*Robert Hughes Sr. was born on this date in 1928. He is a retired Black high school basketball coach. From Tulsa, Oklahoma, Robert Hughes Sr. joined the Army after high school. At 6’6″, he was recruited for a unit that just played basketball; it was the first integrated team Hughes ever played on. When he […]
learn more*Lillian Bertha Jones Horace was born on this date in 1880. She was a Black author, educator, and librarian. Lillian Bertha Amstead was born in Jefferson, Texas, to Thomas Amstead and Macey Ackard Matthews; she also had one sister, Etta. The family moved to Fort Worth when Lillian was two years old. Thomas failed to […]
learn more*Hazel Harvey Peace was born on this date in 1907. She was a Black educator, activist, and humanitarian. She was born Hazel Bernice Harvey in Waco, Texas, to Allen H. and Georgia Mason Harvey; the family moved to Fort Worth as a baby. Peace’s father was a Pullman Porter on the Missouri and Pacific Railroad, and her […]
learn more*Lulu Belle Madison White was born on this date in 1907. She was a Black teacher and activist in Texas during the 1940s and 1950s. Lulu Belle Madison was born in Elmo, Texas, to Samuel Henry Madison and Easter Madison. She was the tenth of their twelve children. Elmo was a predominately black community thirty-five […]
learn more*On this date in 1905, we celebrate the founding of Butler College, a coeducational Black school in Tyler, Texas. Established by the East Texas Baptist Association, the school was originally called the East Texas Baptist Academy and was initially a combined elementary and high school. In the 1920s, the school introduced college-level courses. Following the […]
learn more*The opening of I.M Terrell High School is celebrated on this date in 1882. This was a Fort Worth, Texas, secondary school during the Jim Crow era. It was the city’s first Black school. Its original name was the East Ninth Street Colored School. Isaiah Milligan Terrell became its Principal and Superintendent of Fort Worth […]
learn more*Opal Lee was born on this date in 1926. She is a Black retired teacher, counselor, and activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. She was born in Marshall, Texas, and was the oldest of three children of Mattie (Broadous) and Otis Flake. When she was ten, she and her family moved to […]
learn more*The Harlem Magicians, a black basketball team, was a basketball organization celebrated on this date in 1953. Lon Varnell founded them through his Varnell Enterprises. They were similar in fashion and activities to the exhibition basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters. The full name of the barnstorming basketball team was the Fabulous Harlem Magicians, with Marques […]
learn more*The birth of Eugene Hickman Sr. is celebrated on this date in 1928. He was a Black Pharmacist and educator. From Louisiana, Hickman excelled in his pre-collegiate education in the segregated public schools of Louisiana and Texas. After a tour of duty in the United States Army, he enrolled at Texas Southern University. He completed […]
learn more*Jennifer Beals was born on this date in 1963. She is a Black actress and photographer. Early life Beals was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Bronzseville community. She’s the daughter of Jeanne Anderson, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. Beals’ father was Black, […]
learn more