People, Locations, Episodes

Charles Black, Law Professor born

*Charles L. Black Jr. was born on this date in 1915. He was a White American Professor, and authority in constitutional law.

Lincoln Hudson, Military Officer born

*Lincoln Hudson was born on this date in 1916. He was a Black U.S. Army Air Force officer, fighter pilot, Prisoner of War in Nazi Germany, and corporate executive. Lincoln T. Hudson was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He was the son of a Methodist minister who traveled to various congregations in the Southern United States. […]

The No. 2 Construction Battalion is Formed

*On this date in 1916, the No. 2 Construction Battalion was formed. Raised in Nova Scotia, the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), was one of two predominantly black battalions in Canadian military history. It was the only Canadian battalion composed of black soldiers to serve in World War I. With the outbreak […]

Julius Winfield Robertson, Lawyer born

*Julius Winfield Robertson was born on this date in 1916.  He was a Black lawyer, author, and civil rights activist.    Born in rural Georgia to a family of farmers, they moved to Tennessee for better opportunities.  In the early 1920s, he moved to Washington, DC, to escape the harsh realities of being a black man living in […]

Spottswood Robinson III, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Spottswood Robinson was born on this date in 1916.  He was a Black lawyer, judge, and civil rights, activist.     Spottswood William Robinson, III, was from Richmond, Virginia.   As a young man, he had two heroes, his father and paternal grandfather; he idolized his grandfather because of his fearlessness and accomplishments. Spottswood W. Robinson, Sr. was born into […]

Oliver Sutton, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Oliver Sutton was born on this date in 1916.  He was a Black attorney and judge.   Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was the last of fifteen children born to Samuel (“S.J.”) Sutton and Lillian Sutton.  His father was born a slave and became an early 20th-century American civil-rights activist.  He was one of the first blacks in […]

Ruth Barrow, Health Educator born

Ruth Nita Barrow was born on this date in 1916. She was a Jamaican nurse, politician, and administrator.

She was born in Barbados at Nesfield, St. Lucy, where she trained as a nurse, midwife, and health care administrator, holding a variety of nursing, public health and public administration jobs in Barbados and Jamaica in the 1940s and 1950s. Barrow made her contributions in several arenas, but her most prominent contributions were in nursing education and with the YWCA. She worked on the professional organization of nurses and the establishment of quality nursing education.

Leonard Harmon, WW II Sailor born

*Leonard Harmon was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American sailor who died in action during World War II and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.

Robert L. Carter, Attorney, and Activist born

*Robert Lee Carter was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American Attorney, United States District Judge and Civil Rights activist.

From Caryville, Florida, while still very young, his mother moved north to Newark, New Jersey, where he was raised. Carter graduated from high school at sixteen and earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and his law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1940, both on scholarship. He also was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Jimmy Griffin, Police Officer, and Community Activist born

*Jimmy Griffin was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American police officer and activist.

Melvin H. Evans, Politician born

*On this date in 1917, Melvin Herbert Evans was born. He was an African American politician, public health official, and physician.

The First Black West Point Officers Graduate

On this date in 1917, the first Black enlistees from West Point graduated from military duty at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

Franklin Hall Williams, Attorney born

*Franklin Hall Williams was born on this date in 1917.  He was a Black lawyer and civil rights advocate. Williams was born in Flushing, Queens; his mother died when he was two years old; his grandparents raised him.  He graduated from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University in 1941. In 1945 he earned a law degree from Fordham University after […]

Anna Langford, Politician, and Activist born

On this date in 1917, Anna Langford was born. She was an African American politician and attorney.

Born in Springfield, OH, Langford was educated at Roosevelt University, and earned a law degree in 1956, which beganan extensive career in civil rights and criminal law. Working throughout the state of Illinois, she actively defended civil rights workers in the 1960s and joined Dr. Martin Luther King’s Chicago civil rights marches.

Oliver Tambo, South African Politician born

Oliver Tambo, an African politician and activist against apartheid, was born on this date in 1917.