September 16, 1950 Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, educator, writer, and scholar, was born in Keyser, West Virginia. Gates earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history summa cum laude from Yale University in 1973 and became the first African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He earned his Master of Arts […]
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September 14th in African American History – Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee
September 14, 1980 Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee, physician, educator, and social activist, died. Ferebee was born October 10, 1898 in Norfolk, Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Simmons College in 1920 and her medical degree with top honors from Tufts University Medical School in 1924. Not allowed to intern at white hospitals […]
August 29th in African American History – Melvin Beaunorus Tolson
August 29, 1966 Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, educator and poet, died. Tolson was born February 6, 1898 in Moberly, Missouri. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Lincoln University in 1923 and his Master of Arts degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1940.
August 27th in African American History – Norman W. Lewis
August 27, 1979 Norman W. Lewis, painter, scholar, and educator, died. Lewis was born July 23, 1909 in Harlem, New York. Always interested in art, he had amassed a large art history library by the time he was a young man. His early paintings were mostly figurative, including “Meeting Place” (1930), “The Yellow Hat” (1936), […]
August 26th in African American History – Branford Marsalis
August 26, 1960 Branford Marsalis, saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. In 1980, while still a Berklee College of Music student, Marsalis toured Europe playing saxophone in a large ensemble led by drummer Art Blakey. In 1981, he joined his brother Wynton in Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His primary focus since […]
July 10th in African American History – Mary Jane McLeod Bethune
July 10, 1875 Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, was born in Mayesville, South Carolina. Bethune attended Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College) from 1888 to 1894 and then Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions (now Moody Bible Institute). In 1899, Bethune moved to Palatka, Florida where she ran a mission […]
June 14th in African American History – John Edgar Wideman
June 14, 1941 John Edgar Wideman, author and educator, was born in Washington, D. C. but grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wideman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also an All-Ivy League basketball player, in 1963. He was the second African American to win […]