Untitled

Tyrin Turner (July 17, 1972) is an actor. He is known for playing the lead role of Caine Lawson in Menace II Society.

He made guest appearances on television shows such as Chicago Hope and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper and made numerous cameo appearances in urban music videos throughout the 1990s. He played the central character in Janet Jackson’s music video for her single Rhythm Nation.

For over twenty years, he has been working behind the scenes writing comedy material for Jamie Foxx and for comedian Affion Crockett.

He was nominated at the 1993 Independent Spirit Awards for playing the lead role as Kaydee “Caine” Lawson in Menace II Society.

Felix Gary Gray (July 17, 1969) is a film director, film producer, and music video director. He began his career as a director on numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos, including “It Was a Good Day”, “Natural Born Killaz”, “Keep Their Heads Ringin’”, “Waterfalls”, and “Ms. Jackson”.

He made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy Friday. He has since directed the films Set It Off, The Negotiator, The Italian Job, Be Cool, Law Abiding Citizen, and Straight Outta Compton. He directed the eighth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, The Fate of the Furious, which is the 19th-highest-grossing film of all time.

He was born in New York City and raised primarily in South Los Angeles. He discovered a natural talent for working with video cameras in his AV class in high school.

He started working as a camera operator on programs such as Screen Scene. He had a bit of a part in the comedy Major League. He got his first chance to direct music videos, starting with a video for the hip-hop group WC and the Maad Circle. He directed The Negotiator, which earned him both Best Film and Best Director awards at the Acapulco Film Festival.

He directed The Italian Job. He garnered the Best Director award at the Black American Film Festival for his work on the film, which surpassed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. His next film was A Man Apart.

He received the Ivan Dixon Award of Achievement from the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center. He was named one of the “50 Best and Brightest African Americans Under 40” by Black Enterprise magazine. He was honored by the African American Film Critics Association with their Special Achievement Award. He was recognized by the Artist Empowerment Coalition with the Artist Empowerment Award that same year. He received the Pioneer Director award from the Pan-African Film and Arts Festival.

Regina Elaine Belle (July 17, 1963) is a singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles “Baby Come to Me” and “Make It Like It Was”, she is most notable for two hit duets, both with Peabo Bryson: “Without You” and “A Whole New World”, which won a Grammy Award. The theme song “Far Longer than Forever” was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

She was born in Englewood, New Jersey. She sang her first solo in church at the age of eight. She studied opera at the Manhattan School of Music. She attended Rutgers University and became the first female vocalist with the school’s jazz ensemble. She was introduced to the Manhattans and began working as their opening act. She recorded the duet “Where Did We Go Wrong” with the group on their Back to Basics album. She recorded a second duet, “Maybe Tomorrow”, which appeared on the B-side of “Where Did We Go Wrong”.

She released her debut album All by Myself. It includes her first hits “So Many Tears” and “Show Me the Way”. She released her Platinum-selling third album, Passion. She released Reachin’ Back, followed by Believe in Me.

Her cover of “Just the Two of Us” from the tribute album To Grover, With Love made a return to the Billboard charts. She released the album This Is Regina!, which featured the R&B hit single “Ooh Boy”, and included “Don’t Wanna Go Home” and “From Now On”. She released a jazz standard album, Lazy Afternoon. The album included covers of the Isley Brothers’ “For the Love of You” and Tony Bennett’s “If I Ruled the World”. She collaborated, co-writing and singing on his album “Ladies Choice”. She released her debut gospel album, Love Forever Shines. She released her second gospel album, Higher. She has appeared in concert with many other performers.

Anthony Dwain Lee (July 17, 1961 – October 28, 2000) was an actor and playwright. He began his career in the 1980s, appearing in numerous stage productions and guest roles on television and in films.

While attending a Halloween party in October 2000, he was fatally shot by a Los Angeles Police Department officer. His death, and the circumstances surrounding it, garnered significant national and international media attention.

He was born in Redding, California, and grew up in Sacramento, where he attended Valley High School.

He began acting at the age of 20 in a community acting class that performed productions at retirement and assisted living homes. His first professional productions were at the Sacramento Theater Company. In 1986, he traveled to Ashland, Oregon, and auditioned at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a nationally and internationally known Regional Equity theater. He was cast the following season at OSF with a ten-month contract. He starred in Master Harold and the Boys as Willie and had a lead role in Carson McCullers’ play. He met his future wife, Serena Scholl, an actress, at OSF. They moved to Sacramento and then to Seattle. The move was precipitated by Lee’s casting in Tim Bond’s The Colored Museum at The Empty Space Theater.

He continued working in stage productions at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. He appeared in The Cider House Rules as Mr. Rose, as Sweet Back in Spunk, and in a role in A Raisin in the Sun. He acted in The Kentucky Cycle at Intiman Theatre. He appeared in productions of The Colored Museum, Uncle Vanya, The Meeting as Malcolm X, and Othello as the lead character. He won the 1995 LAWeekly award for “Best Actor” in “Buffalo Soldier” at Theatre/Theater in Hollywood.

Keith Edward Elam (July 17, 1961 – April 19, 2010) known by his stage name Guru (a backronym for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal), was a rapper, record producer, and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Boston.

His father, Harry Justin Elam, served as both a judge and a lawyer and became the first African American judge appointed to the Boston Municipal Court. His mother, Barbara, was the co-director of libraries in the Boston Public Schools system. He graduated with a BA in Business Administration from Morehouse College and took graduate classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Elam began his music career under the pseudonym MC Keithy E but changed his stage name to Guru. He founded Gang Starrin in 1987. The group initially released three records, produced by The 45 King, on the Wild Pitch Records label. The group consisted of him and producer DJ Premier. Gang Starr released its first LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy, on Wild Pitch Records; the group achieved a sizable following and went on to release six critically acclaimed and influential albums. Two albums, Moment of Truth (1998) and compilation Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr (1999), were certified gold in the US by the RIAA. Gang Starr made archetypal East Coast hip hop with Guru’s rhyming described as sharp-eyed but anti-ostentatious.

Ge appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds to support the AIDS epidemic in the African American community, was hailed as the album of the year by Time magazine.

His first solo album, not a part of the Jazzmatazz series, Baldhead Slick & da Click, was released in 2001. The album reached #22 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop album charts. Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures was released on his record label, 7 Grand Records. It reached #54 on the Billboard R&B Albums charts.

Thomas Colbert Carter (July 17, 1953) is a film and television director, producer, and actor, known for Swing Kids, Save the Last Dance, and Coach Carter.

He is known for his work on The White Shadow, in which he played James “Hollywood” Hayward.

He was born in Austin and grew up in Smithville. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Texas State University. He received his BFA in Theatre. He was presented with the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” from Texas State University.

He first began his film career as an actor. His first roles included working in television shows/movies such as M*A*S*H, Lou Grant, What’s Happening!!, The Secret of Isis, Whose Life Is It Anyway? The Blue Knight, Good Times, and Hill Street Blues. He was a regular on Szysznyk.

He directed four episodes of The White Shadow, which led him to pursue directing as a career. He went on to produce and/or direct the television series pilots for St. Elsewhere, Miami Vice, Heart of the City, and Equal Justice, which he co-created and executive-produced.

He went on to produce the series Under One Roof about an American family. The drama explored the real-life complications, stress, and dilemmas of a multi-generational African American family living in Seattle.

He directed episodes of Fame, Remington Steele, The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and nine episodes of the police drama Hill Street Blues, among others. He produced several series, including serving as executive producer for Hack.

The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California. Munitions detonated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others. Most of the dead and injured were enlisted African American sailors.

Unsafe conditions inspired hundreds of service members to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men‍, called the “Port Chicago 50”‍, were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to 15 years of prison and hard labor, as well as a dishonorable discharge. Forty-seven of the 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison.

During and after the trial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the court-martial proceedings. Owing to public pressure, the Navy reconvened the courts-martial board in 1945; the board affirmed the convictions. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause célèbre among certain Americans; it, along with other race-related Navy protests of 1944–45, led the Navy to change its practices and to initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. In 1994, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated to the lives lost in the disaster.

Commander Mack Charles Gaston (July 17, 1940 - December 2, 2018) was born to John Gaston and Felicia (Gilliard) Gaston.

He was a graduate of Tuskegee University, received an MBA from Marymount University, and received a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy in December 1965. He had an impressive naval career spanning 31 years, including command of two destroyers and the cruiser USS Josephus Daniels, and ashore as Commander of Field Command, Defense Nuclear Agency, and the first Black Commander of Naval Training Center Great Lakes. He retired in 1995. Following his retirement from the Navy, he pursued a successful corporate career in senior executive positions at Waste Management, Inc. and Electronic Data Systems.

His infectious smile, unbridled enthusiasm, boundless energy, and firm, some would say “bone-crushing” handshake were hallmarks of a man who throughout his life was focused on people, human rights, personal dignity, increased opportunity for all, including women serving their country with honor. He served as a mentor and role model, positively influencing the lives and careers of countless individuals.

Elias Augustus Dorsey Jr. (July 17, 1940 - July 26, 2010) was one of the 12 founders of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity.

Born and raised in Baltimore, he was known as “Tink” and didn’t see the value of joining a fraternity when he enrolled at Morgan State College in 1960. But on Sept. 19, 1963, while he and Iota’s 10 other founders discussed the other fraternities at Morgan and the times surrounding them, he believed that an organization like Iota was needed.

He became known as the “Godfather of Iota” because he wasn’t always visible but was there when needed, said Founder John D. Slade.

“He was always behind the scenes, but if you called on him, he was there to help,” he said.

He was not present at every fraternity conference, but he was involved with the organization’s Board of Directors and the National Iota Foundation. He was instrumental in saving the fraternity headquarters, even using his own money to replace basement windows broken by vandals.

Diahann Carroll (Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature African American casts, including Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress, a first for an African American woman, for her role in the Broadway musical No Strings. She starred in Claudine, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

She was born in the Bronx to John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel (Faulk), a nurse. While she was still an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up, except for a brief period when her parents left her with an aunt in North Carolina. She attended Music and Art High School and was a classmate of actor Billy Dee Williams.

Her debut in Julia, the first series on American television to star an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. She played the role of Dominique Deveraux, a mixed-race diva, in the prime-time soap opera Dynasty. She was the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series.

Her big break came when she appeared as a contestant on the DuMont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime. On the show, which aired on January 8, 1954, she took the $1,000 top prize for a rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song, “Why Was I Born?” She went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattan’s Café Society and Latin Quarter nightclubs soon followed. In 1989, she began the recurring role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World, for which she received her third Emmy nomination that same year.

Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Ronald Jones (July 17, 1933 - July 13, 2012) an activist, existential philosopher, professor, and Unitarian Universalist minister, dedicated his career to analyzing methods of oppression influenced by Africana philosophers. He was born in Louisville to Lannie Belle Brogsdale and Henry Wise Jones.

He graduated from Howard University. He joined Phi Beta Kappa while earning a BA in philosophy magna cum laude. He obtained an M.Div. from Harvard University and became an ordained minister with the Unitarian Universalist Association. He earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University, where he wrote “Sartre’s Philosophical Anthropology in Relation to his Ethics”.

He was an Assistant Minister at the First Unitarian Church in Providence, Rhode Island, a community minister at Florida State University, and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees. He was the coordinator of Black Studies at Yale University and founded and directed Florida State University’s African American Studies program. He taught at Brown, Lafayette, Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, Iliff School of Theology, Howard, the Humanist Institute, Yale Divinity, and FSU.

His most controversial and seminal work, Is God A White Racist?, critiqued Black Liberation theology and the Christian church for their unwillingness to address divine racism and whether the notion of an unconditional loving god made sense for African Americans in a white supremacist world.

He co-edited Black Theology II and authored ideas in journals such as Harvard Theological Review, Christian Century, and Religious Education and Reflection. He worked in Puerto Rico and South Africa. The Jones Oppression Grid and Jones Analytic Model asserted that protest marked by counter-violence would be the oppressed's future response to the oppressor’s inherent violence.

Tuskegee Airman Captain Robert Ashby (July 17, 1926 - March 5, 2021) was born in Yemassee, South Carolina. He was one of three surviving members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen in Arizona.

He was born in Yemassee, South Carolina. As a child, he delivered the local African American newspaper to earn money. He graduated from James J. Ferris High School in Jersey City. He enlisted at age 17 in the Army Air Corps. After graduating from high school in Jersey City, he was called into active duty. By December 1944, he went to Tuskegee for aviation training.

He was sent to Japan, where two all-white flying units rejected him due to segregation policies. He served in all-African American units for the next five years.

He continued to serve in the 1950s while stationed in Korea and Europe. He flew various aircraft, including the B-47 bomber, and later became an instructor.

By July 1965, he retired.

He studied at the University of Maryland and UCLA and went on to pursue a career in commercial aviation. He became a flight instructor for United Airlines and wrote a training program for the 747 aircraft.

Dr. Frank Martin Snowden Jr. (July 17, 1911 – February 18, 2007) was a historian and classicist, known for his study of African Americans in classical antiquity. He was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of classics at Howard University.

He was born in York County, Virginia, but raised in Boston. He graduated from Boston Latin School and earned a BA and Ph.D. from Harvard University. After a brief period of teaching at Virginia State College and Spelman College, he moved to Howard University, where he remained for the rest of his career. He served as chair of the classics department for many years and was dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

He taught at Howard as professor emeritus; he also taught at Vassar College and Mary Washington College. He was the first honoree in the Howard University Libraries’ “Excellence at Howard” program.

His books include Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience, which received the Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit of the American Philological Association, and Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks. He contributed to The Image of the Black in Western Art I: From the Pharaohs to the Fall of the Roman Empire. In 2003, he was honored at the White House as a recipient of the National Humanities Medal.

Lionel Charles Ferbos (July 17, 1911 - July 19, 2014) was born in New Orleans. His father was Louis Ferbos, a tinsmith, and his mother was Rosita Ferbos. he had two siblings. He had asthma and was advised not to play any wind instrument. In 1926, he saw Russian orchestra leader Phil Spitalny’s all-girl orchestra and decided to become a musician. He studied with Professor Paul Chaligny, who taught him to read music, and continued with trumpeter Albert Snaer. He was enumerated as a musician in the 1930 census, and like most musicians of that time, he kept a manual job. He married seamstress Marguerite Gilyot (1934). They had two children, actor Lionel Jr. and Sylvia Schexnayder. He joined his father’s business and became a master tinsmith. His work was featured at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The Militia Act of 1862 (12 Stat. 597, enacted July 17, 1862) was an Act of the 37th Congress, during the American Civil War, that authorized a militia draft within a state when the state could not meet its quota with volunteers. The Act, for the first time, allowed African Americans to serve in the militias as soldiers and war laborers.

The act was controversial. Many abolitionists praised it as the first step toward equality because it stipulated that African Americans could be soldiers or manual laborers. However, the Act enacted discrimination in pay and other areas. It provided that most African American soldiers would receive $10 a month, with a $3 clothing allowance, which was almost half of what white soldiers received, who received $13. Many regiments struggled for equal pay, some refusing any money until June 15, 1864, when Congress deleted that portion of the Militia Act and granted equal pay for all African American soldiers.

The state-administered system established by the Act failed in practice, and in 1863 Congress passed the Enrollment Act, the first genuine national conscription law. The 1863 law required the enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had filed for citizenship between the ages of 20 and 45 and made them liable for conscription.

Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis (1841 – July 17, 1935), born Oluale Kossola and known as Cudjo Lewis, was the second-to-last known survivor of the Atlantic slave trade between Africa and the US. Together with 115 other African captives, he was brought illegally to the US on board the ship Clotilda in 1860. The captives were landed in the backwaters of the Mobile River near Mobile and were hidden from authorities. The ship was scuttled to evade discovery and was not found again until 2019.

After the Civil War and emancipation, he and other members of the Clotilda group became free. A number of them founded a community at Magazine Point, north of Mobile. They were joined there by others born in Africa. Now designated as the Africatown Historic District, the community was added to the National Register of Historic Places. He preserved the experiences of the Clotilda captives by providing accounts of the group’s history to visitors, including Mobile artist and author Emma Langdon Roche and author and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston.

The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas was founded in 1792 in Philadelphia as the first African American Episcopal Church in the US. Its congregation developed from the Free African Society, a non-denominational group formed by African Americans who left St. George’s Methodist Church due to discrimination and class-based segregation. They were led by Absalom Jones, a free African American and lay Methodist preacher. As his congregation became established, he was ordained in 1802 by Presiding Bishop William White as the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church. Bishop White ordained William Levington as a deacon at this church.