People, Locations, Episodes

James Zwerg, Minister and Activist born

*James Zwerg was born on this date in 1939.  He is a white-American retired minister and activist.   James Zwerg was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, with his parents and older brother, Charles. His father was a dentist who provided free dental care to the poor one day per month. He was involved in school and participated […]

Jeremiah Wright, Minister and Activist born

*Jeremiah Wright was born on this date in1941. He is an African American minister, educator and activist.

Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr was born and raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Jeremiah Wright, Sr., a Baptist minister and Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, a schoolteacher and education administrator. Wright graduated from the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1959. From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Zeta chapter.

Henry Lyons, Minister born

*Henry Lyons was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black minister and former National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc president. Henry J. Lyons was from Tampa, Florida, and was raised by his grandfather, a Deacon named Booker T. Lyons. His father, who was only 16 when Henry was born, played a minimal role […]

Andraé Crouch, Gospel Musician born

*Andraé Crouch was born on this date in 1942. He was an African American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.

Born in San Francisco, California, Andraé Edward Crouch along with his twin sister, Sandra were children to Benjamin and Catherine (neé Hodnett) Crouch. When he was young, Crouch’s parents owned and operated Crouch Cleaners, a dry-cleaning business, a restaurant, a street ministry, and hospital and prison ministry in Los Angeles, California.

Lola Falana, Entertainer and Minister born

*On this date in 1942, Lola Falana was born. She was an American singer, dancer, model, actress, and minister. Loleta Elayne Falana was Born in Camden, New Jersey; she was the third of six children born to Bennett, a welder, and Cleo Falana, a seamstress. Her father, an Afro Cuban, left his homeland of Cuba to […]

Wilton Gregory, Bishop born

Reverend Wilton D. Gregory was born in Chicago on this date in 1947. He is an African American Roman Catholic bishop and the seventh bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

Calvin O Butts, Minister, and Educator born

*Calvin O. Butts, was born on this date in1949.  He is an African American pastor, educator, and administrator.

Gayle Elizabeth Harris, Priest born

*Gayle Elizabeth Harris was born on this date in 1951. She is a Black priest and bishop. Harris was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied at the Lewis & Clark College and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Harris became a deacon in February 1981 and a priest in June 1982. She was assistant […]

Capers Funnye, Rabbi born

*Capers Funnye was born on this date in 1952. He is a Black Jewish Rabbi and activist. From Georgetown, SC, the Low Country, Capers C. Funnye Jr.’s paternal ancestry among the Geechee, Gullah people of the Sea Islands. His family moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration of Blacks to industrial cities out […]

James Perkins Jr., Politician born

*James Perkins Jr. is celebrated on this date in 1952.  He is a Black businessman, teacher, and politician.  James Perkins Jr. grew up in Selma, where his parents were elementary school principals and nurses.  He graduated in 1971 in the first racially integrated class at Selma High School; he organized an unsuccessful effort to use […]

The Caravans (Gospel Vocal Group) is Formed

The 1952 founding of The Caravans Black Gospel singing group is celebrated on this date.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Politician born

*Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born on this date in 1953.  He is a former Black priest and politician.  Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into poverty in Port-Salut, Sud, Haiti.  His father died three months after he was born, and he later moved to Port-au-Prince with his mother. At age five, Aristide started school with priests of the Salesian […]

Al Sharpton, Minister and Activist born

*Al Sharpton was born on this date in 1954. He is a Black minister, talk show host, activist, and politician. Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. was born in New York City to Ada and Alfred Charles Sharpton Sr. The family has some Cherokee roots. He preached his first sermon at four and toured with gospel singer […]

Denzel Washington, Actor, Director, and Minister born

Denzel Washington was born on this date in 1954. He is an African American film, television, and stage actor and occasional director.

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr., was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He has an older sister, Lorice, and a younger brother. His father, Virginia-born Reverend Denzel Washington, was an ordained Pentecostal minister, who worked for the Water Department and at a local department store. His mother, Lennis, a beauty parlor owner, was born in Georgia and raised in Harlem.

The ‘Manifesto on Racial Beliefs’ is Published

On this date in 1957, a “Manifesto on Racial Beliefs” was published by The Atlanta Constitution.

Dr. Allison Williams, Senior Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, and 79 other white Atlanta pastors, signed the Manifesto, which was also published in The Atlanta Journal. This document clearly stated their opposition to the “hatred, defiance, and violence” which followed the Supreme Court’s granting of “full privileges of first-class citizenship” to Black Americans through the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.