Mary Eugenia Charles, was Black politician, was born on this date in Pointe Michel, Dominica, in 1919.
Sse is a granddaughter of former slaves and one of five children of John Baptiste and Josephine Delauney. Her father was the founder of the Penney Bank. Her three brothers are doctors and her sister is a nun. Charles attended Catholic schools in Dominica and Grenada, then, from 1942 to 1946, she went to the University College of the University of Toronto and received a B.A. in law. She continued her studies of law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
learn moreOn this date in 1919, we celebrate the birth of Elizabeth Koontz, an African American educator and politician.
Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was born in Salisbury, N.C., and attended that city’s public school system. She graduated from Livingstone College in 1938. Koontz attained her Masters Degree from Atlanta University in 1941, and did further study at Columbia University. A classroom teacher who devoted her entire life to education, Koontz also served as the first Black woman president of the National Education Association (NEA) in 1968.
learn more*Aurabelle Caggins was born on this date in 1919. She was a Black educator, community activist, and politician. From Kiln, Mississippi, Aurabelle Denise Mondy moved to Bay St. Louis, MS, at the age of three with her family. She was educated in the Gulfport school system and graduated from 33rd Avenue High School in 1937. […]
learn more*George Wallace Jr. was born on this date in 1919. He was a white-American politician and segregationist. Born in Clio, Alabama, George Corley Wallace Jr. attended the University of Alabama School of Law and served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he won the Alabama House of Representatives election and served as a state […]
learn more*Charles Jackson French was born on this date in 1919. He was a Black World War II hero. Charles French was an orphan from Foreman, Arkansas, who learned to swim in the Red River at eight. He first enlisted in the United States Navy in 1937 and completed his enlistment, moving to Omaha, Nebraska, where […]
learn moreOn this date in 1919, Edward Brooke, an African American politician and author, was born in Washington, D.C.
His father, Edward W. Brooke Jr., was a lawyer with the Veterans Administration. His mother was the former Helen Seldon. The Brookes were comfortably middle class. Brooke graduated from Howard University in 1941. During World War II, he served in the Army infantry. He rose to the rank of captain, saw combat in Italy, and was awarded a Bronze Star. While in Italy, he met Remigia Ferrari-Scacco. They married in 1947.
learn more*Charles Bailey was born on this date in 1919. He was a Black army pilot, educator, businessman, and WW II hero. From DeLand, Florida, he was the son of Archie, and Josephine Bailey raised these children in a small town on the southwest coast of Florida; their hometown offered no schooling for Blacks. He and […]
learn more*Errol Walton Barrow was born on this date in 1920. He was a Barbadian politician.
learn more*Robert Friend was born on this date in 1920. He was a Black military officer and Tuskegee Airman. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Friend was interested in aviation from a young age. He read stories of World War I pilots in old magazines and made his makeshift airplanes for imaginative play. Friend had wanted to enlist […]
learn more*Nancy Leftenant was born on this date in 1920. She was a Black nurse and military officer. Also known as “Lefty,” she was born in Goose Creek, South Carolina, to James and Eunice Leftenant. She graduated from Amityville High School, Amityville, New York, in 1939 and New York’s Lincoln School of Nursing in 1941. She […]
learn more*On this date in 1920, Byron De La Beckwith Jr. was born. He was a white-American white supremacist and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. De La Beckwith was born in Colusa, California, the son of Susan Southworth Yerger and Byron De La Beckwith Sr., the town’s postmaster. His father died of pneumonia when he was 5. One year later, he […]
learn more*Charles Bussey was born on this date in 1921. He was a Black officer and a Korean War hero. Charles Bussey was born in Kern, CA., and grew up in Bakersfield, California. After graduating from high school, Bussey attended Los Angeles City College for two years before enlisting in the US military. Bussey was assigned […]
learn more*On this date in 1921, Lockard v. Evans, et al., was filed in Tulsa County District Court, Oklahoma. This was legal action from a group of African American’s against the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma to rebuild their neighborhoods destroyed by the Tulsa Race Riots earlier that summer.
learn more*On this date in 1921, Constance Baker Motley was born. She was an African American lawyer, judge, and politician.
From New haven, Connecticut she is one of nine children to a family who had migrated to America from the Caribbean island of Nevis. While attending school, she was active in the New Haven Youth Council, and the New Haven Adult Community council. Motley attended Fisk University, transferring to New York University-graduating in 1943 with a degree in economics. She attained her law degree from Columbia University in 1946.
learn more*John Patterson was born on this date in 1921. He was a white-American politician and lawyer. John Malcolm Patterson was born in Goldville in Tallapoosa County in east-central Alabama. His father was attorney Albert Patterson. He joined the United States Army in 1939 and served in the North African, Sicilian, Italian, Southern France, and German campaigns of World War II. In 1945, he left the Army as a […]
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