January 26, 1944 Angela Yvonne Davis, political activist and retired professor, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis was awarded a scholarship to Brandeis University and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1965. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the University of California […]
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Martin Robinson Delany – January 24th in African American History
January 24, 1885 Martin Robinson Delany, abolitionist and the first African American field officer in the United States Army, died. Delany was born May 6, 1812 in Charles Town, West Virginia. Because it was illegal to teach black people to read or write, he and his siblings taught themselves. In 1835, Delany became more actively […]
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson – January 23rd in African American History
January 23, 1976 Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson, concert singer, scholar, stage and film actor, athlete, and multi-lingual orator, died. Robeson was born April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey. He won a full academic scholarship to Rutgers University, the third African American student accepted at Rutgers. Although he was the only black student on campus […]
John Harold Johnson – January 19th in African American History
January 19, 1918 John Harold Johnson, publisher and businessman, was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas. In 1933, Johnson and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he took a job as an office boy at Supreme Life Insurance Company and within two years had moved up to assistant to the president. […]
Horace Julian Bond – January 14th in African American History
January 14, 1940 Horace Julian Bond, social activist, politician, professor, and writer, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1960, Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served as communications director from 1961 to 1966. In 1965, Bond was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives where he served four terms […]
Sterling Allen Brown – January 13th in African American History
January 13, 1989 Sterling Allen Brown, professor, poet, and literary critic, died. Brown was born May 1, 1901 in Washington D.C. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Williams College in 1922 and his Master of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1923. Brown began his teaching career at several universities […]
Walter Ellis Mosley – January 12th in African American History
January 12, 1952 Walter Ellis Mosley, novelist, was born in Los Angeles, California. Mosley earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Johnson State College in 1977 and moved to New York City in 1981. While working at Mobil Oil, he took a writing course at City College. Mosley started writing at the […]