People, Locations, Episodes

Eugene Jones, Union Advocate born

*Eugene Jones was born on this date in 1885.  He was a Black administrator of the National Urban League and a union advocate. Eugene Kinckle Jones was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Joseph Endom Jones and Rosa Daniel Kinckle. He graduated from Richmond’s Virginia Union University in 1905 and Cornell University with a master’s degree […]

An Umbrella Stand is Patented by a Black Man

*On this date in1885, William C. Carter patented an umbrella stand. Carter, an African American inventor’s file number is U.S. patent #323,397.

Global Black Inventors

Richard B. Moore, Businessman, and Activist

*On this date in 1885, Richard B. Moore was born. He was an African American activist and businessman.

From Barbados, he emigrated to New York, working as an office boy, elevator operator, and for a silk manufacturing firm. The racism Moore encountered while in America prompted him to a life of activism. In 1915, he founded and was treasurer of the Pioneer Cooperative Society, a grocery store that featured West Indian products. Moore was self-educated and began to collect an extensive library of literature.

Mamie E. Scurlock, Educator born

*On this date, in 1885, Mamie E. Scurlock was born.  She was a Black educator and business manager.   Born Mamie Estelle Fearing was from Washington, D.C.   Before managing her husband’s photographic studio, she taught elementary education in the D.C. District and Baltimore schools.   She married Addison N. Scurlock in 1925, beginning a 52-year association with Washington’s preeminent Black photo studio. The […]

Robert R. Church Jr., Business Leader, and Politician born

Robert Reed Church, Jr., was born on this date in 1885. He was an African American businessman, civic leader, and politician during the 1920s.

Lucy Hicks Anderson, LGBT Socialite, born

*The birth of Lucy Hicks Anderson is celebrated on this date in 1886. She was a Black Transgender socialite, brothel owner, and chef. She was born Lucy Lawson in Waddy, Kentucky. From a very early age, Anderson was adamant that she was not male and named herself Lucy. Doctors told Anderson’s parents to let her live as […]

Centralia Washington is Founded

*Centralia, Washington, was founded on this date in 1886. It is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States.   It was founded by a former Black slave named George Washington. In 1850, Washington led J. G. Cochran and his wife Anna to the area via the Oregon Trail. In 1852, Cochran filed a donation […]

James Van Der Zee, Photographer born

On this date, James Van Der Zee was born in 1886. He was an African American photographer whose portraits of Black New Yorkers chronicled the Harlem Renaissance.

Ray Sprigle, Journalist born

*Ray Sprigle was born on this date in 1886. He was a white-American journalist and author. Ray Sprigle was born in Akron, Ohio, to parents of colonial Pennsylvanian German ancestry. He attended local schools. After his freshman year, he left Ohio State University and started working as a newspaper reporter and a freelance pulp fiction […]

The Colored Farmers National Alliance and Cooperative Union is Founded

*The Colored Farmers National Alliance and Cooperative Union were founded on this date in 1886. It was founded in Houston County, Texas, on the farm of R.M. Humphrey, a white Alliance member and Baptist missionary. The alliance elected J. J. Shuffer as its first president. Although the orders’ charter barred whites from membership, Humphrey was elected honorary superintendent. […]

I. Willis Cole, Newspaper Publisher born

*I. Willis Cole was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black newspaper editor, publisher, and human rights activist. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and started a newspaper career as a carrier at the age of 12. Cole graduated from Lemoyne Junior College in 1906 and later attended the University of Chicago. He became […]

National Afro-American League is Formed

*On this date in 1890, the National Afro-American League was formed. Put together by Timothy Thomas Fortune it preceded the NAACP.

Fortune was the crusading editor of the New York Age, which was the leading Negro journal of the era. The organization dedicated itself to protest based on racial solidarity and self-help. It became defunct in 1893 because of lack of support and funds.

H. Claude Hudson, Businessman born

The birth of Dr. H. Claude Hudson in 1887 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American dentist, lawyer, and businessman.

A Black Man Receives a Patent for a Trill Coupling

*On this date in 1887, a Black man received a patent for a trill coupling. The patent number was #364,849.   Charles Patterson, a 19th-century carriage (the car) company entrepreneur, was the inventor. 

Mound Bayou, Mississippi, An Incorporated American Black Town

This date from 1887 celebrates Mound Bayou, Mississippi, one of the first incorporated Black Towns in the United States.