People, Locations, Episodes

Norman Forgue, Print Publisher born

*Norman W. Forgue was born on this date in 1904.  He was a Black printer, publisher, and author.  He was born in Chicago. His family lived at several houses in Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood, where his father had an ice delivery business in the 1910s. In an unpublished memoir of his youth (Suddenly I […]

Halley Harding, Actor, and Journalist born

*Halley Harding was born on this date in 1904.  He was a Black college and semi-pro athlete, actor, journalist, and civil rights activist.  William Claire (Halley) Harding was born in Wichita, Kansas.  Early in his childhood, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois.   In the early 1920s, he attended Knox College of Galesburg, Illinois, and […]

The Chicago Defender Newspaper is Founded

The Chicago Defender was founded on this date in 1905. The brainchild of Robert Abbott, it was one of the first African American newspapers in this country to reach a circulation of more than 100,000.

The Pekin Theatre (Chicago) Opens

*The Pekin Theatre was established on this date in 1905.  Located in Chicago, Illinois, it was one of the first Black-owned musical and vaudeville stock theatres in the United States.   Between 1905 and 1911, the Pekin Club and its Pekin Theatre served as a training ground and showcase for Black theatrical talent, vaudeville acts, and musical comedies. Additionally, the theatre […]

George Levitan, Magazine Publisher born.

*George Levitan was born on this date in 1905. He was a white Jewish-American publisher and philanthropist.  Born in Detroit, Michigan, George Theodore Levitan was the son of David Lewitański and Rachel Lewitański. He became a magazine publisher, the owner, and president of Good Publishing Co., which publishes Sepia and five other nationally distributed, Black-oriented […]

The Atlanta Life Insurance Co. is Founded

*On this date in 1905, the Atlanta Life Insurance Company was founded. They are the largest Black-owned stockholder insurance company in America.

Founded by former slave, Alonzo Franklin Herndon, he purchased a small benevolent association for $140 and, with the acquisition and reorganization of two other companies in that year forming the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. In June 1996, Charles Cornelius began as the fifth president and chief executive officer and carries on the company’s proud legacy.

Today, Atlanta Life has assets of over $200 million and operates in 17 states.

‘Bumpy’ Johnson, Gangster born

*”Bumpy” Johnson was born on this date in 1905.  He was a Black mob boss and bookmaker in Harlem, New York City. Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Johnson got his nickname “Bumpy” from a bump on the back of his head.  When he was 10, his older brother, Willie, was accused of killing a white man. Afraid of […]

A Black Man Receives a Patent for a Vehicle Dash

*On this date in 1905, a Black man received a patent for an automobile vehicle dash. The patent number was #803,356.  Charles Patterson, a 19th-century carriage (the car) company entrepreneur, was the inventor. 

‘Moon Illustrated’ Magazine is Published

*On this date in 1905, Moon Illustrated published its first issue. The Moon Illustrated Weekly magazine was founded and edited by W.E.B. Du Bois. The magazine was the first nationally illustrated weekly produced by and for Blacks. The experience was short-lived, however, with only thirty-four issues produced from the end of 1905 through July or early August of 1906. […]

Elmer S. Campbell, Cartoonist born

Elmer Simms Campbell was born on this date in 1906. He was the first African American cartoonist to publish his work in general-circulation magazines.

Campbell was born in St. Louis, and while still attending high school, he won a nationwide contest in cartooning. He later studied at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago. He then worked as a railroad dining-car waiter, amusing himself by drawing caricatures of the passenger. One of them was so impressed with his work, hed gave him a job in a commercial-art studio in St. Louis.

Anna Tanneyhill, Writer born

*Anna Tanneyhill was born on this date in 1906. She was an African American administrator, writer and activist.

The Montana Plaindealer News is Published

The first issue of The Montana Plaindealer, a Black weekly newspaper in Helena, Montana, was published on this date in 1906.   Owned and Published by Joseph Bass, the four-page, six-column weekly featured a regular column entitled “Race News,” which documented incidents of racial discrimination across the nation.  One of the first issues featured a story about […]

Arthur Winston, Laborer born

*Arthur Winston was born on this date in 1906. He was an African American custodian and a Los Angeles Metro employee for 72 years.

Born and raised in Oklahoma before it became a state, Winston began picking cotton when he was 10. But several harvests were lost to droughts and storms, forcing the family to head west when he was 12 years old. He graduated from LA’s Jefferson High School in 1922. Winston’s hourly salary was 41 cents an hour when he began work for the Pacific Electric Railway Co. in 1924.

Mary Washington, Accountant born

*Mary Washington was born on this date in 1906. She was an African American accountant and CPA.

Alice Dunnigan, Political Journalist born

*On this date in 1906, Alice Dunnigan was born. She was a journalist who was instrumental in establishing African American presence in political news coverage.

Born near Russellville, Ky., she attended Kentucky State College and later graduated from West Kentucky Industrial College. Dunnigan was the first Black woman accredited to the White House and the State Department and to gain access to the House of Representatives and Senate galleries. She was also the first Black woman elected to the Woman’s National Press Club.