By Tashi McQueenAFRO Workers Writertmcqueen@afro.com
This week, the AFRO displays on the lives and legacies left behind by leaders, entertainers and famous members of the group. Check out the notable Black figures who died in 2025, abandoning family members and legacies that can absolutely final past their lifetime.
Sam Moore
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/Brandon Dill, File
Sam Moore, the electrifying tenor behind the legendary soul duo Sam & Dave, died Jan. 10 in Coral Gables, Fla., from problems following surgical procedure. He was 89. Celebrated for hits corresponding to “Soul Man,” “Maintain On, I’m Coming,” and “When One thing Is Unsuitable with My Child,” Moore helped outline Sixties soul music alongside accomplice Dave Prater. Signed to Atlantic Data and nurtured at Stax by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, the duo earned Grammy honors and Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction in 1992. After overcoming habit, Moore loved a protracted profession, performing for six U.S. presidents and incomes admiration from generations of artists.
Angie Stone
Picture Credit score: AP Picture
Angie Stone, a soul and R&B singer and songwriter, died on March 1 on the age of 63 in a automobile crash in Montgomery, Ala. Born Angela Laverne Brown on Dec. 18, 1961, in Columbia, S.C., she started her profession as a young person by co‑founding The Sequence, a feminine rap trio and one of many first all-women teams signed to the rising hip-hop business.
After her early hip-hop work, Stone transitioned into soulful R&B and neo-soul. Her 1999 solo debut, “Black Diamond,” launched a profession spanning greater than twenty years, producing hits together with “No Extra Rain (In This Cloud),” “Brotha” and “Want I Didn’t Miss You.”
George Foreman
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/Lennox McLendon, File
George Foreman, legendary boxer, Olympic champion and entrepreneur, died March 21 at age 76. He gained a heavyweight gold medal on the 1968 Olympics and have become world heavyweight champion in 1973.
Regardless of his loss to Muhammad Ali within the 1974 “Rumble within the Jungle,” he staged a comeback in 1994 and regained the heavyweight crown at age 45, turning into the oldest man to win the title in boxing historical past. Outdoors the ring, he turned a family identify with the George Foreman Grill.
Alexis Herman
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/J.Scott Applewhite
Alexis Herman, the primary Black U.S. secretary of labor, died on April 25 at age 77. Born in Cell, Ala., on July 16, 1947, she contributed to American politics and ladies’s rights.
She served as secretary of labor beneath President Invoice Clinton (D) from 1997 to 2001. Previous to that, she held positions in social work and civil rights advocacy, together with social employee for Catholic Charities in 1969 and director of the Girls’s Bureau on the U.S. Division of Labor. She was recognized for her dedication to minority and ladies’s office rights.
Norman Hutchins
Norman Hutchins, pastor and gospel singer, died on June 5 at age 62. Born Sept. 27, 1962, in Delaware, he started preaching at age 8 and was ordained at 12. Hutchins launched his solo music profession in 1992, releasing 10 albums over 21 years, seven of which charted on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart. He earned a number of Dove and Stellar Award nominations and a Grammy nomination.
Sly Stone
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/Mark J. Terrill, File
Sly Stone, musician and funk pioneer, died on June 9 at age 82. As frontman of Sly and the Household Stone, he fused gospel, soul, rock, funk and psychedelia right into a sound that outlined the late Sixties and early Nineteen Seventies. Hits like “On a regular basis Folks” and “Dance to the Music” promoted unity, equality and social change.
Esaw Snipes-Garner
Esaw Snipes-Garner, mom and activist, died on June 18 at age 58. She turned recognized for her advocacy following the loss of life of her husband, Eric Garner, in 2014, which sparked nationwide dialogue on police brutality.
Lynn Hamilton
Lynn Hamilton, finest often known as Verdie Foster on “The Waltons” and nurse Donna Harris on “Sanford and Son,” died on June 19 at age 95 in Chicago. Her profession included roles on “Gunsmoke,” “The Younger and the Stressed,” “Good Occasions,” “Harmful Girls,” and greater than 130 episodes of “Generations.”
Mosie “Mama” Burks
Mosie “Mama” Burks, gospel pioneer and lead vocalist of the Mississippi Mass Choir, died on July 7 at 92. Born June 18, 1933, in Harpersville, Miss., she introduced gospel staples corresponding to “They Bought the Phrase,” “I’m Not Drained But,” and “This Morning After I Rose” to life along with her iconic voice, defining the choir’s mission and sound worldwide.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/ Jordan Strauss
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor and poet, died on July 20 at 54 from drowning whereas on trip in Costa Rica. Greatest often known as Theodore “Theo” Huxtable on “The Cosby Present,” Warner earned an Emmy nomination for his eight-season efficiency. Followers remembered him as a relatable illustration of Black youth and as a constructive portrayal of Black middle-class household life on tv.
Rahaman Ali
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/Timothy D. Easley
Rahaman Ali, boxer and youngest brother of Muhammad Ali, died on Aug. 1 in Louisville, Ky., at age 82. He boxed professionally within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies and likewise served as his brother’s sparring accomplice and nook man.
Danielle Spencer
Danielle Spencer, actress recognized for depicting Dee Thomas on “What’s Occurring,” died on Aug. 11 at 60 of gastric most cancers and cardiac arrest. Born June 24, 1965, within the Bronx, N.Y., she was the primary Black feminine baby to characteristic often in a community TV collection. Her legacy is acknowledged on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition.
Vivian Ayers Allen
Vivian Ayers Allen, poet and cultural activist, died on Aug. 18 at 102. She authored “Spice of Dawns” and the verse novel “Hawk,” advocating for arts training and literacy. She was Rice College’s first African-American college member and influenced generations of youth and the humanities.
Dr. Clayton C. Stansbury Jr.
Picture Credit score: Picture courtesy of March Funeral Properties
Dr. Clayton C. Stansbury Jr., educator and Morgan State College alumnus, died on Aug. 30 at 93. Born March 20, 1932, in Havre de Grace, Md., he served as a counselor and dean of the Honors Faculty. His funeral on Sept. 16 drew tons of of scholars, alumni, college and mates.
Dr. Earl S. Richardson
Picture Credit score: Images courtesy of Meta (Fb) / Morgan State College
Dr. Earl S. Richardson, Morgan State president from 1984 to 2010, died at 81 on Sept. 13. He led the College by way of its “Renaissance,” increasing doctoral applications and including faculties together with Structure and Planning, Social Work, and International Journalism and Communication.
Assata Shakur
Picture Credit score: Credit score: Picture courtesy Dhoruba bin Wahid through New York Amsterdam Information
Assata Shakur, political activist and Black Panther Celebration member, died on Sept. 29 in Cuba. Born JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16, 1947, she later adopted the identify Assata Shakur. She turned a outstanding voice for freedom and justice and fled to Cuba after a life sentence for involvement in a state trooper’s loss of life.
Arthur Jones
Arthur Jones, former Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman and Tremendous Bowl champion, died at 39 on Oct. 3. He helped the Ravens win the 2013 Tremendous Bowl and later performed for the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders. He was the older brother of Final Preventing Championship (UFC) fighter Jon Jones and former Ravens participant Chandler Jones.
Ike Turner Jr.
Ike Turner Jr., Grammy-winning musician and son of Tina and Ike Turner Sr., died on Oct. 4 at 67 of kidney failure. He started touring along with his father at age 13 and later earned a Grammy for Greatest Conventional Blues Album for his contributions to “Risin’ With the Blues.”
Dr. Paulette C. Walker
Dr. Paulette C. Walker, former nationwide president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and educator, died on Oct. 8 at 77. She served because the twenty fifth nationwide president from 2013 to 2017 and influenced numerous college students all through her profession as a instructor, counselor, assistant principal and supervisor of state and federal applications.
D’Angelo
Picture Credit score: Picture by Cheryl Gerber/Invision/AP, File
D’Angelo, Grammy-winning neo-soul star, died on Oct. 14 at 51 after a protracted battle with most cancers. Born Michael Archer on Feb. 11, 1974, he rose to fame along with his 1995 debut, “Brown Sugar,” and helped outline the neo-soul motion along with his 2000 album “Voodoo,” that includes the observe “Untitled (How Does It Really feel).
Herb Brown
Herb Brown, Baltimore businessman, civic chief and World Warfare II veteran, died on Nov. 4 at 101. He based Mondawmin Journey Company in 1968, one among two Black-owned companies within the West Baltimore mall, and co-founded the Vanguard Group, serving to elect a number of Black politicians, together with state Sen. Verda Welcome.
Marshawn Kneeland
Marshawn Kneeland, defensive finish for the Dallas Cowboys, died on Nov. 6 at 24. Police are investigating his loss of life as a possible suicide. Drafted within the second spherical of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Western Michigan, he performed in 18 video games and scored his first NFL landing by recovering a blocked punt.
Viola Ford Fletcher
Viola Ford Fletcher, one of many final recognized survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Bloodbath, died on Nov. 24 at 111. She was 7 years previous when the bloodbath destroyed Greenwood, Tulsa’s thriving Black neighborhood, uprooting her household. In later years, she labored to protect Greenwood’s reminiscence and advocate for justice.
Jimmy Cliff
Picture Credit score: AP Picture/Wong Maye-E, File
Jimmy Cliff, the charismatic and pioneering reggae star and actor, died Nov. 24 from a “seizure adopted by pneumonia,” members of the family reported. He was 81.
The native Jamaican, whose tenor voice and reward for catchy, well timed lyrics made him well-liked with audiences worldwide, was as soon as the style’s most outstanding artist. He paved the best way for then-emerging reggae stars corresponding to Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh. He delivered classics like “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get it If You Actually Need” and “Vietnam,” and starred within the seminal movie, “The More durable They Come.”
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson
Picture Credit score: Courtesy picture
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, a longtime chief of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and an outspoken civil and social justice advocate, died Nov. 25 at age 71. Jackson, who was consecrated because the 132nd bishop of the AME Church in July 2012, most not too long ago served as presiding prelate of the AME Church’s Second Episcopal District, which incorporates Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
The Dover, Del., native, in his greater than 5 a long time of ministry, mixed religion and activism, championing voting rights, training fairness and financial justice throughout New Jersey, Georgia and past.
James L. Wright Jr.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy The Washington Informer
James L. Wright Jr., the internationally revered former AFRO reporter and editor, died at age 62 on Dec. 2.
Wright was a resolute and centered sports activities, political and public affairs reporter who additionally served as a metropolis editor for the AFRO American Newspaper for a few years. On the time of his loss of life, he labored as enterprise and political correspondent for the Washington Informer.
Wright, who died of pure causes at his residence in Seat Nice, Md., can be enormously missed by his AFRO Information household.
Rod Paige
Picture Credit score: Thomas Fordham Institute
Rod Paige, the primary African American to function U.S. secretary of training and a central architect of the No Baby Left Behind Act, died Dec. 9 at age 92. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Paige helped implement the 2002 legislation that set nationwide testing requirements and imposed penalties on faculties that failed to fulfill benchmarks, a framework modeled on reforms he pioneered as superintendent of the Houston Unbiased College District.
Although he solely served as secretary from 2001 to 2005, he remained engaged in training into his 90s, returning to Jackson State – the place he previously coached – as interim president.
Charles F. Robinson III
Picture Credit score: Courtesy picture
Charles F. Robinson III, a veteran journalist and information director, died on Dec. 15. He was a pacesetter of the Black Press and a key member of the Maryland Public Tv workforce, the place he’d labored for the previous six years.
He was recognized for being a assist to the youthful technology of journalists, offering them with alternatives like talking with lawmakers and serving to them go to the Maryland State Home to sit down in on classes.
