Those We Lost — October 27

Honoring those we lost on October 27 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Ernest Everett Just

Born August 14, 1883 — died October 27, 1941

Cell biologist, embryologist, zoologist, author, and professor

Just conducted foundational research on fertilization, embryonic development, and the living cell surface at Howard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and European laboratories. His insistence on studying whole cells in natural conditions anticipated later biological thinking, even as racism restricted his funding and appointments.

Charles S. Johnson

Born July 24, 1893 — died October 27, 1956

Sociologist, editor, and university president

Born in Bristol, Virginia, Johnson was the primary author of The Negro in Chicago, the study of the 1919 Chicago race riot. As the National Urban League’s research director he founded Opportunity magazine in 1923, a driving force of the Harlem Renaissance. At Fisk University he led the social sciences department and the Fisk Institute of Race Relations, and he became the university’s first Black president. His research shaped the study of race relations, and his editorship gave a platform to Harlem Renaissance writers. He also advised presidents on education and civil rights.

Walter E. Washington

Born April 15, 1915 — died October 27, 2003

Lawyer, housing administrator, and mayor of Washington, D.C.

Born in Dawson, Georgia, and educated at Howard University, Washington led public housing agencies before President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him mayor-commissioner of the District of Columbia in 1967, the first African American to lead a major American city. After Congress granted home rule, residents elected him mayor in 1974. He guided the capital through the unrest after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and into home rule, and he integrated the police department’s senior ranks.

Ntozake Shange

Born October 18, 1948 — died October 27, 2018

Poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and performer

Shange’s choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf joined poetry, dance, music, and Black women’s voices in a new theatrical form. Her formally adventurous writing made Black women’s interior lives, language, pain, pleasure, and survival central to American theater and literature.

John Conyers Jr.

Born May 16, 1929 — died October 27, 2019

U.S. Representative, lawyer, and civil-rights legislator

A Detroit native, Korean War veteran, and Wayne State law graduate, Conyers represented Michigan in the U.S. House from 1965 until his resignation in December 2017. He was the first African American to serve on the House Judiciary Committee. He chaired the Government Operations Committee and later the Judiciary Committee. In his fiftieth year of service he became the first African American Dean of the House. He pursued legislation including a commission to study reparations.