April 8, 1993 Marian Anderson, contralto, died. Anderson was born February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of six, she began singing at local functions for small change. She got her first big break in 1925 when she won a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. In 1939, the Daughters of the […]
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Colin Luther Powell – April 5th in African American History
April 5, 1937 Colin Luther Powell, the first African American United States Secretary of State, was born in Harlem, New York. Powell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 1971. While at City […]
Martin Luther King, Jr. – April 4th in African American History
April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr., clergyman, activist and leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. King was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1948. He then earned a Bachelor […]
Wilson Camanza Riles – April 1st in African American History
April 1, 1999 Wilson Camanza Riles, the first African American to be elected to statewide office in California, died. Riles was born June 27, 1917 near Alexandria, Louisiana. He graduated from Northern Arizona State University in 1940 and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1971, Riles was elected […]
March 28th in African American History – Benjamin Elijah Mays
March 28, 1984 Benjamin Elijah Mays, minister, educator, scholar, and social activist, died. Mays was born August 1, 1894 in Ninety Six, South Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College in 1920 and his Master of Arts degree in 1925 and Ph. D. in the School of Religion in 1935 from […]
March 25th in African American History – John Hope Franklin
March 25, 2009 John Hope Franklin, historian and author, died. Franklin was born January 2, 1915 in Rentiesville, Oklahoma. He graduated from Fisk University in 1935 and earned a doctorate in history in 1941 from Harvard University. In the early 1950s, he served on the NAACP Legal Defense Fund team that developed the sociological case […]
March 19th in African American History – Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
March 19, 1984 Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., civil rights activist and chief lobbyist for the NAACP, died. Mitchell was born March 8, 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1931 and later earned a law degree from the University of Maryland.