People, Locations, Episodes

Roy Innis, Public Policy Activist born

*Roy Innis was born on June 6, 1934.  He was a Black activist and politician.   Roy Emile Alfredo Innis was born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1934.  In 1947, Innis moved with his mother to New York City, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952.  Innis joined the U.S. Army, […]

The Federal Housing Act is Passed

The Federal Housing Act was enacted on this date in 1934.  This American legislation began the modern involvement of the federal government in the American housing market.  The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created from this legislation. It represented the early New Deal’s most important attempt at short-term pump priming of the economy. Still, it also […]

Julian Dixon, Politician born

*On this date in 1934, Julian Dixon was born. He was an African American politician representing California and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Dixon was born and raised in a Black, middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D. C., and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1960. He received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1962 and a law degree from Southwestern University in 1967. While in school he worked for six years as a legislative aide to California state senator Mervyn M. Dymally.

Eva M. Clayton, Politician born

*Eva Clayton was born on this date in 1934. She is an African American politician (retired) and administrator.

Arnette Hubbard, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Arnette Hubbard was born on January 1, 1935. She is a Black lawyer, judge, and administrator. Born Arnette Rhinehart in Arkansas, she was an only child. Her grandfather encouraged her to become an outstanding lawyer and judge. Hubbard received her B.A. in mathematics and chemistry from Southern Illinois University.  She graduated from the University of […]

Grovey v. Townsend Is Decided

*On this date in 1935, Grovey v. Townsend was decided.  This United States Supreme Court decision held a reformulation of Texas’s white primaries system to be constitutional. The case was the third in a series of Court decisions known as the “Texas primary cases.” In Nixon v. Herndon (1927), Lawrence A. Nixon sued for damages under federal civil rights […]

James Seale, Segregationist born

*James Seale was born on this date in 1935. He was a white farmer, police officer and Ku Klux Klan member.

The Wagner Act is Signed

*On this date, 1935, the Wagner Act was passed.  This was a foundational statute of United States labor law that guaranteed the right of private-sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes.   The Wagner Act harmed Blacks by legalizing labor union monopolies, a Jim […]

Vernon Jordan Jr., Lawyer, and Activist born

*Vernon E. Jordan Jr. was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American lawyer and civil rights leader.

From Atlanta, Georgia his father was a mail clerk in the U. S. Army and his mother ran a local catering service. Jordan was educated in the Atlanta public schools and graduated from DePauw University in 1957. He attended the Howard University Law School where he received the J.D. in 1960. After graduation returning home to practice law he became involved in a significant civil rights case of that era.

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War Begins

*The Second Italo-Ethiopian War began on this date in 1935.  Also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, it was a colonial war fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia).   Italy and Ethiopia were members of the League of Nations. Yet, the League could not control Italy or protect Ethiopia when […]

Ron Dellums, Oakland Politician born

Ron Dellums, an African American politician and is an administrator and activist, was born on this date in 1935.

Murray v. Pearson is Ruled

*On this date in 1935, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled against segregation at the University of Maryland Law School.

The case, Murray vs. Pearson had been attacking the school legally since that summer and successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University graduate named Donald Gaines Murray.
Represented by Charles Houston of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, his colleague and protégé’ Thurgood Marshall won his major first civil rights case in this ruling.

Azie Taylor Morton, Policy Administrator born

*Azie Taylor Morton was born on this date in 1936. She was an African American teacher, politician, and cabinet member.

From the small but well-known community of St. John Colony in Dale, Texas, she was the daughter of Fleta Hazel Taylor. Her mother was deaf and could not speak, and she did not know who her father was. Her youth was spent on a farm in, near Austin; her first childhood work was in a cotton field. Graduating from high school at 16 with an outstanding record, she enrolled at Huston-Tillotson, an all-Black college in Austin.

Barbara Jordan, Politician, and Educator born

*Barbara Jordan was born on this date in 1936. She was an African American politician, educator and member of the United States House of Representatives.

Nicholas Said, Soldier born

*The birth of Nicholas Said is celebrated on February 25, 1836. He was a Black translator, soldier, and author. He was born Muhammed ‘Ali Sa’id in Kukawa, Bornu Empire, now a part of Cameroon.  Said was kidnapped and fell victim to the Trans-Saharan slave trade. His aptitude for learning languages led to the elevation of his […]