Birthday Celebrations — August 11

Born on this day. These are the birthdays we celebrate on August 11 — the people whose lives added to the story of Black history.

Alex Haley

Full name: Alexander Murray Palmer Haley

Born August 11, 1921 — died February 10, 1992

Author, journalist, biographer, and historian of Black family memory.

Haley helped bring Black history and genealogy into millions of homes through The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots. His work encouraged Black families to investigate ancestry, preserve oral history, and understand how individual lives connect to slavery, migration, resistance, and survival.

Duane Martin

Born August 11, 1965

Actor, producer, and television and film performer.

Martin became a familiar presence in Black entertainment through Above the Rim, All of Us, The Inkwell, Real Husbands of Hollywood, and other projects. His career has crossed sports-centered drama, sitcoms, romantic comedy, and television production.

Viola Davis

Born August 11, 1965

Actress, producer, author, EGOT winner, and one of the most honored performers of her generation.

Davis became the first Black performer to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting and later completed the EGOT. Her work across stage, television, and film brought depth and authority to Black women’s stories while challenging the industry’s narrow expectations of beauty, power, and leading roles.

Sophie Okonedo

Born August 11, 1968

British actress, narrator, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominee.

Okonedo built an acclaimed international career across theater, film, and television. Her performances in Hotel Rwanda, A Raisin in the Sun, and other productions brought emotional precision to stories of family, race, survival, history, and moral courage.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Born August 11, 1970

DJ, producer, rapper, composer, and member of A Tribe Called Quest and Lucy Pearl.

Muhammad helped create the warm, jazz-rooted sound of A Tribe Called Quest, one of hip-hop’s most influential groups. His production, DJ work, and later composing extended that musical sensibility into R&B, film, television, and new generations of artists.

Chris Kelly

Full name: Christopher Kelly

Born August 11, 1978 — died May 1, 2013

Rapper and one-half of the hip-hop duo Kris Kross.

Known as “Mac Daddy,” Kelly became a teenage hip-hop star alongside Chris Smith in Kris Kross. “Jump” became one of the biggest rap hits of the early 1990s, while the duo’s backward clothing style became an instantly recognizable part of youth culture.

Jermain Taylor

Full name: Jermain Jerod Taylor

Born August 11, 1978

Undisputed middleweight boxing champion and Olympic bronze medalist.

Taylor rose from Little Rock, Arkansas, to become undisputed middleweight champion by defeating Bernard Hopkins, ending one of boxing’s longest championship reigns. His amateur and professional success made him one of the leading American fighters of his era.