People, Locations, Episodes

Benedita da Silva, Politician born

*Benedita da Silva was born on this date in 1943. She is an Afro Brazilian politician and activist.

Da Silva is from and grew up in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro in with family of 13 brothers and sisters. She led a life of severe poverty, watched two of her four children die of curable diseases, barely survived a back alley abortion, and was demoralized and humiliated as a live-in maid. As an activist, she organized her neighbors in the favela to get water, sewers and electricity. Soon she learned to read and write, and then taught other women.

Nat Glover Jr., Administrator born

*Nat Glover was born on this date in 1943.  He is a Black college administrator, former police officer, and sheriff.   Nathaniel Glover Jr. was born and attended public schools in Jacksonville. As a young man, he experienced the racism of the early 1960s when he stumbled into Ax Handle Saturday. On that day, white men, including some members of the Ku Klux Klan, […]

Norman Rice, Public Policy Advocate born

*Norman Rice was born on this date in 1943. He is an African American politician, administrator and community activist.

Black Soldiers Die on Mississippi Army Base

On this date in 1943, a Black soldier of the 364th Army infantry was killed on an Army base in Mississippi.

Daurene Lewis, Politician, and Teacher born

*Daurene Lewis was born on this date in 1943. She was a Black Canadian nurse, politician, and educator. Born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Daurene Elaine Lewis was a descendant of freed Loyalist Blacks who settled in Annapolis Royal in 1783. She was also a descendant of Rose Fortune, a Virginian who became the first female […]

The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion is Activated

*The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was officially activated on this date in 1943.   Activated at Fort Benning, Georgia, the Battalion, nicknamed The Triple Nickels, was an all-Black airborne unit of the United States Army during World War II.    The unit was activated due to a recommendation made in December 1942 by the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, chaired by the Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy. […]

Smith v. Allwright is Argued

On this date in 1944, Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, was argued.  This was a landmark ruling of the United States Supreme Court regarding racial desegregation and voter suppression. Decided on April 3rd, 1944, it overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set their internal rules, including using white primaries. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional […]

Sharon Pratt, Policy Administrator born

*Sharon Pratt was born on this date in 1944.  She is a Black lawyer, politician, and administrator.  From Washington D.C., she was born to D.C. Superior Court judge Carlisle Edward Pratt and Mildred “Peggy” (Petticord) Pratt. Three years later, a sister, Benaree, was born. After she lost her mother to breast cancer at an early […]

Duvall v. School Board is Ruled

*On this date in 1944, Duvall v. School Board was ruled on.  This case involved equal pay for certified schoolteachers in South Carolina regardless of race.  On November 10, 1943, NAACP lawyers filed the case with the federal district court to equalize the salary of Viola Louise Duvall, a Black educator from Charleston’s Burke High School. The […]

The Golden Thirteen Begin Military Training

*This date in 1944 celebrates “The Golden Thirteen.” This was the first African American naval officer-training group in Ameria.

In January of that year, the naval officer corps was all white. There were some one hundred thousand African American enlisted men in the Navy, yet none were officers. In response to growing pressure from American civil rights organizations, the leaders of the Navy reluctantly tackled commissioning a few as officers. Sixteen Black enlisted men were summoned to Camp Robert Smalls, Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois, they were:

Black history and The USS Mason, (WW II Warship) a story

*On this date we remember the USS Mason, a WWII warship manned by a predominantly Black crew that served as a role model for the integration of U.S. Navy ships.

Though launched November 17, 1943 at Boston Navy Yard’s Pier 6, the ship wasn’t commissioned until March 1944. The USS Mason (DE-529) was a Destroyer Escort. Length: 289’5″, Beam: 35’1″, Draft: 11’10″. Speed of 21 knots, with 6 officers, and 150 Black enlisted men. By the time the Mason was decommissioned; all the chief petty officers were Black. The ship escorted six convoys across the North Atlantic.

Algernon J. Cooper, Jr., Lawyer and Administrator born.

*Algernon J. Cooper, Jr. was born on this date in 1944. He is a Black politician and lawyer. Algernon Johnson Cooper, Jr., his sister Peggy, and brother Gary were born in Mobile, Alabama, to Gladys Catherine Mouton and Algernon Johnson Cooper, Sr. Cooper attended St. Peter Claver Elementary School in Mobile, Alabama, until he attended […]

The VLA, ‘Very Low Altitude’ Barrage Balloon Battalion, a story

*On this date in 1944, The Normandy landing operations commenced. Termed D-Day, this was the Allied invasion of Normandy, France in Operation Overlord during World War II. This was the largest seaborne invasion in modern history and began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front.

The G.I. Bill, and Black History, a story

*On this date in 1944, the G.I. Bill was signed into American law. Officially titled the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. During World War II, politicians wanted to avoid the postwar confusion about veterans’ benefits that became a political football in the 1920s and 1930s. Veterans’ organizations […]

The Port Chicago Disaster Occurs

The Port Chicago Disaster occurred on this date in 1944, an explosion where over 60 percent of the casualties were African American enlisted men.