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Birth of a Nation

On February 18, 1915, the silent film Birth of a Nation (originally titled The Clansman) by director/producer D.W. Griffith premiered at Clunes Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The 12-reel, three-hour-long film was a first in American film history for its length, cost, music, and

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Geena Davis

Name at birth: Virginia Davis

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer is a contemporary African American actress. She is recognized for her role in the film, The Help, as an outspoken maid. For her remarkable performance she won the prestigious Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award among other

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Source: Black History Resources

May

25

1970

Webb, Veronica (1965- )

Veronica Webb is an African American model, actress, writer, and television personality. Webb was the first African American to have a major cosmetics contract when she signed with Revlon in 1992. Webb also appeared on the covers of Vogue, Essence, and Elle magazines and had the opportunity to be

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Source: Black Past

Feb

25

1965

Mo’Nique

Name at birth: Monique Imes

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Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder is an internationally renowned singer, song writer and musician. He was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan. His birth name was Steveland Hardaway Judkins and as a result of being born premature, he was kept in the incubator where an over exposure to oxygen caused him to lose

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Source: Black History Resources

May

13

1950

Nina Simone - The Legend (part 6 of 6)

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Source: AA Studies Research Guide

Jones, Quincy

Jones, Quincy (Quincy Delight Jones, Jr.), 1933–, African-American musician, composer, bandleader, and music executive, b. Chicago. Jones played trumpet and sang gospel growing up, and studied briefly at Bostons Berklee College of Music (then called Schillinger House). After 1951 he played with

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Richard Brooks

Richard Brooks , (born May 18, 1912, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died March 11, 1992, Beverly Hills, California), American screenwriter and director whose best-known movies were adaptations of literary works, notably Blackboard Jungle (1955), Elmer Gantry (1960), and In Cold Blood

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Source: Brittanica

Mar

11

1992

Grimke, Angelina Weld (1880-1958)

Angelina Weld Grimke was born into a legacy of advocacy for racial justice. As the daughter of Archibald Grimke, the second black to graduate from Harvard law and vice-president of the NAACP, Grimké’s heritage of racial equality can be further traced to her grand aunts, Angelina and Sarah

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Tone-Loc

Name at birth: Anthony Terrell Smith

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Viola Davis

Viola Davis is an actress best known for her award winning performances in the films “Traffic”, “Doubt” and “The Help”. She was born on her grandmother’s farm in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She was the second of six children born to Dan Davis, a horse trainer

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Source: Black History Resources

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is an American actor and director, and the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was born on February 20, 1927 to Evelyn and Reginald James Poitier who were farmers from Bahama. At the time of Poitier’s birth, his parents were in the U.S. to sell the

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Feb

20

1927

Lincoln Motion Picture Company owned by African Americans Noble Johnson and Clar

Lincoln Motion Picture Company owned by African Americans Noble Johnson and Clarence Brooks releases its first feature length film, A Mans Duty

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Sep

3

1919

Don Siegel

Siegel studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, and at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After a brief stint as an actor, he joined Warner Brothers studios near Hollywood as an assistant film librarian. He later worked as an editor before joining the studio’s montage department, where he

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Source: Brittanica

Waters, Ethel

Waters, Ethel, 1896?–1977, African-American singer and actress, b. Chester, Pa. As a singer, she is noted for her sultry, sophisticated, and dramatic version of the blues, evinced in her interpretations of Am I Blue, Dinah, Heat Wave, Stormy Weather, and other songs. After beginning in

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones is an American actor who is well known for an array of notable characters he has played in his movies. He was born in January 1931 to Robert Earl and Ruth Jones in Arkabutla, Mississippi. His father was an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family shortly after his

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Coolio

Coolio is a Grammy winning American rapper, who has sold over 30 million records globally. He was born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. on August 1, 1963 in Monessen, Pennsylvania and later moved to Compton, California. He was an intelligent child and was very fond of reading. As a young boy he had a very small

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

1

1963

Cicely Tyson Quotes on Life, Acting and More

Cicely Tyson, a stage and film actress, is known for roles in such projects as Roots, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Sounder (which won her an Oscar nomination), Fried Green Tomatoes, The Help, King (in which she played Coretta Scott King), A Woman Called Moses (where she played Harriet

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Source: ThoughtCo

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He was born on July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to Hattie Bell and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr. His parents divorced when he was very young and he moved to Brooklyn, New York with his mother while visiting his father once

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Source: Black History Resources

Jul

30

1961

Earth, Wind & Fire Songs, Music, and History

Formed: 1969 (Chicago, IL) Genres: R&B, Funk, Disco, Jazz Claims to fame: Early years: Earth, Wind & Fire was the brainchild of Maurice White, a veteran session drummer who had, among other things, performed on Fontella Bass 1966 hit Rescue Me. After his original Chicago band, the Salty Pepp

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An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

This Tony Scott thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington as a Captain and his second in command at odds with each other over different interpretations of an interrupted order to file nuclear missiles during the outbreak of World War III, is a taut and intense thriller. The submarine

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Quincy Jones

Name at birth: Quincy Delight

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Poitier, Sidney (1927 - )

After two years in the Army, Poitier decided on an impulse to audition at the American Negro Theatre. Although he was initially rejected, Poitier was now determined to become an actor. He worked on getting rid of his Bahamian accent and improving his theatre performance for six months. On his

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Source: Black Past

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg , original name Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955, New York, New York, U.S.), American comedian, actress, and producer known for her work in theatre, film, television, and recordings. An accomplished performer with a wide repertoire, her work ranged from dramatic leading

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Source: Brittanica

Sep

11

2001

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry , original name Emmitt Perry, Jr. (born September 13, 1969, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.), American playwright, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director whose works—in which he often portrayed the character Mabel (“Madea”) Simmons, an outspoken grandmother—combined

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Source: Brittanica

Sep

13

1969

Don Cheadle

Don Cheadle was nominated for an Oscar as the heroic hotel manager who sheltered refugees in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. Cheadle was already one of the busiest character actors of his era, appearing in movies such as Boogie Nights (1997, with Mark Wahlberg), Bulworth (1998, with Warren

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Will Smith

Will Smith (born Willard Carroll Smith, Jr.) is a Hollywood actor, producer and musician. He was born and raised in Philadelphia in a Baptist household. His father owned a refrigeration company and his mother was a Philadelphia school board administrator. He attended Overbrook High School where his

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Ernest Dickerson

Ernest Dickerson wins the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best cinematography for the Spike Lee movie, Do the Right Thing.

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Dec

18

1989

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is a renowned Hollywood actor and producer, known for his powerfully portrayed performances in film and television. Washington was born on December 28, 1954 near New York City. His father, Reverend Denzel Hayes Washington Sr. was a minister, and his mother Lennis owned

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

28

1954

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