The Friends of Negro Freedom (FNF) was created by A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen, the owners of The Messenger magazine. They formed the organization with goals of garnering support for black-owned businesses and helping provide African American workers with training in labor union organizing … Read MoreFriends of Negro Freedom (1920-1930)
Filmmaker Julie Dash was born on October 22, 1952 in Queens, New York. She received her B.A. in film production from City College of New York in 1974 and went on to earn a two-year fellowship to the Center for Advanced Film Studies at the … Read MoreJulie Dash (1952- )
The Afro-American Council (AAC) was established in Rochester, New York, in September 1898 by newspaper editor T. Thomas Fortune and Bishop Alexander Walters of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. They envisioned the organization as a revival of the earlier National Afro-American League (NAAL), which … Read MoreAfro-American Council (1898-1907)
Gladys E. Kidd, educator, nutritionist, mentor, philanthropist, and granddaughter of slaves was born on October 11, 1925 in Columbus, Ohio to Henry Wesley Cooper, a Presbyterian minister and Charlotte Melinda Cooper, a schoolteacher. She attended the all black elementary and middle schools. While in high … Read MoreGladys Kidd Jennings (1925- )
Country music pioneer DeFord Bailey was born in 1899 in Carthage, Tennessee. Stricken with infantile paralysis at the age of three, he was given a harmonica as a means of amusement. Bailey overcame polio, but he never grew taller than four feet, ten inches. However, … Read MoreDeFord Bailey (1899-1982)
The Freedom Charter Adopted at the Congress of the People, Kliptown, on 26 June 1955 We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and … Read More(1955) The South African Freedom Charter
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (or Umar Hassan Ahmad el-Bashir) became president of Sudan in 1993 but first gained military power in 1989 during an Islamist-backed coup. He was born in the northern Sudan village of Hosh Bonnaga in 1944. Bashir’s military training began in 1960 … Read MoreOmar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (1944- )
Joseph Mobutu, named Joseph-Désiré Mobutu at birth, was the second president of Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1965 to 1997. Mobutu was born in 1930 in the Belgian Congo and studied journalism. In 1958, Mobutu became the country’s state secretary and … Read MoreJoseph-Désiré/ Mobutu, Sese Seko Kuku Waza Banga Mobutu (1930-1997)
Dr. Regina Marcia Benjamin, President Barack Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General of the United States, is an accomplished physician whose professional and personal roots are planted deeply in rural America. Dr. Benjamin was nominated for the post by the President on July 13, 2009 and … Read MoreRegina Marcia Benjamin (1956- )
By 1959 Patrice Lumumba was the most prominent nationalist and independence leader in the Congo. His fame was also spreading beyond the nation’s boundaries as reflected in this speech given at the closing session of the International Seminar organized by the Congress for the Freedom … Read More(1959) Patrice Lumumba, “African Unity and National Independence”
