People, Locations, Episodes

Lester Granger, Urban League Administrator born

*Lester Granger was born on this date in 1896. He was an African American civic leader.

Paulette Nardal, Author, and Activist born

*Paulette Nardal was born on this date in 1896. She was an Afro-Caribbean activist, author, and journalist. Born into the upper-middle class in Martinique, West Indies, Nardal became a teacher and completed her education in Paris. She was the first Black person to study at the Sorbonne in 1920 and, with her sister Jeanne Nadal, established an influential […]

Eslanda Robeson, Anti-Colonialism Activist, born.

Eslanda Goode Robeson was born on this date in 1896. She was an African American writer and activist.

From a middle-class family in Washington D.C., her maternal grandfather was Francis L. Cardozo, a noted Black congressman from South Carolina. During the early 1900s, the family moved to New York City where Goode finished high school and attended Columbia University, where she received a degree in chemistry in 1923. Soon after she attended the London School of Economics, and earned a doctorate in anthropology from Hartford Seminary.

Amy J. Garvey, Journalist, and Pan-Africanist born

Amy E.J. Garvey was born on this date in 1896. She was an African American historian, journalist, and Pan-Africanist.

A key figure in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), she was the second wife of Marcus Garvey. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Amy Jacques was educated at Wolmers Girls’ School. Her family was middle class with valued real estate. She had to move to a cooler climate because of attacks of malaria as a young girl.

Rayford Logan, Educator and Pan-Africanist born

*Rayford Logan was born on this date in 1897. He was a Black historian and Pan-African activist.   Rayford Whittingham Logan was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He won a scholarship to Williams College and graduated in 1917. During the First World War, he joined the US Army and served as a first lieutenant […]

The White Rose Home For Colored Working Girls Opens

*On this date, 1897, the White Rose Home for Colored Working Girls was founded.   Also known as the White Rose Mission and the White Rose Industrial Association, it was created as a “Christian, nonsectarian Home for Colored Girls and Women” by black civic leaders Victoria Earle Matthews and Maritcha Remond Lyons. The settlement house in Manhattan’s Upper Westside neighborhood, known then […]

Louise Little, Activist born

*Louise Little was born on this date in 1897. She was a Black activist. Louise Helen Langdon was born in La Digue, St. Andrew, Grenada, to Edith Langdon, the daughter of Jupiter and Mary Jane Langdon, “liberated Africans” who were captured from Nigeria. They were freed from the slave ship by the Royal Navy and […]

Harry Haywood, Activist born

*Harry Haywood was born on this date in 1898. He was a Black labor activist, author, and communist sympathizer.   He was born Haywood Hall, Jr., in South Omaha, Nebraska, to former slaves Harriet and Haywood Hall, from Missouri and West Tennessee, respectively. They had migrated to Omaha because of jobs with the railroads and meatpacking industry, as […]

The National Afro-American Council is Formed

*On this date in 1898, we celebrate the National Afro-American Council, the first nationwide American Civil Rights organization in the United States. Founded in Rochester, New York, it dissolved a decade later. The Council provided the first post-Reconstruction national arena for discussing issues for emancipated Blacks. It was also a training ground for some of the […]

Paul Robeson, Athlete, Actor, Singer, and Activist born

On this date in 1898, Paul Robeson was born. He was a Black dramatic actor, singer, civil rights activist, political radical and one of the most gifted men of the 20th century.

Septima P. Clark, Educator, and Activist born

On this date in 1898, Septima P. Clark was born. She was an African American educator and civil rights activist in Charleston, S.C.

Septima Poinsette’s mother Victoria was raised in Haiti and her father Peter was a former slave. They shaped and influenced her basic values. Among the most important were a willingness to share one’s gifts, and another to not forget there was something redeeming in everyone. Her education came from those who insisted on performance and hard work with pride.

Joseph DeLaine, Minister born

*Joseph DeLaine was born on this date in 1898. He was a Black Methodist minister and civil rights leader.   Joseph Armstrong DeLaine was from Clarendon County, South Carolina. He received a B.A. from Allen University in 1931, working as a laborer and running a dry-cleaning business to pay for his education. DeLaine worked with Modjeska Simkins and the South Carolina NAACP on Briggs v. Elliott, which challenged […]

Queen Mother, Black Liberation Activist born.

On this date in 1898, Queen Mother, an African American activist and civil right leader, was born.

Frances Albrier, Welder, Nurse, and Union Activist born

*Frances Albrier was born on this date in 1898. She was a welder, nurse, and union activist. Frances Mary Albrier was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and raised by her grandparents in Tuskegee, Alabama. She attended the Tuskegee Institute through high school. In 1920, she received a B.A. from Howard University and moved to Berkeley, California, […]

Ethel Ray Nance, Writer born

*Ethel Ray Nance was born on this date in 1899. She was a Black writer, activist, and administrator.   Ethel Ray was born in Duluth, Minnesota. She was the youngest of four children born to William H. Ray, a Black man from North Carolina and a white-American Swedish mother. She was raised in Iowa by a […]