The Registry

Jane DeVeaux, Teacher, and Abolitionist born

*The birth of Jane A. DeVeaux is celebrated on this date in 1810. She was a Black mulatto teacher and abolitionist.  From Savanah, GA, she was the daughter of John Benjamin Deveaux (born into slavery) and Catherine Deveaux (a free woman from Antigua). Her father pastored the Third African Baptist Church in Savannah. She and her mother secretly taught […]

The Jackson Ward District (Richmond, VA.), a story

*Jackson Ward is celebrated on this date in 1871. This is a historically Black district in Richmond, Virginia with a long tradition of Black businesses. It is located less than a mile from the Virginia State Capitol, sitting to the west of Court End and north of Broad Street. It was listed as a National […]

Trixie Smith, Singer born

*The birth of Trixie Smith is celebrated on this date in 1895. She was a Black singer and musician. From Atlanta, Georgia she studied at Selma University, moved to New York in 1915, and performed in the vaudeville circuit. She had a distinctive voice and a delightful style of her own. She recorded from 1922 through 1925 for Black […]

Josephine Schuyler, Author born

*Josephine Schuyler was born on this date in 1897.  She was a white-American author and poet.   From Granbury, Hood County, Texas, Josephine Cogdell was born into a wealthy family, the youngest of the seven children of Daniel Calhoun Cogdell and Lucy Norfleet Duke.   She was a white woman born to great wealth and privilege in Granbury, Texas.  […]

Willie Mae Smith, Gospel Singer born

On this date in 1904, Willie Mae Ford Smith was born. She was an African American gospel singer.

Born in Rolling Fork, MS, “Mother” Willie Mae Ford Smith was the seventh of fourteen children whose parents were hard working and active church members. Her father was a railway brakeman, and the family moveD to Memphis because of his job. Later, in Saint Louis, her mother opened a restaurant, where Smith worked for a time.

Helen Humes, Singer born

On this date in 1913, Helen Humes was born. She was an African American singer.

George Russell, Jazz Emissary born

*On this date in 1923, George Russell was born.  He was a Black jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and theorist. George Allen Russell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to a white father and a Black mother, later the adopted only child of a nurse and a chef on the B & O Railroad, Bessie and Joseph Russell. Young Russell sang in the choir […]

William Pleasant, Artist born

William Merriette Pleasant, Jr., an African American artist, was born on this date in 1928.

He was born in Savannah, GA, and a graduate of that cit’s Beach High School. Pleasant attended Savannah State College, Delaware State College, and Tyler School of Fine Arts of Philadelphia, PA. He is a graduate of York College of York, Pennsylvania. He was one of the first members of the Bahai Faith of Savannah, and served on its assembly. Pleasant was a 33 degree Mason, a corporal in the United States Air Force, and a member of the Mu Eta Kappa Fraternity.

Charles McDew, Activist born

*Charles McDew was born on this date in1938. He is an African American educator and activist.

From Massillion, Ohio, he led his first demonstration in the eighth grade, to protest violations of the religious freedom of Amish students in his hometown. As a student at South Carolina State College he became involved in the civil rights movement. This included a campaign against segregated lunch counters in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1960.

Wilma Rudolph, Track & Field Sprinter born

On this date in 1940, Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born. She was an African American sprinter and first American woman to win three Olympic gold medals.