Dr. Peter Rachleff is a labor historian, author, professor, and library administrator. In this segment, he shares his research findings, which show Black women’s value in nurturing families and directing American political progress in the 19th and 20th centuries.
learn more*Amy Barbour-James was born on January 25, 1906. She was a Black British-born Guyanese civil rights activist and civil servant. Caroline Amy Aileen Barbour-James was born in Acton, London, to Guyanese parents, John and Caroline Barbour-James, one of their eight children. They were a middle-class family. Her father, John Barbour-James, was an administrator in West […]
learn more*Floria Pinkney’s birth on this date in 1903 is celebrated. She was a Black garment worker union activist and leader. Floria Pinkney was born in Connecticut. Her parents were originally from Florida and migrated to Connecticut at the turn of the century. Pinkney’s mother was a self-employed dressmaker. Shortly after Pinkney’s birth, her then-widowed mother […]
learn more*Black history and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) is affirmed on this date in 1900. The ILGWU, whose members were in the women’s clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership and influence in the […]
learn more*Herbert Hill was born on this date in 1924. He was a white Jewish-American public policy activist, professor, and labor director. Herbert Hill was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He attended public schools. Hill earned a B.A. from New York University in 1945 and attended the New School for Social Research […]
learn more*Corinthian Nutter was born on this date in 1906. She was a Black teacher, musician, and education activist. Corinthian Clay Ricks (her birth name) was born in Forney, Texas, to Robert R. and Roxie Anna (Ford) Ricks. Her father worked for the railroad. Her mother was an itinerant worker, and Nutter was frequently taken out […]
learn moreYusuf Dadoowas born on this date in 1909. He was a South African Coloured East Indian activist. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was born in Krugersdorp, in the West Rand, near Johannesburg. His parents, Mohammed and Fatima Dadoo were Gujarati Muslim immigrants from Western India. As a young child, his mother scolded him for climbing a tree in […]
learn more*João Felisberto was born on this date in 1880. He was an Afro Brazilian sailor and activist. João Cândido Felisberto was born in Encruzilhada do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, to a poor Afro Brazilian family. His father and mother were former slaves. He entered the Brazilian Navy in 1894 at the age of 13. The […]
learn more*On this date in 1961, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) is affirmed. RAM was a Marxist-Leninist, Black nationalist organization. They were the first group to apply the philosophy of Maoism to the conditions of Black people in the United States. They informed the revolutionary politics of the Black Power movement. Group formation. In 1961, students […]
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