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Corey Reynolds (July 3, 1974) is an actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, as well as the roles of David Gabriel in The Closer and Sheriff Mike Thompson in The Resident Alien.

He was born in Richmond, Virginia, where he attended Monacan High School before moving to California to pursue his acting career. He got his start at Paramount Kings Dominion performing in various shows. He was cast in a touring production of the revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe, as well as the tour of Saturday Night Fever. He went to New York City and auditioned for various shows. He was originally cast in Hairspray’s ensemble but was offered the role of Seaweed after three readings. He was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award, both for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

He guest-starred on Without a Trace and appeared in The Guardian before his role on The Closer. To research this role, he drew on his past career in security and law enforcement.

Audra Ann McDonald (July 3, 1970) is an actress and singer. Known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win all four acting categories. She has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas such as A Moon for the Misbegotten, 110 in the Shade, Carousel, Ragtime, Master Class, and Porgy and Bess. She has earned a record-breaking eleven Tony Award nominations.

She has performed in staged operas with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and in concerts with symphony orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. Her recording of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the Los Angeles Opera won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album and the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. President Barack Obama awarded her the National Medal of Arts. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

She portrayed Dr. Naomi Bennett in Private Practice. She portrayed Liz Lawrence in The Good Wife, a role she reprises in The Good Fight; she received two Critics’ Choice Award nominations for her performance. She performed the role of Mother Superior in The Sound of Music Live! She has twice been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her portrayals of Susie Monahan in Wit, opposite Emma Thompson, and Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill in which she portrayed jazz legend Billie Holiday. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program for her work hosting the program Live from Lincoln Center. She plays Dorothy Scott in The Gilded Age.

Lieutenant Commander Montel Brian Anthony Williams (July 3, 1956) is a former television host, actor, and motivational speaker. He is known as the host of the long-running daytime tabloid talk show The Montel Williams Show, which ran in syndication (1991-2008).

Born in Baltimore, he attended Andover High, where he was elected president of his class in both his junior and senior years. He was a good student, athlete, and musician, and he was active in countywide student government issues in Annapolis.

He completed the one-year course at the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He was accepted as the first Black Marine into the four-year officer training program at the US Naval Academy, where he graduated with a BS in General Engineering and a minor in International Security Affairs. He completed Naval Cryptologic Officer training and served as a cryptologic officer for naval intelligence. He was a supervising cryptologic officer with the Naval Security Fleet Support Division. He worked for the National Security Agency. He worked to secure the release of US citizens. He served 17 years on active duty and 5 years as a reservist with the Marines.

He was raised as a Roman Catholic and served as an altar server in the Catholic Church.

He is active with the nonprofit MS Foundation, which he founded after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999.

Johnnie James Wilder Jr. (July 3, 1949 – May 13, 2006) was the co-founder and co-lead vocalist of the R&B/funk group Heatwave, who were popular during the late 1970s with hits such as “Boogie Nights”, “Mind Blowing Decisions”, “Always and Forever”, and “The Groove Line”.

He served in the Army during the Vietnam War era.

On February 24, 1979, a van broadsided his car, paralyzing him from the neck down and hospitalizing him for a year.

During the 1980s and 1990s, he went on to record additional albums with the group, as well as an album with his brother, Sound of Soul, in 1989. He began a solo gospel career, singing a cappella on the albums My Goal and One More Day. The latter album featured a re-recording of the song “All I Am”, originally recorded for the Heatwave album Candles. Referring to My Goal and One More Day, he stated: “The music that I’m doing is my way of giving thanks to God for being alive”.

Dr. Ruth J. Simmons (Ruth Jean Stubblefield; July 3, 1945) is a professor and academic administrator. She served as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University (2017-23). She served as the 18th president of Brown University (2001-12), becoming the first African American president of an Ivy League institution. She was named the best college president by Time magazine. She headed Smith College (1995-2001). The first accredited engineering program was established at an all-women’s college.

A professor of literature in the Romance languages, she was called out of retirement to head Prairie View, where she increased scholarships and funding. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, an honorary fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.

In February 2023, she announced plans to advise Harvard University regarding relationships with HBCUs. She is the President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University.

She was born in Grapeland, Texas, the last of 12 children of Fanny (née Campbell) and Isaac Stubblefield. Her teacher Vernell Lillie talked to her about attending college, something she had never considered before. She earned her BA from Dillard University. She earned her MA and Ph.D. in Romance literature from Harvard University.

She was an assistant professor of French and Assistant Dean at the University of New Orleans (1973-76). She moved to California State University, Northridge (1977-79) as administrative coordinator of its NEH Liberal Studies Project and acting director of CSU-Northridge’s International Programs, and visiting associate professor of Pan-African Studies.

She was Assistant/Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at USC (1979-83). She served as Assistant and Associate Dean of Faculty at Princeton University (1986-90). She served as provost at Spelman College (1990-91) and returned to Princeton as vice provost (1992-95).

Lonnie Smith (July 3, 1942 – September 28, 2021) styled Dr. Lonnie Smith, was a jazz Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He recorded albums with saxophonist Lou Donaldson for Blue Note before being signed as a solo act. He owned the label Pilgrimage and was named the year’s best organist by the Jazz Journalists Association nine times.

He was born in Lackawanna, New York. His mother and stepfather raised him, and the family had a vocal group and radio program. He stated that his mother was a major musical influence, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz.

He was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings, which included Grover Washington Jr. on sax and his brother Daryl on drums. Art Kubera, the owner of a local music store, gave him his first organ, a Hammond B3.

He had five children.

Starting in the 1970s, he added the “Dr.” title to his name. The origin of the moniker is unclear and was not an academic title. One theory is that fellow musicians called him this due to his ability to “doctor up” their music. Another is that he adopted the title to differentiate himself from other musicians.

Fontella Marie Bass (July 3, 1940 – December 26, 2012) was an R&B and soul singer and songwriter known for her #1 R&B hit “Rescue Me” in 1965.

At 17, she started her professional career working at the Showboat Club near Chain of Rocks, Missouri. She auditioned on a dare for the Leon Claxton carnival show and was hired to play piano and sing in the chorus for two weeks, earning $175 per week while it was in town. She wanted to go on tour with Claxton, but her mother refused, and, according to her, “... she dragged me off the train.” It was during this brief stint with Claxton that she was heard by vocalist Little Milton and his bandleader, Oliver Sain, who hired her to back Little Milton on piano for concerts and recordings.

John “Johnny” Coles (July 3, 1926 – December 21, 1997) was a jazz trumpeter.

He was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He grew up in Philadelphia and was self-taught on trumpet.

He spent his early career playing with R&B groups, including those of Eddie Vinson (1948–51), Bull Moose Jackson (1952), and Earl Bostic (1955–1956). He was with James Moody (1956-58) and played with Gil Evans’s orchestra (1958- 64), including on the album Out of the Cool. He spent time with Charles Mingus in his sextet, which included Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Jaki Byard, and Dannie Richmond. He played with Herbie Hancock (1968-69), Ray Charles (1969–71), Duke Ellington (1971–74), Art Blakey (1976), Dameronia, Mingus Dynasty, and the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Thad Jones (1985–86).

Judge Tuskegee Airman Flight Officer Robert Wesley Williams, Jr. (July 3, 1923) received the Congressional Gold Medal presented by President George W. Bush.

He was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Robert W. Williams, Sr., and Ada Coston Williams. He married Gloria Pressly (1947-76), and they have four children. He married Julia Watson (1988).

He is the only living member of the original famed Tuskegee Airmen. His date of active duty was April 21, 1945, as a Navigator. He separated from military service on November 19, 1945.

He started his legal career in Philadelphia after graduating from Howard University and Boston University School of Law, as a member of the District Attorney’s Office, where he served as a trial attorney and the first Black Chief of the Homicide Unit. He served as Special Counsel to the Philadelphia City Council.

Named to the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia County, he was elected in 1970. He was one of the first Black lawyers to be seated on the Court.

Elected to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in 1980, he was the 13th Judge to serve this Court and the first African American.

Tuskegee Airman Sergeant Amelia Robinson Jones (July 3, 1919 - September 22, 2015) was one of a handful of women to become members of the Tuskegee Airmen. She was born on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, the youngest of fourteen children of Sipio and Susan Robinson. She received her BS in home economics from Georgia State College.

She enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps at Hunter Army Airfield on February 10, 1943. She was called to active duty in September, assigned to the 118th Army Air Force Base Unit, and served in various states during WWII. She rose to the rank of sergeant. Her last assignment was at Godman Field as support personnel, with the 99th Pursuit Squadron, under Colonel Benjamin O. Davis. She supervised the postal service at Godman Field, which delivered mail to the aviators of the 99th.

She married Henry W. Jones and used the G.I. Bill to earn an MS in food and nutrition at Howard University. She worked for two years at A&T State College as a dietitian before serving for 19 years as the Services Club Director at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield.

Dr. Samuel Proctor Massie (July 3, 1919 - April 10, 2005) was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and was one of the few African American scientists to work on the Manhattan Project during WWII. He became a distinguished professor of chemistry.

He graduated from Dunbar High School at the age of 13. At age 18, he earned his BS and was summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He earned an MS in Chemistry at Fisk University.

He lost his draft deferment. His major professor at Iowa State was working on the Manhattan Project and assigned him to his research team. He conducted research at Iowa State University, where he helped develop uranium isotopes for the atomic bomb.

He completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Iowa State University and accepted a position at Fisk before becoming a member of the faculty at Langston University. He was not only a full professor and chair of his department, but also president of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. He was the first African American to hold this distinguished post. He returned to Fisk and convinced the American Chemical Society to hold its national meeting at the university. This was the first time an HBCU ever hosted a major scientific meeting.

He held leadership positions at the National Science Foundation and Howard University. He was President of North Carolina College. President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the Naval Academy, where he became the first African American professor at the institution. He created the Academy’s Black Studies program. He retired in 1993.

He is noted for his work on drugs to combat cancer, mental diseases, malaria, meningitis, and herpes. He received a patent for work he did combating gonorrhea.

He married Gloria Bell Thompkins (1947). They had three sons. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities.

Syvilla Fort (July 3, 1917 – November 8, 1975) was a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher. Born in Seattle, she drew on her African American heritage in her original dance works. American composer John Cage wrote his first piece for prepared piano, Bacchanale, for a dance by her.

Joseph Henry Douglass (July 3, 1871 – December 7, 1935) was a groundbreaking concert violinist, the son of Charles Remond Douglass and Mary Elizabeth Murphy, and grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Following the Civil War, many African American musicians began to break into the art music genre. He, a concert violinist, was one of the first African American performers to achieve national and international renown. His father and grandfather, both amateur violinists, influenced him at an early age.

Peter Jackson (July 3, 1861 - July 13, 1901), a professional bare-knuckle boxer known as the Black Prince and Peter the Great, was born in Water Gut, Christiansted, Danish West Indies, to Peter Jackson Sr. Information about his mother is unavailable. His parents took him to Australia when he was 6 years old. In 1878, he went to New York City in search of his eldest brother, James Jackson, whom he never located.

He returned to Australia and began his fighting career. He won the Australian heavyweight title, knocking out Tom Lees in the 30th round. He went to Dublin and won a match against Ireland’s best fighter, Peter Maher, in three rounds. He went to San Francisco and defeated George Godfrey to become the champion in the World Colored Heavyweight Championship.

He could not hold the title of World Heavyweight Champion; he collected $3,000 for beating Joe McAuliffe, a white boxer at the California Athletic Club. John L. Sullivan, World Heavyweight Champion, refused to fight him because he was Black, even though the two men had fought in earlier matches before Sullivan won the title.

He traveled to London, where he fought several matches, including one against the legendary Jem Smith at the New Pelican Club Gym. He defeated all opponents.

One of the most brutal fights was with James Corbett. That match continued for 61 rounds and ended in a draw when both boxers collapsed. He fought Frank Slavin, knocking him out in the 10th round. He retired after that bout. He had fought 28 of the world’s best fighters and remained undefeated.

He toured with the theatrical production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. He was the second Black man to perform the role of Uncle Tom. He returned to the ring, losing to future champion James J. Jeffries on a fourth-round knockout.

His overall professional boxing record included 45 fights that were won, 28 no contests, 27 not calculated as a win, loss, or draw, five losses, and three draws.

Gertrude Emily Hicks Bustill Mossell (July 3, 1855 – January 21, 1948) was a teacher, author, and journalist born in Philadelphia. The daughter of Charles and Emily Bustill. She attended public schools in Philadelphia, the Institute for Colored Youth, and the Robert Vaux Grammar School. Upon graduation, she delivered the class oration entitled “Influence.”

“Influence” so impressed AME Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, editor of the denomination’s newspaper, The Christian Recorder, that he published the oration there and invited her to contribute poetry and essays to the newspaper.

She taught at public schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. She maintained her career in journalism, contributing to the Philadelphia Press, the Philadelphia Independent, and the Philadelphia Echo on issues affecting African American women. She contributed to the New York Age, the Indianapolis World, and the A.M.E. Church Review.

She married Nathaniel F. Mossell (1883), a prominent Philadelphia physician. The couple had two children. The demands of marriage and raising a family resulted in a brief absence from journalism. She became the woman’s editor for the New York Age. She became the woman’s editor of the Indianapolis World.

She encouraged the growth of Black newspapers and suggested that the African American press had a special mission within Black America and needed to excel in reporting and attempt to reach a larger audience.

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:13-18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Alechia Janeice Campbell (June 2, 1983) known professionally as Leela James, is an R&B

singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.

She made her debut on the soundtrack to the film Bait on the Roots song “Work”, credited as Alechia James.

She toured as an opening act for the Black Eyed Peas and Macy Gray. She was featured on hip-hop producer, DJ, and emcee Pete Rock’s album Soul Survivor II, providing vocals for the track “No Tears”. She lent her voice to the posthumously released Ray Charles album Genius & Friends.

Her debut album, A Change Is Gonna Come, was released on June 21, 2005. She co-wrote most of the tracks on this album. Notable collaborators on the album include Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West, and Wyclef Jean.

She guested on Robert Randolph and the Family Band’s album Colorblind, lending her vocals to “Stronger”.

She signed with the independent label Shanachie Records and released her second studio album, an all-cover set entitled Let’s Do It Again, in homage to the Staple Singers.

In June 2009, she appeared on the Moby album Wait for Me, providing vocals on “Walk with Me”.

Her third album, My Soul, her first with the Stax label, was released on May 24, 2010, and debuted at #7 on the US Hip Hop/R&B chart.

On July 31, 2012, she released her fourth studio album, Loving You More… In the Spirit of Etta James.

On July 8, 2014, she released her fifth studio album, Fall For You. The album’s first two singles, “Say That” and “Fall For You,” both reached the Top 15 on the Billboard Urban AC charts, with “Fall For You” reaching number 12. She performed at the Essence Music Festival, the Arizona Jazz Fest, the San Diego Jazz Fest, the Capitol Jazz Fest, and more.

Her sixth album, Did It for Love, was released on March 31, 2017. The album has the singles “Don’t Want You Back”, “Hard for Me”, “Don’t Mean a Thang”, and a video single “All Over Again”. The single “Don’t Want You Back” reached #1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs chart, becoming her highest-charting single ever.