*Anna Evans Murray’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1857. She was a Black civic leader, educator, and early advocate for training kindergarten teachers. Anna Evans was born in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1857. She was one of eight children of Henry Evans, a Black undertaker and cabinetmaker, and Henrietta Leary Evans, a woman of […]
learn more*Celestine Edwards was born on this date in 1857. He was an Afro Dominican editor, public speaker, author, and anti-racist activist. Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards was born in Dominica. According to Edwards’ essays, published in Lux and Fraternity journals, he left Dominica in 1870 and worked odd jobs on ships. He also lived in America […]
learn more*This date in 1858 is celebrated as the birth date of Alice W. Wiley Seay, a Black social worker and women’s rights advocate who was born a slave in Giles, Virginia. By 1880, Seay was no longer living in her family home, and in June 1886, she married Pleasant Wiley. She and her husband moved […]
learn more*On this date in 1858, we celebrate the St. Cloud Visiter newspaper. It was founded in St. Cloud, Minnesota, by newspaper publisher Jane Grey Swisshelm. In 1857, she left her husband in Pittsburgh to form the paper. The venture was short-lived; a group of men supporting slavery destroyed her printing press later that March. Sylvanus B. Lowry, a […]
learn more*Alexander Walters was born on this date in 1858. He was a Black clergyman and civil rights leader. Walters was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was the oldest son of Henry and Harriet Walters. He was educated at a private school taught by several teachers. In 1871, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked as a waiter […]
learn more*On this date in 1858, Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was born. She was a Black educator and activist.
learn more*Katharine Drexel was born on this date in 1858. She was a white-American heiress, philanthropist, catholic sister, and educator. Katharine Mary Drexel was born Catherine Mary Drexel in Philadelphia, the second child of investment bankers Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her mother died five weeks after her baby’s birth. For two years, their […]
learn more*Clement G. Morgan was born on this date in 1859. He was a Black attorney, civil rights activist, and city official. Clement Garnett Morgan was born into slavery in Stafford County, Virginia. When the Emancipation Proclamation freed him and his parents in 1863, they moved to Washington, D.C., where Clement attended the M Street High School and trained […]
learn moreFlorence Kelley was born on this date in 1859. She was a White American activist for civil rights and social reform.
learn more*Charles Russell was born on this date in 1860. He was a white-American journalist, opinion columnist, newspaper editor, and political activist. Charles Edward Russell was born in Davenport, Iowa, a transportation center on the Mississippi River on the state’s far eastern border. His father, Edward Russell, was editor of the Davenport Gazette and an abolitionist. The Russell family was […]
learn moreOn this date in 1860 we remember Henrietta Vinton Davis. She was an African American actress and an international leader of the Garvey movement.
learn more*Carrie Fortune’s birth is celebrated on December 2, 1860. She was a Black clubwoman, seamstress, and community activist. Born in Florida, Caroline Charlotte “Carrie” Smiley Fortune was the daughter of white plantation owner John Smiley and his mistress, an Indigenous Seminole woman. At about 16, Carrie Smiley accepted the offer to relocate to Sag Harbor […]
learn more*Coralie Franklin Cook was born on this date in 1861. She was a Black activist, suffragist, orator, and scholar. Descended from slaves owned by President Thomas Jefferson, Coralie Franklin was born in Lexington, Virginia, the younger of two daughters from Albert Barbour Franklin and Mary Elizabeth Edmondson. Her parents were enslaved by Southern First Families […]
learn more*Florida Ruffin Ridley was born on this date in 1861. She was a Black activist, suffragist, teacher, writer, and editor. Florida Yates Ruffin was born into a distinguished Boston family. Her father, George Lewis Ruffin, was the first Black graduate of Harvard Law School and the first Black judge in the United States. Her mother, Josephine St. […]
learn more*Nettie Langston Napier was born on this date 1861. She was an African American woman’s activist and administrator.
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