December 2, 2008 Odetta Holmes, singer, actress, songwriter, and human rights activist, died. Odetta was born December 31, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama. Her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944 and in 1949 she joined the “Finian’s Rainbow” touring company. She began her solo career in 1956 with “Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues” […]
Archive | Acting RSS feed for this section
December 1st in African American History – Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III
December 1, 1940 Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III, comedian, writer and actor, was born in Peoria, Illinois. After his discharge from the Army in 1960, Pryor began working as a professional comic in clubs throughout the Midwest. In 1963, he moved to New York City and began to gain national recognition and appear on […]
November 30th in African American History – James Arthur Baldwin
November 30, 1987 James Arthur Baldwin, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist, died. Baldwin was born August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York. When he was 17, Baldwin began to write short stories, essays, and book reviews, many of which were later collected in “Notes of a Native Son” (1955). In 1948, disillusioned […]
November 25th in African American History – Bill “Bojangles” Robinson
November 25, 1949 Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, tap dancer and stage and film actor, died. Robinson was born May 25, 1878 in Richmond, Virginia. He began to dance for a living at the age of six. Robinson served in the United States Army from 1898 to 1900. He gained success and fame on the black theater […]
November 19th in African American History – Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (Stepin Fetchit)
November 19, 1985 Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (Stepin Fetchit) died. Perry was born May 30, 1902 in Key West, Florida. He began entertaining in his teens as a comic character. Stepin Fetchit was his stage name and Perry parlayed his persona as “the laziest man in the world” into a successful film career, appearing […]
November 4th in African American History – Sean John “Diddy” Combs
November 4, 1969 Sean John “Diddy” Combs, rapper, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur, was born in Harlem, New York. Combs attended Howard University but dropped out after becoming a top executive at Uptown Records. In 1993, he established Bad Boy Records where he signed and produced The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Mariah Carey, and […]
October 29th in African American History – Beatrice Melba Smith (Melba Moore)
October 29, 1945 Beatrice Melba Smith (Melba Moore), R&B singer and actress, was born in New York City. Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in musical education from Montclair State Teacher’s College and taught music for a year in the Newark Public School System. She began her performing career in 1967 in the cast of “Hair.”