December 2, 1969 The family of Eugene Ashley, Jr. was presented with the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration, for his actions during the Vietnam War. Ashley was born October 12, 1931 in Wilmington, North Carolina, but raised in New York City. He joined the United States Army in 1950 and served in Korea […]
About Chimsima Zuhri
December 2nd in African American History – Odetta Holmes
December 2, 2008 Odetta Holmes, singer, actress, songwriter, and human rights activist, died. Odetta was born December 31, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama. Her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944 and in 1949 she joined the “Finian’s Rainbow” touring company. She began her solo career in 1956 with “Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues” […]
December 1st in African American History – Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III
December 1, 1940 Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III, comedian, writer and actor, was born in Peoria, Illinois. After his discharge from the Army in 1960, Pryor began working as a professional comic in clubs throughout the Midwest. In 1963, he moved to New York City and began to gain national recognition and appear on […]
December 1st in African American History – Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
December 1, 1955 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus and quietly set off a social revolution. On the Montgomery city buses, the first ten seats were permanently reserved for white passengers. Mrs. Parks was seated in the first row behind those seats.
November 30th in African American History – James Arthur Baldwin
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 […]
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 […]