August 18, 1944 Jacques Roumain, writer and political activist, died. Jacques Roumain was born June 4, 1907 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His grandfather served as the president of Haiti from 1912 to 1913. Roumain was educated in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain. At 20 years old, he returned to Haiti and formed “The Indigenous Review: Arts […]
Archive | August RSS feed for this section
August 18th in African American History – Richard Benjamin Moore
August 18, 1978 Richard Benjamin Moore, lecturer, political activist and author, died. Richard Moore was born August 9, 1893 in Christ Church, Barbados. He moved with his family to the United States in 1909 and settled in Harlem, New York. Harlem introduced Moore to the realities of European colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean as […]
August 17th in African American History – Pearl Mae Bailey
August 17, 1990 Pearl Mae Bailey, jazz vocalist and actress, died. Pearl Mae Bailey was born March 29, 1918 in Southampton County, Virginia. She made her stage debut at 15 when she won an amateur contest in Philadelphia. In 1941, during World War II, Bailey toured the country with the USO, singing and dancing for American […]
August 17th in African American History – Robert Clyve Maynard
August 17, 1993 Robert Clyve Maynard, journalist and former owner of The Oakland Tribune, died. Robert Clyve Maynard was born June 17, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. He began his journalism career in 1961 in Pennsylvania. In 1965, he received a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University and the following year he joined the editorial staff of […]
August 16th in African American History – Dorothy West
August 16, 1998 Dorothy West, novelist and short story writer, died. Dorothy West was born June 2, 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts. She wrote her first story at the age of seven and at the age of 14 won several local writing competitions. In 1926, West tied for second place with Zora Neale Hurston in a […]
August 16th in African American History – Maxwell Lemuel Roach
August 16, 2007 Maxwell Lemuel Roach, jazz percussionist, drummer and composer, died. Maxwell Roach was born January 10, 1924 in Newland, North Carolina. At the age of 10, Roach was playing drums in gospel bands and by 18 he was playing in jazz clubs. Roach’s most significant innovations came in the 1940s when he devised […]
August 15th in African American History – The Republic of the Congo
August 15, 1960 The Republic of the Congo gained independence from France. The Congo is located in Central Africa and is bordered by Gabon to the west, Cameroon to the northwest, the Central African Republic to the northeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.