*Sue Sojourner was born on this date in 1941. she is a white Jewish American author, activist, and historian. Born Susan Hasalo in Chicago, Ill. Her mother Bess, Father Bernard, sister Muriel, and brother Bud moved around a lot, but Sue always looked back fondly on her high school days in Marblehead, Massachusetts Class of […]
learn more*Irene West was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black educator and Activist. She was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. West was born and raised in Perry County, Alabama. She graduated from Alabama State College, which is now called Alabama State University. She also attended Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes. West was a member of numerous […]
learn more*The Holt Street Baptist Church is celebrated on this date in 1909. This was a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. The Holt Street Baptist Church building is located at the corner of Holt Street and Bullock Street, was completed in 1913. The first reverend was I.S. Fountain. From 1939 until 1952, Charles Kenzie Steele was […]
learn more*The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed on this date in 1955. This organization of Black ministers and community leaders focused national attention on racial segregation in the South. Under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr., Rufus Lewis, and Edgar Nixon, the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott. Jo Ann Robinson of the Women’s Political Council and […]
learn more*On this date in 1911, we celebrate the Atlanta Neighborhood Union (ANU) charter. This was a Black women-led neighborhood organization in Atlanta, Georgia. Started in 1908 and chartered in 1911, it was “a prototype for self-help and social service organizations.” ANU was one of the most important Black organizations for Atlanta’s social services and worked […]
learn more*Mary Fair Burks was born on this date in 1914. She was a Black educator, scholar, and activist. She was the daughter of Gustavus “Gus” Samuel and Ollie (née Williams) Fair. She attended Alabama State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English literature in 1933, and Michigan State University, where she earned a Master […]
learn more*Charles K. Steele was born on this date in 1914. He was a Black preacher and a civil rights activist. Charles Kenzie Steele was the son of a coal miner, an only child from in McDowell County, West Virginia. At a young age, he knew that he wanted to be a preacher, and he started […]
learn more*The Woman’s Political Council (WPC) was organized on this date in 1946. Founded in Montgomery, Alabama, was an organization that was an early force active in the 20th century American Civil Rights movement that was formed to address the racial issues in the city. WPC founding members included Mary Fair Burks, Jo Ann Robinson, Irene West, Thelma Glass, […]
learn more*Thelma Glass was born on this date in 1916. She was a Black educator and activist. She was born Thelma McWilliams in Mobile, Alabama, to a hotel cook and homemaker. She graduated from Dunbar High School (Mobile) and attended Alabama State University and Columbia University. She married Arthur Glass in 1942, and both taught geography at Alabama […]
learn more*Johnnie Carr was born on this date in 1911. She was a Black Activist and nurse. From Alabama, Johnnie Rebecca Daniels was the daughter of parents John and Annie Richmond Daniels as the youngest of six children. When she was nine, her father died; following his death, the family moved away from their farm to […]
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