Civil Rights

James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida.  A poet, songwriter, diplomat, and activist, he was the first African American executive secretary of the NAACP.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. was born on May 27, 1911, in Wallace, South Dakota. He was a leading political figure in the mid-1900s, promoting the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and more.

Asa Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. Randolph was a respected and outspoken proponent of the rights of minority labor. He was greatly feared by his opponents, not because of his temperament, but because of his power to create change.

Harlem Renaissance novelist Nellallitea “Nella” Walker Larsen was born on April 13, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois. Though her writing career was brief, Larsen produced some of the first groundbreaking works to focus on mixed race identity and the feeling of not belonging.

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.

Ralph Waldo Ellison was born on March 1, 1913, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A self-proclaimed Renaissance Man, Ellison was a talented musician and writer, most famous for his novel, Invisible Man.

Joshua Daniel White was born on February 11, 1914, in Greenville, South Carolina. A trailblazing musician, White broke barriers with many notable firsts…

On January 30, 1948, a Hindu extremist assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.  Gandhi used civil disobedience and hunger strikes to fight discrimination and push for India’s independence from Great Britain, among many other causes.

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn was born on January 6, 1882, in Kingston, Tennessee. Famous for his integrity, Rayburn served as Speaker of the House of Representatives longer than anyone else and spent 49 consecutive years in Congress.