People, Locations, Episodes

Marlon Brando Jr., Actor and Activist born

*Marlon Brando Jr. was born on this date in 1924. He was a white-American actor and activist. Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando Sr., a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and Dorothy Julia Pennebaker. Brando had two elder sisters, Jocelyn and Frances. His ancestry was mostly German, Dutch, English, and Irish. Considered […]

C. T. Vivian, Minister born

*C. T. Vivian was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Black minister, author, and activist.   Cordy Tindell Vivian was born in Boonville, Missouri.  As a small boy, he migrated with his mother to Macomb, Illinois, where he attended Lincoln Grade School and Edison Junior High School. Vivian graduated from Macomb High […]

George Simkins Jr., Dentist, and Community Leader born

*Dr. George Simkins Jr. was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Black dentist, community leader, and civil rights activist.   Simkins was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, the first child of George C. Simkins Sr., a dentist, and Guyrene Tyson Simkins, an educator. He grew up in sports, was a natural athlete, […]

Amílcar Cabral, Pan-African Activist born

*Amílcar Cabral was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer and pan-African.  Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, to Cape Verdean parents, Juvenal Antònio Lopes da Costa Cabral and Iva Pinhel Évora, both from Santiago, Cape Verde. His father came from a wealthy […]

Danny Davis, Boxer, and Community Advocate born

Danny Davis was born on this date in 1929. He was an African American boxer, businessman, and community activist.

Daniel Webster Davis was from Minneapolis, MN, one of 11 children of Bessie and Clinton Davis. He was very close to his mother and graduated from Minneapolis North High School. As a young boy, he was active in the Phyllis Wheatley settlement house in North Minneapolis and took part in its many programs, one of which was boxing.

Dennis Brutus, South African Activist born

*Dennis Brutus was born on this date in 1924.  He was a white-South African activist, poet, and publisher.  Born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Brutus was the son of South African teachers who moved back to their native country when he was still a boy.  He majored in English at Fort Hare University, attended on full […]

Robert Sobukwe, Pan-African Activist born

*Robert Sobukwe was born on this date in 1924. He was a Black African administrative activist. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province, the youngest child of Hubert and Angelina Sobukwe. His father worked as a general store clerk and part-time woodcutter; his Xhosa mother served as a domestic worker […]

Benjamin Hooks, Activist, Lawyer, and Minister born

*Benjamin Hooks was born on this date in 1925. He was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer and minister.

Robert F. Williams, Civil Rights Leader, and Author born

*Robert F. Williams was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black civil rights leader and author. Robert Franklin Williams was born in Monroe, North Carolina, to Emma Carter and John L. Williams, who worked as a railroad boiler washer. He had two sisters, Lorraine Garlington and Jessie Link, and two brothers, John […]

William F. Reid, Doctor, Politician, and Activist born

*William F. Reid was born on this date in 1925.  He is a Black physician, politician, and activist.   William Ferguson “Fergie” Reid was born in Richmond, VA., the son of dentist Leon Reid and his wife. He grew up in a house next door to the banker and activist Maggie L. Walker at 110 Leigh […]

Viola Liuzzo, Activist born

*Viola Liuzzo Liuzzo was born on this date in 1925. She was a White American civil rights activist.

Malcolm X, Activist, and Master Teacher born

This date marks the birthday of Malcolm X. in 1925. He was an African American activist leader who articulated concepts of race pride and Black Nationalism in the early 1960s.

Wilson O. Brooks, Teacher born

*This date in 1925 celebrates the birth of Wilson O. Brooks, a Black Canadian officer, teacher, and civil rights advocate. Born in Windsor, Ontario, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Brooks. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in April of 1943 and trained at No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School […]

The International Labor Defense (ILD) is formed

*On this date, in 1925, the International Labor Defense (ILD) was formed. IDL was a diverse legal advocacy organization supporting American labor. Economic disputes have been legally contested since America’s 19th-century organized labor movement began. Sometimes, an employer or government has gone to court to terminate strike actions or to seek prosecution for alleged malefactors for physical […]

Medgar Evers, Mississippi Activist born

Medgar Evers was born on this date in 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi. He was an African American civil rights leader whose assassination for his work as field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.