Have you heard of Earl Lloyd? He was the first American-African player to play a game in the NBA. Lloyd was drafted in the 9th round with pick #100 by the Washington Capitols in the 1950 NBA draft. Nicknamed "The Big Cat", Lloyd was one of three black players to enter the NBA at the same time. It was because of the order in which the team's season openers felt that Lloyd was the first to actually play in a game in the NBA, scoring six points on Halloween night.
Black History 365 | #26 Jackie Robinson
We know about Jackie Robinson. The man the The Dodgers signed, signaling the so-called end of racial segregation in professional baseball. Did you know…Robinson’s older brother Mack was a silver medalist at the Olympics? Despite struggling with a heart condition, Mack Robinson later clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and finished second to Jesse Owens in the 200-meter race at the 1936 games in Berlin. Jesse also was an impressive all-around athlete, and during college at UCLA, he became the first student to letter in four different sports in a single season. He shined in basketball as a guard and forward; in football as a quarterback, running back and safety; and in track and field as a long jumper. He broke his brother’s long jump record and may have had his sights set on his own Olympic glory before the 1940 games were canceled because of World War II. He also went crazy as a tennis player, and got a few amateur titles during his summer breaks from school. Badmon. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Robinson was drafted into the Army and assigned to a cavalry unit at Fort Riley, Kansas. While in basic training, he struck up a friendship with another recruit it was Joe effing Louis…Another legendary badmon.
Black History 365 | #10 - Madam CJ Walker
Madam CJ Walker was one of the first self-made American woman millionaires. She developed a formula that contained Sulphur and the Sulphur healed her scalp. When other women saw the results of her creation she went into business. She set her sights on expanding her market. She began “branding” herself…which is wild given the context. She went door to door with fliers, and business cards. She advertised in black newspapers using before and after photos and testimonials. She built a factory, a laboratory and a beauty school. She employed other women who would become sales agents. This is in the early 1900s! Get that bag!
Black History 365 | # 37 - Idi Amin
Idi Amin got his start in the British colonial army under the King’s African Rifles (KAR). There he quickly rose through the ranks. He was deployed to Somalia to fight the Shifta rebels and later fought with the British during the suppression of the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. During his time in the army, Amin became the light heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda, a title he held for nine years. After more than 70 years under British rule, Uganda gained its independence on October 9, 1962, and Milton Obote became the nation’s first prime minister. Obote ordered Amin’s arrest while en route to Singapore for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference. During his absence, Amin took the offensive and staged a coup on January 25, 1971, seizing control of the government and forcing Obote into exile. From there Amin began mass executions upon the Acholi and Lango, a group he perceived as a threat for their loyalty to Obote. Then h expelled Uganda’s Asian population, which numbered between 50,000 and 70,000, resulting in a collapse of the economy as manufacturing, agriculture and commerce. Throughout his rule, Amin was estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of roughly 300,000 civilians. Amin was forced to flee over time, after the number of Amin’s intimate allies dwindled and former loyal troops began to turn on him. He originally sought refuge in Libya, then later moved to Saudi Arabia, where he lived comfortably until his death of multiple organ failure in 2003.
Black History 365 | #35 Iddris Sandu
Iddris Sandu is the programmer and engineer responsible for writing and selling an algorithm to Instagram that filtered key sites or activities by user location to identify their possible interests, but the program has since been revised. He also coded for Snapchat, Twitter, and developed an interface that detects where a driver’s hands were in a car for Uber collisions. He is also the kind behind the late and great Nipsey Hussle’s tech-smart The Marathon Store. Early in 2023, it was reported that his company Spatial Labs (sLABS) acquired $10 Million seed in funding. He was quoted as saying this to Ebony magazine:
“With the brutal killing of George Floyd, there was roughly around $1.2 billion in funding that was available for founders of color and ever since then, it’s dropped by 30% every year,. We’re at a stage now where $120,000,000 has been allocated within the last year. If that is the case, then Spatial Labs raised 10% of total funding that was allocated to Black founders—that’s a problem. The reality is that although raising a total of $14 million puts us in a position that no founder under 30, even being a person of color under 30, my concern with that is we should technically be able to raise more because we’ve been held back so much. There is so much gatekeeping of information that can actually create much more equity across various industries. With the continued mission of Spatial Labs and an investment of this magnitude, we’re paving the way for younger people to know that they can be in these spaces as well.” Props to Iddris Sandu and his many contributions in this space.