Those We Lost — November 1

Honoring those we lost on November 1 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Florence Mills

Born January 25, 1896 — died November 1, 1927

Harlem Renaissance stage star, ‘Queen of Happiness’

Florence Mills began performing as a child in Washington, D.C., and became one of the biggest stage stars of the 1920s, starring in Shuffle Along, Dixie to Broadway and Blackbirds, which she took to London and Paris. She died in New York on November 1, 1927, at 31, after an operation. Some 150,000 people turned out in Harlem for her funeral.

Tommy Johnson

Born c. 1896 — died November 1, 1956

Delta blues pioneer behind the crossroads legend

Tommy Johnson of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, recorded ‘Canned Heat Blues’, ‘Big Road Blues’ and ‘Cool Drink of Water Blues’ in 1928, and his falsetto and guitar style shaped Delta blues. According to his brother LeDell, he claimed he had sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads, a legend later attached to Robert Johnson. He died of a heart attack after playing a party in Crystal Springs on November 1, 1956.

Sippie Wallace

Born November 1, 1898 — died November 1, 1986

Blues singer-songwriter, ‘the Texas Nightingale’

Born in Arkansas and raised in Houston, Sippie Wallace, ‘the Texas Nightingale’, recorded for Okeh from 1923 to 1927 with accompanists including Louis Armstrong and King Oliver; ‘Women Be Wise’ became her signature song. Rediscovered in the 1960s, she toured with Bonnie Raitt and earned a Grammy nomination at 84. She died in Detroit on her 88th birthday, November 1, 1986, months after a stroke.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

Born January 2, 1898 — died November 1, 1989

First Black woman PhD in economics; pioneering lawyer

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1921, the first for a Black American woman, and in 1927 became the first Black woman to earn a law degree at Penn and the first admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. She served on President Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights and practiced law in Philadelphia for five decades. She died in Philadelphia on November 1, 1989, at 91.

Walter Payton

Born July 25, 1954 — died November 1, 1999

Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back, ‘Sweetness’

Walter Payton played 13 seasons for the Chicago Bears, retired in 1987 as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, and won a Super Bowl with the 1985 team. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. He died at his home in Barrington, Illinois, on November 1, 1999, at 45, of bile duct cancer that developed from a rare liver disease.

Mac Dre

Born July 5, 1970 — died November 1, 2004

Bay Area rapper, founder of Thizz Entertainment

Mac Dre came out of Vallejo, California, started the Thizz Entertainment label and helped pioneer the Bay Area’s hyphy sound. After a performance in Kansas City, early on November 1, 2004, someone in another vehicle fired on his van on Highway 71; the van crashed and he was found dead at 34. The killing remains unsolved.

Takeoff

Born June 18, 1994 — died November 1, 2022

Rapper, one-third of Migos

Takeoff formed Migos with his uncle Quavo and cousin Offset in suburban Atlanta; the trio’s hits included ‘Versace’, ‘Bad and Boujee’ and ‘Stir Fry’. He was shot and killed at a private party at 810 Billiards and Bowling in Houston early on November 1, 2022, at 28. A man was later charged with his murder.

Young Bleed

Born June 6, 1974 — died November 1, 2025

Baton Rouge rapper, ‘How Ya Do Dat’

Young Bleed came up in Baton Rouge with the Concentration Camp crew and signed with No Limit, where his 1998 debut album My Balls and My Word went gold and reached the Billboard 200 Top 10 on the strength of ‘How Ya Do Dat’. He fell ill after an appearance in Las Vegas in late October 2025 and died on November 1, 2025, at 51, of complications from a brain aneurysm.