November 4, 1999 Daisy Lee Gatson Bates, journalist and civil rights leader, died. Bates was born November 11, 1914 in Huttig, Arkansas. In 1941, Bates and her husband started a local Black newspaper, The Arkansas State Press, which was an avid voice for civil rights. In 1952, she was elected president of the Arkansas State […]
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October 16th in African American History – Leon Howard Sullivan
October 16, 1922 Leon Howard Sullivan, minister, civil rights leader and activist, was born in Charleston, West Virginia. Sullivan became a Baptist minister at 18 and moved to New York where he graduated from the Union Theological Seminary in 1945 and earned a Master’s in Religion from Columbia University in 1947.
October 10th in African American History – Frederick Douglass Patterson
October 10, 1901 Frederick Douglass Patterson, founder of the United Negro College Fund, was born in Washington, D. C. Patterson earned his bachelor’s degree from Prairie View State College in 1919, a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1923 and Masters in Science in 1927 from Iowa State University and a Ph.D in Bacteriology in 1932 […]
September 28th in African American History – Richard Berry Harrison
September 28, 1864 Richard Berry Harrison, actor, teacher and lecturer, was born in London, Ontario, Canada, the son of formerly enslaved parents who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. As a young man, Harrison moved to Detroit and began dramatic studies at the Detroit Training School of Dramatic Arts. From 1892 to 1896, […]
September 25th in African American History – The Little Rock Nine
September 25, 1957 The Little Rock Nine successfully entered Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring all laws establishing segregated schools to be unconstitutional, and calling for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. By […]
September 17th in African American History – Mary Morris Burnett Talbert
September 17, 1866 Mary Morris Burnett Talbert, orator, activist and suffragist, was born in Oberlin, Ohio. Talbert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College in 1886, the only African American woman in her class. In 1887, she became an assistant principal at a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, the highest position held […]
September 14th in African American History – Constance Baker Motley
September 14, 1921 Constance Baker Motley, civil rights activist, lawyer and judge, was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Motley earned a B. A. degree from New York University in 1943 and her law degree from Columbia Law School in 1946. She began her career as a law clerk at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, eventually […]