March 22, 1892 Dox Thrash, painter and printmaker, was born in Griffen, Georgia. In 1911, Thrash moved to Chicago, Illinois to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1917, he joined the United States Army and 14 months later was gassed and wounded while serving in France. After being discharged, he returned to the […]
Archive | March, 2012
March 22nd in African American History – Fred Anderson
March 22, 1929 Fred Anderson, jazz tenor saxophonist, was born in Monroe, Louisiana. Anderson taught himself to play the saxophone as a teenager and moved with his family to Evanston, Illinois in the 1940s. In 1965, he was one of the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians which was a collective […]
March 19th in African American History – Lloyd Lionel Gaines
March 19, 1939 Lloyd Lionel Gaines, the central figure in the 1938 Supreme Court case Gaines v. Canada, disappeared. Gaines was born in 1911 in Oxford, Mississippi and at the age of 15 moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated with honors from Lincoln University in 1935 with a bachelor’s degree in […]
March 19th in African American History – John Henry “Pop” Lloyd
March 19, 1964 John Henry “Pop” Lloyd, hall of fame Negro League baseball player and manager, died. Lloyd was born April 25, 1884 in Palatka, Florida and began his professional baseball career in 1905. Over his career, Lloyd batted .343 and was generally considered the greatest shortstop in Negro League history. Lloyd was often referred […]
March 18th in African American History – Willie King
March 18, 1943 Willie King, blues guitarist, composer, and singer, was born in Prairie Point, Mississippi. Prior to recording, he worked at many occupations. King later became active with the Civil Rights Movement which inspired him to write socially conscious blues songs. He described his music as struggling blues because of its focus on the […]
March 18th in African American History – Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
March 18, 1968 Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, painter and sculptor, died. Fuller was born June 8, 1877 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her career as an artist began when one of her high school projects was chosen to be included in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Based on that work, she won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania […]
March 17th in African American History – Nathaniel Adams “Nat King” Cole
March 17, 1919 Nathaniel Adams “Nat King” Cole, jazz pianist and singer, was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother and began performing in the 1930s with the King Cole Trio. They signed with Capitol Records in 1943 and revenue from Cole’s recordings accounted for so much of Capitol’s […]