September 7, 1900 James Madison Nabrit, Jr., civil rights lawyer, college professor, and deputy ambassador, was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Nabrit earned his bachelor’s degree in 1923 from Morehouse College and a doctorate in law from Northwestern University in 1927. In 1936, Nabrit joined the faculty of Howard University Law School and established the first […]
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August 28th in African American History – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
August 28, 1963 More than 250,000 people participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C. by marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. The march was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, James Farmer, president of the Congress of Racial Equality, […]
August 24th in African American History – Bayard Rustin
August 24, 1987 Bayard Rustin, civil rights leader and the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, died. Rustin was born March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1942, Rustin assisted in the founding of the Congress of Racial Equality. A declared pacifist, he was imprisoned from 1944 to […]
August 22nd in African American History – Huey Percy Newton
August 22, 1989 Huey Percy Newton, co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was fatally shot. Huey Percy Newton was born February 17, 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana but raised in Oakland, California. In 1966, while at Oakland City College, he and Bobby Seale organized the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Seale became chairman […]
August 14th in African American History – Abbey Lincoln
August 14, 2010 Abbey Lincoln, jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, died. Abbey Lincoln was born Anna Marie Wooldridge on August 6, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She moved to California in 1951 to perform in nightclubs. In 1956, she began her recording career with “Abbey Lincoln’s Affair: A Story of a Girl in Love.” Other recordings […]
August 5th in African American History – Oliver White Hill, Sr.
August 5, 2007 Oliver White Hill, Sr., civil rights attorney, died. Hill was born May 1, 1907 in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University in 1931 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Howard’s School of Law in 1933. Hill won his first civil rights case in 1940 in […]
July 28th in African American History – Cordy Tindell Vivian
July 28, 1924 Cordy Tindell Vivian, minister, author and civil rights activist, was born in Howard, Missouri. Vivian’s first professional job was recreation director for the Carver Community Center in Peoria, Illinois where he participated in his first sit-in demonstrations, successfully integrating Barton’s Cafeteria in 1947. From 1955 to 1959, Vivian studied at American Baptist […]