January 1913

Anti-lynching crusader and journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago in 1913, the first Black women's suffrage organization in Illinois. The club organized Black women voters and marched in suffrage parades, directly challenging both racial segregation within the suffrage movement and the systematic disenfranchisement of Black Americans.

Anti-lynching crusader and journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago in 1913, the first Black women's suffrage organization in Illinois. The club organized Black women voters and marched in suffrage parades, directly challenging both racial segregation within the suffrage movement and the systematic disenfranchisement of Black Americans.

President Woodrow Wilson authorized the re-segregation of the federal civil service, reversing gains made since Reconstruction. Black federal workers were demoted, forced to use separate bathrooms and cafeterias, and some fired. The NAACP and leaders including Ida B. Wells and William Monroe Trotter mounted fierce protests, with Trotter confronting Wilson directly in the White House in November 1914.

Twenty-two Howard University students founded Delta Sigma Theta Sorority on January 13, 1913. Within weeks the founders marched in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington D.C., making Delta Sigma Theta the first Black Greek organization to engage in a major public political act. The sorority grew into one of the largest Black women's organizations in the world.

Howard University's Law School, one of the only institutions training Black lawyers in America, developed its program in the 1910s under dedicated faculty. Howard Law graduates became the primary legal advocates for Black civil rights throughout the twentieth century, including Thurgood Marshall decades later. The school's survival and development during this era was essential to Black access to the legal system.

Howard University's Law School, one of the only institutions training Black lawyers in America, developed its program in the 1910s under dedicated faculty. Howard Law graduates became the primary legal advocates for Black civil rights throughout the twentieth century, including Thurgood Marshall decades later. The school's survival during this era was essential to Black access to the legal system.

R. Nathaniel Dett, a classically trained Black Canadian-American composer and pianist, joined Hampton Institute as director of music in 1913. Dett developed a signature style incorporating Black folk and spiritual idioms into formal classical structures, composing celebrated piano suites and choral works that elevated Black musical traditions within the Western classical framework.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University continued their international concert tours throughout the 1910s, presenting Negro spirituals to global audiences as art music. Their performances in Europe and across America maintained the tradition of presenting Black sacred music in formal concert settings and funding Fisk University's operations.

Alpha Kappa Alpha, founded at Howard University in 1908 as the first Black Greek-letter sorority, formally incorporated in 1913 under Nellie Quander's leadership after an earlier effort to transform the organization was rejected. The incorporation secured its identity and allowed it to expand nationally, eventually becoming the largest historically Black sorority in the world.

Alpha Kappa Alpha, founded at Howard University in 1908 as the first Black Greek-letter sorority, formally incorporated in 1913 under Nellie Quander's leadership after an earlier effort to transform the organization was rejected. The incorporation secured its identity and allowed it to expand nationally, eventually becoming the largest historically Black sorority in the world.

R. Nathaniel Dett, a classically trained Black Canadian-American composer and pianist, joined Hampton Institute as director of music in 1913. Dett developed a signature style that incorporated Black folk and spiritual idioms into formal classical structures, composing celebrated piano suites and choral works that elevated Black musical traditions within the Western classical framework.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University continued their international concert tours and early recordings throughout the 1910s, presenting Negro spirituals to global audiences as art music. Their performances in Europe and across America maintained the tradition of presenting Black sacred music in formal concert settings and funding Fisk University's operations.