*Wallace F. “Wally” Nelson was born on this date in 1909. He was an African American civil rights and peace activist.
learn more*The Holt Street Baptist Church is celebrated on this date in 1909. This was a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. The Holt Street Baptist Church building is located at the corner of Holt Street and Bullock Street and was completed in 1913. The first reverend was I.S. Fountain. From 1939 until 1952, Charles Kenzie Steele […]
learn more*Donella Brown Wilson was born on this date in 1909. She was a Black educator and voting rights advocate. Donella Roberta Brown Wilson on the Peterkin Plantation in Fort Motte, SC, her grandparents and great-grandparents had worked as slaves. She was the only child of the late Henry Brown and Minnie Bryant Brown Logan. She […]
learn moreYusuf Dadoowas born on this date in 1909. He was a South African Coloured East Indian activist. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was born in Krugersdorp, in the West Rand, near Johannesburg. His parents, Mohammed and Fatima Dadoo were Gujarati Muslim immigrants from Western India. As a young child, his mother scolded him for climbing a tree in […]
learn more*Frances Baard was born on this date in 1909. She was a South African activist, trade unionist, and organizer. Frances Goitsemang Maswabi was born Frances Maswabi in Green Point, Beaconsfield, Kimberley, South Africa. Her father was Herman Maswabi from Ramotswa in Botswana, and her mother, Sarah Voss, was a Tswana person from Kimberley. She attended the […]
learn more*Florence Matomela was born on this date in 1910. She was a Black South African activist, communist, and teacher. From Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Florence Matomela raised five children while working as a teacher in the rural Eastern Cape. She also spent time in New Brighton township. Women’s activism in rural areas was often neglected, though […]
learn more*Marion Turner Stubbs Thomas, born on this date in 1910. She was a Black socialite and civic organizer. From Philadelphia, PA., Marion Turner was the daughter of Dr. John Patrick Turner and Mrs. Marion Turner. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1930, attended the Sorbonne, and received a music degree from Zeckwer Hahn […]
learn more*Lawrence Reddick was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black historian, activist, and professor. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Lawrence Dunbar Reddick earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Fisk University in 1933. In 1939, he married Ella Ruth Thomas and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, where he […]
learn more*On this date, in 1910, Bayard Rustin was born. He was an African American civil rights activist and principal organizer of the 1963 march on Washington.
learn more*Aggie Bernard was born on this date in 1910. She was an Afro Caribbean laundress and labor activist. From Kingston, Jamaica, in May 1938, Aggie Bernard, only 28 years old and full of life, summed up the situation and decided to act. Bustamante, who had agreed to lead the workers, was arrested and jailed; soon, the strikers would […]
learn moreThis date marks the founding of the National Urban League (NUL) in 1911. The National Urban League is a nonprofit social service and civil rights organization with headquarters in New York City.
learn more*Von Mizell’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1910. He was a Black Physician and activist. Von Delaney Mizell was the son of Isadore S. and Minnie (Moore) Mizell, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and became the second Black doctor in Broward County, Florida. During this time, […]
learn more*Esau Jenkins was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black businessman, preacher, and community organizer. Jenkins grew up during Jim Crow segregation, when educational opportunities were not readily available. He was the only child of Peter Jenkins and Eva Campbell, from Johns Island, South Carolina. He was forced to end his […]
learn more*Govan Mbeki was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black South African politician, journalist, Communist, and activist. Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki, who belongs to the Xhosa ethnic group, was born in the Nqamakwe district of the Transkei region. He was the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and the father […]
learn more*Edwin Berry was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black administrative activist. In Oberlin, Ohio, he was born to John A. Berry, an attorney, and Kitty Berry, a homemaker. Edwin C. “Bill” Berry was one of five children. At the age of six, Berry’s father died. Kitty struggled to make ends meet, […]
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