Those We Lost — September 10

Honoring those we lost on September 10 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Alexander Crummell

Born March 3, 1819 — died September 10, 1898

Minister, scholar, and founder of the American Negro Academy.

A Cambridge-educated Episcopal priest who served twenty years in Liberia, Crummell founded the American Negro Academy in 1897 — the first major Black learned society — and his vision of Black intellectual excellence inspired W. E. B. Du Bois, who memorialized him in The Souls of Black Folk.

Father Divine

Birth name: George Baker

Born around 1876 — died September 10, 1965

Religious leader and founder of the International Peace Mission movement.

At his Depression-era height, Father Divine fed thousands weekly at integrated banquets, ran cooperative businesses, and demanded anti-lynching laws — building one of the era’s most remarkable, and most debated, Black-led movements. His empire of communal hotels and farms modeled economic self-sufficiency decades ahead of its time.

Agostinho Neto

Full name: António Agostinho Neto

Born September 17, 1922 — died September 10, 1979

Poet and first president of Angola.

A physician repeatedly imprisoned by Portuguese colonial authorities, Neto led the MPLA’s liberation struggle and declared Angola’s independence in 1975. His poems of exile and freedom remain classics of African literature, and his birthday is Angola’s National Heroes’ Day.

Frankie Beverly

Full name: Howard Stanley Beverly

Born December 6, 1946 — died September 10, 2024

Singer, songwriter, and founder of Maze.

"Before I Let Go," "Joy and Pain," and "Happy Feelin’s" made Maze the soundtrack of Black family life — five decades of sold-out tours powered by audiences who claimed the music as heirloom. Beverly died months after his farewell tour, mourned by millions in his signature white.

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Wear the history: Maze ft. Frankie Beverly “Before I Let Go” Hoodie — from the Black Knowledge Wear collection.