November 30, 1987 James Arthur Baldwin, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist, died. Baldwin was born August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York. When he was 17, Baldwin began to write short stories, essays, and book reviews, many of which were later collected in “Notes of a Native Son” (1955). In 1948, disillusioned […]
Archive | November, 2011
November 30th in African American History – Margaret Abigail Walker
November 30, 1998 Margaret Abigail Walker, poet and writer, died. Walker was born July 7, 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1935 and began working with the Federal Writer’s Project. In 1940, she earned her Master of Arts degree in creative writing from the University of […]
November 29th in African American History – Mabel Keaton Stauper
November 29, 1989 Mabel Keaton Stauper, a leader in breaking down barriers in nursing, died.Stauper was born February 27, 1890 in Barbados, West Indies. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was 13. In 1917, she graduated from Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing and in 1920 helped two physicians establish the first hospital […]
November 29th in African American History – Coleman Alexander Young
November 29, 1997 Coleman Alexander Young, Detroit’s first African American Mayor, died. Young was born May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He moved to Detroit in 1923 and graduated from Eastern High School. During World War II, he served in the 477th Medium-Bomber Group, Tuskegee Airmen, as a bombardier and navigator and played a role […]
November 28th in African American History – Ernest Davis
November 28, 1961 Ernest Davis became the first African American to be awarded the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player of the year. Davis was born December 14, 1939 in New Salem, Pennsylvania, but raised in Elmira, New York. He attended Syracuse University where he was a running back from 1959 to 1961, winning […]
November 28th in African American History – Elbert Frank Cox
November 28, 1969 Elbert Frank Cox, the first black person in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, died. Cox was born December 5, 1895 in Evansville, Indiana. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Indiana in 1917. After serving in the United States Army in France […]
November 27th in African American History – Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard
November 27, 1997 Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard, hall of fame Negro league baseball player, died. Leonard was born September 8, 1907 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He left school at the age of 14 because no high school education was available to black children in his hometown.