Tony Brown (1933- )

Tony Brown (1933- )

William Anthony (Tony) Brown, a pioneer in television programming for African American audiences, was born in Charleston, West Virginia on April 11, 1933 to Royal and Katherine Brown.  The youngest of five children, he did well in school, excelling in English and...
Jennifer Hosten (1947- )

Jennifer Hosten (1947- )

When Jennifer Josephine Hosten won the Miss World contest in 1970 she was the first woman from Grenada and the first of woman of African ancestry to hold the crown.  She was crowned amid the greatest controversy in Miss World Pageant history. Hosten was born on...
Venture Smith (ca. 1729-1805)

Venture Smith (ca. 1729-1805)

Venture Smith was a West African who was captured as a boy and sold into slavery in New England. He eventually purchased his own freedom, the freedom of several other slaves, and in his old age he wrote the earliest autobiography by an African American. His...
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969- )

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969- )

Writer and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia on November 13, 1969.  Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a prominent Somali intellectual and revolutionary leader.  As a child, Ali had to move with her family to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, due...