People, Locations, Episodes

William Powell, Entrepreneur and Golf Course Owner born

*William Powell was born on this date in 1916. He was a Black businessman, entrepreneur, and pioneering golf course owner. William J. Powell was born in Greenville, Alabama. During his youth, he moved with his family to Minerva, Ohio. In high school there, Powell played golf and football. Later, at Wilberforce University, he played on the […]

Sam Jethroe, Baseball Player born

*On this date in 1917, Sam Jethroe was born.  He was a Black center fielder in the Negro Baseball League and Major League Baseball.  From East St. Louis, Illinois, Samuel Jethroe was an all-around athlete. His father taught him to play baseball, and at Lincoln High School, he played football, basketball, and boxed. After high school, he began playing semipro ball […]

Dorothy Layne McIntyre, Aviator born

*Dorothy Layne McIntyre was born on this date in 1917.  She is a Black aviator (retired) and educator.  Dorothy Arlene Layne was born in Leroy, New York. She completed her elementary and secondary school education in Leroy, enrolled in West Virginia State College, and was accepted into the Civilian Pilot Training Program.  Layne then moved […]

Alfred ‘Tup’ Holmes, Golfer born.

*“Tup” Holmes was born on this date in 1917.  He was a Black amateur golfer.    Alfred F. “Tup” Holmes was born in East Point, Ga., graduated from Booker T. Washington High in Atlanta in 1933, and earned a degree from Tuskegee Institute in 1939.  Holmes excelled as a young amateur golfer. In college, he […]

LeRoy T. Walker, Educator, and Athletic Coach born

*LeRoy T. Walker was born on this date in 1918.  He was a Black educator, coach, administrator, and the first Black president of the United States Olympic Committee. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, the grandson of slaves and the youngest of 13 children in a close-knit family. His mother, Mary, always told him not to worry about the […]

Kenny Washington, Football Player born

*Kenny. Washington was born on this date in 1918.  He was a Black professional American football player.   Kenneth S. Washington was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the city’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood. He was the son of Edgar “Blue” Washington, who played Negro League baseball.  He was raised by his grandmother Susie and his uncle Rocky, the first Black uniformed lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He […]

Jackie Robinson, Baseball Player born

*Jackie Robinson was born on this date in 1919. He was an African American athlete, business executive, and civil rights leader.

Born to a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Georgia, Jack Roosevelt Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College and UCLA. In 1941 Robinson left college to join the United States Army and he received an honorable discharge in 1944 with the rank of first lieutenant. The following year, Robinson began his professional baseball career with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues.

Eddie Robinson, Football Coach, and Mentor born

*Eddie Robinson was born on this date 1919. He was an African American Black college football coach.

Edward Gay Robinson is from Jackson, La., he attended Leland College (Baker, La.), where he played quarterback and led the team to a combined 18-1 record over the 1939 and 1940 seasons. During his final two years at Leland he also served as an assistant coach. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1941 and received a master’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1954.

Herb Carnegie, Ice Hockey Player, born

*Herbert Carnegie was born on this date in 1919.  He was a Black Canadian ice hockey player.   Herbert Henry Carnegie was the fifth of seven children born in Toronto to Jamaican immigrants George and Adina Carnegie. George was a janitor with Toronto Hydro, a career that Herb recalls his father liking “about as much as a poke in the eye […]

Jimmy Bivins, Boxer, born.

*Jimmy Bivins was born on this date in 1919. He was an African American heavyweight boxer whose professional career ran from 1940 to 1955.

Edward A. Gibbs, Aviation, Instructor and Businessman born

*Edward Gibbs was born on this date in 1919. He was an aviator, businessman, and instructor. Edward Albertis Gibbs was from New York City. He attended New York City public schools and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from New York University and a Juris Doctorate Degree from New York Law School. […]

Marvin Williams, Baseball Player born

*Marvin Williams was born on this date in 1920. He was a Black baseball. Player.  Williams grew up in Houston, Texas, and began playing semi-pro ball in sawmill towns of Texas, such as Baytown and Conroe. In 1943, a group of players played on a barnstorming team that toured various small towns to stage exhibition […]

The Negro National League is Formed

*The first successful organized Negro League in baseball was established on this date in 1920. This occurred at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Kansas City Monarchs Baseball Team is Founded

*This date in 1920 celebrates the founding of the Kansas City Monarchs baseball organization.  The Monarchs played out of Kansas City, Missouri, and were the longest-running franchise in Negro League history.     Winners of more than a dozen league championships, the Monarch name became the Negro League’s answer to the New York Yankees. They won their first Colored World […]

Dan Bankhead, Baseball Player born

*Dan Bankhead was born on this date in 1920.  He was a Black baseball player in Negro League Baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers.   A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Daniel Robert Bankhead attended public schools there.  During World War II, he served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from April 1942 to June 1946 […]