People, Locations, Episodes

William L. Patterson, Activist born

*William Lorenzo Patterson was born on this date in 1891.  He was a Black activist.  Born in San Francisco, California, his father, James Edward Patterson, was from St. Vincent in the British Virgin Islands.  His mother, Mary Galt Patterson, was born a slave in Virginia.  She was the daughter of the organizer of a volunteer regiment of black soldiers who fought with the Union […]

Annie Elizabeth Delany, Dentist born

*Annie Elizabeth Delany was born on this date in 1891.  She was a Black dentist and activist.  Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany was the third of ten children born to the Rev. Henry Beard Delany and Nanny Logan Delany, an educator. H.B. Delany was born into slavery in St. Mary’s, Georgia. Nanny Logan Delany was born […]

The Comité des Citoyens is Formed

*The Comité des Citoyens is celebrated on this date in 1891. This committee was an equal rights organization comprised of Blacks, whites, and Creoles. In 1890, the State of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required separate accommodations for Black and white people on railroads, including separate railroad cars. At the suggestion of Aristide Mary, […]

Agnes Smedley, Activist, and Social Radical born

*Agnes Smedley was born on this date in 1892. She was a White American activist. The daughter of a laborer, she was born in Osgood, Missouri.

Carter Westley, Lawyer, Activist, and News Journalist born

*Carter Wesley was born on this date in 1892. He was a Black lawyer, newspaperman, and political activist. Carter Walker Wesley was born in Houston, Texas. He grew up in the city’s first and most successful Black neighborhood, Freedmen’s Town. Shortly after completing high school, Westley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated magna cum laude in […]

Robert Lee Hill, Farmer, and Union Activist born

*Robert Lee Hill was born on this date in 1892. He was an African American sharecropper, and activist and founder of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America.

Frank Crosswaith, Union Activist born

On this date in 1892, Frank Crosswaith was born. He was an African American labor union organizer and political activist.

Joseph Ritter, Prelate and Activist born

*Joseph Ritter was born on this date in 1892. He was a white-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and a racial justice activist. Born in New Albany, Indiana, Elmer Joseph Ritter was the fourth of Nicholas and Bertha (née Luette) Ritter’s six children. His father owned and operated the Ritter Bakery (where the family […]

The Women’s Loyal Union (NYC) is formed

*The Women’s Loyal Union, or WLU, was formed on this date in 1892 in New York. It started to advocate for women’s rights and, most importantly, the racial injustices that came with being a Black Woman during Reconstruction. WLU began with Maritcha Remond Lyons partnering with educator and activist Victoria Earle Matthews to host and […]

Irene M. Gaines, Children and Women’s Activist born

On this date in 1892, Irene M. Gaines was born. She was an African American civil rights reformer devoted to her race, especially Black women and young people.

The New Orleans General Strike Occurs

*On this date in 1892, the New Orleans general strike occurred. This was a general strike that began despite appeals to racial hatred and Black and White workers remained united. The general strike ended on November 12, with unions gaining most of their original demands. Early that year, streetcar conductors in New Orleans won a shorter workday and the preferential closed shop. This victory drove many New Orleans workers to seek assistance from the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Alfred Xuma, Agronomist, and Activist born

*Alfred Xuma was born on March 8, 1893. He was a Black South African agronomist, activist, and doctor. Alfred Bahtini Xuma was from the Manzana, Ngcobo District, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Xuma was the seventh child of Abraham Mangali Xuma and Elizabeth Cupase Xuma, devout members of the Wesleyan Church. Xuma and […]

Walter F. White, NAACP Leader born

Walter Francis White was born on this date in 1893. He was an African American activist and administrator.

His father was a postman and his mother a schoolteacher in Atlanta. Because Atlanta had Jim Crow laws, as a child, White attended segregated Black schools, sat in the rear of buses, and experienced many other indignities of racism. When he was 13, White witnessed a race riot in Atlanta.

Charles S. Johnson, Sociologist born

This date marks the birth of Charles Spurgeon Johnson in 1893. He was an African American sociologist, and authority on race relations.

Freda Kirchwey, Journalist, Professor, and Activist born

Freda Kirchwey was born on this date in 1893. She was a White American civil rights activist and peace advocate.

She was born in Lake Placid, N.Y., where her father, George Washington Kirchwey, was a professor at the Columbia University Law School. He helped establish the New York Peace Society in 1906, supported women’s suffrage, and the development of trade unions.