Category: Biography

  • An extraordinary literary friendship, preserved in letters

  • Isamu Noguchi, born in Los Angeles as the illegitimate son of an American mother and a Japanese poet father, was one of the most prolific yet enigmatic figures in the history of twentieth-century American art. Throughout his life, Noguchi (1904-1988) grappled with the ambiguity of his identity as an artist caught up in two cultures.

  • Missed Opportunities and the Problem of Mohawk Chief John Norton’s Cherokee Ancestry Ethnohistory Volume 59, Number 2 (Spring 2012) pages 261-291 DOI: 10.1215/00141801-1536885 Carl Benn, Professor of History Ryerson University John Norton (1770–1831?) was one of the most important Iroquois leaders in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and the author of a thousand-page…

  • Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled Louisiana State University Press 1994 496 pages 6.00 x 9.00 inches 12 halftones Paperback ISBN: 9780807120705 Thadious M. Davis, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought; Professor of English University of Pennsylvania Nella Larsen (1891–1964) is recognized as one of the most influential,…

  • Race and History in Brazil (Denying Brazil / Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment) Facets Multi-Media 2000 (Release date 2011-02-22) 192 minutes Brazil Product Code: DV100942 (2-DVD set) Joel Zito Araújo Geraldo Santos Pereira   Race and its impact on the art and history of Brazil are highlighted in this two-disc set. Joel Zito Araújo’s documentary…

  • A bumper crop of works on influential early 20th century American racists, fascists and eugenicists has been hitting the bookshelves in 2009. Two of the most interesting are on Madison Grant (1865-1937), perhaps the most important conservationist of his time and so pernicious a racist and anti-Semite that he helped inspire Hitler’s policies, and Lawrence…

  • Frau Doktor Nancy Stafford of Georgia: From Slave to Physician The African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter March 2009 ISSN: 1933-8651 95 pages Mary R. Bullard Tracy Moxhay Castle Chapter 1 In 1850 a cotton planter named Robert Stafford fathered a daughter (later named Cornelia) by a woman named “Juda.” Three years later Juda bore him a…

  • Finding Grace: Two Sisters and the Search for Meaning Beyond the Color Line Simon & Schuster July 2007 296 pages Paperback ISBN-10: 0743200543; ISBN-13: 9780743200547 Shirlee Taylor Haizlip In her widely acclaimed, bestselling memoir, The Sweeter the Juice, Shirlee Taylor Haizlip asked us to redefine our concepts of race and family by examining her biracial…

  • Norbert Rillieux and a Revolution in Sugar Processing American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks: Norbert Rillieux and a Revolution in Sugar Processing 2002 Judah Ginsberg Portrait of Norbert Rillieux (undated). Dedicated April 18, 2002 at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana Norbert Rillieux: Chemist and Engineer The birth record on file in New Orleans…

  • Plaque honour for ‘first black star’ Elisabeth Welch BBC News 2012-02-27 The singer Elisabeth Welch is to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque in south-west London. She is the second black woman to be honoured with a blue plaque in London. It will be unveiled in Ovington Court, Kensington, which was her home…