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Tibbs, Vincente K. (1914-1973)
Vincente K. Tibbs was a social worker, Englewood Movement leader, and City Council president from the 4th ward. He a Democrat and was elected in 1960. He worked to help race relations between white and black residents.
Tibbs lived in Harlem and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He graduated from Shaw University with a degree in social science in 1939. He gained a master's degree from the Columbia School of Social Work in 1949.
Tibbs also served in the Navy in World War II.
Tibbs was involved with the Bureau of Community Education of the New York City Board of Education, Camp Kilmer Hob Corps., NYU's School of Education, the New Jersey Regional Durg Abuse Agency, the Social Service Federation, and the Englewood Community Center. He was a member of the Congress of Racial Equity, the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Henry Douglas Post 58.
He married Primrose Barnwell. He had a daughter, Dana Macon. -
King, Martin Luther Jr. (1929-1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and a prominent leader of the civil rights movement. King's leadership in the movement began in December of 1955 and lasted until he was assassinated in April 1968. King is famous for his nonviolent resistance and protests. Some of his notable protests were the March on Washington in 1963 and the Selma to Mongomery Marches. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and "I Have A Dream" are the two well-known articles and speeches from King. He was the youngest man awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
He married Coretta Scott in 1953. He had four children, Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice. -
Davis, John Warren (1888-1980)
John Warren Davis was an educator and civil rights leader. He was president of West Virginia State University from 1919 to 1953. While in this position, Davis led the college to become fully accredited, making the institution one of the four black colleges and the first public college in West Virginia to become accredited. He also created the State 4-H Camp, the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and the Army Specialized Training Program.
Davis was also one of the founders of the first NAACP chapter in Atlanta, Georgia. He also established the NAACP's legal defense fund to desegregate colleges and provide black students with scholarships. He was also involved with the National Urban League and was the president of the Englewood Chapter. Other organizations he was involved with included the National Advisory Committee on Education of Negros, the National Advisory Committee on Education, the National Science Board, the National Science Foundation, and the National Education Association. He commonly hosted civil rights leaders in his home along with his wife, Ethel.
He was married Bessie Rucker Davis in 1916 until she died in 1931. He married Ethel McGhee in 1932. He had three children, Constance Davis Welch, Dorothy Davis McDaniel, and Caroline Davis Gleiter. -
DuBois, William Edward Burghardt (1868-1963)
W.E.B. DuBois was a famous African American scholar, writer, historian, sociologist, and Civil Rights Activist. He was one of the founding members of the NAACP.
He was the son of Mary Silvina Burghardt and Alfred DuBois. From 1892 to 1894 he traveled through Germany and became influenced by the historical work of Albert Bushnell Hart and the Philosophical work of William James.
He focused heavily on history and sociology, publishing numerous articles. He also attempted to establish journals discussing politics and ideology for a black audience. DuBois believed that African Americans should embrace their African heritage while also contributing to American society. DuBois also believed in Pan-Africanism.
DuBois along with other African American leaders founded the Niagara Movement in 1904 which militantly advocated for full civil and political rights for blacks. The movement only succeeded in 1909, when the NAACP was founded after rioting in August of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois caused a biracial conference over concerns of violence against blacks. DuBois also finally achieved his desire for a journal as he became the editor of The Crisis.
World War I caused a shift in DuBois' beliefs. He became involved in peace work. He also supported the use of Marxism to fight against racial discrimination through economic programs and institutions, which caused him to become at odds with the NAACP president. He resigned from the organization but returned in 1944. He again became at odds with the organization as he supported socialist organizations and the Progressive Party during the rise of anti-communism.
He met Nina Gomer, a student at Wilberforce University where he taught for two years, and married her in 1896.
In 1950, he married Shirley Graham after his first wife passed away. She had a child from a previous relationship, David, who took on the DuBois name. Throughout the rest of his life, he was a member of peace movements and was continually interacting with leftist and communist party organizations. In October 1961, he officially joined the American Communist Party. His support of communism put him at odds with the American government and legal system and was restricted from travel for several years. When it was lifted in 1958 and after traveling throughout communist countries in Eastern Europe and Asia he lived the rest of his life in Ghana.Tags Socialism -
Bethune, Mary Jane Mcleod (1875-1955)
Mary Jane Mcleod Bethune was an influential African American educator, civil rights activist, and women's rights activist.
Bethune was born July 10, 1875 in South Carolina. She was the daughter of Samuel and Patsy Mcleod who were previously enslaved.
She married Albertus Bethune in 1899. She also had a son. Her marriage with Albertus ended in 1904. That same year she opened the Daytona Beach Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls. The school evolved into a college, merging with the Cookman Institute forming the Bethune-Cookman College in 1929.
Bethune was heavily involved in activism, including the Women's Suffrage Movement. She was elected the president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in 1924 and she was the founding president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1935.
Bethune was friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the United States government when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration in 1936. A position she remained in until 1944.
In 1940 she became the vice-president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was also the only black woman at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945. -
Jackson, Alexander Louis (1891-1973)
Born March 1, 1891 in Englewood New Jersey, Alexander Jackson grew up on William and Humphrey Street in the heart of Englewood's historic African American community.
Jackson attended Lincoln and Liberty Schools, Englewood High School, Andover and Harvard University.
In 1915, along with his friend Carter G Woodson, he co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life. The ASNL established Negro History Week in 1926, which would later become Black History Month. In 1917 Jackson also became one of the founders of the Chicago branch of the National Urban League. From 1921 to 1924 he was the assistant publisher of the Chicago Defender, the largest owned African American newspaper during that era. He became the general manager in 1925. Jackson was the president of the board of trustees of the Provident Hospital and Training School, which was the first African-American-owned and operated hospital in America.
Jackson was married to Charlotte E. Walker in 1914. During this marriage, he had four children, Caroline Booth, Alexander Louis Jackson III, William Edward Jackson, and Winslow Loring Jackson. Charlotte died in 1928 and Jackson married Jana Lenas Booth who passed in 1966. His last wife was Marie Poston whom he married in 1968. -
Arnold Brown (1932-?)
Arnold Brown was born on April 12, 1932, in Englewood, Brown's family had deep roots in New Jersey and Englewood. Brown grew up in the 4th ward and attended Lincoln Elementary and Dwight Morrow High School. Brown graduated from Bowling Green State University and received his law degree in 1957 from Rutgers University. He practiced law from 1957 to 1986.
Brown became a key figure in the Civil Rights movement in Englewood as a leader of the NAACP and Urban League. He also founded the Du Bois Book Center, which focuses on African American Studies.
In 1965, Brown became the first African American elected to the state legislature from Bergen County. In the 1980s and 1990s, Brown became a prominent historian of African American history in Bergen County.
He married Lydia Barbara White in 1955. After her death, Brown married Gwendolyn Wertby. He has four children, Crystal L., Beverly M. Brown-Fitzhugh, Dale E. Brown-Davis, and Arnold E.