September 8, 1965 Dorothy Jean Dandridge, singer and actress, was found dead from an overdose of antidepressants. Dandridge was born November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young child, she and he sister rarely attended school and toured the South with an act called The Wonder Children. Dandridge first appeared on screen in 1935 […]
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Roy Wilkins – September 8th in African American History
September 8, 1981 Roy Wilkins, prominent civil rights activist from the 1930s to the 1970s, died. Wilkins was born August 30, 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1923. In 1931, he became Assistant Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored […]
Earl Manigault – September 7th in African American History
September 7, 1944 Earl Manigault, street basketball player known as “The Goat”, was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised in Harlem, New York. Manigault grew up playing basketball and set the New York City junior high school record by scoring 57 points in a game in the late 1950s. Manigault was famous on the […]
Jacob Lawrence – September 7th in African American History
September 7, 1919 Jacob Lawrence, painter and educator, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Lawrence attended classes at the Harlem Art Workshop and earned a scholarship to the American Artist School. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and served with the first racially integrated crew. Throughout his artistic career, Lawrence […]
Mathis James “Jimmy” Reed – September 6th in African American History
September 6, 1925 Mathis James “Jimmy” Reed, blues musician and songwriter, was born in Dunleith, Mississippi. After spending several years performing in Mississippi, Reed moved to Chicago in 1943. By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular performer and from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s he had a string of hits, including […]
Anika Noni Rose – September 6th in African American History
September 6, 1972 Anika Noni Rose, stage, film and television actress and singer, was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut. After graduating from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre, Rose made her professional stage debut in 1998 in “Valley Song”. In 2001, she won an OBIE Award for her performance in the off-Broadway production […]
Frank Garvin Yerby – September 5th in African American History
September 5, 1916 Frank Garvin Yerby, novelist, was born in Augusta, Georgia. Yerby earned a B. A. degree in English from Paine College in 1932. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In the 1940s, he embarked on a series of best selling historical novels ranging from the Athens […]