Camilla Ella Williams
Ella Williams was born on this date in 1919. She was a Black operatic soprano. Camilla Ella Williams was born in Danville, Virginia, to Fannie...
Category : Performance
Maria P. Williams
01911
Maria P. Williams, who, like Tressie Souders, also lived in Kansas City, Missouri, produced, distributed, and acted in her own film, The Flames of Wrath...
Queen Sylvia Embry
01770
For a period of time in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it appeared that Queen Sylvia Embry was going to emerge as one of Chicago’s leading...
The True Story of Erroll Garner, the First Artist to Sue a Major Label and Win
0583
It’s not at all unusual for artists to engage in creative or financial differences with their record labels, but only a few end up in...
Memphis Minnie
01307
Memphis Minnie, born Lizzie Douglas, was a pioneering blues musician and singer who made a significant impact on the genre during the early to mid-20th...
William Edmondson
0906
William Edmondson (1874 or 1875 – 1951) was an African-American folk artist and sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. He is notable for being the first African-American...
White Supremacy Tried to Kill Jazz. The Music Triumphed.
0546
Dodging violent attacks by racist and drunken “fans,” resisting pressure from drug-peddling bosses and inhaling smoke for hours in dank clubs comprised the “common plight”...
Ernest “Ernie” Eugene Barnes, Jr
01531
Ernest “Ernie” Eugene Barnes, Jr. (July 15, 1938 – April 27, 2009) was an African-American painter, well known for his unique style of elongation and...
Dick Gregory
0985
Dick Gregory, a comedian, actor, and civil rights activist, was born Richard Claxton Gregory in 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri. Gregory’s father left the family...
Sophia Stewart
03744
The writer of the Terminator and Matrix movies Child prodigy, prolific writer, poet, and creative genius are just a few of the terms used to...