*Evelyn Mase was born on May 18, 1922. She was a Black African nurse. Evelyn Ntoko Mase was born in Engcobo, Transkei, South Africa. Her father was a mineworker, and her mother was his second wife; they had six children, three of whom died in infancy. Mase’s father died when she was still a child. […]
learn more*Ashby Solomzi Peter Mda was born on this date in 1916. He was a Black African teacher, lawyer, and political activist. Also known as A. P. Mda, Peter Mda was born in the Herschel District of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. He was given the name “Ashby” as he was born on Ash Wednesday. He […]
learn more*Woodford Anderson was born on this date in 1820. He was a Black soldier, cook, and laborer. Woodford Anderson was born a slave in Burlington, Kentucky. When he was 20 years old, he was sold to George Curtley, a captain in the Confederate Army, who took Anderson to Waverly, Missouri, where Anderson was a cook. […]
learn more*Hazel Dukes was born on this date in 1932. She was a Black activist during the 20th-century American Civil Rights movement. Hazel Nell Dukes was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She was the only child of Alice and Edward Dukes. Her father was a Pullman porter. She enrolled at Alabama State Teachers College in 1949, hoping […]
learn more*The British-built Fortress, Fort Hare, is established on this date in 1835. Fort Hare was in the foothills of the Amatola Mountains, near the Eastern Cape in South Africa. White-European colonization in the 17th century invaded the lives and territories of Black African peoples, mainly the Zulu and Xhosa. The Fort was originally constructed in […]
learn more*The University of Fort Hare was established on this date in 1916. The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort established during the wars between British colonizers and the Xhosa in the 19th century. Some of the ruins of the Fort […]
learn more*Richard Lapchick was born on this date in 1945. He is a white-American educator, human rights activist, sportswriter, and author. Richard E. Lapchick is from Yonkers, New York, and he is the son of Joe Lapchick, a college and professional basketball coach who helped integrate the NBA when he signed Nat Clifton in 1950. […]
learn more*The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) was founded on this date in 1987. Founded in Washington, D.C., N’COBRA is an organization that advocates for financial compensation for the descendants of formerly enslaved people in the United States. The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America spreads information and supports the […]
learn more*Robin Rue Simmons was born on March 12, 1976. She is a Black former politician and national leader for local reparations for African Americans. Rue Simmons was born and raised in the largely segregated 5th Ward of Evanston, Illinois. From 2017 to 2021, Simmons was the alderman of the 5th Ward. As an alderman, she […]
learn more*Ragtime music is celebrated on this date in 1895. Ragtime is a musical style that peaked from the 1890s to the 1910s. Its cardinal feature is its syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. Ragtime music originated within African communities in the United States in the late 19th century and became a distinctly American form of popular music. […]
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