People, Locations, Episodes

Lillie M. Carroll Jackson, Activist born

Lillie M. Carroll Jackson, an African American civil rights leader, dynamic director of the Maryland NAACP, and activist, was born on this date in 1889 in Baltimore.

She was the seventh of eight children born to Charles Henry and Amanda Bowen Carroll. Her father was Methodist minister Charles Henry Carroll. Lillie Jackson was educated in Baltimore’s Colored High School and graduated in 1908. After high school, she taught in the Black school system in Baltimore.

Sarah Delany, Educator, and Activist born

*Sarah Delany was born on this date in 1889.  She was a Black educator and activist.  Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany was born in what was then known as Lynch Station, Virginia, at the home of her mother’s sister, Eliza Logan.  She was the second eldest of ten children born to the Rev. Henry Beard Delany, the first Black Bishop of the […]

Mordecai Johnson, Educator born

On this date in 1890, Mordecai Johnson was born. He was an African American educator, clergyman, administrator, and public speaker.

Wyatt Mordecai Johnson was born in Paris, TN, the son of a former slave. Johnson learned through his parent’s example the muscle of self-determination, discipline, scholarship, and integrity. His father, a minister and laborer, was a stern man who worked at a mill six days a week, twelve hours a day, for forty years. His mother, Carolyn, offset his father’s firmness with patience and nurturing for her only child.

Mabel Staupers, Activist, and Nurse born

*This date in 1890 marks the birthday of Mabel Keaton Staupers. She was an African American leader in breaking down racial barriers in American nursing.

Mabel Staupers was born in Barbados, West Indies. At 13 she immigrated with her parents to Washington D.C. In 1917 she graduated from Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing and was employed at the Harlem Tuberculosis Committee.

Black History and American Fusion Politics, a story

*Black History and American Fusion Politics are affirmed on this date in 1890. This is a national manifestation of business in a society centered on citizen and common populace uplift. After the American Civil War, fusion politics united political parties briefly and has ebbed and flowed with intended progressive, independent, self-governing results. In some western states, […]

Irene West, Educator, and Activist born

*Irene West was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black educator and Activist. She was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. West was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. She graduated from Alabama State College, now called Alabama State University, and attended Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes. West was a member of numerous civic organizations, including […]

Edward Francis Small, Union Organizer born.

*Edward Francis Small was born on this date in 1891. He was a Black African statesman and union organizer. Small was born in Bathurst, Gambia, the son of John W. Small and Elizabeth Thomas. Thomas, a Sierra Leonean immigrant, was of the Aku people, as was John. At the time of Small’s birth, Africa had […]

The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament is Formed

*On this date in 1891, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a Roman Catholic order of nuns, was founded.  It is a Catholic charitable institute founded by Saint Katharine Drexel as Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People.   During her life, Saint Katharine Drexel used approximately 20 million dollars of her fortune to fund schools for […]

Earl Dickerson, Chicago Civic Leader born

On this date in 1891, Earl B. Dickerson was born. He was an African American attorney, teacher, and businessman.

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.