People, Locations, Episodes

Willie Mae Wong, Musician born

*Willie Mae Wong was born on this date in 1920. She was an African Asian-American musician. From Greenville, MS., Wong had a Chinese father and a mixed-race mother. Willie Mae, also affectionately known as “Rabbit,” was one of the original members of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. They were the first multi-racial, all-female big band in […]

Amílcar Cabral, Pan-African Activist born

*Amílcar Cabral was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer and Pan-African.  Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, to Cape Verdean parents, Juvenal Antònio Lopes da Costa Cabral and Iva Pinhel Évora, both from Santiago, Cape Verde. His father came from a wealthy […]

Bettye Miller sang with style

*Bettye Miller’s birth in 1928 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American Pianist and Singer.

Miller was born in Clinton, Missouri. She earned bachelors and master’s degrees in vocal music from Lincoln University and taught elementary school in West Plains, Missouri, for two years before moving to Philadelphia for more voice training. In Philadelphia, she turned to the piano as her primary instrument and played in nightclubs there before moving to Kansas City in the early 1950s.

Richard Hunt, Sculptor born

*Richard Hunt was born on this date in 1935. He is a Black sculptor artist. Richard Howard Hunt was born on Chicago’s South Side. At eleven years old, he and his younger sister Marian moved to Galesburg, Illinois, where he spent most of his time in Chicago. From an early age, he was interested in […]

Charles Crutchfield Sr., Obstetrician and Gynecologist born

*Charles Crutchfield was born on this date in 1939.  He is a retired Black Obstetrician and Gynecologist.  Charles Edward Crutchfield, born in Jasper, Alabama, is one of six children of Charles and Cessie Crutchfield. His siblings are Doris Jean, Albert, Dessie Lee, Napoleon, and Josephine. He attended Walker County Technical High School. In 1955, young […]

Barry White, Soul Singer, and Composer born

Barry White was born on this date in 1944. He was an African American singer and composer.

He was born in Galveston, TX and raised in Los Angeles. While still very young, Barry White dove into the California music scene playing piano on Jesse Belvin’s hit, “Goodnight My Love,” at the age of 11. White also made several records during the early 1960s, under the name “Barry Lee,” and as a member of the Upfronts, the Atlantic’s, and the Majestics.

Cooper v. Aaron is Ruled

*On this date in 1958, Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. was decided.  This landmark United States Supreme Court decision denied the Arkansas School Board the right to delay desegregation for 30 months.  The Warren Court handed down a per curiam decision which held that the Court’s decisions bind the states and must enforce them even […]

The First All-Black Division 1 College Football Backfield Plays in the American South

On this date in 1970 the racial landscape of American college football changed for ever. John McKay and the University of Southern California Trojans beat Bear Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide. The final score of USC 42, Alabama 21, was only part of the story. That USC-Bama game remains one of the most proclaimed in college athletics.

Tarana Burke, Woman’s Rights Activist born

*Tarana Burke was born on this date in 1973. She is an advocate for Black racial justice and women’s rights. Burke has worked in social justice, black arts, and culture in New York City for over 30 years.  Her long and varied professional career started in Selma, AL, where, for over a decade, she worked […]

Black Photographer Revealed as an Informant

*On this date in 2010, The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis published a story that African American photographer Ernest C. Withers, was also an FBI informant.