Today in Black History: April 10th
1822 – James Monroe Whitfield Is Born
James Monroe Whitfield, born April 10, 1822, in New Hampshire, was a Black abolitionist, poet, and colonizationist. Whitfield had little formal education but began publishing for Negro rights conventions by age 16. While working as a barber in Buffalo, New York, he published poetry in The North Star, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, and The Liberator, promoting emigration and early Black publications.
Whitfield later supported colonization in Central America and served as a commissioner there. During the Civil War, he backed emancipation efforts and settled in California, continuing to write poetry. He became Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons and helped integrate jury service in Nevada. Whitfield died in San Francisco on April 23, 1871.
1926 – Johnnie Tillmon Is Born
Johnnie Tillmon, born on April 10, 1926, in Scott, Arkansas, moved to California in 1959 and worked as a union shop steward in Compton. After falling ill in 1963, she applied for welfare and experienced the system’s invasive, dehumanizing treatment. In response, she founded ANC Mothers Anonymous, one of the first grassroots welfare mothers’ organizations. Her leadership expanded nationally through the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), where she became chairperson, advocating for income, dignity, and justice.
Tillmon challenged male-dominated leadership within NWRO and pushed to align with the feminist movement. She published “Welfare Is a Women’s Issue” in 1972 and later led the NWRO before its closure in 1975. She continued her advocacy until her death in 1995.
1981 – Howard Thurman Passes Away
Howard Thurman, born in 1900 in Daytona Beach, Florida, was a leading theologian, minister, and civil rights thinker. Raised by his formerly enslaved grandmother, he graduated valedictorian from Morehouse College and earned a seminary degree from Colgate-Rochester. Influenced by Quaker mystic Rufus Jones, Thurman met Mahatma Gandhi in 1936, shaping his lifelong commitment to nonviolence. He held key religious and academic posts at Morehouse and Howard University, and in 1944, became pastor of the interracial Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco.
Thurman authored over 120 works, including Jesus and the Disinherited, a major influence on Martin Luther King Jr. Named one of the greatest preachers of the century, he became Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University before retiring in 1965. Thurman died on April 10, 1981, leaving a profound legacy of spiritual activism.
