Wole Soyinka: Noble Prize Literary Genius
Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Babatunde Soyinka, born 13 July 1934, is a Nigerian playwright and poet. He was the first African to win the Nobel Prize...
Tag : Black Firsts
Lucy Terry: Singer Of History
[dropcap size=small]L[/dropcap]ucy Terry Prince, known as Lucy Terry, (c. 1730–1821) was brought to Rhode Island from Africa. Her future husband purchased her freedom before their...
Herbert Henry “Herb” McKenley: A Jamaican Track and Field Hero
Herbert Henry “Herb” McKenley OM was a Jamaican sprinter and the only athlete to reach an Olympic track final in all three of the classic...
Arthur Ashe: Tennis Champion
Arthur Ashe is the first African American, and is still the only, African-American male player to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon and the U.S....
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune: The First Lady of The Struggle
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator, known as “The First Lady of The Struggle” because of her commitment to giving African Americans a...
William Harrison “Bones” Dillard: Olympic Hurdler
William Harrison “Bones” Dillard was an African‑American Olympic track and field athlete. Dillard was the finest hurdler of his era and one of just three...
Margaret Walker: A Literary Mother
Margaret Walker was an African American poet and writer. She began her literary career in the 1930s and emerged as a “literary mother” to writers...
John Wesley Gilbert: The first African-American Archaeologist
John Wesley Gilbert was a classical scholar who was the first African-American archaeologist. Gilbert discovered the ancient Greek city, Eretria, and produced the first map...
Viola Desmond: Black Canadian Civil Rights Pioneer
Viola Desmond was a Black Nova Scotian businesswoman and civil-rights pioneer whose 1946 challenge to segregation at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow became one...
Prince Hall: The Father of Black Masonry
“… for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but in a mob.” Prince Hall was an African American abolitionist, who...