2011 Activities Teams
James Arthur Baldwin
(August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987)
James Arthur Baldwin wrote many plays and poems. In 1953, he wrote a book about his life called "Go Tell It on the Mountain". He also wrote books about African Americans in the 1960s. And he wrote about three of his friends who were killed in the 1960s, including Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Roscoe Dunjee
(June 21, 1883 - March 1, 1965)
Roscoe Dunjee started an African American newspaper in Oklahoma in 1915. He was also a speaker about civil rights. His dad was a minister and his family moved to Oklahoma in 1892. He took care of his mother, sister and brother by growing and selling vegetables before he started his newspaper business. He read a lot of books and learned how to run his newspaper and be a leader.
Ralph Waldo Ellison
(March 1, 1914 – April 16, 1994)
Ralph Waldo Ellison was an American writer. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He wrote a book called "Invisible Man", which won an award in 1953. He also wrote other books telling what he thought about government, culture and other people’s ideas.
Lorraine Hansberry
(May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965)
Lorraine Hansberry wrote African American plays and speeches. She wrote a book called "A Raisin in the Sun". It was about her family when they lived in Chicago. They wanted to change the laws that made whites and blacks live in different neighborhoods and go to different schools.
Zora Neale Hurston
(January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960)
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer and storyteller in the 1920s and 1930s. She wrote four books and more than 50 stories and plays. Most people know her because of her 1937 book called "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
John Hope Franklin
(January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009)
John Hope Franklin was a United States historian and past president of Phi Beta Kappa. He wrote the book called "From Slavery to Freedom" in 1947. More than three million people read it. In 1995, he won an award from the President of the United States.