https://www.the365projectys.org/

The 365 Project, Yellow Springs, OH (2026)

04/21/2026

April 15th, 1889, Asa (A.) Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida. Randolph was widely known for his involvement in the March on Washington in 1963, and played a major role in leading the march. After graduating from the Cookman Institute, now known as Bethune - Cookman University, Randolph left for Harlem with goals of becoming an actor. During his time in New York, Randolph came to realize that combatting racism required collective action and became more involved in socialism and workers’ rights. He ran for a brief period for state office on the socialist ticket in the 1920’s, but was unsuccessful; he moved on from this point to focus on Black workers’ rights.

In 1925, Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, leading the group as the president. Around the same time, he pushed avidly against the federal government regarding the racial discrimination in the war industry workforce, as well as in the U.S. Armed Forces. As said before, Randolph played a crucial role in the March on Washington in 1963, leading the march that was organized by Bayard Rustin, and where Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech was shared. He is also accredited to the inspiration of the “Freedom Budget”, also known as the “Randolph Freedom Budget”. This budget aimed to take hold over economic and financial problems being faced by the Black community in America. It was later published in 1967 by the Randolph Institute, officially labeled as “A Freedom Budget for All Americans”.

04/21/2026

April 14, 1775, the first American society dedicated to abolition – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bo***ge – was founded in Philadelphia. The name later changed in 1784, becoming the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bo***ge.
The society was founded by Anthony Benezet, who formed the society just 2 years after convincing the Quakers to found the Negro School at Philadelphia. Benezet was born into a French Protestant family, and lived in France up until fleeing alongside his family from French Catholics at age 17. When migrating to Philadelphia, he joined the Society of Friends, more commonly known now as the Quakers, and began his career as an educator. In 1750, Benezet started teaching enslaved children after regular schooling hours at his home, and established the first girls’ school in 1754. Benezet moved on to persuade the Quakers, with the help of fellow Quaker John Woolman, to take an official stance against slavery in in 1758. Benezet passed in 1784, with 400 Black Philadelphians attending his funeral. After his death, his society was renamed the same year, with the presidency of the society being taken on by Benjamin Franklin in 1787.

04/21/2026

April 13th, 1963, Sidney Poitier was the first Black American to be announced winner of an Oscar for Best Actor. Poitier was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat born in Miami, Florida on February 20th, 1927. He grew up in the Bahamas, where his family lived, but due to being born in the U.S. while his family was visiting, he was granted citizenship in the United States. Poitier moved back to Miami in ~1942 at age 15, and then relocated to New York at age 16. While in New York, he gained his breakthrough role in Blackboard Jungle after joining the American Negro Theatre. He continued to gain fame for his larger leading roles, such as in The Defiant Ones, in which he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor on April 13th, 1963. His career only continued upward from then on, winning the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field just a year later in 1964.

Poitier played many strong, leading Black American roles across many different films; some of these films include: Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), A Patch of Blue (1965), and others. Throughout the course of his career, he has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, though he has been nominated for a total of at least 24 varying awards during his career. Sidney Poitier led the way for many future Black American actors, and holds a legacy to remember.

04/21/2026

April 12th, 1975 is the death date of Josephin Baker, a popular Black American dancer, singer, actress, and civil rights activist who particularly came to fame in Europe; she died at 68 of a stroke just four days after opening a r***e to celebrate her 50 years in Entertainment.

Josephine was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906.
Her mother was a washerwoman and her father a vaudeville performer. After experiencing the struggles that came with the St. Louis riots in 1917, she took her talents as a tool for relieving herself of discrimination and poverty. Her career began relatively small, in vaudeville performances and showcases across the country; during her travels she was offered an opportunity to perform in Paris, France for La R***e N***e. From then on, her entertainment career skyrocketed. Baker was the first Black American woman to star in a motion picture (film), the first Black American woman to perform with an integrated casting at the American concert hall, and one of the first Black American performers to receive recognition in both film and on-stage.

After much time spent in France and service for the French Resistance forces during World War ||, as well as receiving the Croix de Guerre, she returned to America to participate in the Civil Rights Movement. Baker was the only female speaker at the march on Washington in 1968, and honored women civil rights activists.

04/21/2026

On April 11th, 1881, what would later become Spelman College classes – a premiere University for Black women in the United States – were held in the basement of a church in Atlanta. While the college is now known as Spelman College, it was originally named under the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary. It was organized and sponsored by the American Baptist Women’s Home Mission Society. The college is now a part of the colleges within the Atlanta University Center, and ranked by the U.S. News and World Report within the top liberal arts schools in the United States. Spelman is also ranked separately as within the top 10 women’s colleges in the country by the Forbes Magazine.

The school has a history in association to funding and support from John D. Rockefeller, who also built the current oldest building remaining on the campus. This association is where the name Spelman comes from, being renamed after Laura Spelman Rockefeller in 1924.

04/10/2026

On April 10th, 1947, Jackie Robinson signed his first National League contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson was born youngest to his parents Mallie Robinson and Jerry Robinson in Cairo, Georgia. The family moved to Pasadena, California after the leaving of their father in 1920. Jackie grew up primarily in poverty, but enrolled in John Muir Technical High School in 1935; there, he played many sports at varsity level and lettered in four specific sports: football, basketball, track & field, and baseball. January 1937, Jackie was reported in the Pasadena Star-News paper, he had, “for two years… been the outstanding athlete at Muir, starring in football, basketball, track, baseball, and tennis.” Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College, where he continued his athletic career and became known as a proud combative toward racial injustice through several incidents with authority figures he deemed racist.

After the passing of his brother Frank Robinson, whom he felt closest with, Jackie continued athletics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He participated in a brief military career after his time at UCLA, and began his official baseball career with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues in 1945. From his good numbers in Kansas, the Dodgers general manager – Branch Rickey – signed Robinson to a pro-contract. He joined the International League in 1946. After signing his first National League contract with Rickey, Robinson debuted with the Dodgers at Ebbets field in front of 26,623 fans. After his run leading to victory against the Boston Braves that day, more than 50,000 people would come to see Robinson play at the Polo Grounds.

04/10/2026

April 9th, 1968, beloved Martin Luther King Jr. was buried after his assassination on April 4th of 1968. While MLK Jr. is widely known for the work he did, and his death is remembered with a national holiday, it is seldom discussed enough the journeys King faced even after his death – via legal cases and trials, as well as the moving of his burial. On April 8th, before King’s funeral service and burial, Coretta Scott King (his wife) as well as other family members joined thousands in a march for King and in support of sanitation workers. The next day, King’s funeral service was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. 100,000+ mourners followed 2 mules carrying King’s coffin through the streets of Atlanta, and after a second service held on the Morehouse College campus, King’s body was buried at the South-View Cemetery. Later on, his body was relocated to a crypt next to the Ebenezer Church at the King Center, founded by his widowed wife Coretta.

04/10/2026

On April 8th, 1965, Lawrence Bradford was appointed by Senator Jacob Javits of New York to be a Senate Page. During this, Javits and journalists identified Bradford as the first Black Senate Page. However, this was not factual. The first Black Senate Page served 1869-1881: Andrew Foote Slade.

Andrew Slade was born in 1857 to his parents Josephine Park and William Slade in the District of Columbia. Both his parents were born free, with their parents having been enslaved by those associated with different parts of the American government. Both of Andrew’s parents worked in the Whitehouse, his father titled “usher” under Lincoln’s administration, and his mother working as a seamstress.

In December of 1869, Andrew was appointed as a Senate Page, having been educated in a school in the District of Columbia for Black children founded by John F. Cook. It is said that Sergeant at Arms, John R. French – who had also been friends with Andrew’s father before his passing – is who Andrew’s appointment is owed to. Andrew was again appointed as a page in January of 1874 at 16 years old. He served as a riding page, delivering messages, and a mail carrier for the Senate Post Office. Andrew was also a known favorite of Vice President Henry Wilson, and helped tend to Wilson while he lay dying in his office. He continued his work as a page until age 24 in November 1881.

(Photo provided is of William Slade, Andrew’s father and a prominent member of the Whitehouse)

04/07/2026

Today we celebrate Eleanora Fegan’s , popularly known as Billie Holiday, birthday. Holiday was born on April 7th, 1915. Holiday is one of the most popular jazz, swing, and blues singers, not only of her time but as well as to today. Cutting her first records with Benny Goodman on November 27th, 1933, at only the age of 18, Holiday was laying the first ripples to her career. Holiday recorded 12 studio albums, 3 live albums, 24 compilation albums, 38 singles, and 6 box sets throughout her career up until she passed at age 44 on July 17th, 1959.

One of Holiday’s most notable songs recorded being under the name of “Strange Fruit”, written and composed by Abel Meeropol (a.k.a. Lewis Allen). The song leaves an eerie, bitter, tinging feeling with listeners, and poetically protests against the common lynchings of Black folks all across the United States. Billie Holiday shares a thorough and rich legacy, one which is still shared between families and friends across the world today.

Happy Birthday Billie Holiday!

04/06/2026

April 6, 1909- Matthew Henson reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, along with explorer Robert Peary.

Peary hired Henson as his valet for his expeditions to the North, but eventually came to rely greatly on Henson's navigation skills, experience handling icy conditions, and valued his tenacity when so many other team members lost their lives to starvation or turned back South.

After multiple attempts to reach their goal, Henson, Peary, four Eskimos, and their team of 40 dogs reached the North Pole. While Peary received most of the glory after the expedition, Henson's accomplishments were overlook and he worked as a clerk in a New York federal customs house.

He wrote about the adventure in his memoir A Negro Explorer in the North Pole and when he was 70 years old, he was finally accepted into the renown Explorers Club in New York and awarded a U.S. Navy medal nine years later. Henson died in New York on March 9, 1955. ,

04/05/2026

April 5, 1856- Booker T. Washington, the African-American educator, author and adviser to a string of presidents, was born on this day in 1856. He was born to a slave woman and a white father. Washington ultimately became part of the initial leadership of Tuskegee University (then known as Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute) and was the pre-eminent Black leader of his day, welding considerable power through a vast network of supporters. In 1901, Washington became the first African-American to attend a formal dinner at the White House, which took place during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. He was embroiled in a highly public feud with W. E. B. DuBois, one of the founders of the NAACP, who advocated activism to achieve civil rights. Washington held the view that confrontation could lead to disaster for African-Americans, calling for cooperation with supportive whites as the way to overcome racism. However, Washington secretly contributed to groups that mounted legal challenges against segregation. .Washington,

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