People, Locations, Episodes

Wenonah Bond Logan, Sociology Scholar born.

*Wenonah Bond Logan was born on December 18, 1906. She was a Black scholar and sociologist. From Atlanta, GA., she and her brother John were two children born to Georgia Faigan and John Bond, an interracial couple. Her family moved to Washington, DC, when she was a teenager. As a young girl, she was an […]

Hazel B. Williams, Kansas City Educator born

*Hazel Browne Williams was born on this date in 1907. She was an African American educator.

John Glover Jackson, Pan-Africanist born

*John Glover Jackson was born on this date in 1907. He was a Black Pan-Africanist historian, lecturer, teacher, and writer.    Jackson was born in Aiken, South Carolina, and raised Methodist.  At age 15, his family moved to Harlem, New York, where he enrolled in Stuyvesant High School. During this time, he became interested in African American history and culture and began writing […]

Hazel Harvey Peace, Educator, and Humanitarian born

*Hazel Harvey Peace was born on this date in 1907. She was a Black educator, activist, and humanitarian. She was born Hazel Bernice Harvey in Waco, Texas, to Allen H. and Georgia Mason Harvey; the family moved to Fort Worth as a baby. Peace’s father was a Pullman Porter on the Missouri and Pacific Railroad, and her […]

Purvis J. Williams, School Administrator born.

*Purvis J. Williams was born on this date in 1907. He was a Black educator and administrator. Purvis James Williams was born in Norfolk, Norfolk City, Virginia. He was the son of Bascom J. Williams and Nannie Williams. On November 23, 1938, Williams married Blanche Marie Kyles in the District of Columbia. They had no […]

Shirley Graham DuBois, Composer, Novelist, and Activist born

On this date in 1907, Shirley Graham DuBois was born. She was an African American author, playwright, composer, and activist.

The National Colored Teachers Association is Formed

*The National Colored Teachers Association was celebrated on this date in 1907. and National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools was a professional association and teachers’ union representing teachers in Black schools in the American South during legal segregation. In 1906, Joseph S. Clark, and others, at a Negro Young Peoples Christian and Educational Congress […]

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is Formed

On this date in 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority became America’s first Greek-letter organization established by Black college women.

Alpha’s roots date back to Howard University, Washington, D.C., where Ethel Hedgeman Lyle of St. Louis, MO, conceived the idea for the organization. She saw the sorority as an instrument for enriching social and intellectual college life by providing mental stimulation through interaction with friends and associates.

Irene Dobbs Jackson, Pianist, and Educator born

*Irene Dobbs Jackson was born on this date in 1908. She was a Black educator, pianist, and community activist.  Irene Dobbs, the first of Irene and John Wesley Dobbs’ six daughters, was from Atlanta, GA. Growing up in the thriving atmosphere of Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue, she was a gifted pianist and scholar. Known as “Renie,” […]

Oseola McCarty, Domestic worker, and Philanthropist born

*Oseola McCarty was born on this date in 1908. She was an African American domestic and philanthropist.

Dorothy Hall McFarland, Early Childhood Educator born

*Dorothy McFarland was born on this date in 1908. She was a Black teacher (music and early childhood) and community activist. Dorothy Hall was born at 996 Iglehart Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. Raised in the Rondo community, her home was later added to the National Register of Historic Places due to her father’s civic […]

Ernst Manasse, Philosopher and Language Professor born

*Ernst Manasse was born on this date in 1908. He was a white Jewish German American philosopher and classical philologist. Ernst Moritz Manasse was born in Dramburg, Pomerania Prussia. His ancestors lived in Dramburg as early as 1813, according to local documents proving that Aron and Moses Manasseh received civil rights that year. Manasse’s father, […]

Zenobia Powell Perry, Composer and Professor born

*Zenobia Powell Perry was born on October 3, 1908.  She was a Black composer, professor, and civil rights activist. She was born Zenobia Powell in Boley, Oklahoma, to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (of some Creek Indian heritage). Her family was well-educated and middle-class. Her grandfather, who had been a slave, sang […]

Donella Brown Wilson, Voting Rights Advocate born

*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 […]

The Piney Woods Country Life School Opens

*This date in 1909 celebrates the founding of Piney Woods Country Life School. Also referred to as The Piney Woods School, it is a co-educational independent historically Black boarding school for grades 9-12.  Located in Piney Woods, unincorporated Rankin County, Mississippi, 21 miles south of Jackson, it is one of four remaining historically Black boarding schools in the United States. It is currently the largest […]