January 1915

Marine biologist Ernest Everett Just of Howard University received the inaugural Spingarn Medal in 1915 for his groundbreaking research on cell fertilization and development at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Just's experiments on sea urchin eggs produced fundamental discoveries about the role of the cell surface in fertilization.

Marine biologist Ernest Everett Just of Howard University received the inaugural Spingarn Medal in 1915 for his groundbreaking research on cell fertilization and development at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Just's experiments on sea urchin eggs produced fundamental discoveries about the role of the cell surface in fertilization, work that would not receive full scientific credit for decades due to racial barriers.

When D.W. Griffith's virulently racist film 'The Birth of a Nation' premiered in 1915 glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, the NAACP organized nationwide protests, petitioned local governments to ban screenings, and publicly challenged its historical distortions. Though the campaign did not suppress the film entirely, it was a landmark moment in organized Black cultural resistance and demonstrated the NAACP's growing political power.

Pianist and composer Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll Morton,' who claimed to have invented jazz, began spreading New Orleans syncopated music to Chicago and beyond around 1915 as part of the broader Black migration northward. His sophisticated compositions and piano style bridged ragtime and jazz, making him one of the first true jazz composers and a central figure in the music's national spread.

Inspired by 'The Birth of a Nation,' William Joseph Simmons revived the Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia in November 1915. The revived Klan targeted Black Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants and grew to millions of members by the early 1920s. Its resurgence drove intensified anti-lynching activism and NAACP organizing throughout the remainder of the decade.

Lyricist Noble Sissle and pianist-composer Eubie Blake met and began their celebrated songwriting collaboration in 1915. Their partnership would produce some of the most important Black musical theatre of the era, culminating in the landmark Broadway show 'Shuffle Along' in 1921, which is credited with launching the Harlem Renaissance on Broadway.

Pianist and composer Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll Morton' began spreading New Orleans syncopated music to Chicago and beyond around 1915 as part of the broader Black migration northward. His sophisticated compositions and piano style bridged ragtime and jazz, making him one of the first true jazz composers and a central figure in the music's national spread.

Alice Ball, a 23-year-old Black chemist at the University of Hawaii, developed an injectable chaulmoogra oil extract that became the first effective treatment for leprosy (Hansen's disease). She died before publication and her work was initially credited to a colleague; her contribution was not formally recognized until decades later.

NAACP Chairman Joel Spingarn established the Spingarn Medal in 1915 as an annual award to the Black American who had made the most distinguished achievement in any field. The first medal was awarded to scientist Ernest Everett Just. The award became one of the most prestigious honors in Black America and highlighted excellence across science, arts, literature, and public service.

W.E.B. Du Bois's The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, reached a circulation of approximately 100,000 by 1915, making it one of the most widely read Black publications in America. The magazine combined investigative journalism, literary work, photography, and political commentary, becoming an essential organ for Black intellectual and political life.

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC), founded by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason in Memphis, expanded significantly in the 1910s as Pentecostal Christianity spread among Black Americans. COGIC's emphasis on spiritual gifts, emotional worship, and divine healing resonated with working-class Black migrants and it grew to become one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world.

W.E.B. Du Bois's The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, reached a circulation of approximately 100,000 by 1915, making it one of the most widely read Black publications in America. The magazine combined investigative journalism, literary work, photography, and political commentary, becoming an essential organ for Black intellectual and political life.

Anita Bush founded the Lafayette Players Stock Company in Harlem in 1915, creating one of the most significant Black repertory theater companies in American history. The company performed serious dramatic works rather than minstrel shows, developing Black acting talent and demonstrating that Black performers could handle the full range of dramatic literature. It operated across multiple cities through the 1930s.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, the most internationally celebrated Black American painter of the era, continued exhibiting major biblical works in Paris salons and American museums throughout the 1910s. His paintings were acquired by major institutions. Tanner remained based in Paris partly to escape American racism while maintaining his reputation as a leading religious painter.

Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton, the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, spent the 1910s traveling across the South and eventually to Chicago, spreading the New Orleans jazz and ragtime style to new audiences. Morton's compositional sophistication, including his use of the Spanish tinge and blues inflections, represented jazz's highest early development before the era of recorded music.

Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton, the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, spent the 1910s traveling across the South and eventually to Chicago, spreading the New Orleans jazz and ragtime style to new audiences. Morton's compositional sophistication, including his use of the Spanish tinge and blues inflections, represented jazz's highest early development before the era of recorded music.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, the most internationally celebrated Black American painter of the era, continued exhibiting major biblical works in Paris salons and American museums throughout the 1910s. His paintings including 'The Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water' were acquired by major institutions. Tanner remained based in Paris partly to escape American racism while maintaining his reputation as a leading religious painter.

John Hope, president of Morehouse College, consistently advocated for liberal arts education and full political rights for Black Americans. After Washington's death in 1915, Hope's model gained influence. The college produced business leaders, educators, and ministers who filled critical roles in Black community development, establishing the tradition of the 'Morehouse Man.'

John Hope, president of Morehouse College and one of the leading Black educators of the era, consistently advocated for liberal arts education and full political rights for Black Americans, in contrast to Booker T. Washington's industrial education approach. After Washington's death in 1915, Hope's model gained influence, and he later led the Atlanta University system.