Category Archives: April

Marco McMillian

April 23, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Marco McMillian was born on April 23, 1979 (to February 26, 2013). He was a rising star in Democratic Party politics in Mississippi who was brutally murdered after announcing his candidacy for mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi. Marco W. McMillian was the son of Patricia Unger, and grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Clarksdale, graduating from Clarksdale High School in 1997. In a town where most guys were athletes or took music and performance seriously enough to play in […]

Categories: All, April, April 23, McMillian, Marco • Tags: 1979, 2013, April 23, February 26, Marco McMillian, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Krystian Legierski

April 22, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Krystian Legierski was born on April 22, 1978. He is a prominent Polish LGBTI activist, entrepreneur, attorney, and a member of the Greens Party. In local elections in 2010, he won a seat on the Warsaw City Council, representing the city’s Mokotow district, thus becoming the first openly gay politician elected to a political office in the Republic of Poland. Krystian Legierski was born in Koniaków, Poland, to a Polish mother, and a father from the North African nation of […]

Categories: All, April, April 22, Legierski, Krystian • Tags: 1978, April 22, Krystian Legierski, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Clara Ward

April 21, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Clara Ward was born on April 21, 1924 (to January 16, 1973). She was a beloved gospel artist who achieved great success, both artistic and commercial, in the 1940s and 1950s as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. Clara Mae Ward was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, evangelist Gertrude Ward, founded the Ward Singers in 1931 as a family group. The group’s name continuously evolved, and included The Consecrated Gospel Singers, The Famous Ward Singers of Philadelphia, or The […]

Categories: All, April, April 21, Ward, Clara • Tags: 1924, 1973, April 21, Clara Ward, January 16, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Luther Vandross

April 20, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Luther Vandross was born on April 20, 1951 (to July 1, 2005). He was an immensely popular singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold more than thirty million albums and won eight Grammy Awards. Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. was born at Bellevue Hospital in the New York City borough of Manhattan. He was the fourth child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr. The younger Vandross was raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in […]

Categories: All, April, April 20, Vandross, Luther • Tags: 1951, 2005, April 20, July 1, Luther Vandross, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Rotimi Fani-Kayode

April 20, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Rotimi Fani-Kayode was born on April 20, 1955 (to December 21, 1989). He was a Nigerian photographer working principally in Britain who became one of the most important photographers of the late twentieth century. Fani-Kayode used his work to explore themes of sexuality, race, and culture through his stylized portraits and compositions. Oluwarotimi (Rotimi) Adebiyi Wahab Fani-Kayode was born in Lagos, Nigeria, the second child of Chief Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode and Chief Mrs. Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode. His family came from […]

Categories: All, April, April 20, Fani-Kayode, Rotimi • Tags: 1955, 1989, April 20, December 21, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Sanford E. Gaylord

April 20, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Sanford E. Gaylord was born on April 20, 1965. He is an actor, award-winning writer, and creative activist. He has more than twenty years of expertise in the field of public health with expertise in social services, civic engagement, HIV biomedical/behavioral research, implementation of federal programs, and policy priority initiatives. Sanford E. Gaylord was born in Asheville, North Carolina, to Sanford Gaylord, an airman in the U.S. Air Force, and Joyce Newman-Gaylord, a homemaker. He is close to his sister, […]

Categories: All, April, April 20, Gaylord, Sanford E. • Tags: 1965, April 20, Sanford E. Gaylord, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Keith Cylar

April 18, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Keith Cylar was born on April 18, 1958 (to April 5, 2004). He was an outspoken activist, agitator, and advocate who was a co-founder and co-president of Housing Works, a leading HIV/AIDS service provider in New York City. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Keith Cylar was raised by foster parents. While pursuing his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Boston University, Cylar first became aware of AIDS soon after it was identified in 1981. Three years later, he moved to New […]

Categories: All, April, April 18, Cylar, Keith • Tags: 1958, 2004, April 18, April 5, Keith Cylar, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Essex Hemphill

April 16, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Essex Hemphill was born on April 16, 1957 (to November 4, 1995). He was an influential poet, award-winning editor, memorable performance artist, and fearless activist. Essex Charles Hemphill was one of five children born to Mantalene Clark Hemphill and Warren A. Hemphill, Sr. He began his life in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up in southeast Washington, DC, where he began writing at age 14. Hemphill studied English at the University of Maryland, but decided to complete his degree at the […]

Categories: All, April, April 16, Hemphill, Essex • Tags: 1957, 1995, April 16, Essex Hemphill, November 4, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Jericho Brown

April 14, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Jericho Brown was born on April 14, 1976. He is an award-winning poet and beloved college professor, LGBTI activist, and community builder. Jericho Brown was born Nelson Demery, III in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Nelson Demery, Jr. and Neomia Lenoir Demery, who made their living cutting lawns and cleaning homes and other buildings. His sister is the filmmaker, Nequella Demery. Because of his family moving so often and his own behavior, Brown was expelled several times, attending five grade schools and two middle schools. […]

Categories: All, April, April 14, Brown, Jericho • Tags: 1976, April 14, Jericho Brown, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Robert K. Burns

April 14, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Robert K. Burns was born on April 14, 1975 (to December 8, 2011). He was a respected professional in the delivery of health care services, the former executive director of the COLOURS Organization, a leader in the house ball community, and a beloved DJ around the country. Robert Keith Burns, also known as Robbie Rob Blahnik, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a large and supportive family. He is a graduate of John F. Kennedy High School who went on […]

Categories: All, April, April 14, Burns, Robert K. • Tags: 1975, 2011, April 14, December 8, Robert K. Burns, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Willi Ninja

April 12, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Willi Ninja was born on April 12, 1961 (to September 2, 2006). He was a dancer, performance artist, and choreographer who was featured in the ball community documentary film, “Paris is Burning.” William Roscoe Leake grew up in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens, where he began dancing at the age of seven. He had an undistinguished school career, but his talent soon led him to Manhattan. Arriving in Greenwich Village in the late 1970s, Willi Ninja […]

Categories: All, April, April 12, Ninja, Willi • Tags: 1961, 2006, April 12, September 2, Ubuntu Biography Project, Willi Ninja

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Ali Forney

April 12, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Ali Forney was born on April 12, 1975 (to December 5, 1997). Sometimes known as Luscious, Forney was a homeless gender nonconforming peer counselor and LGBTQ youth advocate for whom the Ali Forney Center was named when it opened in 2002. Ali He’shun Forney was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, New York. By the time he became a teenager, Forney was a prostitute, and later ran away from a group home. Preferring […]

Categories: All, April, April 12, Forney, Ali • Tags: 1975, 1997, Ali Forney, April 12, December 5, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Maurice Tomlinson

April 9, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Maurice Tomlinson was born on April 9, 1971. He is a courageous attorney-at-law, law lecturer, human rights and LGBTQ advocate, and a prominent HIV and AIDS activist in Jamaica, the Caribbean, and Canada for more than two decades. Maurice A. Tomlinson was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica to Carmen Tomlinson, a cashier, and his father, George Tomlinson, a telephone technician. Tomlinson has one older and one younger brother, both of whom migrated to North America. Tomlinson attended two different high schools in Jamaica, Cornwall College in […]

Categories: All, April, April 09, Tomlinson, Maurice • Tags: 1971, April 9, Maurice Tomlinson, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Carmen McRae

April 8, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Carmen McRae was born on April 8, 1920 (to November 10, 1994). She was jazz vocalist, composer, pianist, and actress, and one of the most influential jazz stylists of the 20th century. McRae recorded more than 60 albums, and performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Carmen Mercedes McRae was born in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem to Jamaican immigrant parents, Osmond and Evadne McRae. She was fortunate enough to have been raised by a family prosperous […]

Categories: All, April, April 08, McRae, Carmen • Tags: 1920, 1994, April 8, Carmen McRae, November 10, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Billie Holiday

April 7, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 (to July 17, 1959). She was an iconic jazz singer, song stylist, and songwriter. Billie Holiday was named Eleanora Fagan when she was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Julia “Sadie” Fagan. Her father, Clarence Holiday, a musician, did not marry or live with her mother, who had moved to Philadelphia at the age of thirteen, after being put out of her parents’ home in Baltimore for becoming pregnant. With no support […]

Categories: All, April, April 07, Holiday, Billie • Tags: 1915, 1959, April 7, Billie Holiday, July 17, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Wanda Renita Alston

April 7, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Wanda Renita Alston was born on April 7, 1959 (to March 16, 2005). She was a passionate feminist and LGBTQ advocate who became the first Washington, DC cabinet-level director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. Wanda Renita Alston was born in Newport News, Virginia, the tenth of eleven children of Arabelle and the late William D. Alston. After graduating from high school in Newport News, she left home and joined the United States Air Force, where […]

Categories: All, Alston, Wanda Renita, April, April 07 • Tags: 1959, 2005, April 7, March 16, Wanda Renita Alston

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Doug Cooper Spencer

April 6, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Doug Cooper Spencer was born on April 6, 1954. He is a highly respected novelist, short fiction writer, essayist, lecturer, beloved friend, and human rights activist living in New York City. Doug Cooper Spencer was born in Lincoln Heights, Ohio, a predominantly African American town north of Cincinnati. He is the fifth child of eight children born to Ellis Cooper, who was a laborer, and Estella Cooper, a homemaker. Spencer attended Lincoln Heights Elementary and High School, before graduating from […]

Categories: All, April, April 06, Spencer, Doug Cooper • Tags: 1954, April 6, Doug Cooper Spencer, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Robert Reid-Pharr

April 4, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Robert Reid-Pharr was born on April 4, 1965. He is an influential writer, critical essayist, and Distinguished and Presidential Professor of English and American Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He is considered an authority on both African American writing and twentieth century American literature, especially poetry, literary history, criticism, and theory. Robert Fitzgerald Reid-Pharr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Robert Lyons Pharr and Joanna Reid Pharr. He attended Garinger High […]

Categories: All, April, April 04, Reid-Pharr, Robert • Tags: 1965, April 4, Robert Reid-Pharr, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Samuel R. Delany

April 2, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Samuel R. Delany was born on April 1, 1942. He is an acclaimed writer considered to be the dean of American science fiction writers, and the first major Black American author of science fiction. Delany also is a well-known professor and literary critic. He is noted for his explorations of social and moral issues as well as language structure and mythology. Samuel Ray Delany was born in New York City’s legendary neighborhood of Harlem. He is the son of Margaret […]

Categories: All, April, April 01, Delany, Samuel R. • Tags: 1942, April 1, Samuel R. Delany, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Lucille Bogan

April 2, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Lucille Bogan was born on April 1, 1897 (to August 10, 1948). She was an important blues singer who sometimes recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. Bogan was considered by many to be the toughest practitioner of a genre known as the Dirty Blues in the early part of the twentieth century. She was one of the first Black women to record, and stands along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith as one of “the big three of the blues.” […]

Categories: All, April, April 01, Bogan, Lucille • Tags: 1897, 1948, April 1, August 10, Lucille Bogan, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Shawn Short

April 2, 2018 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Shawn Short was born on April 1, 1978. He is an artistic-scholar, dancer, model, choreographer, educator, visionary, and a social justice and LGBTQ equality advocate. Shawn Short was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, to Nathaniel Short, a United States Marine, and Frances Robinson, a financial professional. Shortly after his father completed his military duties in South Carolina, Short’s family migrated to the Washington, DC metro area. He attended Duval High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and graduated in 1996. Short’s early 20s were a tough time filled with […]

Categories: All, April, April 01, Short, Shawn • Tags: 1978, April 1, Shawn Short, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Antron-Reshaud Olukayode

November 13, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

On September 14, 2017, Ubuntu Biography Project honoree Antron-Reshaud Olukayode had an Instagram chat with the Project’s Mark Zustovich, expressing how grateful he was that the biographies and Stephen Maglott’s legacy would live on. The next day, we sent an email to Antron-Reshaud, providing instructions on how to update his bio, and with the note: “You don’t have to update now, since your birthday is in April, but this will give you a jump.” As it would turn out, we […]

Categories: All, April, April 26, Olukayode, Antron-Reshaud • Tags: 1984, 2017, Antron-Reshaud Olukayode, April 26, November 12, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Ma Rainey

April 26, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Ma Rainey was born on April 26, 1886 (to December 22, 1939). She was one of the earliest American professional blues singers, and one of the first generation of singers to record. She was billed as “The Mother of the Blues.” Gertrude Pridgett was born in Columbus, Georgia. She was the second of five children born to Thomas and Ella Pridgett, who were originally from Alabama. Both parents performed in minstrel shows, and are credited with inspiring Gertrude’s interest in […]

Categories: All, April, April 26, Rainey, Ma • Tags: 1886, 1939, April 26, December 22, Ma Rainey, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Monica Motley

April 23, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Dr. Monica Motley was born on April 23, 1984. She is a self-described Black, lesbian, and gender-fluid scholar, activist, scientist, daughter, and lover that fights for and believes in the lived experience and best quality of life for people residing in small cities, towns, and rural areas. Dr. Monica Motley was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the daughter of Dr. Fred Motley, an activist, artist, writer, and poet, and Rev. Dr. Virginia Motley, an ordained minister, activist, and retired […]

Categories: All, April, April 23, Motley, Monica • Tags: 1984, April 23, Monica Motley, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Robert Jones, Jr.

April 21, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Robert Jones, Jr. (“Son of Baldwin”) was born on April 21, 1971. He is an influential writer, blogger, novelist, activist, critical thinker, and a self-described nerd who finds it difficult to conceive of leaving this world in the condition he found it. Robert Jones, Jr. was born in New York City to Robert Sr., a career military man, and his mother Joan, a nurse’s aide by profession and a seamstress by design. He is the oldest of three siblings […]

Categories: All, April, April 21, Jones, Robert, Son of Baldwin • Tags: 1971, April 21, Robert Jones Jr., Son of Baldwin, Ubuntu Biography Project

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Yance Ford

April 13, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Yance Ford was born on April 13, 1972. He is the first openly transgender director nominated for an Academy Award, and only the third openly trans nominee in any Oscar category. Ford grew up on Long Island, New York, and graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York in 1994. For ten years beginning in 2002, he worked at PBS as series producer for “POV.” Ford is a Sundance Institute Fellow, a Creative Capital Grantee, and was featured in “Filmmaker” […]

Categories: All, April, April 13, Ford, Yance • Tags: 1972, April 13, Ubuntu Biography Project, Yance Ford

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Toni-Michelle Williams

April 6, 2017 by Ubuntu Biography Project

Toni-Michelle Williams was born on April 6, 1991. She is a community organizer for Black trans communities in Atlanta, a trap healer who prioritizes underserved Black communities with healing knowledge and practices, a performance artist, impersonator, and self-described “believer in the beautiful and almighty God (love) inside of all of us.” Toni-Michelle Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Corey Tyler Williams and TiJuana Michelle Ponder, a school guidance counselor in DeKalb County Public Schools. She has three siblings from her […]

Categories: All, April, April 06, Williams, Toni-Michelle • Tags: 1991, April 6, Toni-Michelle Williams, Ubuntu Biography Project

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