People, Locations, Episodes

Regina Anderson, Playwright, and Librarian born

This date celebrates the birth of Regina M. Anderson in 1901. She was an African American librarian, playwright, and patron of the arts.

Clarrisa Scott Delaney, Poet born

The birth of Clarissa Scott Delaney in 1901 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American educator, poet, and social worker.

Gwendolyn Bennett, Poet, and Artist born

Gwendolyn Bennett was born on this date in 1902. She was an African American poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist who was a vital figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Nicolas Guillen, Afro Cuban Poet born

Nicolas’ Guillen was born on this date in 1902. He was an Afro Cuban poet, writer, journalist, and social activist.

From Camageuey, Cuba, he was the sixth child of Argelia Batista y Arrieta and Nicolas’ Guillen y Urra, both of whom were of mixed African-Spanish decent. Guillen’s fathe, a journalist, introduced him to Afro-Cuban music when he was very young. His father was assassinated by the Cuban government, and as Nicolas and his brothers and sister finished school in pre-revolutionary Cuba, they encountered the same racism Black Americans lived with before the 1950s.

Wallace Thurman, Editor, and Playwright born

*This date marks the birth of Wallace Henry Thurman in 1902. He was an African American editor, critic, novelist, and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Arna Bontemps, Poet, and Teacher born

Arna W. Bontemps, an African American writer born in Alexandria, LA, was born on this date in 1902.

Bontemps received a B.A. from the Pacific Union College of California in 1923, and an M. A. from the University of Chicago in 1943. He was a teacher at every level of education.

Annie G. Nelson, Writer, and Dramatist born

*Annie Green Nelson was born on this date in 1902. She was an African American writer.

Carrie Best, Writer, and Publisher born

*Carrie Best was born on this date in 1903. She was a Black Canadian writer, publisher and activist.

From New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, she graduated from high school in the 1920’s after which she married her husband Albert Best. Together they had three children, a son Calbert and two girls Sharyn and Berma. Best was extremely involved in the community, raising awareness about human rights issues.

Marvel Cooke, Writer, Teacher, and Activist born

*On this date in 1903, Marvel Cooke was born. She was an African American journalist, writer, and civil rights activist.

Horace Cayton Jr., Sociologist, and Author born

*Horace R. Cayton, Jr. was born on this date in 1903. He was an African American sociologist, newspaper columnist, and author.

From Seattle, Washington, he was the son of newspaper publisher Horace R. Cayton, Sr. and Susie Revels. His mother was daughter of Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first black American elected to the United State Senate.

Countee Cullen, Poet, and Publisher born

*Countee Cullen was born on this date in 1903. He was an African American poet and prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance society.

From New York City Cullen was essentially a lyric poet whose work was influenced by that of the English poet John Keats. Much of Cullen’s best work dealt with themes pertinent to the lives of Black Americans, but without emphasizing dialect or stereotypes; he perceived art as universal. His several volumes of poetry include Color; Copper Sun; The Black Christ and On These I Stand, his selection of poems by which he wished to be remembered.

George Padmore, Pan-Africanist born

*George Padmore was born on this date in 1903.  He was an Afro Caribbean Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author.   Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, better known by his pen name George Padmore, was born in the Arouca District, Tacarigua, Trinidad, of the British West Indies. His paternal great-grandfather was an Asante warrior who was taken prisoner and sold into slavery in Barbados, where his grandfather was born.  His father, James […]

Gladys Hayford, Writer born

*Gladys May Casely-Hayford was born on this date in 1904. She was an African writer.

Norman Forgue, Print Publisher born

*Norman W. Forgue was born on this date in 1904.  He was a Black printer, publisher, and author.  He was born in Chicago. His family lived at several houses in Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood, where his father had an ice delivery business in the 1910s. In an unpublished memoir of his youth (Suddenly I […]

John P. Davis, Journalist born

*John P. Davis was born on this date in 1905. He was a Black journalist, lawyer, and activist administrator. John Preston Davis was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Dr. William Henry Davis and Julia Davis. In the 1920s, his father was Secretary to the Presidential Commission investigating the economic conditions in the Virgin […]