People, Locations, Episodes

The West African Students’ Union is Formed

*The West African Students’ Union (WASU) was founded on this date in 1925. WASU was an association of students from various West African countries studying in the United Kingdom. WASU was founded in London, England, by twenty-one law students led by Ladipo Solanke and Herbert Bankole-Bright. The previous year, Solanke founded the Nigerian Progress Union […]

Ted Blakey, Community Activist born

*Ted Blakey was born on this date in 1925. He was an African American businessman. From Yankton, SD, his family migrated from Missouri to find a better life amid the horrors of American slavery.

Peter Meyerhoff, Business Equity Advocate born

*Peter Meyerhoff was born on this date in 1925.  He was a white Jewish American mechanical engineer and philanthropist. Born in Germany, he arrived in the United States as a teenager during World War II; he graduated from high school and then joined the Army, where he was made a citizen. When he returned, he […]

The American Negro Labor Congress Holds Its First Meeting

*On this date in 1925, the first meeting of the American Negro Labor Congress took place.   It was established by the Communist Party as a vehicle for advancing the rights of African Americans, propagandizing communism within the Black community, and recruiting black members for the party.   The organization opened in Chicago. It attacked the segregationist practices of many unions affiliated with the American […]

Hosea Williams, Activist born

On this date, Hosea Williams was born in, 1926. He was an African American civil rights activist.

Williams was the son of blind Black parents, from Attapulgus, Georgia. After studying at Morris Brown College and Atlanta University, he found employment as a research chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ralph Abernathy, Minister, and Activist born

*This date marks the birth of Ralph David Abernathy in 1926. He was an African American minister, and civil rights leader.

Lucille Anderson, Social Worker born

*Lucille Anderson was born on this date in 1926. She was a Black counselor, nurse’s aide, Probation officer, and social worker. From Minneapolis, MN., Lucille L. Majors was the daughter of Andrew and Ruth Majors. She graduated from North High School and received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota and her MSW from Boston […]

Aileen Hernadez, Union Activist born

*Aileen Hernandez was born on this date in1926. She was an African American union organizer, civil rights activist, and women’s rights activist.

Opal Lee, Teacher, and Juneteenth Activist born

*Opal Lee was born on this date in 1926. She is a Black retired teacher, counselor, and activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. She was born in Marshall, Texas, and was the oldest of three children of Mattie (Broadous) and Otis Flake. When she was ten, she and her family moved to […]

The Credjafawn Club is Formed

*On this date, in 1927, the Credjafawn Club was formed. This social Black activist woman’s group was formed in St. Paul, Minnesota. An offspring of the city’s Rondo community, ten young adults who sensed the lack of social activities for persons in their age bracket were its beginnings. “The name was devised from a letter out […]

Charles Tisdale, News Publisher born

*Charles Tisdale was born on this date in 1926. He was a Black Newspaper publisher and civil rights activist. Charles Wesley Tisdale was the sixth of fifteen children born in Athens, Alabama. At age seven, he ran away from home and began working at a newspaper, pouring lead into molds in linotype machines. At fourteen, […]

James Reeb, Minister, and Activist born

*On this date, in 1927, James Reeb was born.  He was a white-American minister, pastor, and activist.   James Reeb was born in Wichita, Kansas, to Mae (Fox) and Harry Reeb.  He was raised in Kansas and Casper, Wyoming.  He attended Natrona County High School and graduated in 1945, after which he joined the Army despite the fact that his commitment to the ministry made him exempt from service. […]

Coretta Scott King, Human Rights Activist born.

*Coretta Scott King was born on this date in 1927. She was an African American civil rights activist and author.

From Heiberger, Alabama, Coretta Scott was the daughter of Bernice McMurry Scott, a housewife, and Obadiah Scott, a lumber carrier. Scott grew up walking three miles each day to school while school buses carrying white children drove by her. Such occurrences, while difficult, led her to strive for equality and the best for herself. Scott went on to graduate from high school and in 1945 entered Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio on a scholarship.

Michael E. Haynes, Minister and Activist born

*Michael E. Haynes was born on this date in 1927. He was a Black minister, politician, and activist from Boston, MA. Taught daily by a praying mother, he surrendered his life to Christ as a teenager. In the following decades, Haynes passionately represented his Savior to the city of Boston as a youth director, teacher, […]

Clyde Kennard, Activist born

*Clyde Kennard was born on this date in 1927. He was an African American civil rights pioneer and martyr.

Kennard was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1927; he moved to Chicago at the age of 12 to aid his injured sister, Sarah. He stayed and graduated from Wendell Phillips High School, then entered the U.S. Army. After serving as a paratrooper during the Korean War, he returned to Chicago and started college at the University of Chicago.