Sam Greenlee was born in St Luke's Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, to an African-American family.
12 Facts About Sam Greenlee
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Sam Greenlee's parents were singer and dancer Desoree Alexander and railroad man and union activist Samuel Greenlee.
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Sam Greenlee attended Englewood High School, and in 1948 won a track scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1952 with a BS degree in political science.
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Sam Greenlee was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
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Sam Greenlee served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954, earning the rank of first lieutenant, and from 1954 to 1957 did graduate studies in international relations at the University of Chicago.
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In 1957, Greenlee began a career with the United States Information Agency, and, as one of the first black officials to work overseas, served in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Greece between 1957 and 1965.
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Sam Greenlee wrote short stories, plays, and the screenplay for a film short called Lisa Trotter, a story adapted from Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
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Sam Greenlee lived in Ghana and Spain for some years, before returning to Chicago in the late 1980s.
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Sam Greenlee taught screenwriting at Columbia College Chicago and hosted a talk show on WVON radio.
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Sam Greenlee worked on an autobiography that was to be called Sam's Blues: Adventures of a Travelling Man.
11.
On May 19,2014, Sam Greenlee died in Chicago at the age of 83.
12.
On July 13,2022, which would have been his 92nd birthday, Sam Greenlee Day was celebrated around Chicago's South Side.