September 9, 2008 Warith Deen Mohammed, Muslim leader and author, died. Mohammed was born Wallace Delaney Muhammad on October 30, 1933 in Hamtramck, Michigan. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mohammed served as a minister under his father, Elijah Muhammad, in Philadelphia before being excommunicated for denying the divinity of Wallace Ford Muhammad. In […]
Archive | September, 2010
September 9th in African American History – Elvin Ray Jones
September 9, 1927 Elvin Ray Jones, jazz drummer, was born in Pontiac, Michigan. By the age of two, Jones had a fascination with drums and in high school he joined the marching band. Jones served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949 and after his discharge began his professional career. Jones moved to […]
Dorothy Jean Dandridge – September 8th in African American History
September 8, 1965 Dorothy Jean Dandridge, singer and actress, was found dead from an overdose of antidepressants. Dandridge was born November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young child, she and he sister rarely attended school and toured the South with an act called The Wonder Children. Dandridge first appeared on screen in 1935 […]
Roy Wilkins – September 8th in African American History
September 8, 1981 Roy Wilkins, prominent civil rights activist from the 1930s to the 1970s, died. Wilkins was born August 30, 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1923. In 1931, he became Assistant Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored […]
Earl Manigault – September 7th in African American History
September 7, 1944 Earl Manigault, street basketball player known as “The Goat”, was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised in Harlem, New York. Manigault grew up playing basketball and set the New York City junior high school record by scoring 57 points in a game in the late 1950s. Manigault was famous on the […]
Jacob Lawrence – September 7th in African American History
September 7, 1919 Jacob Lawrence, painter and educator, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Lawrence attended classes at the Harlem Art Workshop and earned a scholarship to the American Artist School. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and served with the first racially integrated crew. Throughout his artistic career, Lawrence […]
Mathis James “Jimmy” Reed – September 6th in African American History
September 6, 1925 Mathis James “Jimmy” Reed, blues musician and songwriter, was born in Dunleith, Mississippi. After spending several years performing in Mississippi, Reed moved to Chicago in 1943. By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular performer and from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s he had a string of hits, including […]