People, Locations, Episodes

Chris Braithwaite, Union Activist born

*This date marks the birth of Chris Braithwaite in 1885. He was an Afro Barbadian union activist in the Colonial Seamen’s Association.   Braithwaite, also known as Chris Jones, was born in Barbados. As a teenager, he went to sea with the British Merchant Navy and traveled the world as a sailor. He settled in Chicago before rejoining the Merchant Navy during World War I. […]

The ‘Brotherhood of Liberty’ is formed

*The Brotherhood of Liberty was formed on this date in 1885. Known as Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, it was in Baltimore, Maryland, that the organization sought to remove social injustices and protect the civil rights of Blacks against the structures of the Jim Crow Era. The Brotherhood of Liberty used legal means to protect […]

Eugene Jones, Union Advocate born

*Eugene Jones was born on this date in 1885.  He was a Black administrator of the National Urban League and a union advocate. Eugene Kinckle Jones was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Joseph Endom Jones and Rosa Daniel Kinckle. He graduated from Richmond’s Virginia Union University in 1905 and Cornell University with a master’s degree […]

Richard B. Moore, Businessman, and Activist

*On this date in 1885, Richard B. Moore was born. He was an African American activist and businessman.

From Barbados, he emigrated to New York, working as an office boy, elevator operator, and for a silk manufacturing firm. The racism Moore encountered while in America prompted him to a life of activism. In 1915, he founded and was treasurer of the Pioneer Cooperative Society, a grocery store that featured West Indian products. Moore was self-educated and began to collect an extensive library of literature.

Mary Edwards Hunter, Community Educator born

*Mary Edwards Hunter was born on this date in 1885. She was a Black teacher, extension agent, and advocate for women and children. Mary Evelyn Virginia Edwards was born in Fitchburg, Alabama, the fifteenth of seventeen children of Elijah E. and Frances (Moore) Edwards. While still a girl, she became the bookkeeper for her father’s […]

John Artemus, Union Organizer born

The birth of John Artemus in 1885 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American labor organizer.

The Black Hebrew Israelites, a story

*The Black Hebrew Israelites are affirmed on this date in 1886. Also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites, these groups of African Americans believe they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Black Hebrew Israelites are not associated with the mainstream Jewish community, and they do not meet the standards used […]

I. Willis Cole, Newspaper Publisher born

*I. Willis Cole was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black newspaper editor, publisher, and human rights activist. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and started a newspaper career as a carrier at the age of 12. Cole graduated from Lemoyne Junior College in 1906 and later attended the University of Chicago. He became […]

National Afro-American League is Formed

*On this date in 1890, the National Afro-American League was formed. Put together by Timothy Thomas Fortune it preceded the NAACP.

Fortune was the crusading editor of the New York Age, which was the leading Negro journal of the era. The organization dedicated itself to protest based on racial solidarity and self-help. It became defunct in 1893 because of lack of support and funds.

Marcus Garvey, Black Nationalist born

*This date marks the birth of Marcus Garvey in 1887. He was an African American Black Nationalist leader, who was a proponent of the “Back to Africa” movement in the United States.

James Walker Hood Easton, Activist born

*Dr. James Walker Hood Eason was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black minister and activist. From Sunbury, North Carolina, he was the son of Douglass and Lucinda Eason, former slaves. His parents were members of the AME Zion Church and named him after their bishop, James Walker Hood. Young Eason was […]

W. Gertrude Brown, Educator, and Administrator born

On this date we celebrate the birth of W. Gertrude Brown in 1888. She was an African American activist for racial justice and the rights of children and women.

Although little is known of her formative childhood years, it is certain that Brown’s Charlotte, North Carolina education was impacting on her values and career. From 1906 to 1911, then known as Willie G. Brown, she was enrolled at Scotia Seminary in Concord, NC. This was a school founded by the Presbyterian Church to educate newly freed African American girls; Mary McLeod (Bethune) was a former graduate.

Cyril Briggs, Writer, and Political Activist born

*On this date in 1888 Cyril Valentine Briggs was born. He was an African American writer and political activist.

Born in Nevis, West Indies. Briggs moved to New York City in 1905 and got his first writing job at the Amsterdam News in 1912. In 1917, Briggs founded the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB) to stop lynching in the South and racial discrimination in the North. In 1918, the ABB began publishing a magazine called The Crusader.

Mamie Garvin Fields, Teacher and Activist born.

*Mamie Garvin Fields was born on this date in 1888. She was a Black teacher, civil rights and religious activist, and writer. Mamie Elizabeth Garvin was born in Charleston, South Carolina. She was the daughter of George Washington Garvin and Rebecca Mary Logan Bellinger. She attended school at Shaw University and Claflin College. She received […]

A. Phillip Randolph, Labor Activist born

*On this date in 1889, A. Philip Randolph was born. He led the Black Civil Rights, American Labor Movement, and Socialist Political Party. Asa Phillip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida, the second son of the Rev. James William Randolph, a tailor and minister in an African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Elizabeth Robinson Randolph, […]