1897 – American Negro Academy is Founded
Founded on March 5, 1897, in Washington, D.C., the American Negro Academy (ANA) was created by Alexander Crummell as the first national organization of Black scholars in the United States. Its mission was to defend African Americans against racist attacks, publish scholarly research, promote higher education, and advance literature, science, and the arts as tools for racial uplift and equality.
The Academy’s impact was significant in shaping early Black intellectual thought. Through published works and organized leadership, it directly challenged scientific racism and disenfranchisement, helping establish scholarship as a powerful weapon in the struggle for civil rights and laying groundwork for future generations of Black intellectual and cultural movements.
1939 – Playwright Charles Fuller is Born
Charles Fuller was born on March 5, 1939, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inspired by countless hours in his high school library, Fuller pursued writing while attending Villanova University and serving four years in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea. After returning home, he co-founded the Afro-American Theatre of Philadelphia, writing early plays like The Village: A Party (1968), which later ran off-Broadway as The Perfect Party.Moving to New York, Fuller wrote numerous off-Broadway plays and received major fellowships, including Rockefeller, NEA, and Guggenheim awards. His most celebrated work, A Soldier’s Play (1981), written in honor of his friend Larry Neal, won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics’ Award, and the Edgar Award. Fuller adapted it into the Academy Award–nominated film A Soldier’s Story (1984), cementing his legacy as one of America’s most influential playwrights.
