People, Locations, Episodes

Nixon v. Herndon is Legally Argued

*On this date in 1927, Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536, was argued.  A United States Supreme Court decision struck down a 1923 Texas law forbidding Blacks from voting in the Texas Democratic Party primary.   In 1902 the Texas legislature passed a requirement for a poll tax, which resulted in the suppressed voting by Black and Mexican Americans. As voter participation by […]

South Africa’s First Immorality Act is Imposed

*On this date 1927, South Africa’s first Immorality Act was issued. This was the title of acts of the Parliament of South Africa, which prohibited, amongst other things, sexual relations between white people and people of other races until amended first in 1950. Part of the Apartheid regime was installed to prohibit sex between whites […]

Wesley Brown, Naval Engineer born

*Wesley Brown was born on this date in 1927. He was an African American soldier, engineer and educator.

Buck v. Bell (Supreme Court Case) is Decided

*On this date in 1927, the Supreme Court ruled Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200.  This episode followed the Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924 and channeled race into an unmonitored deciding factor of sterilization in America.   Buck v. Bell was the United States Supreme Court ruling that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including the intellectually disabled, “for the protection and health of the state” […]

Carl Stokes, Politician born

Carl Stokes was born on this date in 1927. He was an African American lawyer and politician.

David Dinkins, Lawyer, and Politician born

*On this date, in 1927, David Dinkins was born.  He was a Black politician, lawyer, and author.  who, from 1990 to 1993, served as the 106th Mayor of New York City. He was the first African American to hold that office.   David Norman Dinkins was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Sarah “Sally” Lucy and William Harvey Dinkins Jr.  His mother was a […]

William Thompson, Soldier born

*William Thompson was born on this date in 1927.  He was a decorated Black soldier in the United States Army.   Born in Brooklyn, New York, to an unmarried mother, little is known of William Henry Thompson’s early life, but he grew up in an impoverished tenement house neighborhood. He dropped out of school young and spent his teen years wandering the […]

C. DeLores Tucker, Activist born

*C. DeLores Tucker was born on this date in 1927. She was an African American politician and civil rights activist. Born in Philadelphia to a minister and a “Christian feminist mother, Cynthia DeLores Nottage was the tenth of eleven children.

Hazel Johnson-Brown, Nurse, and Officer born

*Hazel Johnson Brown was born on this date in 1927. She was an African American nurse and the first black woman General in the United States Army.

A. L. Higginbotham, Judge, Educator, and Activist born

*On this date in 1928, A. L. Higginbotham Jr. was born. He was an African American federal judge, scholar, and civil rights advocate.

Demetrius Newton, Politician, and Lawyer born

*Demetrius Newton was born on this date in 1928. He was a politician and civil rights lawyer.

Newton, a native of Fairfield, Ala. and was a graduate of Fairfield Industrial H.S. Newton then graduated from Wilberforce University in Ohio and Boston University’s law school. After he graduated from law school, Newton served in the United States Army’s 325th Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division during the Korean War. After his service in the military, Newton moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he worked as a civil rights attorney.

Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, Politician born.

*Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was born on this date in 1928. He was a Black South African politician and Zulu prince. Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was born at Ceza Swedish Missionary Hospital in Mahlabathini in southeastern Natal, South Africa. His mother was Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu, the daughter of former Zulu King Dinuzulu and sister of the incumbent King Solomon […]

Robert G. Clark Jr., Politician born

*Robert Clark was born on this date in 1928. He is a retired Black politician and American Civil Rights activist.  Robert G. Clark, Jr. was born in Mississippi, and he received his undergraduate degree from Jackson State University and a master’s degree in Administration and Educational Services from Michigan State University.  Clark was elected to […]

Roscoe Robinson, Army Commander, and Engineer born

*Roscoe Robinson, Jr. was born on this date in 1928. He was a pioneering African American Army commander, engineer and administrator.

Jocelyn Anita Barrow, Educator, and Politician born.

*Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow DBE was born on this date in 1929. She was a Black British educator, community activist, and politician. Jocelyn Barrow was the daughter of Barbadian father Charles Newton Barrow and Olive Irene (nee Pierre). She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where she was active politically as a member of […]