People, Locations, Episodes

Aaron Henry, NAACP Activist born

Aaron Henry was born on this date in 1922. He was an African American civil rights leader, politician, and head of the NAACP.

Nathaniel Stewart Sr., Soldier and Activist born

*Nathaniel Stewart was born on this date in 1922. He was a Black soldier and activist. Stewart was from Ft. Motte, S.C., the son of Willie and Emily Stewart. As a young man, he served his country in World War II as a Tuskegee Airman, ranked Second Lieutenant in the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He served as […]

Charles Evers, Activist born

 *Charles Evers was born on this date in 1922. He was a Black activist, businessman, disc jockey, and politician. James Charles Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi, to James Evers, a laborer, and Jesse Wright Evers, a maid. He was the eldest of four children; Medgar Evers was his younger brother. He attended segregated public schools, which […]

Harry V. Burns, Activist born

*Harry Burns was born on this date in 1922.  He was a Black civil rights leader.   From San Antonio, Texas, Harry Victory Burns was named by his mother for Victory Day. Burns served during WW2 in the U.S. Army.  After discharge during the 1940s and 1950s, Burns was the San Antonio NAACP Branch president. He was associated with Martin Luther […]

Hattie Williams, Humanitarian born

*Hattie Williams was born on this date in 1922. She was an African American humanitarian and educational activist.

Daisy Kadibil, Aboriginal Activist born

*Australia Day has been celebrated on this date since 1788 as Australia’s official National Day.  Because of this, we are celebrating the birth of Daisy Craig Kadibil in 1923.  She was an Aboriginal woman housekeeper, cook, and Aboriginal activist. She was born in Jigalong, an Indigenous community in the Pilbara region in northwestern Australia. When […]

Harry Davis Sr., Minnesota Civic Leader born

Harry Davis was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American civil rights activist, politician and businessman.

Clara Luper, Educator, and Activist born

*Clara Luper was born on this date in 1923. She was an African American schoolteacher, and a pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Fredda Witherspoon, Educator born

*This date in 1923 is celebrated as the birth date of Fredda Witherspoon, a Black educator and activist.   She was born Fredda Crawford in Houston, TX., the daughter of Vanita Crawford and R. E. Crawford, who worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. She graduated valedictorian from Booker T. Washington High School and continued her education at Bishop College, […]

Nathan Wright Jr., Activist born

*Nathan Wright Jr. was born on this date in 1923.  He was a Black author, minister, activist, and educator. He was from Shreveport, Louisiana, and grew up with his twin brother Benjamin Hickman Wright and their sisters in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Nathan Wright Sr., was an insurance agent and the executive secretary of the […]

Daniel Grafton Hill, Historian born

*Daniel Grafton Hill III was born on this date in 1923.  He was a Black Canadian sociologist, civil servant, human rights specialist, and Black Canadian historian.   Born in Independence, Missouri, Hill grew up in the western United States as the son of Daniel Grafton Hill II and his wife. His father, born in Washington, […]

Wiley Branton, Lawyer, and Activist born

Wiley Branton was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American attorney and civil rights activist.

Born in Pine Bluff, AR, Wiley Austin Branton was educated in elementary, junior high, and high schools in Pine Bluff schools. An Army veteran of World War II, Branton spent time teaching Blacks how to mark an election ballot after the war, which resulted in his conviction of a misdemeanor for “teaching the mechanics of voting.” In 1950, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Arkansas A.M.& N. College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).

E. J. Josey, Librarian Advocate born

*E. J. Josey was born on this date in 1924. He was a Black activist and librarian. He was born Elonnie Junius Josey in Norfolk, Virginia, to Willie and Frances Bailey Josey. He graduated from Howard University in 1949 and received his master’s in History from Columbia University in 1950. A master’s in librarianship from the University […]

Herbert Hill, Labor Union Director born

*Herbert Hill was born on this date in 1924.  He was a white Jewish-American public policy activist, professor, and labor director. Herbert Hill was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He attended public schools. Hill earned a B.A. from New York University in 1945 and attended the New School for Social Research […]

The Negro Sanhedrin Conference Begins

 *The Negro Sanhedrin Conference began on this date in 1924. This was a four-day national “All-Race Conference” held in Chicago, Illinois. The gathering was attended by 250 delegates representing 61 trade unions, civic groups, and fraternal organizations in a short-lived attempt to forge a national program protecting the legal rights of African American tenant farmers […]