This Month in African-American History
January | February
| March | April | May
| June
July | August | September
| October | November |
December
January 1
On this first day of January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the
Emancipation Proclamation. The document declared that slaves in states
that had rebelled against the Union were "then, thenceforward, and
forever free," and provided for African-American soldiers to enlist
in the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War.
January 2
On this day in 1990, David Norman Dinkins began his first working day as
mayor of New York City. After defeating former mayor Edward Koch in the
September Democratic primaries and then, by a small margin, beating
Republican Rudolph Guiliani in the general election, Dinkins had become
the first African-American mayor of America's largest city.
January 3
On this day in 1985, Leontyne Price, the first African-American to gain
international fame as a star of grand opera gave her farewell performance
at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, playing the title role in
Verdi's Aida.
January 5
Today is George Washington Carver Day, named in honor of the brilliant
agricultural chemist who died on this day in 1943. Nicknamed the
"Peanut Man" and the "Wizard of Tuskegee," Carver
headed the agricultural department of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
and was one of the most prominent scientists of his day. He was renowned
for finding new uses for everyday items. Carver discovered 188 ways to
use the sweet potato and 300 uses for the peanut including peanut milk,
dye, a
scrubbing powder, sweets, flour and livestock feed.
January 7
On this day in 1955, Marian Anderson appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in
New York as Ulrica in Verdi's Masked Ball, making her the first
African-American to perform at the Met. Considered the finest contralto of
her time, Anderson was told by famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, "a
voice like yours comes once in a century."
January 8
On this day in 1867, the first year of the Reconstruction era, Congress
passed a bill -- despite President Andrew Jackson's veto -- giving
African-Americans living in the nation's capitol the right to vote.
January 9
Countee Cullen died on this day in 1946 in New York City at the age of 42.
This poet and teacher is considered one of the most representative figures
of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. His works reflect the social
and political mood of the times.
January 15
Today in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The
son of a Baptist minister and grandson of a slave, King became America's
most revered Civil Rights leader. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, King was
a wise and moving orator whose words are often quoted.
January 17
On January 17, 1882, U.S. Patent No. 252,386 was assigned to Lewis Howard
Latimer for the process of Manufacturing Carbons. This process greatly
improved the quality of carbon filaments used in electric lamps.
January 19
In 1918, John H. Johnson was born on this day in Arkansas City, Arkansas.
Johnson is founder and publisher of the leading African-American magazines
Negro Digest (1942), Ebony (1945), Tan (1950),
and Jet (1951). Founded at the dawn of the mass-media age that
emerged after World War II, these magazines provided positive role models
for African-Americans and in the words of Johnson, made "Ebony
and the Negro consumer market integral parts of the marketing and
advertising agendas of corporate America."
January 20
On January 20, 1986, America celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
birthday as a national holiday for the first time. On November 2, 1983,
President Ronald Regan signed the bill making the third Monday of January
a federal holiday in honor of King. He is the first and only
African-American to be honored with a national holiday.
January 21
On this day in 1984, the "Mr. Nice Guy" of soul music died at
the age of 49. Nine years earlier, while on stage at the Latin Casino in
Camden, New Jersey, Jackie Wilson had suffered a heart attack, fell and
hit his head, which resulted in brain damage from which he never
recovered. "Mr. Wilson was not the most famous or the most
far-reaching figure in Rock 'n Roll," wrote the New Republic
a week after his death, "he was.merely perfect."
January 24
On this day in 1972, just days before he died of a heart attack, Jackie
Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Robinson was the
first African-American to play modern* major league baseball, paving the
way for the integration of all professional sports in America.
*Moses Fleetwood Walker played in the American Association for Toledo in 1884.
January 29
On this day in 1926, Violette Neatly Anderson, a Chicago lawyer, became
the first African-American woman to practice law before the U.S. Supreme
Court.
January 31
In 1865, the House of Representatives passed the Thirteenth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution by a narrow margin, with 11 Democrats defecting to
the Republican side to vote yes. The amendment had already passed
in the Senate on April 8, 1864. The Thirteenth Amendment reads:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
The Thirteenth Amendment was necessary because the Emancipation Proclamation, issued two years before, was a war statement with limited language and questionable legal power. Estimates say that only one out of three slaves was freed under the Emancipation Proclamation.
February 1
On Monday, February 1, 1960, at 4:30 p.m., four freshmen from North
Carolina Agricultural and Technological College, Ezell Blair, Jr., David
Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain, sat down at the lunch
counter at the local F.W. Woolworth store and ordered coffee and cherry
pie. This simple act was extremely bold for the times. These
African-American students were acting in defiance of Jim Crow laws that
permitted blacks to shop in the store but not to eat a meal there.
The Greensboro sit-in is credited with re-igniting the civil rights movement in America, transforming the older generation's don't-rock-the-boat tactics to a more militant, protest-based platform.
February 3
On this day in 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was
ratified, giving African-American men the right to vote.
February 5
On this day in 1956, L. R. Lautier became the first African-American
admitted to the National Press Club. For years the journalism profession
had been a bastion of white male domination, discriminating against
minorities and women.
February 6
On February 6, 1865, Dr. Martin Robinson Delany arrived in Washington,
D.C. to arrange a meeting with President Abraham Lincoln. Three days later
he sat with the president and presented his case. Delany urged the
commander in chief of the armed forces to permit African-American soldiers
to attain higher positions in the Union Army through the creation of more
all-black regiments led by black officers. This, argued Delany, would
allow African-Americans to hold superior positions without inducing racial
antagonisms. Lincoln agreed. Immediately thereafter, Delany was sworn in
as a major in the Union Army and charged with mustering African-American
troops.
February 7
The Exodus of 1879 is generally said to have begun in February of that
year and continued for several years thereafter. This wave of
African-American migration to the western United States was prompted by
political and social oppression in the southern states, represented by
Black Codes, limited educational opportunities, and out-and-out violence,
such as lynchings and violations of black women.
February 8
On this day in 1986, 18-year-old Debi Thomas won the women's Senior
Singles U.S. Figure Skating Championship, becoming the first
African-American to win this title.
February 9
Today in 1780, Capt. Paul Cuffe and six other African-American residents
of Massachusetts petitioned the state legislature for the right to vote.
Claiming "no taxation without representation," the residents had
earlier refused to pay taxes. The courts agreed and awarded Cuffe and the
six other defendants full civil rights.
February 11
In 1989, a 58-year-old African-American woman, the Reverend Barbara C.
Harris, was ordained as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
Before a crowd of 8,000 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston,
Massachusetts, Harris became the first female bishop of the Episcopal
Church, a worldwide religious organization originating from the Church of
England.
February 12
On this day in 1909, six African-Americans, most of them former members of
the short-lived Niagara Movement, and forty-seven liberal whites founded
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
W.E.B. DuBois, who served the organization for two decades, was the NAACP's only African-American officeholder in the early years. It wasn't until 1920 that James Weldon Johnson became the first African-American executive secretary.
February 13
On February 13 and 14, 1957, a meeting was held in New Orleans which
established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The
meeting was presided over by Martin Luther King, Jr., who became its first
president.
February 15
On this day in 1965, the most successful post-World War II
African-American pop singer died of lung cancer in Santa Monica,
California, at the age of 45. The deep voice of Nat King Cole made hits of
many romantic ballads such as "Mona Lisa,"
"Unforgettable," "Too Young," and "Time and the
River."
February 16
Joe Frazier solidly pounded Jimmy Ellis in four rounds on this day in
1970, to become boxing's world heavyweight champion, succeeding Muhammad
Ali.
February 20
On this day in 1895, Fredrick A. Douglass died of heart failure in
Anacostia Heights, Washington, D.C. With his impressive appearance and
eloquent manner of speech, Frederick Douglass had been the main
intellectual voice of black America for nearly fifty years. He was a
primary figure in the abolitionist movement and continued to demand full
rights for freedmen after slavery was abolished. He also actively
supported the women's rights movement.
February 21
On this day in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated while speaking at a rally
of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) at the Audubon Ballroom
in New York City. Malcolm X was a charismatic speaker and disciplined
leader who quickly rose to prominence through his association with the
Nation of Islam.
February 22
On this day in 1911, the "Bronze Muse" died in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper wrote more than a dozen books,
including poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854), Moses, A Story of the
Nile (1869), and Sketches of Southern Life (1872).
February 23
On this day in 1868, William Edward Burghardt DuBois was born in
Barrington, Massachusetts. DuBois was a leading figure in African-American
protest for most of his adult life. He emerged at the turn of the century
as an opposing voice to Booker T. Washington, who appeared to have
accepted segregation, or-in DuBois's eyes-defeat. His book Souls of
Black Folk, written in 1903, presented an alternative to Booker T.
Washington's "accommodation" platform and is considered a
classic work of the civil rights movement.
March 2
On this day in history in 1962, "Wilt the Stilt" Chamberlain
scored 100 points in a single basketball game-a professional record that
still stands today. He sunk 36 field goals and 28 foul shots.
March 3
On this day in 1865, Congress created the Freedman's Bureau to aid
destitute ex-slaves and impoverished whites in the South following the
Civil War. The bureau provides medical services and helped established
schools, hospitals and social service agencies during Reconstruction.
Union general Oliver O. Howard, who founded Howard University the
following year, was appointed its commissioner. Many of the major
African-American colleges were established during this period, both with
the Bureau's assistance and through large combined contributions from
the African-American community, sometimes coming in the form of
hard-earned nickels and dimes.
March 8
On this night in 1982, Sammy Davis, Jr. was among the stars who appeared
on ABC's "Night of 100 Stars," a benefit for the Actor's
Fund taped at Radio City Music Hall. Davis was a comedian, singer, dancer,
and actor who worked in stage, television, films and nightclubs, and who
frequently made special appearances at benefits and balls.
March 9
Today in 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Joseph Cinquez and his
fellow mutineers free. In August 1839, in the most famous ship revolt in
history, Cinquez, the son of an African king, and his Mendi followers had
killed the captain and taken over the Spanish slaver the Amistad.
The rebels were captured off Long Island, where they had been discovered
floating in a "mysterious long black schooner" with tattered
sails before trying to sail the Amistad back to Africa.
March 10
In 1913, Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor of the Underground
Railroad, died in Auburn, New York. With a $40,000 reward on her head.
Tubman personally rescued over 300 slaves in 19 trips to the South. She
was known to say, "I never ran a train off the track, and I never
lost a passenger."
March 11
On this day in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun
opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City with Sidney Poitier
and Claudia McNeil in the lead roles. The play ran for 530 performances,
becoming the longest running Broadway drama written and directed by an
African-American woman.
March 13
On this day in 1773, Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable established the first
permanent settlement at Shikai-o, meaning "the place of wild
onions," and is now known as Chicago, Illinois. This African-American
merchant also established a trading post at present-day Peoria, Illinois,
Port Huron, and Michigan City, Indiana.
March 15
On March 15, 1965, an angry President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint
session of Congress after voting rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama,
resulted in police-led violence. President Johnson took advantage of his
prestige and position to drum up support for the Voting Rights Act 1965.
The president titled his speech "We Shall Overcome."
March 21
On this day in 1964, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Under Secretary
of the United Nations Ralph Bunche and Reverend Ralph David Abernathy led
3,200 protestors in a second to march from Selma, Alabama, to the state
capitol. Two weeks earlier the first attempt had gone sour when state
police, under orders from Governor George Wallace, used violent means to
disperse the demonstrators.
March 23
Today in 1971, comedian and television star Flip Wilson received
International Broadcasting's Man of the Year Award. The following year
he appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.
March 24
Based on his beliefs that the Vietnam War was an obstacle to the Civil
Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly announced his strong
opposition to the war on this day in 1967. Several other prominent
African-Americans joined the voices of dissent.
March 25
Ida B. Wells died at the age of 78 in Chicago, Illinois, on this day in
1931. This turn-of-the-century anti-lynching crusader was also a civil
rights and black women's rights activist. A founding member of the
NAACP, Wells was viewed as even more militant than the DuBois camp.
March 26
On this day in 1944, the "First Lady of Soul" was born in
Detroit, Michigan. At age 16, Diana Earle joined the singing group the
Supremes, which later became Diana Ross and the Supremes. Between 1964 and
1969, the group recorded 16 top-10 hits on the Motown label.
March 30
The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had been ratified
on February 3, went into effect on this day in 1870. The amendment
extended the right to vote to all males, regardless of "race, color,
or previous condition of servitude." The next day Thomas Peterson
became the first African-American to exercise his new constitutional
right.
March 31
Today in 1988, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded to Toni Morrison
for her 1987 novel Beloved. In 1993 Morrison became the first
African-American to win a Nobel Prize for literature. Morrison has written
several celebrated novels, including the Bluest Eyes (1970), Sula
(1974), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Jazz (1992),
and Paradise (1997).
April 2
Today in 1939, the "Lover Man of Soul" was born. Marvin Gaye,
the master of soul-based rock, recorded many Motown hits and soul
classics, such as "Sexual Healing," "How Sweet It Is to Be
Loved By You," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (with
Tammi Terrell), and Billboard's number one hit for 1973, "Let's
Get It On." Gaye scored one of Motown's biggest hits ever with
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine."
April 4
On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot outside of his room
at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King's assassination
precipitated marches and rallies across America and riots erupted in over
100 cities. In the melee, 46 people were killed and 20,000 arrested. From
April 5 - 11, there were 50,000 federal and state troops called in to keep
order. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 an official day of
mourning. King was 38 years old at the time of his death.
April 6
On this day in 1909, Matthew Henson became the first man to reach the
North Pole. Adm. Robert E. Peary, the expedition's commander, arrived
about 45 minutes after Henson. The temperature was 29 degrees when Henson
planted the American flag at 90 degrees north-the only place on the
planet where the only way you can go is south.
April 8
At 9:07 p.m. on this day in 1974, in Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta Braves
baseball player Hank Aaron sent a fastball served up by Al Downing of the
Los Angeles Dodgers over the left field fence, hitting his 715th
homerun and breaking Babe Ruth's record. A fellow Braves player ensured
that Aaron stepped on home plate, where a welcoming party of fans,
players, and his mother awaited him. The ball game stopped while 53,775
fans showered "The Hammer" with a 15-minute ovation.
April 10
On this day in 1816, Richard Allen was elected first bishop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. The Church had broken away from the
white-dominated Methodist Church earlier in the same year. Today, the AME
is one of the largest black religious organizations in America.
April 11
The "Soybean Chemist" was born on this day in 1899 in
Montgomery, Alabama. Percy Lavon Julian, who received his Ph.D. in Organic
Chemistry from the University of Vienna, used Soya beans for several of
his important discoveries.
April 13
On this day in 1964 Sidney Poitier won an Oscar for Best Actor of the Year
for his role in Lilies of the Field, becoming the first
African-American to win an Oscar.
April 20
Today in 1982, international opera star Leontyne Price gave a concert for
the opening of the Daughters of the American Revolution convention at
Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. The concert was in honor of Marian
Anderson, who had been prohibited from performing at the same venue in
1939 by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of racist
practices.
April 21
On this day in 1932, the 72-year-old African-American cowboy, Bill Pickett
died after being kicked while roping a bronco. Pickett invented and was
the master of the rodeo event called bulldogging. Called the "Dusky
Demon", Pickett was one of the most talented and loved cowboys of the
101 Ranch Wild West Show that toured throughout America and Europe.
April 24
The United Negro College Fund was incorporated on this day in 1944. Dr.
Fredrick Patterson, President of Tuskegee Institute, founded the UNCF to
help raise funds for America's historically black colleges and
universities, which were facing severe financial crises at the time.
April 25
In April 1776 the Pennsylvania Magazine published a poem written by slave
poet Phillis Wheatley in honor of Gen. George Washington. Wheatley was the
first African-American and the second woman to publish a volume of poetry.
May 1
Today in 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her second
collection of poetry, titled Annie Allen. A Chicago native, Brooks
was the first African-American to win a Pulitzer. This prolific writer has
produced more than 15 volumes of poetry, and wrote the novel Maud
Martha in 1953 and her autobiography Report from Part One in
1972. She was designated poet laureate of Illinois in 1968. In 1985 she
became the first African-American woman to be appointed to the coveted
position of poetry consultant at the Library of Congress.
May 2
Elijah McCoy was born on this day in 1844, to fugitive slave parents in
Ontario, Canada. McCoy later moved to Michigan, where he worked as a
mechanical engineer. This mechanical genius was awarded 57 patents for
devices ranging from a lawn sprinkler, to an ironing table, to his most
important invention-the lubricating oil cup.
May 3
The "Godfather of Soul" was born into a poor South Carolina
family on this day in 1933. By the time he was a teenager, James Brown had
become, in some ways, a present-day Robin Hood who reportedly shoplifted
for the other needy kids. His penchant for petty theft landed him in jail,
though within a matter of years Brown ascended from juvenile delinquent to
American musical celebrity.
May 4
Thirteen members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set off on a
bus ride from Washington D.C. to New Orleans on this day in 1961. These
civil rights activist were testing a 1960 Supreme Court ruling that
expanded anti-discrimination laws covering interstate travel to include
facilities used by travelers. The Freedom Riders bravely entered
segregated terminals, waiting rooms, restrooms and restaurants. They were
met with harassment, violence, and even arrest.
May 5
On this day in 1918, William Stanley Braithwaite was awarded the NAACP's
Springarn Medal for his literary achievements as a critic, editor, and
poet. W.E.B. DuBois called Braithwaite "the most prominent critic of
poetry in America."
May 9
Today in 1930, defending world welterweight champion Jackie Fields
"was thrashed as soundly as ever a ring champion has been
beaten" by African-American boxer Jack Thompson. This 147-pound title
upset was witnessed by a crowd of about 14,000 fans at the Olympia Arena
in Detroit, Mich., and brought in a total of $70,000 dollars in receipts.
May 10
On this day in 1919, race riots broke out in Charleston, South Carolina,
beginning the Red Summer of 1919. During this bloody episode in the U.S.
history, 26 violent riots took place across the country. In Washington,
D.C., from July 19 to 21, six people were killed and 100 were injured. On
July 27, in Chicago, 15 whites and 23 blacks were killed and 25 to 50
African-Americans were murdered by white posse in Elaine, Ark.
May 16
Isaac Burns Murphy won the Kentucky Derby on this day in 1884, riding the
horse Buchanan. He won riding Riley in 1890 and Kigman in 1891, becoming
the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times. Murphy also won
the American Derby and Latonia Derby five times each; these races were
considered even more illustrious than the Kentucky Derby at the time. Out
of 1,412 races, Murphy came in first 628 times, earning recognition as
"the greatest horse jockey of the 19th century."
May 17
On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in
the historical case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Chief Justice
Earl B. Warren read the Court's Decision that the "separate but
equal" was not possible in public schools in America and reversed the
outcome of the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson case, putting a legal end to
segregation in America.
May 19
On this day in 1925, a young street hustler, nicknamed Red as a young
street hustler and who later called himself El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz after
making a pilgrimage to Mecca was born in Omaha, Neb. Best known as Malcolm
X, this captivating speaker became a leader of great stature who preached
self-sufficiency and self-discipline to African-Americans.
May 22
On this day in 1967, the masterful and prolific writer Langston Hughes
died in New York City. His career spanned from the Harlem Renaissance of
the 1920s through the new black Renaissance of the 1960s. His first volume
of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926 and his first
book of short stories, The Ways of White Folks, was published in
1934.
May 24
On this day in 1974, legendary big band leader Duke Ellington died of lung
cancer in New York City. One of the most creative composers of the 20th
century, Ellington influenced American music from the swing era of the
1930s until his death in the 1970s.
May 25
On this day in 1878 in Richmond, Va., Luther Bill Robinson was born, and
along with him was born a new word in the English language. Best known as
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, he coined the term copacetic,
which means okay or fine.
May 26
Aaron Douglas was born this day in 1899 in Topeka, Kan. Known for his
style of "geometric symbolism," Douglas was one of the principal
visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance. African-American writers during
the 1920s often called upon Douglas to illustrate their works, for which
he gained the title: "Official Artist of the Harlem
Renaissance."
May 30
Every year on Memorial Day weekend, the Black Rodeo is held in Boley,
Okla. This annual event highlights the fact that African-Americans had a
much larger presence in the cattle country of the Old West than popular
culture would has us believe.
May 31
"An exceptionally good book and in parts an extremely funny
one," said a review in the New Yorker dated May 31, 1952, in
reference to the novel Invisible Man. An "impassioned first
novel of a Negro rebel in the modern world," wrote the New York
Times, adding that the book embraced a "major literary awareness
which the class-conscious novel of the 30s often lacked.
The release of the Invisible Man propelled first-time author Ralph Ellison into the limelight. Critics praised the work and compared Ellison to such other prominent postwar authors as William Faulkner and Ellison's friend Richard Wright.
June 1
On this first day of June 1834, Sojourner Truth set out from New York on
an historic journey across America. She traveled far and wide preaching
about the evils of slavery and promoting women's rights. She claimed the
Lord gave her the name Sojourner Truth, as he had called upon her "
to travel up and down the land" declaring the truth to people.
Truth was born a slave, originally bearing the name Isabella Baumfree. She gained her freedom when the New York State Emancipation Act was passed in 1827. An impressive sight, she stood six-feet tall and wore a satin banner that said, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Truth was the guest of President Lincoln at the White House on several occasions and was one of the voices that influenced Lincoln to recruit African-American soldiers for the Union Army during the Civil War.
June 3
On this day in 1906, one of the most legendary American expatriates was
born in St. Louis, Missouri. Josephine Baker sang and danced her way into
the hearts of the French, earning the title the " Toast of
Paris" in the 1920's.
June 4
On June 4, 1972, Angela Davis was acquitted of complicity in a plot to
free three San Quentin prisoners from a Marin County, California,
courthouse. During the escape attempt, four people had been killed.
Because the guns had been registered to Davis, the FBI put her on its Ten
Most Wanted list. The FBI tracked her down to charged her with conspiracy,
kidnapping and murder. Davis sat in jail for sixteen months awaiting
trail. The Angel Davis trail was one of the most infamous courtroom drams
in contemporary American history.
June 6
On this day in 1943, attorney and educator William Henry Hastier was
awarded the NAACP's Spinger Medal for a "distinguished career as a
jurist and as an uncompromising champion of equal justice."
June 7
The "Princess of Black Poetry" was born on this day in 1943 in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Nikki Giovanni's first volume of poetry, Black
Feeling, Black Talk, was published in the mid-1960's during what has
been called the African-American Literary Awaking, or the Black Arts
Movement. At that time her trademark style was mixing slang and cuss words
with elegant speech and poetry, with the intention of
consciousness-raising.
June 8
On this day in 1953, the refusal to serve African-Americans in Washington,
D.C. restaurants was unanimously outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The
Court upheld an 1873 law that prohibited owners of eating establishments
from refusing service because of a person's race or color.
June 10
On this day in 1854, at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, James Augustine
Healy was ordained as the first African-American Roman Catholic priest.
Later, upon his consecration by Pope Pius IX in 1875, Healy became the
first African-American bishop.
June 12
Today in 1963, 37-year-old Medgar W. Evers was shot in the back by a
segregation fanatic while in front of his house in Jackson, Mississippi.
As the NAACP's field secretary in Mississippi, Evers was a central
figure in desegregation efforts taking place in the state and was involved
in investigating the murders of African-Americans. This World War II
veteran had been enlightened to the plight of poor African-Americans while
working as an insurance salesman. He quit his successful career to devote
himself full-time to the NAACP.
June 13
On this day in 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American
U.S. Supreme Court Justice, appointed President Lyndon B. Johnson. At the
time he was a solicitor general of the United States.
June 15
Today in 1917, Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School
was established in Des Moines, Iowa, to train African-American officers
for World War I. Called the black West Point, the school was disbanded
after the war ended. It was designated a national historic landmark in
1974.
June 20
Today in 1926, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson became the first African-American
president of Howard University. Remaining president for more than thirty
years, Johnson oversaw a major expansion of the university.
June 22
In Chicago on this day in 1937, the "Brown Bomber" knocked out
James J. Braddock in eight rounds, becoming the heavyweight champion and
providing Black America with a healthy dose of pride.
June 27
On this day in 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio. This
son of former slaves became a popular and prolific turn-of-the-century
writer. Booker T. Washington dubbed him "Poet Laureate of the Negro
Race." Dunbar was most widely known for dialect poetry,
although he personally favored his Standard English writings.
June 28
On this day in 1935, Mary McLeod Bethune was awarded the NAACP's
Spingarn Medal because "in the face of almost insuperable
difficulties she has, almost single-handedly, established and built up
Bethune Cookman College."
With only $1.50 to invest, Bethune built Daytona Normal and Industrial Schoolhouse for African-American girls in 1904. The original four-room Schoolhouse was built on a garbage dump. After merging in 1923 with the Cookman Institute for men, it grew into one of America's finest universities.
June 30
On this day in 1917, the woman who has often been called "the most
beautiful woman in the world" was born in Brooklyn, New York. Lena
Horne began her career at the age of 16 as a chorus girl at the
whites-only Cotton Club in Harlem. She then toured with Noble Sissle's
orchestra and later became the first African-American to front a white
band when she sang with Charlie Barnet's Orchestra. Her hit tunes
included, Stormy Weather," "Blues in the Night," "The
Lady Is a Tramp," and "Mad About the Boy."
July 5
Arthur Ash defeated Jimmy Conners to win the men's single title at
Wimbledon, England.
July 9
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on this day
in 1868. The Amendment gave full civil rights to former slaves, offered
equal protection under the law, and extended federal guarantees to civil
rights to the states.
July 16
Today in 1944, Dr. Charles Richard Drew was awarded the NAACP's Spingarn
Medal "for outstanding work in blood plasma. Dr. Drew's research in
his field led to the establishment of a blood plasma bank which served as
one of the models for the widespread system of blood banks used by the
American Red cross."
July 21
On this day in 1896, at the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington,
D.C., the National Association of Color Women was formed by a merger of
the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the Colored Women's
League. Mary Church Terrell, a D.C. school board member at the time,
was elected its first president, and the the organization adopted the
slogan, "Lift As We Climb".
July 25
On this day in 1967, President Lyndon B Johnson sent in 4,700 army
paratroopers to restore calm in Detroit after race riots erupted the day
before. Forty-three people were killed in the uprising-more than had died
in the infamous Watts riots two years earlier.
August 2
On this day in 1924, a boy was born in Harlem, New York, who was to become
one of America's most talented writers of the 1950s and 1960s-James
Baldwin.
August 3
On August 3, 1936, at the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens
won the 100-meter sprint, capturing his first of four gold medals. Over
the next six days, Owens won Olympic gold in the 200-meter dash, the broad
jump, and the 400-meter relay.
August 9
In August 1974, Beverly Johnson became the first African-American to
appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. The five-foot-nine-inch beauty was
asked on a radio show if she was the "biggest black model in the
business." She replied, "No, I'm not. I'm the biggest model-period."
August 11
Today in 1965, rioting broke out in the Watts section of Los Angeles,
California, lasted for a week, and turned the neighborhood into a disaster
area. Burn, baby, burn was the extremist slogan of these devastating
riots.
August 16
Peter Salem, a Revolutionary War veteran and hero of the Battle of Bunker
Hill, died on this day in 1816. During the Battle of Bunker Hill (which
actually took place on Breed's Hill) fought in June 1775, Salem shot
down British royal marine Maj. John Pitcairn in the final assault.
August 20
On this day in 1619, the first twenty African settlers arrived in the
United States as indentured servants, landing in Jamestown Colony,
Virginia, on a Dutch ship under the command of Captain Jope and an English
pilot named Marmaduke.
August 22
In August 1859, Captain Foster guided the slaver Clotilde into Mobile,
Alabama, under a veil of secrecy. The vessel was laden with human cargo in
violation of the ban on the international slave trade. To avoid being
arrested by the federal authorities, Captain Foster hid his African
captives ashore and set fire to the ship. Foster and the ship's owner,
Timothy Meaher, found it impossible to secure buyers for their contraband
cargo and were forced to keep all the intended slaves themselves. Not long
afterwards, at the outset of the Civil War, Meaher and Foster freed the
Clotilde captives. The Clotilde was the last known slave ship to arrive in
America.
August 30
Today in 1983, the space shuttle Challenger blasted off in the dark from
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the first African-American
astronaut to go into space. Forty-year-old Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr., a
mission specialist, tested the Challenger's mechanical arm, helped
launch weather and communications satellites, and performed experiments in
electrophoresis.
September 2
The last episode of the television drama I Spy aired on this night in
1968.
September 3
On this day in 1922, Bessie Coleman made her first flight in an American
airplane at an exhibition honoring the all-black Fifteenth Infantry
Regiment of the New York National Guard.
September 4
On this day in 1781, forty-six settlers from Mexico founded Los Angeles,
California. Twenty-six of these pioneers were recorded as being mulattos-of
mixed African, Spanish, and Native American descent in varying amounts.
September 9
On this day in 1739, the bloodiest slave rebellion of the century ignited
at Stono, South Carolina, outside of Charleston. Twenty Angolans, led by a
slave named Cato, seized weapons from a storehouse and began marching
toward Florida, gathering support from other slaves along the way.
September 12
On this day in 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman
to go into space.
September 15
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, a stick of dynamite was thrown into the
basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham,
Alabama. The blast killed four African-American girls who were attending
Sunday school.
September 17
On this day in 1983, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first
African-American Miss America was crowned. At age of 20, Vanessa Williams
of New York had won American's foremost beauty pageant.
September 18
Today in 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered his famous speech at the
Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. Known as
the Atlanta Compromise, he proposed vocational education as opposed to
academics as the way forward for African-Americans.
September 20
On this day in 1664, Maryland passed the first antiamalgamation law. This
was intended to prevent English women from marrying African men.
Interracial marriage was a fairly common practice during the colonial era
among white indentured servants and black slaves-as well as in more
aristocratic circles.
September 22
Ralph J. Bunch was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on this day in 1950 for
his role as mediator in the Palestinian conflict. Bunch was the first
African-American Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
September 23
On this day in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order
No. 10730, forcing the integration of Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. This order was necessary despite Brown v. the Board of
Education, which three years earlier had outlawed segregation in American
public schools.
September 30
General Colin L. Powell retired from military service on this day in 1993.
Powell was the youngest and the first African-American chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
October 4
Today in 1962 Ermer Robinson was appointed coach of the American
Basketball League's Oakland club, becoming one of the first
African-Americans to coach a major professional sports team. Robinson
began his basketball career touring in the 1960's with the talented and
amusing Harlem Globetrotters.
October 5
Charlie Smith died of natural causes on this day in 1979 in a nursing home
in Barrow, Florida. He was believed to be 137 years old, making him the
oldest person in the United States.
Smith was born with the name Mitchell Watkins in Liberia, West Africa, in 1842. He came to America as a child slave, claiming he was lured aboard a slave ship by promises of "fritter trees on board with lots of syrup." He arrived in New Orleans in 1854 and was given the name of his owner, a Texas rancher, as well as a new birth date-July 4th. Smith gained his freedom when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
October 7
On this day in 1821, William Still was born in New Jersey, a free man.
Still was known as the "president of the Underground Railroad,"
and was the main strategist and leading spokesperson of the organization.
His classic work, Underground Railroad, was published in 1872. Besides his
humanitarian work, Still owned a prosperous coal stove business and lumber
yard. He also founded the first YMCA for African-Americans.
October 9
Benjamin Banneker died on this day in 1806 at the age of 74 in Baltimore,
Maryland. Banneker was a noted mathematician, surveyor, astronomer, and
was the most famous African-American of the colonial era.
Banneker was born in Ellicot Mills in 1731, the son of a free mother who purchased a slave and then married him-just as her white English servant mother had done. While still in his 20s, Banneker built the first clock made in America. People traveled long distances to see his famous clock, made entirely of wood using only a pen knife, and which worked accurately for twenty years.
October 11
On this day in 1991, appeals court judge Clarence Thomas delivered a
speech to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his reopened confirmation
hearings. President George Bush had recently nominated Thomas to be the
106th Supreme Court justice, filling Thurgood Marshall's
vacancy. Because Thomas' credentials were arguable and held conservative
views-particularly in regards to civil rights-support from the
African-American community was mixed. The National Urban League and the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference supported his nomination, while
the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus opposed it.
October 13
The gas mask was patented on this day in 1914 by Garret A. Morgan, an
African-American inventor from Cleveland, Ohio.
October 15
Jelly Roll Morton, self-proclaimed "inventor of jazz" wrote his
first composition. "New Orleans Blues", on this day in 1902.
October 19
Othello Opened on this day in 1943 at New York's Shubert
Theater, with Paul Robeson in the title role. Its 296 performances made it
the longest running Shakespearean play in Broadway history.
October 29
The Collapse of the stock market on October 29, 1929 heralded the
beginning of the Great Depression. The Depression was especially hard on
African-Americans-the first to be fired and the last to be hired, many
of whom were already experiencing economic hardship.
October 30
Today in 1974, fifty million people across the world watched as Muhammad
Ali regained the heavyweight boxing title from the current world champion
George Foreman.
November 1
On this day in 1900, brothers James Weldon Johnson, author, educator and
general secretary of the NAACP (1920-1930), and John Rosamond Johnson
composed the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing", commonly referred
to as the black national anthem.
November 3
On this day in 1920, Eugene O'Neill's play Emperor Jones opened at the
Provincetown Theater in New York. Charles S. Gilpin, the dean of America's
black dramatic actors, played the title role.
November 4
Today in 1988, Bill Cosby and his wife Camille presented a gift of 20
million dollars to Spelman College. One of Cosby's daughters had
attended this prestigious women's college in Atlanta Georgia. At the
time this was the largest single donation made to an African-American
college, as well as the largest single charitable donation ever made by an
African-American. "I think we all understand that schools need
money," Cosby said about the donation, "but I think we accepted
that white folk were going to keep them alive."
November 5
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American woman to serve
in the U.S. Congress. A Democrat, she represented the Bedford-Stuyvesant
section of Brooklyn. In 1972 she became the first African-American woman
to run for president with a major political party. Aware that she would
not win the nomination, Chisholm explained her motivation for entering the
race," The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned
person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little
smoother because I helped pave it."
November 11
Louis Armstrong recorded the first of his "Hot Five and Hot
Seven" songs on this day in 1925, forever altering jazz music.
"The whole of jazz music," asserts jazz expert Hugues Panassie,
"was transformed by Louis, overthrown by his genius.
November 13
On this day in 1985, New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden won the Cy Young
Award. Just a few days shy of his 21st birthday, and after
playing only two seasons in the major leagues. Gooden was the youngest
pitcher to win this prestigious award. The Cy Young Award is decided by a
panel of twenty-four baseball writers. In Gooden's case, all twenty-four
judges selected him as their first choice.
November 19
"Stepin Fetchit Dead at 83; Comic Actor in Over 40 Films" read
the obituary in Variety on this day in 1985. "The son of a Jamaican
cigar maker," said the article, "he was born Lincoln Theodore
Monroe Andrew Perry and was considered the father of black film stars and
claimed to be the first black entertainer to become a millionaire".
Stepin Fetchit had died of pneumonia and congestive heart failure in
Woodland Hills, California
November 22
Dan "Daddy" Rice performed his Jim Crow routine for the first
time in November 1832 at the Bowery Theater in New York City. This white
minstrel actor is believed to have modeled his plantation slave character
after a crippled elderly African-American he had seen doing a peculiar
song and dance while working in a stable behind a theatre. Rice adopted
the man's song and odd manner of dancing and soon became famous across
America for his Jim Crow minstrel act. His song "Jim Crow"
became the first for American song to enjoy international success.
November 23
Patent No. 594,059 was awarded on this day in 1897 to Andrew J. Beard, an
African-American inventor. Despite having no formal education in
engineering or metalwork, Beard had invented an automatic railroad car
coupling device called the Jenny Coupler. Prior to the Jenny Coupler,
train cars were joined together manually, causing thousands of railroad
workers to lose their hands, arms, and even their lives.
November 26
At 3:00 p.m. on this day in 1883, in Battle Creek, Michigan, Sojourner
Truth passed into the Kingdom of Heaven. Born a slave in Ulster County,
New York, Truth freed herself and became a self-styled minister and
outstanding orator. She was an outspoken defender of both the abolitionist
and feminist movement. Her "Ain't I a Woman" Speech, delivered
in 1852 in Akron, Ohio, to the second National Women's Suffrage
Convention, earned her respect in her own day and secured her place in
history.
November 29
Granville T. Woods patented his most famous invention, the Railway
Induction Telegraph System, on this day in 1887. The Induction Telegraph
helped reduce train collisions.
December 1
On this day in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, after a long day of work as a
seamstress, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white man.
This was in defiance of a local Jim Crow law, which allowed black
passengers to sit only if no whites had to stand. Parks said, "My
only concern was to get home after a hard day's work," but she set
off a 381-day bus boycott, led by young and relatively unknown preacher
named Martin Luther King, Jr.
December3
The North Star newspaper was founded by Fredrick Douglas on this day in
1847 in Rochester, New York. The paper's slogan was: "Right is of
no sex-Truth is of no color-God is the father of us all, and all we
are Brethren."
December 4
The first African-American Greek letter society was founded on this day in
1906. The fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha was organized as literary and study
group at New York's Cornell University, a predominantly white school.
December 5
On this day in 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order No.
9808. This landmark order established the first President's Committee on
Civil Rights charged with examining law enforcement agencies and
government systems to determine how their means of safeguarding the civil
rights of Americans could improve and strengthened. The committee was
ordered to report their findings to the president in writing.
December 8
On this day in 1967, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., the first
African-American Astronaut, was killed when his F-104 Starfighter crashed
at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. The crash
occurred only six months after the 31-year-old air force major had been
appointed to the NASA space program.
December 11
"Dr. King Accepts Nobel Peace Prize as 'Trustee'" read the
front page of the New York Times on this day in 1964. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on behalf of
the civil rights movement and all men who love peace and
brotherhood."
December 14
December 14, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against an
Atlanta hotel owner who refused service to African-Americans. The hotel
owner challenged the Civil Rights Act, which had become law in July,
claiming Congress did not have the right to regulate discrimination in
private accommodations
December 15
Today in 1761, Jupiter Hammon published the broadside poem, "An
Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries." This
was the first single poem published by an African-American. (Phillis
Wheatley published the first volume of poetry in 1773). In 1778 Hammon
released, "An Address to Miss Wheatley, Ethiopian Poetess," in
Boston, the second of his several broadside poems.
December 19
Carter G. Woodson was born on this day in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia.
The son of former slaves, Woodson is known as the Father of Black History.
A Harvard-educated historiographer, he founded the Association for Negro
Life and History, and in 1916 began publishing the Journal of Negro
History. As an educator in Washington, D. C., Woodson became aware that
history textbooks glossed over the role of African-American. Thus, in 1937
he began producing the Negro History Bulletin for elementary and secondary
schoolteachers.
December 22
On this day in 1939 the "Mother of the Blues" died of heart
disease at the age of 53 in Columbus, Georgia. Ma Rainey was the first of
the legendary blues singers. Bedecked in glittery Jewelry, fancy dresses,
and belting out the blues in her dramatic, melancholic style, Rainey came
into fame and fortune during the classic blues period of the
pre-Depression era.
December 23
Madame C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana on this day in
1867 to former slave parents. Orphaned as a young girl married at the age
of 14, and widowed by 20, Breedlove went on to become the first
African-American female millionaire.
December 25
Cabell Calloway, Jr. was born on Christmas Day in 1907 in Rochester, New
York. "Cab" Calloway rose to stardom during the big-band era of
the 1930s. He first entered the limelight as leader of the Missourians,
the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club. Calloway became known for his
scat singing-a style using nonsense syllables-on songs like "St.
Louis Blues" and "Mini the Moocher." His trademark
"Hi-de-ho" shout was repeated across America, becoming part of
the lexicon of the era. Not strictly a great musician, Calloway's fame
stemmed from a flamboyant and upbeat stage personality and his knack for
leading talent-filled big bands.
December 29
The Cleveland Brown played their last game of the season against the
Detroit Lions on this day in 1957. Although the Browns were solidly
defeated in their bid for the NFL title, it wrapped up an incredible
season for the rookie fullback Jimmy Brown. The Cleveland Brown's
first-year sensation led the league in rushing, with 942 yards, and broke
the NFL record for most yards rushing in one game (237 against the lost
Angeles Rams).
December 30
On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the
first year in seventy-one years of record keeping that no one was lynched
in the United States. This was not last however. On August 28, 1955,
14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped and lynched in Money, Mississippi.
December 31
On this last day of the year in 1980, the New York Times announced that
African-American country-and-western singer Charley Pride would be among
the entertainers at President Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Gala early the
nest year. One of the best-selling songsters in America, Mississippi-born
Charley Pride is the first African-American country music star.
 |
The information above -- and more -- can be found in the outstanding book The African-American Book of Days: Inspirational History and Thoughts for Every Day of the Year, written by Julia Stewart and published by Carol Pub. Group in 1996. |
About the Center |
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
| Materials for Teachers
Historic All-Black Towns | Web
Sites | African-American Firsts Challenge
African-American
Authors | African-American Inventions
