People, Locations, Episodes

Julio Pinedo, Bolivian Royal born

*Julio Pinedo was born on this date in 1942. He is the ceremonial king of the Afro Bolivian community of the Nor Yungas province, Bolivia. He was crowned in 1992, over thirty years after the previous king’s death, his grandfather Don Bonifacio Pinedo. His position gained official recognition in 2007 when the prefect of La […]

Jacob Zuma, Politician born

*Jacob Zuma was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black South African politician. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was born in Nkandla, Natal Province (now part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal). His father was a policeman who died when Zuma was five, and his mother was a domestic worker. As a child, Zuma constantly […]

Thabo Mbeki, South African Politician born

On this date in 1942, Thabo M. Mbeki was born. He is an African politician and activist.

Leila Foley, Public Servant born

*Leila Foley was born on this date in 1942. She was a politician and activist. From Taft, Oklahoma, she was a divorced mother of five, surviving on welfare. In January 1973, Foley ran for a position on the school board of Taft, Oklahoma, an all-Black town of 600 people. She lost the election, but shortly […]

Harvey Gantt, Architect, and Politician born

*Harvey Gantt was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black architect and politician. Harvey Bernard Gantt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilhelmina and Christopher C. Gantt, a shipyard worker. He started to participate in the American Civil Rights movement in high school. In 1963, he was the first Black student at Clemson […]

Sala Udin, Political Activist born

*Sala Udin was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black politician, activist, and administrator.  Born Samuel Wesley Howze in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William and Mary Howze, he was raised in the Hill District of the city; he was one of eleven children. In 1961, Udin graduated from Port Richmond High School in […]

Benedita da Silva, Politician born

*Benedita da Silva was born on this date in 1943. She is an Afro Brazilian politician and activist.

Da Silva is from and grew up in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro in with family of 13 brothers and sisters. She led a life of severe poverty, watched two of her four children die of curable diseases, barely survived a back alley abortion, and was demoralized and humiliated as a live-in maid. As an activist, she organized her neighbors in the favela to get water, sewers and electricity. Soon she learned to read and write, and then taught other women.

Norman Rice, Public Policy Advocate born

*Norman Rice was born on this date in 1943. He is an African American politician, administrator and community activist.

Daurene Lewis, Politician, and Teacher born

*Daurene Lewis was born on this date in 1943. She was a Black Canadian nurse, politician, and educator. Born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Daurene Elaine Lewis was a descendant of freed Loyalist Blacks who settled in Annapolis Royal in 1783. She was also a descendant of Rose Fortune, a Virginian who became the first female […]

Smith v. Allwright is Argued

On this date in 1944, Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, was argued. This was a landmark ruling of the United States Supreme Court regarding racial desegregation and voter suppression. Decided on April 3rd, 1944, it overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set their internal rules, including using white primaries. The court ruled that it was […]

Sharon Pratt, Policy Administrator born

*Sharon Pratt was born on this date in 1944. She is a Black lawyer, politician, and administrator. From Washington D.C., she was born to D.C. Superior Court judge Carlisle Edward Pratt and Mildred “Peggy” (Petticord) Pratt. Three years later, a sister, Benaree, was born. After she lost her mother to breast cancer at an early […]

The G.I. Bill, and Black History, a story

*On this date in 1944, the G.I. Bill was signed into American law. Officially titled the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. During World War II, politicians wanted to avoid the postwar confusion about veterans’ benefits that became a political football in the 1920s and 1930s. Veterans’ organizations […]

The Port Chicago Disaster Occurs

The Port Chicago Disaster occurred on this date in 1944, an explosion where over 60 percent of the casualties were African American enlisted men.

The “Red Ball Express,” American Army Project Begins

On this date in 1944, The American Army started the “Red Ball Express,” a huge trucking operation to supply World War II troops in Europe with provisions.

The First Black Women Are Admitted To Navy WAVES

On this date in 1944, the Navy integrated their Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service better known as WAVES.

Up to that time, black women were barred from the WAVES. The efforts of Mildred McAfee and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune helped the Secretary of the Navy push through the admittance of African American women into military service.

The first two black WAVES officers, Harriet Ida Pikens and Frances Wills, were sworn in December 22 of that year. Of the 80,000 WAVES in the World War II, 72 Black women served, normally under integrated conditions.