Wits SRC embarks on R21m fundraising campaign to help students at risk of financial exclusion

Betty Shabazz

Betty Shabazz was the wife of Malcolm X, a prominent leader of the Nation of Islam. Her exact date of birth is not known, but it is believed to be May 28, 1934. She was born in Georgia to unwed teenage parents named Ollie Mae Sanders and Shelman Sandlin, and raised in Detroit. By some accounts, her

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Source: Black History Resources

Sheryl Swoopes

Sheryl Denise Swoopes is a retired professional basketball player and the first player to be signed on to the WNBA when it was created. She was born on March 25, 1971 in Brownfield, Texas to Louise Swoopes. She had three older brothers with whom she grew up playing basketball. At the age of seven

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

25

1971

(2007) Senator Barack Obama “Voting Rights March Commemoration Speech”

Here today, I must begin because at the Unity breakfast this morning I was saving for last and the list was so long I left him out after that introduction. So I’m going to start by saying how much I appreciate the friendship and the support and the outstanding work that he does each and every

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Source: Black Past

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice, one of the most influential women in the world, was born on November 14, 1954, in Birmingham, Alabama. She was the first black woman to serve as the United States’ National Security Adviser, as well as the first black woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State from 2005-2009. Rice

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

14

1954

Philander Smith College [Little Rock] (1877-- )

Philander Smith is a private liberal arts college in Little Rock, Arkansas and is known as a Historically black college/university (HBCU). Established originally as Walden Seminary in 1877 by the United Methodist Church, the school was named after the first Freedmen’s society

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Source: Black Past

Master P

Percy Miller also known as Master P, was born on April 29, 1970 in New Orleans. He is an American actor, rapper, producer and an entrepreneur. Miller’s parents were divorced when he was very young, due to which he went back and forth from his grandmother’s house in New Orleans to his mother’s house

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

29

1970

Franks, Gary (1953- )

When Gary Franks was elected to Congress in 1990, he was the first black representative from Connecticut and the first black Republican in Congress in nearly 50 years. Son of a brass factory worker and a dietary specialist, education was a high priority in Franks’s Waterbury family. In fact, Gary

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Source: Black Past

(1993) William J. Clinton, “The Freedom to Die"

On November 13, 1993, President Bill Clinton traveled to Memphis to address 5,000 African American ministers at the national headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. Speaking from the pulpit where in 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his last sermon, Clinton used the occasion to urge the

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Source: Black Past

Nov

13

1993

Tony Gwynn

Anthony Keith Gwynn, Sr., better known as Tony Gwynn, was a baseball pro who played for the San Diego Padres. He was born on May 9, 1960 in Los Angeles, California to Charles and Vendella Gwynn. The family moved to Long Beach, California when he 9 years old. He had two brothers, an elder brother

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Source: Black History Resources

Jun

16

2014

South Africa

South Africa, on the continents southern tip, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Its neighbors are Namibia in the northwest, Zimbabwe and Botswana in the north, and Mozambique and Swaziland in the northeast. The kingdom of Lesotho forms an

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Williams, Sidney (1942- )

Former professional football player, businessman, and diplomat, Sidney Williams was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on March 24, 1942. Raised in Houston, Texas, he attended the city’s Phillis Wheatley High School and upon graduation in 1959 enrolled at Southern University in Baton

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Source: Black Past

Hampton Institute

Hampton University was established in 1868 as a school for blacks. Hampton University was known prior to August 1984 as Hampton Institute. The university is a private coeducational institution in Hampton, Virginia. Its undergraduate college is still known as Hampton Institute.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

1

1868

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)

December 14, 1970, Argued

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Source: Black Past

Charles Edward Anderson--Meteorologist

Born: August 13, 1919

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

13

1919

Challenging Caste and Race: The Campaign for Integrated Higher Education in the Reconstruction Era

In her new book, Reparation and Reconciliation: The Rise and Fall of Integrated Higher Education, sociologist Christi M. Smith reveals a largely forgotten history of early efforts to integrate higher education in the years following the Civil War. This history pushes us to consider the relationship

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Source: Black Past

Florida Memorial University [Miami] (1879- )

Florida Memorial University is a private university located in Miami, Florida and is the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Southern Florida. The schools history dates back to two separate institutions, the Florida Baptist Institute which was founded in 1879, and Florida

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Source: Black Past

Emmitt Smith

Born on May 15, 1969, in Pensacola, Florida Emmitt Smith wished to be one of the Dallas Cowboys from a young age but the enthusiastic individual had to face many struggles before he could pursue a career in professional football. Belonging to a financially weak family, Smith had to juggle between

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Source: Black History Resources

May

15

1969

Ray, Charlotte E. (1850-1911)

Charlotte E. Ray, the first African American woman to practice law in the United States, was born on January 13, 1850 in New York City, New York. Her father, Reverend Charles Bennett Ray, was a prominent New York abolitionist and minister who served as pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church

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Source: Black Past

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

SWEATT v. PAINTER, 339 U.S. 629

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Source: Black Past

Tuskegee University (1881-- )

Tuskegee University, one of the largest historically black universities in the United States, is a private university located in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded by Lewis Adams, a former slave, and George W. Campbell, a former slave

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Source: Black Past

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams is a Grammy nominated singer, former beauty queen and television and film actress. She was born on March 18, 1963 in Bronx, New York but soon moved to a more fashionable neighborhood. Her parents, Milton and Helen Williams, both worked as music teachers and so Williams and her

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

18

1963

What Can I Do with A Black Studies Major? Five Hundred Answers Provided by Robert Fikes, Jr.

In the 1971 Woody Allen film, “Bananas,” a fellow employee asks Allen’s character, “What would you have been if you finished school?” Allen’s character answers, “I was in the black studies program. By now I could have been black.” Allen’s attempted humorous jab

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Source: Black Past

Prim, John E. (1898-1961)

John Edmondson Prim was the first African American to serve as deputy prosecuting attorney for King County and the first African American judge in the State of Washington. He was born to Charles and Sara Prim in Nashville, Tennessee on September 15, 1898. In 1904, the family moved to Seattle where

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Source: Black Past

Harris-Stowe University (1857-)

Harris-Stowe University is a historically black college in St. Louis, Missouri. It was also the first public teacher education institution west of the Mississippi River. Harris-Stowe was originally two separate institutions: Harris Teachers College and Stowe Teachers College, which were merged

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Source: Black Past

The Voting Rights Acts of 1965

AN ACT To enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other

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Source: Black Past

The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (2006)

THE MICHIGAN CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE (MCRI), PROPOSAL 2, AMENDMENT TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION

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Source: Black Past

Shaw University (1865- )

Shaw University is a private, four-year coeducational historically black liberal arts university located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1865, Shaw University is one of the oldest historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the

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Source: Black Past

Simmons College of Kentucky [Louisville] (1879- )

Simmons College of Kentucky, the state’s oldest African American college, was founded in 1879. The college was established by former slaves to train the sons and daughters of fellow African Americans. In August of 1865, Rev. Henry Adams led the effort to create the institution where he proposed

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Source: Black Past

Aug

30

1930

Southern University [New Orleans] (1956-- )

Southern University is a historically black university with a main campus located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Originally founded in 1880 in New Orleans as Southern University in New Orleans, it began its mission of providing post-secondary education for African Americans with 12 students and

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Source: Black Past

Nov

16

1972

Todman, Terence A. (1926-2014)

Named Career Ambassador, a title equivalent to a four-star general, U.S. ambassador to six different countries, Terence A. Todman was an outstanding diplomat in the service of the United States. He challenged the racial prejudice he encountered at the State Department, paving the way for hiring of

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Source: Black Past

Aug

13

2014

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