March 9, 1895 Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first African American woman to become a physician in the United States, died. Crumpler was born February 8, 1831 in Delaware. In 1852, she moved to Charleston, Massachusetts where she worked as a nurse for eight years. In 1864, Crumpler earned a medical degree from the New […]
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Charlayne Hunter-Gault – February 27th in African American History
February 27, 1942 Charlayne Hunter-Gault, journalist and foreign correspondent, was born in Due West, South Carolina. Hunter-Gault attended Wayne State University from 1959 to 1961, the year that she and Hamilton Holmes became the first African Americans to attend the University of Georgia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the university […]
Francis Ellen Watkins Harper – February 22nd in African American History
February 22, 1911 Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, abolitionist and poet, died. Harper was born September 24, 1825 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was an only child to free African American parents and when her mother died when she was only three, she wen to live with her aunt and uncle. She attended school for black youths until […]
Frederick Douglass – February 20th in African American History
February 20, 1895 Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, women’s suffragist, editor, author, and statesman, died. Douglass was born enslaved on February 14, 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland and named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. Douglass taught himself to read and write and in 1838 escaped from slavery. Douglass delivered his first abolitionist speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s annual […]
Oliver Wendell “Ollie” Harrington – February 14th in African American History
February 14, 1912 Oliver Wendell “Ollie” Harrington, cartoonist and political satirist, was born in Valhalla, New York. Harrington started drawing cartoons at a young age and went to work for the Amsterdam News as a cartoonist and political satirist. In 1935, he created “Dark Laughter” a single panel cartoon which appeared in the African American […]
Negro History Week – February 7th in African American History
February 7, 1926 The first day of Negro History Week, originated by historian Carter G. Woodson. Carter was born December 19, 1875 in Virginia. He studied at Berea College, University of Chicago and completed a PHd at Harvard University. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History as a […]
Melvin Beaunorus Tolson – February 6th in African American History
February 6, 1898 Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, educator and poet, was born in Moberly, Missouri. Tolson 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. Shortly after receiving his undergraduate degree, Tolson took a position as […]