People, Locations, Episodes

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.

Otto Huiswoud, Political Activist born

*Otto Huiswoud was born on this date in 1893. He was a black Surinamese political activist and journalist. Otto Eduard Gerardus Majella Huiswoud was born in Paramaribo, a South American coastal city in Suriname. He was the son of Rudolf Huiswoud, a formerly enslaved person who had gained his freedom as a boy and was a […]

James W. Ford, Labor Activist born.

*James W. Ford was born on this date in 1893. He was a Black labor activist and a politician. Ford was born in Pratt City, Alabama. His father, a former resident of Gainesville, Georgia, had come to Alabama in the 1890s to work in the coal mines and steel mills. He worked for 35 years […]

The Colored Women’s League of D.C. is Founded

*The Colored Women’s League (CWL) of Washington, D.C., was incorporated on this date in 1894. This women’s club’s primary mission was the national union of women of color. Several prominent Black women in Washington, D.C., met to discuss creating a club devoted to improving the conditions of black children, women, and the urban poor. Some of […]

Crystal B. Fauset, Politician born

On this date, Crystal Bird Fauset was born. She was the first African American woman to be elected to a state house of representatives.

Fauset was born in Princess Anne, Maryland, to Benjamin and Portia Bird, but was raised in Boston by her aunt, Lucy Groves. She attended public schools and graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1931. As a social worker for the YWCA in New York and Philadelphia, Fauset was named executive secretary of the Institute of Race Relations at Swarthmore College in 1933.

The Daughters of the Confederacy, a story

*The Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) was founded on September 10, 1894. UDC is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers. Established in Nashville, Tennessee, the group venerated the Ku Klux Klan during the Jim Crow era. In 1896, the organization established the Children of the Confederacy to impart […]

Eleanor Roosevelt, Political Emissary, and Writer born

*Eleanor Roosevelt was born on this date in 1884. She was a White American diplomat, First lady, writer, humanitarian and Civil Rights activist.

Lovett Fort-Whiteman, Socialist born

*On this date in 1894, we mark the birth of Lovett Fort-Whiteman.   He was a Black political activist and Communist International functionary.   Lovett Huey Fort-Whiteman was born in Dallas, Texas. His father, Moses Whiteman, was a slave in South Carolina and relocated to Texas in 1887, where he worked as a janitor and a small-scale cattle rancher. At the age of 35, Moses Whiteman married the […]

Beulah Webb, Community Activist born

*Beulah Webb of Sioux City was born on this date in 1895. She was a Black community service leader. In 1927, she organized the Sioux City Association of Colored Women to promote culture, education, literature, and art and to alleviate racial problems. She was selected to attend the National Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs Convention in 1938. […]