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“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Mo’ne Ikea Davis (June 24, 2001) is a former Little League Baseball pitcher and former Hampton University softball player from Philadelphia. She was one of two girls who played in the 2014 Little League World Series and was the first girl to earn a win and to throw a shutout in Little League World Series history. She was the 18th girl overall to play and the sixth to get a hit. She was the first Little League baseball player to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a Little League player.

She is the daughter of Lamar Davis and Lakeisha McLean. She has lived with her mother and stepfather, Mark Williams, since the age of six.

The program director for Marian Anderson Recreation Center in Philadelphia observed her playing football with her cousins and older brother. She became the best basketball player and the only girl on the team. She began playing and excelling at baseball and soccer.

She transferred to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. She was a point guard in basketball and a pitcher, shortstop, and third baseman in baseball.

She considered basketball her primary sport. She aspired to become a WNBA player and had expressed interest in playing college basketball for the UConn Huskies.

She released a memoir, Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name. She teamed up with the brand M4D3 to design a line of girls’ sneakers, with some proceeds going toward Plan International’s Because I Am a Girl initiative.

She committed to Virginia’s Hampton University to play softball (2019). She made her debut for the Lady Pirates (2020), going 1-for-3, driving in two runs, and recording a sacrifice in Hampton’s 15–4 win over North Carolina A&T. She ended the season third on the team in chances (77) and putouts (46) and had a .333 batting average with three multi-hit games and two multi-RBI games. She started as an infielder in 49 of the Pirates’ 55 games, and her batting average dipped to .219 with six doubles, 24 runs scored (2nd on the team), 16 RBI, and a perfect 8-for-8 in steals on the basepaths.

Quil Harwood Lemons (June 24, 1997) is a photographer. His work has been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the International Center of Photography. In 2021, he became the youngest person to photograph the cover image of Vanity Fair.

He grew up in South Philadelphia. He attended the Charter High School for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia and The New School in New York.

He released a photo series called GlitterBoy. His photographs have been featured in publications including The New York Times, Variety, and Vogue. He was the photographer for the advertising campaign for the Savage X Pride Collection, celebrating LGBT Pride, from the Savage X Fenty fashion label.

Solange Piaget Knowles (June 24, 1986) known mononymously as Solange, is a singer, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and actress. She had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny’s Child, which featured her elder sister, Beyoncé Knowles, among its members, before signing with her father, Mathew Knowles’s Music World Entertainment label. She released her first studio album, Solo Star. She had several minor acting roles, including the direct-to-video film Bring It On: All or Nothing, and continued writing music for Beyoncé and for former Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Congresswoman Shontel Monique Brown (June 24, 1975) is a business professional, politician (D), and congresswoman, serving as the Representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district since 2021. She was born in Cleveland. Her mother, Rikki, is a human resources professional at the Cleveland Clinic, and her father, Tony, is a basketball coach at Warrensville Heights City School District. She attended Cuyahoga Community College, graduating with an AA in Business Management. She obtained her BA in Organizational Management from Wilberforce University’s CLIMB program.

She began working as a regional marketing representative for MSC Distribution, as a marketing support representative for Telco Communications Group, and as a senior account manager for Radio One. She served as director of sales at Hotcards.com before founding her marketing-assistance firm, Diversified Digital Solutions.

She entered politics in 2011 when she was elected to the Warrensville Heights City Council. She held the office for three years and was elected to represent the 9th district in the Cuyahoga County Council in 2014. In 2017, she was elected chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, making her the first African American and first woman to serve in the position.

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge was nominated and confirmed as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Biden administration; the move left a vacancy, prompting a special election for Ohio’s 11th District. She won both the primary and general elections and was sworn in on November 4, 2021. She was reelected in 2022.

Dr. Danielle Louise Spencer (June 24, 1965 - August 11, 2025) was an actress and former child star known for her role as Dee Thomas on What’s Happening!!. She would reprise the role of the series’ sequel, What’s Happening Now!! She was born in Trenton, New Jersey. She and her mother relocated to Africa. Upon her return, she attended UC Davis. As syndicated reruns of 65 What’s Happening!! The episodes had done well, in some markets eclipsing the show’s ratings during its network run. In 1985, a sequel series was created called What’s Happening Now!!. She played Dee in various episodes over the sequel’s three-season run while attending college. While in her sophomore year, she pledged and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She began her studies at UC Davis, completing part of her pre-veterinary coursework. She transferred to UCLA, where she earned a BS in Marine Biology. After What’s Happening Now!! was canceled in 1988, and she attended Tuskegee University Veterinary School. She became a Veterinarian in 1996.

She married Garry Fields, a marketing manager and her publicist and manager (1999-2013).

The Organization of Afro-American Unity was founded by Malcolm X, John Henrik Clarke, and other Black nationalist leaders on June 24, 1964, in Harlem. The OAAU was an institution that sought to unify 22 million non-Muslim African Americans with the people of the African Continent. The OAAU was modeled after the Organization of African Unity. Malcolm X sought to reconnect African Americans with their African heritage, establish economic independence, and promote African American self-determination.

The OAAU was designed to encompass all peoples of African origin in the Western hemisphere and on the African continent. Malcolm X insisted that progress for African Americans was tied to progress in Africa and outlined a five-front platform for this progress, called “The Basic Unity Program.” This program called for Restoration, Reorientation, Education, Economic Security, and Self-Defense as a means of promoting Pan-African unity and interests. With a strong focus on education as the primary means of repairing the damages of slavery, economic discrimination, and physical violence directed towards African Americans, the OAAU hoped to foster pan-African consciousness. He suggested that leaders of African states held more legitimate political power for African Americans than did the American government.

Malcolm X stressed the importance of escaping terms like “negro,” “integration,” or “emancipation,” insisting that such language was pejorative and antithetical to the ideology of the OAAU. The OAAU called for African American-run institutions within the Black community as well as increased participation in mainstream politics. To keep the OAAU strictly in African American hands, Malcolm X insisted that there be no monetary donations from non-African sources. The organization refused membership to whites.

Tommy Deebo “Tiny” Lister Jr. (Thomas Duane Lister Jr.; June 24, 1958 – December 10, 2020) was a character actor and occasional professional wrestler known for his roles as the neighborhood bully Deebo in Friday, its 2000 sequel, and as President Lindberg in The Fifth Element. He had two short professional wrestling stints, first with Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation after appearing as Zeus in No Holds Barred, and later resuming the feud as Z-Gangsta for World Championship Wrestling. He was born with a detached and deformed retina and was blind in his right eye, which drooped. He played in both comedies and dramas, usually cast as ‘the heavy/big bully’.

He was born in Compton to Thomas Duane Lister and Mildred (Edwards) Lister.

He attended Palomar Junior College before transferring to Long Beach City College for his sophomore year. While at Long Beach, he recorded a 52-ft shot put throw, which helped earn him a scholarship to California State University, Los Angeles. In his senior year, he won the national shot put title with a mark of over 61 ft 8 in. He was the 1982 NCAA Division II National Shot Put Champion.

He competed for the Converse Track Club, raising his shot put mark to 64 ft 3 in, before trying out with the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League. He was cut after two exhibition games and opted to pursue acting instead.

The athletic department of his alma mater, Cal State LA, sponsors an annual track meet in his name.

He was nominated for the “Best Bad Mu#&a Award” at the All Def Movie Awards. At the Orlando Urban Film Festival, he won “Best Star Spotlight” for his performance in No Weapon Formed Against Us.

Cynthia Marie Antoinette Butler-McIntyre (June 24, 1956) has built a legacy of committed service and dedication to the children and employees of the Jefferson Parish School System in Harvey, Louisiana, for more than 30 years. She retired as the Director of Human Resources.

Her professional experience includes serving as the Executive Director of the Tech-Prep Summer Program at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, LA. She has worked as the assistant coordinator of field experiences and supervisor for early childhood student teachers at the University of New Orleans.

A lifelong native of New Orleans, she earned a BA in early childhood education at Dillard University. She earned an MA in curriculum and instruction/educational administration at the University of New Orleans. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity in religious education from Louisiana Christian Bible College and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Dillard University.

She served with honor as the 24th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (2008-13). The sorority named an elementary school the Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre campus in Cherete, Haiti

“Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre Day” has been declared in over 25 cities nationwide and on an island. 30 cities have honored her and presented her with keys to the city.

President Barack Obama appointed her to the Board of Trustees of the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation.

HBCU Digest named her “Best Female Alumnus of a Historically Black College or University”. She was awarded the MLK Outstanding Activist Award, the Distinguished Public Servant Award - FBI, and the African American Hall of Fame, among others.

Derrick “Duckie” Simpson (June 24, 1950) is a Jamaican reggae singer. He was one of the founders of the reggae band Black Uhuru, which received reggae history’s first Grammy. He has almost always been part of various Black Uhuru constellations over the years but has remained in the background, serving as the band’s “anchor” while others have taken the lead singer role.

Georg Stanford Brown (June 24, 1943) is an actor and director, known as one of the stars of The Rookies, where he played Officer Terry Webster.

He was seven when his family moved from Havana to Harlem. At 15, he formed the singing group ‘The Parthenons’, which had a single TV appearance shortly before breaking up. He quit high school at 16 after being invited by a few frustrated teachers. He left New York for Los Angeles at 17. After a few years, unsure about what he wanted to do, he decided to go back to school. He passed the college entrance exam and was admitted to Los Angeles City College, where he majored in Theater Arts. He ended up enjoying it and returned to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He worked as a school janitor to pay his tuition. He met his wife, Tyne Daly, while at AMDA. They were married for 24 years, from 1966 to 1990. They have three daughters.

He says he feels acting is just something he “fell into”. He appeared in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and then in his first credited feature film, The Comedians, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. His work then took him to Africa for four and a half months, to Paris, and then to Southern France. And a chance meeting with Alex Haley, who was on his way to Africa to work on a story he was writing (which turned out to be Roots).

He had a variety of roles in films and TV, including The Comedians, Dayton’s Devils, and Bullitt. His films included Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Man, Wild in the Sky, Roots, Roots: The Next Generation, Stir Crazy, The Jesse Owens Story, North & South, House Party 2, Linc’s, and Nick/Tuck.

He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for directing the final episode in season 5 of Cagney & Lacey. His directing career continued with the television film Alone in the Neon Jungle.

City Councilman David Surmier Cunningham, Jr. (June 24, 1935 - November 15, 2017) a business executive, city official, and civil rights activist, was born in Chicago to Reverend David S. Cunningham, Sr. and Eula Mae Lawson Cunningham. His family moved to Decatur, Illinois, in 1943. He received musical instruction at Millikin University. He graduated from Sumner High School in St. Louis. He received an AA from Stowe Teachers College. He joined the Air Force and served as a cartographer, working with the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude spy plane.

By the early 1960s, he had relocated to Southern California. He earned a BA in Economics and Political Science from UC Riverside. He moved to Lagos and worked as the West African regional director for an electronics company. He joined the Hughes Aircraft Company, where he co-managed the Hughes Active Citizenship Program. He established Cunningham, Short, Berryman & Associates, a management consulting firm for small businesses and government.

He received an MA in Urban Planning from Occidental College. He conducted a successful campaign for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. Representing a West Los Angeles district that included African Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, and other minority groups, he pushed for funding of low- and moderate-income housing. He encouraged minority hiring at investment banks that sought work with the city. He received the Southern California Fair Housing Award.

He became Vice President of Public Finance at Cranston/Prescott. He established Dave Cunningham and Associates, a public affairs consulting firm. He served as senior vice president of the Community Housing Equity Corporation.

He joined an acting troupe that led to his appearances on 227 and CB4. He served on the board of directors of the UC Riverside Alumni Association and was its president.

Mama Ngina Muhoho Kenyetta (June 24, 1933 - August 22, 1978) was the former First Lady of Kenya, widow of Mzee Jomo Kenyetta (the first president of Kenya), the mother of Uhuru Kenyetta (Kenya’s fourth president, 2013-2022), and a recipient of the Macky Sall Prize for Dialogue in Africa. She was born Ngina Muhoho in Kenya to Chief Muhoho wa Gathecha and Anne Nyokabi Muhoho Ngenda. She is known as Mama Ngina, the matriarch of the Kenyatta family.

The daughter of the wealthy, politically influential Chief Muhoho wa Gathecha, she became the fourth and last wife of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (1952). The marriage had significant political benefits for Jomo Kenyatta due to her royal bloodline. The marriage played a significant role in her life, as it was through her husband’s arrest by British colonial authorities in 1952 that she was introduced to the evolving independence campaign in Kenya. She served a jail term of 5 years at Kamiti Maximum Prison because British authorities thought she was a supporter of the Mau Mau Rebellion. The courage and resilience she displayed during her incarceration endeared her to other Kenyans working towards independence.

After Kenya gained independence from the British on December 12, 1963, and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya a few months later in 1964, she became officially recognized as the First Lady of Kenya. Their union resulted in four children: Kristina Pratt Kenyetta, disability advocate and ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta (businessman), and Anna Nyokabi Muthama (businesswoman and philanthropist).

Samuel “Sam” Jones (June 24, 1933 – December 30, 2021) was a basketball player who was a shooting guard for the Boston Celtics in the NBA. A five-time NBA All-Star, he was known for his quickness and game-winning shots, especially during the NBA playoffs. He has the second-most NBA championships of any player (10), behind only his teammate Bill Russell (11). He was one of only three Celtics (along with teammates Russell and K. C. Jones) to be part of each of the Celtics’ eight consecutive championships (1959-66). He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Detroit.

He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He attended Laurinburg Institute before studying at North Carolina Central University. He was a four-year letter winner. He scored 1,745 points and was a three-time All-CIAA league selection. His #41 was retired by the Eagles. He served in the Army for two years.

The Minneapolis Lakers drafted him in the eighth round of the 1956 NBA draft. He opted to return to college to earn his degree upon completion of military service. Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach took a trip south to scout North Carolina players who had just won the national championship. He was told the best player in the state was a few miles away. Boston selected him two picks later, even though Auerbach had never seen him play.

He made his NBA debut on October 22, 1957, recording one rebound in three minutes played against the St. Louis Hawks. He was a reserve for several seasons before replacing Bill Sharman as a starter.

Wesley McDonald Holder (June 24, 1897 - March 24, 1993) was a Democratic politician who helped break racial barriers to elective office as a mentor to Mayor David N. Dinkins and other Black officials in New York City.

In 1953, he organized the campaign that led to Lewis Flagg Jr.’s upset victory as the first elected Black judge in Brooklyn. He was the campaign manager and chief aide to Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

He advised other Black elected officials, including those elected to the City Council, State Legislature, Congress, and the courts. One beneficiary, Assemblyman Roger L. Green of Brooklyn, once admiringly described him as “the sly mongoose.”

He was known as Mac, was born in Guyana, and moved to the US in his 20s. After graduating from City College, he joined Marcus Garvey’s back-to-Africa movement.

There he traveled cross-country, often running afoul of prejudice. For opposing the kkk, he was jailed in Miami. He recalled that when he was arrested for disturbing the peace in Arkansas, he requested a lawyer and was told the nearest one was in Oklahoma. He represented himself and was fined $5.

He was a reporter and the Brooklyn editor for The Amsterdam News, a statistician for the War Products Board in Washington in WWII, and a researcher for the Brooklyn district attorney. He formed a literary society and debating club for Black intellectuals.

Mayor Edward Koch awarded him the city’s LaGuardia Medal in 1988.

Captain Ahmet Ali Çelikten (birth name: Zmirli Aliolu Ahmed, aka Arap Ahmet Ali) (1883 - June 24, 1969), believed to be the first military aircraft pilot of African descent, was born in the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey. Some sources claim he was the grandson of a concubine enslaved from Nigeria; that his mother, Zenciye Emine Hanim, was a Yoruba woman; and that his father, Ali Bey, was of Arab, Turkish, and/or African heritage. His mixed racial ancestry was testimony to the Ottoman Empire’s participation in the slave trade that for centuries brought in non-Muslims called “Zanj,” primarily from East and Central Africa. Intent on becoming a sailor, in 1904 he entered the naval military school Haddehane Mektebi, whereupon, upon completion, he was commissioned as first lieutenant.

As WWI approached, the Ottoman military recognized the need to assemble an air force and began training pilots. He commenced his air cadet training at Deniz Tayyare Mektebi in Yeilköy. He graduated several months before Frenchman Pierre Réjon and the American Eugene J. Bullard earned their wings in France.

Few details are known about his combat record in the Ottoman Air Force during WWI. He participated in flight training in France with a group of seven other Turks. He was sent to Berlin for advanced training. He was promoted to captain, his younger brother was killed in battle, and he married Hatice Hanim, with whom he had five children.

He retired in 1949. He was sent to outpost air bases on the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, mainly to observe from the sky and report on the movements of enemy British, Italian, Greek, and French vessels. In 1928, he was appointed an undersecretary at an air force headquarters in Konya. Among his military decorations was the Bahri Aircraft Medal.

Rosetta Anne Douglass-Sprague (June 24, 1839 – November 25, 1906) was a teacher and activist. She was a founding member of the National Association for Colored Women. Her mother was Anna Murray Douglass, and her father was Frederick Douglass.

She was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was the eldest of five children.

At the age of 11, she assisted her father in making and packaging his newspaper. She married Nathan Sprague (1863).

She was admitted to the Seward Seminary. She was segregated from the white students, and her father spoke out against this in his newspaper. She was expelled after a vote of her white classmates, with only one vote against her, proposed by the white, abolitionist director. She attended Oberlin College’s Young Ladies Preparatory and Massachusetts’ Salem Normal School.

Her husband had been enslaved and was poorly educated. He struggled to find his footing and a job. She had seven children and many grandchildren.

She worked as a teacher. She became a homemaker and wife primarily. She wrote the paper My Mother as I Recall Her in 1900, as well as the paper What Role is the Educated Negro Woman to Play in the Uplifting of Her Race?

She wrote, “The galling chain and merciless lash were the instruments used to accomplish humiliation and degradation of the African. Avarice was the factor in the composition of the character of a large number of white men of America that wrought such ravishes in the well-being of the African.” She also wrote, “Allow the Negro two hundred and fifty years of unselfish contact to offset the two hundred and fifty years of Caucasian selfishness, and be as assiduous in his regeneration as you were in his degradation - then judge him.”