June 23, 1997 Betty Shabazz, educator and widow of Malcolm X, died. Shabazz was born Betty Dean Sanders on May 28, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. After high school, she entered Tuskegee Institute and while in Alabama first encountered racism. As a result, Shabazz moved to New York City and enrolled at the Brooklyn State Hospital […]
Archive | June, 2011
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. – June 23rd in African American History
June 23, 2003 Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr., the first African American mayor of Atlanta, died. Jackson was born March 23, 1938 in Dallas, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from Morehouse College in 1956, at the age of 18. After working several jobs, Jackson earned his law degree […]
Elizabeth Louise “Betty” Allen – June 22nd in African American History
June 22, 2009 Elizabeth Louise “Betty” Allen, operatic mezzo-soprano, died. Allen was born March 17, 1927 in Campbell, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Hartford School of Music in vocal performance and her first major performance came in 1951 as the soprano soloist in “Jeremiah Symphony” with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Octavia Estelle Butler – June 22nd in African American History
June 22, 1947 Octavia Estelle Butler, award-winning science fiction writer, was born in Pasadena, California. Butler began writing at the age of 10 and at 12 began a lifelong interest in science fiction. In 1968, she earned an associate’s degree from Pasadena City College and then participated in a number of writing workshops. Her first […]
June 21st in African American History – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
June 21, 1964 James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, civil rights activist, were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi while trying to investigate the burning of a church that supported civil rights activity. The FBI discovered their bodies on August 4. While searching for the three men’s bodies, the FBI also discovered the bodies of at […]
June 21st in African American History – John Lee Hooker
June 21, 2001 John Lee Hooker, singer, songwriter and blues guitarist, died. Hooker was born August 22, 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the age of 15, Hooker ran away from home and in 1948 landed in Detroit, Michigan, working at the Ford Motor Company and playing in the blues venues and saloons […]
June 20th in African American History – The Detroit Race Riot
June 20, 1943 The Detroit Race Riot began with a fist fight between a black man and a white man on Belle Isle. The fight eventually grew into confrontations between groups of blacks and whites, spreading into the city. Rumors that black women were being assaulted and white women being raped fueled the confrontations. Stores […]