January 2, 1915 John Hope Franklin, historian and author, was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma. Franklin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fisk University in 1935 and his Master of Arts degree and Ph. D. in history from Harvard University in 1936 and 1941, respectively. In the early 1950s, he served on the NAACP Legal […]
Archive | Author RSS feed for this section
December 29th in African American History – Robert Clifton Weaver
December 29, 1907 Robert Clifton Weaver, the first African American to hold a cabinet level position in a United States President’s administration, was born in Washington, D.C. Weaver attended Harvard University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in economics in 1929, his Master of Arts degree in 1931, and his Ph.D. […]
December 18th in African American History – Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr.
December 18, 1912 Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airman, was born in Washington, D.C. After attending the University of Chicago, Davis entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1932. Despite shunning by his classmates, never having a roommate, and being forced to eat alone, he earned […]
December 16th in African American History – Charles LeRoy Blockson
December 16, 1933 Charles LeRoy Blockson, black studies scholar and author, was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. As a young boy, Blockson was told by a white teacher that black people had made no contribution to history. Blockson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1956. After serving in the United States […]
December 10th in African American History – Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III
December 10, 2005 Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, III, comedian, writer and actor, died. Pryor was born December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. After his discharge from the army in 1960, he began working as a professional comic in clubs throughout the Midwest. In 1963, he moved to New York City and began to gain […]
August 6th in African American History – Ella Jenkins
August 6, 1924 Ella Jenkins, folk singer and “The First Lady of the Children’s Folk Song,” was born in St. Louis, Missouri but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. In 1951, Jenkins earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with minors in child psychology and recreation from San Francisco State University. After graduating, she began […]