptations of Shakespeare and collaboration with Langston Hughes. Bonds was the first African American soloist to appear with the Chicago Symphony and played an important role in the development of twentieth century classical and

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Source: Black Past

Apr

26

1972

WGPR-TV (1975–1995)

WGPR-TV (Where God’s Presence Radiates) was the first television station in the United States owned and operated by African Americans. The station, located in Detroit, Michigan, was founded by William Venoid Banks. WGPR-TV marketed toward the urban audience in Detroit, Michigan, which in that

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Source: Black Past

Marcus Garvey

Born: 8/17/1887 Saint Anns Bay, JamaicaDied: 6/10/1940 London, United KingdomMarcus Garvey was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Soweto Uprising

In 1976, Hector Petersen, a young South African student is shot and killed during a massive demonstration to protest apartheid laws in South Africa.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1976

Thomas, Clarence (1948- )

Clarence Thomas, the second African American to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, was born in Pin Point, Georgia, a small community south of Savannah. His mother, Leola Williams, a single parent, raised Thomas until he was seven. He and his brother, Myers, were sent to Savannah where they were

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Source: Black Past

Naomi Campbell

Best Known

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Mfume, Kweisi (Frizzel Gray) (1948 - )

Kweisi Mfume was born as Frizzel Gray in Baltimore, Maryland on October 24, 1948, the eldest of four children. Gray experienced a troubled childhood with the abandonment of his father and death of his mother as well as economic instability, but made a successful return to his academic studies in

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Source: Black Past

Feb

15

1996

Seacole, Mary Jane (1805 –1881)

Mary Jane Grant Seacole was an early nurse in the British Empire during the 19th Century. Born in Kingston, Jamaica as Mary Grant, she was the daughter of a Scottish officer and a black mother. Mary’s mother ran a hospital/boarding house in Kingston and she, after a brief period as

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Source: Black Past

May

14

1881

South Africa's "truth commission", looking into abuses during the apartheid era,

South Africas truth commission, looking into abuses during the apartheid era, began its public hearings.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

15

1996

Philip Emeagwali

The early life of Philip Emeagwali seemed destined for poverty in his native land of Nigeria. He was the oldest of nine children and his father, who worked as a nurse’s aide, earned only a modest income. As a result, at age 14, Philip was forced to drop out of school in Onitsha. Because he had

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

26

2012

al-Sadat, Muhammad Anwar (1918-1981)

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, third President of post-independence Egypt (governing from 1970 to 1981), was born of peasant background in the Nile Delta village of Mit Abu al-Kum on December 25, 1918. The son an Egyptian army clerk and a Sudanese housewife, Sadat was educated in Cairo, where his family

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Source: Black Past

Jul

23

1952

Nelson Mandela is released

Nelson Mandelas greatest pleasure, his most private moment, is watching the sun set with the music of Handel or Tchaikovsky

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

11

1990

African National Congress

African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black (now multiracial) political organization in South Africa founded in 1912. Prominent in its opposition to apartheid , the organization began as a nonviolent civil-rights group. In the 1940s and 50s it joined with other groups in promoting strikes

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Folorunsho Alakija

Born: 5/4/1905 Ikorodu, NigeriaFolorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian businesswoman who is the second richest African woman after Isabel Dos Santos and also the third richest woman of African descent in the world. She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries.She is the

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Holmes, Benjamin M. (1846-1875)

Teacher, news correspondent, and Fisk Jubilee Singer, Benjamin M. Holmes was born a slave around 1846 in Charleston, South Carolina and bound as an apprentice to a black tailor. Holmes was eventually bought by a man named Kaylor, who employed him as a hotel clerk in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While

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Source: Black Past

Oct

9

1875

Coachman, Alice Marie (1923-2014)

Alice Coachman became the first African American woman from any country to win an Olympic Gold Medal when she competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, UK. Born November 9, 1923, in Albany, Georgia, to Evelyn and Fred Coachman, Alice was the fifth of ten children. As an athletic child of the

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Source: Black Past

Angola

U.S. Department of State Background Note

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Gossett, Larry (1945-- )

Born on February 21, 1945 in Seattle to parents, Nelmon and Johnnie Carter Gossett, Larry Gossett has been a dedicated public servant for over 40 years. After graduating from Franklin High School, he was a VISTA volunteer in Harlem (1966-1967). Gossett attended the University of Washington, where

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Source: Black Past

Feb

21

1945

Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey was a prominent figure in the political history of Africans. Besides, he was a journalist, entrepreneur, orator and publisher. Being a strong proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African

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Source: Black History Resources

South africa

In 1991, a multiracial forum led by de Klerk and Mandela, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), began working on a new constitution. In 1993, an interim constitution was passed, which dismantled apartheid and provided for a multiracial democracy with majority rule. The peaceful

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

The Pan-African Congresses, 1900-1945

Pan-Africanist ideals emerged in the late nineteenth century in response to European colonization and exploitation of the African continent. Pan-Africanist philosophy held that slavery and colonialism depended on and encouraged negative, unfounded categorizations of the race, culture, and values of

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Source: Black Past

Ghana became an independent state

March 6th, 1957, the Gold Coast gained its independence from Great

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

6

1957

Mbabane, Swaziland (1887- )

Mbabane is the capital of Swaziland and is located on the Mbabane River and its tributary the Polinjane River in the Mdimba Mountains. It is the second largest city in the country. The city’s name comes from an African Chief, Mbabane Kunene, who lived in the region when British settlers arrived in

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Source: Black Past

Namibia gains independence

The History of NamibiaThe country has ever since that historical day; 21 March 1990 enjoyed peace, stability and progress in many ways. Namibia is also known as the smile of Africa because, of its geographical position and the friendliness and warmth of its citizens. Currently the country has

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

21

1990

Belmopan, Belize (1970- )

Belmopan, capital of the Central American country of Belize, is a relatively new city, having assumed premier city status in 1970, succeeding the centuries old former capital, Belize City. Belize was formerly the British Colony bearing the name, British

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Source: Black Past

Emory O. Jackson, the Birmingham World, and the Fight for Civil Rights in Alabama

In the article below, Kimberley Mangun, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, describes her ongoing research on the Birmingham (Alabama) World and its longtime editor, Emory O. Jackson. Mangun is writing a cultural biography of Jackson and the

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Source: Black Past

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