March 14, 1977 Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer, voting rights activist and civil rights leader, died. Hamer was born October 6, 1917 in Sunflower, Mississippi. In 1961, without her knowledge or consent, Hamer was sterilized by a white doctor as part of the state of Mississippi’s plan to reduce the number of poor blacks in the […]
Archive | March RSS feed for this section
March 13th in African American History – Leon Day
March 13, 1995 Leon Day, pitcher in the Negro Baseball League, died. Day was born October 30, 1916 in Alexandria, Virginia and made his professional debut in 1934. Day was one of the top pitchers in the Negro Leagues from the mid-1930s through the 1940s. From 1935 to 1946, he appeared in a record seven […]
March 13th in African American History – Anne Wiggins Brown
March 13, 2009 Anne Wiggins Brown, soprano and the first African American vocalist admitted to the Juilliard School, died. Brown was born August 9, 1912 in Baltimore, Maryland. She studied at Morgan College and applied to the Peabody Institute, but was rejected because of her race. In 1928, she was admitted to the Juilliard School […]
March 12th in African American History – Charles “Bird” Parker, Jr.
March 12, 1955 Charles “Bird” Parker, Jr., jazz saxophonist and composer, died. Parker was born August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He began playing the saxophone at age 11 and by 1938 was touring nightclubs and other venues in the southwest. In 1939, he moved to New York City where on November 26, 1945, […]
March 12th in African American History – Romare Bearden
March 12, 1988 Romare Bearden, artist and writer, died. Bearden was born September 2, 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1935, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in science and education from New York University. He went on to study at the Arts Student League from 1936 to 1937. From 1942 to 1945, Bearden […]
March 11th in African American History – Ralph David Abernathy
March 11, 1926 Ralph David Abernathy, minister and civil rights leader, was born in Linden, Alabama. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Abernathy graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Alabama State University in 1950 and in 1951 earned a Master of Science degree in […]
March 11th in African American History – Whitney Moore Young, Jr.
March 11, 1971 Whitney Moore Young, Jr., civil rights leader, drowned while swimming in Lagos, Nigeria. Young was born July 31, 1921 in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Kentucky State University in 1941 and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota in 1947. Young served […]