January 25, 1974 Nora Douglas Holt, singer, composer and music critic, died. Holt was born Lena Douglas on May 26, 1885 in Kansas City, Kansas. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in 1917 from Western University and her Master of Music degree in 1918 from Chicago Musical College, the first African American woman to […]
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Horace Julian Bond – January 14th in African American History
January 14, 1940 Horace Julian Bond, social activist, politician, professor, and writer, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1960, Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served as communications director from 1961 to 1966. In 1965, Bond was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives where he served four terms […]
December 26th in African American History – Jackie Ormes
December 26, 1985 Jackie Ormes, the first African American female cartoonist, died. Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson on August 1, 1911 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Ormes started in journalism as a proofreader for the Pittsburgh Courier. In 1937, her one-panel comic strip “Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem” first appeared in the Courier. Ormes moved […]
December 11th in African American History – John Edward Bush
December 11, 1916 John Edward Bush, co-founder of the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), died. Bush was born enslaved on November 14, 1856 in Moscow, Tennessee. He and his family were freed after the Civil War and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother died soon after moving to little rock leaving John and his sister […]
July 24th in African American History – Mary Church Terrell
July 24, 1954 Mary Church Terrell, civil and suffrage rights activist, died. Terrell was born September 23, 1863 in Memphis, Tennessee. Terrell earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884 and her Master of Arts degree in 1888 from Oberlin College, making her one of the first African American women to earn a college degree. […]
July 23rd in African American History – Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson
July 23, 1962 Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Robinson was born January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was a star athlete, from 1939 to 1941 and served in the United States […]
April 1st in African American History – William Manning Marable
April 1, 2011 William Manning Marable, educator, author, and activist, died. Marable was born May 13, 1950 in Dayton, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Earlham College in 1971, his Master of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1972, and his Ph. D. from the University of Maryland in 1976. […]