*The birth of Manuel Lopes is celebrated on this date in 1812. He was a Black barber, businessman, and sailor. Lopes was born in the Cape Verde Islands of Africa. He was enslaved, kidnapped, and brought to America. He worked as a sailor in New England, first in Maine and then in the New Bedford area of […]
learn more*The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) is celebrated on this date in 1973. CDF is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on child advocacy and research. Based in Washington, D.C., and created by Marian Wright Edelman. The CDF exists to improve federal policies concerning child welfare and public education systems. CDF has offices in several states: California, […]
learn more*Carl ‘Luz’ Long was born on this date in 1913. He was a white German Olympic long jumper and soldier. Carl Ludwig ‘Luz’ Long was born in Leipzig, Stadtkreis Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. He studied law at the University of Leipzig, and as a 21-year-old, 1.84-meter-tall (6’½”), Long had finished third in the 1934 European Championships […]
learn more*William Gladstone was born on this date in 1809. He was a white British statesman, enslaver, and politician. Born in Liverpool, William Ewart Gladstone was of Scottish ancestry, the fourth son of the wealthy enslaver John Gladstone and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson. In 1814, young “Willy” visited Scotland for the first time, as […]
learn more*The Haley Farm is celebrated on this date in 1994. This retreat is a 157-acre farm that once belonged to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alex Haley. Purchased in April 1994 by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), Haley Farm is a heartfelt, welcoming countryside retreat consisting of guest cottages, a chapel, a meeting lodge, and a library. The […]
learn more*The birth of Valdo Turner is celebrated on this date in 1866. He was a Black doctor. Valdo Turner was from Tennessee; he had seven siblings. Turner graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1898 and relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota. He married Clara Elizabeth Turner in 1918 in St. Paul, Minnesota. They had one daughter: Valdora Frazer […]
learn more*Saka Acquaye was born on this date in 1923. He was a Black Ghanaian musician, playwright, sculptor, and textile designer. Saka Acquaye was born in Accra, Ghana, the sixth child of his parents, Regina and John Akweifio. He attended the Methodist School, Accra Royal School, and then Government Boys Schools. He obtained a Cadbury Scholarship to […]
learn more*Ronald Davies was born on this date in 1904. He was a white-American lawyer and Judge. Ronald Davies was born in Grand Forks, ND. A 1922 Grand Forks Central High School graduate, he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota in 1927. Davies attended law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., […]
learn more*Alan Lomax was born on this date in 1915. He was a white-American ethnomusicologist, musician, folklorist, and filmmaker. Lomax was born in Austin, Texas, the third of four children born to Bess Brown, folklorist and author John A. Lomax. The elder Lomax, a former professor of English at Texas A&M. Due to childhood asthma, and generally […]
learn more*Vera Hall was born on this date in 1902. She was a Black folk singer. Born Adell Hall Ward, she was from Payneville, Sumter County, Alabama, near Livingston, and sang her entire life. Her mother, Zully Hall, and father, Agnes Efron, taught her songs such as “I Got the Home,” “In the Rock,” and “When I’m […]
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