People, Locations, Episodes

Ida Cummings, Civic Organizer born

*Ida Rebecca Cummings was born on this date in 1867. She was an African American educator, organization leader, and clubwoman.

Abraham Lincoln DeMond, Minister and Activist born.

*Abraham Lincoln DeMond was born on this date in 1867. He was a Black minister and civil rights advocate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Seneca, New York, DeMond was the son of Quam and Phebe (Darrow) DeMond. He was the first black graduate of the State Normal School at Cortland, […]

John Barbour-James, Activist born.

*John Barbour-James’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1867. He was a Black British activist. John Barbour James was born in British Guiana, where he became postmaster in Belfield in the 1890s. While living in British Guiana, he established the self-help Victoria Belfield Agricultural Society, which recognized the value of improving the diet and […]

W.E.B. Du Bois, Sociologist born

*This date marks the birth of W.E.B. Du Bois in 1868. He was an African American sociologist, one of the most important Black protest leaders in the United States during the first half of the 20th century.

John Hope, Activist, and Educator born

On this date, we mark the birth of John Hope in 1868. Born in Augusta, Georgia, he was an African American civil rights activist and educator.

Sylvester Williams, Pan-African Politician born

*Sylvester Williams was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black activist, lawyer, and politician.

One of five children, he was born in Trinidad. His father was a wheelwright who had originally come from Barbados. A talented student young Williams qualified as a schoolteacher in 1886 and became a principal two years later. He was interested in politics and in 1890 helped establish the Trinidad Elementary Teachers Union. One year later, Williams moved to New York where he worked as shoe-shiner. Later he studied law at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia but left before graduating.

The Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans is Formed

*On this date, in 1869, the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans was formed. It was a Black orphanage in Richmond, Virginia. Later it was called the Friends Association for Colored Children and is currently the Friends’ Association for Children. It began as a program to provide care and education to Black children. It later evolved […]

Mohandas Gandhi, Humanitarian born

*Mohandas Gandhi was born on this date in 1869. He was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India. He was trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, and called to the bar at age 22 in 1891. […]

Rev. William Henry Jernagin, Minister and Pan-Africanist born.

*Rev. William Henry Jernagin was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black Baptist pastor, American civil rights, and Pan-African activist. William Henry Jernagin was born in Mashulaville, Mississippi, to Allen Fletcher Jernagin and Julia Ruth Walker. While his parents were mostly illiterate, they obtained a 40-acre farm to grow fruits and vegetables. […]

William T. Francis, Minnesota Lawyer born

On his date, we mark the birth of William T. Francis in 1869. He was an African American politician and lawyer.

Francis was born in Indiana and went to Minnesota at an early age. After completing his education, he served in the legal department of Northern Pacific Railroad. Francis opened his own law firm in St. Paul before World War II.

In 1920, he was president-elector at the Republican State Convention. Francis and his wife were instrumental in getting an anti-lynching law passed in the Minnesota State Senate in the 1920s.

The Knights of Labor (Union) is Founded

*The Knights of Labor (KOL) began on this date in 1869. Founded in Philadelphia, the Knights of Labor was America’s largest labor union in the 19th century. Uriah Stephens founded it, and James L. Wright and a small group of Philadelphia tailors founded a secret organization, the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor. Created […]

Marion Wilkinson, Activist born.

*Marion Wilkinson was born on this date in 1870. She was a Black suffragist and community activist. Marion B. Wilkinson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the eldest daughter of Richard Birnie and Anna Frost Birnie. Her family’s status and relative wealth allowed her to study at the Avery Normal Institute, which ingrained an ethic […]

Lugeina B. Hope, Social Reformer born

*This date marks the birth of Lugenia Burns Hope in 1871. She was an African American social reformer.

John Chilembwe, Activist, and Educator born

*John Chilembwe’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1871. He was a Black African minister, activist, and educator.   John Chilembwe was born in Sangano, Chiradzulu District, in the south of what became Nyasaland.  His pre-baptismal name was Nkologo.  Chilembwe’s father was a Yao, and his mother, a Mang’anja slave, captured in warfare.  Chilembwe’s granddaughter stated that Chilembwe’s father might have […]

Oswald Villard, Journalist, and Activist born

*Oswald Villard was born on this date in 1872. He was a white-American journalist, editor, and civil rights activist.    Oswald Garrison Villard was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on March 13, 1872, while his parents lived there. He was the son of Henry Villard, an American newspaper correspondent who had been an immigrant from Germany, and Fanny (Garrison) Villard, daughter of abolitionist William […]