On this date in 1941, Jesse Jackson was born in Greenville, SC. He is an African American civil rights leader, politician, and television journalist.
learn more*Black women’s history in welding and other government industries is affirmed on Pearl Harbor Day, 1941. With the entry of the United States of America into World War II. Black women became a vital part of the war effort support. Already on the move as part of the Great Migration, they sought to leave behind dead-end, […]
learn more*On this date in 1942, the Tuskegee Airmen were initiated into the armed forces.
learn more*Julio Pinedo was born on this date in 1942. He is the ceremonial king of the Afro Bolivian community of the Nor Yungas province, Bolivia. He was crowned in 1992, over thirty years after the death of the previous king, his grandfather Don Bonifacio Pinedo. His position gained official recognition in 2007 when the prefect […]
learn more*On this date in 1942 the building of The Alcan Highway in Canada began. This was an Army project during World War II that involved over 10,000 men of which over 30% were African American GI’s.
learn more*Jacob Zuma was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black South African politician. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was born in Nkandla, Natal Province (now part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal). His father was a policeman who died when Zuma was five, and his mother was a domestic worker. As a child, Zuma constantly moved around […]
learn more*The founding of the John M. Langston Bar Association is celebrated on this date in 1943. They began as a small support group of Black attorneys in Los Angeles. Attorney Crispus Attucks Wright and other pioneering Black lawyers began a “law club.” They founded the association in response to other bar city associations’ policy of excluding […]
learn moreOn this date in 1942, Thabo M. Mbeki was born. He is an African politician and activist.
learn more*Gilberto Gil was born on this date in 1942. He is an Afro Brazilian singer-songwriter, politician, and activist. Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira was born in Salvador and spent much of his childhood in Ituaçu, a small town in Bahia’s countryside. His father, José Gil Moreira, was a doctor; his mother, Claudina Passos Gil Moreira, was an elementary school teacher. […]
learn more*Leila Foley was born on this date in 1942. She was a politician, and activist. From Taft, Oklahoma, she was a divorced mother of five, surviving on welfare. In January 1973, Foley ran for a position on the school board of Taft, Oklahoma, an all-black town of 600 people. She lost the election, but shortly […]
learn more*The Burma Road construction beginning is celebrated on this date in 1942. This was a three-year WW II military excavation project. Black soldiers who worked to re-open the Burma Road were the single largest group of Blacks in World War II-era China. They were present in many WW II construction projects, including the Red Ball Express and […]
learn morehe birth of Lloyd Newton in 1942 is marked on this date. He is an African American Air Force general (retired), educator, and administrator.
learn more*Harvey Gantt was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black architect and politician. Harvey Bernard Gantt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilhelminia and Christopher C. Gantt, a shipyard worker. He started to participate in the American Civil Rights movement in high school. In 1963, he was the first Black student at Clemson […]
learn more*On this date in 1943, Sherian Grace Cadoria was born. She is a retired Black Brigadier General military officer. Born in Marksville, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma. Initially, in the Women’s Army Corps, […]
learn more*Sala Udin was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black politician, activist, and administrator. Born Samuel Wesley Howze in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William and Mary Howze, he was raised in the Hill District of the city; he was one of eleven children. In 1961, Udin graduated from Port Richmond High School in […]
learn more
