The Scottsboro Boys were nine young black men, falsely accused of raping two white women on board a train near Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. Convicted and facing execution, the case of Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, … Read MoreScottsboro Boys Trial and Defense Campaign (1931–1937)
The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB) was a militant black liberation group founded in 1919 by West Indian journalist Cyril Briggs. The ABB advocated armed defense against racist assaults and the creation of an independent black socialist commonwealth. It sought to … Read MoreAfrican Blood Brotherhood (1919-1924)
In a remarkable and controversial life, Max Yergan spanned both the globe and the ideological spectrum of American politics. An early champion of racial uplift and the social gospel in South Africa, Yergan transformed into a leading figure on the radical Black Left during the … Read MoreMax Yergan (1892-1975)
Charles Sidney Gilpin, an actor, singer, and vaudevillian dancer, was the most successful African American stage performer in the early 20th Century. He is best known for his portrayal of Brutus Jones in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. A Richmond, Virginia, native, Gilpin attended St. … Read MoreCharles Sidney Gilpin (1878-1930)
With the birth name of Claudia Cumberbatch, Claudia Jones was born on February 21, 1915 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Her family migrated to the United States in 1924 and became residents of Harlem, New York. Claudia’s mother was a garment worker and due to the effects … Read MoreClaudia Jones (1915-1964)
Founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1946, the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) arose out of the merger of three groups with ties to the Communist Party USA: the International Labor Defense (ILD), the National Negro Congress, and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. Embodying the spirit … Read MoreCivil Rights Congress (1946-1956)
Hosea Hudson was a Communist Party (CP) activist and industrial union organizer in Alabama and Georgia during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. He embodied the CP’s turn toward black civil rights in the early 1930s and the attraction many working-class southern blacks felt toward the … Read MoreHosea Hudson (1898-1988)
Angelo Herndon was the defendant in one of the most publicized and notorious legal cases of the 1930s. In 1932, nineteen-year-old Herndon was arrested under an obscure 19th century servile insurrection law for attempting to organize a peaceful demonstration of unemployed workers in Atlanta. Largely … Read MoreAngelo Herndon (1913-?)
A leading intellectual and activist of the post-WWII period, Alphaeus Hunton Jr. was the executive director of the Council on African Affairs (CAA) and editor of the CAA’s publication, New Africa, from 1943 through the organization’s dissolution in 1955. In this capacity, Hunton did more … Read MoreWilliam Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903-1970)
Born in Monroe, Louisiana on February 17, 1942, Huey P. Newton was named after the populist governor Huey Long. His parents moved to Oakland, California during World War II seeking economic opportunities. Newton attended Merritt College, where he joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and met … Read MoreHuey P. Newton (1942-1989)
