*Thelma Mothershed was born on this date in 1940. She is an African American educator and community activist.
learn more*Delores P. Aldridge was born on this date in 1941. She is an American sociologist. Aldridge was born in Tampa, Florida, to Willie Lee Aldridge and Mary Ellen Bennett Aldridge. She was privately schooled at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church and then attended Meacham Elementary School, Booker T. Washington Junior High School, and Middleton High School. […]
learn more*Maulana Karenga was born on this date in 1941. He is an African American educator, writer and activist.
learn more*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 […]
learn more*John Thompson was born on this date in 1941. He was a Black basketball player and men’s college basketball coach. John Robert Thompson Jr. was born and raised in Washington, D.C. As a child, his mother insisted on sending him to Catholic schools for educational opportunities and academic challenges. At Archbishop Carroll High School, Thompson emerged as a standout […]
learn more*Elizabeth Eckford was born on this date in 1941. She is a Black news reporter, teacher, and activist. Elizabeth Ann Eckford was born in Little Rock, Ark; she is one of 6 children. Her father, Oscar, was a dining car maintenance worker, and her mother, Birdie, was a teacher at a segregated school for the […]
learn more*Rosalyn Terborg-Penn was born on this date in 1941. She was an author and a Black professor of history. Born Rosalyn Marian Terborg in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Jeanne Terborg, was a clerical worker from Indianapolis, and her father, Jacques A. Terborg, was a Suriname-born jazz musician. In 1951, her family moved to Queens, where she graduated from John Adams High School in 1959. In […]
learn more*James Loewen was born on this date in 1942. He was a white-American sociologist, historian, and author. James William Loewen was born in Decatur, Illinois, to Winifred and David F. Loewen. His mother was a librarian and teacher, and his father was a medical director and doctor. He graduated in 1960 from MacArthur High School […]
learn moreMarguerite Ross Barnett was born on this date in 1942. She was an African American political scientist, administrator, and university president.
learn more*Cora Marrett was born on this date in 1942. She is a Black professor and sociologist. Cora Bagley was born in Kenbridge, Virginia, to Horace Bagley and Clorann (Boswell) Bagley. Her father was a carpenter, and her mother was a housewife and part-time maid. Her parents only had a sixth-grade education, and Marrett was the […]
learn more*Claire O’Connor was born on this date in 1942. She is a white-American educator, artist, and civil rights activist. From St. Paul, Minnesota, her mother was Justine Claire O’Connor, part of the Foot lineage, and her father was (Joseph) Paul O’Connor, born in Dingle peninsula, Ireland. Both of her parents were early settlers in Red Wing, Minnesota. After high […]
learn more*Bernice Johnson Reagon was on this date in 1942. She is a Black folk song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist. Bernice Johnson was the daughter of Beatrice and J.J. Johnson, a Baptist minister. She was born and raised in southwest Georgia, where church and school were an integrated part of her life, with music heavily intertwined […]
learn more*Linda Brown Thompson was born on this date in 1943. She was a Black activist, educational consultant, pianist, music teacher, and public speaker. From Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown was the oldest of three children born to Oliver and Leola Brown. She graduated from Central High School in Springfield, Missouri, and received certification in early childhood […]
learn more*Clementine Pigford was born on this date in 1943. She was a Black educator, counselor, poet, and author. Clementine Washington was born in Chicago to parents Helen Mims and Eugene Washington. She has one brother, Eugene Washington II. Washington and her family moved to Denver, Colorado, where her father was a civilian Radio Aircraft Technician […]
learn moreOn this date in 1944, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was incorporated with 27 member colleges. UNCF is the nation’s oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization.
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