People, Locations, Episodes

Mahmoud El-Kati, Educator, and Activist born

*Mahmoud El-Kati was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American educator, activist, lecturer, writer, and commentator on the African American experience.

From Savannah, Georgia, he is the son of Rufus Williams and Razzie Garvan Williams. El-Kati is one of 3 siblings and graduated from Booker T. Washington H. S. in Miami, Florida. El-Kati also is a graduate of Wilberforce University where he majored in contemporary African American history.

William Julius Wilson, Sociologist born

*William Julius Wilson was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American educator and sociologist.

From Derry Township, Pa., Wilson was educated at Wilberforce University (B.A., 1958) and Bowling Green State University (M.A., 1961) in Ohio, as well as at Washington State University (Ph.D., 1966). He joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) as an assistant professor of sociology in 1965. In 1972 he moved to the University of Chicago. He worked at the University of Chicago 1972-1996 before moving to Harvard.

Richard Green, Educator, and Administrator born

On this date in 1936, Dr. Richard R. Green, an African American educator, teacher, superintendent, and principal was born in Menifee, AR.

Mary Frances Early, Music Professor born

*Mary Frances Early was born on this date in 1936. She was a Black Music teacher and professor. Mary Frances Early was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Atlanta’s Turner High School and graduated from Clark College (later Clark Atlanta University) with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education in 1957. Early began her postgraduate work at the […]

James H. Cone, Theologian born.

*James Cone was born on this date in 1936.  He was a Black theologian who advocated Black Theology and liberation theology.  James Hal Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas, and grew up in Bearden, Arkansas. He and his family attended Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church. He received a BA from Philander Smith College in 1958, […]

Marva Collins, Educator born

*Marva Collins was born on this date in 1936. She is an African American educator and administrator.

From Monroeville, Alabama Marva Nettles Collins received her early education in Atmore, Alabama. This environment had segregated school system with very few resources for African American students. Eventually, Collins attended Clark College in Atlanta and, after graduation, returned to Alabama. She taught for two years in the Alabama school system before moving to Chicago. It was there that she worked in the public school system for fourteen years.

William Jackson, Chemist, and Professor born

*William M. Jackson was born on this date in 1936.  He is a Black Research Chemist in the field of astrochemistry and an Emeritus Professor.   William Morgan Jackson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in Dynamite Hill, an area of the city that the Ku Klux Klan frequently bombed during the 20th-century American […]

Johnetta Cole, Educator, and Activist born

Jonetta Cole was born on this date in 1936. She is an African American educator, administrator, humanitarian, and civil and women’s rights activist.

Born in Jacksonville, FL, Johnnetta Betsch came from a family that had dedicated itself to the betterment of all Blacks in the community. It was a legacy from generations of philanthropy based on and village family values.

During the mid 1930s and early 1940s, her family founded the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. They were also educators; the public library in her neighborhood was named after her grandfather.

Leonard Jeffries Jr. Pan-Africanist born

*On this date in 1937, Leonard Jeffries Jr. was born.  He is a Black educator and Pan-African advocate.   He was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Jeffries attended Lafayette College for his undergraduate work. While in Lafayette, Jeffries pledged and was accepted into Pi Lambda Phi, a fraternity with a large number of Jewish members.  In his senior year, Jeffries was elected […]

Archie Shepp, Musician, and Music Educator born

*Archie Shepp was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black saxophonist, educator, and playwright who has played a central role in the development of avant-garde jazz since the 1960s. Archie Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before focusing on tenor saxophone, he studied piano, clarinet, and […]

Michael Collins, Administrator born

*Michael Collins was born on this date in 1937.  He was a Black educator and administrator.  Brother Michael Collins was the working-class son of Jacob Collins and Georgina Green in north Minneapolis. He finished DelaSalle High School in 1955 and earned degrees in music and education at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. It was at […]

Jean Augustine, Administrator born

*On this date in 1937, Jean Augustine was born.  She is a Black Canadian educational administrator, advocate for social justice and politician. Jean Augustine was born in 1937 in Grenada but immigrated to Canada in 1960 under the West Indian Domestic Scheme.  She studied at the University of Toronto, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Education. After university, she worked as an elementary school […]

Colston Westbrook, Teacher, and Linguist born

*Colston Westbrook was born on this date in 1937.  He was a Black teacher and linguist who worked in the fields of minority education and literacy.  Colston Richard Westbrook was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.   His father was Sgt. Edward Cody Westbrook died in Germany while serving in World War II.  His mother, Virginia Ruth Colston, […]

William Frantz Elementary School

*On this date in 1937 we affirm William Frantz Elementary School.   Along with McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School, it was involved in the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on that date.  This was an American elementary school located at 3811 North Galvez Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. The school was built in 1937. It was designed in understated Art Deco style by the school […]

Mary Frances Berry, Author, and Administrator born

*On this date in 1938 Mary Frances Berry was born. She is an African American lawyer, administrator, activist and author.

Berry was born in Nashville, Tennessee, where she attended public schools. She earned bachelors and master’s degrees at Howard University, a doctorate in history from the University of Michigan, and the jurist doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School. She is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia.