People, Locations, Episodes

Burl Toler, American Football Official and Teacher born.

*Burl Toler was born on May 9, 1928. He was a Black American football player, a National Football League (NFL) official, and a teacher. Burl Abron Toler Sr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite his physical gifts and strapping size, Toler never even played a down of prep football at Manassas High School in Memphis. […]

Sylvia Wynter, Novelist and Philosopher born

*Sylvia Wynter was born on this date in 1928. She is an Afro Caribbean novelist, dramatist, critic, philosopher, and essayist. Sylvia Wynter was born in Cuba to Jamaican parents, actress Lola Maude (Reid) Wynter and tailor Percival Wynter. At the age of two, she and her brother Hector and their parents returned to their home country of […]

Florence Saunders Farley, Psychologist and Educator born

*Florence Saunders Farley was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black psychologist, educator, politician, and community activist. Florence Saunders was born in Roanoke, Virginia, to Neoda and Stacious Saunders. She attended Harrison Elementary School in Roanoke. After graduating as the salutatorian of her class from Lucy Addison High School in 1946, Farley […]

Eugene Hickman Sr., Pharmacist, and Educator born

*The birth of Eugene Hickman Sr. is celebrated on this date in 1928. He was a Black Pharmacist and educator. From Louisiana, Hickman excelled in his pre-collegiate education in the segregated public schools of Louisiana and Texas. After a tour of duty in the United States Army, he enrolled at Texas Southern University. He completed […]

Fatima Meer, South African Coloured Activist, born.

*Fatima Meer was born on this date in 1928. She was a South African Coloured writer, academic, screenwriter, and activist. Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class family of nine. Her father was Moosa Ismail Meer, a newspaper editor of The Indian Views. Her mother, Rachel Farrell, was orphaned […]

Dudley High School (North Carolina) opens

*Dudley High School (North Carolina) is celebrated on this date in 1929. This is a four-year public high school located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dudley High School was founded in 1929 as the first Black high school in Guilford County, in a school system segregated by law. The school was named after James Benson Dudley, […]

Paule Marshall, Educator, and Writer born

*Paule Marshall was born on this date in 1929. She was a Black poet, prose writer, and professor. She was born Valenza Pauline Burke in Brooklyn, New York, to Adriana Viola Clement Burke and Sam Burke. Marshall’s father had migrated from Barbados to New York in 1919 and, during her childhood, deserted the family to […]

Jocelyn Anita Barrow, Educator, and Politician born.

*Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow DBE was born on this date in 1929. She was a Black British educator, community activist, and politician. Jocelyn Barrow was the daughter of Barbadian father Charles Newton Barrow and Olive Irene (nee Pierre). She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where she was active politically as a member of […]

Douglass High School (Southern California) is Founded

Douglass High School in Imperial County, CA, was founded on this date in 1929. One of the first Black High Schools in that Southern California area.

Frederick Tillis, Composer, Collegiate Educator, born

*Frederick Tillis was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and collegiate music educator. Born in Galveston, Texas, Frederick Charles Tillis was raised by his mother, Zelma Bernice Gardner Tillis, his stepfather, General Gardner, and his maternal grandparents, Willie Tillis and Jessie Tillis-Hubbard. His mother played piano and […]

The National Pan-Hellenic Council Begins

*On this date in 1930, The National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. (NPHC) was formed.

They are a permanent organization on the campus of Howard University, in Washington, D.C. (NPHC) is an umbrella organization for nine historically black, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. Each of the nine NPHC organizations evolved during a period when African Americans were being denied essential rights and privileges afforded other college students.

Josie Johnson, Educator, Author, and Activist born

*Josie Johnson was born on this date in 1930. She is an African American educator, activist and administrator.

From Houston, TX Josie Robinson Johnson is one of three children born to Judson and Josie Robinson. Her great grandfather Ralph was twelve years old when emancipation from slavery was granted. As a child, he was employed to furnish a step stool for white women to use as they stepped down from carriages and stage coaches in Texas.

Derrick Bell, Educator, and Activist born

*Derrick Bell was born on this date in 1930. He was a Black lawyer, professor, writer, and activist. Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was born in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and received a B.A. from Duquesne University in 1952. He was a Duquesne Reserve Officers’ Training Corps member and later served as an Air Force […]

David Driskell, Artist, and Art Educator born

*David C. Driskell was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black artist, scholar, professor, and curator recognized for establishing African American Art as a distinct field of study. David Clyde Driskell was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of George Washington Driskell, a Baptist minister, and Mary Cloud Driskell, a homemaker. William […]

Andrew Hill, Pianist and Educator born

*Andrew Hill was born on this date in 1931. He was a Black jazz pianist, educator, and composer. Andrew Hill was born to William and Hattie Hill in Chicago, Illinois. He had a brother, Robert, a singer and classical violin player. Hill took up the piano at thirteen and was encouraged by Earl Hines. As a child, […]