Literature

The birth of Lucy Terry, abolitionist, poet, and skilled orator, in 1730 is celebrated on this date. Although she was not a lawyer, she argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and won.

Terry was born in Africa, enslaved and stolen from there as an infant, and sold to Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, MA. She was baptized at 19 in June 1735, during the Great Awakening, and at the age of 20, she was "admitted to the fellowship of the church." In 1756, Terry married Abijah Prince, a prosperous free black man who purchased her freedom.

*Frank Marshall Davis was born on this date in 1905. He was an African-American poet.

Louise Bennett

Louise Bennett was born on this date in 1919. She was a Jamaican poet.

Louise was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where she remained affectionately known as "Miss Lou," and where she remains a household name, a "Living Legend," and a cultural icon. She received her education from Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, and Friends College (Highgate). Although she lived in Toronto, Canada, for years, she still received the homage of the expatriate West Indian community in the north as well as a large Canadian following.

Nikki Giovanni

On this date in 1943, Nikki Giovanni was born. She is an African-American writer, poet, commentator, activist, educator, and publisher.

She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., in Knoxville, TN, and although she grew up in Cincinnati, OH, she and her sister returned to Knoxville each summer to visit their grandparents. Nikki graduated with honors in history from her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University.

She is highly regarded for her militancy during the 1960s, and admired as one of the New Black Poets of that era.

Henry Clay Bruce

*Henry Clay Bruce was born on this date in 1836. He was a black writer.

Born a slave in Virginia, his mother told him he was born the year that Martin Van Buren was elected President of the United States. This was because (as slaves were forbidden to read), in order to gage the birth of a child, Africans usually associated it with the occurrence of some important event. His owner Lemuel Bruce sold the Bruce family eight years later to Jack Perkinson, who lived in Keytesville, Missouri.