People, Locations, Episodes

The National Equal Rights League is Founded

*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 […]

Verina M. Jones, Physician, and Public Servant born

*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. […]

The Freedmen’s Bureau Is Formed

*This date celebrates the Freedmen’s Bureau. During the Reconstruction period, after the American Civil War (1865-72), the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established by Congress to provide practical aid to 4,000,000 newly freed Black Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom.

Mary Ovington, Journalist, and Activist born

Mary White Ovington was born on this date in 1865. She was a White American suffragette, socialist, Unitarian, journalist, and co-founder of the NAACP.

Sadie Chandler Cole, Singer, Music Educator, and Activist, born.

*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 […]

William A. Hunton Sr., Activist, Minister, and Teacher born

*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 […]

Addie Waites Hunton, Race, and Gender Activist born

*Addie Waites Hunton was born on this date in 1866.  She was a Black suffragist, race and gender activist, writer, political organizer, and 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 her maternal aunt.  In Boston, Waites attended […]

The Howard Colored Orphans Asylum Opens

*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 […]

Monroe N. Work, Sociologist born

*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 […]

Mary Burnett Talbert, Educator, and Activist born

*Mary B. Talbert was born on this date in 1866. She was an African American teacher, clubwoman and civil rights activist.

Dock J. Jordan, Educator, and Author born

*D. J. Jordan was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black lawyer, author, politician, educator, historian, and activist.    Dock Jackson Jordan was born to Giles and Julia Jordan in Cuthbert, Georgia. Giles Dolphus Jordan was born a slave in 1840 in South Carolina and died in 1898 in Early County, Georgia. […]

James Diggs, Activist, College President, and Pastor born

*James Diggs was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black activist, college president, and pastor. From Upper Marlboro, Maryland, James Robert Lincoln Diggs was the son of John Henry Diggs and Mary Virginia Clark Diggs. Little is known about his childhood or youth. Diggs lived in Washington, D.C., in 1885 when he […]

Duse Ali, Journalist, and Pan-Africanist born

*Duse Mohamed Ali was born on this date in 1866. He was an African actor, journalist, businessman and pan Africanist.

Mary Evans Wilson, Journalist and Teacher born

*Mary Evans Wilson’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1866. She was a Black teacher, journalist, and civil rights advocate. Mary Evans came from a family of activists. In 1858, her father was one of a group of men arrested for the Oberlin–Wellington Rescue. Her uncle, Lewis Sheridan Leary, was killed in John Brown’s raid on Harpers […]

Lillian Wald, Activist, and Educator

*Lillian Wald was born on this date in 1867. She was a White Jewish American civil rights activist, health worker, and educator.

From Cincinnati, Ohio, Wald became a nurse, and inspired by the work of Jane Adams and Ellen Starr at Hull House in Chicago, she joined Mary Brewster to establish the Henry Street Settlement in New York City in 1893. The Settlement expanded its range of services to meet the needs of the local community. This included nursing, the establishment of clubs, a savings bank, a library, and vocational training for young people.