*James Condell was born on this date in 1921. He was a Black psychologist, educator, and musician. His piano skill from Louisville, Kentucky, got him a scholarship to Kentucky State College. Since the college band already had a piano player, he took up a new instrument: the guitar. He also began studying psychology and sociology. He […]
learn more*The Institute of the Black World (IBW) is celebrated on this date in 1969. IBW was a think tank based in Atlanta, Georgia, founded and directed by African diaspora intellectuals until 1983. Led primarily by Vincent Harding, it was originally a project of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Described by the historian […]
learn more*Sylvia Wynter was born on this date in 1928. She is a Black novelist, dramatist, critic, philosopher, and essayist. Sylvia Wynter was born in Cuba to Jamaican parents, actress Lola Maude (Reid) Wynter, and tailor Percival Wynter. At the age of two, she and her brother Hector and their parents returned to their home country of Jamaica. […]
learn more*Stephen Henderson was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black professor of African American literature and culture. Stephen E. Henderson was born in Key West, Florida. He served two years in the U.S. Army towards the end of the Second World War. He graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor’s degree in English and […]
learn more*Lawrence Reddick was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black historian, activist, and professor. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Lawrence Dunbar Reddick earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Fisk University in 1933. In 1939, he married Ella Ruth Thomas and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, where he […]
learn more*On this date in 1849, we celebrate the opening of New York Central College. This college was the first in the United States founded on the principle that all qualified students were welcome. Called New York Central College, McGrawville, and Central College, it was an abolitionist institution. It was founded by Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor and […]
learn more*David Taylor was born on this date in 1945. He is a Black author, educator, and administrator. From St. Paul, Minnesota, his father was Clarence Taylor, and his mother was Eula Teresa Vassar. His grandfather’s uncle Carroll Minges Vassar moved to Saint Paul in 1888. His grandfather, Joe Vassar, moved his family to Saint Paul […]
learn more*Vivian E. J. Cook was born on this date in 1889. She was a Black educator and activist. Vivian Cook, née Johnson, was born in Collierville, Tennessee. Her parents, Caroline Alley and Spencer Johnson, were both born into slavery. Caroline Alley became the first African American school teacher in Fayette County, Tennessee, and her four […]
learn more*On this date in 1828, we celebrate Saint Frances Academy. This secondary institute is an independent Catholic high school in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the first and oldest continually operating Black Catholic educational facility in the United States. In the early 1800s, various Protestant organizations in Baltimore, such as Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church’s Free African […]
learn more*Willie Christine King Farris was born on this date in 1927. She is a Black teacher, author, and college professor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Christine King was the first child of Martin Luther King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. She had two brothers, Martin Luther King Jr, and Alfred Daniel King. The three siblings spent their early years in […]
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