People, Locations, Episodes

William Pearly Oliver, Minister, and Activist born

*William Pearly Oliver was born on this date in 1912.  He was a Black minister, administrator, and activist. Born in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, his great-great-grandfather was a Black Loyalist who came to Nova Scotia after the War of 1812. From 1880 to 1934, his grandfather, William Oliver, served as “caretaker of the Ladies Seminary and later College […]

Dorothy Height, Social, and Administrative Activist born

*On this date in 1912 Dorothy Height was born. She was an African American administrator, teacher, and social activist.

Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, Activist born

Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was born on this date in 1912. She was an African American civil rights activist and educator.

Stanley Levison, Lawyer born

*Stanley David Levison, a white Jewish-American businessman, lawyer, and lifelong activist for progressive causes, was born on this date in 1912 in New York City. He attended the University of Michigan, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. He received two law degrees from St. John’s University. While serving as treasurer of the American Jewish Congress in Manhattan, he […]

Walter Sisulu, Politician, and Activist born

*Walter Sisulu was born on this date in 1912. He was an African politician and activist.

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was from the village of Qutubeni in the Engcobo district of Transkei, South Africa. His mother was a Black domestic worker and his father a White public servant. Never formally recognized by his father, Sisulu AKA Xhamela (his tribal name) was raised in the tribal tradition by his mother’s family and experienced Xhosa initiation rites. He got his primary education at the village school and at a nearby Anglican mission.

Daisy Bates, Administrative Activist born

*On this date we remember the birth of Daisy Bates. She was an African American civil rights activist who coordinated the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’s Central High School.

Heman M. Sweatt, Educator and Activist born

*Heman Sweatt was born on this date in 1912. He was an African American educator, postal worker and activist.

Juanita Mitchell, Lawyer born

Juanita Jackson Mitchell was born on this date in 1913. She was an African American lawyer, administrator, and activist.

Rosa Parks, Activist born

*Rosa Parks was born on this date in 1913. She was an African American civil rights activist.

Rosa McCauley grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and attended the all-Black Alabama State College. Rosa and her husband Raymond Parks were active in Montgomery’s chapter of the NAACP. She worked as the chapter’s youth adviser; on voter registration drives and was secretary of the NAACP’s Montgomery branch in 1943. As the 1950’s began, the segregated seating policies on public buses were growing as a source of resentment and bitterness within the Black community in Montgomery.

Gloster B. Current, Administrator born

*Gloster B. Current was born on this date in 1913. He was an administrator and activist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, his family came to Detroit in 1923. After graduating from Northwestern High School, he attended the Detroit Institute of Musical Art and the Detroit Institute of Technology. He received his B.A. from West Virginia State College in […]

Jewell Mazique, Journalist born

*Jewell Mazique was born on this date in 1913.  She was a Black and Native American Creek, Cherokee journalist and activist.  Born in Georgia, Ms. Jewell Crawford graduated from Spelman College. She received a Master’s in African Studies from Howard University, where she wrote her thesis on the development of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.  A member of Delta Sigma […]

Haywood Paterson, Scottsboro Boy born.

*Haywood Patterson was born on this date in 1913. He was one of the Scottsboro Boys. He was born in Elberton, Georgia. By age fourteen, he was riding the rails, looking for work. Patterson was in his late teens when he and eight other young black boys were accused of raping Victoria Price and Ruby Bates […]

Ray Alexander Simons, South African Activist, born.

*On this date in 1913, Ray Alexander Simons was born. She was a white Jewish South African communist and anti-apartheid activist. Simons was born Rachel Ester Alexandrowich in Latvia. She was one of six children from Simka Simon and Dobe Alexandrowich. Her father taught the Russian Language, German Language, and mathematics. He also ran a cheder […]

Charles K. Steele, Minister, and Activist born

*Charles K. Steele was born on this date in 1914. He was a Black preacher and a civil rights activist. Charles Kenzie Steele was the son of a coal miner, an only child from McDowell County, West Virginia. At a young age, he knew he wanted to be a preacher, and he started preaching when […]

James Cameron, Holocaust Museum Founder born

*James Cameron was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American brewing worker, activist and founder of America’s Black Holocaust Museum.

From LaCrosse, Wisconsin he was the son of James Herbert Cameron and Vera Carter. After his father left the family they moved to Birmingham, Alabama, then to Kokomo, Indiana. When his mother remarried, the family resettled in Marion, Indiana. Young Cameron attended DaPayne School through the 8th grade where he was given the name “Apples” because he carried apples in his pockets for lunch.