People, Locations, Episodes

Jimmy Griffin, Police Officer, and Community Activist born

*Jimmy Griffin was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American police officer and activist.

Melvin H. Evans, Politician born

*On this date in 1917, Melvin Herbert Evans was born. He was an African American politician, public health official, and physician.

The First Black West Point Officers Graduate

On this date in 1917, the first Black enlistees from West Point graduated from military duty at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

Franklin Hall Williams, Attorney born

*Franklin Hall Williams was born on this date in 1917.  He was a Black lawyer and civil rights advocate. Williams was born in Flushing, Queens; his mother died when he was two years old; his grandparents raised him.  He graduated from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University in 1941. In 1945, he earned a law degree from Fordham University […]

Anna Langford, Politician, and Activist born

On this date in 1917, Anna Langford was born. She was an African American politician and attorney.

Born in Springfield, OH, Langford was educated at Roosevelt University, and earned a law degree in 1956, which beganan extensive career in civil rights and criminal law. Working throughout the state of Illinois, she actively defended civil rights workers in the 1960s and joined Dr. Martin Luther King’s Chicago civil rights marches.

Oliver Tambo, South African Politician born

Oliver Tambo, an African politician and activist against apartheid, was born on this date in 1917.

The 92nd Infantry Division is Formed

*On this date in 1917, the 92nd Infantry Division was formed. This segregated United States Army infantry division served in World Wars I and II.   The 92nd Division was first constituted on paper in the National Army over six months after the U.S. entry into World War I. Major General Charles C. Ballou commanded […]

Buchanan v. Warley is Ruled

On this date in 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court conceded that states cannot restrict and officially segregate African Americans in residential districts.

The decisions (Buchanan v Warley) struck down a (then) Louisville, Ky., ordinance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas.

Helen Suzman, Political Activist born

*Helen Suzman was born on this date in 1917. She was a Jewish South African educator, activist and politician.

She was born Helen Gavronsky at Germiston, Transvaal, on the day the Russian Revolution began, she liked to remark. She was the daughter of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants, Suzman studied as an economist and statistician at Witwatersrand University. In 1937, she married Dr. Moses Suzman and had two daughters with him before returning to university as a lecturer in 1944.

Samuel W. Allen, Author, Educator, and Lawyer born

*Samuel W. Allen was born on this date in 1917. He was a Black writer, poet, literary scholar, and lawyer from Columbus, GA. Samuel Washington Allen graduated as valedictorian of Fisk University in 1938 with an AB in sociology, where he studied with James Weldon Johnson. He received a JD from Harvard Law School in 1941. Drafted into […]

Tom Bradley, Politician born

Tom Bradley, an African American administrator and politician, was born on this date in 1917.

Thomas Bradley was born in Calvert, TX. His family later moved to Los Angeles where he attended UCLA. He served 22 years in the police department, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and earned a law degree from Southwestern University Law School in Georgetown, TX, in 1956. In 1963, Bradley became the first Black elected to the Los Angeles city council. In 1973, he became the city’s first Black mayor, a position he held until his retirement from politics in 1993.

Charles Hayes, Unionist, and Congressman born

*On this date we mark the birth of Charles Arthur Hayes in 1918. He was an African American unionist, politician, and a member of the House of Representative from Illinois.

Emile Zinsou, Nationalist born

Emile Zinsou was born on this date in 1918. He was an African nationalist, and politician.

Coleman Young, Politician born

On this date in 1918, Coleman Young, an African American politician, was born.

The 805th Pioneer Infantry is formed

*On this date in 1918, the 805th Pioneer Infantry was formed. During World War I, it was an all-Black segregated United States Army infantry regiment. The 805th contained black soldiers from the state of Mississippi. The battalion landed in France in July 1918 to support the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began on September 26, 1918. The […]