Opal (Blake) Lee is a retired teacher and activist who is considered the “grandmother of Juneteenth.” Blake was born on October 7, 1926, in Marshall, Texas to Otis Blake and Mattie Broadus. When Lee was a child, her family home burned down in a fire, … Read MoreOpal Lee (1926- )
The St. Augustine Movement was a series of civil rights protests that occurred in St. Augustine, Florida between 1963 and 1964. They were led by local branches of the NAACP Youth Council and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The Movement influenced passage of the 1964 … Read MoreThe St. Augustine Movement (1963-1964)
The Biloxi Wade-In civil rights protests were conducted by local African Americans on the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi between 1959 and 1963. Physician Gilbert R. Mason Sr. led the demonstrations to desegregate beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Biloxi Wade-Ins was the first major … Read MoreBiloxi Wade-Ins (1959-1963)
The Detroit Walk To Freedom was a mass march during the Civil Rights Movement that took place on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan. It drew an estimated 125,000 participants and spectators, which made it the single largest civil rights demonstration in the nation’s history … Read MoreDetroit Walk To Freedom (1963)
World-renowned painter Beauford Delaney was born on December 30, 1901, in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Samuel Delaney, a barber and a Methodist minister, and Delia Johnson Delaney, a seamstress born of slave parents. They had ten children. Two of the sons were painters, including Joseph Delaney. … Read MoreBeauford Delaney (1901-1979)
Pierre G. Deslondes (last name sometimes spelled Deslonde) was an African American sugar planter and wealthy free man of color who served as Secretary of State of Louisiana during Reconstruction. He was the son of famed slave rebellion leader George Deslondes and Eloise Belly and … Read MorePierre George Deslondes (1829-1885)
In 1879 the Kansas State Legislature passed a law permitting first class cities in Kansas (cities with a population of 15,000 or more) to create racially segregated schools. The Topeka Board of Education quickly followed by segregating elementary schools in the city. In 1890 Lowman … Read MoreWilliam Reynolds v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (1903)
Ball handling wizard Elgin “Rabbit” Baylor was born Elgin Gay Baylor on September 16, 1934, in Washington, D.C. to John Wesley Baylor from Caroline County, Virginia, and Uzziel Lewis Baylor from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. His brothers were John L. Baylor and Kermit Baylor, and his … Read MoreElgin “Rabbit” Baylor (1934-2021)
Although Black Americans have lived on the outskirts of major American cities since colonial times, Black suburbanization, that is the significant presence of African Americans in suburban communities, is a post-1960 phenomenon. The modern American suburb is a 20th century development as homebuilders, responding to … Read MoreA Brief History of African American Suburbanization
St. Philip’s College began as St. Philip’s Normal and Industrial School, in 1898 as an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), in San Antonio, Texas, to educate and train newly freed slave girls in a weekend sewing class known as Bowden’s School (Artemisia Bowden, a … Read MoreSt. Philip’s College (1898- )
