People, Locations, Episodes

Richard Hatcher, Politician, and Lawyer born

*Richard Hatcher was born on this date in 1933. He is an African American politician and law professor.

James Fowler, State Trooper, and Murderer born

*James Fowler was born on this date in 1933. He was a white-American, murderer, drug dealer, and state trooper.  James Bonard Fowler was born into a farming family in Geneva County, Alabama. He attended local schools, which were racially segregated, and played football in high school. After graduating, he served in the US Navy from […]

Clifford Alexander, Lawyer born

*Clifford Alexander was born on this date in 1933.  He is a Black lawyer, businessman, and public servant.   Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. was born in New York City.  His parents were Clifford Leopold Alexander and his wife. He attended the private Ethical Culture and Fieldston schools. Alexander graduated from Harvard College in 1955 and Yale Law School in 1958. He […]

John W. Joseph, Politician and Activist born

*John W. Joseph was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black politician and community activist. John Wilfred Joseph was the son of Reverend Adam Joseph and Mrs. Julia Lee Jones Joseph. He was born and raised on his father’s farm in Plaisance, Louisiana, during racial segregation.  The state’s dual education system relegated […]

Samora Machel, Soldier and Politician born.

*Samora Machel was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black African politician and revolutionary. Samora Moisés Machel was born in Gaza Province, Mozambique, to a family of farmers. His grandfather had been an active collaborator of Gungunhana. Under Portuguese rule, his father, like most Black Mozambicans, was classified as “indígena” (native). He […]

America’s 20th Century ‘Black Cabinet,’ a story

*On this date in 1933, the ‘Black Cabinet’ is celebrated. This was an unofficial group of Black advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Beginning in 1933, Secretary of the Interior (and former Chicago NAACP president) Harold Ickes led an effort to open high-level civil servant positions to Black professionals. The first group of these professionals, […]

Willie Brown Jr., Lawyer, and Politician born

*Willie Brown was born on this date in 1934. He is a Black lawyer, politician and businessman.

Roy Innis, Public Policy Activist born

*Roy Innis was born on June 6, 1934.  He was a Black activist and politician.   Roy Emile Alfredo Innis was born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1934.  In 1947, Innis moved with his mother to New York City, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952.  Innis joined the U.S. Army, […]

Julian Dixon, Politician born

*On this date in 1934, Julian Dixon was born. He was an African American politician representing California and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Dixon was born and raised in a Black, middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D. C., and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1960. He received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1962 and a law degree from Southwestern University in 1967. While in school he worked for six years as a legislative aide to California state senator Mervyn M. Dymally.

Eva M. Clayton, Politician born

*Eva Clayton was born on this date in 1934. She is an African American politician (retired) and administrator.

The Wagner Act is Signed

*On this date, 1935, the Wagner Act was passed.  This was a foundational statute of United States labor law that guaranteed the right of private-sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes.   The Wagner Act harmed Blacks by legalizing labor union monopolies, a Jim […]

Aubrey Lewis, FBI Official born.

*The birth of Aubrey Lewis is celebrated on this date in c. 1935. He was a Black athlete and government investigator. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Lewis grew up in nearby Montclair and attended Montclair High School, from which he graduated in 1954. During his high school career at Montclair, Lewis played basketball and […]

Vernon Jordan Jr., Lawyer, and Activist born

*Vernon E. Jordan Jr. was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American lawyer and civil rights leader.

From Atlanta, Georgia his father was a mail clerk in the U. S. Army and his mother ran a local catering service. Jordan was educated in the Atlanta public schools and graduated from DePauw University in 1957. He attended the Howard University Law School where he received the J.D. in 1960. After graduation returning home to practice law he became involved in a significant civil rights case of that era.

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War Begins

*The Second Italian-Ethiopian War began on this date in 1935. Also known as the Second Italian-Abyssinian War, it was a colonial war fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia).   Italy and Ethiopia were members of the League of Nations. Yet, the League could not control Italy or protect Ethiopia […]

Ron Dellums, Oakland Politician born

Ron Dellums, an African American politician and is an administrator and activist, was born on this date in 1935.