People, Locations, Episodes

Lewis Tappan, Abolitionist born

*Lewis Tappan was born on this date in 1788. He was a white-American abolitionist. From Northampton, MA., Lewis Tappan was the brother of Senator Benjamin Tappan and abolitionist Arthur Tappan. His middle-class parents, Benjamin Tappan and Sarah Homes Tappan, were strict Congregationalists. Once Lewis was old enough to work, he helped his father in a dry goods […]

Stephen Smith, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Stephen Smith is celebrated on this date, c 1795.  He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.    Stephen Smith was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, to a slave woman. At five, he became the indentured servant to the Pennsylvanian businessman Thomas Boude. At age 21, Smith had gathered enough money to purchase his […]

Charles E. Nash, Congressman born

This date in 1844 marks the birth of Charles Edmund Nash, a Black politician.

Born in Opelousas, LA, he attended common schools and was a bricklayer in New Orleans before enlisting in Company A of the 82nd Regiment. In 1865, during the last battle of the Civil War at Fort Blakely, AL, he was severely wounded, losing part of his right leg. Four years later, he was appointed night inspector in the New Orleans Custom House. Local Republicans apparently concluded that Nash’s wartime heroics made him an attractive candidate for public office.

Maritcha Remond Lyons, Suffragist born

*Maritcha Remond Lyons was born on this date in 1848. She was a Black educator, civic leader, suffragist, and public speaker in New York City and Brooklyn, New York. She taught in public schools in Brooklyn and was the second black woman to serve as an assistant principal in their system.   She was born at 144 Centre Street in New York […]

Confederate Slave Contraband, and the American Civil War, a story

*Confederate slave contraband and the American Civil War are affirmed on this date in 1861. On that date, Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend were Black field hands owned by Charles Mallory, rowed across the James River in Virginia, and claimed asylum in a Union-held citadel. Fort Monroe, Va., a fishhook-shaped spit of land near the […]

Olivia Bush, Writer, and Drama Coach born

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, an African American writer and drama instructor, was born on this day in 1869.

Born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, Olivia was the daughter of Eliza Draper and Abraham Ward, both of whom were of African and Montauk descent. Ward’s mother died when was about one year old. She and her father moved to Providence, R.I., where he married again, but he handed young Ward over to her mother’s sister, Maria Draper, who reared Olivia as her own child.

Frank Boyd, Union Activist born

*The birth of Frank Boyd in 1881 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American Pullman Porter and labor activist.

Katie Booth, Biomedical Chemist born

*Katie Booth was born on this date in 1907. She was an African American biomedical chemist and community activist.

Isabelle Washington, Dancer, and Actress born

*Isabel Washington Powell was born on this date in 1908.  She was a Black dancer and actress.   Isabel Geraldine Washington was born in Savannah, Georgia.  She was one of five children, with her older sister being the actress Fredi Washington.  She was raised primarily in New York City, where she pursued a show business […]

Scatman Crothers, Actor born

Scatman Crothers, an African American actor and musician, was born on this date in 1910.

Born in Terre Haute, IN, Benjamin Sherman Crothers (his name at birth) was the son of a cobbler at the age of 14 he began to teach himself to play the drums and guitar. Soon he got a job entertaining customers at one of the local speakeasies, and at the age of 19, he and his brother, Louis, moved to Indianapolis to find work as entertainers.

The Musical ‘Shuffle Along’ Debuts on Broadway

On this date in 1921, “Shuffle Along” became one of the earliest African American Broadway Musicals. The show was an all-Black musical comedy by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle.

“Shuffle Along” was written, produced, directed, and performed by Blacks. This musical comedy was tried out in Harlem; Washington, DC; New Jersey; and Philadelphia before it opened in New York and set the pattern for Black musicals for many years after its premiere. “Shuffle Along” gave us such hit songs as: “Shuffle Along,” “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” “Gypsy Blues,” and “Love Will Find A Way.”

Ethel Sayles, Administrator born

Ethel Sayles was born on this date in 1922. She was an African American administrator and biostatistician.

Born in Kilmichael, MS., Ethel Mae Baines and her sister, Corrine, were daughters of Elva Lee Sanders Baines and Shed Hill Baines. As a young girl, she and her sister attended St John’s Methodist Church in Natchez, MS, and spent their summers with their grandparents. Mama Cora (her mother’s side of the family-Sanders) kept their toys in a blanket, which she took down each time they visited.

Aileen Hernadez, Union Activist born

*Aileen Hernandez was born on this date in1926. She was an African American union organizer, civil rights activist, and women’s rights activist.

Blue Note Records is Formed

*Blue Note Records is celebrated on this date in 1939. They are an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it originated its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Originally dedicated to recording traditional jazz and small group […]

The Fultz Quadtriplets is born

*The Fultz Quadruplets were born on this date in 1946. They were the first identical Black quad babies born in the United States.