People, Locations, Episodes

The Black Arts Movement In America, a story

*The Black Arts Movement (BAM) is celebrated on this date in 1965. They were a Black-led art movement active during the 1960s and 1970s. BAM created new cultural institutions through activism and art and conveyed another message of black pride. The beginnings of the Black Arts Movement focus on when Amiri Baraka moved uptown to […]

The Watts Writers Workshop is Formed

On this date we celebrate the Watts Writers’ Workshop, a creative writing group based in Los Angeles, CA., and begun in 1965

Screenwriter Budd Schulberg started the Watts Writers’ Workshop in response to the damage from the Watts Riots of South Los Angeles neighborhood a month earlier. Early contributors included poets Quincy Troupe and John Eric Priestley. Another of the first participants was Johnie Scott, who became the director of the Pan-African Studies Writing program at California State University, Northridge.

The Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) is formed

*The Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) was formed on this date in 1967. Hoyt W. Fuller conceived OBAC as a collective of African American writers, artists, historians, educators, intellectuals, community activists, and others. The group was initially called Committee for the Arts (CFA), formed in Southside Chicago, Illinois. By May 1967, the group became […]

The Watts Prophets are Formed

*The Watts Prophets were founded on this date in 1967.  They are an African American group of musicians and poets from Los Angeles (Watts), California. Like their contemporaries, The Last Poets, the group combined elements of jazz music and spoken-word performance, making the trio a forerunner of contemporary hip-hop music.  Initially, the group comprised Richard Dedeaux, Father Amde Hamilton, and Otis O’Solomon.  They collaborated at the Watts Writers Workshop, created by Budd […]

Michelle Alexander born

*Michelle Alexander was born on this date 1967.  She is an African American writer, civil rights advocate, and educator. She is the daughter of Sandra Alexander, formerly of Ashland, Oregon, and the late John Alexander, originally from Evanston, Illinois. Her mother was the senior vice president of the ComNet Marketing Group in Medford, Oregon, which solicits donations for nonprofit organizations. Her […]

Colson Whitehead, Author born

*Colson Whitehead was born on this date in 1969.  He is a Black author.   Arch Colson Whitehead was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan. He is one of four children to entrepreneurial parents who owned an executive recruiting firm.  He attended the elite prep Trinity School in Manhattan and graduated […]

Rebecca Walker, Feminist Writer born

*Rebecca Walker was born on this date in 1969. She is an African American feminist, speaker and writer.

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association is Founded

*The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) is celebrated on this date in 1970. They are an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA) that focuses on the needs of African American library professionals by promoting careers in librarianship, funding literacy initiatives, and providing scholarships. While work began to organize a Black Caucus […]

Kevin Young, Poet, and Administrator born

*Kevin Young was born on this date in 1970.  He is a Black poet, teacher, and administrator.   Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, he is the only child of two working parents: his father, Dr. Paul E. Young, an ophthalmologist, and his mother, Dr. Azzie Young, a chemist. Due to the careers of both of his parents, […]

Binyavanga Wainaina, Writer, and Professor born

*Binyavanga Wainaina was born on this date in 1971. He was a Black Kenyan author, professor, journalist, and LGBT activist.   Binyavanga Wainaina was born in Nakuru in Rift Valley Province, Kenya. He attended Moi Primary School in Nakuru, Mangu High School in Thika, and Lenana School in Nairobi. He later studied commerce at the University of Transkei in South Africa, where he went to live in 1991.  […]

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is Published

*This date in 1971 celebrates novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines.

The story depicts the struggles of African American as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman. She tells of the major events of her life from the time she was a young slave girl in the American South at the end of the Civil War. The fiction novel was first published by Bantam Books and was later dramatized in a TV movie in 1974, starring Cicely Tyson.

Touré, Media Journalist, and Writer

*Touré was born on this date in 1971. He is a Black author, journalist, cultural critic, and television personality. From Boston, MA., Touré Neblett’s father, Roy E. Neblett, was an accountant and a member of the personal staff of Boston mayor Kevin White. Touré’s parents met while Roy was studying at Suffolk University Law School, […]

Jesse Holland, Journalist, and Educator born

*Jesse Holland was born on this date in 1971.  He is a Black journalist, author, television personality, and educator.  Jesse James Holland Jr. is from Holly Springs, Mississippi, and is one of four siblings. His parents, Jesse James Holland, and Yvonne Boga Holland, were public school teachers in Memphis, Tennessee, and Mount Pleasant, Mississippi, respectively, and the […]

Jessica Moore, Writer born

*Jessica Care Moore was born on this date in 1971. She is an African American poet, artist, publisher and entertainer.

Tracy K. Smith, Poet, and Educator born

*Tracy K. Smith was born on this date in 1972.  She is a Black poet and educator. Born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, she was raised in Fairfield, California; her family heritage is from Alabama. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was an engineer who worked on the Hubble telescope. Smith became interested in writing […]