• Thu, 6 August 2026

Mary Seacole, OM – Saluting 60 Jamaican Women

Mary Seacole - A Great Jamaican

For as long as she could remember, Mary Seacole had two dreams – to be a nurse and to travel. When cholera and yellow fever epidemics broke out in Kingston where she was born to a British soldier and a Jamaican nurse and healer, Mary helped her mother, who had a boarding house, to nurse […]

Louise Little, Grenada – Caribbean-American Woman of Influence

Louise Little - the mother of Malcolm X

Louise Little, the mother of Malcolm X, was born Louise Helen Norton Langdon in La Digue, St. Andrew Parish in Grenada. She is credited with having a major influence on her son, Malcolm X, and his political and social views, giving him his sense of Black pride. Her mother, Ella Langdon, was the daughter of […]

Jamaican American TV Anchor Sharon Lawson Wins Emmy

Sharon Lawson

Sharon Lawson, a Jamaican American reporter and anchor of “Good Day Atlanta” on WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, won a 2022 Emmy Award in the Health and Medical News category for her feature story, “Journey to be Fibroids Free.” Upon winning the award, Lawson posted to social media, thanking her husband, Chris Pappas, her editor Thako […]

Jamaican Jason Aiken Honored as a Professor of the Year at South Florida College

Jason Aiken

Jason Aiken, a professor of economics at Broward College Central Campus, has been honored for his classroom work and support of students by being named a Professor of the Year for 2021/2022. Aiken has taught at Broward since 2015 and was also recognized as Professor of the Year for Broward College Online. He was one […]

Marcia Griffiths, CD – Saluting 60 Jamaican Women

Marcia Griffiths

Marcia Griffiths is known primarily for her strong smooth-as-mousse love songs and captivating performances. She started singing professionally when she was fifteen, at an Easter party in her community. She may have been young, but she was confident, and in her own words,” I was very positive. Rather than being afraid or nervous, I wanted […]

John Russwurm, Jamaica – Caribbean-American Man of Influence

First Black-Owned and Operated Newspaper in the US Was Co-Founded by a Jamaican - John Brown Russwurm

John Russwurm, the first Black editor of a newspaper in the United States and one of the first three Black people to graduate from a US college, was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica in 1799. He was the son of an English merchant and an enslaved woman. In 1812, Russwurm and his father moved to […]

Merlene Ottey, Jamaica – Caribbean Woman of Influence

Merlene Ottey Jamaican Born Track Star Athlete

Merlene Joyce Ottey was born in Cold Spring, Hanover, Jamaica in 1960. She was first introduced to track and field by her mother who bought her a manual about the sport. Ottey attended Gurneys Mount and Pondside Schools and graduated from Rusea’s and Vere Technical High Schools where she was a frequent competitor in foot […]