People, Locations, Episodes

Selma University is Founded

*Selma University’s founding is celebrated on this date in 1878. It is a private, historically Black Baptist Bible college (HBCU).    It is located in Selma, Alabama, and is affiliated with the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention. The institution was founded as the Alabama Baptist Normal and Theological School to train Blacks as ministers and teachers. Mansfield Tyler was its first administrator. The school purchased […]

William Braithwaite, Author, and Publisher born

This date marks the birth of William S. Beaumont Braithwaite in 1878. He was an African American author.

He was born in Boston to an immigrant from British Guiana and the daughter of a former slave. He was educated at home until 1884, when his father’s death left the family impoverished. Braithwaite attended public school but left at 12 to work and help his family. He worked for several people before settling into an errand boy job with the publishing firm of Ginn & Co., where he soon became an apprentice and compositor.

Artemisia Bowden, Educator, and Administrator born

*Artemisia Bowden was born on this date in 1879. She was a Black school administrator and civil rights activist. Artemisia Bowden was born in Albany, Georgia, to former slaves Milas and Mary Bowden. She was the oldest of four children, and in her early life, she grew up in Brunswick, Georgia. There, she attended Athanasius’ […]

Effie Smith, Educator, and Poet born

*Effie Waller Smith was born on this date in 1879. She was an African American educator and poet.

Florida Memorial College is Founded

*On this dates Registry we celebrate the founding of Florida Memorial College (FMC) in 1879. They are one of 100 Historically Black Colleges in America.

FMC is allied to the Baptist Churches and traditions and one of the oldest academic gathering places in Florida. This private coeducational, baccalaureate degree-granting college has its roots with the Florida Baptist Institute and in the Florida Baptist Academy, founded in 1892. These two institutions merged in 1941 to form the Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial Institute.

Roscoe Bruce, Educator born

*Roscoe Bruce was born on this date in 1879. He was a Black educator known for stressing the value of practical industrial and business skills instead of academic disciplines. Roscoe Conkling Bruce was born in Washington, D.C., the only son of U.S. Senator Blanche Bruce and his wife, Josephine Beall Willson Bruce. His father was […]

Nannie Burroughs, Educator born

On this date in 1879, Nannie Burroughs, an African American educator from Orange, Virginia, was born.

Burroughs’ father attended Richmond Institute and became a preacher. Her mother took Nannie and her sister and moved to Washington, D.C. Nannie attended the Colored High School there (now Dunbar High School), where she was deeply interested in domestic science. Here she came in contact with Mary Church Terrell and Anna Julia Cooper, two women who became her role models and mentors.

Livingstone College (North Carolina) Begins Classes

The founding of Livingstone College is celebrated on this date in 1879.

One of over 100 Historical Black Colleges and Universities in America, Livingstone College, in Salisbury, North Carolina, began as an educational institution for clergy in the African Methodist Church (A.M.E.). It was located in a small house on seven acres of land donated by the Reverend Thurber, and was called Zion Wesley Institute.

Simmons College of Kentucky Begins Classes

*Simmons College of Kentucky began classes on this date in 1879. It is a private, historically black college (HBCU) located in Louisville, Kentucky. Simmons is the nation’s 107th HBCU. Simmons College of Kentucky is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education to grant certificates and degrees at the Associate […]

Eva Boone, Teacher, and Missonary born

Eva Roberta Coles Boone was born on this date in 1880. She was an African American teacher and missionary.

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, she graduated from Hartshorn Memorial College (later Virginia Union University) in 1899. Coles taught in her hometown for a while before marrying Clinton C. Boone in 1901. That same year they traveled to Africa with the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU).

Zelia N. Breaux, Music Educator born

*Zelia N. Breaux was born on this date in 1880. She was a Black music instructor and musician who played the trumpet, violin, and piano.  Born Zelia N. Page in Jefferson City, Missouri, she was the daughter of Inman Edward and Zelia Ball Page. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Lincoln Institute, […]

Nellie Quander, Teacher, and Community Activist born

*Nellie Quander was born on this date in 1880. She was a Black teacher and community activist born in Washington, D.C. Nellie May Quander was the daughter of John Pierson Quander and Hannah Bruce Ford Quander. The Quander family can trace their lineage three hundred years in Maryland and Virginia. They are one of the […]

Southern University, (Louisiana) is Founded

*On this date, in 1880, Southern University was founded. They are among over 90 public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.   Southern University (SUBR) is the largest HBCU in Louisiana, a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and the flagship institution of the Southern University System. Its campus encompasses 512 acres, with an agricultural experimental station on an additional 372-acre site, […]

Willa Townsend, Music Educator born

Willa Townsend was born on this date in 1880. She was an African American educator.

Lillian Bertha Jones Horace, Author, and Educator born

*Lillian Bertha Jones Horace was born on this date in 1880. She was a Black author, educator, and librarian. Lillian Bertha Amstead was born in Jefferson, Texas, to Thomas Amstead and Macey Ackard Matthews; she also had one sister, Etta. The family moved to Fort Worth when Lillian was two years old. Thomas failed to […]