This date marks the birth of Mary “Mollie” Church Terrell in 1863. She was an African American social activist who was co-founder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women.
learn more*Susan Elizabeth Frazier was born on this date in 1864. She was a Black teacher and civic leader focused on women’s issues and the rights and capacity of African Americans. Susan Elizabeth Frazier was born in New York City to Helen Eldridge Frazier and Louis M. Frazier. She was the great-granddaughter of Black Revolutionary War […]
learn more*Hiram H. Thweatt was born on this date in 1864. He was a Black activist, educator, and music administrator. Hiram H. Thweatt was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. He worked at the Tuskegee Institute as their choir director. And as a “School Teacher” in the 1900 Census, as was their wife, Janice. He was the President […]
learn more*Lilian Wyckoff Johnson was born on this date in 1864. She was a white-American history teacher and an advocate for rural reform and American civil rights. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to John Cumming Johnson and Elizabeth Fisher. Both of her parents valued education and were strong proponents of community service. Her mother headed […]
learn more*Emma Ransom was born on this date in 1864. She was a Black clubwoman and civic leader. Emma Sarah Connor was born to Jackson and Beattie Connor, former slaves. The Connors moved their ten children to Selma, Ohio, where Emma attended school. As a young woman, she trained as a teacher at Wilberforce University. She taught […]
learn more*The National Equal Rights League (NERL) was founded on this date in 1864. NERL is the oldest national human rights organization in the United States. It was founded at the National Conference of Colored Men in Syracuse, New York, and was dedicated to liberating black people in America. Its origins began with the emancipation of slaves […]
learn more*Verina Morton Jones was born on this date in 1865. She was a Black physician, suffragist, and clubwoman. Verina Harris Morton Jones was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to William D. and Kittie Stanley. From 1884 to 1888, she attended the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She graduated and earned her M.D. in 1888. […]
learn moreMary White Ovington was born on this date in 1865. She was a White American suffragette, socialist, Unitarian, journalist, and co-founder of the NAACP.
learn more*Sadie Chandler Cole’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1865. She was a Black singer, music educator, and activist. Sadie Chandler was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was the daughter of Abraham Washington Chandler and Sarah Hatfield Chandler. Her parents were involved in the Underground Railroad movement and helped found a Baptist church in […]
learn more*William A. Hunton was born on this date in 1865. He was a Black activist, teacher, and administrator. Hunton was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, and was the son of Stanton and Mary A. Johnson Hunton. The Hunton home was an “underground railway station” where John Brown occasionally held conferences on abolitionism. He received his A.M. degree from […]
learn moreOn this date, starting with the year 1866, the African American Registry features a brief article and definition of civil rights.
learn more*Addie Waites Hunton was born on this date in 1866. She was a Black suffragist, a race and gender activist, a writer, a political organizer, and an educator. Addie D. Waites was born to Jesse and Adeline Waites in Norfolk, Virginia. Her mother died when she was very young, and Addie then moved to Boston to be raised by […]
learn more*James L. Farmer Sr. was born on this date in1886. He was an African American educator, administrator, minister and historian.
From Kingstree, South Carolina, James Leonard Farmer’s parents, former slaves, were Carolina and Lorena (Wilson) Farmer. The grade school he attended was in Pearson, Ga.; there was no high school for blacks. However Farmer was able to acquire a working scholarship from Mary McCloud Bethune to the Cookman Institute in Daytona Beach, Fla.
learn more*On this date in 1866, the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum is celebrated. This was one of the few American orphanages to be led by and for Blacks. It was on Troy Avenue and Dean Street in Weeksville, New York City. Black Presbyterian minister Henry M. Wilson, black widow Sarah A. Tillman, and white general Oliver Otis […]
learn more*On this date in 1866, Monroe N. Work was born. He was a Black sociologist. Monroe Nathan Work was born to former slaves in Iredell County, North Carolina, and moved in 1867 to Cairo, Illinois, where his father pursued farming. At 23, Work entered Arkansas City High School (Kansas), an integrated high school in Arkansas City, Kansas. He graduated 3rd in his class, and after undergoing […]
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