*Menelik II was born on this date in 1844. He was a Black African king of Shewa and Emperor of Ethiopia. Menelik was the son of the Shewan Amhara king, Negus Haile Melekot. He was born in Ethiopia, where, as a boy, he enjoyed a respected position and received a traditional church education. In 1855, […]
learn more*Richard Russell Jr. was born on this date in 1897. He was a white-American politician and segregationist. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. was born in Winder, Georgia, the first son of Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard B. Russell Sr. and Ina Dillard Russell. Throughout his childhood, his father made multiple attempts to run for higher […]
learn more*Raymond Hewitt was born on January 1, 1941. He was a teacher and Black Panther activist. Raymond “Masai” Hewitt worked as a schoolteacher and was a Marxist activist, working with the United Front, a socialist organization. He joined the Black Panther Party in 1967 and was its Minister of Education. The Panthers considered Hewitt a […]
learn more*Black History and Blood Quantum were affirmed on this date in 1661. Blood quantum, a concept that evolved during the period of chattel slavery to distinguish Blacks from whites, refers to the blood amount of a person’s particular ancestry. The U.S. government also used it to categorize Indigenous Native Americans, and ironically, the racial concept […]
learn more*Walter Craig was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black violin soloist and orchestra director. Walter F. Craig was born to Charles A. and Sarah E. Craig in Princeton, New Jersey. He moved to New York City in 1861, where he went to Colored School No. 7 under principal Charlotte Smith, who […]
learn more*Souleymane Cissé was born on this date in 1940. He was a Black African film director. Born in Bamako, Mali, Souleymane Cissé was a passionate cinephile from childhood. He attended secondary school in Dakar and returned to Mali in 1960 after national independence. His film career began as an assistant projectionist for a documentary on […]
learn more*Herman Marie Moens was born on September 25, 1875. He was a white self-proclaimed anthropologist and admirer of eugenics. Herman Marie Bernelot Moens was born in the Netherlands, the son of a naval officer. Although he initially showed little interest in country life, after a mediocre high school result, he enrolled in an education in […]
learn more*Eugene Haynes’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1927. He was a Black classical pianist, composer, and music pedagogue. Eugene Haynes was born in East St Louis, Illinois. He started playing piano at the age of 4. As a teenager, he worked in a warehouse and used his lunch breaks to play a piano […]
learn more*Roscoe Bruce was born on this date in 1879. He was a Black educator known for stressing the value of practical industrial and business skills instead of academic disciplines. Roscoe Conkling Bruce was born in Washington, D.C., the only son of U.S. Senator Blanche Bruce and his wife, Josephine Beall Willson Bruce. His father was […]
learn more*Clara Washington Bruce was born on this date in 1879. She was a Black lawyer and administrator. Clara Washington Burrill grew up in a Black middle-class family in Washington, DC, she graduated in 1897 from the city’s M Street High School, a segregated school known for its rigorous curriculum and exceptional faculty. After high school, […]
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