*Charles K. Steele was born on this date in 1914. He was a Black preacher and a civil rights activist. Charles Kenzie Steele was the son of a coal miner, an only child from McDowell County, West Virginia. At a young age, he knew he wanted to be a preacher, and he started preaching when […]
learn more*Abraham Lincoln Davis was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American minister and Civil Rights activist.
Abraham Lincoln “A. L.” Davis was born in Bayou Goula, Louisiana and moved to New Orleans in 1930 to live with a sister and attend high school. Davis graduated from McDonogh 35 High School, received his B. A. degree from Leland College and his theological degree from Union Baptist Theological Seminary. He became the pastor of New Zion Baptist Church in 1935 where he became known as the Rev. A. L. Davis. He served as pastor of New Zion for forty-three years.
learn more*C. L. Franklin was born on this date in 1915. He was a Black Baptist minister and civil rights activist. He was born Clarence LaVaughn Walker in Bolivar County, Mississippi, to sharecroppers Willie and Rachel (née Pittman) Walker. C.L. Franklin would recall that the only thing his father did for him was to teach him to salute […]
learn more*The First Calvary Baptist Church of Norfolk is celebrated on this date in 1915. This is a historic Black Baptist church located in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a four-story, 11-bay, brick church building in the Second Renaissance Revival style. The building features decorative terra cotta and a stained-glass dome. It has a two-tier, engaged entrance portico with […]
learn more*This date in 1915 celebrates the birth of Rev. Floyd Massey Jr. He was an African American minister and teacher.
learn more*Homer Jack was born on this date in 1916. He was a white-American Unitarian Universalist clergyman, pacifist, and social activist. From Rochester, NY., Homer A. Jack was an only child to active socialist parents. His grandparents had immigrated from central and eastern Europe to escape oppression and poverty. Like his parents, young Jack was a […]
learn more*James B. Davis was born on this date in 1916. He was an African American gospel music singer and a founder of The Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the longest-lasting and most influential groups in gospel music.
learn more*Claude Black was born on this date in 1916. He was an African American Baptist minister, activist and Politician.
learn moreRembert E. Stokes was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American bishop, educator, and administrator.
learn more*On this date in 1918, T. J. Jemison was born. He was a Black minister and activist. Theodore Judson Jemison was born in Selma, Alabama where his father, the Reverend David V. Jemison, was the pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. He came from a family of prominent ministers and strong churchgoing women. The youngest of six children, he […]
learn more*Calvary Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, OK, is celebrated on this date in 1921. was the physical and spiritual base for a multi-year sit-in campaign that changed the face of segregation in Oklahoma City. Constructed in 1921 by black architect and church member Russell Benton Bingham, Calvary Baptist Church is a striking three-story brick building with […]
learn more*Samuel Proctor was born on this date in 1921. He was a Black minister, educator, and humanitarian. Samuel DeWitt Proctor was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Proctor’s grandparents on both sides had received education at the university level: his paternal grandmother had attended Hampton Institute, and both of his maternal grandparents had attended Norfolk Mission College. His parents, Herbert Proctor and Velma Hughes, met […]
learn more*Joseph Lowery was born on this date in 1921. He is an African American minister in the United Methodist Church and civil rights activist.
From Huntsville, Ala. Joseph E. Lowery is the son of LeRoy and Dora Lowery. He attended middle school in Chicago while staying with relatives, returning to Huntsville to complete high school. He then attended Knoxville College and Payne College and Theological Seminary, earning his doctorate of divinity at Chicago Ecumenical Institute.
learn more*Bessie Griffin was born on this date in 1922. She was an African American gospel vocalist.
learn moreDoris Akers was born on this date in 1923. She was an African American Gospel composer and vocalist.
Born in Brookfield, Missouri, she she began her musical career at a young age. She was playing piano at age six, and her first song, “Keep the Fires Burning in Me,” was written when she was ten. While in school she formed her own moving to Los Angeles in the 1940s, she performed with the Sally Martin Singers and later organized her own gospel group, the Doris Akers Singers.
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