The African-American Museum of Beginnings

Happy Birthday to Angela Evelyn Bassett.

Born August 16, 1958, She is known for her portrayals of strong female leads, Bassett is the recipient of numerous accolades, including; three Black Reel Awards, a Golden Globe Award, seven NAACP Image Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, and seven Primetime Emmy.

Bassett began her acting career in the 1980s, after graduating from Yale University. Following a few minor roles, including as Reva Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), Bassett had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She went on to star in numerous acclaimed and successful films, including; as Betty Shabazz in both Malcolm X (1992) and Panther (1995), as Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992), as Voletta Wallace in Notorious (2009), as Coretta Scott King in Betty & Coretta (2013).

Her other notable film roles include Bernie Harris in Waiting to Exhale (1995), Rachel Constantine in Contact (1997), Stella Payne in How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Janet Williams in Music of the Heart (1999), Lynne Jacobs in Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016), and Queen Ramonda in Black Panther (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

On television, Bassett's has portrayed Rosa Parks in the television film The Rosa Parks Story (2002). In 2013, Bassett had many recurring roles on the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story.

Bassett began producing and starring in the Fox first responder drama series 9-1-1, playing LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant.

ADELINE CUNNINGHAM, 1210 Florida St., born 1852, was a slave in Lavaca County, 4-1/2 miles n.e. of Hallettsville. She was a slave of Washington Greenlee Foley and his grandson, John Woods. The Foley plantation consisted of several square leagues, each league containing 4,428.4 acres. Adeline is tall, spare and primly erect, with fiery brown eyes, which snap when she recalls the slave days. The house is somewhat pretentious and well furnished. The day was hot and the granddaughter prepared ice water for her grandmother and the interviewer. House and porch were very clean.
"I was bo'n on ole man Foley's plantation in Lavaca County. He's got more'n 100 slaves. He always buy slaves and he never sell. How many acres of lan' he got? Lawd, dat man ain't got acres, he got leagues. Dey raises cotton and co'n, and cattle and hawgs. Ole man Foley's plantation run over Lavaca and Colorado county, he got 1600 acres in one block and some of it on de Navidad River. Ole man Foley live in a big log house wid two double rooms and a hall, and he build a weavin' house agin his own house and dey's anudder house wid de spinnin' wheels. And ole man Foley run his own cotton gin and his own grindin' mill where dey grinds de co'n and dey got a big potato patch.
"Dey was rough people and dey treat ev'ry body rough. We lives in de quarter; de houses all jine close togedder but you kin walk 'tween 'em. All de cabins has one room and mostly two fam'lies bunks togedder in de one room wid dirt floors. De slaves builds de cabins, de slaves got no money, dey got no land.
"No suh, we never goes to church. Times we sneaks in de woods and prays de Lawd to make us free and times one of de slaves got happy and made a noise dat dey heered at de big house and den de overseer come and whip us[Pg 267] 'cause we prayed de Lawd to set us free.
"You know what a stockman is? He is a man dat buys and sells cattle. Ev'ry year de stockman comes to ole man Foley's and he lines us up in de yard and de stockman got a lotta slaves tied togedder and ole man Foley he buys some slaves but he won't sell none. Yassuh, de stockman buys and sells de slaves jes' de same as cattle.
"Dey feeds us well sometimes, if dey warn't mad at us. Dey has a big trough jes' like de trough for de pigs and dey has a big gourd and dey totes de gourd full of milk and dey breaks de bread in de milk. Den my mammy takes a gourd and fills it and gives it to us chillun. How's we eat it? We had oyster shells for spoons and de slaves comes in from de fields and dey hands is all dirty, and dey is hungry. Dey dips de dirty hands right in de trough and we can't eat none of it. De women wuks in de fields until dey has chillun and when de chillun's ole enough to wuk in de fields den de mother goes to ole man Foley's house. Dere she's a house servant and wuks at spinnin' and weavin' de cotton. Dey makes all de clothes for ole man Foley and his fam'ly and for de slaves.
"No suh, we ain't got no holidays. Sundays we grinds co'n and de men split rails and hoes wid de grubbin' hoe. Ole man Foley has a blacksmif shop and a slave does de blacksmiffin. De slaves builds cabins wid split logs and dey makes de roof tight wid co'n shucks and grass. One time a month, times one time in two months, dey takes us to de white folks church.
"Dey's four or five preachers and de slaves. Iffen deys a marriage de preacher has a book. He's gotter keep it hid, 'cause dey's afraid iffen de slaves learns to read dey learns how to run away. One of de slaves runs away and dey ketches him and puts his eyes out. Dey catches anudder slave dat run[Pg 268] away and dey hanged him up by de arm. Yassuh, I see dat wid my own eyes; dey holds de slave up by one arm, dey puts a iron on his knee and a iron on his feet and drag 'im down but his feet cain't reach de groun'.
"Ole man Foley ain't bad, but de overseers is mean. No suh, we never gits no money and we never gits no lan'. Ole man Foley, he wants to give us sumpin for gardens but Mr. John Woods, his gran'son, is agin it.
"Was I glad when dat was over? Wouldn' you be? It's long after we's free dat I gits married. Yassuh, and I live in San Antonio 'bout 20 years."[Pg 269]

REMEMBER CURTIS WILLIAMS FROM 'THE PARENTHOOD'?

Curtis Williams (born May 31, 1987) is an American actor. He played Nicholas Peterson on the Warner Brothers 1990s sitcom The Parent Hood. He was a regular guest on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has appeared over 12 times on the late night talk show. Too young to drive at the time, Jay Leno gave Curtis his first Go-Kart on live television. He was featured on the "Hottest child stars of TV and movies" cover of Jet Magazine in 1997.

Williams' charisma quickly gained the attention of Hollywood at the young age of five. Landing in the spotlight by booking his first national commercial with the Little Caeser's Pizza franchise. Soon after, Williams found himself in a string of commercials for Gushers, Xbox 360, Best Buy and a Kmart spot with Kirk Franklin, which drew interest from larger representation.

In 1994, Williams landed his first feature film debut in Beverly Hills Cop III starting Eddie Murphy, and his second soon after in Corrina, Corrina, where Williams improvised the whole scene. The chemistry Williams created with Goldberg caught the eye of seasoned UTA agent Brandt Joel. Williams inked a Talent Holding Contract Deal with New Line Cinema shortly after the film had been released, and landed a role as a series regular on the television show The Parent Hood starring Robert Townsend.

Williams won the Young Artist Award in 1996, Young Artist Award for best performance in a Comedy/Drama in 1997, and was nominated for the best Artist Award for Comedy/Drama in 1998.

He was honored with a symbolic key to the city of Pasadena and signed a lucrative contract deal with Reebok in 1997, which included wearing their merchandise and apparel.

Williams broke in the voice-over arena with appearing in the popular 90's cartoon The Wild Thornberry's.

For Nickelodeon, Williams appeared as a panelist on Figure It Out. Nickelodeon flew Williams and family out to Orlando Florida, to be a guest judge on the hit 90's game show "Slime". Younger brother Christopher Williams made a cameo with the same episode as his brother.

Williams's career continued to flourish with landing another role with renowned director Garry Marshall in the Film Dear God (1996) starting Greg Kinnear. Williams later garnered a leading role in the Film Durango Kids with director Ashton Root. Williams played the role of Cameron, where some notable actors appeared in the film such as Larry Drake, Austin Nichols, Sara Paxton and Christina Millian. Williams would continue to book a slew of other roles in television such as the popular 90's show Moesha staring Brandy Norwood, Malcolm in the Middle staring Frankie Muniz, That's So Raven starting Raven Symone and more.

He graduated from the California State University, Northridge with a bachelor's degree in Cinema Television.

Williams lives in Los Angeles California. Williams continues to be involved in the entertainment world and currently works for NBC Universal.

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Young African Genius‼️✊🏾

Clarence Williams III best known for playing the character "Linc Hayes" in the ABC television series The Mod Squad (1968 - 1973), and in films like Prince's Purple Rain (1984), Tales from the Hood (1995), Hoodlum (1997), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), American Gangster (2007), and The Butler (2013).

BENJAMIN M. HOLMES (1846-1875)

Teacher, news correspondent, and Fisk Jubilee Singer, Benjamin M. Holmes was born a slave around 1846 in Charleston, South Carolina and bound as an apprentice to a black tailor. Holmes was eventually bought by a man named Kaylor, who employed him as a hotel clerk in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While toting bundles around town for his master, Holmes used to study the letters on signs and doors and his boss’s measuring books, and by 1860 had taught himself to read and write.

After his owner and the rest of the staff joined the Confederate Army, Holmes was left minding the store. As Union troops approached Chattanooga in 1862, his white owners sold him to a trader who fed him a diet of cow’s head, boiled grits, and rice. While imprisoned in a slave pen, Holmes somehow managed to get hold of a copy of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and read it aloud. After Union troops occupied Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, Holmes volunteered his services as a valet to General Jefferson Columbus Davis, the Union commander of the Army of the Cumberland’s First Division, with whom he remained until the end of the war.

After the war, Holmes returned to Chattanooga and worked for a barber. When the barber died, his estate went to Holmes, making him the first black estate administrator in Tennessee. But the estate proved insolvent, and for his pains Holmes ended up with a three hundred dollar debt.

In 1868 Benjamin Holmes enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. By now he had already taught himself enough reading and mathematics to advance to the high school department in a mere two months. To earn his tuition, he taught a Davidson County school of sixty-eight pupils for thirty dollars a month. At a second school farther out in the countryside, his class was smaller, but the conditions more perilous. Once, someone fired a shot into the school while he was teaching a class.

Holmes returned to Fisk at the end of the summer and studied history, Latin, pedagogy and analysis. Holmes also became a deacon at Fisk’s Howard Chapel. As a member of the original Jubilees, Holmes became its most eloquent spokesman and sent weekly dispatches to Lewis Douglass’s newspaper, New National Era. , Holmes often clashed with Jubilee Singers director George White, and eventually arranged his own farewell concert in London, England to benefit the singers themselves. He quit the troupe and died of consumption in Nashville on October 9, 1875 at the age of 28.

July 15, 1983 – Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was a Black American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer received the 68th NAACP Spingarn Medal for her distinguished career in the field of entertainment, for her efforts in enhancing the self image of Blacks, and for her dedication to the ideal of equality and justice for all on this date in 1983. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood. Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. In 2011, Horne was also portrayed by actress Ryan Jillian in a one-woman show titled "Notes from A Horne" staged at the Susan Batson studio in New York City, from November 2011 to February 2012. The 83rd Academy Awards presented a tribute to Horne by actress Halle Berry at the ceremony held February 27, 2011.

Mary Armstrong was born a slave on June 2, 1847. Since her mother was the property of William and Pauline (Polly) Cleveland, so too was the baby Mary. She never developed a relationship with her father as he belonged to a slave trader who lived on another plantation. In 1937 at ninety-one years of age she documented her memories of her time enslaved. Included in her remembrances was the story of her nine month old baby sister. It seems the little girl was crying and Polly Cleveland was tired of hearing the noise so, according to Mary, Polly:

"She come and took the diaper offen my little sister and whipped till the blood jes' ran —
jes' 'cause she cry like all babies do, and it kilt my sister." {1}​

When Mary was ten years of age she was given to Olivia, Polly's daughter. She was freed from slavery in 1863 and by 1871 she finally reunited with her mother.

Although Sallie Elizabeth Adams was only five years old; she was born into slavery and now she is on the auction block. It's in the mid-1840's and her sale is taking place at the Smyth County Courthouse in Marion, Virginia. She is purchased by Thomas Thurman who is in need of a young girl to take care of his sick wife. As Sally walks away she catches one last look at her mother. She will never see her again. From a young age, as Sallie grows up, she finds a tall white-oak tree which she hugs pretending it's her beloved mother and other family members. The tree becomes the family she no longer has and it holds all the tears she cried.

The terrible plight of separation was always in a mother's heart. The story is told of one slave mother and how she handled the threat of separation:

"In Marion County, north of St. Louis, a slave trader bought three small children from an owner, but the children's mother killed them all and herself rather than let them be taken away." {3}

She was not the only mother who resorted to taking a drastic step in "saving" a child from a life as a slave. The most famous was a slave born on June 4, 1834 at the Maplewood Plantation in Boone County, Kentucky. From an early age Margaret "Peggy" Garner lived enslaved and as she grew into young womanhood she was r***d by her master A.K. (Edward) Gaines. It was believed the sexual assault resulted in his fathering two of her four children. In 1856, her husband, four children, Robert's parents and Peggy all made their run to freedom. It was a very brief time of freedom as the Federal authorities found the run-aways. Peggy screamed at the men and ran into a back room in the home. With her were her children. Knowing what life as a slave meant, the mother took a knife and killed her two-year-old daughter. Her other children were wounded but still alive. It was the story of a young mother who knew the horrors her children faced and in a move of despair and hopelessness she committed an horrific act against her little ones.

Ellaine Write was four years old when her mother was sold to another. In her elderly years she still remembers the last day she saw her mother:

"'Ellaine, honey mama's gwan way off and ain't never goin to see her baby agin.' An I can see myself holdin onto my mama and both of us crying – and then, she was gone and I never seed her since."

She concludes her story, "I hopes I goin to see my good mama some day, I do." {5}​

Born in Baltimore to free African-Americans parents, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911) became a beloved poet. Published in 1854 her poem "The Slave Mother" captures the heartbreak of the gut-wrenching institution that was slavery.

"Heard you that shriek? It rose
So wildly on the air,
It seem'd as if a burden'd heart
Was breaking in despair.

Saw you those hands so sadly clasped—
The bowed and feeble head—
The shuddering of that fragile form—
That look of grief and dread?

Saw you the sad, imploring eye?
Its every glance was pain,
As if a storm of agony
Were sweeping through the brain.

She is a mother pale with fear,
Her boy clings to her side,
And in her kyrtle vainly tries
His trembling form to hide.

He is not hers, although she bore
For him a mother's pains;
He is not hers, although her blood
Is coursing through his veins!

He is not hers, for cruel hands
May rudely tear apart
The only wreath of household love
That binds her breaking heart.

His love has been a joyous light
That o'er her pathway smiled,
A fountain gushing ever new,
Amid life's desert wild.

His lightest word has been a tone
Of music round her heart,
Their lives a streamlet blent in one—
Oh, Father! must they part?

They tear him from her circling arms,
Her last and fond embrace.
Oh! never more may her sad eyes
Gaze on his mournful face.

No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks
Disturb the listening air:
She is a mother, and her heart
Is breaking in despair."

Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), was based on his own French-language novel La Permission and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut Watermelon Man, in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker.

In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, considered one of the earliest and best-regarded examples of the blaxploitation genre. He followed this up with the musical, Don't Play Us Cheap, based on his own stage play, and continued to make films, write novels and stage plays in English and in French through the next several decades; his final films include the French-language film Le Conte du ventre plein (2000) and the absurdist film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted M***a (2008). His son, filmmaker and actor Mario Van Peebles, appeared in several of his works and portrayed him in the 2003 biographical film Baadasssss!.

Eartha Kitt stated in her autobiography about her encounter with Harry Belofonte, “Getting up from my bed, he said, 'I don't want you to take this seriously. No black woman can do anything for me,”
I am excited to share our Exclusive Old Black Hollywood Private Group page with you since you have been supportive. The monthly subscription fee is $4.99. I hope you will join and be a part of our discussions as well as viewing new photographs of Old Black Hollywood Actors

James Earl Jones continues to amaze at 91! With a legendary acting career spanning 68 years, he remains a timeless icon in Hollywood. His powerful voice and memorable roles have left an indelible mark on generations of fans and aspiring actors alike.

First African American Marines decorated by the famed Second Marine Division somewhere in the Pacific (left to right) Staff Sgt Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love, Sr. They received Purple Hearts for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan. N.d. 208-NP-10SSSS-1.

Dakota White, a 7-year-old from Dallas, Texas, has made history as the fastest kid in the nation, setting a new record at the AAU Junior Olympics with Xpress Track Club. Her impressive time of 59.08 seconds in the 100-meter relay has earned her national recognition and a gold medal.

Meet Imunique Triplett, a 17-year-old trailblazer who earned her Nursing diploma from Milwaukee Area Technical College while still in high school! As the first in her family to achieve a college degree, she’s breaking barriers and inspiring others. Proud of her dedication and hard work!

Lovie Yancey,
lived from 1912–2008.

The Black American founder of the Fatburger restaurant chain.

Lovie Yancey was born in Bastrop, Texas, on January 3, 1912, one of eight children of Clayborn and Minnie Yancey. Very little is known about her early life in Texas. Yancey and Rawlings Colquitt Green had daughter, Gwendolyn Green, in 1931.

Yancey and her daughter moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. At the age of thirty-five, she and her friend, Charles Simpson, decided to partner in a business venture. Simpson built a three-stool hamburger stand on Western Avenue, near Jefferson Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles in 1947, with scrap materials from his place of employment. They called the business Mr. Fatburger.

That first burger stand became so successful that Yancey and Simpson opened three more locations over the next five years. In 1952 when the two decided to end their partnership, Simpson and his wife took control of the other Mr. Fatburger locations while Yancey retained ownership of the original business. She dropped the “Mr.” and the original Fatburger was born. From the beginning, Yancey was a daily part of the business. She worked up to sixteen hours a day at times to ensure things ran smoothly and the burgers were cooked “just right.”

In 1973 Yancey opened a Fatburger on La Cienaga Boulevard in Beverly Hills, which became a popular place for entertainers such as the comedian Redd Foxx, singer Ray Charles, and others to custom order their burgers. By 1980 Yancey began to grow the business through local franchising and by the end of 1985, the chain had over fifteen franchise sites throughout southern California. In 1986 Fatburger was named number five among the fastest growing burger franchise chains by Entrepreneur magazine in its annual Franchise 500 list, trailing behind the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s.

Over the years, Fatburger has been immortalized in a string of songs, movies, and TV shows, including the sitcom Sanford and Son, the film The Fast and the Furious, and the Ice Cube single, “It Was a Good Day.” Fatburger even once made Late Night talk show host David Letterman’s Top 10 list of things he’d miss most about leaving Los Angeles. Eventually, Yancy encouraged celebrities, including Queen Latifah, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams, to open Fatburger franchises.

Beyond her Fatburger legacy, Yancey also established a $1.7-million endowment at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, in 1986 for research into sickle-cell anemia. She created the endowment in dedication to her twenty-two-year-old grandson, Duran Farrell, who had died of the disease three years earlier.

Lovie Yancey died of pneumonia on January 26, 2008, at the age of ninety-six at the Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She is survived by her daughter Gwen

Nick Gabaldón (1927-1951)

Nick Gabaldon was the first known African-American and Mexican descent surfer in the United States. He openly surfed in the segregated beaches of California. Gabaldon is noted as being a historical leader for Black surfers in the United States. Raised in Santa Monica, California in the 1930’s, he taught himself how to surf at a nearby beach. it was the “Ink Well Beach,” the most popular and historic Black beach of the time.

The Kennedy Center Honors celebrates the iconic Apollo Theater for its 90th anniversary! This marks the first time an organization receives special honors as an iconic American institution, recognizing Apollo's role in amplifying Black excellence and shaping global culture.

A 'COOLEY HIGH' REUNION
AT THE 2022 TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES, CA
Steven Williams (73), Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (68), director Michael Schultz (83; middle back row), Cynthia Davis (63), Glynn Turman (75), and Garrett Morris (85) attend the screening of "Cooley High".
One of the most influential African American films of the 1970s, this coming-of-age tale was inspired by writer Eric Monte’s experience growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project, where he attended the real Cooley Vocational High School. Indie studio American International Pictures developed his story and had the wisdom to hire a Black director, Michael Schultz, to shoot the low-budget film on location. Glynn Turman stars as Preach, who dreams of writing plays while palling around with basketball champ Cochise (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs). Their episodic adventures and a soundtrack filled with Motown classics helped turn the picture into one of the year’s biggest hits.
It had a major influence on writer-director-actor Robert Townsend—who had a one-line bit—and John Singleton, among other Black filmmakers who saw its use of three-dimensional characters and focus on friendship as a breakthrough. It also inspired the hit TV series What’s Happening!!

A night of surprises at the 36th annual Oscars! "Tom Jones" took Best Picture, but the real highlight was Sidney Poitier's historic win for Best Actor in "Lilies Of The Field," making him the first Black actor to receive the honor. The evening was filled with unforgettable moments and heartfelt tributes.

Louis Gossett Jr. and Brenda Skyes in Skin Game 1971

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Wood Ear Mushroom is a dark-to-light brown fungus that look like a small crinkled ear. This mushroom can be found on deciduous trees and shrubs, mainly the elder tree. Mushroom foragers often source this gelatinous-looking mushroom off fallen and rotting trees where they grow solo or in large colonies. This fungus prefers temperate and sub-tropical forest environments. The wood ear grows in Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.