February 20, 1895 Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, women’s suffragist, editor, author, and statesman, died. Douglass was born enslaved on February 14, 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland and named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. Douglass taught himself to read and write and in 1838 escaped from slavery. Douglass delivered his first abolitionist speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s annual [...]
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Angela Yvonne Davis – January 26th in African American History
January 26, 1944 Angela Yvonne Davis, political activist and retired professor, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis was awarded a scholarship to Brandeis University and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1965. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the University of California [...]
January 2nd in African American History – John Hope Franklin
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 [...]
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 [...]
March 12th in African American History – Andrew Jackson Young
March 12, 1932 Andrew Jackson Young, pastor, politician, diplomat and civil rights leader, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Young earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Pre-Dentistry at Howard University in 1951 and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Hartford Seminary in 1955. In 1960, he joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and in [...]