Birth of W.E.B. Du Bois
Civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Major League Baseball’s first Black player, Jackie Robinson, was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia.
While Scott Joplin’s exact birthdate is unknown, it’s often considered to be November 24, 1867, as shown on his tombstone. He was reportedly born in Texarkana, Texas. Other reports suggest he was born between late 1867 and early 1868 in Linden, Texas.
Booker Taliaferro Washington was born into slavery on April 5, 1856, in Hale’s Ford, Virginia.
On March 25, 1931, Civil Rights leader, journalist, and suffragette Ida B. Wells died at the age of 68.
On March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. led the third (and finally successful) march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest for voting rights.
On March 19, 1941, the War Department ordered the creation of the the 99th Pursuit Squadron, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York.
On February 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award.