April 23, 1999 Melba Doretta Liston, jazz trombonist, composer and arranger, died. Liston was born January 13, 1926 in Kansas City, Missouri but raised in Los Angeles, California. In 1943, she joined the big band led by Gerald Wilson and during the 1940s she played with Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, and Billie Holliday. […]
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April 22nd in African American History – Spencer Haywood
April 22, 1949 Spencer Haywood, retired basketball player, was born in Silver City, Mississippi. Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan and in 1967 led Pershing High School to the Michigan State Basketball Championship. In 1968, Haywood was the leading scorer on the United States’ Gold Medal winning Olympic team in Mexico City. Later that year, he […]
April 22nd in African American History – Earl Kenneth “Fatha” Hines
April 22, 1983 Earl Kenneth “Fatha” Hines, jazz pianist, died. Hines was born December 28, 1903 in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. As a youth, he took classical piano lessons and played the organ at the local Baptist church. At the age of 17, he left home to take a job playing in a Pittsburgh nightclub. In 1923, […]
April 21st in African American History – Robert Blackburn
April 21, 2003 Robert Blackburn, artist, printmaker and educator, died. Blackburn was born December 19, 1920 in Summit, New Jersey. As a teenager, he was mentored by several Harlem Renaissance artists, including Charles “Spanky” Alston and Augusta Savage. Blackburn studied lithography, etching, woodblock, and silk-screening at the WPA Harlem Community Art Center.
April 21st in African American History – Nina Simone
April 21, 2003 Nina Simone, singer, songwriter and civil rights activist, died. Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina. She began playing the piano at the age of three and made her debut as a classical pianist at 12. In 1958, she released her debut album, “Little Girl […]
April 20th in African American History – Dorothy Irene Height
April 20, 2010 Dorothy Irene Height, educator and social activist, died. Height was born March 24, 1912 in Richmond, Virginia. While in high school, Height was awarded a scholarship to Barnard College but when she enrolled she was denied admittance because at that time Barnard only admitted two African Americans per academic year and they […]
April 20th in African American History – Warren Q. Marr II
April 20, 2010 Warren Q. Marr II, co-founder of the Amistad Research Center, died. Marr was born July 31, 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied journalism and printing at Wilberforce University. After graduating, Marr worked for The Plaindealer in Kansas City, Kansas from 1939 to 1942, rising to the position of assistant editor.