September 16, 1950 Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, educator, writer, and scholar, was born in Keyser, West Virginia. Gates earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history summa cum laude from Yale University in 1973 and became the first African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He earned his Master of Arts […]
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September 14th in African American History – Abioseh Davidson Nicol
September 14, 1924 Abioseh Davidson Nicol, academic, diplomat and writer, was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Nicol graduated from Christ’s College, Cambridge University in 1946 and earned his Ph. D. in 1958. From 1960 to 1966, Nicol was the first native principal of Fourah Bay College in Freetown. He served as chairman and Vice Chancellor […]
September 12th in African American History – Varnette Patricia Honeywood
September 12, 2010 Varnette Patricia Honeywood, painter, writer and businesswoman, died. Honeywood was born December 27, 1950 in Los Angeles, California. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in art from Spelman College in 1972 and her Master of Science degree in education from the University of Southern California in 1974. As part of a […]
September 10th in African American History – Ronald G. Walters
September 10, 2010 Ronald G. Walters, scholar, author and political consultant, died. Walters was born July 20, 1938 in Wichita, Kansas. In 1958, as president of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council, he organized the Dockum Drug Store sit-in which led to the desegregation of drugstores in Wichita. Walters earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with […]
September 9th in African American History – Wilsonia Benita Driver (Sonia Sanchez)
September 9, 1934 Wilsonia Benita Driver (Sonia Sanchez), poet and playwright, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1943, Sanchez moved to Harlem, New York to live with her father. In 1955, she earned a Bachelor of Art degree in Political Science from Hunter College. Later she completed postgraduate work at New York University.
August 29th in African American History – Melvin Beaunorus Tolson
August 29, 1966 Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, educator and poet, died. Tolson was born February 6, 1898 in Moberly, Missouri. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Lincoln University in 1923 and his Master of Arts degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1940.
August 18th in African American History – Jacques Roumain
August 18, 1944 Jacques Roumain, writer and political activist, died. Jacques Roumain was born June 4, 1907 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His grandfather served as the president of Haiti from 1912 to 1913. Roumain was educated in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain. At 20 years old, he returned to Haiti and formed “The Indigenous Review: Arts […]