People, Locations, Episodes

Earl Battey, Athlete, and Educator born

*On this date in 1935, Earl Battey was born. He was an African American baseball player and teacher.

Bob Moses, Activist, and Educator born

*On this date, in 1935, Bob Moses was born. He was a Black educator and activist. Robert Parris Moses grew up in Harlem, New York, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952.   He received his B.A. from Hamilton College in 1956. He earned an M.A. in philosophy at Harvard; in 1958, he began teaching at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx of New York City. […]

Barbara Johns, Student Activist born

*Barbara Johns Powell was born on this date in 1935. She was a Black librarian and civil rights activist.   Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York City, New York 1935. Her family had roots in Prince Edward County, Virginia, where they returned to live. Her mother worked in Washington D.C. for the U.S. […]

Norfolk State University is Founded

*In 1935, Norfolk State University (NSU) was founded.   They are a public Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in Norfolk, Virginia. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Virginia High-Tech Partnership. The institution was founded as the Norfolk Unit of Virginia State University.  Eighty-five students attended the first classes held in 1935.  Samuel Fischer Scott, an alumnus of Virginia Union […]

Mahmoud El-Kati, Educator, and Activist born

*Mahmoud El-Kati was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American educator, activist, lecturer, writer, and commentator on the African American experience.

From Savannah, Georgia, he is the son of Rufus Williams and Razzie Garvan Williams. El-Kati is one of 3 siblings and graduated from Booker T. Washington H. S. in Miami, Florida. El-Kati also is a graduate of Wilberforce University where he majored in contemporary African American history.

William Julius Wilson, Sociologist born

*William Julius Wilson was born on this date in 1935. He is an African American educator and sociologist.

From Derry Township, Pa., Wilson was educated at Wilberforce University (B.A., 1958) and Bowling Green State University (M.A., 1961) in Ohio, as well as at Washington State University (Ph.D., 1966). He joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) as an assistant professor of sociology in 1965. In 1972 he moved to the University of Chicago. He worked at the University of Chicago 1972-1996 before moving to Harvard.

Richard Green, Educator, and Administrator born

On this date in 1936, Dr. Richard R. Green, an African American educator, teacher, superintendent, and principal was born in Menifee, AR.

Mary Frances Early, Music Professor born

*Mary Frances Early was born on this date in 1936. She was a Black Music teacher and professor. Mary Frances Early was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Atlanta’s Turner High School and graduated from Clark College (later Clark Atlanta University) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education in 1957. She began her postgraduate work […]

La Francis Rodgers-Rose, Sociologist born.

*La Francis Rodgers-Rose was born on July 19, 1936. She is a Black sociologist and Educator. La Francis Rodgers-Rose was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in segregated Portsmouth, Virginia, with her mother, two older brothers, and younger sister. She graduated from Morgan State University with honors in sociology and anthropology in 1958, where […]

James H. Cone, Theologian born.

*James Cone was born on this date in 1936.  He was a Black theologian who advocated Black Theology and liberation theology.  James Hal Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas, and grew up in Bearden, Arkansas. He and his family attended Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church. He received a BA from Philander Smith College in 1958, […]

Marva Collins, Educator born

*Marva Collins was born on this date in 1936. She is an African American educator and administrator.

From Monroeville, Alabama Marva Nettles Collins received her early education in Atmore, Alabama. This environment had segregated school system with very few resources for African American students. Eventually, Collins attended Clark College in Atlanta and, after graduation, returned to Alabama. She taught for two years in the Alabama school system before moving to Chicago. It was there that she worked in the public school system for fourteen years.

William Jackson, Chemist, and Professor born

*William M. Jackson was born on this date in 1936.  He is a Black Research Chemist in astrochemistry and an Emeritus Professor.   William Morgan Jackson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in Dynamite Hill, an area of the city that the Ku Klux Klan frequently bombed during the 20th-century American Civil Rights movement. His […]

Johnetta Cole, Educator, and Activist born

Jonetta Cole was born on this date in 1936. She is an African American educator, administrator, humanitarian, and civil and women’s rights activist.

Born in Jacksonville, FL, Johnnetta Betsch came from a family that had dedicated itself to the betterment of all Blacks in the community. It was a legacy from generations of philanthropy based on and village family values.

During the mid 1930s and early 1940s, her family founded the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. They were also educators; the public library in her neighborhood was named after her grandfather.

Leonard Jeffries Jr. Pan-Africanist born

*Leonard Jeffries Jr. was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black educator and pan-Africanist.   He was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Jeffries attended Lafayette College for his undergraduate work. While in Lafayette, Jeffries pledged and was accepted into Pi Lambda Phi, a fraternity with many Jewish members. In his senior year, Jeffries was elected […]

Archie Shepp, Musician, and Music Educator born

*Archie Shepp was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black saxophonist, educator, and playwright who has played a central role in the development of avant-garde jazz since the 1960s. Archie Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before focusing on the tenor saxophone, he studied piano, clarinet, […]