March 7, 1965 The first Selma to Montgomery march for civil rights. The March was led by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), with approximately 600 marchers was attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas […]
Tag Archives | Civil Rights Movement
March 18th in African American History – Willie King
March 18, 1943 Willie King, blues guitarist, composer, and singer, was born 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 its focus on the […]
January 20th in African American History – Eva Jessye
January 20, 1895 Eva Jessye, the first black woman to receive international distinction as a professional choral conductor, was born in Coffeyville, Kansas. Jessye studied choral music and music theory at Western University, a now defunct historically black college, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Langston University in 1919. In 1926, she formed […]
January 15th in African American History – Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 15, 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr., clergyman, activist, and leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was born in Atlanta, Georgia. King entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1948. He then earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951 […]
January 3rd in African American History – Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr.
January 3, 1966 Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr. was shot to death after he tried to use the “Whites only” restroom at a Standard Oil gas station in Macon County, Alabama. This senseless death became the first black college student killed as a result of his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Younge was born November […]
December 30th in African American History – Samuel Milton Nabrit
December 30, 2003 Samuel Milton Nabrit, biologist, educator, and college president, died. Nabrit was born February 21, 1905 in Macon, Georgia. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Morehouse College in 1925 and his Master of Science degree and Ph. D. from Brown University in 1928 and 1932, respectively. He was the […]
October 6th in African American History – Joseph Echols Lowery
October 6, 1921 Joseph Echols Lowery, minister and “the dean of the Civil Rights Movement,” was born in Huntsville, Alabama. Lowery earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Paine College and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Paine Theological Seminary in 1950. He later completed a doctorate of divinity degree at the Chicago Ecumenical Institute.