*On this date in 1814, Mary Ellen Pleasant was born. She was an African American abolitionist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur for over fifty years in the San Francisco Gold Rush heyday.
learn more*On this date in 1826 Mansfield Tyler was born. He was an African American minister and administrator.
Tyler was born a slave near Augusta, GA., owned by a Baptist preacher, he learned to read and write, and became a preacher himself while still in slavery. He was taken to Alabama by his owner in 1854 and after the Civil War (1867), Tyler established a Baptist church in Lowndeboro, Ala.
learn more*The birth of Silas Jefferson in 1835 is celebrated on this date. He was an African, Native soldier and politican of the Creek Tribe in America.
Born at Taskigi Town (or Tuskegee) in the Old Creek Nation. His parents were Betsey and Jeffery Manac (McNac). Also known as Ho-tul-ko-micco “Wind Clan chief”, Jefferson migrated with his parents to the Creek lands in the Indian Territory in 1838. During the Civil War he enlisted in the First Indian Home Guard Regiment (Co. I).
learn more*Eddie Durham was born on this date in 1906. He was an African American musician, composer and inventor.
From San Marcos, Texas, he was the son of Joe Durham who played the fiddle at square dances. Young Durham’s oldest brother, Joe played cello briefly with Nat King Cole, took correspondence lessons and in turn taught Eddie and his other brothers to read and notate music. Together with cousins Allen and Clyde Durham, Durhams and his brother Roosevelt formed the Durham Brothers Band around 1920. They were later joined in Dallas by another cousin, Herschel Evans a tenor saxophonist.
learn more*William Marshall was born on this date in 1924. He was an African American stage and screen actor.
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Marshall graduated from that cities Roosevelt High School. His acting career began in the early 1950s with the films Lydia Bailey, Demetrius and the Gladiators, and Sabu and the Magic Ring, in which he played “Ubal,” the genie.
learn more*The birth of Henry Hampton in 1940 is marked on this date. He was an African American filmmaker.
Hampton was born in St. Louis and as a child suffered from polio. He obtained a B. A. degree from Washington University in his hometown. He was a renowned producer whose television documentary Eyes on the Prize set the pattern for nonfiction accounts of the civil rights movement. His films include The Great Depression and America’s War on Poverty, both of which were critically acclaimed. He made lasting contributions through his affiliations with institutions.
learn more*Edwin Hawkins was born on this date in 1943. He was an African American singer. He was the son of Daniel and Mamie Hawkins. From in Oakland, CA, his father was a longshoreman who liked to play Hawaiian steel guitar. Edwin and his many siblings began singing at local churches as a family group. By […]
learn more*William Hurd was born on this date in 1977. He is a former CIA officerand an African American politician. William Ballard Hurdis the son of Robert and Mary Alice Hurd. He is a 1995 graduate of John Marshall High School in the San Antonio suburb of Leon Valley. Hurd attended Texas A&M University and served as the student body president in 1999 at […]
learn more*On this date in 1989, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of Johannesburg, the first Black Bishop of his church; defied apartheid laws by walking alone on a South African beach.
Reference:
The Associated Press
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*On this date in 1991 the Crown Heights riot occurred. The deaths of Melbourne Hasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum and Black seven-year-old Gavin Cato that day ignited the worst three days of race riots ever seen in New York.
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