Snowden (Otto) is born in Phoebus, Virginia.

The son of a career Army officer, Snowden moves to Boston with his family in 1917. He graduates from Boston Schools, then Howard University, and returns to Boston in 1934 after marrying Muriel Sutherland. He becomes executive director of the St. Mark’s Social Center, and, after serving in the U.S. Army, helps found Freedom House in 1949,* and becomes one of the foremost leaders in Boston’s black community. Snowden dies in 1995.