Although Lucy Parsons was one of the first and most important African American activists on the left, there is scanty historical documentation about her origins. It is believed that Lucy Parsons was born on a plantation in Hill County, Texas around March of 1853. Significantly … Read MoreLucy Parsons (1853-1942)
Actor, director, and narrator Roscoe Lee Browne was born on May 2, 1925 in Woodbury, New Jersey, the son of Sylvanus Browne, a Baptist minister, and Lovie Lee. A bright student who excelled in the study of literature, Browne graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania … Read MoreRoscoe Lee Browne (1925-2007)
Thyra J. Edwards, born in 1897, the granddaughter of runaway slaves, grew up in Houston, Texas and started her career there as a school teacher. Eventually she moved to Gary, Indiana and later Chicago, Illinois where she was employed as a social worker. Edwards would eventually become … Read MoreThyra J. Edwards (1897-1953)
Born September 18, 1905 in Oakland, California, Eddie Anderson’s career as an entertainer began at the age of 14 when he teamed up with his brother Cornelius in a song-and-dance act. Anderson’s career continued onto the silver screen where he had parts in movies such … Read MoreEddie “Rochester” Anderson (1905-1977)
Born July 28, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, Woody Strode (Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode) was first of the star football athletes to become a successful film actor. He and Kenny Washington integrated the National Football League (NFL), and Strode played for the Los Angeles Rams … Read MoreWoody Strode (1914-1994)
The physical presence that black British actor Harry Baird brought to the movie screen was largely a consequence of the United Kingdom going through the birthing pain of racism during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Guyana, this premier black actor was no Paul Robeson, … Read MoreHarry Baird (1931-2005)
Best-selling author, social critic and influential literary figure Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908, to Nathan Wright and Ella Wilson, both children of slaves, on a plantation near Roxie, Mississippi. His father was an illiterate sharecropper and his mother was a schoolteacher. Finding … Read MoreRichard Wright (1908-1960)
Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, to a middle-class family, Oliver Cromwell Cox was one of nine children of Virginia Blake and William Raphael Cox. Influenced by his father, who was determined that his children further their education, Oliver traveled to the United States at the age … Read MoreOliver Cromwell Cox (1901-1974)
The League of Struggle for Negro Rights (LSNR) was the primary civil rights organization of the American Communist Party (CP) during the early-to-mid 1930s. Founded in St. Louis in 1930 after the dissolution of the American Negro Labor Congress, the group established regional branches throughout … Read MoreLeague of Struggle for Negro Rights (1930-1936)
A radical theoretician, anti-colonialist, labor organizer, and civil rights activist, Harry Haywood was one of the most prominent and influential African American Communists of the twentieth century. Haywood, the son of former slaves, was born in South Omaha, Nebraska in 1898. He migrated to Chicago … Read MoreHarry Haywood (1898-1985)
