Those We Lost — August 22

Honoring those we lost on August 22 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Lucinda Bragg Adams

Birth name: Lucinda Bragg

Born Dec 4, 1860 — died Aug 22, 1932

Physician, educator, temperance leader, musician, writer, and school administrator.

Adams combined medical training with a lifelong commitment to education, supervising Sumter County’s Colored Schools and working to improve instruction, facilities, and teacher preparation. Her writing and music teaching expanded opportunity while demonstrating the many forms Black women’s leadership could take after Reconstruction.

Reginald Weir

Full name: Reginald Storum Weir

Born Sep 30, 1911 — died Aug 22, 1987

Physician, tennis champion, and barrier-breaking American Tennis Association pioneer.

Weir won five ATA national singles titles while building a long career in family medicine. In 1948, he became the first Black man to compete in a United States Lawn Tennis Association event, helping open the door that Althea Gibson and later generations would walk through.

Nick Ashford

Full name: Nickolas Ashford

Born May 4, 1941 — died Aug 22, 2011

Singer, songwriter, producer, performer, and one half of Ashford & Simpson.

With Valerie Simpson, Ashford wrote and produced classics including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” and “I’m Every Woman.” Their own recordings, especially “Solid,” made partnership, devotion, and sophisticated soul the center of an enduring musical legacy.

Huey P. Newton

Full name: Huey Percy Newton

Born Feb 17, 1942 — died Aug 22, 1989

Black Panther Party cofounder, political theorist, organizer, and revolutionary activist.

Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland and developed its Ten-Point Program demanding freedom, employment, housing, education, and an end to police brutality. The party’s community survival programs, including free breakfasts and health clinics, made self-determination a practical form of neighborhood service.

Nathan Louis Jackson

Born Dec 4, 1978 — died Aug 22, 2023

Playwright, screenwriter, television writer-producer, and champion of Black Midwestern stories.

Jackson brought Kansas City families, faith, grief, humor, and working-class life to the stage in plays including Broke-ology and When I Come to Die. A two-time Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award recipient and writer-producer on Luke Cage, he created humane, locally rooted work with national reach.

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Wear the history: Huey P. Newton — from the Black Knowledge Wear collection.