Civil rights attorney Louis L. Redding was the first Black man admitted to practice law in Delaware. He argued one of the cases that formed part of the United States Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision. Redding was born on October 25, 1901, … Read MoreLouis L. Redding (1901-1998)
Nick Aaron Ford, critic, pedagogic, and activist, was born on August 4, 1904, in Ridgeway (part of Columbia), South Carolina, to Nick Aaron Ford, Sr., a laborer who was born enslaved, and Carrie Ford, a substitute teacher. Nick was introduced to reading by his mother … Read MoreNick Aaron Ford (1904-1982)
Mabel Byrd, a life-long educator, researcher, and civil rights activist, was the first African American to attend the University of Oregon. Born in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1895, Byrd was the youngest daughter of Robert Byrd, a bricklayer, and Jennie Byrd. She moved with … Read MoreMabel Janet Byrd (1895-1988)
Activist, writer, and educator Margaret Just Butcher was born on April 28, 1913, in Washington, DC, to Dr. Ernest E. Just, the renowned scientist and advisor and incorporator of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. from Charleston, South Carolina, and Ethel Highwarden, one of the … Read MoreMargaret Just Butcher (1913-2000)
The son of Percival Leonard and Dorothy Stinson Everett, the author Percival Leonard Everett, was born on a military base outside Augusta, Georgia on December 22, 1956, but grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1977 Everett received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the … Read MorePercival Everett (1956- )
Nationally acclaimed poet Tyehimba Jess was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1965. His father worked in the City’s Department of Health and served as vice president of Detroit’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His mother was a teacher and a nurse who founded a nursing school … Read MoreTyehimba Jess (1965- )
Jesmyn Ward, an acclaimed American writer and an associate professor of English at Tulane University, was born in 1977, in DeLisle, Mississippi, the town where she grew up and where she now again lives. She is the only woman to have won two National Books Awards, the first in 2011 … Read MoreJesmyn Ward (1977- )
The novelist William Edward Demby Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Christmas day, 1922, to William and Gertrude Demby. He was raised in a family of seven children in the Fairywood district of Pittsburgh’s West Side. The family moved to Clarksburg, West Virginia, shortly after Demby … Read MoreWilliam Demby (1922-2013)
Novelist and short story writer Terry McMillan was born on October 18, 1951, in Port Huron, Michigan, to Edward and Madeline McMillan. During her childhood, her father spent much of his time confined to his home due to tuberculosis, forcing her mother to support the family by … Read MoreTerry McMillan (1951- )
Reginald McKnight is a novelist, short story writer, and educator born on February 26, 1956 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany to Frank and Pearl McKnight. Reginald’s father Frank was a career Air Force sergeant, causing the family to be frequently relocated during Reginald’s childhood. Before age 16 … Read MoreReginald McKnight (1956- )
