People, Locations, Episodes

Haki Madhubuti, Writer, and Editor born

*Haki R. Madhubuti was born on this date in 1942. He is an African American poet, essayist, and editor.

Born Donald Luther Lee (Don L. Lee) in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended the University of Illinois and received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.

Samuel Delaney, Science Fiction Writer born

*Samuel Delany was born on this date in 1942. He is an African American writer, critic, science fiction novelist, and educator.

Abdul Alkalimat, Author and Professor born

*Abdul Alkalimat was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black author and professor of African American studies and library and information science. Born Gerald Arthur McWorter in Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, he lived with his family in the Frances Cabrini Houses until 1953, when they moved to the city’s West Side. Alkalimat is the […]

Eric Foner, Historian and Author born.

*Eric Foner was born on this date in 1943.  He is a white Jewish-American historian and author.  Foner was born in New York City, New York, the son of Jewish parents, Liza (née Kraitz), a high school art teacher, and historian Jack D. Foner, who was active in the trade union movement and the campaign […]

Nikki Giovanni, Poet, and Activist born

On this date in 1943, Nikki Giovanni was born. She is an African American writer, poet, commentator, activist, educator, and publisher.

She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., in Knoxville, TN, and although she grew up in Cincinnati, OH, she and her sister returned to Knoxville each summer to visit their grandparents. Nikki graduated with honors in history from her grandfather’s alma mater, Fisk University.

James McPherson, Author born

*James McPherson was born on this date in 1943.  He was a Black essayist and short-story writer. James Alan McPherson was born in Savannah, Georgia, the second of four children.  His father was a master electrician (the first Black so recognized in Georgia), and his mother, Mabel Small, was a maid.  While McPherson was growing […]

Roy McBride, Poet born

*Roy McBride was born on this date in 1943. He was a Black teacher, writer, community activist, and poet/spoken word artist. Roy Chester McBride was from Magnolia, Arkansas, and was the firstborn of Roger and Lacinea McBride; McBride fell in love with books and reciting words as a child. The Arkansas native moved to the […]

Pat Parker, Poet born

*Pat Parker was born on this date in 1944.  She was a Black lesbian women’s advocate, author, and poet.  Southern born and educated in Houston, Texas, Pat Cooks was the youngest of four daughters in a Black working-class family.  Her parents were Marie Louise (née Anderson) and Ernest Nathaniel Cooks. Marie Louise worked as a domestic […]

Alice Walker, Author born

*This date marks the birth of Alice Walker in 1944. She is an African American author, speaker, and poet.

Archie Givens Jr., Businessman, Historian born

*Archie Givens Jr. was born on this date in 1944. He was a Black philanthropist, humanitarian, collector of literature, and businessman. From the southside of Minneapolis, MN., Givens’ father was a businessman who, with his wife, Phebe O’Shields Givens, built a successful real estate development business and became the state’s first black millionaire family. In […]

Margaret Busby, Writer and Publisher born

*The birth of Margaret Busby is celebrated on this date in 1944. She is a Black publisher, editor, writer, and broadcaster resident of the UK. Margaret Yvonne Busby was born in Accra, Ghana, to Dr. George Busby and Mrs. Sarah Busby (née Christian). Her parents sent their three children to be educated in England when Busby […]

Denise Nicholas, Actress, and Writer born

*Denise Nicolas was born on this date in 1944.  She is a Black retired actress and writer.  From Detroit, MI, Nicholas attended the University of Michigan and studied acting in New York.  Her stage career began as an apprentice with the Free Southern Theater, touring rural Louisiana and Mississippi during the American Civil Rights Movement.  […]

An American Dilemma (the Book) is Published

*The book, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, was published on this date in 1944. This book was a study of American race relations authored by white Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal. Myrdal’s volume, at nearly 1,500 pages, painstakingly detailed what he saw as obstacles to full participation in American society that American blacks faced […]

Evelyn Williams, Poet born

*Evelyn Dilworth-Williams was born on this date in 1945. She is an African American poet, teacher, author, and motivational speaker.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she is the seventh child of Guy and Bertha Dilworth. She has nine siblings, six older and three younger. Williams spent her early childhood living in the mining and farm community, Edgewater and Panola in Alabama. As a teenager and young adult, she actively participated in the 1963 Civil Rights Movement demonstrations and Voter Rights demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama.

Carolyn Rodgers, Poet, and Educator born

Carolyn Rodgers, an African American writer, poet, and educator, was born on this date in 1945.

Born in Chicago, Carolyn Marie Rodgers attended the University of Illinois in 1960, but transferred to Chicago’s Roosevelt University one year later and received her BA in 1965. She began writing as a college freshman. In 1980, she earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago. She achieved a national reputation as a writer whose works largely relate to her concern with feminist issues and a particular concern for Black women.