December 3, 2000 Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks, poet and novelist, died. Brooks was born June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas but raised in Chicago, Illinois. She published her first poem in a children’s magazine at 13 and by the time she was 16 she had a portfolio of 75 published poems. Brooks’ first book of poetry, […]
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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 […]
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 21st in African American History – Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs
November 21, 2010 Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs, poet, artist, and educator, died. Burroughs was born November 1, 1917 in St. Rose, Louisiana, but raised in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Chicago Teacher’s College in 1946 and her Master of Arts degree in education from the Art Institute of […]
November 14th in African American History – Booker Taliaferro Washington
November 14, 1915 Booker Taliaferro Washington, educator, author and political leader, died. Washington was born enslaved on April 5, 1856 on the Burroughs Plantation in Virginia. His family gained their freedom at the end of the Civil War and Washington was educated at Hampton Institute and Wayland Seminary. In 1881, Washington was appointed the first […]
November 12th in African American History – Chester Bomar Himes
November 12, 1984 Chester Bomar Himes, writer, died. Hines was born July 29, 1909 in Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1928, Himes was sent to prison for armed robbery. In prison, he wrote short stories and had them published in national magazines. His first stories were published in Esquire Magazine in 1934. Himes was released from […]