People, Locations, Episodes

Angelina Weld Grimke, Poet, and Teacher born

*On this date we recall the birth in 1880 of Angelina Weld Grimke. She was an African American poet, playwright, and author of first staged play by an African American.

Angelina Weld Grimke was the daughter of Archibald and Sarah Grimke in Boston. Her father, the son of a slave, was a lawyer and the executive director of the NAACP. Grimke’s mother was white. Grimke attended several elite private schools, and graduated from the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics in 1902. Most of her writing was done over the next 25 years, which she spent teaching English in Washington, D.C.

Lillian Bertha Jones Horace, Author, and Educator born

*Lillian Bertha Jones Horace was born on this date in 1880. She was a Black author, educator, and librarian. Lillian Bertha Amstead was born in Jefferson, Texas, to Thomas Amstead and Macey Ackard Matthews; she also had one sister, Etta. The family moved to Fort Worth when Lillian was two years old. Thomas failed to […]

Georgia Douglas Johnson, Poet, and Playwright born

This date marks the birth of Georgia Douglas Johnson in 1880. She was an African American poet and early pioneer in Black literature.

Georgia Douglas Camp was born in Marietta, GA. Her father was a wealthy Englishman of whom she knew very little. She attended Atlanta University and later worked as an assistant principal in Atlanta. In the late 1900s, she studied music at Oberlin in Ohio.

Julia Peterkin, Novelist born

*Julia Peterkin was born on this date in 1880. She was a white-American teacher and author from Laurens County, South Carolina. She was born Julia Mood. Her father was a physician, and she was the third of his four children. Her mother died soon after her birth, and her father married Janie Brogdon. Janie Brogdon […]

Mary Burrill, Teacher, and Playwright born

*Mary P. Burrill was born on this date in 1881.  She was a Black teacher and playwright.  Born in Washington, D.C., her father was John H. Burrill, and her mother was Clara E. Burrill.    She graduated in 1901 from Washington’s M Street School (later Dunbar High School), entered Emerson College in the fall of […]

Anne Spencer, Poet born

*Anne Spencer was born on this date in 1882. She was an African American poet.

From Henry County, Virginia, Annie Bethel Bannister was the only child of Joel Cephus Bannister and Sarah Louise Scales. After a turbulent marriage ended, young Anne was taken to Bramwell, West Virginia. Money problems then forced Anne’s mother to place her in the home of William T. Dixie, a prominent member of the Black community. Reading dime-store novels and newspapers taught the gifted youngster about the power of language.

Benjamin Brawley, Educator, and Author born

*Benjamin Brawley was born on this date in 1882.  He was a Black author and educator.   Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Benjamin Griffith Brawley was the second son of Edward McKnight Brawley and Margaret Dickerson Brawley. He studied at Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) and graduated in 1901. He earned his second BA from the University of Chicago in 1906 […]

Jessie Fauset, Novelist, and Editor born

*On this date, Jessie Redmon Fauset, was born in 1882. She was an African American novelist, critic, poet, and editor known for her discovery and encouragement of several writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Nathan A. Murray, Biology Teacher and Librarian born

*Nathanial Allison Murray was born on this date in 1884. He was a Black teacher and librarian. From Washington, D.C., his parents were educators Daniel Alexander Payne Murray and Anna Jane Evans Murray. His father, Daniel, was one of the first African American librarians for the Library of Congress and was considered a leading authority on the […]

Effie Newsome, Children’s Poet born

*Effie Lee Newsome was born on this date in 1885. She was a African American writer and poet.

DuBose Heyward, Playwrite born

Eugene Dubose Heyward, a White American writer and playwright, was born on this date in 1885.

Although his parents were descended from Charleston, SC, aristocracy, the young Heyward did not know the wealth of his grandparents. The city and its citizens were proud, dignified, mannerly, vain, courageous, and poor. The Heyward family knew poverty and lived modestly.

Ray Sprigle, Journalist born

*Ray Sprigle was born on this date in 1886. He was a white-American journalist and author. Ray Sprigle was born in Akron, Ohio, to parents of colonial Pennsylvanian German ancestry. He attended local schools. After his freshman year, he left Ohio State University and started working as a newspaper reporter and a freelance pulp fiction […]

René Maran, Writer born

*René Maran was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black French journalist, and the first black writer to win the renowned French literary prize, the Prix Goncourt.

Fenton Johnson, Chicago Poet born

*The birth of Fenton Johnson in 1888 is marked on this date. He was an African American poet and writer.

Chandler Owen, Writer, and Socialist born

*Chandler Owen was born on this date in 1889. He was a Black writer, editor, and early member of the Socialist Party of America.   Owen was born in Warrenton, North Carolina. He graduated from Virginia Union University in 1913. Later, while studying economics at Columbia University in 1916, he joined the Socialist Party of America. He began a lifelong friendship with A. Philip Randolph and they followed the […]