March Heroes & Sheroes
This month, we will commemorate the birthday of our beloved ancestor, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. She was born on March 18, 1935, and died on January 2, 2016. She was a psychiatrist in Washington, DC who devoted more than thirty years to the study of the origin and institution of racism and white supremacy.
Dr. Welsing's writings, lectures and ideas have helped many people, including scientists and scholars, understand the worldwide system of white supremacy. Dr. Welsing's scholarly works, compiled in her book; The Isis Papers are changing the course of history.
We will celebrate our beloved ancestor, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. He was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois. Quincy Jones has succeeded in almost every segment of the media and entertainment industry.
In music, he has been nominated for a record of 79 Grammys; he has won 27 academy awards, more than any living musician. He has produced the best-selling album of all–time (Michael Jackson’s Thriller) and the best-selling single of all-time (We Are the World). He has produced, composed, conducted, arranged, and performed on more than 400 albums.
In film, he produced The Color Purple which was nominated for seven (7) Oscars. He is the only African American producer to be nominated for Best Picture. Quincy Jones, Jr. recently died on November 3, 2024, at 91 years old.
We will celebrate our present-day shero, Lupita Nyong’o. She was born on March 1, 1983, in Mexico City, Mexico to Kenyan parents. Lupita Nyong'o grew up in an artistic family in Kenya. She self identifies as Kenyan Mexican with dual citizenship. She came to the U.S. for higher studies and received a BA from Hampshire College. She graduated with an MFA degree from Yale School of Drama in 2012.
Lupita Nyong'o started acting as a teen in Kenya and went on to work behind the scenes of the film The Constant Gardener. She directed and produced the albinism documentary In My Genes and starred in the TV series Shuga. Nyong'o went on to earn acclaim for her role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, she starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the Off-Broadway play Eclipsed. The actress also featured prominently in the box office-shattering superhero movie, Black Panther (2018).