Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

The Burke family was an attractive looking, talented Black family. Father Clarence Sr. and mother Betty had 6 children. The Five Stairsteps consisted of 6 kids...sweet Alohe, (born in 1948), charismatic Clarence Newton Jr. (born 1948), sincere James Marcellus (born 1950), vibrant Dennis (born 1952), smooth Kenneth (born 1953), and charming Cubie (born 1964). They were born and raised in Chicago by their parents Clarence and Betty Burke they attended Bennett and Harlan High School. You could say they were born into music, music was in their blood. Before they could walk they belted out melodies even if the words weren't understood. The 5 were singing together as young kids. They would line up on the couch singing to TV commercial or records on the record player; they would out-sing the TV and records...loud and clear. Their father was a detective/cop and mother watched the kids. Alohe, Clarence, James, Dennis, Kenneth, and Cubie were brought up in a household full of love, encou...

Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, was born on April 15, 1922, to Roy Washington, a lawyer, Methodist minister and one of the first black precinct captains in Chicago.  Washington’s mother Bertha Washington was a well-known singer in the city.  Washington attended segregated public schools including the newly completed DuSable High School where he set records as a track star.  Despite that success, Washington dropped out of high school at the end of his junior year and worked in a meat packing plant until his father helped him obtain a job at the U.S. Treasury office in Chicago.  There he met Dorothy Finch, his future wife.  The couple married in 1941 when Harold Washington was 19 and Dorothy was 17.  They divorced  ten years later . In 1942 Washington was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent overseas as part of a segregated unit of the Air Force Engineers, then part of the U.S. Army.  Washington served...

Emmanuel Francis (E.F.) Joseph was the first professional African American photographer in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Born on November 8, 1900 on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Joseph would later move to the United States and attend the American School of Photography in Chicago, Illinois. After graduation in 1924, Joseph moved to Oakland, California, where he apprenticed in a photography studio.  In the early 1930's, Joseph began his career as a photojournalist. He worked for numerous Bay Area newspapers, including the California Voice, The Oakland Post, San Francisco Examiner, and the nationally distributed Pittsburgh Courier from Pennsylvania.   Joseph also ran a photography studio initially out of his home in West Oakland. He took photos of babies, children, men, women, couples, and families. He also captured the contours of community life, snapping photos at events held by churches, schools, nightclubs, social clubs, and lodges. He recorded c...

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable,  a frontier trader, trapper and farmer is regarded as the first permanent resident of what became Chicago, Illinois.  There is very little definite information on DuSable’s early years. He was born free around 1745 in St. Marc, Saint-Dominique (Haiti). His mother was an African slave, his father a French mariner. DuSable traveled with his father to France, where he embarked on a fruitful education. It was through this and the work that he performed for his father on his ships, that he learned several languages including French, Spanish, English, and many Indian dialects. DuSable arrived in New Orleans in 1765 whereupon he learned the colony had become a Spanish possession. Having lost his identification papers and been injured on the voyage to New Orleans, DuSable was almost enslaved. French Jesuit priests protected him until he was healthy enough to travel. DuSable migrated north, up the Mississippi river, later settling in an area near pre...

Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen , born  Nellie Walker  (April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964), was an American novelist of the  Harlem Renaissance . First working as a  nurse  and a  librarian , she published two novels— Quicksand  (1928) and  Passing  (1929)—and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries. A revival of interest in her writing has occurred since the late twentieth century, when issues of racial and sexual identity have been studied. Her works have been the subjects of numerous academic studies. Nella Larsen was born  Nellie Walker  in a poor district of  Chicago  known as the Levee, on April 13, 1891, the daughter of Peter Walker, likely a mulatto  Afro-Caribbean  immigrant from the  Danish West Indies  and Marie Walker,  née  Hansen, a  Danish immigrant . Her mother was a seamstress and domestic worker. Her fat...