People, Locations, Episodes

John Artemus, Union Organizer born

The birth of John Artemus in 1885 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American labor organizer.

The Black Hebrew Israelites, a story

*The Black Hebrew Israelites are affirmed on this date in 1886. Also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites are groups of African Americans who believe they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Black Hebrew Israelites are not associated with the mainstream Jewish community, and they do not meet the standards used […]

I. Willis Cole, Newspaper Publisher born

*I. Willis Cole was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black newspaper editor and publisher, and human rights activist. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He started a newspaper career as a carrier at the age of 12. Cole graduated from Lemoyne Junior College in 1906 and later attended the University of Chicago. Became […]

Marcus Garvey, Black Nationalist born

*This date marks the birth of Marcus Garvey in 1887. He was an African American Black Nationalist leader, who was a proponent of the “Back to Africa” movement in the United States.

James Walker Hood Easton, Activist born

*Dr. James Walker Hood Eason was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black minister and activist. From Sunbury, North Carolina, he was the son of Douglass and Lucinda Eason, former slaves. His parents were members of the AME Zion Church and named him after their bishop, James Walker Hood. Young Eason was […]

W. Gertrude Brown, Educator, and Administrator born

On this date we celebrate the birth of W. Gertrude Brown in 1888. She was an African American activist for racial justice and the rights of children and women.

Although little is known of her formative childhood years, it is certain that Brown’s Charlotte, North Carolina education was impacting on her values and career. From 1906 to 1911, then known as Willie G. Brown, she was enrolled at Scotia Seminary in Concord, NC. This was a school founded by the Presbyterian Church to educate newly freed African American girls; Mary McLeod (Bethune) was a former graduate.

Cyril Briggs, Writer, and Political Activist born

*On this date in 1888 Cyril Valentine Briggs was born. He was an African American writer and political activist.

Born in Nevis, West Indies. Briggs moved to New York City in 1905 and got his first writing job at the Amsterdam News in 1912. In 1917, Briggs founded the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB) to stop lynching in the South and racial discrimination in the North. In 1918, the ABB began publishing a magazine called The Crusader.

A. Phillip Randolph, Labor Activist born

*On this date in 1889, A. Philip Randolph was born.  He was a Black Civil Rights, American Labor Movement, and Socialist Political party leader. Asa Phillip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida, the second son of the Rev. James William Randolph, a tailor and minister in an African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Elizabeth Robinson Randolph, […]

Lillie M. Carroll Jackson, Activist born

Lillie M. Carroll Jackson, an African American civil rights leader, dynamic director of the Maryland NAACP, and activist, was born on this date in 1889 in Baltimore.

She was the seventh of eight children born to Charles Henry and Amanda Bowen Carroll. Her father was Methodist minister Charles Henry Carroll. Lillie Jackson was educated in Baltimore’s Colored High School and graduated in 1908. After high school, she taught in the Black school system in Baltimore.

Sarah Delany, Educator, and Activist born

*Sarah Delany was born on this date in 1889.  She was a Black educator and activist.  Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany was born in what was then known as Lynch Station, Virginia, at the home of her mother’s sister, Eliza Logan.  She was the second eldest of ten children born to the Rev. Henry Beard Delany, the first Black Bishop of the […]

Mordecai Johnson, Educator born

On this date in 1890, Mordecai Johnson was born. He was an African American educator, clergyman, administrator, and public speaker.

Wyatt Mordecai Johnson was born in Paris, TN, the son of a former slave. Johnson learned through his parent’s example the muscle of self-determination, discipline, scholarship, and integrity. His father, a minister and laborer, was a stern man who worked at a mill six days a week, twelve hours a day, for forty years. His mother, Carolyn, offset his father’s firmness with patience and nurturing for her only child.

Black History and American Fusion Politics, a story

*Black History and American Fusion Politics is affirmed on this date in 1890. This is a national manifestation of business in a society centered on citizen and common populace uplift. After the American Civil War, fusion politics united political parties briefly and has ebbed and flowed with intended progressive, independent, self-governing results. In some western states, […]

Irene West, Educator, and Activist born

*Irene West was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black educator and Activist. She was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. West was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. She graduated from Alabama State College, which is now called Alabama State University. She also attended Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes. West was a member of numerous […]

The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament is Formed

*On this date in 1891, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a Roman Catholic order of nuns, was founded.  It is a Catholic charitable institute founded by Saint Katharine Drexel under the name Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People.   During her life, Saint Katharine Drexel used approximately 20 million dollars of her fortune to fund […]

William L. Patterson, Activist born

*William Lorenzo Patterson was born on this date in 1891.  He was a Black activist.  Born in San Francisco, California, his father, James Edward Patterson, was from St. Vincent in the British Virgin Islands.  His mother, Mary Galt Patterson, was born a slave in Virginia.  She was the daughter of the organizer of a volunteer regiment of black soldiers who fought with the Union […]