People, Locations, Episodes

Clara Luper, Educator, and Activist born

*Clara Luper was born on this date in 1923. She was an African American schoolteacher, and a pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Fredda Witherspoon, Educator born

*This date in 1923 is celebrated as the birth date of Fredda Witherspoon, a Black educator and activist.   She was born Fredda Crawford in Houston, TX., the daughter of Vanita Crawford and R. E. Crawford, who worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. She graduated valedictorian from Booker T. Washington High School and continued her education at Bishop College, […]

Black History and ‘Stay Woke,’ a story

*Black History and ‘Stay Woke’ are affirmed on this date in 1923. This social concept revolves around black consciousness “waking up” to a new reality or activist framework. The earliest known examples of wokeness date to the early 20th century. In 1923, a collection of sayings and ideas by the Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus […]

Nathan Wright Jr., Activist born

*Nathan Wright Jr. was born on this date in 1923.  He was a Black author, minister, activist, and educator. He was from Shreveport, Louisiana, and grew up with his twin brother Benjamin Hickman Wright and their sisters in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Nathan Wright Sr., was an insurance agent and the executive secretary of the […]

Nadine Gordimer, Activist, and Author born

*Nadine Gordimer was born on this date in 1923. She was a White Jewish author and anti apartheid activist.

Daniel Grafton Hill, Historian born

*Daniel Grafton Hill III was born on this date in 1923. He was a Black Canadian sociologist, civil servant, human rights specialist, and Black Canadian historian.   Born in Independence, Missouri, Hill grew up in the western United States as the son of Daniel Grafton Hill II and his wife. His father, born in Washington, […]

Wiley Branton, Lawyer, and Activist born

Wiley Branton was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American attorney and civil rights activist.

Born in Pine Bluff, AR, Wiley Austin Branton was educated in elementary, junior high, and high schools in Pine Bluff schools. An Army veteran of World War II, Branton spent time teaching Blacks how to mark an election ballot after the war, which resulted in his conviction of a misdemeanor for “teaching the mechanics of voting.” In 1950, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Arkansas A.M.& N. College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).

E. J. Josey, Librarian Advocate born

*E. J. Josey, born on this date in 1924, was a Black activist and librarian. He was born Elonnie Junius Josey in Norfolk, Virginia, to Willie and Frances Bailey Josey. He graduated from Howard University in 1949 and received his master’s in History from Columbia University in 1950. A master’s in librarianship from the University at Albany, […]

Herbert Hill, Labor Union Director born

*Herbert Hill was born on this date in 1924. He was a white Jewish-American public policy activist, professor, and labor director. Herbert Hill was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He attended public schools. Hill earned a B.A. from New York University in 1945 and attended the New School for Social Research […]

The Negro Sanhedrin Conference Begins

 *The Negro Sanhedrin Conference began on this date in 1924. This was a four-day national “All-Race Conference” held in Chicago, Illinois. The gathering was attended by 250 delegates representing 61 trade unions, civic groups, and fraternal organizations in a short-lived attempt to forge a national program protecting the legal rights of African American tenant farmers […]

Nadine P. Winter, Activist and Politician born.

*Nadine Winter was born on this date in 1924. She was a Black community activist and politician. Nadine P. Winter was born Nadine Kinnion Poole in New Bern, North Carolina. She was one of five children of a brick mason and a high-school dietician. At an early age, she was a community activist and helped […]

Marlon Brando Jr., Actor and Activist born

*Marlon Brando Jr. was born on this date in 1924. He was a white-American actor and activist. Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando Sr., a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and Dorothy Julia Pennebaker. Brando had two elder sisters, Jocelyn and Frances. His ancestry was primarily German, Dutch, English, and Irish. Considered […]

Can Themba, South African Writer born

*Can Themba was born on this date in 1924. He was a Black South African activist and short-story writer. Daniel Canodoise “Can” Themba was born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, South Africa. The town was destroyed under the provisions of the apartheid Group Areas Act, which reassigned ethnic groups to new areas. He was a Fort […]

The United States of Africa, a story

*On this date in 1924, we celebrate the United States of Africa. This is a proposed Pan-African concept of a federation comprising some or all of the continent’s 54 sovereign states, as well as two disputed states. The idea of a multinational unifying African state has been compared to various medieval African empires, including the […]

C. T. Vivian, Minister born

*C. T. Vivian was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Black minister, author, and activist.   Cordy Tindell Vivian was born in Boonville, Missouri.  As a small boy, he migrated with his mother to Macomb, Illinois, where he attended Lincoln Grade School and Edison Junior High School. Vivian graduated from Macomb High […]