People, Locations, Episodes

Sandra ‘Casey’ Cason, Activist born

*Sandra Cason “Casey” Hayden was born on this date in 1937. She was a white-American radical student activist and civil rights worker in the 1960s and is still active. As a fourth-generation Texan, she was born Sandra Cason in Austin, Texas. She was raised in Victoria, Texas, in a “multigenerational matriarchal family” by her mother, […]

Elbert Howard, Black Panther Activist born

*Elbert Howard was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black activist, author, and founding member of the Black Panther Party. Howard was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Anderson and Emma (Hawkshaw) Howard. In 1956, he enlisted in the Air Force. He served four years, and when honorably discharged at Travis Air Force Base […]

Curt Flood, Baseball Player, and Union Activist born

*On this date in 1938, Curtis Charles Flood. He was a Black baseball player and union activist. He was a center fielder who played 15 seasons in the major leagues for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Senators. Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Oakland, California, Flood played in the same outfield in West Oakland’s McClymond’s High School as Vada Pinson and Frank […]

Gloria Randle Scott, Youth Administrator born.

*Gloria Randle Scott was born on April 14, 1938. She is a Black educator and youth administrator. Gloria Dean was born and raised in Houston, Texas; in 1959, she became the first African American to receive a degree in zoology from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Higher Education in 1965. Dean was president of […]

Diane Nash, Activist born

*Diane Nash was born on this date in 1938. She is an African American activist, lecturer and businesswoman.

Charles McDew, Activist and Educator born

*Charles McDew was born on this date in1938. He is an African American educator and activist.

From Massillion, Ohio, he led his first demonstration in the eighth grade, to protest violations of the religious freedom of Amish students in his hometown. As a student at South Carolina State College he became involved in the civil rights movement. This included a campaign against segregated lunch counters in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1960.

David Sibeko, Activist born

*David Sibeko was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black South African writer and activist. David Bambatha Maphgumzana Sibeko was from Johannesburg, South Africa, and began his political career as a journalist for the black South African Magazine Drum. During his tenure with that magazine, he became a leading figure within the […]

Dorothy Pittman Hughes, Women’s and Family Activist born

*Dorothy Pitman Hughes on this date in 1938. she was a Black feminist, child welfare advocate, activist, public speaker, author, and small business owner. Dorothy Jean Ridley was born in Lumpkin, Georgia. When she was ten years old, her father was beaten and left for dead on the family’s doorstep by the Ku Klux Klan […]

Herchelle Challenor, Foreign Policy Activist born

*Herchelle Challenor was born on this date in 1938.  She is a Black foreign policy expert, international civil servant, and university administrator.  Herchelle Sullivan Challenor is the second child of Atlanta natives. Her mother and aunts graduated from Spelman College, and her father graduated from Morehouse College.  While Challenor was born in Atlanta, the Sullivan family moved to Pittsburgh when her father enrolled in […]

Fela Kuti, Musician and Nigerian Activist born

*Fela Kuti was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti was born into the Ransome-Kuti family, an upper-middle-class family in Abeokuta, Nigeria. His mother, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a Nigerian women’s rights activist.  His father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, was an Anglican […]

Richard Aoki, Activist born

*Richard Aoki was born on this date in 1938. He was an Asian American civil rights activist.

Richard Masato Aoki was born in San Leandro, California to Japanese American parents. One of two sons, his father was from Oakland and his mother was from Berkley, CA. During World War II, He and his family were interned at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah from 1942 to 1945. They moved back to Oakland, California after World War II ended. Aoki spent eight years serving in the United States Army, first as a medic and later in the infantry and as a weapons expert.

Al Sampson, Minister born

Albert “Al” Sampson was born on this date in 1938. He is an African American activist and minister.

Jimmie Lee Jackson, Activist, and Minister born

*On this date in1938, Jimmie Lee Jackson was born. He was an African American minister and civil right activist.

Jonathan Daniels, Seminarian, and Activist born

*Jonathan Daniels was born on this date in1939. He was a white Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist.

Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Advocate born

Marian Wright Edelman was born on this date in 1939. She is an African American children’s rights advocate.