Literature

Ruth M. Garnett

Ruth-Miriam Garnett was born on this date in 1954. She is an African-American poet, writer, and workshop coordinator.

Joseph S. Cotter

*Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr., was born on this date in 1861. He was a Black poet, educator, and playwright.

From an area near Bardstown, in Nelson County Kentucky, his white father, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was Micheil J. Cotter. His mother, Martha Vaughn Cotter, was Black; and the two were never a couple. Young Cotter learned to read at the age of three, but called off his formal education in third grade to work and help his poverty-stricken family. He picked rags as a young boy, and later worked as a teamster, in the distillery and tobacco business.

*The birth of George Moses Horton in 1797 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black poet, and publisher.

James Emanuel

James Emanuel, an African American poet, was born on this date in 1921.

Thulani Davis

The birth of Thulani Davis in 1948 is celebrated on this date. She is an African-American writer, educator, and journalist.

She grew up in a home of educators in Virginia;