People, Locations, Episodes

Harry Davis Sr., Minnesota Civic Leader born

Harry Davis was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American civil rights activist, politician and businessman.

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]