People, Locations, Episodes

Eugene Hickman Sr., Pharmacist, and Educator born

*The birth of Eugene Hickman Sr. is celebrated on this date in 1928. He was a Black Pharmacist and educator. From Louisiana, Hickman excelled in his pre-collegiate education in the segregated public schools of Louisiana and Texas. After a tour of duty in the United States Army, he enrolled at Texas Southern University. He completed […]

Fatima Meer, South African Coloured Activist, born.

*Fatima Meer was born on this date in 1928. She was a South African Coloured writer, academic, screenwriter, and activist. Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class family of nine. Her father was Moosa Ismail Meer, a newspaper editor of The Indian Views. Her mother, Rachel Farrell, was orphaned […]

Paule Marshall, Educator, and Writer born

*Paule Marshall was born on this date in 1929. She was a Black poet and prose writer, and professor. She was born Valenza Pauline Burke in Brooklyn, New York, to Adriana Viola Clement Burke and Sam Burke. Marshall’s father had migrated from Barbados to New York in 1919 and, during her childhood, deserted the family […]

Jocelyn Anita Barrow, Educator, and Politician born.

*Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow DBE was born on this date in 1929. She was a Black British educator, community activist, and politician. Jocelyn Barrow was the daughter of Barbadian father Charles Newton Barrow and Olive Irene (nee Pierre). She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where she was active politically as a member of […]

Douglass High School (Southern California) is Founded

Douglass High School in Imperial County, CA, was founded on this date in 1929. One of the first Black High Schools in that Southern California area.

Frederick Tillis, Composer, Collegiate Educator, born

*Frederick Tillis was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and collegiate music educator. Born in Galveston, Texas, Frederick Charles Tillis was raised by his mother, Zelma Bernice Gardner Tillis, his stepfather, General Gardner, and his maternal grandparents, Willie Tillis and Jessie Tillis-Hubbard. His mother played piano and […]

The National Pan-Hellenic Council Begins

*On this date in 1930, The National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. (NPHC) was formed.

They are a permanent organization on the campus of Howard University, in Washington, D.C. (NPHC) is an umbrella organization for nine historically black, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. Each of the nine NPHC organizations evolved during a period when African Americans were being denied essential rights and privileges afforded other college students.

Josie Johnson, Educator, Author, and Activist born

*Josie Johnson was born on this date in 1930. She is an African American educator, activist and administrator.

From Houston, TX Josie Robinson Johnson is one of three children born to Judson and Josie Robinson. Her great grandfather Ralph was twelve years old when emancipation from slavery was granted. As a child, he was employed to furnish a step stool for white women to use as they stepped down from carriages and stage coaches in Texas.

Derrick Bell, Educator, and Activist born

*Derrick Bell was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black lawyer, professor, writer, and activist. Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was born in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and received a B.A. from Duquesne University in 1952. He was a Duquesne Reserve Officers’ Training Corps member and later served as an Air Force […]

David Driskell, Artist, and Art Educator born

*David C. Driskell was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black artist, scholar, professor, and curator recognized for establishing African American Art as a distinct field of study. David Clyde Driskell was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of George Washington Driskell, a Baptist minister, and Mary Cloud Driskell, a homemaker. William […]

Andrew Hill, Pianist and Educator born

*Andrew Hill was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black jazz pianist, educator, and composer. Andrew Hill was born to William and Hattie Hill in Chicago, Illinois. He had a brother, Robert, a singer and classical violin player. Hill took up the piano at thirteen and was encouraged by Earl Hines. As a child, […]

Vincent G. Harding, Historian born

*Vincent Harding was born on this date in 1931. He was an African American historian, author and educator.

Stuart M. Hall, Educator, and Theorist born

*Stuart Hall was born on this date in 1932. He was a Black Jamaican-British Marxist sociologist, cultural theorist, and political activist. Stuart McPhail Hall was born in Kingston, Jamaica, into a middle-class Jamaican family of African, British, Portuguese, Jewish, and Indian descent. He attended Jamaica College, receiving an education modeled after the British school system. In […]

Vivienne Malone-Mayes, Math Professor born

*Vivienne Malone-Mayes was born on this date in 1932.  She was a Black mathematician and professor.   Vivienne Lucille Malone was born in Waco, Texas, to Pizarro and Vera Lucille Estelle Allen Malone.  Growing up in a Black community in the Jim Crow South was difficult.  This included racially segregated schools, but the encouragement of […]

Edward Crosby, Professor, and Administrator, born

*Edward Crosby was born on this date in 1932. He was a Black professor and administrator emeritus. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Edward Warren Crosby was the fourth child of Frederick Douglass and Marion G. Crosby. He attended Cleveland’s Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament parochial and St. Edward’s Catholic high schools. Initially a […]