People, Locations, Episodes

Robert Hayden, Poet Laureate born

*Robert Hayden was born on this date in 1913. He was an African American poet.

Born Asa Bundy Sheffey, Hayden was raised in the poor Paradise Valley neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. He had an emotionally turbulent youth and was shuttled between the home of his parents and that of a foster family, who lived next door. Childhood events would result in times of depression he would call ‘my dark nights of the soul’. A nearsighted boy, he was often ostracized by his peers and was excluded from many physical Hobbies. Reading on the other hand occupied a great deal of his time.

Ben Burns, Journalist, and Editor born

*Ben Burns was born on this date in 1913. He was a white Jewish-American newspaper and magazine editor. Benjamin Bernstein was born in Chicago to Polish Jewish parents, Alexander and Frieda Bernstein. The family lived on Chicago’s Near West Side at his birth at Michael Reese Hospital. He grew up in the slums of Chicago. […]

Carrie Allen McCray, Virginia Writer born

Carrie Allen McCray, an African American writer, was born on this date in 1913.

Born in Lynchburg, VA, she attended the Virginia Seminary Primary School. Her father, William Patterson Allen, was a lawyer; her mother, Mary Rice Hayes Allen, was a college teacher. As the ninth of ten children, McCray’s Virginia childhood had the warmth of a beloved family with close ties to the community.

Albert Camus, Algerian Writer born

On this date in 1913, Albert Camus was born. He was a French North African writer.

Camus (pronounced Kam-oo) was born into a poor working class family which only got poorer once his father was killed in WWI. From Mondovi, Algeria, Camus’ family was French Algerian (pied noir) settlers. His mother was of Spanish descent. His father, Lucien, died in the Battle of the Marne in 1914 while serving as a member of the Zouave infantry regiment.

Dorothy Sterling, Writer, and Historian born

Dorothy Sterling was born on this date in 1913. She was a Jewish American writer, journalist, and historian.

She was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan. She started Wellesley College at the age of 16 and received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College in 1934. After graduating, she worked as an editor and author of the weekly column, “Paris Notes,” for Art News and for the Federal Writers Project as a writer in New York.

Dudley Randall, Poet, and Publisher born

On this date in 1914, Dudley Randall was born. He was an African American poet, publisher, editor, and founder of Broadside Press.

He was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with his family to Detroit in 1920. His first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was thirteen. His early readings included English poets from whom he learned form. He was later influenced by the work of Jean Toomer and Countee Cullen.

Ray Durem, Poet, and Activist born

*Ray Durem was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American activist and poet.

Ramón Durem was born in Seattle, Washington of mixed heritage.  Leaving home at fourteen, he briefly served in the U.S. Navy before suffering a leg injury that forced his discharge.  He then worked as a laborer until enrolling at the University of California in Berkeley where he joined the Communist Party in 1931 and volunteered to join the Loyalist cause in Spain.

Ralph Ellison, Author, and Educator born

Ralph Ellison was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American author, educator, and one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.

Mary Fair Burks, Scholar, and Activist born

*Mary Fair Burks was born on this date in 1914. She was a Black educator, scholar, and activist. She was the daughter of Gustavus “Gus” Samuel and Ollie (née Williams) Fair. She attended Alabama State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English literature in 1933, and Michigan State University, where she earned a Master […]

Owen Dodson, Poet, and Playwright born

*Owen Dodson was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American writer, teacher, director and playwright.

Margaret Danner, Writer born

Margaret Danner, an African American writer, was born on this date in 1915.

Born in Kentucky, Danner and her parents moved to Chicago when she was young. When Margaret Esse Danner was in the eighth grade, she wrote her first prize-winning poem, “The Violin.” Although it would be many years before her first book of poetry was published, the image and theme of the violin reappeared many times in later works.

Grace Lee Boggs born

*Grace Lee Boggs was born on this date in 1915. She was an Asian American author, radical justice and social activist, philosopher and feminist. Boggs was born in Providence, Rhode Island, above her father’s restaurant. Her Chinese given name was Yu Ping, meaning “Jade Peace.” She was the daughter of Chin Lee, originally from Toishan in China and Yin […]

Margaret Walker, Novelist, and Poet born

On this date in 1915, Margaret Walker was born in Birmingham, AL. She was an African American novelist and poet, one of the leading Black woman writers of the mid-20th century.

The Journal of African American History is published

*On this date in 1916, the Journal of African American History published its first issue.   The Journal of African American History, formerly The Journal of Negro History (1916–2001), is a quarterly academic journal covering African American life and history. It was founded in 1916 by Carter G. Woodson. The journal is owned and overseen by the Association for the […]

John O. Killens, Novelist born

This date marks the birthday of John Oliver Killens, an African American novelist and professor, born in Macon, GA. in 1916.

Killens studied at Terrell Law School, Columbia University, and New York University from 1936 to 1942. After serving in the military, he worked for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Brooklyn. Killen’s first novel, “Youngblood,” was published in 1954 and his second, “And Then We Had Thunder,” in 1963. In between those two novels, he wrote the script for the film “Odds Against Tomorrow.”