African Descent Archives - Page 45 of 130

Mary Frances Early

On August 16, 1962, Mary Frances Early became the first African American to graduate from the University of Georgia.

Lugenia Burns Hope was an early 1900s social activist, reformer, and community organizer. Spending most of her career in Atlanta, she worked for the improvement of Black communities through traditional social work, community health campaigns, and political pressure for better education and infrastructure.

Thoko Ntshinga

For South African actress Thoko Ntshinga, her art and her community are inseparable.

Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves can effortlessly sing in whatever style she wants with her far-reaching range, whether it’s rhythm-and-blues, gospel, Latin or pop. But jazz always was—and continues to be—her musical foundation.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dee Dee Bridgewater is a daring performer of great depth whose singing talents have earned her three Grammy Awards as well as a Tony Award. In addition, her commanding personality made her a natural for hosting the award-winning National Public Radio syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater from 2001 to 2014.

Kathleen Neal Cleaver

Black Panther Party Communications Secretary and the first woman in the Party’s leadership group who later became a university porfessor and also worked as a law clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals

Ericka Huggins

Black Panther, university lecturer and poet

Toni Braxton

Rhythm-and-blues artist Toni Braxton launched her recording career with Atlanta’s LaFace Records label in the early 1990s and has gone on to win numerous Grammy Awards and American Music Awards. Her best-known songs include “Breathe Again” (1993), “Un-Break My Heart” (1996), “You’re Makin’ Me High” (1996), and “He Wasn’t Man Enough” (2000).

Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones is a writer whose stories and literary imagination center on Georgia and its capital city.

Carrie Steele Logan

Carrie Steele Logan founded the Carrie Steele Orphan Home in Atlanta, recognized as the oldest predominantly Black orphanage in Georgia and possibly the oldest organization of its type in the country.