*William Clay Sr. was born on this date 1931. He is a retired African American politician from Missouri. William Lacy Clay Sr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Luella S. (Hyatt) and Irving Charles Clay. He graduated from Saint Louis University. Clay served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, and he was a St. Louis alderman from 1959 to […]
learn more*On this date in 1938, Curtis Charles Flood. He was an African American baseball player and union activist. 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 Robinson. All three would eventually sign professional contracts with the Cincinnati Reds. Flood attended McClymond’s High School and transferred to Oakland Technical High School, where […]
learn more*On this date we celebrate the birth of George Middleton c1735. He was a Black patriot, Freemason, and a colonial rights activist. Very little is known of his childhood and family. He was an early member of the African Lodge, later known as the Prince Hall Masons, and he was the third Grand Master of that group. Middleton married […]
learn more*On this date in 1775, we celebrate the Bucks of America. They were a Massachusetts Militia company during the American Revolutionary War of Black Patriot soldiers. When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, Black soldiers both slaves and freemen served with white soldiers in integrated militia units in the New England colonies. Later that year, these militia units became the nucleus of the newly created Continental Army, the national […]
learn more*Julius Winfield Robertson was born on this date in 1916. He was an African American lawyer, author and civil rights activist. Born in rural Georgia, to a family of farmers, they moved to Tennessee for better opportunities. In his early 1920’s, he moved to Washington, DC, to escape the harsh realities of a Black man living in […]
learn more*On this date in 1971, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education was decided. This was a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. The Court held that busing was an appropriate remedy for the problem of racial imbalance in schools, even when the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based on […]
learn more*On this date in 1954, Bolling v. Sharpe was decided. This was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Constitution prohibits segregated public schools in the District of Columbia. Originally argued on December 10–11, 1952, a year before Brown v. Board of Education, Bolling was reargued on December 8–9, 1953, and was unanimously decided on May […]
learn more*On this date in 1969, Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham was decided. This was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Supreme Court struck down a Birmingham, Alabama ordinance that prohibited citizens from holding parades and processions on city streets without first obtaining a permit. The Petitioner was Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a Black minister who helped lead 52 African Americans in an orderly civil rights march […]
learn more*On this date in 1900, James Nabrit Jr. was born. He was an African American civil rights attorney and university administrator. James Madison Nabrit Jr. was born in Georgia, the son of James Nabrit, a Baptist minister and baker, and Gertrude Augusta West. Rev. Nabrit became President of the American Baptist Institute in Nashville, and Secretary of […]
learn more*George Wallace Jr. was born on this date in 1919. He was a white-American politician and segregationist. Born in Clio, Alabama, George Corley Wallace Jr. attended the University of Alabama School of Law and served in United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he won election to the Alabama House of Representatives and served as a state judge. Wallace […]
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