People, Locations, Episodes

Anthony Samad, Journalist born

*Anthony Samad was born on this date in 1957. He is a Black author, columnist, and scholar. Anthony Asadullah Samad was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from California State University in Los Angeles with his B.A. degree in communications in 1980. Samad received his M.P.A. degree in public finance from the University of […]

Duke (Magazine) is Published

*Duke Magazine was first published on this date in 1957. Duke was a short-lived men’s magazine formed by former employees of the Johnson Publishing Company. It is notable as an early attempt at an upscale adult periodical for African American audiences.  It was primarily a black-and-white publication, although the cover and centerfold were color-printed. Like many […]

Nelson George, Writer, and Filmmaker born

*Nelson George was born on this date in 1957.  He is a Black author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He graduated from St. John’s University in Brooklyn, after which he interned at the New York Amsterdam News before being hired as Black music editor for Record World. He later served as a music […]

Lenard D. Moore, Educator and Poet, born.

*Lenard D. Moore was born on this date in 1958.  He is an African American writer, educator, and poet. From Jacksonville, North Carolina, Lenard Duane Moore has written more than 20 forms of poetry, drama, essays, and literary criticism and has been writing and publishing haiku for more than two decades.  In 2008, Moore became […]

Michael Eric Dyson, Writer, Minister, and Scholar born

Michael Eric Dyson was born on this date in 1958. He is an African American educator and writer.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Educator, and Author born

*The birth of Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1959 is celebrated on this date. She is a Black educator, author, Black women’s civil rights advocate and a scholar of the field known as critical race theory. Crenshaw was born in Canton, Ohio, her parents were Marian and Walter Clarence Crenshaw, Jr. She attended Canton McKinley High School. She […]

Alice Randall, Author, and Lyricist born

*Alice Randall was born on this date in 1959. She is an author and songwriter. She was born Mari-Alice Randall in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Washington, D.C. Randall attended Harvard University, graduating in 1981 with an honors degree in English and American literature. In 1983 she moved to Nashville to become a country […]

Isabel Wilkerson, Author, and Journalist born

*The birth of Isabel Wilkerson is celebrated on this date in 1961.  She is a Black journalist and author.   Born in Washington, D.C., she studied journalism at Howard University, becoming editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, The Hilltop. During college, Wilkerson interned at many publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.  In […]

The Freedomways Journal is Published

*This date in 1961 celebrates the first issue of Freedomways.  This was the leading Black theoretical, political and cultural journal of the 1960s–1980s. It began publishing in the spring of 1961, and the journal’s founders were Louis Burnham, Edward Strong, W.E.B. Du Bois, and its first general editor Shirley Graham Du Bois.  Esther Cooper Jackson later edited it. Jackson would […]

Frank X. Walker, Writer born

Frank X. Walker was born on this date in 1961. He is an African American writer, administrator, poet, and educator.

Walker is a native of Danville, Ky., the eldest son of seven children of Faith and Frank Walker, Sr. As a youngster in school, he asked one of his teachers why there weren’t more books by Black authors in their library. Her response was

Black Like Me (the Book), a story

*Black Like Me is celebrated on this date in 1961. This is a nonfiction book by white journalist John Howard Griffin. It was recounting his journey in the Deep South of the United States when Blacks lived under the height of Jim Crow racial segregation. Griffin was a native of Mansfield, Texas, whose skin was temporarily darkened […]

Dwayne McDuffie, Super Hero Writer born

*Dwayne McDuffie as born on this date in 1962. He was an African American writer of comic books and animated television.

Elizabeth Alexander, Poet, and Writer born

*The birth of Elizabeth Alexander in 1962 is celebrated on this date. She is an African American writer, and educator.

Reginald Shepherd, Poet born

*Reginald Shepherd was born on this date in 1963. He was an African American writer and poet.

Suzan-Lori Parks, Playwright born

*Suzan-Lori Parks was born on this date in 1963.  She is a Black playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist.   She was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She grew up with two siblings in a military family. Parks enjoyed writing poems and songs and created a newspaper with her brother called the “Daily Daily”. Parks attended high […]