People, Locations, Episodes

Govan Mbeki, Activist, and Politician born

*Govan Mbeki was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black South African politician, journalist, Communist, and activist. Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki, who belongs to the Xhosa ethnic group, was born in the Nqamakwe district of the Transkei region. He was the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and the father […]

Edwin C. Berry, Administrative Activist born

*Edwin Berry was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black administrative activist. In Oberlin, Ohio, he was born to John A. Berry, an attorney, and Kitty Berry, a homemaker. Edwin C. “Bill” Berry was one of five children. At the age of six, Berry’s father died. Kitty struggled to make ends meet, […]

Mildred Jeffery, Activist born

Mildred “Millie” McWilliams Jeffrey was born on this date in 1910. She was a White American civil rights, labor, and woman’s rights activist.

Mildred McWilliams, known as Millie, was born on Dec. 29, 1910, in Alton, Iowa, the eldest of seven children. Her grandmother, a widow, ran a farm and raised 16 children by herself. Her mother, Bertha McWilliams, who was the first woman to become a registered pharmacist in Iowa in 1908, owned a pharmacy in Alton and later in Minneapolis, and raised seven children on her own after her husband left the family.

Johnnie Carr, Nurse, and Activist born

*Johnnie Carr was born on this date in 1911. She was a Black Activist and nurse. From Alabama, Johnnie Rebecca Daniels was the daughter of parents John and Annie Richmond Daniels, the youngest of six children. When she was nine, her father died; following his death, the family moved away from their farm to the […]

The Phyllis Wheatley Association Begins

*The establishment of the Phyllis Wheatley Association (PWA) is celebrated on this date in 1911.  Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it began as the Working Girls Home Association.   Created in response to the Great Migration, the Phillis Wheatley Association set out to the house and help unmarried Black women and girls and newcomers to the […]

The Atlanta Neighborhood Union is Formed

*On this date in 1911, we celebrate the Atlanta Neighborhood Union (ANU) charter. This was a Black women-led neighborhood organization in Atlanta, Georgia. Started in 1908 and chartered in 1911, it was “a prototype for self-help and social service organizations.” ANU was one of the most important Black organizations for Atlanta’s social services and worked […]

The First ‘Universal Races Congress’ Assembles

*On this date in 1911, the first “Universal Races Congress” assembled.   This four-day conference at the University of London was a 20th-century global effort against racism. Speakers from several countries discussed race relations and how to improve them.  The congress, with 2,100 attendees, was organized by prominent humanists of that era; it was conceived as a result of comments in 1906 by Felix Adler and primarily […]

Amelia Boynton, Activist born

*Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson was born on this date in 1911. She was an African American activist in the 20th century American Civil Rights Movement and a key figure in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march.

Amzie Moore, Activist born

*On this date, in 1911, Amzie Moore was born.  He was a Black activist, leader, and entrepreneur in the Mississippi Delta.   Moore was born on the Wilkin Mississippi plantation near the Grenada and Carroll county lines.  Left on his own at fourteen, after his mother died in 1925, Moore completed high school but could not realize his dream of a college education. Throughout the rest of […]

Lilian Ngoyi, South African Nurse and Activist born

*Lilian Ngoyi was born on this date in 1911. She was a Black machinist, nurse, and South African activist. Lilian Masediba Matabane was born in Pretoria, South Africa. She was the only daughter of Annie and Isaac Matabane and a sister to three brothers, Lawrence, George, and Percy. Her grandfather, on her mother’s side, was a […]

Melvin Alston, Educator, and Activist born

*Melvin Alston was born on this date in 1911. He was a Black educator and activist. From Norfolk, Virginia, Melvin Ovenus Alston’s father was Sonny Alston, and his mother was Elizabeth Smith, who was born in Long Island, New York. Alston had many brothers and sisters, and the family attended First Calvary or First Baptist […]

Lewis Hayden born

*Lewis Hayden was born on this date in 1811.  He was a Black politician and abolitionist.  From Lexington, KY. He was one of 25 children.  His mother was of mixed race, African, European and Native American.  Hayden was first owned by a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Adam Rankin who sold off his brothers and sisters in […]

Carlos Marighella, Writer, and Activist born

*Carlos Marighella was born on this date in 1911. He was an Afro Brazilian politician and writer. Marighella was born in Salvador, Bahia, to Italian immigrant Augusto Marighella and Afro Brazilian Maria Rita do Nascimento. His father was a blue-collar worker originally from Emilia, while his mother was a descendant of African slaves from Sudan (Hausa blacks). He spent […]

Lloyd Gaines, Law Student born.

*The birth of Lloyd Gaines is celebrated on this date in 1911. He was a Black law student and racial segregation plaintiff. Born in Water Valley, Mississippi, Lloyd Lionel Gaines moved with his mother and siblings to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1926 after the death of their father. Part of the Great Migration from rural communities in […]

The African National Congress (ANC) is Founded

On this date in 1912, The African National Congress was founded in South Africa with the aid of W.E.B.DuBois.