People, Locations, Episodes

Claude Lightfoot, Activist born

*The birth of Claude M. Lightfoot 1910 in celebrated on this date. He was an African American activist, politician, and author.

Clarence Mitchell Jr. , Lawyer, and Lobbyist born

*On this date in 1911, Clarence Mitchell was born. He was an African American lawyer and lobbyist.

From Baltimore, Mitchell attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania receiving an A.B. degree in 1932. The following year he joined the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper as a reporter. Five years later he ran unsuccessfully for the Maryland House of Delegates on the socialist party ticket. In 1938, he was named executive secretary of the Minnesota branch of the National Urban League.

William Ming Jr., Lawyer born

*William Ming Jr., a black lawyer and law professor, was born on this date in 1911. William Robert Ming Jr. was born in Chicago to Annie and William Ming Sr., a South Side Chicago municipal employee. Young Ming Jr. worked as a grocery clerk and on wrecking crews while putting himself through the University of […]

Leona P. Thurman, Lawyer born

Leona Pouncey Thurman was born on this date in 1911. She was an African American attorney.

Born in Russellville, Arkansas, Thurman attended Henderson Business College in Memphis before settling in Kansas City in 1931. She became attracted to the law profession as a career while working as a secretary for attorney James D. Pouncey, whom she married in 1937. Following her husband’s death, Leona Pouncey attended Howard University Law School. She received her law degree in 1949 and became the first Black woman to practice law in Kansas City.

James Parsons, Judge born

*James Parsons was born on this date in 1911. He was an African American lawyer and judge.

Eric Williams, Author, and Politician born

*Eric Williams was born on this date in 1911. He was an Afro Caribbean author, politician, and activist. Eric Eustace Williams was born in Trinidad. His father, Thomas Henry Williams, was a minor civil servant. Eliza Frances Boissiere’s mother was a descendant of the mixed French Creole elite and had African and French ancestry. He attended the Tranquillity […]

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 […]

Helen Gray Edmonds, Educator, and Public Policy Administrator born

*Helen Gray Edmonds was born on this date in 1911. She was a Black educator and political activist.  From Lawrenceville, Va., she was the daughter of John Edward Edmonds and Ann Williams. She attended St. Paul’s High School and St. Paul’s College. Edmonds graduated from Morgan State University in 1933. After this, she earned a master’s degree from […]

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 National Negro Bar Association is formed

*The National Negro Bar Association (NNBA) began on this date in 1912.   It was the first national bar association for African American lawyers in the United States. The NNBA was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the time, the American Bar Association refused to accept black members, making the NNBA the only national bar association […]

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 […]

Bennett Stewart, H.S. Principal, and Politician born

*On this date, Bennett McVey Stewart was born in 1912. He was an African American high school principal, professor and a former U. S. Representative.

George Leighton, District Court Judge born

George Leighton, an African American attorney, judge and activist, was born on this date in 1912.

Raised in New Bedford, MA, George Neves Leitao (his birth name) is the son of Anna Silva Garcia and Antonio Neves Leitao; both were from Cape Verde. It was in school that he got the name “Leighton” as the teacher claimed she could not pronounce his last name “Leitao.” His parents, wanting no problems for their son, agreed.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American Military Pioneer born

Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., was born on this date in 1912. He was an African American army officer and military activist.

Juanita Mitchell, Lawyer born

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