1. William Pickens was an American orator, educator, journalist, and essayist.
41 Facts About William Pickens
1. 2.
William Pickens wrote multiple articles and speeches, and penned two autobiographies, first The Heir of Slaves and second Bursting Bonds.
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William Pickens's works called for the liberty and emancipation of African Americans.
4.
William Pickens devoted much of his life traveling the world as a spokesperson for the freedom of African Americans, and worked to promote the beliefs of scholar W E B Du Bois.
5.
William Pickens's family moved when he was young and he was raised mostly in Arkansas.
6.
William Pickens was able to broaden his world, both because of a longer school term of nine months, and meeting more new people in the growing city.
7.
William Pickens began his first term at his new school three months late, but soon developed a newfound appreciation for education and studying.
8.
William Pickens always made a one hundred for his daily average in mathematics.
9.
William Pickens believed that she died because of physical exploitation, ill treatment, and life-threatening health conditions.
10.
William Pickens felt confusion and sorrow, but later wrote that he was reassured by God that his mother wanted him to succeed and would want him to continue his work even without her there to support him.
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William Pickens drew from this to build his confidence and faith in his abilities.
12.
When William Pickens began high school in Argenta, he soon became first in his class for Algebra.
13.
Jealous of his success, William Pickens's classmates ridiculed and teased him.
14.
William Pickens received bachelor's degrees from Talladega College and Yale University, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
15.
William Pickens was awarded the Henry James Ten Eyck Prize for an essay about Haiti.
16.
William Pickens earned a master's degree from Fisk University ; and a Litt.
17.
William Pickens was a member for more than two decades.
18.
Harriet William Pickens entered the US Navy as a WAVE and during World War II became one of the first two African-American women officers in the service.
19.
William Pickens died at sea on April 6,1954, while vacationing with his wife on the RMS Mauretania.
20.
William Pickens wrote about his family, his schooling and teachers who pushed him to succeed, and how he accomplished many things in his life and made a name for himself.
21.
William Pickens was determined to become an accomplished Black man, and attested to the benefits of hard work and persistence.
22.
William Pickens asserts in his 1918 article, entitled "The Kind of Democracy the Negro Race Expects", that the word 'democracy' means different things to different people.
23.
William Pickens says there are six ways to identify what democracy should mean.
24.
William Pickens was fluent in and instructed several languages, including Latin, Greek, German, and Esperanto.
25.
William Pickens taught at his first alma mater, Talladega College, for 10 years.
26.
William Pickens was became a professor of sociology and a college dean at Morgan State College, a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland.
27.
In 1920, William Pickens was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
28.
William Pickens served as an advocate in this organization for twenty-two years.
29.
William Pickens was initially considered for the position of field secretary but James Weldon Johnson was selected in December 1916.
30.
On January 12,1920, Pickens was offered the position of assistant field secretary by NAACP executive secretary, John R Shillady.
31.
William Pickens finished teaching for the academic year at Morgan State College, and accepted the position, which provided a $3,000 salary.
32.
On January 15,1923, William Pickens joined the "eight people group".
33.
William Pickens stayed in the Soviet Union for two weeks and had a brief meeting with Leon Trotsky, who Pickens said "showed intelligent interest in the American Negro".
34.
William Pickens did not join the Communist Party, but supported numerous Socialist-led campaigns.
35.
William Pickens visited Spain in August 1938 during its Civil War.
36.
William Pickens published writings in such pro-Communist journals as the New Masses and Fight.
37.
On February 1,1943, William Pickens was one of the 39 men, all federal government employees, named by Martin Dies as affiliates of "Communist front organizations", who urged Congress to refuse "to appropriate money for their salaries," accusing them of being disloyal to the US.
38.
William Pickens wrote to and met with people investigating the allegations.
39.
The Kerr committee did not name William Pickens as being subversive or unfit.
40.
In 1973, Yale University created the William Pickens Prize, named after William Pickens Sr.
41.
William Pickens III is a patron of the Sag Harbor Bay Street Theatre.