Obituary
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Legendary Football Coach Herman Boone, Who Was Immortalized in Remember the Titans, Dies at 84
Herman Boone, the inspiration behind the classic film Remember the Titans, died Wednesday at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 84. ESPN reports that the legendary coach led T.C. Williams High School to an undefeated season and state championship in 1971. More importantly, he played a key role in combating the racism that permeated…
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James Robert Kennedy, Beloved High School Football Staple and Inspiration for Radio Movie, Dead at 73
James Robert Kennedy, a man embraced by a South Carolina high school football team and the inspiration behind the 2003 film Radio has died at the age of 73. Details of Kennedy’s death are not known at this time per the New York Times, though T.L. Hanna High School’s website confirms he was surrounded by…
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Ernest J. Gaines, Author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Dead at 86
Ernest J. Gaines, a MacArthur fellow best known for the book The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, died at his home in Oscar, La., Tuesday. He was 86. In an obituary on their website, the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, described the author as leaving behind a legacy that…
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John Witherspoon, Beloved and Prolific Actor-Comedian, Dead at 77
John Witherspoon, the “Pops” and “Grandad” of Black Hollywood, has died at the age of 77. The actor-comedian died suddenly in his home on Tuesday. “It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home…
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Diahann Carroll, the First African-American Woman to Star on Primetime TV in Non-Domestic Role, Dies at 84
Earth has just gotten a little less beautiful. Diahann Carroll, the outstandingly talented actress and singer, has died at the age of 84. Carroll’s daughter, producer-journalist Suzanne Kay confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that her mother died in her home in Los Angeles following a long bout with cancer. As THR reports: Carol Diahann Johnson…
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Grammy Award-Winning Artist and Actor Louie 'Original Don Dada' Rankin, of Belly and Shottas, Dies in Car Crash
Louie Rankin, the Jamaican dancehall singer (known as the “Original Don Dada”) and film actor has died, following a tragic car crash in Ontario, Canada, TMZ reports. Rankin was a Jamaican native who grew up in Saint Thomas Parish and East Kingston and was living in Toronto at the time of his death. According to…
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Jessye Norman, Heralded Soprano of the Opera World, Dies at 74
Jessye Norman, the internationally celebrated soprano, died surrounded by loved ones Monday, of complications suffered as the result of a 2015 spinal cord injury, her family announced. She was 74. “We are so proud of Jessye’s musical achievements and the inspiration that she provided to audiences around the world that will continue to be a…
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Robert Mugabe, Former President of Zimbabwe, Dead at 95
Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the former Zimbabwean president whose promising emergence eventually steered his country into economic collapse, has died at the age of 95. The Washington Post reports that Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s current president, announced Mugabe’s passing on Twitter: “It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father…
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Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison, One of America’s Greatest Writers, Has Died at 88
A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity. —Toni Morrison text In describing the literary greatness of Toni Morrison—winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature, the first awarded to an African-American woman—the Nobel Foundation said that Morrison “in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives…
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Elijah 'Pumpsie' Green, Who Integrated the Boston Red Sox, Dies at 85
Jackie Robinson may have been the broken the color barrier in Major League Baseball overall when he took to the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in April 1947. But it would take a dozen more years, and a baseball player named Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, before the very last all-white team in the MLB, the Boston…