Those We Lost — October 24

Honoring those we lost on October 24 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Betsey Stockton

Born c. 1798 — died October 24, 1865

Educator, missionary, writer, and formerly enslaved woman

After emancipation from the household of Princeton president Ashbel Green, Stockton traveled as a missionary to Hawai’i, helped establish schools, and later taught Black students in Princeton. Her surviving journal offers an uncommon Black woman’s account of early American missionary travel, while her teaching linked religious service to Black education.

Robert L. Vann

Born August 27, 1879 — died October 24, 1940

Newspaper editor and publisher, lawyer, and political figure

Born in Ahoskie, North Carolina, Vann became editor of the Pittsburgh Courier in 1910 and remained its editor, treasurer, and legal counsel until his death, while also practicing law. Under his direction the Courier became the nation’s largest Black weekly newspaper. In 1932 he moved Black voters toward the Democratic Party and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and he was appointed a special assistant to the U.S. attorney general. Vann built one of the most influential institutions of the Black press and used it to campaign for civil rights and political power. A Liberty ship and schools were named for him.

Jackie Robinson

Born January 31, 1919 — died October 24, 1972

Baseball player, business executive, broadcaster, and civil-rights advocate

Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s modern color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, won Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors, and used his public stature to press for civil rights. His career transformed professional sports and challenged institutions far beyond baseball. Major League Baseball retired number 42 across every team.

Rosa Parks

Born February 4, 1913 — died October 24, 2005

Civil-rights organizer, NAACP secretary, seamstress, and public advocate

Parks’s refusal to surrender her Montgomery bus seat sparked a mass boycott, but it grew from years of NAACP work, political education, and organizing against racial and sexual violence. Her disciplined activism helped transform the modern freedom movement, and her later Detroit work connected civil rights to housing, policing, youth, and economic justice.

Enolia P. McMillan

Born October 20, 1904 — died October 24, 2006

Educator, school principal, and civil-rights leader

A Howard University graduate with a master’s degree from Columbia, McMillan taught and served as a principal in Maryland schools from 1928, and campaigned for equal pay for Black teachers as president of the Maryland State Colored Teachers Association. She became president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP in 1969, and from 1984 to 1990 she was the first woman to serve as national president of the NAACP. Her career linked Black educators’ fight for equal treatment with the NAACP’s national leadership. The Baltimore NAACP headquarters bears her name.

Fats Domino

Born February 26, 1928 — died October 24, 2017

Pianist, singer, songwriter, and rock-and-roll pioneer

Domino carried New Orleans rhythm and blues into the pop mainstream through a rolling piano style, warm vocals, and hits including Ain’t That a Shame, Blueberry Hill, and Walking to New Orleans. One of the most commercially successful Black artists of the 1950s, he shaped rock and roll while retaining a distinctly New Orleans musical identity.

---

Wear the history: Jackie Robinson · Rosa Parks — from the Black Knowledge Wear collection.