June 16, 1971 Tupac Amaru Shakur, hip hop rapper and actor, was born in New York City. Shakur was named after Tupac Amaru II, a Peruvian revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and was subsequently executed. In 1986, his family moved to Baltimore where Shakur attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and […]
Archive | June, 2011
June 16th in African American History – The Soweto Children’s Uprising
June 16, 1976 The Soweto Children’s Uprising started in South Africa. On that day school children in Soweto protested the imposition of the Afrikanns language for instruction. Before they could disperse, police opened fire on the students. Before it was over, 23 people died. A news photograph of a dying Hector Pieterson, killed at the […]
June 15th in African American History – William Arthur Lewis
June 15, 1991 William Arthur Lewis, the first black person to win a Nobel Prize in a category other than peace, died. Lewis was born January 23, 1915 in Saint Lucia. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937 and Ph. D. in 1940 from the London School of Economics, he lectured at the […]
June 15th in African American History – Ella Jane Fitzgerald
June 15, 1996 Ella Jane Fitzgerald, jazz and pop vocalist also known as the “First Lady of Song,” died. Fitzgerald was born April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. She made her singing debut at the age of 17 at the Apollo Theater and won the first prize of $25. In 1935, she began singing […]
June 14th in African American History – John Edgar Wideman
June 14, 1941 John Edgar Wideman, author and educator, was born in Washington, D. C. but grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wideman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also an All-Ivy League basketball player, in 1963. He was the second African American to win […]
June 14th in African American History – Paul Yaw Boateng
June 14, 1951 Paul Yaw Boateng, the first black cabinet minister in the United Kingdom, was born in Hackney, London, but, raised in Ghana. In 1966, his family was forced into exile in Britain after the coup against Kwame Nkrumah. Boateng earned his LLB degree from the University of Bristol in 1976 and began to […]
June 13th in African American History – Clyde McPhatter
June 13, 1972 Clyde McPhatter, rhythm and blues singer, died. McPhatter was born November 15, 1932 in Durham, North Carolina. From 1950 to 1953, he performed with Billy Ward & the Dominoes who recorded “Sixty Minute Man” (1951) and “Have Mercy Baby” (1952). In 1953, McPhatter quit that group and formed the Drifters who released […]