People, Locations, Episodes

Avery Alexander, Minister and Activist born

*Rev. Avery Alexander was born on this date in 1910. He was an African American minister and activist in the struggle for civil rights for Black Louisianans.

M. Moran Weston, Minister, Educator, and Activist born

*Dr. M. Moran Weston was born on this date in 1910. He was an African American minister, businessman and civil rights activist.

From Tarboro, North Carolina, he was the son and grandson of Episcopal priests and studied under his mother Catherine Perry Weston at St. Luke’s Parochial School in his hometown. His maternal grandfather the Rev. John W. Perry had founded this school in 1882. Weston attended St. Augustine’s Junior College in Raleigh North Carolina, graduating in 1928 as valedictorian. From there he enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 1930.

Pauli Murray, Lawyer, Administrator, and Priest born

On this date in 1910, Pauli Murray was born. She was an African American lawyer, poet, and minister.

Born in Baltimore, she began her academic schooling at Hunter College (B.A., 1933), Howard University Law School (LL. B., 1944); the University of California Berkeley (LL. M., 1945), and Yale Law School, where she was the first black woman to receive a degree of doctor of juridical science in 1965.

Isaiah Newman, Activist, and Minister

Isaiah Newman was born on this date in 1911. He was an African American clergyman, civil rights leader.

Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer born

This date marks gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s birthday in 1911. She was an African American gospel singer, widely regarded as the best in the history of the genre, and is the first “Queen of Gospel Music.”

Jackson was born in New Orleans and raised in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church where she sang in the choir. At a young age, Jackson knew she was going to be successful but Mahalia refused to sing secular music, a pledge she would keep throughout her professional life. Halie’s Aunt Bell told her that one day she would sing in front of royalty. Halie would one day see that come true.

William Pearly Oliver, Minister, and Activist born

*William Pearly Oliver was born on this date in 1912. He was a Black minister, administrator, and activist. Born in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, his great-great-grandfather was a Black Loyalist who came to Nova Scotia after the War of 1812. From 1880 to 1934, his grandfather, William Oliver, was “caretaker of the Ladies Seminary and later College Hall […]

Louise Jarrett Shropshire, Composer born

*Louise Shropshire was born on this date in 1913. She was an African American composer for her religion and the church.

Born Louise Jarrett, the granddaughter of slaves and sharecroppers, she was born in Coffee County, Alabama. In 1917, her family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio. As a young girl, Jarrett demonstrated a gift for music and composed many hymns as a member of the Baptist Church. Sometime between 1932 and 1942, after marrying Robert Shropshire, she composed a gospel hymn entitled, If My Jesus Wills.

Trevor Huddleston, Bishop born

*Trevor Huddleston was born on this date in 1913. He was a white English Anglican bishop and racial justice activist. He was best known for his anti-apartheid. Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston was the son of Ernest Huddleston and was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, and educated at Lancing College, Christ Church, Oxford, and Wells Theological College. […]

Charles K. Steele, Minister, and Activist born

*Charles K. Steele was born on this date in 1914. He was a Black preacher and a civil rights activist. Charles Kenzie Steele was the son of a coal miner and an only child from McDowell County, West Virginia. At a young age, he knew he wanted to be a preacher, and he started preaching […]

Abraham Lincoln Davis, Minister born

*Abraham Lincoln Davis was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American minister and Civil Rights activist.

Abraham Lincoln “A. L.” Davis was born in Bayou Goula, Louisiana and moved to New Orleans in 1930 to live with a sister and attend high school. Davis graduated from McDonogh 35 High School, received his B. A. degree from Leland College and his theological degree from Union Baptist Theological Seminary. He became the pastor of New Zion Baptist Church in 1935 where he became known as the Rev. A. L. Davis. He served as pastor of New Zion for forty-three years.

C. L. Franklin, Minister born

*C. L. Franklin was born on this date in 1915. He was a Black Baptist minister and civil rights activist. He was born Clarence LaVaughn Walker in Bolivar County, Mississippi, to sharecroppers Willie and Rachel (née Pittman) Walker. C.L. Franklin would recall that the only thing his father did for him was to teach him to salute […]

The First Calvary Baptist Church of Norfolk, VA, Opens

*The First Calvary Baptist Church of Norfolk is celebrated on this date in 1915. This is a historic Black Baptist church located in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a four-story, 11-bay, brick church building in the Second Renaissance Revival style. The building features decorative terra cotta and a stained-glass dome. It has a two-tier, engaged entrance portico with […]

Floyd Massey Jr., Minister, and Teacher born

*This date in 1915 celebrates the birth of Rev. Floyd Massey Jr. He was an African American minister and teacher.

Homer Jack, Minister and Activist born.

*Homer Jack was born on this date in 1916. He was a white-American Unitarian Universalist clergyman, pacifist, and social activist. From Rochester, NY., Homer A. Jack was an only child to active socialist parents. His grandparents had immigrated from central and eastern Europe to escape oppression and poverty. Like his parents, young Jack was a […]

James B. Davis, Gospel Music Icon born

*James B. Davis was born on this date in 1916. He was an African American gospel music singer and a founder of The Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the longest-lasting and most influential groups in gospel music.