February 2, 1994 Willie Mae Ford Smith, considered the greatest of the “anointed singers,” died. Smith was born June 6, 1906 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, but raised in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1922, she and her sisters formed a gospel quartet called the Ford Sisters.
February 1st in African American History – Channing Heggie Tobias
February 1, 1882 Channing Heggie Tobias, civil rights activist, was born in Augusta, Georgia. Tobias earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Paine College in 1902 and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Drew Theological Seminary in 1905. For the next six years, he taught bible literature at Paine College.
February 1st in African American History – Michael Phillip Anderson
February 1, 2003 Michael Phillip Anderson, NASA astronaut, was killed along with the rest of the crew of STS-107 Columbia when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. Anderson was born December 25, 1959 in Plattsburgh, New York. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics and astronomy from the University of […]
January 31st in African American History – Benjamin Lawson Hooks
January 31, 1925 Benjamin Lawson Hooks, attorney, minister and civil rights leader, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Howard University in 1944, Hooks joined the Army where he found that the prisoners he was responsible for guarding could eat in restaurants from which he was barred. Hooks graduated from DePaul University College of […]
January 31st in African American History – Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson
January 31, 1919 Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson, the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era, was born in Cairo, Georgia. Robinson attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was a star athlete, from 1939 to 1941 and served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant from […]
January 30th in African American History – Ruth Alston Weston (Ruth Brown)
January 30, 1928 Ruth Alston Weston (Ruth Brown), R&B singer and actress, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Brown recorded her first hit, “So Long,” in 1949 and from that time to 1955 was on the R&B charts for 149 weeks with 16 top 10 blues records, including five number ones. Those hits were “Teardrops From […]
January 30th in African American History – Edward Allen Carter, Jr.
January 30, 1963 Edward Allen Carter, Jr., Medal of Honor recipient, died. Carter was born May 26, 1916 in Los Angeles, California, but because his parents were missionaries, he grew up in India and Shanghai, China. While in Shanghai, Carter joined the Chinese National Army fighting against the Japanese.