People, Locations, Episodes

The Sun Reporter Newspaper Begins Publication

*The Sun-Reporter newspaper’s founding is celebrated on this date in 1943. This weekly newspaper serves the Black community of San Francisco. The Sun-Reporter owns the region’s two other Black weeklies, the California Voice and the Metro Reporter.   When Carlton Benjamin Goodlett, the paper’s longtime owner, died in 1997, Amelia Ashley-Ward became the paper’s proprietor. […]

Stephen Burrows, Fashion Designer born

*Stephen Burrows was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black fashion designer. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, to parents Octavia Pennington and Gerald Burrows. His mother and maternal grandmother raised him, Beatrice Pennington Banks Simmons. Fascinated with his grandmother’s zigzag sewing machine, he learned to sew early. He made his […]

Major League Baseball Begins Signing Black Players

On this date in 1943, (then) Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenisaw Landis began the integration of professional baseball.

He announced that any professional baseball team could sign Black players.

Archie Givens Jr., Businessman, Historian born

*Archie Givens Jr. was born on this date in 1944. He was a Black philanthropist, humanitarian, collector of literature, and businessman. Givens’ father was a businessman from the southside of Minneapolis, MN., who, with his wife, Phebe O’Shields Givens, built a successful real estate development business and became the state’s first black millionaire family. In […]

Anthony Barboza, Photographer born

*Anthony Barboza was born on this date in 1944. He is a Black photographer, historian, artist, and writer. From New Bedford, Massachusetts, he has family roots in Cape Verde. From work that began in commercial art more than forty years ago, Barboza’s artistic talents and successful career helped him cross over and pursue his passions in the fine […]

R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., Administrative Activist born.

*R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. was born on this date in 1944. He was a Black administration activist and author.  From Chattanooga, TN, Rufus Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. attended Chattanooga Public Schools and was a 1962 honor graduate of Howard High School. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Math from Morehouse College. Thomas Jr. received an […]

Dennis Johnson, TV Executive born

*Dennis Johnson was born this date in 1945. He was an African American Television producer and director.

From Kenbridge, Va., and attended Temple University and UCLA. While studying at UCLA in the 1970s, Johnson began working at NBC as a page, for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He then climbed the production ladder as an associate producer before moving into the programming department.

Gene Upshaw, Football Player, and Union Leader born

Gene Upshaw was born on this date in 1945. He was a Black football player and union administrator.

EBONY Magazine Is Published

On this date in 1945, the first issue of EBONY magazine was published in Chicago.

John H. Johnson started the company with a $500 loan on his mother’s furniture. The first office of Johnson Publishing Co., which was then called Negro Digest Publishing Co., was on the second floor of the Windy City’s Supreme Life Insurance Co. building in a room of a private law firm.

Soon Johnson bought the company’s first building to house EBONY and its sister publication Negro Digest on South State Street in Chicago.

Herman Cain, Businessman born

*Herman Cain was born on this date in 1945. He was a Black business executive, syndicated columnist, and conservative activist.   Herman Cain was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Lenora Davis Cain, a cleaning woman and domestic worker, and Luther Cain, raised on a farm.   His father worked as a barber janitor and chauffeur for Coca-Cola Company President Robert W. Woodruff. Cain […]

Black History and the Canadian Football League, a story

*We celebrate Black history and the Canadian Football League (CFL) on this date in 1946. In many cases, Blacks in America pursued professional football opportunities in the CFL, which were unavailable in the United States. Especially in the mid-20th century, many Black players came to Canada to avoid the racially charged atmosphere of Jim Crow America. For […]

Bruce Gordon, Business Executive born

*Bruce Gordon was born on this date in 1946. He is a Black business executive and civil rights administrator. Born in Camden, New Jersey, Bruce Scott Gordon’s parents were active in the civil rights movement. He graduated from Gettysburg College in 1968, was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, and graduated from the Sloan […]

The Clarion Newspaper is Published

*The Clarion newspaper is celebrated on this date in 1946. This was the first newspaper published in Nova Scotia, Canada, expressly for its Black citizens. The first issue was an 8” 10” single sheet—a community bulletin designed to serve New Glasgow’s black population. Founded by Carrie Best, by 1947, she had incorporated it as Clarion […]

Robert L. Johnson, Businessmen, and Philanthropist born

*Robert Johnson was born on this date in 1946. He is a Black entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor.    Robert Louis Johnson was born in Hickory, Mississippi, the ninth of ten children to Edna and Archie Johnson. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was a farmer. When he was a child, […]

Our World Magazine is published.

*Our World magazine’s first publication was on this date in 1946. It was a magazine for African American readers founded by John P. Davis.   Our World Magazine was a full-size, nationally distributed magazine. Their first issue, which featured singer-actress Lena Horne on the cover, arrived on the nation’s newsstands in the spring. Our World portrayed […]