On this date in 1892, Frank Crosswaith was born. He was an African American labor union organizer and political activist.
learn moreHalie Selassie was born on this date in 1892. He was an African dictator and political force in 20th century Ethiopia.
learn moreOn this date in 1893, we celebrate the birth of Jomo Kenyatta. He was an African political leader, and the first president of Kenya.
learn more*On this date in 1894, Charles Coles Diggs Sr. was born. He was a Black politician. Born in Tallula, Mississippi, to John Diggs and Etta Jones, Diggs moved to Detroit in 1913, where he owned a successful funeral home on the Lower East Side. A follower of Marcus Garvey during the 1920s, Diggs became involved in politics as a […]
learn more*Jesse Wilkins Sr. was born on this date in 1894. He was a Black lawyer and labor activist leader. Jesse Ernest Wilkins Sr. was born into a working-class family in Farmington, Missouri. After serving and experiencing racial discrimination as a soldier in the First World War, Wilkins studied mathematics at the University of Illinois and […]
learn moreOn 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.
learn more*Mark Matthews was born this date in 1894. He was an African American Buffalo Soldier.
learn more*George W. McLaurin was born on this date in 1894. He was a Black educator. His family moved to Oklahoma in 1910, and he received his BA from Langston University. After marriage, he and his wife Peninah McLaurin sent their children out of state when they were 13 to complete their educations. McLaurin received his master’s degree from the University […]
learn more*Eleanor Roosevelt was born on this date in 1884. She was a White American diplomat, First lady, writer, humanitarian and Civil Rights activist.
learn more*Willie Galloway was born on this date in 1895. He was a Black farmer and soldier who was born in Gilmore, MO, and later lived in adjacent Wentzville, MO. William “Willie” Galloway’s parents were Edward and Phoebe Galloway, who lived east of Hopewell Baptist Church on Highway N. He had two brothers, Moses and Louis. […]
learn more*The Rufus Buck Gang was formed on July 30, 1895. They were American Creek Indian and African outlaw criminals. Their only crime spree occurred in the Indian Territory of Arkansas and Oklahoma in the summer of 1895. Rufus Buck formed the gang of Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, and Lucky Davis. The gang began […]
learn more*This date marks the birth of Charles Hamilton Houston in 1895. He was one of the most important African American lawyers of the twentieth century.
learn moreEugene Bullard was born on this date in 1895. He was an African American aviator and, according to many, the first Black military pilot.
learn more*Sir Milton Margai was born on this date in 1895. He was a Black African politician. Margai was born in Gbangabatoke in the Banta Chiefdom, Moyamba District of Sierra Leone. He was the eldest son of a businessman, M.E.S. Margai of Bonthe, and his grandfather was a Mende warrior chief. He received primary and secondary education at the […]
learn more*Joseph Danquah was born on this date in 1895. He was an African politician, scholar, lawyer, and statesman. He was a politician in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, and gave Ghana its current name. Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah was born in Bepong in Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana. He was […]
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