THE BOOK
The Publisher
MYKCO is happy to invite you into the world of AFROMATION. This is a perpetual calendar with the dates serving as a chronological guide to “on this day in history” and as a page reference number for our 366 categorized then alphabetized biographies of notable Black Americans from the past.
This format was designed with education and user friendliness in mind. You can use this “book” day-by-day or refer to the table of contents and index to find that individual or subject that most interests you. However utilized, this is not intended to be the definitive “book” of Black American history; but just a taste of a proud heritage.
The “366” in the subtitle also represents how long it took me to dream, research, organize, and complete this historic project. My reason for wanting to share all of this AFROMATION with you goes back to my grade school days in the Omaha where I was introduced to the proud history of Native Americans and European contributions to America. But every time the subject of Black, Negro, and / or Colored people came up, all I heard was the word slavery – which made me feel naked. I was never taught that a Black American drew up the plans for the telephone invention; was the first to reach the North Pole; became America’s first female self-made millionaire; invented the 3-way stop light; organized the first blood bank; revolutionized the South’s farming industry. I hope you get the picture.
Before I began this project, I thought that Black History Month was the best thing since the drive-thru window at McDonald’s. Now I feel like I got home and opened my bag to find no fries – short changed! To use another analogy, we all celebrate Mother’s Day; yet, we do not forget about her the rest of the year. We have integrated schools, public transportation, lunch counters, hospitals, etc.; but American history is, for the most part, still segregated. Black History Month should be the celebration that it is; however, I have found that there are too many great Black American contributions for us to just wait until February to discuss, inform, and educate…
In conclusion, we hear mostly about Martin and Malcolm who were two great men. However, as you will read, they were not the first and I hope they will not be the last. Like Martin, I, too, have a dream – that no African-American child will ever again have to grow up feeling naked about his / her heritage and that every child is introduced to Ourtruth.
Michael D. Woods
1994
The Foreword
Afromation, as coined by Michael Woods, is Afrocentric information. Affirmation is the declaration of those collected words and works. Afromotion, as coined by yours truly, is the movement of Afromation in the appropriate manner, to the appropriate people, at the appropriate time, using the appropriate vehicle. Another word that I have coined is Ourtruth – this is us revealing and reporting the story of a grand and magnificent people.
Whom shall I send and who will go for me; and I answered, here am I, send me. These words as expressed in Isaiah, are appropriate for Michael. The same question was breathed into his nostrils, and he exhaled with Afromation, the Affirmation, and the Afromotion. 
The information is not new; but is for far too many. For each heart, soul, and spirit featured herein, there are millions more whose stories we will never hear, for they make up the kingdoms in depths of the sea and castles neath the sands on the Island of Goree, under the Baobob tree.
This book serves as an inspiration and incentive to our children and generations yet unborn. They are in history’s arena and research the truth, they must. It is what will set us free. However, it is critical that we write the right. This is the only way that we can right history as it is lived. Our very existence is dependent on the breath and breadth of our commitment to Ourtruth and how we confront the challenges of keeping it write and right, as we bequeath it to our young and lead them into tomorrow.
Thank you, Michael, for your actions and motivating us to further seek, share, and support Ourtruth.
Rev. LaVerne C. Williams Hall
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Seattle, WA
1994
The Introduction
The celebration tends not to promote propaganda, but to counteract it by popularizing the truth. It is interested much in Negro History as it is in history influenced by the Negro; for what the world needs is not a history of selected races or nations but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice. There has been, therefore, no tendency to eulogize the Negro nor to abuse his enemies. The aim has been to emphasize important facts in the belief that facts properly set forth will speak for themselves…
Dr. Carter G. Woodson
(1875-1950)
The Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: ABOLITIONISTS
Jan 1 – WILLIAM WELLS BROWN (c1814 -1884), 1st published African American novelist
Jan 2 – SAMUEL ELI CORNISH (1795-1858), pastor of NYC’s 1st African American Presbyterian Church—New Demeter Street Presbyterian Church
Jan 3 – WILLIAM HOWARD DAY (1825 – 1900), 1st African American city school board president in a predominately white community—Harrisburg School Board, PA
Jan 4 – MARTIN ROBINSON DELANEY (1812 – 1885), 1st African American high ranking military field officer
Jan 5 – FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1817 – 1895), known as the “father of the civil rights movement”
Jan 6 –JAMES FORTEN, SR. (1766 – 1842), one of the best known abolitionists of the early 19th century
Jan 7 – HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET (1815 – 1882), 1st African American to deliver a sermon before the U.S. House of Representatives
Jan 8 – PRINCE HALL (c1732 – 1807), founded the African Society House, Boston’s 1st separate schoolhouse for African American children
Jan 9 – CHARLES LANGSTON (1817 – 1892), responsible for the establishment of Wilberforce Univ.
Jan 10 – JAMES W.C. PENNINGTON (1807 – 1870), helped organize the New York Legal Rights Association, one of the nation’s 1st civil rights organizations
Jan 11 – ROBERT PURVIS, SR. (1810 – 1898), helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia
Jan 12 – CHARLES LENOX REMOND (1810 – 1873), one of America’s 1st great African American orators
Jan 13 – DAVID RUGGLES (1810 – 1849), 1st African American bookseller
Jan 14 – WILLIAM STILL (1821 – 1902), wrote The Underground Railroad
Jan 15 – SOJOURNER TRUTH (1797 – 1883), 1st African American woman to speak out publicly against slavery
CHAPTER 2: ARTISTS
Jan 16 – EDWARD MITCHELL BANNISTER (1828 – 1901), 1st African American artist to receive a national award
Jan 17 – RICHMOND BARTHE (1901 – 1989), one of the best known African American sculptors of his time
Jan 18 – ROMARE BEARDEN (1912 – 1988), organizer of a group of civil rights-conscious African American artists in NYC
Jan 19 – BEAUFORD DELANEY (1901 – 1979), best known African American artist of his time living abroad—Paris, France
Jan 20 – META VAUX WARRICK FULLER (1877 – 1968), 1st African American sculptor to express the suffering and toil of slavery
Jan 21 – PALMER HAYDEN (1890- 1973), one of the 1ST African American artist to incorporate African imagery
Jan 22 – SARGENT CLAUDE JOHNSON (1887 – 1967), one of the most important sculptors and printmakers of the 20th century
Jan 23 – MARY EDMONIA LEWIS (c1845 – c1911), 1st professional African American sculptor
Jan 24 – JAMES AMOS PORTER (1905 – 1970), 1ST African American art historian
Jan 25 – AUGUSTA CHRISTINE SAVAGE (1892 – 1962), 1st African American member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors
Jan 26 – HENRY OSSAWA TANNER (1859 – 1937), 1ST African American artist to achieve international acclaim
Jan 27 – ALMA THOMAS (1891 – 1978), 1ST African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Jan 28 – JAMES VAN DER ZEE (1886 – 1983), known as the “dean of Harlem photographers”
Jan 29 – CHARLES WILBERT WHITE (1918 – 1979), one of America’s most modern contemporary artists
Jan 30 – PAUL REVERE WILLIAMS (1894 – 1980), known as “architect to the stars”
Jan 31 – HALE WOODRUFF (1900 – 1980), one of the most talented African American artists of the Depression Era
CHAPTER 3: BUSINESS LEADERS
Feb 1 – ROBERT REED CHURCH, SR. (1839 – 1912), known as the richest African American in the South—Memphis, TN resident
Fed 2 – ALEXANDER G. CLARK (1826 – 1891), known as the “colored orator of the West”
Feb 3 – PAUL CUFFE (1759 – 1817), amassed a fortune from whaling, coastal shipping, and trade with Europe and the Caribbean
Feb 4 – HOWARD NAYLOR FITZHUGH (1909 – 1992), 1st African American to receive a Harvard M.B.A.
Feb 5 – ARTHUR G. GASTON, SR. (1892 – 1996), honored by Black Enterprise as the “entrepreneur of the century”
Feb 6 – REGINALD LEWIS (1942 – 1993), CEO of the nation’s largest African American-controlled company–TLC Beatrice International
Feb 7 – JOHN MERRICK (1859 – 1919), founder of the Mechanics & Farmers Bank of Durham
Feb 8 – JOHN R. MITCHELL, JR. (1863 – 1929), 1ST African American member of the American Bankers Association
Feb 9 – JOHN CARROLL NAPIER (1845 – 1940), primary initial investor of the One-Cent Savings Bank in Nashville
Feb 10 – CHARLES CLINTON SPAULDING (1874 – 1952), built North Carolina Mutual into the nation’s largest owned and operated African American business
Feb 11 – ELLA PHILLIPS STEWART (1863 – 1987), founded and operated Stewart’s Pharmacy in Toledo
Feb 12 – MADAME C.J. WALKER (1867 – 1919), nation’s 1st self-made woman millionaire
Feb 13 – MAGGIE LENA WALKER (1867 – 1934), one of the wealthiest and most influential women of the early 20th century
Feb 14 – EARTHA M.M. WHITE (1876 – 1974), built an investment portfolio to over one million dollars
Feb 15 – RICHARD ROBERT WRIGHT, SR. (1855 – 1947), co-founder of the Citizens & Southern Bank & Trust in Philadelphia
CHAPTER 4: CIVIC LEADERS
Feb 16 – MARIA LOUISE BALDWIN (1856 – 1922), New England’s 1st African American woman school master—Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge, MA
Feb 17 – EVA D. BOWLES (1875 – 1943), director of the Colored Work Committee of the YWCA’s War Work Council
Feb 18 – FANNIE JACKSON COPPIN (1837 – 1913), responsible for the establishment of Philadelphia’s first trade school for African Americans—Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia
Feb 19 – JOHN CAMPBELL DANCY, JR. (1888 – 1968), executive director of the Detroit Urban League
Fed 20 – OPHELIA SETTLE EGYPT (1903 – 1984), founder and director of the Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington’s Parklands Neighborhood Clinic
Feb 21 – ARNA ARNOLD HEDGEMAN (1899 – 1990), cabinet member of NYC Mayor Robert Wagner
Feb 22 – ADDIE D. HUNTON (1875 – 1943), national organizer for the National Association of Colored Women
Feb 23 – WILLIAM ALPHEUS HUNTON (1863 – 1916), 1st African American secretary of the International YMCA
Feb 24 – MOLLIE LEWIS MOON (1912 – 1990), founder and president of the Council of Urban League Guilds
Feb 25 – JESSE EDWARD MOORLAND (1863 – 1939), donated his private library to Howard Univ., creating the nation’s 1st research library devoted fully to materials on African Americans
Feb 26 – JOSEPHINE ST. PIERRE RUFFIN (1842 – 1924), founded both African American and white civic organizations in Boston
Feb 27 – CHANNING HEGGIE TOBIAS (1882 – 1961), NAACP chairman emeritus
Feb 28 – FANNIE BARRIER WILLIAMS (1855 – 1944), 1st African American member of the Chicago Women’s Club
Feb 29 – JAMES FINLEY WILSON (1881 – 1952), grand exalted ruler of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks of the World
CHAPTER 5: CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS & BLACK NATIONALISTS
Mar 1 – RALPH DAVID ABERNATHY (1926 – 1990), co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference–SCLC
Mar 2 – ELLA JO BAKER (1903 – 1986), organized students into the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee–SNCC
Mar 3 – MEDGAR WILEY EVERS (1925 – 1963), central figure in Mississippi’s civil rights struggle
Mar 4 – MARCUS MOSIAH GARVEY (1887 – 1940), launched the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association–UNIA
Mar 5 – FRANCIS JAMES GRIMKE (1850 – 1937), known as the “Black Puritan”
Mar 6 – FANNIE LOU HAMER (1917 – 1977), helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Mar 7 – JAMES WELDON JOHNSON (1871 – 1938), NAACP’s 1st African American executive secretary
Mar 8 – MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. (1929 – 1968), leader of the modern civil rights movement
Mar 9 – DAISY LAMPKIN (1888 – 1965), NAACP’s most successful fundraiser
Mar 10 – HUEY PERCY NEWTON (1942 – 1989), co-founder of the Black Panther Party
Mar 11 – MARY BURNETT TALBERT (1866 – 1923), 1ST woman to be awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal
Mar 12 – MARY CHURCH TERRELL (1863 – 1954), led the integration in the public accommodations of the nation’s capitol
Mar 13 – WALTER FRANCIS WHITE (1893 – 1955), NAACP executive secretary
Mar 14 – ROY WILKINS (1901 – 1981), NAACP executive secretary
Mar 15 – MALCOLM X (1925 – 1965), minister of Harlem’s Temple #7
CHAPTER 6: CONGRESSMEN
Mar 16 – BLANCHE KELSO BRUCE (1841 – 1898), Mississippi Republican U.S. senator, nation’s 1st African American elected U.S. senator
Mar 17 – WILLIAM LEVI DAWSON (1886 – 1970), 1st African American to chair a major congressional committee—Expenditures in the Executive Dept.—Illinois 1st District Democrat
Mar 18 – OSCAR STANTON DePRIEST (1871 – 1951), 1ST African American elected to Congress from outside of the South—Illinois 3rd District Republican
Mar 19 – MELVIN HURBERT EVANS (1917 – 1984), 1ST popularly elected governor of the Virgin Islands
Mar 20 – JOHN ADAMS HYMAN (1840 – 1891), North Carolina’s 1st African American congressman—2nd District Republican
Mar 21 – JOHN MERCER LANGSTON (1829 – 1897), Virginia’s 1st African American congressman—4th District Republican
Mar 22 – JEFFERSON FRANKLIN LONG (1836 – 1900), Georgia’s 1st African American congressman—4th District Republican
Mar 23 – JOHN ROY LYNCH (1847 – 1939), Mississippi 1st African American member of the House of Representative—6th District Republican
Mar 24 – ARTHUR WERGS MITCHELL (1883 – 1968), 1ST African American Democrat elected to Congress—Illinois 1st District
Mar 25 – ROBERT N.C. NIX, SR. (1905 – 1987), Pennsylvania’s 1st African American congressman
Mar 26 – ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, JR. (1908 – 1972), 1st African American congressman elected from the East—New York 22nd District Democrat
Mar 27 – JOSEPH HAYNE RAINEY (1832 – 1887), 1st African American to be elected and seated in the House of Representatives—South Carolina 1st District Republican
Mar 28 – HIRAM RHODES REVELS (1827 – 1901), 1st African American U.S. senator—Mississippi Republican
Mar 29 – BENJAMIN STERLING TURNER (1825 – 1894), Alabama’s 1st African American congressman—1st District Republican
Mar 30 – JOSIAH THOMAS WALLS (1842 – 1905), Florida’s 1st African American congressman—1st District Republican
Mar 31 – HAROLD WASHINGTON (1922 – 1987), congressman and 1st African American mayor of Chicago—Illinois 1st District Democrat
CHAPTER 7: EDUCATORS
Apr 1 – MARGUERITE ROSS BARNETT (1942 – 1992), 1ST African American president of the Univ. of Houston
Apr 2 – MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE (1875 – 1955), founder and president of Daytona Normal & Industrial School, now Bethune-Cookman College
Apr 3 – CHARLOTTE HAWKINS BROWN (1883 – 1961), founder and president of Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, NC
Apr 4 – JOSEPH SAMUEL CLARK (1871 – 1944), president of Southern Univ. & Agricultural & Mechanical College
Apr 5 – SEPTIMA CLARK (1898 – 1987), known as the “Queen Mother” of the civil rights movement
Apr 6 – GEORGE WILLIAM COOK (1855 – 1931), longtime Howard Univ. faculty member
Apr 7 – ANNA JULIA COOPER (1858 – 1964), 1st African American woman to earn a bachelor’s degree from a major college–Columbia Univ.
Apr 8 – JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN (1868 – 1936), 1st African American president of Atlanta Baptist College, now called Morehouse College
Apr 9 – CHARLES SPURGEON JOHNSON (1893 – 1956), 1st African American president of Fisk Univ.
Apr 10 – MORDECAI WYATT JOHNSON (1890 – 1976), 1st African American president of Howard Univ.
Apr 11 – VIRGINIA LACY JONES (1912 – 1984), known as “the dean of library school deans”
Apr 12 – BENJAMIN ELIJAH MAYS (1895 – 1984), 1ST African American Atlanta School Board president and MLK mentor
Apr 13 – ROBERT RUSSA MOTON (1867 – 1940), Tuskegee Institute principal
Apr 14 – BOOKER TALIAFERRO WASHINGTON (1856 – 1915), founder and president of Tuskegee Institute
Apr 15 – WILLIAM TAYLOR BURWELL WILLIAMS (1869 – 1941) came in direct contact with every phase of African American education in the South
CHAPTER 8: ENTERTAINERS
Apr 16 – PEARL MAE BAILEY (1918 – 1990), special representative in the U.S. delegation to the U.N., known as the “Ambassador of Love”
Apr 17 – JOSEPHINE BAKER (1906 – 1975), honored by the NAACP as the “Most Outstanding Woman of the Year”
Apr 18 – LOUISE BEAVERS (1902 – 1962), one of the most popular character actresses in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s
Apr 19 – DOROTHY DANDRIDGE (1922 – 1965), 1st African American woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar
Apr 20 – SAMMY DAVIS, JR. (1925 – 1990), known as the “world greatest entertainer”
Apr 21 – ELIZABETH TAYLOR GREENFIELD (c1809 – 1876), 1st African American musician to gain recognition
Apr 22 – ALBERTA HUNTER (1895 – 1984), one of the 1st singers to record the blues
Apr 23 – HATTIE McDANIEL (1895 – 1952), 1ST African American to win an Oscar—best supporting actress in Gone With The Wind
Apr 24 – OSCAR MICHEAUX (1884 – 1951), a pioneer in the African American film industry known as the “dean of Black filmmakers”
Apr 25 – HARRY PACE (1884 – 1943), founder and president of the nation’s 1st African American-owned record company–Pace Phonograph Corp
Apr 26 – BESSIE SMITH (1894 – 1937), billed as the “greatest and highest salaried race star in the world”
Apr 27 – SARAH VAUGHAN (1924 – 1990), jazz singer known as the “divine one”
Apr 28 – DINAH WASHINGTON (1924 – 1963), known as the “queen of the blues”
Apr 29 – ETHEL WATERS (1896 – 1977), known as the “mother of modern popular singing”
Apr 30 – BERT WILLIAMS (1874 – 1922), along with George Walker became the 1ST internationally famous team of African American stars
CHAPTER 9: GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS & POLITICIANS
May 1 – EBENEZER DON CARLOS BASSETT (1833 – 1908), 1ST African American diplomat to represent the U.S. government abroad
May 2 – RALPH JOHNSON BUNCHE (1904 – 1971), 1ST African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
May 3 – AMBROSE CALIVER (1894 – 1962), an expert on Negro education
May 4 – FRANCIS LOUIS CARDOZO (1837 – 1903), South Carolina secretary of state and secretary of treasurer
May 5 – WILLIAM HENRY DEAN, JR. (1910 – 1952), chief of the U.N. Africa Unit, Division of Economic Stability and Development
May 6 – OSCAR JAMES DUNN (1821 – 1871), 1st African American lieutenant governor–Louisiana
May 7 – GEORGE WASHINGTON ELLIS (1875 – 1919), secretary of the U.S. legation in the Republic of Liberia
May 8 – JONATHAN C. GIBBS (1827 – 1874), Florida secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction
May 9 – JOHN PATTERSON GREEN (1845 – 1940), Ohio 1st African American state senator and known as the “father of Labor Day”
May 10 – PATRICIA ROBERTS HARRIS (1924 – 1985), 1st African American woman ambassador
May 11 – PERRY WILSON HOWARD (1877 – 1961), chairman of the Mississippi State Republican Committee
May 12 – EDWARD AUSTIN JOHNSON (1860 – 1944), 1st African American elected to the New York state legislature
May 13 – ERNEST MORIAL (1929 – 1989), 1st African American: graduate of LSU School of Law; assistant U.S. attorney in Louisiana; to be elected to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals; mayor of New Orleans
May 14 – P.B.S. PINCHBACK (1837 – 1921), nation’s 1st African American governor–Louisiana
May 15 – EMMETT JAY SCOTT (1873 – 1957), special assistant to the U.S. secretary or war in charge of Negro affairs during World War I
CHAPTER 10: HISTORIANS
May 16 – ROBERT MARA ADGER (1837 – 1910), co-organizer the Afro-American Historical Society
May 17 – DELILAH ISONTIUM BEASLEY (1871 – 1934), conducted extensive research of African Americans in the far West
May 18 – WILLIAM CARL BOLIVAR (1849 – 1914), co-organizer of the Afro-American Historical Society and one of the most active bibliophiles of the 19th and 20th centuries
May 19 – JOHN EDWARD BRUCE (1856 – 1924), known as the nation’s “first Black nationalist”
May 20 – JOHN WESLEY CROMWELL (1846 – 1927), inspired Carter G. Woodson and others to found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
May 21 – SARA MARIE DELANEY (1889 – 1958), a pioneer bibliotherapist
May 22 – WILLIAM LEO HANSBERRY (1894 – 1965), 1ST African American to devote his life exclusively to the study of Africa and its ancient civilizations
May 23 – ZORA NEALE HURSTON (1901 – 1960), folklorist who was known as the “queen of the renaissance”
May 24 – LUTHER PORTER JACKSON (1892 – 1950), an authority on the Negro in Virginia
May 25 – RAYFORD WHITTINGHAM LOGAN (1897 – 1982), pioneer in the study of what he called “Negro history” and co-editor of the Dictionary of American Negro Biography
May 26 – DANIEL PAYNE MURRAY (1852 – 1925), assistant librarian at the Library of Congress
May 27 – JOEL AUGUSTUS ROGERS (1883 – 1965), renowned historian
May 28 – ARTHUR ALFONSO SCHOMBERG (1874 – 1938), co-founder of the Negro Society for Historical Research
May 29 – GEORGE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS (1849 – 1891), regarded as the “historian of his race”
May 30 – CARTER GODWIN WOODSON (1875 – 1950), known as the “father of Black history”
May 31 – MONROE NATHAN WORK (1866 – 1945), compiled A Biography of he Negro in Africa and America
CHAPTER 11: INVENTORS & EXPLORERS
Jun 1 – BESSIE COLEMAN (1893 – 1926), 1st African American woman to earn a pilot’s license
Jun 2 – JEAN BAPTISTE POINTE DeSABLE (c1745 – 1818), 1st permanent resident of Eschikagou, now called Chicago
Jun 3 – LLOYD AUGUSTUS HALL (1894 – 1971), 1ST African American to hold office in the Institute of Food Chemists
Jun 4 – MATTHEW ALEXANDER HENSON (1867 – 1955), 1ST person to reach the North Pole
Jun 5 – FREDERICK McKINLEY JONES (1893 – 1961), designed and patented the 1st air-cooling unit for food transported to market by trucks
Jun 6 – PERCY LAVON JULIAN (1899 – 1975), founder and president of Julian Laboratories of Chicago
Jun 7 – LEWIS HOWARD LATIMER (1848 – 1928), contracted by Alexander Graham Bell to make the patent drawings for the 1st telephone
Jun 8 – ELIJAH McCOY (1844 – 1929), developed a first of its kind lubricator for steam engines
Jun 9 – RONALD ERWIN McNAIR (1950 – 1986), physicist and Columbia space shuttle astronaut
Jun 10 – JAN EARNST MATZELIGER (1852 – 1889), revolutionized the U.S. shoe industry, making Lynn, MA the shoe capital of the World
Jun 11 – GARRETT AUGUSTUS MORGAN (1875 – 1963), patented a safety helmet breathing device “gas mask” and awarded patents for his 3-way automatic traffic signal invention
Jun 12 – ROBERT A. PELHAM, JR. (1859 – 1943), received patents for a tabulation machine and tallying device
Jun 13 – NORBERT RILLIEUX (1806 – 1894), invented, developed, and patented a multiple effect vacuum pan evaporator for refining sugar
Jun 14 – LEWIS TEMPLE (1800 – 1854), invented a whaling harpoon
Jun 15 – GRANVILLE T. WOODS (1856 – 1910), owner of Woods Electrical Co. who was known as the “Black Edison”
CHAPTER 12: JOURNALISTS
Jun 16 – ROBERT SENGSTACKE ABBOTT (1868 – 1940), founded the Chicago Defender
Jun 17 – CLAUDE ALBERT BARNETT (1889 – 1967), founder and president of the Associated Negro Press
Jun 18 – HENRY ALLEN BOYD (1876 – 1959), co-founded the National Baptist Publishing Co in Nashville
Jun 19 – MARY SHADD CARY (1823 – 1893), 1ST woman in North America to publish and edit a newspaper—Notes on Canada West and Provincial Freeman
Jun 20 – ALICE ALLISON DUNNIGAN (1906 – 1983), 1ST African American woman to be an accredited White House correspondent
Jun 21 – TIMOTHY THOMAS FORTUNE (1856 – 1928), known as the “most militant and articulate race spokesman in the North” and 1st advocated the term “Afro-American” instead of “Negro”
Jun 22 – ROBERT MAYNARD (1937 – 1993), orchestrated the 1st management-leveraged buyout of an American newspaper and becoming the 1st African American owner of a major daily–Oakland Tribune
Jun 23 – ETHEL LOIS PAYNE (1911 – 1991), 1ST African American woman to join the White House press corps and was known as the “first lady of the Black press”
Jun 24 – WILLIAM PICKENS (1881 – 1954), one of the most popular platform orators in America
Jun 25 – MAX ROBINSON (1939 – 1988), 1st African American network news anchor–ABC World News Tonight
Jun 26 – JOHN BROWN RUSSWURM (1799 – 1851), founder and editor of the 1st African American newspaper in the U.S. and the 1st African American to hold the rank of governor in Africa–Liberia
Jun 27 – ERA BELL THOMPSON (1906 – 1986), editor of Negro Digest and Ebony
Jun 28 – WILLIAM MONROE TROTTER (1872 – 1934), 1st African American elected to Harvard Univ.’s Phi Beta Kappa Society and founder and editor of the Boston Guardian
Jun 29 – ROBERT LEE VANN (1879 – 1940), editor, treasurer, and legal counsel of the Pittsburgh Courier
Jun 30 – IDA BELL WELLS-BARNETT (1862 – 1931), anti-lynching crusader who edited the A Red Record, the 1st serious treatment of the tragedy of lynching
CHAPTER 13: LABOR & MOVEMENT LEADERS
Jul 1 – THOMAS MONROE CAMPBELL (1883 – 1956), 1st African American USDA demonstration agent
Jul 2 – PETER HUMPHRIES CLARK (1829 – 1925), nation’s 1st African American socialist
Jul 3 – FRANK RUDOLPH CROSSWAITH (1892 – 1965), organized the 1st “African American Labor Conference” which was held at the Harlem Renaissance Casino
Jul 4 – BENJAMIN JEFFERSON DAVIS, JR. (1903 – 1964), served as Communist Party national secretary, and Harlem Region and New York State chairman
Jul 5 – JAMES WILLIAM FORD (1893 – 1957), organized the “First International Conference of Negro Workers” and became the 1st African American to run for national office–Vice President on the Communist Party ticket
Jul 6 – LESTER BLACKWELL GRANGER (1896 – 1976), executive director of the National Urban League
Jul 7 – THOMAS ARNOLD HILL (1888 – 1947), National Urban League director of Industrial Relations
Jul 8 – EUGENE KINCKLE JONES (1885 – 1954), one of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s 1st initiates and National Urban League executive director
Jul 9 – ELIZABETH DUNCAN KOONTZ (1919 – 1989), 1st African American president of the National Education Association
Jul 10 – ISSAC MYERS (1835 – 1891), president of the Colored National Labor League
Jul 11 – CHANDLER OWENS (1889 – 1967), published the Marxist-oriented newspaper–The Messenger
Jul 12 – ASA PHILIP RANDOLPH (1889 – 1976), organized the 1st African American trade union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Jul 13 – BAYARD RUSTIN (1912 – 1987), drafted the original plan for the SCLC and was the master planner of the 1963 March on Washington
Jul 14 – WILLIAM SAXBY TOWNSEND (1897 – 1957), 1ST African American vice president in organized labor–AFL-CIO
Jul 15 – WHITNEY MOORE YOUNG, JR. (1921 – 1971), executive director of the National Urban League
CHAPTER 14: LAWYERS & JUDGES
Jul 16 – SADIE T.M. ALEXANDER (1898 – 1989), 1st African American woman to be admitted to the Pennsylvania bar
July 17 – JAMES ADLAI COBB (1876 – 1958), senior partner in the most prestigious African American law firm in Washington–Cobb, Howard & Hayes
July 18 – ARCHIBALD HENRY GRIMKE (1849 – 1930), law partner of Butler Wilson, and founder and publisher of New England’s 1st African American newspaper–The Hub
Jul 19 – WILLIAM HENRY HASTIE (1904 – 1976), 1ST African American U.S. appellate judge–U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd District
Jul 20 – CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON (1895 – 1950), 1st African American editor of the Harvard Law Review and to earn a Doctor of Juridical Science—Harvard Univ. Law School
Jul 21 – THURGOOD MARSHALL (1908 – 1993), 1st African American U.S. solicitor general and U.S. supreme court justice
>Jul 22 – FLOYD BIXLER McKISSICK (1922 – 1991), national director of CORE
Jul 23 – CLARENCE M. MITCHELL, JR. (1911 – 1984), nation’s top civil rights lawyer and lobbyist who was known as the “101st senator”
Jul 24 – EDWARD MORRIS (1858 – 1943), Illinois attorney and United Grand Order of Odd Fellows grand master
Jul 25 – EDITH SPURLOCK SAMPSON (1901 – 1979), 1ST African American U.S. delegate to the U.N. and the 1st African American woman to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court
>Jul 26 – ALTHEA T.L. SIMMONS (1924 – 1990), director of the Washington Bureau and chief lobbyist for the NAACP
Jul 27 – T. McCANTS STEWART (1854 – 1923), served as associate justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia
Jul 28 – DAVID AUGUSTUS STRAKER (1842 – 1908), dean of the new law school at Allen Univ. in Columbia, SC
Jul 29 – ROBERT HENDERSON TERRELL (1857 – 1925), judge of the Municipal Court of the District of Columbia
Jul 30 – GEORGE BOYER VASHON (1824 – 1878), 1st African American lawyer in the state of New York
Jul 31 – BUTLER ROLAND WILSON (1860 – 1939), 1st African American member of the American Bar Association
CHAPTER 15: LITERARY FIGURES
Aug 1 – JAMES BALDWIN (1942 -1987), best-selling author of The Fire Next Time, which was regarded as one of the most brilliant essays written in the history of African American protest
Aug 2 – ARNA ENDELL BONTEMPS (1902 – 1973), one of the most outstanding figures of the Harlem Renaissance
Aug 3 – WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE (1878 – 1962), professor of creative literature at Atlanta Univ.
Aug 4 – BENJAMIN GRIFFITH BRAWLEY (1882 – 1939), professor and dean of English at Atlanta Baptist College, now Morehouse College
Aug 5 – CHARLES EATON BURCH (1891 – 1948), head of Howard Univ.’s English department
Aug 6 – CHARLES WADDELL CHESTNUT (1858 – 1932), nation’s 1st great African American novelist
Aug 7 – COUNTEE PORTER CULLEN (1903 – 1946), leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance
Aug 8 – PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872 – 1906), known as the “poet laureate of Negro people”
Aug 9 – JESSIE REDMON FAUSET (1882 – 1961), literary editor of the NAACP’s The Crisis, and the most published writer of the Harlem Renaissance
Aug 10 – ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE (1880 – 1958), playwright of the 1st successful drama written by an African American and interpreted by African American actors—Rachel
Aug 11 – ALEXANDER PALMER HALEY (1921 – 1992), Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ROOTS: The Saga of an American Family
Aug 12 – JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES (1902 – 1967), playwright of the 1st full-length play by an African American writer to run on Broadway
Aug 13 – GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON (1877 – 1966), turned her home into a mecca for African American artists and intellectuals
Aug 14 – PHILLIS WHEATLEY-PETERS (c1753 – 1784), nation’s 1st celebrated African American poet
Aug 15 – RICHARD WRIGHT (1908 – 1960), author of Native Son, the 1st African American novel to become a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.
CHAPTER 16: MEDICAL PIONEERS
Aug 16 – NUMA P. ADAMS (1885 – 1940), 1ST African American dean of Howard Univ.’s School of Medicine
Aug 17 – ALEXANDER THOMAS AUGUSTUS (1825 – 1890), 1st African American faculty member of any American medical school—Howard Univ.
Aug 18 – ULYSSES GRANT DAILEY (1885 – 1961), 1ST African American member of the American College of Surgeons
Aug 19 – JAMES DERHAM (1762 – c1801), nation’s earliest known African American physician
Aug 20 – CHARLES DREW (1904 – 1950), organizer and 1st director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank
Aug 21 – DOROTHY BOULDING FEREBEE (1890 – 1980), directed what would become the 1st African American hospital in Mississippi—Taborian, now Mound Bayou Hospital
Aug 22 – WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HINTON (1883 – 1959), Harvard’s 1st African American professor—Harvard Medical School
Aug 23 – THEODORE KENNETH LAWLESS (1892 – 1959), dermatologist who was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Award for his outstanding work in research of skin-related diseases
Aug 24 – MILES VANDAHURST LYNK (1871 – 1957), published the 1st medical journal issued by an African American in the U.S.—Medical and Surgical Observer
Aug 25 – MARY ELIZABETH MAHONEY (1845 – 1926), 1ST African American professional nurse
Aug 26 – MONROE ALPHEUS MAJORS (1864 – 1960), established the 1st African American-owned drug store in the Southwest—Waco, TX
Aug 27 – CHARLES BURLEIGH PURVIS (1842 – 1929), 1ST person called to the White House to treat President Garfield after an assassination attempt at a Washington railroad station
Aug 28 – MABEL KEATON STAUPERS (1890 -1989), executive secretary of the national Association of Colored Graduate Nurses
Aug 29 – SUSAN McKINLEY STEWARD (1847 – 1918), 1st African American woman physician in New York State
Aug 30 – DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS (1856 – 1931), founder of Provident Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago, and the 1st surgeon to perform a successful open heart operation
Aug 31 – LOUIS TOMPKINS WRIGHT (1891 – 1952), one of the 1st African American graduates of Harvard Medical School
CHAPTER 17: MILITARY HEROES
Sep 1 – MIDIAN OTHELLO BOUSFIELD (1885 – 1948), 1ST African American colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps
Sep 2 – ARTHUR BROOKS (1861 – 1926), presidential valet and custodian of the executive property to Presidents Taft, Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge
Sep 3 – JESSE LEROY BROWN (1926 – 1950), 1ST African American naval officer to lose his life in combat—Korean War
Sep 4 – WILLIAM H. CARNEY (1840 – 1908), awarded Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism during an U.S. Civil War assault at Ft. Wagner, SC as a sergeant with the Union Army’s 54th Massachusetts Infantry Company C
Sep 5 – BENJAMIN OLIVER DAVIS, SR. (1877 – 1970), 1ST African American in the Regular Army
Sep 6 – CHRISTIAN ABRAHAN FLEETWOOD (1840- 1914), awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in a pivotal American Civil War battle of Chaffin’s Farm outside of Richmond, VA
Sep 7 – HENRY OSSAIN FLIPPER (1856 – 1940), 1st African American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY
Sep 8 – EDWARD ORVAL GOURDIN (1897 – 1966), a Harvard-educated second lieutenant in the Massachusetts National Guard
Sep 9 – DANIEL JAMES (1920 – 1978), 1st African America four-star general–USAF
Sep 10 – CAMPBELL CARRINGTON JOHNSON (1895 – 1968), a 1st lieutenant who organized and commanded Batter A, 350th Field Artillery at Camp Dix, NJ, the 1st battery of field artillery composed of African Americans
Sep 11 – ULYSSES GRANT LEE, JR. (1913 – 1969), staff historian in the office of the Chief of Military History—Dept. of the Army
Sep 12 – MILTON L. OLIVE, III (1946 – 1965), posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism, becoming the first to receive the nation’s highest military honor in the Vietnam War
Sep 14 – HARRIET TUBMAN (c1821 – 1913), Underground Railroad conductor who was known as “Moses of her people”
Sep 15 – CHARLES A. YOUNG (1864 – 1922), 1st African American to achieve distinction in the military
CHAPTER 18: MUSICIANS
Sep 16 – DANIEL LOUIS ARMSTRONG (1900 – 1971), has been called the “greatest jazz performer ever”
Sep 17 – COUNT BASIE (1904 – 1984), one of the “Big Band” and jazz orchestra leaders of the 20th century
Sep 18 – LULU VERE CHILDERS (1870 – 1946), founded Howard Univ.’s School of Music
Sep 19 – NAT KING COLE (1919 – 1965), 1st African American entertainer in modern times to win international recognition as a singer independent of association with an orchestra
Sep 20 – JOHN WILLIAM COLTRANE (1926 – 1967), known as the “father of avant-garde in jazz or the New Black Music”
Sep 21 – WILLIAM MARION COOK (1869 – 1944), organized the Negro Choral Societies
Sep 22 – MILES DEWEY DAVIS, III (1926 – 1991), regarded as one of the most influential figures in jazz for more than 25 years
Sep 23 – DUKE ELLINGTON (1899 – 1974), was called one of the greatest of all jazz composers who helped initiate the “Big Bang” era and its “swing” music
>Sep 24 – DIZZY GILLESPIE (1917 – 1993), one of the founding fathers of modern jazz
Sep 25 – WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER HANDY (1973 – 1958), a leading publisher of African American songwriters who became known as the “father of the blues”
Sep 26 – JIMI HENDRIX (1942 – 1970), regarded as the most gifted rock musician of the 1960s
Sep 27 – SCOTT JOPLIN (1868 – 1917), known as the “king of ragtime”
Sep 28 – JELLY ROLL MORTON (1885 – 1941), became the 1st great composer of jazz
Sep 29 – CHARLIE PARKER (1920 – 1955), was one of the largest contributors to the movement that changed jazz from a dance music to chamber music demanding serious listening
Sep 30 – WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895 – 1978), 1st African American to lead a major symphony who was known as the “dean of Afro-American composers”—Los Angeles Philharmonic
CHAPTER 19: RELIGIOUS LEADERS
Oct 1 – RICHARD ALLEN (1760 – 1831), founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the 1st major leader of African Americans in the U.S.
Oct 2 – GEORGE BAKER (c1880 – 1965), aka “Father Divine” founded the Father Divine Peace Movement, which was one of the largest movements of its kind during the Great Depression
Oct 3 – NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS (1879 – 1961), founding member and president of the National Baptist Convention’s auxiliary Women’s Conference
Oct 4 – JAMES AUGUSTINE HEALY (1830 – 1900), ordained as the 1st African American priest and named by Pope Pius IX as the nation’s 1st African American bishop—Portland, ME
Oct 5 – PATRICK FRANCIS HEALY (1834 – 1910), 1ST African American to earn a doctorate—Univ. of Louvain in Belgium; 1st African American president of a major university—Georgetown Univ.
Oct 6 – MAHALIA JACKSON (1912 – 1972), called the “world’s greatest gospel singer”
Oct 7 – ABSALOM JONES (1746 – 1818), 1st African American priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church
Oct 8 – ELIJAH MUHAMMAD (1897 – c1975), spiritual leader of the Nation of Islam
Oct 9 – PAULI MURRAY (1910 – 1985), 1st African American woman priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church at the National Cathedral in Washington
Oct 10 – DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE (1811 – 1893), organized the nation’s 1st African American ministers association
Oct 11 – ADAM CLAYTON POWELL (1865 – 1953), built the world’s largest African American congregation as pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in NYC
Oct 12 – WILLIAM J. SIMMONS (1849 – 1890), 1ST president of the American National Baptist Convention
Oct 13 – HOWARD THURMAN (1900 – 1981), 1ST African American dean of a predominately white university’s chapel—Boston Univ.
>Oct 14 – HENRY McNEAL TURNER (1834 – 1915), 1st African American chaplain in the U.S. Army
Oct 15 – JAMES VARICK (1750 – 1827), founder and 1st bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church—New Haven, CT
CHAPTER 20: SCHOLARS
Oct 16 –EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN (1832 – 1912), wrote the 1st important attempt at a sociological analysis of African society as a whole—African Life and Customs
Oct 17 – EDWARD ALEXANDER BOUCHET (1852 – 1918), 1st African American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university—Yale Univ.
Oct 18 – MARY EDWARD CHIN (1896 – 1980), 1st African American woman graduate of Univ. of Bellevue Medical Center, now known as New York Medical College
Oct 19 – WILLIAM HENRY CROGMAN (1841 – 1931), member of Atlanta Univ.’s 1st graduating class
Oct 20 – ALEXANDER CRUMMELL (1819 – 1898), organized the American Negro Academy, the nation’s 1st African American learned academy
Oct 21 – W.E.B. DuBOIS (1868 – 1963), Harvard Univ.’s 1st African American Ph.D., who conducted the 1st sociological survey of an African American community—Philadelphia, PA
Oct 22 – WILLIAM HENRY FERRIS (1874 – 1941), vice president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
Oct 23 – EDWARD FRANKLIN FRAZIER (1894 – 1962), became the 1st African American to be elected head of a predominately white professional organization—American Sociological Society
Oct 24 – SOLOMON CARTER FULLER (1872 – 1953), acknowledged as the 1st African American psychiatrist who was a pioneer Alzheimer’s disease and dementia researcher
>Oct 25 – RICHARD THEODORE GREENER (1844 – 1922), Harvard Univ.’s 1st African American graduate
Oct 26 – ABRAHAM LINCOLN HARRIS (1899 – 1963), Howard Univ. chairman of the department of economics
Oct 27 – GEORGE EDMUND HAYNES (1880 – 1960), Columbia Univ.’s 1st African American Ph.D.
Oct 28 – MOZELL CLARENCE HILL (1911 – 1969), chairman of the department of sociology at Atlanta Univ.
Oct 29 – ALAINE LEROY LOCKE (1885 – 1954), 1st African American Rhodes scholar—Hertford College in England
Oct 30 – KELLY MILLER (1863 – 1939), 1st African American student at John Hopkins Univ., nicknamed the “philosopher of race questions”
Oct 31 – WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH (1852 – 1926), 1ST African American to achieve scholarly distinction as a student of classical philology
CHAPTER 21: SCIENTISTS
Nov 1 – ARCHIE ALPHONSO ALEXANDER (1888 – 1958), a civil engineer with the Marsh Engineering Co., which built the Tidal basin Bridge and K Street Freeway in Washington, DC
Nov 2 – BENJAMIN BANNEKER (1731 – 1806), the man known as the “first Negro American man of science” who helped plan the DC, invented a wooden striking clock and made astrological calculations for almanacs
Nov 3 – SOLOMON BROWN (1829 – 1903), aided in the installation of wiring poles between Washington and Baltimore for the nation’s 1st successful electromagnetic telegraph system experiment
Nov 4 – WILLIAM WARRICK CARDOZO (1905 – 1962), a pioneer in the research on sickle cell anemia
Nov 5 – GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1864 – 1943), 1ST African American graduate of Iowa Agricultural College now known as Iowa State Univ., who would go onto be known as the “wizard of Tuskegee”
Nov 6 – ALBERT IRVIN CASSELL (1895 – 1969), helped develop Howard Univ.’s College of Engineering
Nov 7 – LEWIS KING DOWNING (1896 – 1967), helped set up Howard Univ.’s School of Architecture
Nov 8 – EDWARD FERGUSON, JR. (1907 – 1968), biologist and zoologist
Nov 9 – ELIZABETH ROSS HAYNES (1883 – 1953), social scientist who became the YWCA national secretary
Nov 10 – HENRY AARON HILL (1915 – 1979), 1st African American president of the American Chemical Society
Nov 11 – ERNEST EVERETT JUST (1883 – 1941), Omega Psi Phi founder and 1st American invited to conduct research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Instutut for Biolegie in Germany
Nov 12 – FLEMMIE PANSY KITTRELL (1904 – 1980), 1st African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition—Cornell Univ.
Nov 13 – ESLANDA GOODE ROBESON (1896 – 1965), 1ST African American to obtain employment as an analytical chemist and technician in the surgery and pathology dept at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
Nov 14 – FRANCIS CECIL SUMMER (1895 – 1954), 1st African American psychology Ph.D.—Clark Univ. in Mass<
Nov 15 – CHARLES HENRY TURNER (1867 – 1923), 1ST to prove that insects can hear and distinguish pitch
CHAPTER 22: SPORTS LEGENDS
Nov 16 – ARTHUR R. ASHE, JR. (1943 – 1993), 1ST African American Wimbledon Men’s Singles champion
Nov 17 – RUBE FOSTER (1879 – 1930), founder and president of the National Negro Baseball League
Nov 18 – FLO HYMAN (1954 – 1986), best known volleyball player in the world
Nov 19 – NELL CECILIA JACKSON (1929 – 1988), 1st African American head track coach of an Olympic team—Melbourne gamesNov 20 – JACK JOHNSON (1878 – 1946), 1ST world heavyweight boxing champion of African descent and 1st person of African descent to gain worldwide distinction in athletics
Non 21 – WILLIAM HENRY LEWIS (1868 – 1949), 1st African American to be named a college football All-American
Nov 22 – JOE LEWIS (1914 – 1981), heavyweight boxing champ who became the 1st African American to become an idol to all Americans, regardless of color
Nov 23 – RALPH HAROLD METCALFE (1910 – 1978), won an Olympic gold medal along with Jesse Owens in the 4x 100-meter relay in world record times—Berlin games
Nov 24 – ISAAC MURPHY (1861 – 1896), 3-time Kentucky Derby winner and 1st jockey to be voted into the Jockey Hall of Fame
Nov 25 – JESSE OWENS (1913 – 1980), selected as the greatest track and field athlete of the first half of the 20th century
Nov 26 – PAUL BUSTILL ROBESON (1898 – 1967), selected to Walter Camp All-American college football team his junior and senior year and co-founder of the Council of African Affairs for the “struggle of the African masses”
Nov 27 – JACKIE ROBINSON (1919 – 1972), broke major league baseball’s color barrier and became the 1st African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
Nov 28 – SUGAR RAY ROBINSON (1920 – 1989), called “pound for pound the greatest fighter in the world”
Nov 29 – WENDELL OLIVER SCOTT (1921 – 1990), 1st African American to win a National Association for Stock car Auto Racing sponsored race—Jacksonville, FL racetrack
Nov 30 – MAJOR TAYLOR (1878 – 1932), became the fastest cyclist in the world
CHAPTER 23: STAGE PERFORMERS
Dec 1 – ALVIN AILEY (1931 – 1989), formed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company
Dec 2 – IRA FREDERICK ALDERIDGE (1807 – 1867), called the greatest Shakespearean actor of his time and was honored by the Republic of Haiti as “the first man of color in the theater”
Dec 3 – MARIAN ANDERSON (1902 – 1993), nation’s highest paid concert singer who was called one of the greatest singers of the 20th century
Dec 4 – ANITA BUSH (c1883 – 1974), a pioneer in the development of the African American theater
Dec 5 – THEODORE DRURY (1860s – c1944), organized one of the 1ST African American opera companies and was regarded as the 1st highly trained African American male singer
Dec 6 – LILLIAN EVANTI (1890 – 1967), 1st African American woman to sing in an opera anywhere in the world
Dec 7 – CHARLES SIDNEY GILPIN (1878 – 1930), organized NYC’s 1st African American dramatic stock company—Lafayette Theater “Players” Stock Company
Dec 8 – LORRAINE VIVIAN HANSBERRY (1930 – 1965), 1ST African American woman to have a play open on Broadway
Dec 9 – RICHARD BERRY HARRISON (1864 – 1935), NAACP Spingarn winner for his years of interpreting English drama to African Americans
Dec 10 – ROLAND W. HAYES (1857 – 1960s), world’s leading concert tenor during the 1920s-40s and the 1st African American to sing wit a major symphony—Boston Symphony Orchestra
Dec 11 – PAULINE ELIZABETH HOPKINS (1856 – 1930), editor and contributor to the monthly Colored American Magazine, the 1st African American journal established in the 20th century
Dec 12 – EVA ALBERTA JESSYE (1895 – 1992), 1st African American woman to gain success as a professional choral conductor
Dec 13 – FRANCIS HALL JOHNSON (1888 – 1970), one of the most important choral directors of his time
Dec 14 – CANADA LEE (1907 – 1952), starred in the screen and stage version of Richard Wright’s Native Son
Dec 15 – NOBLE SISSLE (1889 – 1972), founded the Negro Actors Guild
Dec 16 – JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1848 – 1933), publisher and editor of a St. Paul, MN weekly newspaper—Western Appeal
Dec 17 – ALLEN ALLENSWORTH (1842 – 1914), founded and sold lots in Tulare County, CA’s new community of Allensworth
Dec 18 – JAMES PIERSON BECKWOURTH (1798 – 1866), became a chief scout for exploring expedition of John Fremont and discovered a pass between the Feather and Truckee Rivers in California which became a major route for California Emigrants
Dec 19 – NORRIS WRIGHT CUNEY (1846 – 1896), became one of the most powerful African American politicians of the post-Reconstruction era in Texas
Dec 20 – BARNEY LAUNCELOT FORD (c1824 – 1902), opened and operated the Inter Ocean Hotel in Cheyenne, WY, and became 1st African American to serve on a Colorado grand jury
Dec 21 – MIFFLIN WISTAR GIBBS (1823 – 1915), founded California’s 1st African American newspaper—The Mirror of Times
Dec 22 – GEORGE JORDAN (1847 – 1904), Buffalo Soldier who won the Congressional Medal of Honor and became a town leader in Crawford, NE
Dec 23 – WILLIAM ALEXANDER LIEDESDORF (1810 – 1848), became one of San Francisco’s most prominent early residents
Dec 24 – NAT LOVE (1854 – 1921), one of the 1st rodeo champions nicknamed “Deadwood Dick”
Dec 25 – BIDDY MASON (1818 – 1891), became the 1st African American woman to own property in Los Angeles where she helped found the First AME Church
Dec 26 – EDWARD PRESTON McCABE (1850 – 1920), became Kansas state auditor, the highest ranking state office attained by a non-Southern African American
Dec 27 – BILL PICKETT (1870 – 1932), internationally-famed rodeo performer who originated a type of steer wrestling known as “bulldogging”
Dec 28 – MARY ELLEN PLEASANT (c1814 – 1904), credited with winning the right of African Americans to have their testimonies accepted in California courts
Dec 29 – JEREMIAH BURKE SANDERSON (1821 – 1875), head of the Stockton school of African American children, where he established a statewide reputation as an outstanding educator
Dec 30 – BENJAMIN SINGLETON (1809 – 1892), known as “father of the Exodus”
Dec 31 – GEORGE WASHINGTON (1817 – 1905), founded Centerville, WA, now known as Centralia, WA
