People, Locations, Episodes

Frank Boyd, Union Activist born

*The birth of Frank Boyd in 1881 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American Pullman Porter and labor activist.

The Minnesota Women’s Sufferage Association is Founded

*The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) was founded on this date in 1881. MWSA was an organization devoted to women’s suffrage in Minnesota. After the American Civil War and the fall of Reconstruction, activism from Blacks and women found common ground against voter suppression. Created at the Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Minnesota, the MWSA members organized marches, wrote petitions […]

Williana Burroughs, Educator, and Activist born

*Williana Burroughs was born on this date in 1882.  She was a Black teacher, communist political activist, and politician.  Williana “Liana” Jones Burroughs was born in Petersburg, Virginia.  Her mother was a slave; her father died when Williana was four. Her widowed mother left Virginia for New York City, bringing Williana with a sister and a brother, where she worked as a cook.  Her mother could not […]

John Wesley Dobbs, Atlanta Civic Leader born

The birth of John Wesley Dobbs in 1882 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American postal clerk, civic leader, and activist.

Often called the Unofficial “Mayor” of Auburn Avenue,
Dobbs was born in Marietta, Georgia. In 1897, he went to Atlanta, worked at a drugstore, and attended Atlanta Baptist College (Morehouse College). In 1903, Dobbs passed the U.S. postal exam to become a postal clerk and assumed a highly respected position for a Black man at the turn of the century. Three years later he married Irene Ophelia Thompson, and together they would have six daughters.

Augustus Dill, Editor, Manager, and Activist born.

*Augustus Dill was born on this date in 1882. He was a Black business manager, musician, and activist. Augustus Granville Dill was born in Portsmouth, Ohio. His parents were John Dill and Elizabeth Jackson. He received his B.A. from Atlanta University in 1906, a second B.A. from Harvard in 1908, and his M.A. in 1909 from Harvard. […]

Jane E. Hunter, Community Activist born

*On this date in 1882 Jane Edna Hunter was born. She was an African American activist and reformer.

Lawrence Nixon, Physician, and Voting Advocate born

*Lawrence Nixon was born on this date in 1883. He was a Black physician and voting-rights advocate.

Hubert Harrison, Activist born

*The birth of Hubert Harrison in 1883 is marked on this date. He was an African American activist, educator, and writer.

Jessie Daniel Ames, Activist born

*Jessie Daniel Ames was born on this date in 1883.  She was a white suffragist and American Civil Rights leader.  She was born Jessie Harriet Daniel in Palestine, Texas. Her mother was Laura Maria Leonard, and her father was James Malcolm Daniel.  Ames was admitted to the Ladies Annex of Southwestern University at 13 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in […]

Daisy Lampkin, Suffragist born

*Daisy Lampkin was born on this date in 1884.  She was a Black suffragist, civil rights activist, administrator, and community leader. Daisy Elizabeth Adams was from Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of George Adams from Virginia & Rose Proctor from Charles County, Maryland. Her grandparents were Joseph Jenifer Proctor & Elizabeth Swann, free persons of color.  After […]

David Hamilton Jackson, Labor Rights Advocate born

*David Hamilton Jackson was born on this date in 1884. He was a Black educator and labor rights advocate. He was born in Estate East Hill, St. Croix, Danish West Indies. Jackson worked as an educator and later a bookkeeper and clerk before becoming involved in the politics of the Danish West Indies. He traveled […]

Chris Braithwaite, Union Activist born

*This date marks the birth of Chris Braithwaite in 1885. He was an Afro Caribbean union activist in the Colonial Seamen’s Association.   Braithwaite, also known as Chris Jones, was born in Barbados. As a teenager, he went to sea with the British Merchant Navy and traveled the world as a sailor. He settled in Chicago before rejoining the Merchant Navy during World War I. […]

Eugene Jones, Union Advocate born

*Eugene Jones was born on this date in 1885.  He was a Black administrator of the National Urban League and a union advocate. Eugene Kinckle Jones was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Joseph Endom Jones and Rosa Daniel Kinckle. He graduated from Richmond’s Virginia Union University in 1905 and Cornell University with a master’s degree […]

Richard B. Moore, Businessman, and Activist

*On this date in 1885, Richard B. Moore was born. He was an African American activist and businessman.

From Barbados, he emigrated to New York, working as an office boy, elevator operator, and for a silk manufacturing firm. The racism Moore encountered while in America prompted him to a life of activism. In 1915, he founded and was treasurer of the Pioneer Cooperative Society, a grocery store that featured West Indian products. Moore was self-educated and began to collect an extensive library of literature.

Mary Edwards Hunter, Community Educator born

*Mary Edwards Hunter was born on this date in 1885. She was a Black teacher; extension agent, and women and children advocate. Mary Evelyn Virginia Edwards was born in Fitchburg, Alabama, the fifteenth of seventeen children of Elijah E. and Frances (Moore) Edwards. While still a girl, she became the bookkeeper for her father’s store, […]