People, Locations, Episodes

Stanley Crouch, Newspaper Columnist born

Stanley Crouch was born on this date in 1945. He is an African American music critic, syndicated columnist, and novelist.

Born in Los Angeles, Crouch began writing at the age of eight through the encouragement of his mother. He also became active in the civil rights movement while in junior high school. After graduating from high school, he attended two junior colleges in the Los Angeles area. While studying at the East Los Angeles Junior College, Crouch worked for a poverty program in East Los Angeles, teaching a literacy class.

Our World Magazine is published.

*The first publication of Our World magazine was on this date in 1946. Our World was a magazine for African American readers founded by John P. Davis.   Our World Magazine was a full-size, nationally distributed magazine. Their first issue, which featured singer-actress Lena Horne on the cover, arrived on the nation’s newsstands in the spring. Our World […]

Marilyn Nelson Waniek, Poet, and Educator born

*Marilyn Nelson Waniek was born on this date in 1946. She is an African American writer, and educator.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Marilyn Nelson Waniek is the daughter of Melvin M. (in the U.S. Air Force) and Johnnie (a teacher) Nelson. She got her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis in 1968; M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, 1970; University of Minnesota, Ph.D., 1978. She was married to Erdmann F. Waniek (1970 – 1979); Roger R. Wilkenfeld (1979 – 1998); children: (second marriage) Jacob, Dora.

Judy Juanita, Poet, and Playwright born

*Judy Juanita was born on this date in 1946.  She is a Black poet, novelist, educator, and playwright.   Judith Hart was born in Berkeley, California, and raised in Oakland. At age 16, she began attending Oakland City College, transferring to San Francisco State University as a junior. She was a member of the school’s […]

Wanda Coleman, Poet, and Author born

*Wanda Coleman was born on this date in 1946.  She was a Black poet and author. Wanda Evans was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she grew up during the 1950s and 1960s. She was the eldest of four children.  Her parents were George and Lewana (Scott) Evans, who were introduced to […]

Darlene Clark Hine, Educator, and Author born

*Darlene Clark Hine was born on this date in 1947. She is an African American author, educator and historian.

Kalamu ya Salaam, Writer born

*Kalamu ya Salaam was born on this date in 1947. He is a Black writer.

Born Val Ferdinand III in New Orleans, he was inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes and the civil rights movement in his home town. Salaam became interested in writing and organizing for social change. Graduating from high school in 1964, he joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea. After service, Salaam attended Carleton College but returned to New Orleans in 1968 to earn an associate’s degree from Delgado College.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Player, and Author born

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born on this date in 1947. He was an African American Basketball player.

Yusef Komunyakaa, Poet born

*The birth of Yusef Komunyakaa in 1947 is celebrated on this date. He is an African American poet and writer.

Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Feminist, and Publisher born

Margaret Sloan-Hunter was born on this date in 1947. She was an African American writer, publisher, feminist, and civil rights activist.

She was born in Chattanooga, TN., and grew up in Chicago. She was just 14 years old when she joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a group that worked on poverty and urban issues on behalf of the African American community in Chicago. She organized tenants’ unions, rent strikes, and campaigned against the lead poisoning plaguing housing on the West Side, all before she was even old enough to vote.

Octavia Butler, Science Fiction Writer born

Octavia Estelle Butler was born on this date in 1947. She was an African American writer and the first African American woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a major science fiction writer.

Assata Shakur, Writer born

Assata Olugbala Shakur was born on this date in 1947. She is an African American writer exiled from America.

Nathaniel Mackey, Writer born

*Nathaniel Mackey was born on this date in 1947.  He is a Black poet and novelist.   Mackey was born in Miami, Florida. He received a B.A. from Princeton University and a PhD. from Stanford University.  His books of poetry include Splay Anthem (New Directions, 2006), which won the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry; Whatsaid […]

Charles Johnson, Novelist, and Screenwriter born

Charles R. Johnson was born on this date in 1948.  He is a Black scholar and author of novels, short stories, screen-and-teleplays, and essays, often with a philosophical orientation.   Charles Richard Johnson was born in Evanston, Illinois.  Under the tutelage of cartoonist Lawrence Lariar, he saw his work published by the time he was […]

White Journalist Reports Facts on the Segregated American South

*On this date in 1948, a white man’s account of being Black in the segregated south was published. Ray Sprigle a white reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette set out to document his experiences of being Black in “Jim Crow” South.