People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

George Simkins Jr., Dentist, and Community Leader born

*Dr. George Simkins Jr. was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Black dentist, community leader, and civil rights activist.   Simkins was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, the first child of George C. Simkins Sr., a dentist, and Guyrene Tyson Simkins, an educator. He grew up in sports, was a natural athlete, […]

Vera Pigee, Activist born

*Vera Pigee was born on this date in 1924. She was a Black businesswoman and civil rights worker. Vera Mae Berry was born to sharecropper Wilder Berry and his wife, Lucy Wright Berry, near Glendora in Leflore County, Mississippi. When she was fourteen, she married Paul Pigee Jr., who was four years older, and their […]

Amílcar Cabral, Pan-African Activist born

*Amílcar Cabral was born on this date in 1924.  He was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer and Pan-African.  Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, to Cape Verdean parents, Juvenal Antònio Lopes da Costa Cabral and Iva Pinhel Évora, both from Santiago, Cape Verde. His father came from a wealthy […]

Danny Davis, Boxer, and Community Advocate born

Danny Davis was born on this date in 1929. He was an African American boxer, businessman, and community activist.

Daniel Webster Davis was from Minneapolis, MN, one of 11 children of Bessie and Clinton Davis. He was very close to his mother and graduated from Minneapolis North High School. As a young boy, he was active in the Phyllis Wheatley settlement house in North Minneapolis and took part in its many programs, one of which was boxing.

Jimmy Carter, Politican and Humanitarian born.

*Jimmy Carter was born on this date in 1924. He was a white-American politician and humanitarian. James Earl Carter Jr. was born and raised in Plains, Georgia. As a child, Carter’s family moved several times, settling on a dirt road near Archery, GA. This community was made up of underprivileged Black families. He had three […]

The Phyllis Wheatley House of Minneapolis Opens

On this date in 1924, the Phyllis Wheatley settlement house was founded and began operation in Minneapolis, MN.

At the start of the 20th century, community centers known as “settlement houses” were begun in many urban areas of the United States. Most of them were established in poor neighborhoods with a predominantly immigrant population, and designed to help “Americanize” the communities, but others, like Phyllis Wheatley, were founded to continuously deliver services primarily to African Americans.

Dennis Brutus, South African Activist born

*Dennis Brutus was born on this date in 1924.  He was a white-South African activist, poet, and publisher.  Born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Brutus was the son of South African teachers who moved back to their native country when he was still a boy.  He majored in English at Fort Hare University, attended on full […]

Robert Sobukwe, Pan-African Activist born

*Robert Sobukwe was born on this date in 1924. He was a Black African administrative activist, and Pan-Africanist. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province, the youngest child of Hubert and Angelina Sobukwe. His father worked as a general store clerk and part-time woodcutter; his Xhosa mother served as a […]

Rev. John Cross Jr., Activist born

*The Reverend John H. Cross, Jr. was born on this date in 1925. He was an African American minister and activist.

From Haynes, Arkansas he was the son of Margie Ann and John H. Cross Sr. He attended elementary school at Spring Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Haynes, Arkansas and Lincoln High School in Forrest City, Arkansas. As a teenager, Cross gave his trial sermon and was ordained at Springfield Missionary Baptist Church. After high school, in 1944, Cross entered the United States Army as an Assistant Regimental Chaplain.

Benjamin Hooks, Activist, Lawyer, and Minister born

*Benjamin Hooks was born on this date in 1925. He was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer and minister.

Nthato Harrison Motlana, Physician and Activist born.

*Dr. Nthato Harrison Motlana was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black South African businessman, physician, and anti-apartheid activist. He was born in Marapane, near Pretoria, South Africa. He attended Kilnerton High School in Pretoria and the University of Fort Hare, where he obtained a B.Sc. degree. He also took medicine at […]

Robert F. Williams, Civil Rights Leader, and Author born

*Robert F. Williams was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black civil rights leader and author. Robert Franklin Williams was born in Monroe, North Carolina, to Emma Carter and John L. Williams, who worked as a railroad boiler washer. He had two sisters, Lorraine Garlington and Jessie Link, and two brothers, John […]

William F. Reid, Doctor, Politician, and Activist born

*William F. Reid was born on this date in 1925.  He is a Black physician, politician, and activist.   William Ferguson “Fergie” Reid was born in Richmond, VA., the son of dentist Leon Reid and his wife. He grew up in a house next door to the banker and activist Maggie L. Walker at 110 Leigh […]