Those We Lost — August 23

Honoring those we lost on August 23 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Esther Cooper Jackson

Full name: Esther Victoria Cooper Jackson

Born Aug 21, 1917 — died Aug 23, 2022

Civil rights activist, social worker, editor, and Black freedom movement organizer.

Jackson helped lead the Southern Negro Youth Congress, organizing young people around voting rights, labor, education, and an end to segregation. As a founding editor and longtime managing editor of Freedomways, she sustained a vital forum linking Black politics, history, literature, art, and international liberation movements.

George Walker

Full name: George Theophilus Walker

Born Jun 27, 1922 — died Aug 23, 2018

Composer, pianist, organist, educator, and barrier-breaking concert artist.

Walker built a distinguished career across performance, composition, and teaching, producing more than 90 works for orchestras, voices, chamber groups, and solo instruments. In 1996, Lilacs made him the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Brock Peters

Birth name: George Fisher

Born Jul 2, 1927 — died Aug 23, 2005

Actor, singer, voice artist, and commanding presence on stage, film, and television.

Peters gave unforgettable force and vulnerability to Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird and Crown in Porgy and Bess. Across Broadway, Star Trek, animation, and decades of screen work, his deep voice and disciplined performances brought dignity and complexity to roles too often denied Black actors.

Bobby Bonds

Full name: Bobby Lee Bonds

Born Mar 15, 1946 — died Aug 23, 2003

Major League Baseball outfielder, three-time All-Star, and power-speed trailblazer.

Bonds combined home-run strength with elite base stealing, becoming the first player to record more than two 30-home-run, 30-stolen-base seasons and ultimately doing it five times. His dynamic leadoff play expanded expectations for all-around offensive excellence and formed part of baseball’s most famous father-son legacy.

Russell Malone

Born Nov 8, 1963 — died Aug 23, 2024

Jazz guitarist, composer, bandleader, and master of swing-centered accompaniment.

Malone brought warmth, rhythmic authority, and melodic clarity to work with Jimmy Smith, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, Ron Carter, and his own groups. Equally persuasive as accompanist and soloist, he carried the guitar tradition forward without losing its blues feeling, elegance, or sense of swing.