People, Locations, Episodes

Eva Del Vakia Bowles, Activist born

*On this date, in 1875, Eva Del Vakia Bowles was born.  She was a Black administrator and activist. From Albany, Athens County, Ohio, her grandfather, John R. Bowles, served as chaplain of the all-Black, 54 Massachusetts Infantry during the American Civil War and later became the first Black teacher hired by the Ohio Public School […]

Joel Spingarn, Educator, and Activist born

Joel Elias Spingarn, a Jewish American educator, literary critic, and activist, was born on this date in 1875 in New York City.

He was the older brother of Arthur Spingarn and a professor of comparative literature at Columbia University from 1899 to 1911. He also served in the US Army in World War I as a Colonel. In 1919, he was a co-founder of the publishing firm of Harcourt, Brace and Company. Spingarn was a liberal who helped settle a dispute between W.E.B. DuBois and the followers of Booker T. ashington.

Mary McLeod Bethune, Educator, and Activist born

Mary McLeod Bethune, African American civil rights administrator and educator was born on this date in 1875.

Edward B. Ceruti, Lawyer, and Activist born

*Edward Ceruti was born on this date in 1875. He was a Black attorney and racial justice activist. Edward Burton Ceruti was born in Nassau, the Bahamas. His parents were Eliza Jane Anderson, a mulatto, and Edward Burton Ceruti, Sr. The family moved to the United States when he was four years old. According to the 1880 census, […]

Lutie Lytle, Lawyer and Teacher born

*Lutie A. Lytle was born on this date in 1875. She was a Black lawyer and teacher. Lutie A. Lytle was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was one of six surviving children of John R. and Mary Ann “Mollie” (Chesebro) Lytle, both formerly enslaved people. In 1882, the Lytle family moved to Topeka, Kansas. Lutie […]

James R. Johnston, Canadian Lawyer born

*James R. Johnston was born on this date in 1876.  He was a Black Canadian lawyer and community leader.  James Robinson Johnston was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was the eldest of the five sons of William Johnston, a shoemaker, and Elizabeth Ann Thomas. His maternal grandparents were Reverend James Thomas, a white man from Wales who headed […]

The Peoples Advocate Newspaper is Published

*On this date in 1876, The People’s Advocate published its first edition. This was among the first weekly African American-owned and operated newspapers in Virginia. It was the first African American newspaper in Alexandria, Virginia.    The People’s Advocate was a newspaper founded by Traverse B. Pinn Sr., its first publisher and business manager, and John Wesley Cromwell […]

Lethia Fleming, Women’s Activist born

*Lethia Fleming was born on this date in 1876. She was an African American campaign organizer, women’s and civil rights activist and politician.

Eartha White, Educator, and Humanitarian born

Eartha Mary Magdalene White was born on this date in 1876. She was an African American vocalist, educator, administrator, and humanitarian.

Fred T. Jones, Doctor, and Activist born

*Fred T. Jones was born on this date in 1877. He was an African American Physician, administrator and community activist.

Sue M. Wilson Brown, Activist born

*Sue M. Wilson Brown was born on this date in 1877. She was a Black activist for women’s suffrage. Sue M. Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, to Jacob Wilson and Maria Harris Wilson. As a child, her family moved to Iowa, where they mined coal near Buxton. Brown was educated at the Oskaloosa High […]

S. Edward Hall, Businessman, and Activist born

*S. Edward. Hall was born on this date in 1878. He was an African American businessman and civil rights activist.

One of five children (two brothers and two sisters), he was born in Elgin, Illinois to John and Julia Hall. He came to St. Paul in 1900, married his wife Hattie in 1906 and opened his barbershop with his brother Orrie the same year. His place of business was located on 6th street near downtown and many of his customers were prominent white entrepreneurs in the early years of the Minnesota milling industry, the McMillians, Pillsbury’s, James J. Hill and others.

Arthur Spingarn, Historian, and Lawyer born

*On this date in 1878 Arthur Spingarn was born. He was an Jewish American historian, lawyer and activist.

From New York City, in 1897 he was the younger brother of Joel Spingarn and received his A.B. degree from Columbia University in New York. In 1899, he received a M.A. from Columbia University, in 1900 his LL.B., from Columbia University and practiced law until the 1960s in New York. From 1917-1919, he was a Captain in the Sanitation Corps, American Expeditionary Force, United States Army. In 1919, he married Marion Meyer.

Jesse Max Barber, Dentist, and Journalist born

*Jesse Barber was born on this date in 1878. He was a Black journalist, teacher, and dentist. He was born in Blackstock, South Carolina, to former slave parents.    Jesse Max Barber was educated at Benedict College and Virginia Union University, where he was student editor of the University Journal and president of the Literary Society. After graduation in 1903, he began […]

Kathryn Johnson, Writer, and Activist born

On this date in 1878, Kathryn Magnolia Johnson was born. She was an African American civil rights activist.

She was born in Drake County (a Colored Settlement) near Greenville, Ohio. She attended public schools in New Paris, Ohio, and studied at Wilberforce University from 1897-98 and 1901-02. She also studied at the University of North Dakota in 1908. Johnson began teaching in 1898 in the Indiana and Ohio school systems. In 1910, after moving to Kansas City, she shifted her career to “race work.” Johnson is credited by many as the first field worker for the NAACP.