People, Locations, Episodes

Tom Hayden, Activist and State Politician born

*Tom Hayden was born on this date in 1939. He was a white-American social and political activist, author, and politician.  Thomas Emmet Hayden was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, to parents of Irish ancestry, Genevieve Isabelle (née Garity) and John Francis Hayden. His father was a former Marine who worked for Chrysler as an accountant […]

John Lewis, Politician, and Activist born

*John Lewis was born on this date in 1940. He is an African American Lawyer, congressman and activist.

Lewis is from Troy, Alabama and the son of a family of sharecroppers. He grew up on his family’s farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. At an early age, Lewis developed an unwavering commitment to the Civil Rights Movement. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University; and he is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee.

Alston v. The School Board of Norfolk is Decided

*On this date in 1940, Alston v. The School Board of Norfolk was decided. This was a suit instituted by Melvin O. Alston, a Black school teacher of Norfolk, Va., and the Norfolk Teachers’ Association, an association composed of the Black school teachers of that city. From the beginning of segregated public schooling in Norfolk, […]

Jim Clyburn, Politician born

*Jim Clyburn was born on this date, in 1940. He is a Black politician and retired educator. James Enos Clyburn was born in Sumter, South Carolina, the son of Enos Lloyd Clyburn, a fundamentalist minister, and his wife, Almeta (née Dizzley), a beautician. He is a distant relative of George W. Murray, an organizer for the Colored […]

Wellington Webb, Politician, and Administrator born

*Wellington Webb was born on this date in 1941. He is an African American politician and administrator and the first African American Mayor of Denver, CO.

The American Marine Corps Integrates

On this date in 1941, the Marine Corps formally integrated. This was a result of President Roosevelt signing Executive Order 8802 months before Pearl Harbor.

The Fair Employment Practice Committee is Created

*The Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) was created on this date in 1941. Officially termed Executive Order 8802 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, its purpose was: “banning discriminatory employment practices by Federal agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war-related work.”   This was a great advancement for African America, initiated mainly by three people/organizations. Brotherhood […]

Executive Order 8802 is Signed

*On this date in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibited ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation’s defense industry. It also established the Fair Employment Practice Committee, the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States. Many citizens of […]

Charlene Drew Jarvis, Educator and Politician born.

*Charlene Drew Jarvis was born on this date in 1941. She is a Black educator, a scientific researcher, and a politician. From Washington, D.C., Charlene Rosella Drew) is the daughter of Charles Drew and the sister of Sylvia Drew Ivie. Jarvis earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College in 1962, a Master of […]

Ron Brown, Politician born

Ron Brown was born on this date in 1941 in Washington, D. C. He was a businessman and politician who was the first African American to serve as chairman of a national political party.

William Gray III, Politician born

*William Gray III was born on this date in 1941.  He was a Black politician and minister.   William Herbert Gray III was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but grew up in St. Augustine, Florida, where his father was president of Florida Normal and Industrial Institute (later renamed Florida A and M University), and later in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he graduated from Simon […]

Bernie Sanders, Activist, and Politician born

*Bernie Sanders was born on this date in 1941. He is a white Jewish-American (former) civil rights activist and politician from Brooklyn, New York City. Bernard Sanders’ father, Elias Ben Yehuda Sanders, was born to a Jewish family in Słopnice, Galicia, in Austria-Hungary (now part of Poland). In 1921, Elias immigrated to the United States […]

Mae Jackson, Social Worker, and Mayor born

*Mae Jackson was born on this date in 1941. She was a Black social worker. Mae Allison Jackson was born in the east-central Texas town of Teague. Despite the difficulties of growing up in a Jim Crow Southern town during the 1940s and 1950s, Jackson determined a successful course for her life. Jackson learned the value of […]

Ernest Green, Lawyer and Activist born

*Ernest Green was born on this date in 1941. He is a Black lawyer, administrator, and one of the Little Rock Nine. Ernest Gideon Green was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Lothaire and Ernest Green, Sr. Ernest had a brother, Scott, and a sister, Treopia Washington. As a child, Green attended church and was a […]

Black Women’s History in Welding and Government Industry, a story

*Black women’s history in welding and other government industries is affirmed on Pearl Harbor Day, 1941. With the entry of the United States of America into World War II, Black women became vital to the war effort. Already on the move as part of the Great Migration, they sought to leave behind dead-end, often demeaning work […]