March 8, 2009 Willie King, blues guitarist, composer and singer, died. King was born March 18, 1943 in Prairie Point, Mississippi. Prior to recording, he worked at many occupations. King later became active with the Civil Rights Movement, which inspired him to write socially-conscious blues songs. He described his music as struggling blues because of […]
Archive | Civil Rights RSS feed for this section
March 7th in African American History – Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks
March 7, 2006 Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks, photographer, musician, poet, film director, and activist, died. Parks was born November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas. He bought his first camera at the age of 25 and began to work as a freelance portrait and fashion photographer. In 1941, an exhibition of his photographs of […]
Claudette Colvin – September 5th in African American History
September 5, 1939 Claudette Colvin, civil rights pioneer, was born in Montgomery, Alabama. On March 2, 1955 while returning from high school on the bus, Colvin refused to give up her seat to a White person, in violation of local law. As a result, she was removed from the bus by two police officers and […]
Charles Hamilton Houston – September 3rd in African American History
September 3, 1895 Charles Hamilton Houston, former Dean of Howard University Law School and NACCP Litigation Director, was born in Washington, D. C. Houston graduated from Amherst College in 1915, where he was valedictorian. In 1917, he enlisted in the U. S. Army and served in Europe during World War I until 1919. He earned […]
Roy Wilkins – August 30th in African American History
August 30, 1901 Roy Wilkins, prominent civil rights activist from the 1930s to the 1970s, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Wilkins earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1923. In 1931, he became Assistant Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From 1934 to […]
Fred Hampton, Sr – August 30th in African American History
August 30, 1948 Fred Hampton, Sr., activist and assassinated Black Panther leader, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in Maywood, a suburb of Chicago. At an early age, Hampton became active in the NAACP Youth Council, assuming leadership and growing the organization to 500 members. He worked to get more and better recreational […]