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He also earned a scholarship to Drama Studio London and later studied at New York University as well.\nWhitaker\u2019s first performance as an actor was in the play \u0026ldquo;Under Milk Wood\u0026rdquo; by Dylan Thomas. One of his first notable movie performances was in \u0026ldquo;Fast Times at Ridgemont High\u0026rdquo; in 1982, in which he played the role of a high school football player, also starring Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates and Robert Romanus. In 1986 he appeared in the film \u0026ldquo;The Color of Money\u0026rdquo; directed by Martin Scorsese. The cast also included acclaimed actors Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. He then co-starred with Robin Williams in the war comedy movie \u0026ldquo;Good Morning, Vietnam\u0026rdquo;.\nIn 1988, Forest Whitaker appeared in the film \u0026ldquo;Bloodsport\u0026rdquo; with Jean-Claude Van Damme. He then starred in the film \u0026ldquo;Bird\u0026rdquo; directed by Clint Eastwood in which he played the role of American jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker. He researched extensively for the part, and also learned to play the saxophone. This performance earned him the award for Best Actor at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival as well as a Golden Globe nomination. In 1990, he starred in the film Downtown and in 1992, he starred in the film \u0026ldquo;The Crying Game\u0026rdquo; in which he played the role of a British soldier, for which he learned to talk in a British accent. In 1994, he was cast in the film Pr\u00EAt-\u00E0-Porter by Robert Altman for which","MaxDetailCharacters":0,"ImageUrl":"https://cdn.blackfacts.net/uploads/blackfacts/facts/www.famousafricanamericans.org/images/forest-whitaker.jpg","ImageHeight":290,"ImageWidth":580,"ImageOrientation":"landscape","HasImage":true,"CssClass":"","Layout":"","Rowspan":1,"Colspan":1,"Likes":0,"Shares":0,"ContentSourceId":"73e45e4e-5e7c-4595-9ff3-d9df1f177307","SourceName":"Black History Resources","ContentSourceRootUrl":"https://www.internet4classrooms.com/black_history.htm","SponsorId":"06dc953b-5d0f-47e0-a5ae-9e69f8b070aa","IsSponsored":true,"SponsorName":"Intellitech","SmallSponsorLogoUrl":"24x24/ice-mobile-350x350-53.png","SponsorUrl":"http://intellitech.net","HasSmallSponsorLogo":true,"EffectiveDate":"1961-07-15T00:00:00","HasEffectiveDate":true,"Year":1961,"Month":7,"Day":15,"LastUpdatedDate":"2023-11-25T05:14:39.027","LastUpdatedBy":"ExtractionBotHub","IsEditable":false,"InsertAd":false,"Id":5579,"FactUId":"56523cdf-e9fb-4956-9849-dc4dd92fbc1e","Slug":"forest-whitaker-0","FactType":"Event","Title":"Forest Whitaker","LocalFactUrl":"/fact/forest-whitaker-0","ResultCount":-1,"SearchType":"Today"},{"FadeSummary":false,"SummaryText":"Joshua Johnston, also known as Joshua Johnson, was a portraitist active in Baltimore, Maryland between 1790 and 1825, and the first African American to gain recognition as an artist. Primarily a painter of members of the slave-holding aristocracy, he was rediscovered by Baltimore genealogist and art historian J. Hall Pleasants in 1939.\nAccording to Baltimore County court chattel records, Johnston was the son of a white man, George Johnston, and an unknown enslaved black woman owned by William Wheeler Sr., a small farmer. Wheeler sold Joshua Johnston to George Johnston in 1764 for 25 pounds, half the price of an adult male field slave. George Johnston arranged that Joshua would be freed after completing a blacksmith apprenticeship, or on turning 21, whichever came first; Joshua would go on to complete his apprenticeship with William Forepaugh, and was freed on July 15, 1782. Between 1796 and 1824, he was listed in most Baltimore City directories as a painter or limner.\u00A0 In the 1817-1818 directory he was also recorded as a \u0026ldquo;Free Householder of Color.\u0026rdquo;\nJohnston was light-skinned and was easily mistaken for white, which may explain why some of his subjects at the time did not note his race. He advertised himself in the Baltimore Intelligencer as a \u0026ldquo;self-taught genius\u0026rdquo; who had \u0026ldquo;experienced many insuperable obstacles in the pursuit of his studies. There is no record of him being formally trained as an artist. He moved often within Baltimore, but as a free man was able to spend some time outside the city.\u00A0 For example, he is generally believed to have painted a portrait of Sarah Ogden Gustin in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia at some point between 1798 and 1802. Johnston may have supplemented his income by decorating furniture. \nOf the thirteen existent paintings identified as his, many are of white children belonging to wealthy local families.\u00A0 He also painted black subjects, including Daniel Coker, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Johnston\u2019s work is characterized by a rigidity of the arms and","MaxDetailCharacters":0,"ImageUrl":"https://cdn.blackfacts.net/uploads/blackfacts/facts/www.blackpast.org/files/blackpast_images/the_westwood_children_.jpg","ImageHeight":445,"ImageWidth":500,"ImageOrientation":"landscape","HasImage":true,"CssClass":"","Layout":"","Rowspan":1,"Colspan":1,"Likes":0,"Shares":0,"ContentSourceId":"de2ecbf0-5aa4-45ce-bbf9-9a6ac45f6ac8","SourceName":"Black Past","ContentSourceRootUrl":"https://www.blackpast.org/","IsSponsored":false,"HasSmallSponsorLogo":false,"EffectiveDate":"1782-07-15T00:00:00","HasEffectiveDate":true,"Year":1782,"Month":7,"Day":15,"LastUpdatedDate":"2023-11-25T05:14:39.027","LastUpdatedBy":"ExtractionBotHub","IsEditable":false,"InsertAd":false,"Id":6719,"FactUId":"d47fa29c-f013-4505-b095-fa66d4bbcba3","Slug":"johnston-joshua-c-a-1763--1832","FactType":"Event","Title":"Johnston, Joshua (c.a. 1763 - 1832)","LocalFactUrl":"/fact/johnston-joshua-c-a-1763--1832","ResultCount":-1,"SearchType":"Today"},{"FadeSummary":false,"SummaryText":"Herndon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 1897, the only child of Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil, a graduate and teacher at Atlanta University, and Alonzo Herndon.","MaxDetailCharacters":0,"ImageUrl":"https://cdn.blackfacts.net/uploads/blackfacts/facts/www.blackpast.org/files/norris_b__herndon_.jpg","ImageHeight":375,"ImageWidth":250,"ImageOrientation":"portrait","HasImage":true,"CssClass":"","Layout":"","Rowspan":1,"Colspan":1,"Likes":0,"Shares":0,"ContentSourceId":"de2ecbf0-5aa4-45ce-bbf9-9a6ac45f6ac8","SourceName":"Black Past","ContentSourceRootUrl":"https://www.blackpast.org/","SponsorId":"c774164e-1b1a-4b35-8157-9ce64ec2e2c6","IsSponsored":true,"SponsorName":"Prospanica Boston Professional Chapter","SmallSponsorLogoUrl":"24x24/prospanica-logo.png","SponsorUrl":"https://www.prospanica.org/members/group.aspx?code=Boston","HasSmallSponsorLogo":true,"EffectiveDate":"1897-07-15T00:00:00","HasEffectiveDate":true,"Year":1897,"Month":7,"Day":15,"LastUpdatedDate":"2023-11-25T05:14:39.027","IsEditable":false,"InsertAd":false,"Id":18354,"FactUId":"ca427e1a-42f7-41d8-a27c-608525b64bdc","Slug":"herndon-norris-bumstead-1897-1977--birthday","FactType":"Event","Title":"Herndon, Norris Bumstead (1897\u20131977) - Birthday","LocalFactUrl":"/fact/herndon-norris-bumstead-1897-1977--birthday","ResultCount":-1,"SearchType":"Today"},{"FadeSummary":false,"SummaryText":"Francis Bebey ,  (born July 15, 1929, Douala, Cameroon\u2014died May 28, 2001, Paris, France), Cameroonian-born writer, guitarist, and composer, one of the best-known singer-songwriters of Africa.","MaxDetailCharacters":0,"ImageUrl":"https://cdn.blackfacts.net/uploads/blackfacts/facts/media1.britannica.com/eb-media/69/147869-004-d0cdc726.jpg","ImageHeight":438,"ImageWidth":550,"ImageOrientation":"landscape","HasImage":true,"CssClass":"","Layout":"","Rowspan":1,"Colspan":1,"Likes":0,"Shares":0,"ContentSourceId":"80689a34-9b7c-4d3a-91f8-56cabb44f365","SourceName":"Brittanica","ContentSourceRootUrl":"https://www.britannica.com/search?query=black%20history","IsSponsored":false,"HasSmallSponsorLogo":false,"EffectiveDate":"1929-07-15T00:00:00","HasEffectiveDate":true,"Year":1929,"Month":7,"Day":15,"LastUpdatedDate":"2023-11-25T05:14:39.027","IsEditable":false,"InsertAd":false,"Id":18565,"FactUId":"6e0b2cbc-8f94-4e78-aabb-fddb429a6709","Slug":"francis-bebey--birthday","FactType":"Event","Title":"Francis Bebey - Birthday","LocalFactUrl":"/fact/francis-bebey--birthday","ResultCount":-1,"SearchType":"Today"},{"FadeSummary":false,"SummaryText":"Gen. 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