Birthday Celebrations — September 3

Born on this day. These are the birthdays we celebrate on September 3 — the people whose lives added to the story of Black history.

Bessie Delany

Full name: Annie Elizabeth Delany

Born September 3, 1891 — died September 25, 1995

Dentist, author, and centenarian witness to Black history.

The second Black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York, Delany became a national treasure at 101 through the bestselling memoir Having Our Say, written with her sister Sadie — born September 19, two years apart.

Charles Hamilton Houston

Full name: Charles Hamilton Houston Sr.

Born September 3, 1895 — died April 22, 1950

Civil rights attorney, legal educator, and NAACP strategist.

Known as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow," Houston built Howard Law School into a civil rights laboratory, mentored Thurgood Marshall, and designed the legal strategy that prepared the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Memphis Slim

Birth name: John Len Chatman

Born September 3, 1915 — died February 24, 1988

Blues pianist, singer, and composer.

Slim wrote and popularized "Every Day I Have the Blues," then spent decades in Paris carrying American blues to the world.

Freddie King

Born September 3, 1934 — died December 28, 1976

Blues guitarist and one of the "Three Kings" of electric blues.

King’s stinging attack on instrumentals like "Hide Away" became a foundation of blues and rock guitar, shaping Clapton, Vaughan, and generations more.

Dorothy Masuka

Born September 3, 1935 — died February 23, 2019

Zimbabwean-South African singer and political songwriter.

Masuka’s jazz recordings and anti-colonial lyrics made her a star and a target — her political songs forced her into roughly three decades of exile before she returned as an elder of African music.

Malcolm Gladwell

Full name: Malcolm Timothy Gladwell

Born September 3, 1963

Journalist, author, and podcaster.

Son of a Jamaican psychotherapist, Gladwell became one of the most-read nonfiction writers of his era with The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers.

Damon Stoudamire

Full name: Damon Lamon Stoudamire

Born September 3, 1973

NBA Rookie of the Year and college head coach.

"Mighty Mouse" starred at Arizona, became the first star of the expansion Toronto Raptors, and moved into head coaching at Pacific and Georgia Tech.

Redfoo

Full name: Stefan Kendal Gordy

Born September 3, 1975

Rapper, singer, and producer.

The son of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Redfoo cofounded LMFAO, whose "Party Rock Anthem" became one of the best-selling singles ever.

Samuel Kuffour

Full name: Samuel Osei Kuffour

Born September 3, 1976

Ghanaian footballer.

Kuffour anchored Bayern Munich’s defense through multiple Bundesliga titles and the 2001 Champions League crown, after winning Olympic bronze with Ghana as a teenager.

Jerome Boateng

Full name: Jérôme Agyenim Boateng

Born September 3, 1988

German-Ghanaian footballer.

Boateng won the 2014 World Cup with Germany and a treble with Bayern Munich as one of the world’s premier center backs.

August Alsina

Full name: August Anthony Alsina Jr.

Born September 3, 1992

R&B singer and songwriter.

The New Orleans singer broke through with "I Luv This Shit" and Testimony, bringing raw autobiography to 2010s R&B.