March 8, 1911 Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., civil rights activist and chief lobbyist for the NAACP, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Mitchell graduated from Lincoln University in 1931 and later earned a law degree from the University of Maryland. In 1945, he became the first labor secretary of the NAACP and in 1950 became head […]
Tag Archives | NAACP
February 25th in African American History – Carl J. Murphy
February 25, 1967 Carl J. Murphy, journalist, civil rights leader and educator, died. Murphy was born January 17, 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University in 1911 and his Master of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1913.
February 4th in African American History – Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
February 4, 1913 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, the “mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement,” was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to obey a bus driver’s order to give up her seat to a White passenger and was arrested. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and […]
February 3rd in African American History – Edwin Bancroft Henderson
February 3, 1977 Edwin Bancroft Henderson, the “grandfather of black basketball,” died. Henderson was born November 28, 1884 in Washington, D.C. In 1904, he became the first African American certified to teach physical education and from 1920 to 1954 was director of physical education in Washington’s segregated schools.
February 1st in African American History – Channing Heggie Tobias
February 1, 1882 Channing Heggie Tobias, civil rights activist, was born in Augusta, Georgia. Tobias earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Paine College in 1902 and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Drew Theological Seminary in 1905. For the next six years, he taught bible literature at Paine College.
January 31st in African American History – Benjamin Lawson Hooks
January 31, 1925 Benjamin Lawson Hooks, attorney, minister and civil rights leader, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Howard University in 1944, Hooks joined the Army where he found that the prisoners he was responsible for guarding could eat in restaurants from which he was barred. Hooks graduated from DePaul University College of […]
January 31st in African American History – Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson
January 31, 1919 Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson, the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era, was born in Cairo, Georgia. Robinson attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was a star athlete, from 1939 to 1941 and served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant from […]