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1832 (Feb)
Published
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The Female Anti-Slavery Society, the first Black Women’s abolitionist society is founded in Salem, Massachusetts.
In February 1832, a group of “females of color” in Salem, Massachusetts organized the first women’s antislavery society in the United States. Like most free Black antislavery societies, the Salem organization addressed a variety of issues important to free Blacks in addition to the campaign against slavery. It supported secular and Sabbath schools for free Blacks, assisted newly freed or runaway slaves, and opposed racial segregation and discrimination in the northern free states. Two years after its founding, the Society expanded its membership to include White women and officially re-organized as the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society. The Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society (SFASS) was similar in some ways to other female anti-slavery organizations. It raised money to support abolitionist publications such as The Liberator by organizing annual bazaars that featured the contributions of local free Blacks and organized lecture series. The society’s support for The Liberator underscored its Garrisonian politics that advocated the immediate end of slavery as well as Garrison’s support of the expanded role of women in the movement. Like other abolitionist women, its participants were often involved in a host of other reform activities. For example, the Society’s vice-president, Clarissa C. Lawrence, also served as president of the Colored Female Religious and Moral Reform Society of Salem, and Sarah Parker Remond was a prominent abolitionist lecturer who would eventually pursue a career in medicine. Remond’s family was among the Black elite in Salem and active participants in the abolitionist movement. Many of the members, however, were self-supporting women. The working-class rank and file of the Society shaped the scope of its priorities and activities. In addition to its overt antislavery work, for example, the SFASS established a sewing school for young Black women and girls and raised funds to help sustain a local Black church. The Society disbanded in January 1866 but a number of former members participated in the activities of the Freedman’s Bureau in the South.
References:
  •  • Yee, S. (2009, October 16). Female Anti-Slavery Society, Salem, Massachusetts (1832-1866). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/female-anti-slavery-society-salem-massachusetts-1832-1866/
  •  • July Roy Jeffrey, The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1998)
  •  • Shirley J. Yee, Black Women Abolitionists: A Study in Activism, 1828-1860 (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1992)
1905 (May 5)
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The Chicago Defender is founded by Robert Abbott and eventually becomes the largest Black newspaper in the nation.
The Chicago Defender was founded in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott. Abbott published the first issue, a run of 300 copies, on May 6, 1905. The Defender began as a four-page weekly handbill filled with local news and reproductions of clippings from other newspapers. Abbott initially sold both subscriptions and advertising for the paper himself by going door-to-door throughout Chicago, Illinois. Abbott used the Defender as a forum to attack racial injustice from the outset, and included a front-page heading on every issue that read, “American Race Justice Must Be Destroyed”. The Defender was a leading advocate in the fight against racial, economic, and social discrimination. It championed equal employment and fair housing for Blacks, and boldly reported on lynchings, rapes, and Black disfranchisement. What began as a four-page handbill had become by 1915 a popular local newspaper with a weekly circulation of 16,000. The Defender, however, saw its major growth during the Great Migration and is credited as being a major catalyst for that movement of half a million Blacks from the South to the North between 1915 and 1920. Abbott used Black Pullman Porters and entertainers to transport his paper across the Mason-Dixon Line. Often after being smuggled to the South, it is estimated that many copies of the Defender were read by four to five Black Americans, who passed it from person to person and read it aloud wherever Blacks congregated. Included in its pages were articles and editorials which tried to convince its oppressed southern readers to move north. Abbott even printed copies of train schedules and job listings to entice southern blacks to relocate. The Black population of Chicago increased 148 percent from 1910 to 1920 with plenty of support and encouragement from the Defender. The Defender grew with the migration north. By 1917 it became the first Black American paper to reach a circulation of 100,000 copies and to achieve national circulation. By 1920 its circulation reached 230,000 copies per week. Throughout the years, the Defender had many notable columnists, including Walter White and Langston Hughes. It also published early works of poet Gwendolyn Brooks; the first Black American to win a Pulitzer Prize in any category. As a result of the Defender’s success Robert Abbott became one of the first Black American millionaires. Upon Abbott’s death in 1940, John H. Sengstacke, Abbott’s nephew, assumed control of the Defender. Stengstacke continued the fight for racial equality. On February 6, 1956, The Defender became a daily and was renamed the Chicago Daily Defender. At the time it was the largest Black-owned daily newspaper in the world. In 1965, Stengstacke purchased long-time rival newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier and added it to his chain of papers which includes The Michigan Chronicle in Detroit, Michigan, and The Tri-State Defender in Memphis, Tennessee. Sengstacke remained publisher of the Defender until his death in 1997.
References:
  •  • Tolly, V. (2008, January 11). Chicago Defender (1905- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/chicago-defender-1905/
  •  • Aurora Wallace, Newspapers and the Making of Modern America (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005)
  •  • W. Augustus Low, ed., Encyclopedia of Black America (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1981)
1827 (Mar 16)
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Freedom’s Journal begins publication on March 16 in New York City. It is the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States.
Freedom’s Journal, established the same year that slavery was abolished in New York, was the first Black American-owned and operated newspaper in the United States. In its early years, it distributed more than 800 copies throughout 11 states and the District of Columbia. It reached as far as Canada, Haïti, and the United Kingdom for an annual subscription cost of $3.00. The newspaper was founded on March 16, 1827, at 5 Varick Street in Lower Manhattan, New York, by Jamaican-born John Brown Russwurm, Bowdoin College’s first Black American graduate and only the third Black person to graduate from an American college. Cofounder Samuel Eli Cornish, born in Sussex County, Delaware, and a graduate of the Free African School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also founded Shiloh Presbyterian Church, the first Black Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, in 1822. Freedom’s Journal was entertaining and informative. Its pages included articles regarding improving education, health, and living conditions for the over 300,000 free Black women and men living in the northern states of the U.S. The paper had a classified section that included a listing of schools, jobs, and affordable places to live. There was also a social section that printed information about birth, death, and wedding announcements. The paper’s primary focus, however, remained the campaign to end slavery in the South and fight racial discrimination in the North. In September 1827, Cornish resigned as co-editor of Freedom’s Journal because of disputes with cofounder Russwurm, leaving him the sole editor. Russwurm shifted the focus of the paper, which now began promoting the idea of emigration of Black Americans to Africa. Russwurm embraced the controversial American Colonization Society, a predominantly white organization that worked to return free Blacks to its West African colony of Liberia, a stand increasingly opposed by many Northern African Americans. By this time, however, many financial supporters of the newspaper halted their involvement, and on March 28, 1829, Freedom’s Journal ceased publication after releasing only 103 issues. In April 1829, Samuel Cornish revived the newspaper, changing its name to The Rights of All. However, that publication survived only for eight months. In 1829, John Brown Russwurm earned a Master of Arts degree from Bowdoin and emigrated to Liberia by November of that year. In 1836, he became Governor of Maryland County in Liberia and remained in that office until he died on June 9, 1851, at the age of 52. Samuel Eli Cornish died in Brooklyn, New York, on November 6, 1858. He was 63. Despite its short life span, Freedom’s Journal established the vital role of Black newspapers in Black American life and politics. It also created the model of journalism that numerous Black journals and journalists would follow in the United States and around the world for the next two centuries.
References:
  •  • Alexander, O. (2011, January 04). Freedom’s Journal (1827-1829). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/freedom-s-journal-1827-1829/
  •  • “Freedom’s Journal,” https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/newbios/nwsppr/freedom/freedom.html
  •  • “History of African-American Newspapers,” http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/reflector/newspaper.html
  •  • “Timeline: Milestones of the Black Press in the U.S. Highlights from the history of the Black press show its enduring importance,” https://niemanreports.org/articles/timeline-of-the-black-press/.
1810 - 1813
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The African Insurance Company of Philadephia becomes the first Black-owned insurance company in the United States.
In 1810 The African Insurance Company was created with offices located at 159 Lombard Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first Black American-owned insurance company in the United States. The first president was Joseph Randolph while Cyrus Porter was treasurer and William Coleman was its secretary. The establishment of an insurance company by Black Americans was a natural progression from beneficial societies that had emerged just after the American Revolution. Beneficial societies were social and economic safety nets for an impoverished community; in Philadelphia the Free African Society established on April 12, 1787 charged members monthly dues in order to create a pool of money from which to draw if women were widowed, a member fell sick, or to provide a Christian burial for a member who died. This assurance that one would be taken care of by an organization if any misfortune were to befall them was a powerful motivator to convince people to contribute to the Free African Society. The Free African Society, however, was far from a non-profit; in 1790 it deposited a sum of $100 into Philadelphia’s Bank of North America. If members stayed healthy and deaths were minimal the Society hoped to accumulate a substantial amount of money that could be used for future payouts and that could reassure existing members that their needs would be properly addressed. The African Insurance Company was established in 1810 as a for profit business built on the model of the Free African Society. The company sought to capitalize on the rapidly growing free African American community in Philadelphia which included newcomers who either were not allowed in or did not choose to join the Free African Society but who nonetheless sought the security the society provided its members. The company, however, lasted only until 1813. It failed to attract a significant customer base and its three officers were forced to relinquish their Lombard Street office and move the business into the home of William Coleman. No records exist for the company after 1813. Nonetheless, the early model provided by the African Insurance Company would eventually be adopted by many successful post-Civil War era Black insurance companies.
References:
  •  • Partin, E. (2011, January 04). The African Insurance Company (1810-1813). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/african-insurance-company-1810-1813/
  •  • Du Bois, W.E.B., "Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans”, http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/dubois07/dubois.html#dub92.
1521
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Henrique, son of Alfonso, first and last African bishop of the Congo, returns to Mbanza after thirteen years in Europe.
Henrique, son of Alfonso, first and last African bishop of the Congo, returned to Mbanza after thirteen years in Europe.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1523
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Blacks accompany Don Pedro de Alvarado in the conquest of Guatemala.
Blacks accompanied Don Pedro de Alvarado in the conquest of Guatemala.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
851
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Four hundred Black East Africans are enrolled in the army of Abu’l Abbas, ruler of Bagdad.
Four hundred Black East Africans were enrolled in the army of Abu'l Abbas, ruler of Bagdad. They rose in revolt with a Black called "Lord of the Blacks" as their leader.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1573 - 1603
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Under Idris III, the empire of Bornu is at its height.
Under Idris III, the empire of Bornu was at its height. It ruled over Kano, the Air, Kanem, and land south of Lake Chad.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1570
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The most famous of the kings of Bornu, Idris Aloma, comes to the throne.
The most famous of the kings of Bornu, Idris Aloma, came to the throne.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1529
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Askia Mohammed is dethroned by his son, Mussa.
Askia Mohammed was dethroned by his son, Mussa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1512
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First Blacks brought to Cuba from Spain.
First Blacks brought to Cuba from Spain.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1984 (Sep) - 1992 (Apr)
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The Cosby Show.
The Cosby Show was the most popular series on American television in the late 1980s. The situation comedy, which ran on NBC from September 1984 to April 1992, was based on the stand-up comedy routine of its star, Bill Cosby. The show focused on an affluent Black family without presenting racial stereotypes or standard one-line jokes to generate audience loyalty. The series was not initially expected to survive against its competitor Magnum P.I., a drama airing on CBS in the same time slot, but it quickly moved to the top of the ratings and revived a dying sitcom genre. The Cosby Show inspired other successful sitcoms including Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Roseanne, which were also based on stand-up comedy routines. Bill Cosby played the role of the affable Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable, an obstetrician/gynecologist who along with and his wife, Clair (Phylicia Rashad), a successful attorney, headed an upper-middle class Black American family in Brooklyn, New York. They lived in a brownstone at 10 Stigwood Avenue where they raised five children, Sondra, (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise, (Lisa Bonet), Theodore (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy, (Keshia Knight Pulliam). Most stories revolved around Mr. Cosby’s observations on raising kids. His fear that the children would never leave the house, once grown, was a running theme in the situation comedy as was Clair’s wit and diligence in the ongoing effort to keeping her husband’s unhealthy eating habits under control. The show was conceived by executive producers, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, who left the ABC network to start their own production company. Carsey and Werner had produced earlier sitcom hits Three’s Company and Mork & Mindy. Nonetheless, a comedy based on the lives of an upper-middle class Black family was new territory for the producers. They hired noted Black psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint as a consultant to help The Cosby Show exude a strong yet subtle racial pride based solid middle class values. Still the show drew criticism from Whites and Blacks alike who accused the Huxtables of being a Black family in white face. That criticism opened an important national conversation about race and class two decades after the civil rights movement challenged the place of Black Americans in U.S. society. Mostly devoid of overtly racial themes, the show was able to present a storyline revolving around the trials and travails of a middle class family that happened to be Black American. Many leading entertainment figures, such as Lena Horne and Stevie Wonder made guest appearances while jazz and blues music either sweetened the soundtrack or were integrated into the storylines. Clair was often seen reading a book by a noted Black author while paintings and other artworks by Black American artists were displayed on the set. The show often embraced serious subjects, such as teen pregnancy and dyslexia, the latter inspired by the experiences of Cosby’s real life son, Ennis. After an eight-season run, which included more than 200 episodes, the Cosby Show ended in 1992. During its run, the show garnered a number of honors, including the Emmy, Golden Globe, and NAACP Image awards. The show’s significance was indicated with its last episode. When Los Angeles, California erupted on April 29, 1992 over a non-guilty verdict following the brutal police beating of Rodney King, the finale was slated to be pre-empted. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, however, convinced NBC to air the series finale on April 30, 1992 in hopes that it would symbolize the ability of the nation to move beyond its racial divisions.
References:
  •  • Johnson, M. (2011, April 19). The Cosby Show (1984-1992). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cosby-show-1984-1992/
  •  • Linda K. Fuller, The Cosby Show: Audience, Impact, and Implications (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1992)
  •  • Marianne Ruuth, Bill Cosby, Entertainer (Los Angeles: Melrose Square Publishing, 1992)
  •  • Donald Bogle, Blacks in American Films and Television: An Encyclopedia (New York: Fireside Press, 1988)
1076
Published
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The Almoravides capture the old Sudanese city of Kumbi and put to the sword all the inhabitants who would not embrace Islam.
The Almoravides captured the old Sudanese city of Kumbi and put to the sword all the inhabitants who would not embrace Islam.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1333
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The Mohro-naba of the Yatenga attack Timbuktu and sack the city.
The Mohro-naba of the Yatenga attacked Timbuktu and sacked the city.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1339
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The Mossi cross the valley, plunder Timbuktu, and separate Jenne, the original seat of the Songhay, from the main empire.
The Mossi crossed the valley, plundered Timbuktu, and separated Jenne, the original seat of the Songhay, from the main empire.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1420
Published
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Portuguese exploration of Africa is promoted by Henry the Navigator.
Portuguese exploration of Africa promoted by Henry the Navigator.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1578
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Slaves revolt in Lima when Sir Francis Drake arrives there in 1578.
Slaves revolted in Lima when Sir Francis Drake arrived there in 1578.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
Published
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Real Cedula prohibits enslaved Blacks married in Spain from being carried to America without wives and children.
Real Cedula prohibited enslaved Blacks married in Spain from being carried to America without wives and children.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1555
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An English expedition to West Africa returns with a cargo of 400 pounds of gold and 250 ivory tusks, comfortably multiplying its capital investment many times over.
An English expedition to West Africa returned with a cargo of 400 pounds of gold and 250 ivory tusks, comfortably multiplying its capital investment many times over. Other Englishmen quickly followed and returned with equally satisfactory results. Eventually Queen Elizabeth herself invested in African trade and made a 1000 pound profit on one voyage.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1545
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Morocco claims the principal salt mines at Tegazza but the reigning Askia refuses to recognize the claim.
Morocco claimed the principal salt mines at Tegazza but the reigning Askia refused to recognize the claim.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1543
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Royal decree prohibits importation in the Indies of Moors converted to Christianity and their children.
Royal decree prohibited importation in the Indies of Moors converted to Christianity and their children.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1534
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Spanish expedition including 200 blacks leaves Nicaragua for Quito.
Spanish expedition including 200 blacks left Nicaragua for Quito.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
250 BC - 100 AD
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The greatest period of the Kushite kingdom.
The greatest period of the Kushite kingdom. It was during this time that the pyramids were filled with the finest objects and many great monuments were built. Trade with other countries was at its height.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
120
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A Greek merchant of Egypt writes a guide to the Indian Ocean trade, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which included the earliest description of life along the East Africa Coast between the Horn and southern Tanzania.
A Greek merchant of Egypt wrote a guide to the Indian Ocean trade, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which included the earliest description of life along the East Africa Coast between the Horn and southern Tanzania.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1054
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Howdaghost, though the capital of a Berber kingdom, is attacked, taken, and pillaged by Abdallah ben Yassine, under the pretext that the town paid tribute to the King of Ghana.
Howdaghost (Ghana's most important market), though the capital of a Berber kingdom, was attacked, taken, and pillaged by Abdallah ben Yassine, under the pretext that the town paid tribute to the King of Ghana.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1035
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Muslim Almoravid movement develops on an island in the Senegal river.
Muslim Almoravid movement developed on an island in the Senegal river.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1050
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The mansa, or king of Manding, converted to Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca in order to enter into relations with neighboring states which were favorable to the growth of his power.
The mansa, or king of Manding, was converted to Islam by an Almoravid. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca and began to enter into relations with the neighboring states which were favorable to the growth of his power and to the development of his country. He also ceased considering himself a vassal of the Empire of Ghana. Until then it was principally the Bambuk who furnished the gold dust for the commerce which enriched Ghana. They undertook an active and continual exchange of the products between the Sudan and North Africa. After the Almoravides learned the road to Manding and taught it to the Moroccan caravans, the Boure became the principal source of production for gold. This contributed substantially to filling the treasury of the King of Manding and opened up new horizons for its people.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1324
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Gongo-Mussa makes a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Gongo-Mussa made a pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan of 60,000 persons, including 12,000 young slaves gowned in figured cotton and Persian silk; 500 slaves with golden staffs. Mussa brought to Egypt no less than eight camel loads of tibar (gold dust), each weighing 300 pounds, to defray his expenses. He brought back with him an Arab, al-Kati, who initiated a new style of architecture. While Gongo-Mussa was away, Timbuktu was sacked by Mossi; he rebuilt the city and filled the new mosque with learned Blacks from the University of Fez. On his way to Mecca, Gongo-Mussa passed by Tuat and Cairo; his caravan aroused interest and curiosity everywhere along the route.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1327
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Two hundred Moors arrive to assist the king of Granada as soldiers.
Two hundred Moors arrived to assist the king of Granada as soldiers.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1350-1500
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The Chwezi establish a kingdom called Bunyoro-Kitara.
The Chwezi established a kingdom called Bunyoro-Kitara. Much of Southern Uganda was ruled by Chwezi Dynasty, with new methods of central government. Kimera, a Bito, ascended the throne. The Bito line of kings ruled for eighteen generations.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1425
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Mutota, King of the Karanga, organizes a vast and victorious campaign of conquest designed to extend his rule over the whole inland plateau between the Zambezi and the Limpopo.
Mutota, King of the Karanga, organized a vast and victorious campaign of conquest designed to extend his rule over the whole inland plateau between the Zambezi and the Limpopo--the main gold-bearing area--and afterwards through Mozambique to the harbors of the East Coast trade. All this was substantially achieved by Mutota and his son Matope, so that Matope became the most powerful sovereign in the central-southern continent during the 1470s and was honored as such by the rulers and chiefs of the East Coast ports. They called his empire Wilayatu '1 Mu 'anamutapah after his indigenous title of Mwanamutapa, or lord of the plundered lands. The Portuguese corrupted it to Monomotapa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1433
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The Tuareg chief Akil succeeds in driving the Mandingo garrison from Timbuktu and in making himself master of the city.
The Tuareg chief Akil succeeded in driving the Mandingo garrison from Timbuktu and in making himself master of the city.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1446
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The Portuguese ships of Henry the Navigator arrive in Senegal.
The Portuguese ships of Henry the Navigator arrived in Senegal.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1473
Published
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Sonni Ali enters Jenne as conqueror and takes away the authority of the Mansa.
Sonni Ali entered Jenne as conqueror and took away from the authority of the Mansa, a good part of the Massina. He made himself master of Jenne and of the Massina, after having annexed to his kingdom the region of the lakes and Walata.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1468-1469
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Sonni Ali captures Timbuktu from the Tuareg.
Sonni Ali captured Timbuktu from the Tuareg.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1464
Published
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Sonni Ali, called the Great, ascends the throne–the last and greatest of seventeen Songhay kings.
Sonni Ali, called the Great, ascended the throne--the last and greatest of seventeen Songhay kings.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1495
Published
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Songhay supersedes Mali as the most powerful and important state in the Western Sudan.
Songhay superseded Mali as the most powerful and important state in the Western Sudan.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1890 (Apr 22)
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Langston, Oklahoma is founded by Black homesteaders.
Langston, Oklahoma is one of the few remaining all-Black towns located in the former Oklahoma Territory. The town, which opened for settlement on October 22, 1890, was named for John Mercer Langston, who took office as the first Black Virginian to serve in the United States House of Representatives only one month earlier. Langston’s principal founders were William L. Eagleson, a prominent newspaper editor, Edward P. McCabe, a former Kansas state auditor, and Charles W. Robbins, a White land speculator. Eagleson and McCabe had both been ardent supporters of black migration to Oklahoma Territory and through their efforts the town’s population was settled by Blacks from Kansas and several Southern states. Taking on the role of chief promoter of Langston, McCabe encouraged only those blacks with sufficient resources to support themselves to move to the town. Through his efforts the town attracted an estimated 600 settlers by January 1891 with more Blacks settling in the surrounding rural areas. Many small businesses opened to support this burgeoning population. Among those first established were several grocery stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, barbershops, a feed store, and a newspaper, the Langston City Herald, edited by McCabe. Within two years, at least twenty-five businesses, from banks to ice cream parlors, were operating in town. There were also several churches, Masonic orders, public and private elementary and secondary schools, a volunteer fire company, and a seventy-five member militia. Although Langston’s citizens made a tremendous effort to attract a railroad company to build through their town, they were ultimately unsuccessful in this endeavor. The absence of convenient access to the rails dealt the town an economic blow and stunted its population growth potential. In spite of the railroad setback, however, townspeople successfully lobbied to have the Colored Agricultural and Normal University of Oklahoma (today Langston University) established in Langston in 1897. The presence of this institution, the only publicly operated institution dedicated to the higher education of Black Americans in Oklahoma, has contributed to Langston’s survival even as other small towns in Oklahoma, both Black and White, have collapsed as a result of economic depressions, urbanization trends, and war time migrations. In 2008, Langston’s population, including university students, was 1,712, currently marking it as the largest of Oklahoma’s historically Black towns.
References:
  •  • Stuckey, M. (2010, February 03). Langston, Oklahoma (1890- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/langston-oklahoma-1890/
  •  • Jimmie Lewis Franklin, Journey Toward Hope (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982)
1984
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Def Jam Records is founded.
Def Jam Records, created by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, is one of the most successful black-owned record labels in the history of the United States. Its success and influence on music and popular culture are paralleled only by Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s. Russell Simmons founded a production company called Rush Productions in the early 1980s which housed Run-D.M.C. and Kurtis Blow. In 1984 Simmons met Rick Rubin, a rap and rock producer who was then attending New York University. The two met in Rubin’s dormitory room where Def Jam Records was born. The first single released by Def Jam was “I Need a Beat” by teenage rapper LL Cool J. This single was shortly followed by another single, “Rock Hard” by the Beastie Boys. The success of these two singles earned Def Jam a distribution deal with CBS Records which dramatically raised the profile of the young company in the music industry. Def Jam early artists such as Public Enemy were aggressive and confrontational and their music reflected that style. Def Jam increased its appeal to young music listeners and found new audiences by incorporating heavy metal and rock music into rap music. Def Jam also expanded into motion pictures when it released the semi-biographical film Krush Groove in 1985 and the Run D.M.C. film Tougher than Leather in 1986. When Rick Rubin left Def Jam in 1988 to form his own label, Russell Simmons became the head of the company. Def Jam continued to expand in the early 1990s, attracting a new generation of rap artists such as West Coast producer/rapper Warren G. In 1999 Simmons sold his controlling interest in Def Jam to Universal Music for $100 million dollars.
References:
  •  • Pelton, T. (2007, June 16). Def Jam Records (1984- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/def-jam-records-1984
1526 (Oct 18)
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San Miguel de Gualdape slave rebellion.
San Miguel de Gualdape is a former Spanish colony founded in 1526 by Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon. It was the third settlement in North America north of Mexico. In the early 1500s, Spaniards were conducting expeditions to the area now known as South Carolina and Georgia to kidnap Native Americans as slaves. In 1521, wealthy planter, lawyer and magistrate Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon dispatched an expedition led by Francisco Gordillo to the Bahamas to capture natives, and Gordillo returned with seventy Indians. Ayllon took a recently baptized Indian with him to Spain to speak with the court chronicler about his homeland and people, as well as tales of valuable gems found in the region. After meeting with the King, Ayllon received a royal patent, giving him permission from King Charles V and the Royal and Supreme Council of Indies to establish a settlement on the eastern seaboard in 1523. In April of 1525, Ayllon hired Pedro de Quejo who set sail with two boats and sixty men to explore the new region. When Quejo returned successfully, Ayllon began to assemble a crew and selected passengers for the impending new settlement. The fleet consisted of six ships, approximately 600-700 people, supplies and livestock that included pigs, cows, sheep and one hundred horses. Among the passengers were approximately 100 enslaved Africans from previous expeditions and trade. On August 9, 1526, the fleet lost its flagship when it struck a sandbar and sank off the coast of South Carolina. The court interpreter and other Indians brought along as guides deserted the fleet and escaped into the woods. After building a replacement ship, Ayllon and his fleet moved 200 miles south, and upon landing, immediately began building houses and a church. On September 29, 1526, the settlement was christened San Miguel de Gualdape (sometimes called San Miguel de Guadalupe), a reference to the local Guale tribe. The settlers quickly suffered from dysentery, hunger, cold, and Indian attack. On October 18, Ayllon died, and leadership of the settlement was assumed by Captain Francisco Gomez, who wanted to stay at the settlement and wait for fresh supplies to arrive. Another faction, led by Gines Doncel and his lieutenant Pedro de Bazan, wanted to leave the settlement and return home. Doncel and a group of supporters seized and arrested Gomez and others supporting him, and locked them in Doncel’s home. When Doncel and Bazan set out to ambush other opponents, the enslaved Africans set fire to Doncel’s home, and freed Gomez and the other captives. The enslaved Africans escaped to live with the local Native Americans. This incident is regarded as the first slave rebellion in mainland North America. By July 1527, only one hundred and fifty of the original settlers had survived and returned home to Hispaniola.
References:
  •  • Dixon, E. (2022, January 07). San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Rebellion (1526). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/events-african-american-history/san-miguel-de-gualdape-slave-rebellion-1526/
  •  • Carolyn Mason, “History on Hooves: The Horses of Shackleford Banks,” Shacklefordhorses.org, November 17, 1997, https://www.shacklefordhorses.org/timeline.htm
  •  • Karen L. Paar, “San Miguel de Gualdape,” Scencylopedia.org, August 1, 2016, https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/san-miguel-de-gualdape/
  •  • Dorothy Schneider, Carl J. Schneider, Slavery In America, (New York, New York: Infobase Publishing, 2014)
c. 1495
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Mohammed Askia, makes a pilgrimage to Mecca accompanied by a brilliant group of scholars and politicians.
Mohammed Abou Bekr, who was Sonni Ali's prime minister and best known as Mohammed Askia, made a pilgrimage to Mecca accompanied by a brilliant group of scholars and politicians. They studied matters of taxation, weights and measures, trade, religious tolerance, and manners. He was made Caliph of the Sudan by the authorities of Mecca. During his reign, Askia conquered and consolidated an empire 2,000 miles long by 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent--a territory as large as all Europe.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1521
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Henrique, son of Alfonso, first and last African bishop of the Congo, returned to Mbanza after thirteen years in Europe.
Henrique, son of Alfonso, first and last African bishop of the Congo, returned to Mbanza after thirteen years in Europe.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1663
Published
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French slavery in the New World centered in Haiti.
French slavery in the New World centered in Haiti. The French annexed the eastern part, thus dividing the island between France and Spain.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1676
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Slavery prohibited in West New Jersey.
Slavery prohibited in West New Jersey.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
Published
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New York declares that more than four slaves should at no time and at no place meet together away from their owner’s service or carry arms.
New York declared that more than four slaves should at no time and at no place meet together away from their owner's service or carry arms.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
Published
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Negro serfdom is recognized.
The charter of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania recognized the slavery of Blacks. The enslaved were to be freed after fourteen years of service, upon condition they cultivate land allotted to them, and surrender two-thirds of the produce annually.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1682
Published
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Virginia Slave Code reduces all non-Christian bondservants to permanent slave status, regardless of any later religious conversions.
Virginia Slave Code reduced all non-Christian bondservants to permanent slave status, regardless of any later religious conversions.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1818
Published
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The slave trade is banned in France.
France abolished the slave trade.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1821
Published
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Maine law voids marriages between a White and a Black, an Indian, or a Black with white ancestry.
Maine law voids marriages between a White and a Black, an Indian, or a Black with white ancestry.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1828
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The postmaster general of the United States, John McLean, rules that Blacks can carry mail bags from stage coaches to post offices.
The postmaster general of the United States, John McLean, ruled that Blacks might be used to carry mail bags from stage coaches to post offices, provided that a responsible White person supervised. Since 1810 Blacks had been forbidden by Congress to be letter carriers.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1663 (Sep 1)
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The Gloucester County Conspiracy also known as the Servant’s Plot or Birkenhead’s Rebellion, takes place in Virginia during the summer of 1663.
The Gloucester County Conspiracy also known as the Servant’s Plot or Birkenhead’s Rebellion, took place in Virginia in 1663. The plan involved a rebellion of African, English, Irish, and Indian indentured servants and slaves plotting against authorities in Gloucester County, Virginia. On September 1, 1663, nine indentured servants: John Gunter, William Bell, Richard Darbishire, John Hayte, Thomas Jones, William Ball, William Poultey, William Bendell, and Thomas Collins met at a small house belonging to Peter Knight in the woods near Cooks Quarter in Gloucester County, to plan the rebellion. Bell and Gunter were appointed leaders of the rebellion. The group also planned to meet the following Sunday, September 6, 1663, at a place called Poplar Spring. The plan was for the servants to bring enough weapons that they could scavenge and steal that they hoped would arm a company of thirty men. From Poplar Spring, they would march to the home of Virginia’s Colonial Lieutenant Governor Francis Willis, a member of the governor’s council, to seize more arms and a much-needed drum. The group has recruited a drummer from the county militia company named Major John Smith. The group’s main destination, however, was the Green Spring mansion of Governor Sir William Berkeley where they would demand that all indentured servants who were normally required to serve seven years of indenture, be released instead one year from the beginning of their service. It is unclear as to how the status of enslaved people would change. John Birkenhead, one of the indentured servants who attended the meeting betrayed the conspirators and shared the plans to Governor Berkeley. In response the governor arranged for the conspirators to be ambushed at their meeting place and arrested. The general court tried the captured servants for treason and they were later hanged. On September 16, 1663, The Virginia House of Burgesses rewarded Birkendhead his freedom and five thousand pounds of cotton for revealing the plot. Historian Robert Beverly Jr. in his 1705 The History of Virginia gave much of the initial information about the Gloucester County Conspiracy although he placed the date of the rebellion somewhere between September 6 and September 13. In 1898, author Mary Johnson released a romantic novel called Prisoners of Hope based on the Gloucester County Conspiracy plot. The Gloucester County Conspiracy would mark one of the few times that indentured servants and enslaved people plotted together to gain their freedom but numerous servile insurrections would follow in what would become the United States.
References:
  •  • Momodu, S. (2022, January 10). Gloucester County Conspiracy (1663). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/gloucester-county-conspiracy-1663/
  •  • “Gloucester County Conspiracy,” Encyclopedia Virginia, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/gloucester-county-conspiracy-1663/
  •  • “Gloucester County Conspiracy,” USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/01/benjamin-todd-jealous-on-gloucester-rebellion/2730559/
  •  • “Gloucester County Conspiracy,” Colonial Williamsburg, https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/Winter05-06/conspiracy.cfm
1966
Published
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The creation and celebration of Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa is an annual Black American and pan-African celebration of family, community, and culture. It is observed between December 26 and January 1. It was created in 1966 by founder Dr. Maulana Karenga, in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, and is based on African harvest festival traditions, and the Swahili language. Dr. Karenga was a major figure in the Black Power and Civil Rights Movements, and his goal was to reaffirm Black American roots in African culture; to serve as a communal celebration of African people to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between them and to instill a sense of pride and identity, purpose, and direction. Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase “Matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits.” Families who celebrate Kwanzaa decorate their homes with objects of African art, and colorful kente cloth, and display fresh fruits. During Kwanzaa celebrations, libations may be shared through a community cup and poured in remembrance of ancestors. The greeting for each day is “Habari Gani,” Swahili for “How are you?” and “Heri za Kwanzaa,” meaning “Happy Kwanzaa.” A communal feast called Karamu is held on the 6th day of the celebration. Kwanzaa celebratory symbols include a mat, Mkeka, on which is placed a Kinara (candleholder) for Mishumaa Saba or seven candles; Mazao (fruits and vegetables); Muhindi (corn); Kikombe cha Umoja (unity cup); and Zawadi (gifts). Displays include books, a heritage symbol, and the red, black, and green bendera (flag). The seven principles of Kwanzaa, Nguzo Saba, are dedicated to the seven principles of African heritage. The candle (Mishumaa Saba) lighting ceremony called “Lifting Up the Light That Lasts,” is in conjunction with the seven principles, and are lit in a specific order each day of the celebration. Umoja (Unity) – To strive for and to maintain unity in the family community, nation and race. On the first day, the black candle, placed in the center, is lit, representing Black people in unity. Kujichagulia (Self Determination) – To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. The red candle, on the left, nearest to the black is lit, which represents struggle. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) – To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers and sisters problems our own and to solve them together. The green candle on the right, nearest to the black is lit, representing a fruitful future. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) – To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. The red candle on the left is lit. Nia (Purpose) – To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. The green candle on the right is lit. Kuumba (Creativity) – To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. The red candle on the left is lit. Imani (Faith) – To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. The green candle on the right is lit. Former President Bill Clinton gave the first presidential declaration marking the holiday in 1993, and the first Kwanzaa stamp, designed by Synthia Saint James, was issued by the United States Post Office in 1997.
References:
  •  • Dixon, E. (2020, December 28). Kwanzaa (1966- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/kwanzaa-1966/
  •  • Annabel Iwegbue, “Everything You Need To Make Your At-Home Kwanzaa Celebration Perfect This Year,” Cosmopolitan.com, September 25, 2020, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a34125087/how-to-celebrate-kwanzaa/
  •  • Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, (Los Angeles, California; University of Sankore Press, 1997)
1972 (Mar 10-12)
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The National Black Political Convention is hosted in Gary, Indiana.
In 1972, Gary, Indiana hosted the National Black Political Convention. With over 10,000 attendees, it was the largest independent Black political gathering in U.S. history. Planning for the convention began in 1970. Organizers had a difficult time finding a city that was willing to host an influx of politically engaged Black Americans not affiliated with either major political party. Not since the National Negro Congress met in the 1930s had such a massive gathering been held in one place. Approximately 3,000 individual state delegates, composed of Socialists, Black Panthers, Republicans, Democrats, and Nationalists, gathered in hopes of creating a cohesive political strategy to advance Black civil rights. The event was held at Gary’s West Side High School from March 10 to March 12. Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, U.S. Presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, Muslim leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, poet Amiri Baraka, and widows Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz were some of the leaders in attendance. Due to bomb threats and violent acts surrounding the convention, armed civil defense personnel were on hand, and Muhammad Ali served as Sergeant-At-Arms during the event. Musicians James Brown and Harry Belafonte were two of the artists who performed during the two-day convention, and comedian Dick Gregory spoke to attendees about issues of policing and drug access. A “National Black Agenda” was proposed during the event, one that included a cohesive Black vote and locating Black candidates that would support that agenda. North Carolina representatives urged that Black men should receive Social Security benefits earlier than Whites since their life expectancy was eight years shorter. Indiana demanded that the United States dedicate more resources to the plight of Black Americans rather than the Vietnam War while other attendees proposed a bill of prisoners’ rights that included more humane treatment. At times, tensions ran so high during the convention that sections of delegations walked out. Reverend Jesse Jackson pushed for the formation of a Black party, the Liberation Party, which drew criticism from the NAACP delegates who said such a move pushed continued segregation. After intense debate, the “National Black Agenda,” a 68-page document, was published on May 19, 1972, Malcom X’s birthday. The resolutions included a proposal for a guaranteed minimum income of $6,500 for a four-person household, Black representation in Congress proportionate to the Black population in the U.S., and an end to national trade with countries that supplied the drug markets.
References:
  •  • Dixon, E. (2020, May 11). The National Black Political Convention, Gary Indiana (1972). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-national-black-political-convention-gary-indiana-1972/
  •  • Komozi Woodward, “National Black Political Convention, Gary 1972”, journalchickenbones.blogspot.com, January 22, 2014, https://journalchickenbones.blogspot.com/2014/01/national-black-political-convention.html
  •  • Leonard N. Moore, “The Defeat of Black Power: Civil Rights and the National Black Political Convention of 1972” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, Louisiana, 2018)
  •  • Dr. Ron Daniels, “The 40th Anniversary of the National Black Political Convention,” freespeech.org, March 23, 2012, https://freespeech.org/stories/the-40th-anniversary-of-the-gary-national-black-political-convention/
1482
Published
0 0
Pope Pio II condemns the slave trade.
Pope Pio II condemned the slave trade.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1827
Published
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Slavery in New York is officially abolished.
Slavery in New York officially abolished.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1825
Published
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Maryland reenacts a law providing for the banishment of free Blacks who could not give security for proper behavior.
Maryland reenacted a law providing for the banishment of free Blacks who could not give security for proper behavior. Any free Black in Maryland or traveling through the state without a job had to provide security for good behavior or leave the state within fifteen days. The law carried a punishment of a $50 fine or being sold into slavery for up to six months.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1808
Published
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The New York African Society for Mutual Relief is created.
The New York African Society for Mutual Relief was formed. This Society served as a model for the Union Society, The Clarkson Association, The Wilberforce Benevolent Society, and the Woolman Society of Brooklyn.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1802
Published
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Slavery is prohibited in Ohio.
Slavery was abolished in Ohio in 1802 by the state's original constitution.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1510
Published
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Micer Geron brings over Blacks from Spain to Puerto Rico.
Blacks brought from Spain to Puerto Rico by Micer Geron.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1534
Published
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Real Cedula granted twenty licenses to import White slaves in Indies along with 200 Black to Rio de la Plata.
Real Cedula granted twenty licenses to import White slaves in Indies; one of these licenses was granted to Domingo de Irala. The license also permitted him to carry with him to the Rio de la Plata 200 Blacks.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1784
Published
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In Rhode Island slaves and all persons born after March, 1784 were declared free; participation in slave trade was forbidden in 1787.
In Rhode Island slaves and all persons born after March, 1784 were declared free; participation in slave trade was forbidden in 1787.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1550-1551
Published
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Blacks in Peru prohibited from carrying arms or being in the streets from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 a.m.
Blacks in Peru prohibited from carrying arms or being in the streets from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 a.m.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1844
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The Cockstock Affair is argued to be the justification that White settlers used to install Oregon’s exclusion laws against Black Americans in the 1840s.
The Cockstock Affair is argued to be the justification that White settlers used to install Oregon’s exclusion laws against Black Americans in the 1840s. As the details of the Affair have been widely debated, there are different ways of interpreting the events, causes, and outcomes. That being said, the Affair is significant in understanding how Whites, Natives, and Blacks interacted in United States territories. Essentially, the Affair was between James D. Saules, a Black Oregon settler, and Cockstock, a Native American of the Wasco tribe with ties to the Molalla tribe. Another settler, Winslow Anderson, had promised Cockstock a horse in exchange for the labor Cockstock had performed on Anderson’s land. However, Anderson then sold that horse to Saules, in turn instigating a conflict between Saules and Cockstock. Cockstock stole the horse, as he believed it was his rightful property, and Saules appealed to Elijah White, an Indian subagent for the Oregon Territory. As White became involved, the conflict escalated. White put a bounty upon Cockstock’s head, believing that Cockstock should be put on trial in an attempt to soothe the fears of the non-Native settlers. The Affair reached the climax on March 4th, 1844 as Cockstock and his allies traveled to Oregon City and then faced off against the settlers. In the heat of the battle, settlers George LeBreton and Sterling Rogers, as well as Cockstock, died. It is important to note that there have been many contradicting accounts of the conflict. For example, some accounts blamed Cockstock as supposedly looking for a fight, while others cast Elijah White as foolish. Regardless of the individuals responsible for the violence, the results were impactful and long-standing. White settlers became fearful and angry that the interactions between Black and Native peoples led to violence which left them threatened. The Cockstock Affair was the first instance of physical conflict between the American settlers and Native peoples in that region. In the aftermath of the incident in June 1844, the provisional government of Oregon territory enacted the first of a series of black exclusion laws. Ostensibly these laws were justified to prevent the establishment of slavery but they required all Black Americans, slave and free, to leave the territory under threat of violent whippings or arrests. Although the law was supposedly defended by Peter H. Burnett, a member of the legislature who introduced the measure as a benefit for Black people, it in fact perpetuated anti-Black feelings and eventually segregated the region through inequality.
References:
  •  • West, R. (2018, February 11). Cockstock Affair (1844). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cockstock-affair-1844/
  •  • Kenneth R. Coleman, Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2017)
  •  • Melinda Jette, “The Cockstock Incident.” Oregon Historical Quarterly no. 4 (2004): 405-406
1517
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Bartholome de Las Casas appeals to King Ferdinand of Spain that Africans be sent to America to substitute for Indians in the mines.
Bartholome de Las Casas appealed to King Ferdinand of Spain that Africans be sent to America to substitute for Indians in the mines.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1505
Published
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Ovando sails from Seville with seventeen enslaved African and some mining equipment to be used in the copper mines of Española.
Ovando sailed from Seville with seventeen African slaves and some mining equipment to be used in the copper mines of Española.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1086
Published
0 0
Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, the leader of the Almoravides, fights and wins a battle with Alfonso VI of Castille, at Zallaka.
Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, the leader of the Almoravides, fought and won a battle with Alfonso VI of Castille, at Zallaka. Alfonso was hemmed in on both sides, but resisted stubbornly. At a crucial moment Yusuf ordered his Black guards, whom he had held in reserve, to charge. They did terrible damage; one of them cut his way through to Alfonso and wounded him in the thigh with a dagger. This fight won the victory and Alfonso could only save a small remnant of his forces. In Moslem Spain cooperation between Arabs and Berbers or Arabs of different tribes was impossible except in the face of a common danger. Jews and Blacks were given opportunities to serve the state because they were neutral regarding the feuds between Arab and Berber, and because they had no connection with tribes, they had more personal loyalties. It was an age of each for himself and there are instances of Blacks looking out for their own advantage regardless of the side for which they fought. On the whole, though, in that age of treachery and low standards the Black soldier was unusually grateful and faithful to those who used him well. His physical courage was never called in question.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1380
Published
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The Bulala group forces Sefawa into exile and he establishes a new political base at Bornu on the west shore of Lake Chad.
The Bulala group forced Sefawa into exile and he established a new political base at Bornu on the west shore of Lake Chad.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1350
Published
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Kongo dynasty established.
Kongo dynasty established.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1325
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The troops of the Mandingo Emperor Gongo-Mussa capture Gao and the Songhay became vassals of the Mandingo.
The troops of the Mandingo Emperor Gongo-Mussa captured Gao and the Songhay became vassals of the Mandingo.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1932 (Jun)
Published
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Poet Langston Hughes leads a delegation of Black American artists to the Soviet Union (USSR) with the ambitious goal of creating a film titled “Black and White.”
Poet Langston Hughes led a delegation of Black American artists to the Soviet Union (USSR) with the ambitious goal of creating a film titled "Black and White." This project aimed to expose racial discrimination in the American South and challenge stereotypical portrayals of Black people in cinema. The USSR, seeking allies among oppressed groups, initially supported the film. However, a shift in international politics led to the project's demise. The US recognition of the USSR forced the Soviets to cease propaganda targeting Black Americans. Consequently, "Black and White" was scrapped. While the majority of the delegation returned home, Hughes opted to extend his stay. He embarked on a tour of Soviet agricultural regions, noting parallels between the cotton-producing areas there and the American South. This experience informed his 1934 book, "A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia." Hughes returned to the US in 1933 with a wider perspective on global affairs, shaped by his firsthand observations in the USSR.
References:
  •  • Iaroslavtsev, N. (2018, March 08). Langston Hughes’ Visit to the Soviet Union (1932-1933). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/langston-hughes-visit-soviet-union-1932-1933/
  •  • Langston Hughes, A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia (Moscow: Co-operative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers in the USS.R., 1934)
  •  • “Langston Hughes in Central Asia” http://steppemagazine.com/articles/langston-hughes-in-central-asia/
  •  • ichael Scammell, “Langston Hughes in the USSR,” The New York Review of Books (February 16, 1989)
  •  • Jennifer Wilson, “When the Harlem Renisaunce Went to Communist Moscow,” The New York Times (August 21, 2017)
1989 (Apr 19)
Published
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The Central Park Five.
The Central Park Five was a group of five young men–four Black Americans (Yusef Salaam, 16; Anthony McCray, 16; Kharey Wise, 18; and Kevin Richardson, 16) and one Hispanic (Raymond Santana, 15)–who were tried and convicted of attempted murder, rape, sodomy, and assault of a woman in Central Park in New York City. Their trial was known as the “Central Park Jogger Trial” in the press and, according to the New York Times, was “one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s.” On the evening of April 19, 1989, police received reports about a gang of approximately 30 youths assaulting and robbing people in the northernmost section of Central Park. Multiple people were attacked and robbed by this group as they moved south through the park. Police were dispatched by 9:30 p.m., and one victim told police that he was attacked by a group of four or five black youths. Despite the police presence in the park, Trisha Meili, a 28-year old investment banker out for her nightly jog, was attacked, beaten, raped and left for dead between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., but police did not find her until 1:30 a.m on April 20. She was so badly beaten that doctors assumed she would die from her injuries. Suffering from hypothermia, brain damage, excessive blood loss, and shock, she fell into a coma. She was even given the last rites, yet she miraculously emerged from the coma after twelve days. On April 19, police arrested Santana and Richardson, along with other teenagers, at approximately 10:15 p.m. McCray, Salaam, and Wise were arrested on April 20 after being identified by other youths as participating in the attack. Police questioned all five teenagers fours without the presence of parents or guardians, and each confessed to participating in a rape and assaulting people in Central Park. Within weeks of their arrests, however, all five suspects retracted their confessions claiming they had been intimidated and coerced into making false statements by the police. On May 1, real estate magnate and future U.S. president Donald Trump inflamed public sentiment by taking out a full-page ad in four New York daily newspapers demanding the return of the death penalty. New York City Mayor Ed Koch also assumed the guilt of The Central Park Five and demanded justice. In 1990, all five young men were found guilty and sentenced to between 5 and 15 years in prison. In 2002, convicted serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili. DNA evidence, along with specific details of the assault, supported his confession. After investigation, New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau determined that The Central Park Five’s convictions should be vacated. In December 2002, the New York Supreme Court rescinded the convictions although they had all completed their sentences. In 2003, the five exonerated men sued New York City for malicious prosecution and received a settlement of $41 million in 2014. They also filed a $52 million lawsuit against the state of New York; the New York Court of Claims awarded the men $3.9 million in 2016.
References:
  •  • Mack, W. (2018, January 06). The Central Park Five (1989). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/central-park-five-1989/
  •  • “The Central Park Five,” New York Daily News, NYDailynews.com (2013) http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/playing-fast-loose-slow-article-1.1269291
  •  • Sarah Burns, The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding (New York: Knopf, 2011)
2009 (Jan 7)
Published
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The shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Black man from Oakland, California, sparks major protests against excessive deadly force used by the police.
The shooting on New Year’s of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Black man from Oakland, California, sparked major protests against excessive deadly force used by the police. These protests began less than a week after Grant had been shot and killed by Johannes Mehserle, a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer. The incident had been caught on camera by four different observers, and had gone viral on YouTube. As a result, the Black community in Oakland reacted swiftly. While demonstrations began peacefully, tensions would build on both sides with the police eventually resorting to tear gas and non-lethal weapons. In response to the Grant shooting, Civil Rights activiststhroughout the city organized to protest the unfair treatment of poor Black Americans by the transit police. On January 7, 2009 a group of protesters gathered at Fruitvale Station, the site of Grant’s shooting. After making their way through the Oakland business district, the group began to protest in front of the BART police headquarters. Along the way about 200 protesters broke away from the planned route and began to vandalize businesses. Even many of those who supported the peaceful demonstrations decried the overall destruction by these vandals. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, himself a longtime black Bay Area politician and Civil Rights advocate, denounced the actions of the vandals calling them to “leave in a spirit of peace.” Overall, the January protests led to over one hundred arrests. Months later on July 8, 2009, Officer Mehserle, who had resigned from the BART police, was charged with manslaughter. This charge caused outrage because many believed he should have been charged with second-degree murder. As a result, more protests ensued. Many of these protests began peacefully during the day but violence broke out early in the evening. Groups of anarchists—who were not Black Oakland residents—looted businesses, set fires, and caused further public destruction. Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts claimed that 3 out of 4 of the protesters did not live in Oakland. By the end of the night, many of the most unruly protesters were arrested. A third wave of protests began when Mehserle was released in 2011, two years after the shootings. Many Oakland residents were angry over his early release. These protests, however, remained peaceful. There were no reports of unruliness or violent interactions with the police and subsequently no arrests. The protests surrounding the Oscar Grant shooting generated a national uproar in response to shootings of unarmed Black American women and men and general police misconduct within the Black American community. While local civil rights groups had long protested police brutality, the Grant shooting and the subsequent protests became a major rallying point for what later became the Black Lives Matter movement.
References:
  •  • Greenlaw, M. (2017, December 24). The Oscar Grant (Oakland) Protests, 2009-2011. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/oscar-grant-oakland-protests-2009-2011/
  •  • Harry Harris and Sean Maher, “Oscar Grant Oakland protest peaceful,” The (San Jose) Mercury News, August 13, 2016, https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/06/12/oscar-grant-oakland-protest-peaceful/
  •  • Chip Johnson, “Protest plan made all the difference in Oakland.” SFGate, July 10, 2010. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Protest-plan-made-all-the-difference-in-Oakland-3182344.php
  •  • esse McKinley, “In California, Protests After Man Dies at Hands of Transit Police,” The New York Times, January 8, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/us/09oakland.html
1493
Published
0 0
The Sonni Dynasty is overturned at Gao.
The Sonni Dynasty was overturned at Gao by a Sarakolle general, Mamadu or Mohammed Toure, of the Silla group, who became invested with the sovereignty under the title of Askia. He was the first prince of a new dynasty which was to last a century. The Askia Mohammed reigned from 1493 to 1529.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1848 (Apr 15)
Published
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Daring escape on The Pearl.
On April 15, 1848, a daring escape attempt unfolded. 77 enslaved people, aided by Black and White abolitionists, boarded The Pearl schooner in D.C., aiming for freedom via Chesapeake Bay. Bad weather and a fast response from slaveholders ended their plan near Point Lookout, Maryland. The recapture sparked outrage, leading to violence against abolitionists and free Blacks in D.C.'s first major riot. The recaptured faced sale to the South, while those who helped, like The Pearl's captain, were imprisoned. Despite the failure, the Pearl Incident may have influenced anti-slavery legislation and inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin. It stands as a powerful symbol of the fight for freedom.
References:
  •  • Momodu, S. (2016, September 23). The Pearl Incident, 1848. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/pearl-incident/
  •  • Mary Kay Ricks, Escape on the Pearl: The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2008)
  •  • Josephine F. Pacheco, The Pearl: A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005)
1963 (Jul)
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The “Stolen Girls” of the 1963 Americus Protests.
In July 1963, Americus, Georgia, witnessed a burgeoning civil rights movement. Approximately 200 Black American teenagers engaged in peaceful protests against racial segregation, aligning themselves with the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Their demonstrations, however, were met with a heavy-handed response from local authorities. Employing tactics honed during a previous civil rights movement, Americus police strategically arrested protestors and dispersed them across various regional jails, aiming to curtail press coverage and disrupt the momentum of the protests. Among those apprehended were 35 Black American girls, ranging in age from twelve to fifteen. Their ordeal extended far beyond mere arrest. They were clandestinely transferred to the "Leesburg Stockade," a dilapidated and unsanitary Civil War-era prison located outside Americus. For weeks, these girls endured deplorable conditions, including inadequate food, unsanitary sleeping arrangements, and even intimidation from guards. Weeks passed before a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) photographer located them, and his subsequent photographs exposed the girls' plight to a national audience, highlighting the brutality of Jim Crow segregation in rural Georgia. Released in mid-September, coinciding with the Birmingham Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, the girls never faced formal charges. However, in a final act of indignity, their families received bills demanding payment for their daughters' incarceration. Despite this trauma, many of the "Stolen Girls," as they became known, persevered in their activism within the Sumter County Movement. While their story remained largely untold for decades, these young women represent a potent symbol of the unwavering commitment and courage displayed by youth during the Civil Rights Movement.
References:
  •  • Tuten, K. (2016, August 02). The Leesburg Stockade “Stolen Girls” (1963). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/stolen-girls-july-august-1963/
  •  • Lulu Westbrooks-Griffin, Freedom is Not Free: 45 Days in Leesburg Stockade (Hamlin, NY: Heirloom Publishers, 1998)
  •  • “Stolen Girls,” Essence (June 2006), 164
  •  • Shirley Green-Reese, “School-Aged Young Girls Illegally Jailed in Dawson and Leesburg, Georgia,” http://www.crmvet.org/info/leesburg.htm
1565
Published
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Felipe II permits Pedro Menendez de Aviles to introduce 500 Blacks into Florida.
Felipe II permitted Pedro Menendez de Aviles to introduce 500 Blacks into Florida. Menendez had a company of trained Black artisans and agriculturists when he founded St. Augustine.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1550
Published
0 0
Slave revolt in Peru. Slaves burn the town of Santa Marta on north coast of South America.
Slave revolt in Peru. Slaves burned the town of Santa Marta on north coast of South America.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1591
Published
0 0
Moroccans invade and overrun the empire of Songhay.
Moroccans invaded and overran the empire of Songhay. The Songhay, with their bows and arrows, were helpless against powder and shot, and were defeated at Tenkadibou. Askia Ishak, the king, offered terms, and Djouder Pasha referred them to Morocco. Firearms were in use in Bornu a few years before Judar and his desert army used them with devastating effect on the Songhay.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1590
Published
0 0
Judar leads a company of 3,000 Spanish renegades and overthrows the Askias.
A company of 3,000 Spanish renegades with muskets, led by Judar, attacked the Songhay. They overthrew the Askias at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591 and thereafter ruled at Timbuktu.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1585
Published
0 0
The Portuguese move inland up the Zambezi and penetrate the empire of Mwanamutapa in the northern part of the country.
Portuguese moved inland up the Zambezi and penetrated the empire of Mwanamutapa in the northern part of the country. They founded settlements on the Middle Zambezi at Sena and Tete, and used these increasingly as bases from which to interefere in affairs of Mwanamutapa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1585
Published
0 0
Swahili towns revolt against Portuguese in alliance with Turkish adventurer, Ali Bey.
Swahili towns revolted against Portuguese in alliance with Turkish adventurer, Ali Bey.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1585
Published
0 0
The Sultan of Morocco seizes the salt mines at Taghaza from the Songhay empire.
The Sultan of Morocco seized the salt mines at Taghaza from the Songhay empire.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1585
Published
0 0
The Portuguese discover Benin and trade with it in enslaved persons and other produce.
The Portuguese discovered Benin, one of the most carefully organized African states on the West Coast, and traded with it in enslaved persons and other produce.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1862-1865
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The Port Royal Experiment, the first major attempt by Northerners to reconstruct the Southern political and economic system.
On November 7, 1861 the Union Army occupied South Carolina’s Sea Islands, freeing approximately 10,000 slaves. As the Confederate Army and White plantation owners fled, Northerners began to capitalize on their possession of an area world famous for its cotton. During the first year of occupation Black American field hands harvested approximately 90,000 lbs. of the crop. The workers were paid $1 for every 400 pounds harvested and thus were the first former enslaved persons freed by Union forces to earn wages for their labor. In January of 1862 Union General Thomas W. Sherman requested teachers from the North to train the former enslaved. Three months later U.S. Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase appointed Boston, Massachusetts attorney Edward L. Pierce to begin the Port Royal Experiment, which would create schools and hospitals for the former enslaved and to allow them to buy and run plantations. That same month the steamship Atlantic left New York City, New York bound for Port Royal. On board were 53 missionaries including skilled teachers, ministers and doctors who had volunteered to help promote this experiment. In April The Port Royal Relief Committee of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania dispatched Laura Matilda Towne with funds to found the Penn School, one of the largest of the missionary schools created during the Port Royal Experiment. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued new land redistribution policies that allowed nearly 40,000 acres of abandoned Confederate plantations to be divided among 16,000 families of the “African race.” The freed people were to purchase the land at $1.25 per acre. Almost immediately local Blacks bought about 2,000 acres of land. White Northerners also purchased land. Edward Philbrick, for example, bought 11 plantations that collectively covered 7,000 acres. His holdings supported 950 Black Americans as tenant farmers. Union General Ormsby Mitchel granted Black American islanders permission to found the town of Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island, the first of many all-Black communities. By 1865 Mitchelville had 1,500 inhabitants. As the Union moved closer to victory however, enthusiasm for the Port Royal Experiment began to wane. Many Northern Whites, initially concerned about compensating Black Americans for the injustices they had endured during enslavement, now saw voting rights rather than land ownership as the key component to Black progress. More conservative Northerners were increasingly uneasy about the precedent set by large scale land confiscation. It was the death of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, however, that ended momentum for the experiment. The new president, Andrew Johnson, was determined to restore all lands back to their previous White owners. In the summer of 1865 he ordered Brigadier General Rufus Saxton to begin that process. Nonetheless not all White owners returned to the Sea Islands, and thousands of Black landowners and their descendants continued to farm their lands until well into the 20th century.
References:
  •  • Jackson, J. (2011, June 23). Port Royal Experiment (1862-1865). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/port-royal-experiment-1862-1865/
  •  • Akiko Ochiai, “The Port Royal Experiment Revisited: Northern Visions of Reconstruction and the Land Question,” The New England Quarterly 74.1 (2001): 94-117
  •  • Willie Lee Rose, Rehearsal for Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964)
1944
Published
0 0
California Supreme Court rules in favor of decision that jobs requiring labor union membership could not exclude Blacks or other racial groups.
James v. Marinship was a California Supreme Court decision that ruled that jobs requiring labor union membership could not exclude Blacks or other racial groups. The Marinship Corporation operated various shipyards and was involved in the building of various ships and vessels during the wartime era. The respondent, Joseph James, was an employee of the Marinship Corporation. Marinship had a closed-shop contract with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, which required that all of the corporation’s shipyard construction workers must be members of the union. Boilermakers Local 6, which had jurisdiction over the Marinship yards, banned Black Americans. If Black Americans wished to work in Marinship yards, they were forced to join Auxiliary A-41, an all-Black unit controlled by Local 6. In 1943, more than 200 Black Americans, including Joseph James, who refused to pay the A-41 dues Local 6 demanded in accordance with their closed-shop contract were fired from their jobs at Marinship. James filed a lawsuit to stop the dismissal of the Black American workers. The case, argued in part by notable Black American attorney Thurgood Marshall, went before the California Supreme Court in 1944. The Marinship Corporation and the Boilermakers argued that the union contract required the segregated local and mandated that the Black American workers pay dues to the auxiliary. The court rejected that argument saying in its ruling, “The foregoing illustrations drawn from the complaint and the union rules clearly establish substantial discrimination against Negro workers who accept membership in the auxiliary local. Since they are denied union membership on terms of equality with other workers, the case is the same as if they were wholly denied the privilege of membership.” The unanimous decision in favor of James and the other workers held that if a closed-shop contract was in place and that workers must be union members in order to work, then unions cannot be closed to any members based on their race or any other arbitrary conditions. The California Supreme Court then condemned the entire process of excluding Black Americans from labor unions stating that the, “discriminatory practices involved in this case are, moreover, contrary to the public policy of the United States and this state. The United States Constitution has long prohibited governmental action discriminating against persons because of race or color.” The decision was an important victory in the fight to end segregation in the work place and the fight for civil rights for all workers regardless of color.
References:
  •  • Veitenhans, C. (2010, January 05). James v. Marinship (1944). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/james-v-marinship-1944-2/
  •  • James v. Marinship, (1944) 25C2d 721; Charles Wollenberg, “James vs. Marinship: Trouble on the New Black Frontier,” California History, 60:3 (Fall 1981)
  •  • Herbert Hill, Black Labor and the American Legal System (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985)
2005 (Aug 29)
Published
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Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina began as a Category 1 hurricane in Florida, before striking the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. By the time Katrina had run its course, more than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced. Causing billions of dollars of damage, Hurricane Katrina ranks as one of the costliest storms in American history. The damage took place in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. On Monday, August 29, Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane backed by 145-mile-an-hour winds. From there, Katrina pounded New Orleans, as water poured over the levees and eventually they were breached. By the afternoon, parts of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward were inundated by floodwaters of up to 12 feet, rising to the rooftops. By Wednesday, August 31, the flood waters had crested with parts of the city under as much as 20 feet of water. Thousands of New Orleans residents remained stranded in their houses and on rooftops waiting for help. Others made their way to the Superdome and the Convention Center, both of which became the main evacuee centers, along with the Interstate-10 expressway and the Louis Armstrong International Airport. Amidst the disorder and panic, rescuers worked to save those who were still trapped. While thousands of evacuees started dispersing from New Orleans and heading to other Southern cities and beyond, the pandemonium in New Orleans lasted for days. Reports of looting, rape, and suicide – many of the stories unverified – filled the airwaves. Eventually, order was restored, as the National Guard and other government agencies stepped in to coordinate the relief efforts. Overwhelmed by the disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was slow to respond, drawing outrage from all sides. A congressional investigation completed in 2006 concluded that although the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center provided highly detailed forecasts and adequate warning, all levels of government warranted criticism, in terms of their preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. While massive damage had impaired communications systems, agencies like FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, and the Coast Guard were all criticized for their lack of preparation and coordination. The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) was singled out as being remarkably ineffective. Investigations and trials are ongoing after several members of the NOPD were accused of killing unarmed, innocent civilians in the aftermath of Katrina. U.S. president George W. Bush also received criticism for his handling of the disaster with many claiming that his response was slow and minimal, given the level of tragedy. The situation in New Orleans overshadowed the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in other areas of the Gulf Coast. In Mississippi, thousands of homes were destroyed by high winds and tornadoes. As many as 66,000 Mississippians were displaced from their homes. Although Alabama avoided a direct hit from Katrina, more than 1,000 residents saw their homes destroyed. The rebuilding process in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities has been slow. Some former residents have returned, while others have chosen not to return or have been unable to return. While parts of New Orleans have been rebuilt, some neighborhoods, such as the Lower Ninth Ward, remain largely untouched since the tragedy. In November 2009, a federal judge ruled that poor maintenance of a major navigation channel by the Army Corps of Engineers led to some of the worst flooding after the hurricane. Although the ruling represented the first time that a specific government agency had been held liable for Hurricane Katrina flooding, the judge limited the liability to damage around the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, east of the city.
References:
1898 (Nov 10-12)
Published
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The Wilmington Race Riot.
A politically motivated attack by Whites against the city’s leading Black American citizens, the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 documents the lengths to which White Democrats went to regain political domination of the South after Reconstruction. The violence began on Thursday, November 10 in the predominantly Black American city of Wilmington, North Carolina, at that time the state’s largest metropolis. Statewide election returns had recently signaled a shift in power with Democrats taking over the North Carolina State Legislature. The city of Wilmington, however, remained in Republican hands, primarily because of its solid base of Black American voters. On November 10, Alfred Moore Waddell, a former Confederate officer and a white supremacist, led a group of townsmen to force the ouster of Wilmington’s city officials. Waddell relied on an editorial printed in the Black American-owned Wilmington Daily Record as the catalyst for the riot. Alex Manly, the editor of the Daily Record, had published an editorial in early November arguing that “poor white men are careless in the matter of protecting their women.” Paraphrasing articles by Ida B. Wells on the subject of lynching, Manly opined that “our experiences among poor White people in the country teaches us that women of that race are not any more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men than the white men with the colored women.” Manly’s public discussion of the taboo subject of interracial sex exposed the reality of sexual exploitation of Black women by White men and challenged the myth of pure-White womanhood. Forty-eight hours after Manly’s editorial ran, Waddell led 500 white men to the headquarters of the Daily Record on 7th Street. The mob broke out windows and set the building on fire. Manly and other high profile Black Americans fled the city; however, at least fourteen Black Americans were slain that day. An eyewitness later wrote that Black Americans fled to the swamps or hid in the Black American cemetery at the edge of town. When their criminal behavior resulted in neither federal sanctions nor condemnation from the state, Waddell and his men formalized their control of Wilmington. The posse forced the Republican members of the city council and the mayor to resign and Waddell assumed the mayoral seat. Over the next two years North Carolina passed the “grandfather clause,” as one in a series of laws designed to limit the voting rights of Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Johnson, T. (2008, January 11). Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/wilmington-race-riot-1898/
  •  • David S. Cecelski, Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998)
  •  • “Early African American Perspectives on the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898,” Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library Archives.
1997 (Oct 25)
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Million Woman March.
On October 25, 1997, an estimated 750,000 Black American women gathered together to march on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia to focus on their trials, circumstances, and successes. The day-long march and program of prayer, music, and inspirational speeches, which began at the Liberty Bell and ended on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sought to bring together Black American women to address the pressing issues of interest to them and to Black families. Some of these issues included the economic deterioration of Black American communities, the importance of nurturing young children in a positive environment, finding a collective voice in politics and the civil rights movement, and strengthening Black families. The march was designed to inspire Black American women across the nation to work for their own improvement as well as that of their communities. The march, which was organized by Phile Chionesu and Asia Coney, two Philadelphia grass roots activists, was a huge success despite short notice and few preparations. The organizers bypassed traditional leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Nation of Islam which had been influential in organizing the Million Man March in 1995. Using a network of women’s organizations and relying on fliers, leaflets, Black-run media, the Internet and “word-of-mouth” to spread the word, the organizers brought women from across the country to Philadelphia via plane, train, bus, and other means of transportation. An estimated 125,000 women arrived from Chicago and New York. Although the march was portrayed as a gathering of Black women, other groups were represented as well. Their common goal was the rebuilding of Black communities. Chionesu and Coney hoped the march would counteract negative images of African American women in popular culture and the media. Unlike the Million Man March two years earlier, the Million Woman March did not rely on big names or the celebrities of the civil rights movement to fuel attendance. Nonetheless several influential Black women attended and spoke including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of South African President Nelson Mandela, and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
References:
  •  • Jones, A. (2008, February 26). Million Woman March, 1997. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/million-woman-march-1997/
  •  • Michael Janofsky. “Million Woman March is Set with High Hope.” New York Times (October 23, 1997); http://partners.upenn.edu/wp/k12/wphs/qwest/ne1.htm.
1966 (Mar 31 - April 1)
Published
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Seattle school boycott.
On Thursday March 31st and Friday April 1st, 1966, thousands of Seattle Public School students boycotted schools in the Central District, Seattle Washington’s Black American community, to protest the de facto segregation that they believed was racially discriminatory. The students and their leaders felt that most of the educational deficiencies among the bulk of Seattle’s 9,300 Black American students stemmed from their attending thirteen substandard schools that were overwhelmingly and in some cases exclusively Black American. All of these schools were under funded, staffed with less experienced teachers, and had lower test scores and graduation rates. The boycott followed years of attempts by Black American leaders to persuade the Seattle School District to address these inequities. They had submitted a number of proposals including a comprehensive “Triad” program that would insure that Black and White students schooled together; a request that the board publish a comprehensive plan to address segregation and implement in-service training for school personnel. Their proposals also included a four point program that would have closed some schools, established an integrated education center in the Central District and a Head Start program, and paid transportation costs for a voluntary desegregation program that the Seattle School Board initiated the previous year. The School Board turned a deaf ear to their requests, so the Seattle chapters of the NAACP and CORE, and the Central Area Committee for Civil Rights, organized a boycott. On Thursday and Friday approximately 3,000 students, including about 1,000 White and Asian American students, boycotted their regular classes to attend eight Freedom Schools that had been set up in churches and community buildings throughout the Central District. There, students in integrated settings took courses on Black American history and civil rights taught by volunteer teachers including many college students on spring break. Three public school teachers also instructed students during the boycott. The surprising support for the boycott forced the Seattle School Board to eventually implement most of the programs requested by boycott leaders.
References:
  •  • Ott, C. (2007, January 30). Seattle School Boycott (1966). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/seattle-school-boycott-1966/
  •  • Seattle Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer (March and April 1966)
  •  • http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/school_boycott.htm
  •  • Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: A History of Seattle’s Central District, 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994).
1565
Published
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East Africa declared a Portuguese territory.
East Africa declared a Portuguese territory.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1827 (May 30)
Pending
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Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.
Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.
References:
  •  • Create a collaborative private social space to create a community. The central focus is on adding events to the timeline, therefore the BuddyBoss plugin needs to be customized.
1481
Published
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The Mali establish the first direct Sudanese contact with Europeans.
The Mali established the first direct Sudanese contact with Europeans through Portuguese sailors who had arrived on Mali's Atlantic coast. Mali sought an alliance with the Europeans to hold back the Songhay advance from the east.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1491-1540
Published
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How a captured Moor became Leo Africanus.
Leo Africanus, born a Moor, was captured by pirates when journeying on the Mediterranean. The pirates, finding he knew a great deal about Africa, which seemed very remote, gave him to Pope Leo XI in Rome as a present. The Pope set him free and as a special favor gave him his own name, Leo.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1491
Published
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Christianity was introduced into the Kingdom of Congo by the Portuguese.
Christianity was introduced into the Kingdom of Congo by the Portuguese.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1501 - 1503
Published
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Governor Ovando objects to having enslaved Blacks and prohibits them from being sent to Hispaniola.
Ovando, Governor of Spanish America, objected to Black slaves and prohibited them from being sent to Hispaniola. He asserted that they fled among the Indians, taught them bad customs, and never could be captured. He imported 40,000 Indians from the Bahamas to replace the local Indians, who were rapidly disappearing. Despite Ovando's objections, Africans began to be imported as early as 1501; by 1522 the new Blacks had staged a rebellion. A royal edict authorized transportation of African slaves from Spain to Hispaniola via Europe, where they were Christianized.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1616
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The Dutch and the rise of Maroon societies in Guiana.
The Dutch supplanted the Portuguese as slave traders on the African coast and brought the first slaves to the North American continent. In South America they settled Guiana in 1616 and began the cultivation of sugar cane. Later, to curb the rebellious Blacks, they brought in East Indians. The so called "Bush Negroes" in the interior of Guiana were descendants of runaway slaves who had established villages and an organized government. By the end of the seventeenth century, they had large settlements on the Surinam River and before the middle of the eighteenth century they were making repeated raids on the plantations.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1612
Published
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The British established themselves in Bermuda to conduct trade, including slave trade.
The British established themselves in Bermuda to conduct trade, including slave trade.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1612
Published
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Rebellion rumors and runaway hogs in the streets leads to the execution of Blacks in Mexico.
By the middle of the sixteenth century there were 20,000 enslaved Africans in Cuernavaca and Veracruz. They caused the Spaniards more uneasiness than the more numerous Indians. The Viceroy Mendoza hanged a number of them as an example, but the Spaniards were still unable to take Blacks for granted. Early in the seventeenth century the rumor spread through Mexico City that the Blacks were going to rise and slaughter all the Spaniards on a certain day. One night the nervous Spaniards mistook the noise of a herd of runaway hogs in the streets for the sound of barefoot Blacks bent on their destruction. The next day they executed more than thirty Blacks in sheer panic.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1595
Published
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Portuguese ship 38,000 Africans to Spanish America.
With the union of Spain and Portugal in 1580, the privilege of importing enslaved people fell to the Portuguese. In 1595 a detailed grant was given to Gomez Reynal. During nine years he was to deliver 38,250 enslaved persons, at the rate of 4,250 annually. Of these 3,500 had to be landed alive. For his concession he was paid 900,000 ducats; for every Black short of the quota he forfeited 10 ducats. The Blacks were to be fresh from Africa and were to include no Mestizos, Turks, or Moors. In 1600 Reynal died and the contract was transferred to Juan Rodrigues Cutiño, and extended to 1609.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1917 (Aug 23)
Published
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The Houston Mutiny is sparked by rumors and racial discrimination faced by the Third Battalion of the Twenty-Fourth U.S. Infantry Regiment.
By the time the U.S. entered World War I, Black soldiers and white Texas civilians had a history of hostile relations dating back more than fifty years. At Camp Logan, men with the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth U.S. Infantry Regiment faced increasing harassment from Houston authorities. On August 23, 1917, a rumor reached the camp that Corporal Charles Baltimore had been killed for interfering with the detention and interrogation of a Black woman by Houston police; in fact, Baltimore had been beaten but survived and was later released. Reacting to the rumor and to racial discrimination, about 150 Black troops marched for two hours through Houston. As local Whites armed themselves, a violent confrontation ensued that claimed the lives of four Black soldiers and fifteen local residents, and wounded a dozen others. The soldiers’ leader, Sergeant Vida Henry, killed himself after the death of a National Guardsman whom the troops had mistaken for a policeman. The group subsequently fell into disarray and the violence dissipated. In November, the largest court-martial in U.S. military history convened at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio to try sixty-three soldiers from the Third Battalion. Thirteen of the convicted men were executed by hanging on December 11. The following year, two additional courts-martial were held and another sixteen sentenced to hang. Responding to pressure from Black leaders, President Woodrow Wilson commuted the death sentences of ten of the condemned men. In total, nearly sixty soldiers received life imprisonment for their roles in the affair. The Houston Mutiny anticipated the “Red Summer” riots of 1919 in which many Black American servicemen retaliated against White mistreatment. On the other hand because of the Mutiny, the Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment was not allowed by the U.S War Department to go to France to fight in World War I.
References:
  •  • Leiker, J. (2007, January 24). Houston Mutiny of 1917. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/events-african-american-history/houston-mutiny-1917/
  •  • Robert V. Haynes, A Night of Violence: The Houston Riot of 1917 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976).
1932-1972
Published
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The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Acting on the presumption that rural southern Blacks were generally more promiscuous and syphilitic than Whites, and without sufficient funding to establish an effective treatment program for them, doctors working with the Public Health Service (PHS) commenced a multi-year experiment in 1932. Their actions deprived 400 largely uneducated and poor Black Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama of proper and reasonable treatment for syphilis, a disease whose symptoms could easily have been relieved with the application of penicillin which became available in the 1940s. Patients were not told they had syphilis nor were they provided sufficient medication to cure them. More than 100 men died due to lack of treatment while others suffered insanity, blindness and chronic maladies related to the disease. The original experiment took on a life of its own as physicians, intrigued by the prospect of gathering scientific data, ignored human rights and ethical considerations and managed to extend it until 1972 when a PHS researcher Peter Buxtun revealed its history to the press. Public exposure embarrassed the scientific community and the government and the experiment was quickly shut down. Attorney Fred Gray initiated a lawsuit on behalf of the patients. In an out-of-court settlement each surviving patient received medical treatment and $40,000 in compensation. In the wake of the scandal Congress passed the National Research Act of 1974 which required more stringent oversight of studies employing human subjects. In 1997, on behalf of the federal government, President Bill Clinton issued a formal apology to the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.
References:
  •  • Fikes, R. (2007, January 21). Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (1932-1972). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/tuskegee-syphilis-experiment-1932-1972/
  •  • James H. Jones, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (New York: Free Press, 1993); Carol A. Heintzelman, “The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Its Implications for the 21st Century,” at: http://www.socialworker.com/tuskegee.htm
1942 (Nov 27)
Published
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The Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot.
The events of the Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot began on Thanksgiving, November 27, 1942. An off-duty soldier from the all-black 364th Negro Infantry Regiment became drunk at the Alhambra Bar, located at the corner of 12th & Washington Streets in Phoenix. A black female patron got into an argument with the soldier and slapped him. The soldier responded by hitting the woman with a bottle. Officers from the all black 733rd Military Police unit, stationed at the nearby Fairgrounds, were called to the scene, and tried to arrest the soldier, but he resisted and brandished a knife. A crowd formed outside of the bar, including civilians and soldiers from the 364th. Arriving officers of the 733rd each fired a shot into the air to try and disperse the crowd. One officer from the 733rd shot a second shot into the ground, but the bullet ricocheted and struck and wounded a soldier of the 364th. Some soldiers returned to camp and told an exaggerated account of the incident, and many of the soldiers armed themselves, piled into a Jeep and headed into town for revenge. By one account soldiers dispersed from the Jeep firing handguns, rifles, and high-caliber automatic weapons. Soldiers from the 733rd military police unit were ordered to the Camp Papago arsenal and issued weapons and ammunition. The clash between the soldiers of the 364th and the 733rd, now reinforced by Phoenix police, resulted in a riot. Phoenix police officer Leon Thompson was walking his beat, heading down 16th street, and was pinned down by the surrounding gunfire. He laid in the street for four hours, playing dead to avoid being shot. Other military police personnel from the 733rd arrived in armored vehicles and began hunting for those involved. Many soldiers of the 364th hid inside the homes of friends. The armored vehicles pulled up in front of one home and used a loudspeaker to call on anyone inside to surrender. When soldiers didn’t respond, the 733rd military police used 50-caliber machine guns to blast holes the size of a fist through the house. By the end of the night, three soldiers of the 364th were killed and eleven others wounded. Phoenix police officer George Haines had a toe shot off. Over two hundred men of the 364th were arrested and held in jail for a week before being released back to their unit. Fifteen soldiers were court-martialed for “disobeying orders, mutiny and inciting a riot,” and received federal prison sentences for up to fifty years. Private Joseph Sipp of the 364th was sentenced to death, but President Franklin Roosevelt intervened and had his sentence commuted.
References:
  •  • Dixon, E. (2007, January 22). The Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot (1942). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/phoenixs-thanksgiving-day-riot-1942/
  •  • Officer R. McCann, ‘Thanksgiving Day Riot, Phoenix, 1944,” Phxpdmuseum.org, April 23, 2003, https://phxpdmuseum.org/newsletter/thanksgiving-day-riot-phoenix-1944; Matthew C. Whitaker, Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005); Bradford Luckingham, Minorities in Phoenix: A Profile of Mexican American, Chinese American, and African American Communities, 1860-1992, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994).
1680 (Jun 8)
Published
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Bill passes in Virginia restraining Blacks from meeting in considerable numbers.
The General Assembly in Virginia passed "An act for preventing Negroes Insurrections" restraining Blacks from meeting in considerable numbers, walking abroad, bearing arms, carrying clubs, staves or other offensive weapons or instruments.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1663
Published
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Maryland declares that enslaved Blacks should serve for life, paving way for legal recognition of slavery in the colony.
Maryland declared that Black slaves should serve durante vita (for duration of life). This law gave legal recognition to slavery in the colony of Maryland.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1598
Published
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Revolt in the gold mines near Zaragoza in Nueva Granada.
Several thousand Blacks who worked in the rich gold mines near Zaragoza in Nueva Granada (now Colombia) wrecked the mines and killed the Spanish administrators and miners; they then defied the Spanish authorities from behind palisades that they had thrown up. The rebellion was suppressed with systematic ruthlessness by the colonial government.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1992 (Apr 28)
Published
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The Watts Truce and its impact on gang violence in Los Angeles.
The Watts Truce was a peace agreement among rival Blood and Crips street gangs in Los Angeles, California, mainly in the neighborhood of Watts. The Watts Truce occurred days before the Rodney King Riots. This truce was a significant factor in the decline of street violence in Los Angeles after the 1990s. In the late 1960s, the Crips Street Gang was founded by Raymond Lee Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams. As the Crips’ influence grew in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, several independent gangs, including the Brims, Pirus, Bishops, Bounty Hunters, Athens Park Gang, and Denver Lanes, created a coalition to fight back against them. That coalition became the Bloods. Both groups recruited members heavily in South Central Los Angeles, Watts, and in neighboring Compton. As both gangs grew into thousands of members, the war between the two gangs intensified, going from fist fighting to using guns during gang feuds. The introduction of crack cocaine and the gangs’ access to high-power weapons in the 1980s intensified the conflict. By the late 1980s, the two gangs had a combined membership of more than 50,000 or more making them by far the largest street gangs in the history of the United States. In 1988, the first attempt to make peace between the gangs occurred after the death of Karen Toshima, a 28-year-old Japanese American woman in the city’s Westwood neighborhood near the UCLA campus. A peace summit was organized by Rev. Charles Mims Jr in South Los Angeles to broker a truce. Despite this effort, the peace summit failed to end the violence among the rival gangs. In 1989, Nation of Islam leader Louis Abdul Farrakhan came to Los Angeles and made his “Stop the Killing” speech aimed to curtail gang killings. A year later, he returned to Los Angeles and made a second speech at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where hundreds of Bloods and Crips members were in attendance, but the intergang violence continued. In April 1992, Blood and Crip gangs from the Watts neighborhood finally came together to negotiate a peace. Four gangs had significant involvement in the truce. The Bounty Hunters Bloods from the Nickerson Gardens Housing Projects, Grape Street Watts Crips from the Jordan Downs Housing Projects, Hacienda Village Bloods from the Hacienda Village Projects, and PJ Watts Crips from the Imperial Courts Housing Projects. On April 28, 1992, a peace treaty was established among the gangs. The rival gangs vowed to challenge police brutality and reduce violence in their communities. The peace treaty, which was signed at a Muslim Mosque in Watts, was modeled after the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Israel and Egypt to end official hostilities in the 1948 Arab-Israel War. One day later, the Rodney King Riots erupted in Los Angeles and overshadowed the Watts Truce. After the Riots, other Blood and Crip gangs declared themselves at peace. In 1993, Richard “Tweedy Bird Loc” Johnson and Ron “Ronnie Ron” Phillps produced a hip hop studio album, Bangin on Wax by Bloods and Crips. The album features the singles “Piru Love,” “Steady Dippin,” and “Bangin on Wax.” Bangin on Wax sold over 500,000 units and was certified gold. Even though violence would continue among the gangs in Los Angeles, the Watts Truce was nonetheless credited as a significant factor in the decline of street violence in Los Angeles in the coming decades.
References:
  •  • Momodu, S. (2022, March 09). The Watts Truce (1992). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-watts-truce-1992/
  •  • “The Watts Truce,” Atlanta Black Star, https://atlantablackstar.com/2017/04/29/lasting-legacy-1992-watts-gang-truce/; “The Watts Truce,” The Source, https://thesource.com/2020/04/29/today-in-hip-hop-history-the-historic-truce-between-the-bloods-and-crips-during-the-l-a-riots-28-years-ago/; “The Watts Truce,” Mediate, https://www.mediate.com/articles/mingo-gang-truce.cfm; Mike Davis: City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (New York: Vintage Books, 1990).
2006 (Dec 4)
Published
0 0
The Jena Six
In December 2006, a seemingly ordinary request by a Black student at Jena High School, Louisiana, to sit beneath a particular tree on campus sparked a chain of events that exposed deep racial fault lines within the community. The discovery of nooses hanging from the same tree – a potent symbol of racial hatred – sent shockwaves through the Black student population, stirring fear and outrage. This incident became the pivotal point in a series of events that thrust six Black Jena High School students – Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis, and Jesse Ray Beard – into the national spotlight. Following an altercation with a White student, the Jena Six were arrested and slapped with attempted murder charges, a severity many viewed as grossly disproportionate to the situation. This incident ignited a national firestorm, drawing attention to the pervasive issue of racial bias within the justice system. The all-White juries selected for each case fueled public outcry, with prominent civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joining forces with celebrities to rally behind the Jena Six. Media outlets like the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and CNN amplified the voices of protestors, highlighting the stark contrast between the harsh treatment faced by the Jena Six and the typically lenient punishments given to White students involved in similar altercations. The sustained pressure and national outcry ultimately led to a reduction of charges against the Jena Six. Mychal Bell, the youngest, received a sentence in a juvenile facility. The others entered no contest pleas to lesser charges, resulting in fines, probation, and restitution payments. While the legal case reached a resolution, the Jena Six case served as a potent symbol of the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Their experiences shed light on the "school-to-prison pipeline," a system that disproportionately pushes Black students out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system. The case also inspired one of the Jena Six, Theo Shaw, to pursue a career in law, likely fueled by a desire to make a difference within the very system that had failed him.
References:
  •  • Morris, S. (2023, October 21). Jena Six (2006). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jena-six-2006/
  •  • ACLU Staff. “Fact Sheet: Jena Six Cases.” American Civil Liberties Union, Sept. 17, 2017, https://www.aclu.org/documents/fact-sheet-jena-six-cases?redirect=cpredirect/31880; Cruz, Abby and K. Alfonseca. “Member of ‘Jena Six’ Speaks out on Race and the Justice System 15 Years Later.” ABC News, ABC News Network, Dec. 4, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/US/member-jena-speaks-race-justice-system-15-years/story?id=81490112.
1551
Published
0 0
Carlos I restricts dress and service based on race.
Carlos I prohibited Blacks from being served by Indians: penalty for first offense, 100 lashes publicly administered; second offense, cutting off ears. If free, first offense 100 lashes; second offense, banishment. Neither Blacks nor "Mulatoes," enslaved or free, permitted to wear gold, silk, or pearls.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1528
Published
0 0
The expedition of Panfilo Narvaez in the conquest of Florida
Blacks were part of the expedition of Panfilo Narvaez in the conquest of Florida. Enrique Eynger and Jeronomi Sayller received permits to introduce 4,000 Blacks in four years in the Indies. By this date there were about 10,000 Africans in the New World. An expedition started out from Mexico to discover the land which is now New Mexico. It was led by Steven Dorantes or Estevanico, a Black man who came to America with the Narvaez expedition in 1527. He and three Spaniards survived a succession of disasters and reached Mexico from Florida by the overland route. Because of his knowledge of Indian languages, Estevanico guided the expedition to the "Seven Cities of Cibola" as the land of the Zunis was supposed to be. He reached the pueblos but was killed by the Indians and the expedition following him turned back. It was forty years before other attempts were made to penetrate New Mexico.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1054
Published
0 0
Fall of Howdaghost: Berber Leader Raids Ghana’s Major Market
Howdaghost (Ghana's most important market), though the capital of a Berber kingdom, was attacked, taken, and pillaged by Abdallah ben Yassine, under the pretext that the town paid tribute to the King of Ghana.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1050 AD
Published
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The Mossi State is founded by Ouedraogo, a warrior-king of the Mossi people.
The Mossi State was founded by Ouedraogo, who was a warrior-king of the Mossi people. The Mossi State was a powerful kingdom that existed in West Africa from the 11th century to the 19th century, in what is now Burkina Faso. The Mossi people were skilled farmers and fierce warriors who were able to establish a strong centralized state with a complex system of government and a well-organized army. Ouedraogo is credited with establishing the first Mossi kingdom and laying the foundations for the political and cultural traditions that would shape the Mossi State for centuries to come.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1050 AD
Published
0 0
The king of Manding is converted to Islam. He makes a pilgrimage to Mecca and enters into relations with neighboring states which are favorable to the growth of his power and to the development of his country.
The king of Manding, was converted to Islam by an Almoravid. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca and began to enter into relations with the neighboring states which were favorable to the growth of his power and to the development of his country. He also ceased considering himself a vassal of the Empire of Ghana. Until then, it was principally the Bambuk who furnished the gold that enriched Ghana. They undertook an active and continual exchange of the products between the Sudan and North Africa. After the Almoravides learned the road to Manding and taught it to the Moroccan caravans, the Boure became the principal source of production for gold. This contributed substantially to enriching the King of Manding and opened up new horizons for its people.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1047 AD
Published
0 0
The Badis of Granada takes over Malaga. An attempt to overthrow them fails.
Idris II, the leader of Malaga, had soldiers in his fortress that decided to support his cousin Mohammed. The people of Malaga wanted to fight, but Idris said it was too hard to win and he didn't want more violence. Days later, Badis of Granada took over Malaga and kept the African soldiers there. The Black soldiers were loyal to Badis, but the Arab people in Malaga didn't like him because he was a Berber. They worked with Mutadid of Seville, who sent his son Al Mutamid to help them. However, Al Mutamid was slow to act, and Badis was able to send more troops and defeat him.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1040 AD
Published
0 0
The Lamtuna and Godala Berbers form a federation, and from a monastery on a Senegal island, set out to preach Islam and wage war from the Sudan to Spain.
A movement arose among portions of the Lemtuna people, who inhabited principally the Tagant and the district of Howdaghost, and also Goddala or Jeddala. They led a nomadic life between the Mauritanian Adrar and the Atlantic. A federation was formed from a monastery situated on an island of the lower Senegal, the famous sect of the Almoravides. They set out to preach Islam and to wage war from the Sudan to Spain.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1038 AD (Aug)
Published
0 0
Slav prince, Zuhair, is convinced to make an expedition into Granadan territory. While there, he is abandoned by his troops.
Zuhair, of Almeria, was unpopular among his subjects because he was a so-called Slav prince--that is, a descendant of Northern mercenaries, such as the mamelukes of more recent times. Ibn Abbas, his vizier, convinced him to make an expedition into Granadan territory. In August he found himself surrounded. His Slav cavalry fled when their leader, Hudhail, was dismounted, and his Andalusian troops were dispirited and useless. His 500 African infantry seized the armory and went over to the enemy. It is possible that their desertion was prearranged, for Badis, king of Granada, was devoid of religious and racial prejudice and had a Jew, Samuel Ibn Nagdela, for vizier, and an African, Kodam, as provost marshall.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1035 AD
Published
0 0
Yahya Ibn Hammud is killed in battle. His troops refuse to surrender and are nearly annihilated.
Ismail, the son of the cadi, lured Yahya Ibn Hammud from his secure position within the city walls and slew him in battle. Nevertheless, the Africans who held the city gates and walls would not surrender to Ismail or Ibn Abdallah, the former ruler of Carmona, and they were nearly annihilated by their foes. At Algeciras, African soldiers played the role of king-makers and proclaimed Mohammed, a cousin of Yahya, caliph (the chief Muslim civil and religious ruler), but this venture was unsuccessful.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1023 AD (Feb - Oct)
Published
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Kasim Ibn Hammud and his troops ransack Malaga but face fierce resistance and surrender once Kasim flees.
Kasim Ibn Hammud, joined by his faithful Africans, in February took advantage of his nephew Yahya's absence in Malaga to enter the city. In September, the Cordovans again expelled his forces, but with his African troops he beseiged them and cut off their supply of food. In October, the Cordovans, in a concentrated force, put the beseigers to flight, but the Africans made a desperate resistance and only surrendered once Kasim had fled. Kasim was later captured by Xeres. Yahya Ibn Hammud was impressed by the loyalty of the Africans to his uncle, so he employed them to garrison Carmona, a city he had captured from the cadi of Seville (a cadi is a minor Moslem magistrate or judge).
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1902 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Famed writer Langston Hughes is born.
Langston Hughes was born to James Nathaniel and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri. His grandfather, Charles Langston, was an abolitionist and a half-brother to educator and politician John Mercer Langston. Hughes received early schooling in Missouri and Ohio, and after spending a year in Mexico, he attended Columbia University and later Lincoln University. In 1926, Hughes published The Weary Blues, a collection of poems. He continued writing and published, among other works, Not Without Laughter (1930), Shakespeare in Harlem (1942), and his autobiography, I Wonder as I Wander (1956). He would go on to become a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a famous poet, writer, and activist. In addition to poems, novels, and plays, Hughes wrote newspaper columns in which he had created the Harlem character Jesse B. Simple. Hughes died on May 22, 1967, in New York City.
References:
  •  • Faith Berry, Langston Hughes, Before and Beyond Harlem, Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill & Co., 1983; reprint, Citadel Press, 1992, p. 1-3
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890
Published
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The 1890 Land Grant Act requires states to provide educational training for Black youths.
The 1890 Land Grant Act required states to provide educational training for Black youths. The same year, Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth, later Savannah State College, was established in Savannah, Georgia, under the law. The school served as Georgia's land-grant school for Blacks until 1947. Savannah State awarded its first baccalaureate degree in 1898.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1820
Published
0 0
Boston opens an elementary school for Blacks.
Boston opened an elementary school for Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1820
Published
0 0
Minister and abolitionist Nathaniel Paul establishes the first church and school for Blacks in Albany, NY.
The Albany African Church Association was organized with the help of Nathaniel Paul, who, in 1822, became the first pastor of the African Baptist Church, the only Black church in Albany at the time. The Wilberforce School, the only school for Black youths in Albany at the time, was also formed by Paul and met in his church. In 1831, Paul went to England to seek financial backing for a college-level manual labor school for Blacks. He became involved with British abolitionists and decided to remain there to be a part of the worldwide abolitionist societies that were beginning to form there.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1818 (Apr 18)
Published
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The first Seminole War ends when a force of Indians and Blacks are defeated in the Battle of Suwanne, Florida.
A force of Indians, Black Seminoles, and maroons were defeated in the Battle of Suwanne, Florida, ending the First Seminole War by U.S. troops under General Andrew Jackson. Jackson characterized the hostilities as a "savage and negro war."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1818
Published
0 0
Soldier William Flora dies.
William Flora, born a free man, served under Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, at the Battle of the Great Bridge during the winter of 1775-76. Flora was remembered by Captain Thomas Nash, who was wounded in the engagement, for his stamina and courage. After the Revolution, Flora returned to his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, and was one of the first Blacks to buy property there. Prospering, he bought the freedom of his wife and children. Shortly before his death, Flora applied for and was granted 100 acres of land in Virginia for his service during the war.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1793 (Mar 14)
Published
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Eli Whitney of Massachusetts, a white inventor, obtained a patent for his cotton gin. The invention strengthened the institution of slavery, especially in the South.
Eli Whitney of Massachusetts, a white inventor, obtained a patent for his cotton gin. The invention strengthened the institution of slavery, especially in the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787 (Sep)
Published
0 0
The “Three-fifths Compromise,” which allowed the South to count each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House of Representatives, was incorporated. It also prohibited any legislation that might close the slave trade before 1808.
The "Three-fifths Compromise," which allowed the South to count each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House of Representatives, was incorporated. The Constitution also prohibited any legislation that might close the slave trade before 1808, but allowed a tax of ten dollars per head on each enslaved person imported before that date and demanded that fugitive enslaved persons be returned to their enslavers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1776 (Jul 4)
Published
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The Declaration of Independence is signed. Thomas Jefferson condemns King George for his role in the slave trade and suppressing any legislative attempts to restrain it.
A section that alleged that King George III had forced the slave trade and slavery on the colonies was eliminated at the insistence of representatives from Georgia and South Carolina. Thomas Jefferson had charged King George with waging a "cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither." In the monarch's determination "to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold," Jefferson said he had suppressed "every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce." Historians agree that this was one example of the American exaggerations in the list of grievances against King George III.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (May 1)
Published
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Emma Clarissa Clement becomes the first Black woman to be named “American Mother of the Year” by the Golden Rule Foundation.
Emma Clarissa Clement, a Black woman and mother of Atlanta University president Rufus E. Clement, is named "American Mother of the Year” by the Golden Rule Foundation. She was the first Black woman to receive the honor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 2 - 26)
Published
0 0
Reports appear in national newspapers revealing a history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spying on Black individuals and organizations.
Several reports appeared in the nation's newspapers revealing a history of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spying on Black individuals and organizations. The New York Times reported on January 2 that the CIA had been collecting data on singer Eartha Kitt since 1956. According to the CIA files, Kitt had danced, at the age of twenty, with a group whose leader allegedly had “served as a sponsor or endorser of a number of Communist-front activities”; she was involved in “escapades overseas and her loose morals were said to be the talk of Paris” in 1956; she had “a very nasty disposition" and was “a spoiled child, very crude,” with “a vile tongue”; and she “often bragged that she had very little Negro blood.” The CIA file also revealed that in 1960 Kitt signed an advertisement in support of the civil rights activities of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., which was also endorsed by "a number of persons identified in the past with the Communist party." However, the CIA report concluded that there was no evidence of any foreign intelligence connections on the part of Kitt. The detailed investigation of Kitt, according to the Times, was also possibly related to remarks that she made during a White House luncheon in January 1968. At that time, Kitt shouted that the nation's youth were in rebellion because they were being “snatched off to be shot in Vietnam.” Both President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson were reportedly upset by the singer's remarks. In response to the investigation of Kitt, the Atlanta Constitution, on January 6, 1975, published an editorial that stated that “nobody in today's world should deny our government the right to protect itself and us by keeping a close eye on potential threats, foreign or domestic. The question is, who should do it and under what kind of controls and guidelines? The pursuit of national security should not lead us to a place where we jettison the Bill of Rights.” Kitt responded, “I don't understand this at all. I think it's disgusting. ... I've always lived a very clean life and I have nothing to be afraid of and I have nothing to hide.” On January 25, the Washington Post reported that the FBI had wiretapped the conversations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders during the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The reports from the wiretaps, according to the Post, were delivered to President Lyndon B. Johnson. These reports of government spying on Black Americans came in the wake of the Watergate scandals and newer accusations that governmental agencies had illegally invaded the privacy of American citizens.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 10)
Published
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A Gallup Poll reports that Black Americans disapprove of President Richard Nixon.
A Gallup Poll reported that Black Americans continued to disapprove of the way President Richard Nixon was handling his job by a 2:1 ratio, the same ratio recorded in surveys the previous spring.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 1)
Published
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The U.S. Department of Defense reports that the percentage of Black soldiers killed in the vietnam war is declining.
The U.S. Department of Defense reported that the percentage of Black soldiers killed in Vietnam had declined substantially during the first three months in 1970. The Pentagon report said that, for the first time, the percentage of Black soldiers killed in action in Southeast Asia had fallen below the percentage of Blacks among the American forces there. The government's data showed that as of March 31, 1970, Blacks serving in Indo-China represented about 10 percent of the total American military presence in the area. During the same three months, Black fatalities accounted for 8.5 percent of the combat deaths there. This was a drop from 9.5 percent in 1969. The Defense Department cited no specific effort in decreasing the casualty rates among Black servicemen in Vietnam.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jan - Mar)
Published
0 0
President Richard Nixon takes office without substantial Black support and makes only three top-level appointments of Blacks.
President Richard Nixon, elected without substantial Black support, made only three top-level appointments of Blacks to the Washington bureaucracy. James Farmer was appointed Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare; Arthur A. Fletcher was appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor; and William H. Brown, III, was appointed Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Nixon retained Walter Washington as Mayor of Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 16)
Published
0 0
Muhammad Ali, heavyweight boxing champion, is named the Associated Press’ Athlete of the Year for 1974.
Muhammad Ali, heavyweight boxing champion, was named the Associated Press’ Athlete of the Year for 1974. In winning the award, as a result of a nationwide poll of sportswriters and sportscasters, Ali edged out Black baseball player Hank Aaron, by a margin of 162 to 110. Ali became only the third fighter to win the AP award since it was initiated in 1931. Joe Louis, a Black American, won it in 1937 after he had knocked out heavyweight Jim Braddock for the title, and Ingemar Johansson of Sweden was selected in 1959 after he defeated Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight championship. The AP award signaled a new acceptance of Ali by Americans. The champion had incurred widespread disfavor and was forced to take a three and one half year retirement from the ring when he refused induction into the Armed Forces in 1968. Ali began his comeback in 1971 after the United States Supreme Court overturned his conviction for draft evasion. His comeback fight was a third round knockout over Jerry Quarry in Atlanta, Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 15)
Published
0 0
Judge Lyle Cook orders the city of Berkeley, CA to promote eight white firemen who were passed over in favor of minority race candidates, claiming reverse discrimination.
Alameda County, California, Superior Court Judge Lyle Cook ordered the city of Berkeley to promote eight white firemen who were passed over in favor of minority race candidates. Judge Cook ruled that the city's affirmative action program, introduced in 1972, was unconstitutional because it amounted to discrimination in reverse. According to the 1972 act, persons of minority races should be represented in the fire department in proportion to their population in the city. Whites, however, complained that they were discriminated against because non-whites were hired and promoted ahead of them on the basis of quota rather than merit. Judge Cook agreed that ignoring competitive examinations to hire and promote minority persons violated the Berkeley Charter, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 13)
Published
0 0
Dr. Peter T. Singleton, Jr., is awarded the Commendation for Excellence in Clinical Medicine and Human Relations
Dr. Peter T. Singleton, Jr., of Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded the Commendation for Excellence in Clinical Medicine and Human Relations at the Walter Reed General Hospital and Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The young Black cardiologist graduated from Morehouse College and the Howard University Medical School.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Aug 8)
Published
0 0
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, called a “prophet of contemporary jazz,” dies.
Julian "Cannonball” Adderley, called a "prophet of contemporary jazz," died in Gary, Indiana. Adderley was born in Tampa, Florida, in 1928, the son of a jazz cornetist. Known primarily as an alto saxophonist, Adderley also played tenor sax, trumpet, clarinet, and flute. He studied brass and reed instruments in a Tallahassee, Florida, high school from 1944 until 1948 and formed his first jazz group there with the school's band director as advisor. Because of his hearty appetite, fellow students nicknamed him "Cannibal," which later became "Cannonball." From 1948 until 1956, Adderley was music director at the Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. At the same time, he directed his own jazz group in southern Florida. He served for three years as a member of the 36th Army Dance Band and later studied at the Naval School of Music in Washington, D.C. Adderley's first big break came in New York in 1955 when he appeared with Oscar Pettiford. The next year he signed his first recording contract with EmArcy Records. Adderley later recorded for Capitol Records and other companies and became famous for such albums as Black Messiah, Country Preacher, Fiddler on the Roof, Walk Tall, and Quiet Nights. His last album was Phoenix. Until 1957, Adderley toured with his brother, Nat, a cornetist. In 1957, he joined the Miles Davis group. After a tour with George Shearing, he formed his own quintet, including his brother Nat, in 1959. Charles Suber, publisher of Down Beat magazine, which named Adderley New Alto Star of the Year in 1959, described the "Cannonball" as "a helluva musician. ... He was one of the best alto players in recent years." During his eulogy of Adderley before 2,000 mourners in Tallahassee, Florida, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, director of People United to Save Humanity (PUSH), said the "Cannonball” had "his greatness and his fame, but he did not use it, abuse it, or lose it. He expanded it. ... When he blew his saxophone you felt a little ease in the troubled world and the savage beast had to hold his peace."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Aug 6 - 15)
Published
0 0
Racial violence persists in Boston, MA over desegregation.
Racial violence continued in Boston, Massachusetts, the scene of sporadic incidents ever since busing to achieve school desegregation was ordered in the city in 1974. On August 6, racial fighting erupted at the Charles Street Jail and 150 police officers were called in to put down the disturbance involving seventy-five to one hundred inmates. Martin Whitkin of the Sheriff's Office said the trouble apparently started in the lunchroom with a fight between a white man and several Blacks, then escalated into a full-scale brawl throughout the jail. On August 10, Black and white swimmers threw rocks and bricks at one another on South Boston's Carson Beach. About five hundred Blacks were at the beach in the predominantly white section of the city in response to a request by Black leaders who urged them to "reassert the rights of all Boston residents to use all public facilities." There were no reports of injuries. On August 13, police patrols were increased in the predominantly Black Roxbury section of the city after young Blacks had made sporadic attacks on passing whites for three days. On August 15, three people were slightly injured during incidents of stone throwing in the city. A sixteen-year-old Black youth was arrested during the melee in the Roxbury section. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts joined local leaders in an attempt to ease racial tensions. Brooke said, “I think the polarization in the community is unfortunate, but it seems to be building."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Aug 16)
Published
0 0
Judge Robert DeMascio rejects the busing of students to achieve school desegregation in Detroit, Michigan.
United States District Court Judge Robert DeMascio rejected the busing of students to achieve school desegregation in Detroit, Michigan. He ordered the Detroit Board of Education to seek an alternate plan to better balance the races in the schools. C. L. Golightly, president of the city's school board, called the judge's decision "a victory for the school children of Detroit." Lawrence Washington of the Detroit branch of the NAACP expressed disappointment, commenting, "We're right back where we started five years ago."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Aug 15)
Published
0 0
Joann Little is acquitted of the 1974 murder of white guard Clarence Alligood, whom Little claimed she stabbed in self-defense.
A jury of six whites and six Blacks in Raleigh, North Carolina, acquitted Joann Little, a twenty-one-year-old black woman, of the August 27, 1974, murder of white guard Clarence Alligood. The murder case became a cause célèbre for feminist and civil rights groups after Little claimed she stabbed Alligood while defending herself against a sexual attack.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Aug 10)
Published
0 0
Emory O. Jackson, editor of the Birmingham World, dies.
Emory O. Jackson, editor of the Birmingham World, was laid to rest in Birmingham, Alabama. Jackson was born on September 8, 1908, in Buena Vista, Georgia. He moved with his parents to Birmingham in 1919. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1932, after which he taught school in Dothan and Jefferson counties, Alabama. After serving in World War II, Jackson became managing editor of the Birmingham World -a position he held from 1943 until his death. Jackson was one of the founders of the Alabama Conference of NAACP Branches and was a leader of several other political and civil rights organizations. In his eulogy of Jackson, the Reverend Samuel Pettagrue of the Sardis Baptist Church of Birmingham proclaimed that "the presses in heaven have stopped. A new edition was on the street and its headline read: "The paper's top foreign correspondent, Emory O. Jackson, after serving sixty-seven years away has returned home to serve out his assignment eternally." In another eulogy, Benjamin E. Mays, president of the Atlanta, Georgia, Board of Education and president-emeritus of Morehouse College, said the late editor was "born a free man. He walked like one; talked like one and looked like one."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 9)
Published
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The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of Marcus Wayne Chenault for the slaying of Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of Marcus Wayne Chenault for the slaying of Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Deacon Edward Boykin at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on June 30, 1974. Chenault was convicted by a Fulton County Court jury on September 12, 1974. Like the jury that convicted him, the state supreme court rejected Chenault's plea of insanity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 8)
Published
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Lee Elder, a Black golfer, began competition in the famed Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia.
One of the last remaining barriers in professional sports fell as Lee Elder, a Black golfer, began competition in the famed Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia. Elder was invited to participate in the prestigious Masters after winning the Monsanto Open in 1974. The Black golfer was officially welcomed to Georgia by the state's governor, George Busbee. Elder was later disqualified in the preliminary rounds of the tournament.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 2)
Published
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Blacks demonstrators originally charged with juvenile delinquency, have their charges dropped without explanation by Judge Dennis Jones.
Judge Dennis Jones of the DeKalb County, Georgia, Juvenile Court dismissed charges against eighty Black students arrested during a demonstration in February 1975 at the Columbia High School in Decatur. Judge Jones did not specify his reasons for dismissing the charges. Assistant School Superintendent Joe Renfroe, who had brought charges against the Blacks, said he was shocked by the judge's ruling, contending that the demonstrating Blacks had disrupted the instructional and academic process at Columbia. Defense Attorney Roger Mills praised the judge's decision, calling it “amazing.” The Blacks were originally charged with juvenile delinquency by violation of public disturbance statutes during a series of protests aimed at what they called the racist administration of DeKalb County schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 15)
Published
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Bill McCullough is hired as Georgia Tech’s first assistant football coach.
The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) announced that it had hired the first Black assistant football coach in its history. Bill McCullough of Atlanta, a graduate of Fort Valley State College and Georgia State University, resigned from his position as Education Program Coordinator with the Georgia Department of Public Safety to accept the position at Tech.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 14)
Published
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Preliminary legal motions are presented in the Beaufort County, North Carolina, Superior Court in the celebrated murder case of Joann Little.
Preliminary legal motions were presented in the Beaufort County, North Carolina, Superior Court in the celebrated murder case of Joann Little, a twenty-year-old Black woman charged with murder after a Beaufort County Jail guard, Clarence Alligood, was found dead in her cell on August 27, 1974. Little pleaded self-defense on the grounds that the seminude Alligood had attempted to rape her. In the preliminary legal skirmishes, Little's attorneys, Jerry Paul and Karen Galloway, sought a change of venue and a delay of the trial. They argued that racist feelings and pretrial publicity had made it impossible for Little to get a fair trial in Beaufort County. The Little case became a cause célèbre when civil rights groups and feminist organizations rallied to the young Black woman's defense, claiming that the case typified the abuses that the Southern criminal justice system had long heaped upon Blacks and women. By early April, thousands of dollars had been raised on behalf of the defense effort. Also, Representative Shirley Chisholm from New York asked U.S. Attorney General Edward Levy to intervene in the case on Little's behalf. Representative Chisholm said: “There are very few Black people of either sex called to serve on juries in these eastern North Carolina counties. So this can really hurt Joann, who lives in a region where many, many Caucasian people hold the worst sort of prejudices against Black women.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 1)
Published
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Poppy Cannon White, widow of the late NAACP Executive Secretary Walter Francis White, dies by jumping off the terrace of her apartment in New York City.
Poppy Cannon White, widow of the late NAACP Executive Secretary Walter Francis White, died by jumping off the terrace of her apartment in New York City. Walter White, whose marriage to the white author in 1947 created a mild controversy within the ranks of the NAACP, died in 1955. The NAACP issued an official statement of sorrow, however, upon the death of White.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 1)
Published
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The Black Christian Nationalist Church opens its Third Biennial National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The organization is praised for their mission.
The Black Christian Nationalist (BCN) Church opened its Third Biennial National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The BCN was a movement dedicated to changing the condition of Black people by changing their lifestyles. According to the creed of the BCN, “Jesus, the Black Messiah, was a revolutionary leader, sent by God to rebuild the Black Nation, Israel, and to liberate Black people from powerlessness and from the oppression, brutality and exploitation of the white gentile world.” The national chairman of the BCN, Jaramazi Abebe Agyeman (formerly the Reverend Albert Cleage), was lauded by Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson as “a master teacher.” Coleman Young, mayor of Detroit, Michigan, where the BCN was founded, presented Agyeman with a certificate from his city council. Young said that the "BCN is a force to be reckoned with not only in Detroit but in the nation.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 26)
Published
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics release a study showing that 27.9 percent of the Blacks employed across the country held white collar jobs during 1970.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a study which showed that 27.9 percent of the Blacks employed across the country held white collar jobs during 1970. In 1960, 16.1 percent of the white collar jobs were held by Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 28)
Published
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The Atlanta Inquirer reports that the South, the historic home of Black Americans, was going through a “whitening” process, as the Southern Black population was decreasing.
The Atlanta Inquirer reported a study by the Southern Regional Council (SRC) which showed that the South, the historic home of Black Americans, was going through a "whitening” process despite increasing Black concentrations in the urban areas of the region. All Southern states, except Texas, were losing more Blacks than were being replaced by the birthrate and the migration of young Blacks from the North. According to the study, the Black exodus from the South continued at such a steady pace that the region's Black population, as shown in the 1970 Census, was down to 20 percent—the same percentage recorded in 1790. The loss of Black populations was particularly acute in the rural areas. In Georgia, two-thirds of the state's 152 counties were losing Blacks; in Mississippi, 90 percent of the counties had declining Black populations. A similar story was told for Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas, all of which had 80 percent or more of their counties losing Blacks. Conversely, 51 percent of the population of Atlanta was Black. Augusta, Georgia, had a 50 percent Black population, and New Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah boasted Black populations of 45 percent or more. In sum, the study reported, there were ten metropolitan areas in the 11 southern states where the Black population was 40 percent or more. The SRC report's authors, Jack Tucker of Atlanta University and Everett S. Lee of the University of Georgia, concluded that the growth of the Black population lagged behind that of whites, such that year by year, "the South becomes increasingly white. Losses of Black population are frequent and heavy in rural counties, so Southern Blacks are increasingly concentrated in metropolitan areas. And within the metropolitan areas, Blacks are clustered in central cities with relatively few making their way into the more affluent suburbs.” “Generally,” the report says, “people move from one area to another for one of two reasons, either the attractiveness of destination outweighs that of origin or there are so many negative features at the point of origin that any place seems better.” Migration thus becomes a movement of the upper socioeconomic classes to seek better opportunities and of the lower economic classes to escape oppression that can no longer be endured.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct)
Published
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Ralph David Abernathy, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), returns to the U.S. after going on a European tour which took him, among other places, to the Soviet Union and East Germany.
Ralph David Abernathy, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), returned to the country from a European tour which took him, among other places, to the Soviet Union and East Germany. Abernathy preached to approximately seven thousand people in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. In East Germany, the veteran civil rights leader was awarded the Peace Medal of the German Democratic Republic.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Nov 2)
Published
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In general elections across the country, Blacks are elected mayors in four additional American cities and are named to various other local and state offices.
In general elections across the country, Blacks were elected mayors in four additional American cities and were named to various other local and state offices. In Englewood, New Jersey, the Reverend Walter S. Taylor was elected the city's first Black Mayor. Gilbert H. Bradley, Jr., was elected Mayor of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In Benton Harbor, Michigan, Charles Joseph became the town's first Black Mayor. Richard B. Hatcher was easily reelected to a four-year term as Mayor of Gary, Indiana. Two Blacks, Henry Owens and Saundra Graham, were elected to the City Council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a third Black, Charles Pierce, was selected to the city's school board. In Mississippi, Fayette's Black Mayor Charles Evers was defeated in his bid for governor, but state representative Robert Clark, the only Black legislator in Mississippi, was returned to his seat. Blacks also won seven county supervisor posts, one circuit court clerk's position, and about twenty other county offices. Almost three hundred Blacks campaigned for offices in Mississippi during the November elections. Also in the elections, former heavyweight boxing champion Jersey Joe Walcott was elected Sheriff of Camden, New Jersey. Blacks were elected to city councils in Indianapolis, Indiana; Davenport, Iowa; Burlington, Iowa; Memphis, Tennessee; and Miami, Florida. In Memphis, Black Councilman Fred Davis was elected Chairman of the thirteen-member City Council. In Miami, the Reverend Edward Graham managed to retain his seat on the City Council, although Black mayoral candidate Tom Washington was defeated. Defeated in the Mississippi state legislature race were veteran civil rights leaders Fanny Lou Hamer and Aaron Henry. Voters in Cleveland, Ohio, rejected a second Black mayor in Arnold R. Pinkney's candidacy. Although Thomas I. Atkins, a Black City Councilman in Boston, was defeated in his bid for mayor, he was appointed Secretary of the Department of Communications and Development, the highest position held by a Black American in Massachusetts state government.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 23)
Published
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Associate Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan, citing reasons of health, retires after sixteen years.
Associate Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan, citing reasons of health, retired from the bench after sixteen years of service. Harlan had participated in many historic decisions concerning civil rights and legal protections for minorities and the poor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Nov 16)
Published
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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights again criticizes the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, charging that it failed to adequately enforce civil rights laws and regulations.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights again criticized the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, charging that it had failed to adequately enforce civil rights laws and regulations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 13)
Published
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Approximately 45 percent of San Francisco, CA students protest desegregation.
Approximately 45 percent of the school children in San Francisco, California, refused to attend classes as a new school desegregation plan calling for the busing of 48,000 children was put into effect.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 3 - 8)
Published
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Senator James O. Patterson becomes the first Black to win a major party congressional nomination in Tennessee’s history.
In fall primary elections, State Senator James O. Patterson, Jr., was nominated for a congressional seat in the new Fourth Congressional District (Memphis) of Tennessee. Patterson thus became the first Black to win a major party congressional nomination in the state's history. In Georgia, a former aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Hosea Williams of Dekalb County, placed a distant third in the Democratic race for U.S. Senator and, in the same state, another former aide to King, Andrew Young of Atlanta, won the Democratic nomination from the Fifth Congressional District. Five Blacks were also elected to the ten-person city council in Selma, Alabama, the scene of violent voting rights demonstrations in the 1960s. This group, elected from predominantly Black wards rather than at-large, were the first of their race to win seats on the local council.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 18)
Published
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Fayette, Mississippi, Mayor Charles Evers calls for a federal investigation into problems faced by small Southern cotton farmers.
Fayette, Mississippi, Mayor Charles Evers called for a federal investigation into problems faced by small Southern cotton farmers. The Black mayor told Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz in a telegram that many farmers, Black and White, had come to him with their problems.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Sep 20)
Published
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Matthew Simpson Davage, former president of Clark College in Georgia, dies.
Matthew Simpson Davage, former president of Clark College in Georgia, died in New Orleans, Louisiana, at age ninety-seven. Davage was born in 1879 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He earned a B.A. degree from New Orleans University (now Dillard University) in 1900 and immediately joined the faculty there as an instructor in mathematics. He remained on the faculty until 1905 and, at the same time, pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago. Between 1905 and 1915, Davage was business manager of the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a Methodist publication. In 1915, he returned to education as president of the George R. Smith College at Sedalia, Missouri. After only one year at Sedalia, he assumed the presidency of the Haven Institute at Meridian, Mississippi, which he quickly left to assume the presidency of Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson College) in Austin, Texas. In the spring of 1920, Davage was elected president of Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, where he became the first Black to head the fifty-four-year-old historically Black institution. In 1924, he became the sixteenth president of Clark University, as it was then called. Davage was the second Black person to head the institution, the first having been his predecessor, William Henry Crogman. During his seventeen-year tenure at Clark, Davage presided over the removal of the institution from southeast Atlanta to its present location near the city's other Black institutions of higher education, and he helped to provide new financial strength and vitality for the school, even during the Depression years. In 1939, Davage became one of the first Blacks to speak before the all-white Atlanta Rotary Club. Because of the Jim Crow laws and customs of the time, he could not eat lunch with the Rotarians and had to wait in an adjoining room until the meal was finished. Then he gave a speech entitled “The Negro's Place in Atlanta's Life." In it, he said, “Some day we may hope, the thinking people of both races will translate that mutual respect and trust into some concrete work. ... They may meet and work on the same critics trying to say they are seeking to tear down a social order."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Aug 15)
Published
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The National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) is founded in New York City with chapters in several other localities, including Chicago, Cleveland, and San Francisco.
The National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) was founded in New York City with chapters in several other localities, including Chicago, Cleveland, and San Francisco. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission and a founder of the feminist group, accused the nation of expecting Black women to suppress their aspirations in deference to Black males. Another founder, Margaret Sloan, said the new group would remind "the Black liberation movement that there can't be liberation for half a race.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Aug 15)
Published
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Ralph David Abernathy announces that he will remain as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) after the civil rights group’s board of directors refused to accept his resignation during the SCLC’s sixteenth annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Ralph David Abernathy announced that he would remain as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) after the civil rights group's board of directors refused to accept his resignation during the SCLC's sixteenth annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. The board, however, agreed to try to remedy some of the complaints which led Abernathy, successor to Martin Luther King, Jr., to offer his resignation. These complaints included inadequate financing and insufficient staff. The board pledged increased fundraising efforts, the hiring of more full-time staff, and the creation of five regional offices to assist in administrative functions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Dec 2)
Published
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Two U.S. District Court judges, in separate decisions, order the city of San Francisco to implement quota systems for the employment of minorities in its police and fire departments.
Two U.S. District Court judges, in separate decisions, ordered the city of San Francisco to implement quota systems for the employment of minorities in its police and fire departments. Judge Robert F. Peckham directed the police department to hire three minority persons (defined by Peckham as Black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans) for every two Whites at the patrolman's level until minority representation reached 30 percent. The department was also instructed to adopt a one-to-one ratio in appointments to the rank of sergeant until 30 percent of those officers were from minorities. The judge outlawed a hiring and promotion test which had been used by the city's Civil Service Commission. He found the test to be discriminatory and ordered that any future tests be submitted to him for approval. In the second decision, Judge William T. Sweigert ordered the San Francisco Fire Department to fill half of its more than two hundred vacancies with members of racial minorities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Dec 19)
Published
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U.S. District Court Judge Frank Gray, Jr., rules that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s (HEW) refusal to consider applications for transportation aid had impeded a court-ordered busing plan for the public schools in Nashville, Tennessee.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank Gray, Jr., ruled that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's (HEW) refusal to consider applications for transportation aid had impeded a court-ordered busing plan for the public schools in Nashville, Tennessee. Gray called the action illegal and ordered HEW to review within thirty days its earlier refusal to grant the city of Nashville funds to purchase buses to transport about half of its 95,000 students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 11)
Published
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U.S. Senator William Proxmire, a Wisconsin Democrat and chairman of the congressional appropriations subcommittee which oversees funds for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), orders the space agency to double the fiscal 1975 budget of its equal employment office and to report to his subcommittee every three months on progress in hiring minorities and women.
U.S. Senator William Proxmire, a Wisconsin Democrat and chairman of the congressional appropriations subcommittee which oversees funds for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ordered the space agency to double the fiscal 1975 budget of its equal employment office and to report to his subcommittee every three months on progress in hiring minorities and women. Proxmire's action was prompted by reports that NASA, as of mid-1973, had the lowest percentage of minority and female employees of any federal agency, and that two-thirds of these workers were in lower-level jobs. NASA officials also admitted that the agency had failed to act against project contractors who had not met minority employment goals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 11)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census reports that as of July 1, 1973, the Black population in the United States increased to 23.8 million, up 1.2 million from the 1970 census.
The Bureau of the Census reported that as of July 1, 1973, the Black population in the United States had increased to 23.8 million, up 1.2 million from the 1970 census. The Bureau also reported a continuing pattern of Black youthfulness, in comparison to the general population. According to the latest statistics, the median age of Blacks was 22.9 years; the median age for the total population was 28.4 years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 27)
Published
1 0
The National Urban League (NUL) issued a report stating that all of the gains of Black Americans had been wiped over the past decade.
The National Urban League (NUL), in its annual “The State of Black America" Report, contended that “many of the gains Blacks made over the past decade were either wiped out or badly eroded in 1975 and the portents for the future are not encouraging." The League warned that "the absence of overt discontent in the cities" did not mean that the problems did not continue to exist and that the future of the nation was "bound-up in how it deals with these problems." As examples of how Blacks lost ground in 1975, the NUL cited the following: 1. There was a further decline in middle-income Black families, continuing a trend from 1973–1974 that saw these families decrease from one-fourth to one-fifth of the total population for all Black families. 2. The average Black family income was only fifty-eight percent of that of average white family income, representing a decline from sixty-one percent in 1969. 3. The Black unemployment rate remained virtually unchanged at 14.1 percent for the first three quarters of 1975. 4. In 1975, Congress failed to enact any substantial legislation that would "foster full employment." 5. The outbreaks of racial violence in Boston, Massachusetts, a city "long regarded, if incorrectly as the fountainhead of liberalism in this country, served notice that racism has no geographical limits and continues to exist in the American body politic." In concluding the review, Vernon Jordan, executive director of the NUL, commented that "all across the board, Black people lost out in 1975." In order to alleviate the distress among Blacks that the League cited, it recommended "a full employment policy that assures decent jobs for all; an income maintenance system that alleviates economic hardship and replaces the present welfare system; and housing, health, and education programs that go beyond rhetoric to bring our nation closer to a prosperity that includes all of its citizens."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 15)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court, in a six to three decision, rule that a group of seventeen Blacks and two Whites from Cairo, Illinois, could not obtain injunctions against local judges and prosecutors who, the plaintiffs claimed, were engaged in a pattern of setting excessive bail and harsher punishments for Blacks than Whites.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a six to three decision, ruled that a group of seventeen Blacks and two Whites from Cairo, Illinois, could not obtain injunctions against local judges and prosecutors who, the plaintiffs claimed, were engaged in a pattern of setting excessive bail and harsher punishments for Blacks than Whites. The court held that the complaints did not constitute a real case of controversy, hence they did not meet the necessary test for receiving relief from the federal courts. Five members of the six-justice majority also ruled that the plaintiffs would not have been entitled to injunctions even if they had been able to prove discrimination, for such a procedure would be tantamount to “an ongoing audit of state criminal proceedings” in violation of the principle of federalism-federal-state harmony. The majority opinion was supported by Justices Burger, White, Powell, Stewart, Rehnquist, and Blackmun. In a dissent, Justice William O. Douglas said that the record of the case demonstrated “a more pervasive scheme for suppression of Blacks and their civil rights than I have ever seen.” The majority's decision, Douglas added, “will please the White superstructure, but it does violence to the conception of even-handed justice envisioned by the Constitution.” Cairo had been the scene of angry clashes between Blacks and Whites since 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 23)
Published
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Paul Robeson, athlete, actor, singer, and civil rights activist, dies.
Paul Robeson, athlete, actor, singer, and civil rights activist, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age seventy-seven. Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, to William, a minister, and Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson. William Robeson was formerly enslaved from North Carolina who worked his way through Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. In 1915, young Paul entered Rutgers University after earning an academic scholarship in a statewide competition. When he joined the football team, where he became an all-American, Robeson was once nearly mangled on the playing field by white bigots. The scholar-athlete graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1919. Robeson scorned his father's wishes that he follow him into the ministry, but after a brief career in law, he grudgingly accepted his wife Eslanda's urging to use his rich baritone voice in singing and acting. She helped persuade her husband to accept a role in Simon the Cyrenian at the Harlem YMCA in 1920. “Even then," Robeson later recalled, “I never meant to [become an actor]. I just said yes to get her to quit pestering me." The Harlem performance, however, launched the remarkable stage career of Robeson. In 1922, he made his first Broadway appearance as Jim in Taboo. He also made his debut in London in the same year in Taboo, which was retitled The Voodoo. Upon his return to New York in late 1922, Robeson joined the Provincetown Players, a Greenwich Village group that included dramatist Eugene O'Neill, and took the role of Jim Harris in O'Neill's "All God's Chillun Got Wings." This led to another successful appearance as Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones, another play by O'Neill that had been especially revived for Robeson. The Provincetown Players also sponsored Robeson's first major concert in 1925, which consisted of a collection of spirituals. Between 1925 and 1928, he had a triumphant performance in The Emperor Jones and a heralded portrayal of Joe in Show Boat, in which he sang "Ol' Man River," both in London, England, as well as in an appearance as Crown in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess on Broadway. Between 1928 and 1939, Robeson lived mostly abroad, particularly in London, where he found fewer color barriers than in the United States. One of his most spectacular successes in London occurred in 1930 when he played the lead in Shakespeare's Othello. To many, the New York Times stated, Robeson's performance was "an unforgettable experience.” Following these latest triumphs, Robeson toured the major cities of Europe both as a recitalist and an actor. Robeson's political consciousness was first jolted in 1928 when writer George Bernard Shaw asked him what he thought of socialism. Roberston later recalled, "I hadn't anthing to say. I'd never really thought about Socialism." In 1934, Robeson visited the Soviet Union where he was warmly received. He was also impressed by the absence of racial prejudice among Soviet citizens" (in Germany, Robeson was subjected to racial slurs by a Nazi soldier). Later, Robeson began to publicly express a belief "in the principles of scientific Socialism" and his “deep conviction that for all mankind a Socialist society represents an advance to a higher stage of life.” In the late 1930s, Robeson sang for the Republican troops and for members of the International Brigades who were fighting the fascist dictator Francisco Franco in Spain. That experience led him to see "the connection between the problems of all oppressed people and the necessity of the artist to participate fully" in the struggle for human rights. It also convinced him to return to the United States to continue his work. On October 19, 1943, Robeson became the first Black actor to play the title role of Othello (with a white supporting cast, including Jose Ferrer and Uta Hagen) before a Broadway audience. The next year, the NAACP bestowed upon him its highest award, the Spingarn Medal. Meanwhile, Robeson increased his political activity. He led a delegation to national baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis that urged him to remove the racial bias in baseball. Robeson called on President Harry S. Truman to extend civil rights to Blacks in the South. He was also a co-founder and chairman of the Progressive party, which nominated former Vice President Henry A. Wallace for President in 1948. Then, at a World Peace Conference in Paris in 1949, Robeson declared, “It is unthinkable that American Negroes will go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations against a country (the Soviet Union) which in one generation has raised our people to the full dignity of mankind." Although Robeson later asserted that this statement had been taken “slightly out of context," adding that he had really spoken for two thousand students "from the colonial world” who had requested him to express their desire for peace, his words stirred widespread opposition in the United States. In August 1949, veterans' groups and right wing extremists attacked crowds who were arriving for one of his concerts in Peekskill, New York. Subsequently, professional concert halls were closed to him and commercial bookings grew scarce. Robeson's income reportedly dropped from $100,000 in 1947 to $6,000 in 1952. Beginning in 1948, Robeson was called before Congressional committees on several occasions in which he was usually asked if he was a member of the Communist party. He always refused to answer, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. The New York Times, however, reported that Robeson maintained "privately ... that he was not a member." Nevertheless, in 1950 the United States State Department canceled his passport on the ground that he had refused to sign the then required non-Communist oath" for traveling abroad. Robeson had contended that “the government had no right to base his freedom of travel on his political beliefs or a lack of them." He sued the State Department over the issue, and in 1958, the United States Supreme Court, in a related case, ruled that Congress "had not authorized the department to withhold passports because of applicants' 'beliefs and association[s]." Once Robeson received his passport, he departed immediately for Great Britain, declaring, "I don't want any overtones of suggestion that I am deserting the country of my birth. If I have a concert in New York, I will go there and return to London." He did return permanently to the United States in 1963, where he lived quietly, first in a Harlem apartment and then with his sister, Marian Forsythe, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Despite his difficulties with Congress, the State Department, and many American organizations and individuals, Robeson became a hero to much of Black America and to countless numbers of other peoples throughout the world. On his sixtieth birthday in 1958, he was given a thunderous ovation by a sold-out house at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was his first New York recital in eleven years, and on the same day, birthday celebrations were held in many nations abroad, including India. There, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called Robeson "one of the greatest artists of our generation (who) reminds us that art and human dignity are above differences of race, nationality, and color." In 1973, on his seventy-fifth birthday, another tribute in his honor was held at Carnegie Hall. Although the ailing actor-singer could not attend, he sent a recorded message to the crowd, which included many theatrical personalities. Upon the occasion of Robeson's death, the official Soviet news agency Tass commented: "The persistent struggle for Black civil rights and for stronger world peace won him recognition not only in the United States but also outside of it."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 17)
Published
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The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) reports that racial discrimination still exists in the Topeka, Kansas, school system.
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) reported that racial discrimination still existed in the Topeka, Kansas, school system. The Board of Education of Topeka was a defendant in the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed school segregation in 1954. HEW said that it found a substantial number of schools which had disproportionate minority enrollments and that attendance zone transfers had impeded desegregation. Most of the Black junior high and elementary pupils, HEW discovered, attended schools where the facilities were generally inferior to those at predominantly white schools. The department began its investigation of Topeka's schools in December 1973 after being named a party in a new suit against the city. As a result of its inquiry, HEW ordered Topeka school officials to submit corrective plans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 20)
Published
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Dr. Peggy Sandy, a University of Pennsylvania anthropologist, releases a study that indicates that whites score higher than non-whites on intelligence tests because of environmental factors rather than genetic differences between races.
Dr. Peggy Sandy, a University of Pennsylvania anthropologist, released a study that indicated that whites scored higher than non-whites on intelligence tests because of environmental factors rather than genetic differences between races. The study was conducted in the Pittsburgh public school system and financed by a grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Sandy concluded that test score differences were a function, among other factors, of middle-class social integration and that her study, combined with data from other investigations, suggested that I.Q. differences between racial groups were exclusively a matter of environment while differences within racial groups were determined by both genetics and environment. These findings ran counter to the theories of Dr. William Shockley, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at Stanford University who had held that intelligence was largely inherited and that the disadvantaged social position of American Blacks was caused more by heredity than environment. Shockley's views had become increasingly controversial by late 1973, when he was prevented from speaking on several college campuses by protesters who contended that giving him a public forum would lend dignity to racist theories.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Feb 4)
Published
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The Voter Education Project (VEP) reports that 363 Blacks won elective offices in the South in the 1973 off-year elections.
The Voter Education Project (VEP) reported that 363 Blacks had won elective offices in the South in the 1973 off-year elections. Of these victories, 253 were in elections for local councils and commissions, sixty-three were for school boards, nineteen were new Black mayors, fourteen were election commissioners, and two were selected to state legislatures. The VEP, a privately funded political study group, reported from its headquarters in Atlanta.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Feb 15)
Published
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The San Francisco Chronicle reports that two Black escaped convicts have been identified as leaders of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that two Black escaped convicts had been identified as leaders of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). The head of the interracial group of radical revolutionaries, which received notoriety for their alleged kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, was said to be Donald D. DeFreeze, age thirty. DeFreeze, who called himself Field Marshall Cinque on tapes sent to the Hearst family, was listed as an escapee from the minimum security area of the Soledad State Prison in California on March 5, 1973. The other Black SLA leader was identified as Thero M. Wheeler, age twenty-nine, an escapee from the medical facility at Vacaville State Prison in August 1973. The report traced Wheeler and DeFreeze's association with the SLA to their memberships in the Black Cultural Association (BCA) at Vacaville State Prison. The BCA was described as an inmate group which sponsored cultural activities, educational programs, and pre-release preparation projects for prisoners. Russell Little, Jo Ann Little, and William Wolfe, all white, reportedly gained control of the BCA while working as tutors at the prison. DeFreeze was listed as a teacher of a BCA course entitled "Insight” which was designed to increase the racial consciousness of Black inmates.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 7)
Published
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Owners of the National Black Network (NBN), the nation’s first all-Black radio network, announce plans to expand its coverage with a 24 hour a day Black news service.
Owners of the National Black Network (NBN), the nation's first all-Black radio network, announced plans to expand its coverage with a Black news service. The twenty-four-hour-a-day service was expected to be fully operational by March 1, 1975, employ twenty-five reporters, and use the resources of the networks' affiliates in sixty-eight major cities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 7)
Published
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Public officials and spokesmen for civil rights groups criticize Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Casper Weinberger’s latest pronouncement on school desegregation.
Public officials and spokesmen for civil rights groups criticized Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Casper Weinberger's latest pronouncement on school desegregation. During an interview on September 6, Weinberger said that the cutoff of federal funds for education, which had been used in the past to coerce recalcitrant southern school districts into compliance, would serve to increase segregation in the North. Secretary Weinberger denied that his department was hesitating on the question of desegregation, but admitted that "we are dealing with a very fierce public opposition to desegregation.” Ruby Hurley, Southeastern Regional Director of the NAACP, disagreed with Weinberger's assessment that a cutoff of funds would be counterproductive and compared the conciliatory approach to northern school desegregation with the more forceful tactics in the South. According to Hurley, “Public school systems are often poor even without federal money. Officials who run segregated school systems will think twice if they are faced with a cutoff. ... If you wait for people to change their minds on a problem like this without leverage, you'll wait a long time. ... It's a lot easier to clean up somebody else's backyard than your own.” Atlanta School Superintendent Alonzo Crim responded to Weinberger's statement by declaring: “The law should be applied with equal force in all parts of the country ... quite often segregation is intensified by these delays.” Margie Hames, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who had handled many desegregation cases, expressed the belief that “segregation in the South was more open and easy for us to deal with. I don't think the North has accepted the fact yet that they have more subtle forms of segregation.” In defense of Weinberger, Peter Holmes, director of HEW's office for civil rights enforcement, pointed out that the cutoff of funds and other legal actions are more complex in the North than in the South since segregation was not legalized in the North.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 9-Oct 31)
Published
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The city of Boston, Massachusetts, begins a program of busing to achieve school desegregation that sparked boycotts and demonstrations reminiscent of the early, vehement opposition to school integration in the South.
The city of Boston, Massachusetts, began a program of busing to achieve school desegregation which sparked boycotts and demonstrations reminiscent of the early, vehement opposition to school integration in the South. In June 1974, U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity had ordered the busing of about 18,200 of the city's 94,000 public school pupils as part of a plan to dismantle Boston's dual school system. Opposition arose immediately. On September 9, 1974, Senator Edward M. Kennedy was heckled and splattered with a tomato as he tried to address an angry group of anti-busing demonstrators. The crowd, estimated at between eight and ten thousand, shouted insults, called for the impeachment of the senator, and sang “God Bless America" when Kennedy stepped to a microphone. After preventing Senator Kennedy from speaking at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Building, the demonstrators—most of them White women--marched to the federal building. They stopped in front of the office of Judge Garrity and shouted, “Garrity must go.” Kennedy, an advocate of peaceful school integration, said he was disappointed that he had not been able to speak but assessed this treatment as milder than that he received at the hands of anti-war demonstrators. On September 11, 1974, Boston school superintendent William Leary said that everything possible had been done in the time allowed to prepare for desegregation. Yet, he added, "I know there will be problems. I ask the public for patience.” Boston mayor Kevin White, on the eve of the scheduled desegregation, appealed for calm but warned that swift and sure punishment would be measured out to those who resorted to violence. When the desegregation began on September 12, many White and Black parents kept their children at home. Black children attending some of the schools, particularly in the White neighborhoods of South Boston, Hyde Park, and Dorchester, were subjected to jeers from angry White parents. On September 16, a crowd of White teenagers and mothers clashed with police officers at South Boston High School. Twenty-two people were arrested during the confrontation. Police ordered the closing of bars and liquor stores in the area for the next two days. Violence continued in Boston for the next several weeks. Four White students were injured in skirmishes with Black students at the Washington Irving Junior High School in Roslindale on September 18. None of them required hospitalization. After the incident, forty Black children walked out of the school. Police made no arrests. Eleven people, including three teachers, were injured on October 2 at the racially tense South Boston High School. A number of weapons were confiscated during the incident in which two Black girls who allegedly pulled a knife on a police officer were arrested. Fighting broke out during an assembly of ninth graders at the Hart Deah Annex of South Boston High School on October 21. After this incident thirty of the forty White pupils walked out of the school; most of the 130 Black pupils remained. On October 26, Matt Koehl, national commander of the American Nazi Party, demonstrated in front of the Boston federal building, protesting Judge Garrity's desegregation orders. He bore a sign reading, “White Power." Koehl was arrested and charged with impeding access to a federal building. Three days later, three other Nazi Party members were charged with attempting to incite a riot as they distributed anti-Black literature in south Boston. Those charges were later reduced to disorderly conduct. John W. Roberts, director of the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, decried the arrests, saying that the state charges were a violation of the Nazis' constitutional rights. In a final decree, issued on October 30, 1974, Judge Garrity told the Boston school committee to complete the total desegregation of its schools by the fall of 1975. The final order authorized Boston school officials to use any known desegregation techniques, including busing (although this was to be minimized), changing school districts, and voluntary transfers. The judge promised a new order at a later date dealing with minority recruitment and hiring of school teachers and administrators. The traumatic experience of desegregating schools in Boston highlighted the growing manifestation of White opposition to massive school desegregation in the North. It also struck many observers as a sign of retrogression in American race relations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Sep 28)
Published
0 0
Muhammad Ali defends his title by defeating Ken Norton. It is the highest gate paid in a heavyweight title fight to date.
Muhammad Ali won a hard-fought bout to retain his world heavyweight championship title in New York City. Forty-two thousand people paid a total of $3.5 million (a record for a title fight at that time) to see Ali defeat challenger Ken Norton in a unanimous fifteen-round decision. Ali employed his usual wiggling style, known as the "rope-a-dope," while Norton was only able to land several solid blows with both hands. The previous largest gate in a heavyweight title fight was $2.6 million, when Gene Tunney fought Jack Dempsey in Chicago in 1927.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1843 (Aug 22)
Published
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The National Convention of Black Men is held in Buffalo, New York.
Black abolitionist and minister Henry Highland Garnet called for an enslaved Black revolt and a general strike to improve the lot of Blacks in the United States. Many of the delegates, including Frederick Douglass, denounced the speech. Garnet had served as pastor to Whites and Blacks in Troy, New York.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 21 - May 31)
Published
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School desegregation leads to violence in Boston, Massachusetts.
Racial violence erupted in Boston, Massachusetts, amid protests by whites against court-ordered school desegregation. On January 21, Black and white students at Hyde Park High School fought with fists and chairs. Across the city in East Boston, approximately three hundred whites tried to block a major Boston Harbor tunnel during the morning rush hour. Five people, including a Boston police officer and the mother of a student, received minor injuries at Hyde Park. Seventeen people were arrested in the two incidents. On February 15, about two thousand people fought the police near South Boston High School, “the focus of opposition to federal court ordered desegregation." Between forty and fifty police officers were injured in the mob attack. There "was no estimate of the number of civilians injured." Thirteen people, three of them juveniles, were arrested. Boston Police Commissioner Robert J. Di Grazia called the twenty-minute melee (during a so-called "Father's March") "an obvious conspiracy" by "an element of hoodlums." On May 30, a fire was set next to the replica of the Beaver, a two-masted sailing ship, which was moored at a bridge that led into South Boston. Although the ship was unharmed, $75,000 worth of damage was done to an adjoining gift shop and ticket office. The Fire Department said the blaze was "of suspicious origin." The next day United States Attorney General Edward H. Levi announced that the Department of Justice would not intervene in an appeal of the Boston desegregation orders to the Supreme Court. Some whites had urged the administration of President Gerald Ford to side with them in their anti-busing stance before the high court, while civil rights leaders had urged the federal government to stay out of the Boston desegregation controversy. At the time of this violence and controversy, Boston was in the second year of a school desegregation program ordered by U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity. The program had been periodically marred by fighting in schools as well as scattered attacks on Blacks in white neighborhoods and of whites in black sections of the historic city.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1855
Published
0 0
Public opinion leads the Massachusetts legislature to overturn an 1849 ruling by the state Supreme Court that upheld separate schooling for Blacks, thus integrating public schools in Massachusetts.
Public opinion led the Massachusetts legislature to overturn an 1849 ruling by the state Supreme Court that upheld separate schooling for Blacks. Public schools were thus integrated in Massachusetts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 7)
Published
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Black American congressman Mickey Leland is killed in an airplane crash that was en route to the Fugnido refugee camp in Ethiopia.
On August 7, an airplane with Black American congressman Mickey Leland aboard crashed en route to the Fugnido refugee camp in Ethiopia. Six days later, the bodies of Leland and fifteen others were discovered. Other Americans aboard the ill-fated aircraft included Hugh A. Johnson, Jr., a staff member of the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger, Patrice Y. Johnson, Leland's chief of staff, and Joyce Williams, a member of the staff of California representative Ronald V. Dellums. Leland, age forty-four, represented Texas and served as chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger at the time of his death. He had made six previous trips to Africa to investigate and underscore famine conditions, particularly in war-torn Ethiopia. After the congressman's body was discovered, Thomas S. Foley, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said "there will be a determination on the part of members of the House to work for those goals that Mickey Leland sought to achieve, the alleviation of hunger and suffering here and in Africa and elsewhere in the world."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 20)
Published
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The U.S. government approves the creation of a bust of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., to install in the Capitol. At the time, none of the 681 works of art in the Capitol honored a Black person.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted by voice vote to authorize an appropriation of $25,000 for the creation of a bust of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., and to install it in the Capitol. King would be the first Black person ever so honored, if the bill was passed by the U.S. Senate. The House measure noted King's contribution to the civil rights movement and his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize. The House's Administration Committee had said that the tribute was appropriate “because of Dr. King's prominence in American history and because of all the Black Americans who have done so much to contribute to this country's greatness, [yet] not one is now honored among the 681 works of art in the Capitol."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 8)
Published
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Dexter Scott King, son of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., resigns as president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dexter Scott King, son of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., resigned as president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. He had held the position for only four months. Sources for the Atlanta Constitution blamed a power struggle involving young King, his mother, Coretta Scott King, his aunt, Christine Farris King, and his top aide, Barbara Williams-Skinner for the resignation. The King Center itself had no comment at the time of King's resignation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 8)
Published
0 0
A. W. Wilson, minister and civil rights activist, dies in Montgomery, Alabama, at age eighty-seven.
A. W. Wilson, minister and civil rights activist, died in Montgomery, Alabama, at age eighty-seven. Wilson was the pastor of the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery for fifty years. The church was the site of the first mass meeting of organizers of the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. Many other rallies were also held at the church during the civil rights movement in Montgomery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 9)
Published
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President George Bush tells delegates to the 79th Annual Convention of the National Urban League (NUL) in Washington, D.C., that his administration will not “tolerate discrimination, bigotry or bias of any kind—period.”
President George Bush told delegates to the 79th Annual Convention of the National Urban League (NUL) in Washington, D.C., that his administration would not "tolerate discrimination, bigotry or bias of any kind—period." He added, "Your problems are my problems. ... The 'great gulf' between Black and White America has narrowed, but it has not closed.” President Bush also said that “race hate” still existed and as long as bigotry persisted, "our work is not over." NUL president John E. Jacob said it was "significant" that Bush came to the meeting and made a vow to fight racial bias. It was, he thought, a first step in changing the “national atmosphere" of the preceding eight years. The previous administration of President Ronald Reagan was frequently criticized by the NUL and other civil rights groups for insensitivity to Black issues and actually trying to roll back progress in civil rights. Reagan never addressed a NUL Convention and rarely appeared before any civil rights group. Former president Jimmy Carter spoke to the NUL in 1977.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 28)
Published
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Forty businesses and twenty cars are damaged in Vineland, New Jersey, after two hundred Blacks riot in protest of the slaying of Samuel Williams, a twenty-six-year-old Black man, by police on August 27.
Forty businesses and twenty cars were damaged in Vineland, New Jersey, after two hundred Blacks rioted in protest of the slaying of Samuel Williams, a twenty-six-year-old Black man, by police on August 27. Twenty-three people were arrested in the city of 54,000, located forty miles southeast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Williams, who was being sought by police on drug and weapon charges, allegedly attacked officers with a rod as they attempted to arrest him. No drugs or weapons were found on Williams' body. The state attorney general's office took over the investigation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 30)
Published
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More than three hundred mourners attend funeral services for Yusef Hawkins, a Black American youth slain in New York City.
More than three hundred mourners attended funeral services for Yusef Hawkins, a Black American youth slain in New York City. Another one thousand persons who could not enter the church stood outside singing and listening to the eulogy. Hawkins had been shot to death on August 23 in the predominantly white Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. The Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist who lead protests immediately following the killing, said in one of the eulogies, "We're not going to let you down. ... They're going to pay this time, Yusef. It's time for us to change our ways. We can run a man for the White House, but we can't walk a child through Bensonhurst." Another speaker, Minister Louis Farrakhan, a leader of the Nation of Islam, proclaimed: “We say, as the Jews say, never again, never again, never again... As long as White children can get away with killing Black children, and White law enforcement does not know how to make examples of its own...then justice is far off." The church's pastor, the Reverend Curtis Wells, exhorted, “Let freedom ring from Howard Beach, Mr. Mayor" (addressing New York mayor Edward Koch) ... "Let freedom ring from Bensonhurst. We're not going to take it anymore. We're going to walk where we want to walk." Mayor Koch, New York governor Mario M. Cuomo, and Republican mayoral candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani were heckled outside the church, and Koch left the ceremonies through a side door. Others attending the funeral included Black American mayoral candidate David Dinkins and Black filmmaker Spike Lee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 31)
Published
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More than seven thousand people march through the downtown section of Brooklyn New York in further protests of the killing of sixteen-year-old Yusef Hawkins.
More than seven thousand people chanting "No more!" and "Whose street? Our street!" marched through the downtown section of Brooklyn New York in further protests of the killing of sixteen-year-old Yusef Hawkins. Hawkins, a Black youth, was shot and killed in Brooklyn on August 23. The march turned violent after reaching the Brooklyn Bridge, where police had set up barricades. The marchers ran through the barricade, shouting "Take the bridge, take the bridge!" Hand-to-hand battles erupted between demonstrators and police. The rioters also threw bottles and rocks at police officers, who freely wielded their nightsticks. At least twenty-three police officers were injured, only one seriously. There were no immediate reports of injuries to civilians.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Feb 5 - 26)
Published
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Racial violence erupts in Pensacola, Florida, over the issue of whether athletic teams at a local high school would be called “Rebels” or “Raiders.”
Racial violence erupted in Pensacola, Florida, over the issue of whether athletic teams at a local high school would be called "Rebels" or "Raiders." On February 5, fifteen hundred people rioted at the Escambia High School. Four white students were wounded by gunfire, six others were also injured, and at least nine people were arrested. One of these was a twenty-three-year-old Black man who was suspected in the shootings. Subsequently, crosses were burned on the lawns of school board members, a bullet was fired through a window of a home owned by a Black school board member, and the homes of a human relations council member and a state legislator were burned by arsonists. Blacks began a boycott of the school. On February 9, one hundred of the six hundred Blacks enrolled in Escambia High School attended classes, but they were met with taunts from whites. Nearly one thousand white students also remained out of class “apparently in anticipation of violence.” The school had a total enrollment of 2,523 students. The only incident of the day, however, was the arrest of a fifteen-year-old white youth who was brandishing a foot-long chain "equipped with a bolt-type grip." On February 21, the home of Teresa Hunt, a member of the Pensacola-Escambia Human Relations Commission and the county school board Citizens Advisory Committee, was set afire with diesel fuel. Four nights later, the home of State Representative R. W. Peaden, a block away from Hunt's residence, was destroyed when a flammable liquid was poured on its floors and ignited. Both Hunt and Peaden had been involved in the controversy over the school name. The Escambia Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) continued to urge Black parents to keep their children away from the school, warning that they would be unsafe there. The chapter's president, F.L. Henderson, remarked, "We'd rather see a child held back in school than see them in the morgue." He asked Florida Governor Reuben Askew to provide "as much protection as within his power" for Black students. The controversy over the school's nickname first arose in 1973 when Black students, who had been attending the school since 1969, protested both the name and the flying of the Confederate flag at athletic events and other functions. They said both symbols were a direct insult to them. After several protests, some of which were accompanied by violence, a U.S. District Court, on July 24, 1973, permanently enjoined the use of the rebel name, the flag, "and related symbols on the grounds that they were 'racially irritating.'"Students then chose the name “Raiders” to represent the school. But after an appeal by a group of white students and school board members, a U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the injunction and returned the matter to the school board to make its own decision on the name." On February 4, 1976, an election was scheduled at Escambia High to allow students to choose between “Raiders" and "Rebels." The riot erupted the next day.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 1)
Published
0 0
Alvin Ailey, Black American dancer and choreographer, dies of a blood disorder in New York City at age fifty-eight.
Alvin Ailey, Black American dancer and choreographer, died of a blood disorder in New York City at age fifty-eight. Ailey was born in the rural town of Rogers, Texas, where he faced discrimination at a very early age. Yet by the time of his death, Ailey had received New York's Handel Medallion and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime contributions to modern dance. In 1988, he received Kennedy Center honors in Washington, DC., for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 and choreographed seventy-nine ballets. In 1961, Ailey created his best known work, "Revelations," which was based on his childhood experiences in Black Baptist churches. The dance became his company's rousing signature piece. Ailey also had a penchant for honoring the works of others whom he admired or with whose causes he sympathized. For example, he choreographed "For Bird with Love" as a tribute to jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, whose career was shortened by drug abuse. While Ailey refused to allow his company to perform in the Republic of South Africa, he choreographed, in collaboration with jazz drummer Max Roach, "Survivors," in honor of South African anti-apartheid activists Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Although Ailey retired from performing twenty years before his death, he created "a choreographic style distinctly his own—a combination of modern, ballet, jazz, and ethnic dance." Professor Richard Long, author of The Black Tradition in American Dance, called Ailey "the best-known American dancer in the world."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 6)
Published
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Nathan I. Huggins, a leading scholar of Black American culture, dies of cancer in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of sixty-two.
Nathan I. Huggins, a leading scholar of Black American culture, died of cancer in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of sixty-two. Huggins was the author of works on Black anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass and on the Harlem Renaissance, the Black cultural movement of the 1920s. Since 1980, he had been professor of history and Afro-American Studies and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 7)
Published
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Percy Snow, Black American linebacker for the Michigan State University Spartans, is awarded the Vince Lombardi trophy in Houston, Texas.
Percy Snow, Black American linebacker for the Michigan State University Spartans, was awarded the Vince Lombardi trophy in Houston, Texas. The Lombardi trophy, named for the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, is awarded every year to the nation's top collegiate lineman. On December 5, Snow had also won a Dick Butkus Award for his outstanding feats as a linebacker. At the time, Snow held the Michigan State record of 164 tackles.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 24)
Published
0 0
Ernest Nathan “Dutch” Morial, the first Black mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, dies of an apparent heart attack in New Orleans at age sixty.
Emest Nathan "Dutch" Morial, the first Black mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, died of an apparent heart attack in New Orleans at age sixty. Morial was born in New Orleans on October 9, 1929, to Walter and Leonie Morial. He became the first Black law school graduate of Louisiana State University in 1954. Morial's public service career began in 1960 when he was elected president of the NAACP chapter in New Orleans. He worked with civil rights activist A. P. Tureard in filing suits against segregation in public facilities and institutions in the city. In 1965, Morial became the first Black assistant U.S. attorney in Louisiana, and in 1967 the first Black legislator since the Reconstruction era. He also served as a member of the State House of Representatives from 1967 to 1970, and became the first Black elected to Louisiana's 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1973 In 1977, on the strength of a huge Black vote, Morial became New Orleans' first Black mayor. As mayor for two terms, he faced rampant floods in 1978, a police strike that crippled the city's annual Mardi Gras festival in 1979, and a financially plagued World's exposition in 1984. Morial left office in 1986 following an unsuccessful attempt to amend the city charter to allow the mayor to serve a third four-year term. Nationally, Morial had been a president of the National Conference of Mayors, a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and one of the key Black advisors to Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis in 1988. After Morial's death, his predecessor, former mayor Moon Landrieu, remarked: "Dutch was the first Black individual to achieve high public office in this state....That alone I think is a very significant achievement."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Dec 8)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules against a desegregation plan for the city of Austin, Texas.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, ruled against a sweeping desegregation plan for the city of Austin, Texas. The Court sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District to review in light of its decision last June that government acts are not unconstitutional simply because "they have [a] disproportionate effect on Blacks." The court also contended that "school desegregation plans should be tailored to correct only the amount of segregation caused intentionally by school officials.” They argued that the courts cannot impose "sweeping orders" designed to correct all school segregation that may result "from racial and ethnic housing patterns." The dissenting Justices, William J. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, believed the appellate court had decided the case correctly.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 9)
Published
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Craig A. Washington, a Houston, Texas, attorney, is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the predominantly Black Eighteenth Congressional District.
Craig A. Washington, a Houston, Texas, attorney, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the predominantly Black Eighteenth Congressional District. Washington defeated Houston city councilman Anthony Hall to take the seat formerly held by Mickey Leland, who died in a plane crash in Ethiopia on August 7, 1989.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 11)
Published
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A state appeals court in New York reverses the convictions of three White men who were found guilty in the 1986 death of Michael Griffith, a Black man, in the Howard Beach section of Queens, New York, due to errors in his charge to the jury.
A state appeals court in New York reversed the convictions of three White men who were found guilty in the 1986 death of Michael Griffith, a Black man, in the Howard Beach section of Queens, New York. The unanimous ruling found that Thomas A. Demakos, the trial judge, had made two errors in his charge to the jury. He had, the higher court said, supplied the jury with verdict sheets that contained the charges against the defendants (which improperly described some of the alleged crimes) and he had improperly refused to instruct the jury on disorderly conduct, a lesser offense than the ones with which the defendants were charged. The three defendants, William Bollander, Thomas Farino, and James Povinelli, all aged nineteen, were convicted in 1988 of second degree riot charges for their part in the racial attack on December 20, 1986.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Dec 23)
Published
0 0
Andrew Young and Patricia Harris are nominated for President-elect Jimmy Carter’s cabinet.
President-elect Jimmy Carter completed the nominations for his cabinet. The cabinet nominees included two blacks, Georgia Congressman Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Washington, D.C., attorney Patricia Roberts Harris as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Apr 3)
Published
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Samuel DuBois Cook is inaugurated as the sixth president of Dillard University, a historic Black institution.
Samuel DuBois Cook, former professor of political science at Duke University in North Carolina, was inaugurated as the sixth president of Dillard University, a historic Black institution located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Cook, a native of Griffin, Georgia, received a bachelor's degree from Morehouse College and master's and doctorate degrees from Ohio State University. He had previously taught political science at the Atlanta and Southern Universities, the University of Illinois, and the University of California at Los Angeles. At Duke University, Cook won an Outstanding Professor Award. He also received a Citation of Achievement from Duke University, a honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater, Morehouse College, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 16-19)
Published
0 0
Mail bombs used in racial attacks on Robert S. Vance, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Birmingham, Alabama and Robert E. Robinson, an attorney in Savannah, Georgia, who had represented the NAACP and other clients in civil rights cases.
On December 16, a mail bomb exploded in the home of Robert S. Vance, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Birmingham, Alabama. The Eleventh Circuit had handled many civil rights cases, including some covering school desegregation, over the past decade. On December 18, a mail bomb exploded in the office of Robert E. Robinson, an attorney in Savannah, Georgia, who had represented the NAACP and other clients in civil rights cases. The bombs, which were sent to Vance and Robinson in parcels addressed to them, killed both men instantly. The FBI announced on December 18 that it suspected white supremacists in the mail bombings. Earl Shinhoster, southeast regional director of the NAACP, whose office was the target of an earlier mailed tear-gas bomb, called the attacks "a very serious situation."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Nov 21)
Published
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John Calhoun is appointed special assistant to the president for minority affairs.
John Calhoun, age thirty eight and a former foreign service officer and deputy special assistant to President Gerald R. Ford, was appointed special assistant to the president for minority affairs. Calhoun succeeded Stanley Scott, another Black man, who resigned. Calhoun, at the time of his new appointment, had been a member of the White House staff since 1973.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Nov 19)
Published
0 0
Former Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver faces charges of attempted murder.
Former Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver arrived in California in federal custody to face charges of attempted murder. Cleaver, age forty, was to be charged in connection with a shootout with Oakland police on April 6, 1968, in which Panther Bobby Hutton, age seventeen, was killed and a police officer was wounded. Cleaver had earlier ended his seven years of exile abroad to have his day in court. After having lived in Cuba, Guinea, Algeria, North Korea, and France, Cleaver said his voluntary return was prompted by his belief that the United States had changed to the extent that he could now receive a fair trial. Cleaver's Soul on Ice, revealing intimate details of his life in the ghetto and imprisonment, had become a minor classic in revolutionary literature.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Nov 19)
Published
0 0
James B. Adams, associate deputy director of the FBI, tells the U.S. Senate’s Intelligence Committee that there was no legal justification for the attempts by the FBI in the 1960s to discredit the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
James B. Adams, associate deputy director of the FBI, told the United States Senate's Intelligence Committee that there was no legal justification for the twenty-five separate attempts by the Bureau in the 1960s to discredit the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as a civil rights leader. The FBI, he continued, was led to investigate King because of the possibility that Communist influences were being brought to bear on him and the civil rights movement. No such evidence, however, was ever uncovered. During its spying on King, the FBI installed a total of sixteen electronic bugs and eight wiretaps in an attempt to collect damaging evidence against the civil rights leader and even sent his wife an anonymous letter and tape recording that King reportedly interpreted as a suggestion for suicide.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (May 1)
Published
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Black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar is honored in the release of a ten-cent commemorative stamp.
A new ten-cent commemorative stamp honoring the Black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar went on sale. Dunbar, the son of ex-slaves, was born June 27, 1872, in Dayton, Ohio, and the first-day issue of the stamp was sold there. Dunbar, best known for his humorous poems in Black dialect, published several volumes of verse, three novels, and five collections of short stories. He died in 1906. Coincidental with the issuance of the Dunbar stamp, the United States Postal Service opened a special exhibit called “Black Americans on U.S. Postage Stamps" at the Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of the special showing in Washington, the exhibit toured various post offices throughout the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 18-20)
Published
0 0
The FBI investigates mail bombs found at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia, and the headquarters of the Jacksonville, Florida, chapter of the NAACP.
On December 19, a mail bomb was found and defused at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia. The Appeals Court had handled many of the South's civil rights suits over the past decade. That same day, a mail bomb found outside the headquarters of the Jacksonville, Florida, chapter of the NAACP did not explode. The FBI announced that the packages were mailed from Georgia, as were the bombs that killed federal judge Robert Vance and Savannah, Georgia, attorney Robert Robinson on December 16 and 18. The FBI also said it suspected the same person (or persons) was responsible for all of the incidents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 28)
Published
0 0
The Washington Star reports new evidence of governmental spying on Black individuals and organizations.
The Washington Star reported new evidence of governmental spying on Black individuals and organizations. These included investigations of Marion Barry, a former Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activist and ex-president of the Board of Education of Washington, D.C.; Walter Fauntroy, Washington, D.C.'s delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives; the Reverend David Eaton, pastor of Washington's All Souls Unitarian Church; and Absalom Frederick Jordan, chairman of the Black United Front. According to the Star, Barry's file read, “subject referred ... by FBI due to activities in SNCC, active in civil rights movement. Dislikes police.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali defends his title by defeating Chuck Wepner.
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali defeated Chuck Wepner in the final round of a 15-round title fight to retain his crown. Wepner went down in the last round from a right to the head and referee Tony Perez stopped the fight at the count of eight.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Dec 21)
Published
0 0
A U.S. administrative law judge in Atlanta, Georgia, orders Gordon C. Blackwell, a real estate broker, to pay $75,000 to a Black couple whom he had discriminated against in the sale of a house.
A U.S. administrative law judge in Atlanta, Georgia, ordered Gordon C. Blackwell, a real estate broker, to pay $75,000 to a black couple whom he had discriminated against in the sale of a house, Judge Alan W. Heifetz also found that Blackwell, a sixty-six-year-old resident of Sandy Springs, Georgia, bad flouted the civil rights of Terryl and Janella Herron by refusing to close the sale of a Stone Mountain, Georgia, home. He also ordered the broker to complete the sale of the house. The case was the first in the nation under the recently enacted federal law, which "provides quicker and harsher penalties if bias is proved." Gordon H. Mansfield, assistant secretary for fair housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), said the case was "a landmark in civil rights enforcement... making housing discrimination expensive as well as unlawful."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 20)
Published
0 0
Redbook magazine lists four Black women among the forty-four American women qualified for top governmental positions.
The April issue of Redbook magazine listed four Black women among the forty-four American women qualified for top governmental positions, including cabinet officers, in the United States. The Blacks included U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan of Texas, who was suggested as eminently qualified to be Attorney General of the United States; Coretta Scott King, listed as qualified to be chairperson of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Eleanor Holmes Norton, Commissioner of Human Rights for New York City, listed as qualified to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and C. Delores Tucker, Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, seen as qualified to be Ambassador to the United Nations. The list of qualified women was drawn up by Frances “Sissy” Farentold, chairperson of the National Women's Political Caucus, because she became convinced that women's abilities were underestimated when selections for high level jobs were made.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 2)
Published
0 0
Arthur Ashe, the nation’s leading Black tennis player, wins the singles finals of the World Championship Tennis Green Group Tournament.
Arthur Ashe, the nation's leading Black tennis player, won the singles finals of the World Championship Tennis Green Group Tournament in Rotterdam. He defeated Tom Okker of the Netherlands 3–6, 6–2, 6–4, in a ninety-five minute match at the Ahoy Sports Palace.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Nov 22)
Published
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Black Americans join the world in mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, whom many Blacks believed had been killed because of his advocacy of civil rights.
Black Americans joined the world in mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, whom many Blacks believed had been killed because of his advocacy of civil rights. Kennedy's civil rights measures were still being debated in Congress when he died.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 17)
Published
0 0
Reverend Jesse Jackson, head of People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH) calls the NCAA racist and threatens a boycott of college football bowl games.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson of Chicago, Illinois, head of People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH), said during a press conference in New York City that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was racist and warned that a Black boycott of the college football bowl games may be the next target of civil rights groups. Jackson remarked that “the NCAA is not fair. ... The colleges don't have Black head coaches. They will select an assistant grudgingly but they don't consider the Black man to be head coach or athletic director. ... We found that the selection committees for various bowl games are almost totally white. This is a situation we intend to change.” Earlier, Jackson had met with Michael Burke, president of Madison Square Garden in New York City, and Peter Carlesimo of Fordham University on the issue of giving Black colleges a role in the National Invitational Basketball Tournament (NIT). Jackson's organization had threatened to picket the NIT unless changes were made. Under an agreement reached with Burke and Carlesimo, two athletic directors from Black colleges would be elected to the NIT Selection Committee (Jackson suggested the names of Earl Banks of Morgan State University and Eddie Robinson of Grambling University), at least one Black institution would be invited to compete in future NIT events, and the New York branch of Operation PUSH would play a supportive role in the promotion of future tournaments. Jackson said that the pressure on the NIT was part of a national program to break down racial barriers that extended beyond the playing field.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964
Published
0 0
Civil Rights groups report on the violence occurring in Mississippi during the year.
Reports from civil rights groups indicated that three people were killed; three were wounded; eighty were physically assaulted; over one thousand were arrested; and thirty buildings were bombed in Mississippi during the course of the year's civil rights activity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 17)
Published
0 0
The ACLU releases documents indicating that the FBI had fabricated a threatening letter in order to persuade Black civil rights worker, Muhammad Kenyatta, to leave Mississippi in 1969.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents indicating that the FBI had fabricated a threatening letter in order to persuade a Black civil rights worker to leave Mississippi in 1969. A month after Muhammad Kenyatta received the letter, he returned with his family to Pennsylvania. The ACLU said that Kenyatta (formerly Donald W. Jackson) had come under the scrutiny of Cointelpro, the FBI's counter-intelligence unit, which the bureau operated between 1956 and 1971 in an effort to disrupt groups it considered subversive. The letter in question, allegedly written by a group of Tougaloo (Mississippi) college students, warned Kenyatta to leave Mississippi or "we shall consider contacting local authorities regarding some of your activities or take other measures available to us which would have a more direct effect and which would not be as cordial as this note.” The ACLU obtained the FBI documents in connection with a suit filed against the Bureau by Kenyatta, alleging a violation of his constitutional rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Jan 11)
Published
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Reuben V. Anderson becomes the first Black person appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Reuben V. Anderson was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, becoming the first Black person ever to sit on the bench of that state's highest court. Anderson, who was previously a state Circuit Court Judge, was named to the court by Mississippi Governor Bill Allain to fill the unexpired term of Justice Francis S. Bowling, who retired on January 1. Bowling's term ran to the fall of 1986. Anderson, an attorney practicing in Mississippi starting in 1967, recalled that he never thought of the possibility of sitting on Mississippi's highest court. “When I first started practicing law,” Anderson said, “I had to take my diploma with me wherever I went. Judges would not allow Black lawyers to practice in a lot of courts in this state....... Back then many courthouses had separate facilities for Blacks and whites..... it makes you proud, so proud that Mississippi has come so far."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985
Published
0 0
Octavia E. Butler wins science fiction’s highest literary honors.
Octavia E. Butler, a graduate of Pasadena City College, won the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award for her novella, Bloodchild. Butler, a member of Science Fiction Writers of America, had served as a contributor for several science fiction journals and had attended numerous workshops. She was the 1995 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation's Genius Grant. Her writing focused on the impact of race and gender on future societies. Other works by the author include Patternmaster, Mind of My Soul, and Kindred.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 2)
Published
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W. Wilson Goode is inaugurated as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, becoming the first Black to do so.
W. Wilson Goode, the forty-five-year-old son of North Carolina sharecroppers, was inaugurated as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Goode became the first Black chief executive in the city's 301- year history. At the time of his inauguration, about 40 percent of Philadelphia's 1.6 million people were Black In an eight-minute inaugural address, Goode, who served in the cabinet of former mayor William Green, said that his election "might have been thought an impossible dream” for a Black person, “but in America dreams can come true."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Dec 28 - 29)
Published
0 0
Violence erupts in Miami, Florida, after a Hispanic police officer shoots and kills a suspected black looter.
A new wave of racial violence erupted in Miami, Florida, after a Hispanic police officer, Luis Alvarez, shot and killed twenty-one-year-old Nevell Johnson, a suspected Black looter. The altercations in the Overtown section of the city left two people dead and twenty-seven wounded. Dozens of businesses were destroyed or damaged. Forty three people were arrested in the area. During the melee, up to two hundred people participated in rampages throughout the Overtown section, but the disturbances did not reach the proportions of racial rioting in Miami's Liberty City area in 1980, when eighteen people died during three days of violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1980 (Oct 26)
Published
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The ten Black Roman Catholic bishops in the United States issue a pastoral letter calling out Black issues within the Church.
The ten Black Roman Catholic bishops in the United States issued a pastoral letter proclaiming that "the Black Catholic community has come of age within the Church and must seize the initiative to 'share the gift of our Blackness with the church in the United States.'" The fifteen-thousand-word letter, entitled "What We Have Seen and Heard," was the first collaboration by the bishops, and it emphasized both the strengths Blacks brought to the church as well as the "stain" of racism that they claimed still existed in Catholic structures. At the time that the letter was written, there were an estimated one million Black Roman Catholics in the nation, less than 2 percent of the country's approximately fifty-two million Catholics. Within the church hierarchy, in addition to the ten Black bishops, there were approximately three hundred Black priests and seven hundred Black religious women.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1980 (May 18)
Published
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Rioting erupts in Miami, FL, with at least 15 dead, after the announcement of guilty verdicts for all four white deputy sheriffs that beat a Black insurance executive to death, then attempted to cover it up and make it appear that he died in a motorcycle accident.
At least fifteen people died after two nights of racial rioting in Miami, Florida. The disturbances were the worst in the nation since the Black ghettos of Watts and Detroit erupted in the late 1960s. The Miami riot began in the wake of a controversial verdict in a case of alleged police brutality. The violence began on May 17 after the announcement that not guilty verdicts had been returned in Tampa, Florida, against four white deputy sheriffs from Dade County (of which Miami is the county scat). The four former deputies were charged with beating Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance executive, to death and then covering up the beating to make it appear that McDuffie had died in a motorcycle accident. The all-male, all-white jury was empaneled in Tampa because Dade Circuit Court Judge Lenore Nesbitt had ruled that the case was "a racial time bomb" in Miami. In the wake of the rioting, U.S. Attorney Aticc Wampler III said that evidence already assembled by the FBI in the McDuffie case would be presented to a federal grand jury in Miami on May 20, 1980. During the riot, snipers shot at cars, civilians, and police. Three Miami police officers were wounded by gunfire on May 18. At least two of the rioters were shot dead by police. Florida Governor Bob Graham called up eleven hundred National Guardsmen, three hundred highway patrol officers, four helicopters, and an armored personnel carrier to assist local law enforcement authorities. At least 216 people were injured in the rioting and widespread looting and property damage were reported. The disturbances occurred in a section of northwest Miami known as "Liberty City." Black leaders in the area said they had seen the violence building for months and blamed the unrest on a long series of accusations of police brutality against Blacks, none of which resulted in significant action against the accused white officers; the conviction and suspension of leading Black officials on corruption charges; and a new wave of Cuban refugees, sharpening the economic competition that had left Blacks on the margin of the city's economy since the first Black workers went to Miami in the 1920s to work in the city's new resort hotels. As the riot progressed, Miami Mayor Maurice Feree received a set of eleven demands from a grassroots Black organization. Feree said he thought at least nine of the demands, including hiring and promoting Blacks, could be readily met. He also said he would consider granting amnesty to all of those accused of looting but could not agree with the demand to fire state attorney Janet Reno, the prosecutor in the McDuffie case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 15)
Published
0 0
B.L. Perry, Jr., resigns as president of Florida A & M University, one of the nation’s largest historically Black institutions of higher education.
B.L. Perry, Jr., resigned as president of Florida A & M University, one of the nation's largest historically Black institutions of higher education. Perry, who left because of personal reasons, was an alumnus of Florida A & M. Before departing, he told faculty and students that the university "must remain as an institution, changed of course by the social and legal evolutions it institutionalized, as a force for providing higher education to a discernible segment of the population, and providing hope and inspiration to thousands who look upon it as a model for pursuing pluralistic ideals in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-racial society.” Perry had been president of Florida A & M since 1968.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 14)
Published
0 0
Alex Haley, the author of Roots, is honored by the U.S. Senate for “his exceptional achievement.”
The United States Senate adopted a resolution praising Alex Haley, the author of Roots, for “his exceptional achievement." The unanimous resolution, sponsored by Senator John Glenn from Ohio, said the historical novel and its television adaptation had "contributed to the cause of a better racial understanding in the United States."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jun 1)
Published
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The oldest known identified photographs of African slaves in the United States are published in American Heritage Magazine.
The oldest known identified photographs of African slaves in the United States were published in the June issue of American Heritage Magazine. The photographs were discovered eighteen months previously in an otherwise empty cabinet in an attic of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University by Elinor Reichlin. The daguerreotypes were taken in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1850 "for scientific study," by J.T. Zealy, whom Reichlin traced as a photographer in Columbia until 1880. Professor Stephen Williams, director of the Peabody Museum, asserted that the photographs were "the oldest examples of rare pictures of American slaves born in Africa." At least four of the seven subjects shown in several poses were identified on the prints by first name, African nation or tribe of origin, and by slave owner. Among them was a man named Alfred, identified as a Foulah, a West African tribe, and owned by an I. Lomas of Columbia, South Carolina, and Jack and Renty from Guinea and the Congo, respectively, owned by a B.F. Taylor, also of Columbia. Nude photos of African women were not released by the Peabody Museum.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 30)
Published
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Andrew Jackson Young becomes United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), the highest diplomatic post ever held by a Black American.
Andrew Jackson Young, a Black congressman from Georgia, took the oath of office as United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), the highest diplomatic post ever held by a Black American. The appointment also carried cabinet rank in the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Young was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 12, 1932, the son of a dentist and a school teacher. He received a bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1951 and a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut in 1951. Young was then ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ. His early pastorates were in Marion, Alabama, and Thomasville and Beachton, Georgia. After a brief period of service at the National Council of Churches, Young joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. named Young executive director of the SCLC, and in 1967 he became its executive vice president. In these roles, Young was one of the principal negotiators "with recalcitrant white leaders” who were just "beginning to understand the moral and political power of nonviolent protest." Young entered national politics in 1970 when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress from Georgia's Fifth District. Two years later, the majority white district in the Atlanta area had undergone reapportionment. Young was then elected as the first Black Georgia congressman since the Reconstruction era. Although whites retained a slight voting edge in his district, Young was returned to Congress in 1974 and 1976. In commenting on the appointment of Young, President Carter said the congressman "did not want or ask for this job. It was only with the greatest reluctance on his part that he finally agreed to accept [it] for me and for our country.” Young himself remarked: “Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come, the faith that brought us safe thus far will lead us safely on."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 27)
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Drew Days is appointed assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights in the U.S. Department of Justice. He is the first Black person to hold this position.
U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell selected Drew Days, a thirty-six-year-old Black lawyer, to be assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights in the U.S. Department of Justice. Days, a Florida native, graduated from the Yale University Law School in 1966. In 1970, he took a position as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), which handles legal matters for the parent organization. The appointment made Days the first Black person ever to oversee civil rights enforcement and also the first Black assistant attorney general in American history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 26)
Published
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The United States Supreme Court asks an Indiana court to reexamine its busing plan to achieve desegregation.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, returned a plan involving the busing of Black students to surrounding predominantly white school districts in Indianapolis, Indiana, to a lower federal court for reexamination. The effect of the high court's ruling was to nullify the busing plan to achieve further desegregation, which the lower court had already ordered.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 20)
Published
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President Jimmy Carter, overwhelmingly supported by Black voters, is sworn in.
Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, took the oath of office of the President of the United States at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. A Black woman from his native state was overheard in the crowd murmuring, "Yes, Lord!" Black voters had supported Carter overwhelmingly in his campaign for the nation's highest executive office.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Feb 3)
Published
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The “Roots” miniseries airs, achieving the highest single ratings ever amassed by a television production.
The “Roots” miniseries, based on Alex Haley's novel of the same title in which he traced his ancestry to Africa and slavery, ended eight nights of presentations on the ABC television network. The Sunday night finale achieved the highest single ratings ever amassed by a television production. The previous top television presentation had been the epic Civil War drama, Gone with the Wind. During the eight nights of programming, "Roots” was watched by more than 130 million viewers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Feb 17)
Published
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Chicago public schools are accused of violating civil rights laws.
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) announced that it was cutting off funds to the public schools of Chicago, Illinois, because of alleged violations of civil rights laws. The alleged violations included an "inadequate bilingual program and too many Black teachers in schools with overwhelming Black student populations." The order was to become final within twenty days unless the school district appealed or made "appropriate changes to comply with the law." It was estimated that $100 million of the district's annual budget of $600 million came from the federal government. HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr., in his first formal statement on civil rights, stated: "We have no desire ever to cut off funds to any school district or other educational institutions. But the way to insure compliance with civil rights laws is to make clear that we will order funds cut off if we must."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Aug 1)
Published
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Joseph N. Gayles, Jr., becomes the new president of Talladega College in Alabama.
Joseph N. Gayles, Jr., program director of the medical education program at Morehouse College, assumed the presidency of Talladega College in Alabama. Gayles succeeded Herman Long, who died in office in 1976. Gayles, a summa cum laude graduate of Louisiana's Dillard University, received a Ph.D. degree in chemical physics from Brown University in Rhode Island. He was previously a professor of chemistry at Morehouse College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Aug 1)
Published
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Ethel Waters, Black singer and actress, dies of apparent heart failure.
Ethel Waters, Black singer and actress, died of apparent heart failure in Chatsworth, California, at age seventy-six. Waters was born on October 31, 1900, in Chester, Pennsylvania. She first appeared on stage at age seventeen and later toured with jazz groups where she became "a leading theater and cafe personality." But after a religious conversion, Waters gave up singing in nightclubs and turned to spirituals. After her talents were more widely recognized, Waters made her Broadway debut in Plantation Revue of 1924. In this production, she scored one of the greatest song hits ever when she introduced the piece "Dinah." From Broadway she began making motion pictures and was cast in As Thousands Cheer, At Home Abroad, and Rhapsody in Black. In 1950, Waters was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Pinky. Her last motion picture was The Sound and the Fury in 1958. By this time, however, Waters began appearing on such television programs as The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, Daniel Boone, and Route 66. In her later life, Waters turned increasingly to singing, becoming noted particularly for blues renditions of Am I Blue and Stormy Weather as well as black spirituals. She was, according to an article in the Atlanta Constitution, "the first woman ever to sing St. Louis Blues" and thrilled millions around the world with her rendition of His Eye Is on the Sparrow with the Billy Graham Evangelical Crusade. She had been singing with the Crusade for fifteen years at the time her death. Waters's autobiography, also entitled His Eye Is on the Sparrow, was published in 1951 and became a best seller. In the 1960s, stricken with diabetes and heart problems, it was revealed that Waters had lost much of her wealth and was subsisting on social security. She admitted her financial difficulties but said "if half the people that owed me money paid it back, I'd be a rich woman." Yet she refused to make television commercials in order to earn more money. Instead, she exclaimed "I couldn't be happier because I'm at peace with the Lord." In an editorial published after Waters's death, the Atlanta Constitution commented that "few American entertainment figures have had careers as varied and memorable as Ethel Waters."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Aug 1)
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Elias Blake, Jr., becomes the new president of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elias Blake, Jr., forty-seven-year-old president of the Institute for Services to Education (ISE), became the new president of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. Blake succeeded Vivian W. Henderson, who died during heart surgery on January 28, 1976. Blake, a native Georgian, received bachelor's and master's degrees from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, in 1951, and Howard University in 1954 respectively, and a doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1960. He came to Clark College from the Institute for Services to Education in Washington, D.C., where he was a consultant to governmental and private educational agencies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Apr 14)
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William H. Hastie, the first Black person appointed to a United States Court of Appeals, dies.
William H. Hastie, the first Black person appointed to a United States Court of Appeals, died after collapsing on a golf course in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventy-one. Hastie, the son of a federal clerk, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1925 and taught junior high school in New York before enrolling in Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1930. Between 1939 and 1946, Hastie was dean of the law school of Howard University. While at Howard, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked him to join his “Black Cabinet" (a group of Black advisors) as a civilian aide to Secretary of War, Henry Stinson. In 1943 Hastie resigned from the War Department in protest against what he called the "reactionary policies and discriminatory practices" of the Air Force. At that time, he said "the simple fact is that the air command does not want Negro pilots flying in and out of various fields, eating, sleeping, and mingling with other personnel...." These and other actions led some persons to regard him "as one of the pioneers in the civil rights movement in the United States." After leaving the War Department, Hastie further served the federal government as the first Black on the District Court of the Virgin Islands and later governor of the United States possession from 1946 to 1949. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman elevated Hastie to a position of justice of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He retired from that court as chief judge in 1971 but retained the position of senior judge until his death. Upon learning of Justice Hastie's death, the U.S. Supreme Court's Chief Justice Warren Burger called it "a great loss to the judiciary and to the country."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 26)
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About 30,000 people reenact the NAACP’s famous “Silent March” of 1917, in protest of lynching and racial segregation.
About 30,000 people-many of the men dressed in black, and women and children in white-staged a reenactment of the NAACP's famous “Silent March" of 1917 in Washington, D.C. The 1917 march down Fifth Avenue in New York City was held to protest lynching and racial segregation. The 1989 march sought to persuade the U.S. Congress to reverse recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, which civil rights groups and others believed had weakened affirmative action laws and minority “set aside" programs. Many of the demonstrators wore signs reading "What the court has torn asunder, let Congress set right." One of the speakers at a rally at the U.S. capitol, Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), told the crowd, "We declare here today in no uncertain terms that the path of progress has been filled with pain and suffering and sacrifice, and that we're fed up and fired up... We don't intend to sit by and watch the meager gains washed away by a flood tide of insidious insensitivity nor invidious individualism... In other words, we ain't going back."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 23)
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Yusef Hawkins is shot to death in the predominantly white Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. At least 30 weapon-carrying whites attack him after allegedly thinking he came to the area to visit a white girl.
Yusef Hawkins, a sixteen-year-old Black American youth, was shot to death in the predominantly white Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. Hawkins and three friends had answered an advertisement for a used car when at least thirty whites wielding baseball bats, golf clubs, and at least one pistol attacked them. The whites allegedly thought that Hawkins and his companions had to come into the area to visit a white girl. Police quickly arrested six white youths in connection with the assault. Following the Bensonhurst incident, the Reverend Al Sharpton and other local civil rights activists led two days of confrontational demonstrations through the largely Italian American neighborhood. The furor was the largest and bitterest in New York since 1986, when a Black man was killed while fleeing a white mob in the Howard Beach section of Queens.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 22)
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Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, is shot to death in Oakland, California.
Huey P. Newton, a cofounder of the Black Panther Party, was shot to death in Oakland, California. He was forty-seven years old. Since the demise of his racial activism in the 1960s, Newton continued to have numerous encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. In 1974, he was charged with pistol-whipping his tailor, possession of a handgun, and murdering a seventeen-year-old prostitute. Before his murder trial, Newton fled to Cuba but returned to face the charges in 1977. He was tried twice on the murder charge, but both trials ended in mistrials with the juries deadlocked in favor of acquittal. The charges were later dismissed in 1979. In 1978, Newton was convicted of possession of a handgun, but was acquitted on the charge of assaulting his tailor after the alleged victim refused to testify against him. Newton served nine months in California's San Quentin Prison on the gun charge in 1987. In March of 1989, Newton was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading no contest to charges of misappropriating $15,000 in public monies which had been given for a school the Black Panther Party had operated in the early 1980s. At the time of his death, Newton, who had earned a Ph.D. degree in social philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1980, was attempting to rehabilitate himself from alcohol and drug abuse. After Newton's death, Charles Garry, his attorney, called Newton the founder of "the renaissance of the Black liberation movement." He said the Panther leader had a very sweet side, a humane side, a dignified side, a man who was theoretically in favor of a better world."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 21)
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A bomb explodes in the NAACP’s Atlanta, GA, office.
Fifteen people, including a four-month-old baby girl, were injured when a parcel exploded in the offices of the Southeast regional NAACP in Atlanta, Georgia. The injuries, mostly eye irritations and congestion, resulted from a tear-gas bomb but were not considered serious. John Lewis, a Black congressman from Georgia who was giving a speech nearby when the incident occurred, called the attack "another form of harassment and intimidation that seeks to have a chilling effect on individuals and organizations who may want to do something about racism." He added, "I thought it was over."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 10)
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Army General Colin L. Powell is named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country.
Army General Colin L. Powell was named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country. Powell, age fifty-two, became the first Black American to occupy the position and the youngest man to lead the Joint Chiefs. Powell, the son of West Indian immigrants, was born in the Harlem section of New York City on April 5, 1937. He received a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1958 and an M.B.A. from George Washington University in 1971. In 1975-76, he attended the National War College. Powell was commissioned a second lieutenant in the army in 1958 and was promoted to full general in 1989. He was also a staff officer at the Pentagon (1974-75); brigade commander, 101st Airborne Division, (1976-77); senior military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense (1977-81); deputy commander of Fort Carson, Colorado (1981-82); deputy commander at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (1982–83); senior military assistant to the secretary of defense (1983-86); commander, Fifth Corps U.S. Army, Europe (1986-87); and deputy assistant and assistant to the president for national security affairs (1987-89). Prior to being named chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he was commander in chief, Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia. After the Iran-Contra diplomat scandal in 1987, Powell, then a lieutenant-general and national security advisor to President Ronald Reagan, restored order to the National Security Council (NSC). John Poindexter, a previous NSC advisor, had been implicated in the arms deal with Iran, with some of the profits allegedly illegally sent to rebels (Contras) in Nicaragua. After becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Powell directed the American invasion of Panama, which led to the arrest of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, on drug trafficking charges. Former secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger, under whom Powell served in the Pentagon, once described the general as "the quintessential soldier. He has a remarkable understanding of the great issues of our times, the problems in world affairs, and how our government operates."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Aug 1)
Published
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The nomination of William Lucas for U.S. assistant attorney general is rejected.
The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate voted 7-7 on whether to recommend the February 24, 1989, nomination of William Lucas, a Black American attorney, as U.S. assistant attorney general, to the full senate. The tie vote meant a rejection of the nomination. Had Lucas been confirmed, he would have headed the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department. Some legislators and civil rights leaders opposed the nomination, citing Lucas's "inexperience," his opposition to racial quotas in employment and contracts, and his support of recent Supreme Court decisions severely limiting affirmative action programs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Jan 14)
Published
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In its annual “The State of Black America” report, the NUL states that Black Americans are “besieged by a resurgence of violent racism, economic depression, and a national climate of selfishness marked by a retreat from civil rights” during 1986.
"The National Urban League (NUL) said that black Americans were “besieged by a resurgence of violent racism, economic depression, and a national climate of selfishness marked by a retreat from civil rights” during 1986. In its annual “The State of Black America” report, the NUL noted that 15 percent of the black work force was unemployed and that black family income ""over the past dozen years” had decreased by $1,500 ""while economic need increased."" In presenting the report, NUL president John Jacob said, ""we can't forget that for six years and more, Americans have been told that racism is a thing of the past. That poverty is caused by habits of the poor. ... The result is a national climate of selfishness and a failure of government to take a positive role in ending racism and disadvantage.” The League's recommendations for solving the maladies that it identified included a ""broad-based” attack on violent racism and a call for congressional action to toughen and tighten civil rights laws. Larry Speakes, spokesman for the administration of President Ronald Reagan (which was harshly criticized in the report), said although he had not read the document, 'certainly we would share a concern with the Urban League over any increase or, for that matter, a single incident of racial intolerance or racial violence that would occur in this country.”"
1986 (Dec 20 - 23)
Published
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Violent white youths attack and kill Black men in the predominately white Howard Beach section of Queens, New York.
One Black man was killed and two others injured after a gang of white youths attacked them in the predominately white Howard Beach section of Queens, New York. Michael Griffith, a twenty-three-year-old construction worker from Brooklyn, was hit by a car and killed on a highway while attempting to escape his attackers. Another Black man, Cedric Sandeford, age thirty-seven, was beaten with a baseball bat. The three Blacks were attacked outside a pizza parlor after being taunted with racial slurs. The three Blacks, whose car had experienced mechanical problems, had gone into the pizza parlor to call for help when they were confronted by a gang of whites yelling racial epithets and asking "What are you doing in this neighborhood,” according to a statement by New York Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward. New York Mayor Edward Koch posted a $10,000 reward “for information leading to the arrests of the assailants." On December 23, three white teenagers were ordered held without bond on second-degree murder charges in connection with the attack. Meanwhile, a group of Blacks in the Jamaica section of Queens, chanting “Howard Beach! Howard Beach!” chased and beat a white teenager who was walking to a bus stop. Mayor Koch condemned the apparent retaliation. The Howard Beach incident was another in a series of ugly racial confrontations that had occurred in various parts of the country that year. The first major encounter took place in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the eve of the first national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Dec 10)
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Judge R. Allan Edgar dismisses a school segregation suit against the board of education of Chattanooga, Tennessee, 26 years after it was originally filed.
United States District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar dismissed a school segregation suit against the board of education of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was first filed in 1960. Edgar commented: “Based upon their conduct for many years, there is no indication that the defendants [the school board] will take any steps to reinstitute vestiges of segregation." He ruled that the board had finally met the court order to racially integrate students and faculty. At the time of Edgar's ruling, there were nearly 23,700 students, 51.26 percent of them Black, enrolled in Chattanooga's public schools. Most recently, the school board had reassigned 185 teachers in order that the faculty at each school in the system match approximately the 60-40 white-to-Black teacher ratio system wide. The desegregation suit, filed by Black real estate agent James Mapp, was "the longest to linger” in the federal court in Chattanooga. But Mapp, whose home was bombed in 1970, said, “I think the past effects of state-imposed racial discrimination and segregation have not been completely done away with.” He cited several local schools that were still either “almost 100 percent Black or white."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Jan 7)
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Lou Brock, Black American outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Lou Brock, Black American outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Baseball League, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Brock received 315 of the 395 ballots cast (79.5 percent) by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He was only the fifteenth ballplayer to be elected in his first year of eligibility. Brock played in the major leagues from 1961 until 1975. He began his career with the Chicago Cubs, but spent most of it with the St. Louis Cardinals. At the time of his election to the Hall of Fame, Brock still lead all players in the number of bases stolen with 938; held the National League record of 118 bases stolen in one season (1974); and held the highest batting average for World Series games (.391) in 21 games.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Dec 19)
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An internal report on equal opportunity released by the U.S. Navy finds “widespread but subtle bias against Black and Hispanic sailors and other minorities in its ranks.”
An internal report on equal opportunity released by the U.S. Navy found "widespread but subtle bias against Black and Hispanic sailors and other minorities in its ranks." Among the shortcomings cited in the report were "failure to direct recruiting ads to minority-dominated areas; enlist highly qualified Blacks; instill a sense of racial and ethnic equality in training; and guide minorities equitably into technical fields." The study also found that Black and Hispanic sailors were promoted less quickly than Whites, though rates of promotion varied from grade to grade. In response to the report, Admiral Carlisle Trost, chief of naval operations, instructed naval officers "to maintain a climate in the Navy that provides the opportunity for our people to perform and achieve realistic goals."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Dec 20)
Published
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Max Robinson, the first Black news anchorman on American network television, dies of complications relating to AIDS in Washington, D.C., at age forty-nine.
Max Robinson, the first Black news anchorman on American network television, died of complications relating to AIDS in Washington, D.C., at age forty-nine. Robinson, who had worked as a news anchor at WTPO-TV in Washington, became a co-anchor with Peter Jennings and Frank Reynolds on the ABC-TV Network's “Evening News” in 1978. Carl Bernstein, chief of the ABC News bureau in Chicago, said Robinson was "deliberately excluded from any decision-making related to the newscast." In a speech at Smith College in February 1981, Robinson accused ABC of racism. Two years later, after the death of Reynolds, Jennings was named sole anchor of the "Evening News" and Robinson was "relegated to weekend anchor stints and news briefs." The next year he left ABC and joined WMAQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois. In June 1985, Robinson entered a hospital suffering from "emotional and physical exhaustion." He never returned to full-time news reporting. In commenting on Robinson's death, Roone Arledge, president of ABC News, said, "he made an important contribution to ABC News for which we will always be grateful."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Dec 28)
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Widespread discussion begin in Black American communities throughout the United States over the proper ethnic designation for Americans of African origins.
Widespread discussion began in Black American communities throughout the United States over the proper ethnic designation for Americans of African origins. Former Democratic presidential candidate Jesse L. Jackson, leaders of the NAACP, and others had agreed during a conference in Chicago that “African American" was the preferable term and should replace "Black," which gained prominence during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Jackson said the term African American “places us in our proper historical context." The Reverend B. Herbert Martin, head of the Human Relations Commission in Chicago, and others disagreed. Martin said a change in nomenclature from "Black to African American amounted to little more than semantics."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Dec 28)
Published
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The School Committee of Boston, Massachusetts, votes 10-1 to allow parents to choose a public school for their children closer to home.
The School Committee of Boston, Massachusetts, voted 10-1 to allow parents to choose a public school for their children closer to home. In 1974, U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., had imposed a desegregation plan on the city of Boston that gave parents "little choice as to which schools” their children would attend. Garrity's latest orders in the case, however, required "only that a racial balance be maintained,” which freed the School Committee to devise a plan of its own. The new plan, which was subject to final approval by the state board of education, divided the Boston public school system into three zones of 14,000 students each, and parents could choose any school within the zone, “provided it did not upset the school's racial balance." A lottery would determine assignments in "oversubscribed" schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan)
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Andrew F. Brimmer, former Black American governor of the Federal Reserve Board, is installed as president of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH).
Andrew F. Brimmer, former Black American governor of the Federal Reserve Board, was installed as president of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). Brimmer, who had also served as president of the nation's oldest Black history organization in 1969, returned to the leadership of the group at a time when it was just beginning to recover from severe financial difficulties. Administrative problems and a declining membership had seriously curtailed the association's ability to provide programs and deliver services in the 1980s. These financial straits had led to suspension of its two principal publications, the Journal of Negro History and the Negro History Bulletin. Just prior to Brimmer's installation, the Journal of Negro History, the oldest and most prestigious of Black scholarly journals, was revived through the assistance of Morehouse College, the base of its editorial operations. Leroy Keith, Jr., the newly inaugurated president of the college, had made the pledge to resurrect the periodical soon after taking office. Upon assuming the leadership of ASALH anew, Brimmer pledged to make a similar effort on behalf of the entire association and those it served.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan 14)
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Coretta Scott King resigns as president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.
Coretta Scott King announced her resignation as president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, having been president of the Center since its founding in 1974. She also announced that her successor would be her twenty-seven-year-old son, Dexter Scott King, whom she described as "uniquely qualified to assume the civil rights mantle." Mrs. King, however, said that she would remain as chief executive officer and spokesperson for the center.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan 15)
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President Ronald Reagan criticizes civil rights leaders for allegedly exaggerating the degree of racism in America.
On the eve of his departure from office, President Ronald Reagan criticized civil rights leaders for allegedly exaggerating the degree of racism in America. The president suggested that Black leaders were striving "to keep their cause alive and to maintain their own prominence.” In an interview with the CBS television network news program "60 Minutes," Reagan specifically said: “Sometimes I wonder if they really want what they say they want... because some of those leaders are doing very well leading organizations based on keeping alive the feeling that they're victims of prejudice." During his eight years in office, Reagan had been constantly attacked by Black leaders for allegedly seeking to thwart progress in civil rights. But in the interview, Reagan defended his position on civil rights. He pointed out that as governor of California he had "appointed more Blacks to executive and policy-making positions in government than all the previous governors of California put together." Reagan regretted that he was seen as being "on the other side" of the struggle for civil rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan 16)
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President-elect George Bush praises the life and work of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and promises to make King’s “dream of racial equality” his mission in the White House.
President-elect George Bush praised the life and work of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and promised to make King's "dream of racial equality" his mission in the White House. In a speech to the American Bicentennial Presidential Inaugural Afro-American Committee in Washington, D.C., Bush said that King had "lived a hero's life. He dreamed a hero's dreams. And he left a hero's indelible mark on the mind and imagination of a great nation. ... So today we remember the man; we pay tribute to his achievements, and we pledge once more our nation's sacred honor in continuing pursuit of his dream." In his remarks, Bush characterized King as a "great gift from God to the nation," adding, "What becomes of Martin Luther King's dreams is up to us. We must not fail him. We must not fail ourselves. And we must not fail the nation he loved so much and gave his life for. I understand that five days before becoming president of the United States of America." Bush concluded his comments by vowing to pursue equality, freedom, justice, and peace so “that bigotry and indifference to the disadvantaged will find no safe home on our shores, in our public life, in our neighborhoods or in our home, and that Reverend King's dream for his children and for ours will be fulfilled... This must be our mission together. It will, I promise, be my mission as president of the United States." The administration of Bush's predecessor, Ronald Reagan, in which the president-elect served as vice president, had faced constant criticism from Black leaders for alleged insensitivity to civil rights issues. A few days before Bush's speech, one such leader, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, had offered that Reagan “may be the worst civil rights president we've had in recent memory."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan 23)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, rules a program in Richmond, Virginia, which required contractors in city construction projects to set aside at least 30 percent of the value of the project for companies at least half-minority owned, as unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled unconstitutional a program in Richmond, Virginia, which required contractors in city construction projects to set aside at least 30 percent of the value of the project for companies at least half-minority owned. The high Court said the quota was "an unlawful form of reverse discrimination." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said local and state government could no longer rest on the "amorphous claim" that quotas were necessary remedies for past racial discrimination, adding “it is sheer speculation" to claim that if past discrimination had not occurred, there would be more minority firms. Justice O'Connor further commented: "The dearth of minority firms might have a number of explanations. For example, Whites and Blacks may simply make different 'entrepreneurial choices.'" In any event, she wrote, if quotas were not "realistically tied to any injury suffered by anyone," they were not permitted by the equal protection clause of the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. Justice O'Connor concluded that it was "disingenuous” to include “Spanish-speaking, Oriental, Indian, Eskimo or Aleut persons" in the affirmative action program, because no member of that "random inclusion of racial groups” had ever suffered from discrimination in Richmond. The City of Richmond v. J. A. Coson Co. case stemmed from a 1983 ordinance that required the 30 percent "set asides." At the time, although 60 percent of the population of Richmond was Black, minority-owned business had received less than 0.6 percent of the $25 million awarded in city contracts over the preceding five years. The high Court's ruling was one of the most far-reaching attacks on the notion of affirmative action since the Regents of University of California v. Allan Bakke decision in 1978.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jan 24)
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Barbara Harris, a fifty-eight-year-old Black American, elected as the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church approved the election of Barbara Harris, a fifty-eight-year-old Black American, as the first female bishop in the "two-thousand-year tradition of apostolic succession, a line of bishops dating from Jesus and his apostles.” Harris was assigned to the post of suffragan, or assistant bishop, in the Diocese of Boston. Harris was first ordained an Episcopal priest in 1980, four years after the Church first approved women as priests. She had studied theology through correspondence courses and with tutors. Prior to her elevation to the bishopric, Harris was also the head of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Feb 1)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census projects that the Black population of the United States will grow 50 percent by the year 2030.
The Bureau of the Census projected that the Black population of the United States would grow 50 percent by the year 2030, but the growth of the "other races" population (primarily Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders) was expected to "be the fastest of any of the racial groups." These groups had tripled in size in the past seventeen years, increasing from 2.6 million in 1970 to 7.9 million in 1987, and are expected to be 50 percent larger by the year 2000, "double the present size by 2015, and triple its size by the year 2040." By 2040, the "other races" population could reach almost 25 million larger than it was in 1987. On the other hand, the Black population, which was 29.9 million in 1987 (7 million more than in 1970), was expected to change relatively little after 2030.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Feb 10)
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Ronald H. Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee and becomes the first Black American to lead a major American political party.
With his election as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ronald H. Brown became the first Black American to lead a major American political party.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Feb 24)
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William Lucas, a Black American attorney from Detroit, Michigan, is nominated assistant attorney general for civil rights by President George Bush.
William Lucas, a Black American attorney from Detroit, Michigan, was nominated assistant attorney general for civil rights by President George Bush. This appointment would also make him director of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Lucas, a 1962 graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, first joined the Justice Department in 1963 and represented the government in efforts to desegregate the public schools of Tuskegee, Alabama. He also served on the New York Police Department, was sheriff and executive of Wayne County, Michigan (of which Detroit is the county seat), and lost as the Republican candidate for governor of Michigan in 1986. The nomination of Lucas was applauded by conservative groups. Patrick B. McGuigan, a leader of the Free Congress Foundation, "a conservative research organization" in Washington, D.C., called the selection "brilliant," adding that Lucas was “a fine, courageous man who, in his career, has been willing to put himself on the line." However, it also drew expressions of concern from national civil rights organizations, however, because Lucas had indicated "that he generally opposes quotas to advance the interests of minority groups" and because of his long absence from federal service. Elaine R. Jones, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., charged that "it doesn't appear at first glance that he has had any substantial experience in this area in 20 years."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Feb 25 )
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Mike Tyson retains his heavyweight boxing championship with a knockout of British fighter Frank Bruno in the fifth round of a scheduled 15-round bout.
Mike Tyson retained his heavyweight boxing championship with a knockout of British fighter Frank Bruno in the fifth round of a scheduled 15-round bout. Bruno had a record of 32-3 and was the number one contender for the title at the time of the fight. Tyson went into the contest with a record of 36-0, with 32 knockouts. The Black American champion collected $8 million for the Las Vegas, Nevada, appearance, bringing his total career earnings to approximately $48 million. Bruno was paid approximately $4 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Feb 28)
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Acting Chicago mayor Eugene Sawyer loses in the primaries due to issues that include a lack of charisma and alienating many Blacks.
Richard M. Daley, son of the legendary Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, defeated acting mayor Eugene Sawyer for the Democratic nomination for that city's executive office. Daley, who is White, captured 57 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Sawyer, who is Black. The vote was marked by a sharp split along racial lines, but voter turnout in the Black wards of the city was lower than usual. As a result of the primary, the general election scheduled for April 11, 1989, was to be decided among three candidates: Republican Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak, Black independent Timothy C. Evans, and Daley. The winner of that election would serve the final two years of the late Harold Washington's term in office. Washington, Chicago's first Black mayor, died of a heart attack in November 1987. His death led to the election of Sawyer as acting mayor by the Chicago City Council. Political analysts quoted by the Atlanta Constitution attributed Sawyer's defeat to: 1) a lack of charisma; 2) his alienating many Blacks because of his support for the position of acting mayor by many of the same White aldermen who had opposed Mayor Washington's policies; 3) the looming candidacy of Evans, who was endorsed by the "Harold Washington slate"; 4) an antiquated campaign based largely on grass roots support; and 5) the political experience of Daley, who had served eight years as a state senator before becoming chief prosecutor of Cook County, of which Chicago is the county seat.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Apr 1)
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Bill White, a six-time All Star first baseman, was elected president of baseball’s National League, becoming the first Black American ever to head a major professional sports league in the United States.
Bill White, a six-time All Star first baseman, was elected president of baseball's National League, becoming the first Black American ever to head a major professional sports league in the United States. White played baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the New York and San Francisco Giants between 1956 and 1969. At the time of his appointment, White was a television announcer for the New York Yankees of the American League and a broadcaster with CBS Radio. Atlanta Braves vice president Hank Aaron, who had been campaigning for more Blacks in executive positions in baseball, applauded White's selection. He characterized White as "a baseball man. He knows baseball. There will be nothing that will be a surprise for him." White himself commented, "You just do the job whether you're red, yellow, purple, or whatever."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Apr 3)
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Twenty students occupy and barricade the administration building at predominantly Black Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, demanding better policies and services.
Twenty students occupied and barricaded the administration building at predominantly Black Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. The demonstrators' demands included "a more lenient delinquent fees policy, a Pan-African studies program, better campus services [including a new cafeteria vendor] and [after a recent dormitory fire], an upgraded physical plant." The Morris Brown demonstration followed by one month a similar campus takeover at historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C., and by a week a Black student takeover at predominantly White Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The campus demonstrations were reminiscent of similar protests on both Black and White campuses during the 1960s, yet the young college students differed in both tone and manner from the radicals of earlier generations. For example, there was less damage to property in the current protests and little personal rage toward college administrators. At Morris Brown College, the students called their takeover "an act of love." The demonstrators did acknowledge, however, linkages to the 1960s through their quotations of both Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, and their references to similar actions in the earlier period. Yet some observers saw the current demonstrators as having too much reverence for the radicalism of the 1960s "without a full understanding of the time in which the leaders worked." Werner Sollors, a professor of Afro-American Studies at Howard University and author of a biography of Black poet Amiri Baraka (one of the heroes of today's radicals), believed that the current campus protestors were "totally misreading the historical context of [the earlier movements], so what they're doing now seems pretty wacky."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Apr 6)
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The Bureau of the Census reports that Black Americans spent a larger share of their income on housing in 1985 than all other American ethnic groups.
The Bureau of the Census reported that Black Americans spent a larger share of their income on housing in 1985 than all other American ethnic groups. The median monthly housing cost for Black households was $311 compared with $355 for all households. Because their incomes were lower, Black households spent a median of 27 percent of their income for housing costs, compared with 21 percent for all U.S. households. Housing costs for homeowners include mortgage payments, real estate taxes, property insurance, utilities, fuel, and garbage collection. Renter costs were based on contract rent and the estimated cost of utilities and fuels, if these were paid in addition to rent. The Census Bureau also reported that: 1) Black householders occupied 9.9 million housing units in 1985; 44 percent were homeowners compared with 64 percent of all households; 2) 16 percent of Black householders lived in public or subsidized housing compared with 5 percent of all householders; and 3) there were five million Black householders in single, detached homes. The median size of their unit was 1,337 square feet, or 487 square feet per person. The national average was 633 square feet per person.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Apr 29)
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Bobby Doctor, a member of the staff of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR), criticizes the commission for its “ineffectiveness” during the last decade.
Bobby Doctor, a member of the staff of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR), told a state CCR meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that "federal agencies have gone to sleep on the question of civil rights enforcement." He also "attributed the ineffectiveness" of the Commission on Civil Rights "during the last decade to the anti-civil rights posture" of the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The CCR, which was established in 1957, is responsible for monitoring such federal agencies as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for possible discrimination in education, employment, housing, and other areas. According to Doctor, "for the past seven years we have not done that." He added that during the last decade, the budget of the CCR had been cut by at least 50 percent and seven of its ten regional offices were closed. "The agency has been teetering on the brink of annihilation," he added. By not strongly enforcing civil rights compliance in federal agencies, Doctor accused the CCR of contributing to a national climate that condoned "hate activity" against minorities and such discriminatory practices as redlining, and other improper mortgage lending activities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jul 10)
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Black American businessmen Bertram Lee and Peter Bynoe purchase the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association for $65 million, making them the first Blacks to ever own a professional sports franchise.
Black American businessmen Bertram Lee of Boston, Massachusetts, and Peter Bynoe of Chicago, Illinois, purchased the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association for $65 million. They became the first Blacks ever to own a professional sports franchise. After the purchase, Lee commented, “Do we overestimate the significance of a barrier coming down? A barrier that presumably had to do with other than people's abilities or their financial wherewithal? No, I don't think so. I think the analogy about Jackie Robinson is something that is very special to me. If breaking the color barrier in ownership is sort of put up there with that, I'm honored by it."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 13)
Published
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Jesse Jackson is passed over as a vice presidential running mate of his closest primary rival Michael Dukakis.
As the date for the 1988 Democratic National Convention approached, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis had secured enough delegate votes to win his party's nomination over his closest rival, Black American candidate Jesse Jackson. However, there were serious concerns within the Democratic Party over whether Jackson and his forces would attempt to disrupt the convention and/or enthusiastically support the party nominees in the November general elections. One of the major disputes between the Jackson and Dukakis camps was over Dukakis' selection of Lloyd Bentsen, U.S. senator from Texas, as his choice as a vice-presidential running mate. Jackson complained earlier that Dukakis "had not engaged him in their private meetings on substantial issues, such as the platform," his role in the fall campaign, and the vice-presidency, yet indicated that he would not be adverse to a vice-presidential nomination. The Jackson campaign was most angered, however, by the fact that Jackson had learned from news reporters that Dukakis had chosen Bentsen as his running mate a full hour before the governor called with the information. Although the Dukakis campaign insisted that "the slight had not been deliberate" and apologized for having caused Jackson any embarrassment, Ronald Brown, Jackson's campaign manager, said he was shocked by his client's treatment. The Bentsen incident refueled speculation in the media and in the Democratic Party as to exactly what it would take to mollify or pacify Jackson and his supporters. In an article published in the Atlanta Constitution on July 13 entitled "A Letter to My Delegates on the Road to Atlanta," Jackson said it was "not what ... Jesse wants ... but a question of what we have built."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 20)
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Michael Dukakis defeats Jesse Jackson for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
The quest of Jesse L. Jackson for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States ended in Atlanta, Georgia. Delegates at the Democratic National Convention there gave the party's nomination to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Dukakis won the votes of 2,876.25 delegates; Jackson emerged second in the contest with 1,218.5 delegate votes. Five other candidates divided nine votes. The number needed for nomination was 2,082. Jackson began his second attempt to win the Democratic nomination shortly after he failed to capture the position in 1984. He remained a visible spokesman for the civil rights of Blacks, other minorities, and women, by using his organizations Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition as bases and adding the causes of labor and depressed farmers to his agenda. Unlike his race in 1984, when several major Black leaders publicly opposed his candidacy, Jackson won their support or at least neutrality in his latest quest. He was also able to persuade more Whites to back his candidacy. He campaigned as a populist, championing the cause of the downtrodden, those in "the outhouse" who were not fully sharing in the nation's opportunities, political, social, and economic. In the primary elections and caucuses prior to the convention, Jackson won the votes of 92 percent of Blacks and 12 percent of Whites. Four years earlier he had captured 77 percent of the Black vote, but only 5 percent of the White vote. Jackson's achievements in the 1988 campaign established him as the most formidable Black candidate ever to seek the American presidency.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 19)
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Jesse Jackson, Black American Democratic presidential candidate delivers “Keep Hope Alive” speech to 11,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on the eve of the balloting for the presidential nomination.
Using the theme "Keep Hope Alive," Jesse Jackson, Black American Democratic presidential candidate, addressed 11,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on the eve of the balloting for the presidential nomination. The speech, in which Jackson said "America must never surrender to a high moral challenge," electrified the audience.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 31)
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Willie Stargell, a former Black American baseball star with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League, is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in ceremonies at Cooperstown, New York.
Willie Stargell, a former Black American baseball star with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in ceremonies at Cooperstown, New York. Stargell got 82.4 percent of the vote by being named on 352 of 427 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America. (In order to be elected, a player must be named on 75 percent of the ballots). Stargell, age forty-seven, became the first player to be selected on his first attempt since Lou Brock, another Black American, accomplished the feat in 1985. Stargell's best seasons as a baseball player were in 1971, when he scored 48 home runs, batted in 125 runs, and had a total batting average of 295; and 1973, when he hit 44 home runs, batted in 119 runs, and ended with a batting average of .299. Stargell played in the 1971 and 1979 World Series and was named the Most Valuable Player in the 1979 Series.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Aug 2)
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Joseph “Big Lester” Hankerson, Black civil rights activist, dies of a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia, at age sixty-three.
Joseph “Big Lester" Hankerson, Black civil rights activist, died of a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia, at age sixty-three. Hankerson, a leader of the civil rights movement in Savannah, Georgia, often marched at the side of Martin Luther King, Jr., during the 1960s. Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), called Hankerson "one of the earliest among the valiant field workers who was a heart and soul of the civil rights movement. They did the harsh and dangerous groundwork that made it possible for the captains and generals to claim the victory." Another veteran civil rights activist, Hosea Williams, remarked, “Big Lester was a true unsung hero. ... He contributed as much to the street movement as Dr. King did in the suite movement. He didn't go to jail as many times as I, but no one took more beatings and no one shed more blood."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Aug 11)
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M. Carl Holman, president of the National Urban Coalition, dies of cancer in Washington, D.C., at age sixty-nine.
M. Carl Holman, president of the National Urban Coalition, died of cancer in Washington, D.C., at age sixty-nine. Holman was born June 27, 1919, in Minter, Mississippi. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a magna cum laude graduate of Lincoln University. He earned master's degrees at the University of Chicago in 1944 and Yale University in 1954. After receiving his Chicago degree, Holman taught English at Hampton Institute and his alma mater, Lincoln University. Beginning in 1949, he began a long career in Georgia as a professor of English at Clark College. While in Georgia, Holman was an advisor to the student sit-in movement in Atlanta and helped to escort and protect Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, when the two Black students desegregated the University of Georgia in 1961. He was also editor of the Atlanta Inquirer, a Black weekly newspaper that was founded as a voice for civil rights demonstrators. In 1962, Holman left Clark College to become information officer and later deputy staff director of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (CCR) from 1962 to 1968. He then became a vice-president of the National Urban Coalition, a study and advocacy group on urban issues and policies. Holman was named president of the Coalition in 1971.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Aug 14)
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Participants at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Atlanta, Georgia, concluded that “the increasing absence of Black men in the workforce, on college campuses and as heads of households” is a problem that threatens “the fabric of American society.”
Participants at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Atlanta, Georgia, concluded that "the increasing absence of Black men in the workforce, on college campuses and as heads of households” was a problem that threatened "the fabric of American society." Statistics quoted at the meeting to substantiate the point included: 1) the leading cause of death among Black males between the ages of 15 and 24 is homicide; 2) a Black man has a 1 in 21 chance of being murdered, 6 times greater than that of other Americans; 3) the average life expectancy of 65 years for Black men is less than what it was for White men more than 40 years ago; 4) Black men represent 6 percent of the country's population but more than 40 percent of the prison population; 5) a Black man is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as a White man; and 6) Black men are increasingly absent from the home, with almost 60 percent of all births to Black women occurring out of wedlock.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Aug 27)
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More than 55,000 Americans march in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic March on Washington of 1963.
More than 55,000 Americans marched in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic March on Washington of 1963. The original march had drawn 250,000 people to push for passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. The leaders of the new march included Democratic presidential candidates Jesse Jackson and Michael Dukakis, Benjamin Hooks of the NAACP, Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The themes of the gathering were a tribute to King, and his memorable "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 march, as well as a protest against the civil rights policies of the administration of President Ronald Reagan. In addressing the latter topic, the SCLC's Lowery told the crowd, "we fought too long, we prayed too hard, we wept too bitterly, we bled too profusely, we died too young to let anybody ever turn back the clock on racial justice. We ain't going back."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 1)
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William S. Sessions, director of the FBI, announces that he approved a five-year affirmative action program to hire and promote more minority employees in the Bureau.
William S. Sessions, director of the FBI, announced that he had approved a five-year affirmative action program to hire and promote more minority employees in the Bureau. The program included the hiring of an advertising agency, assignment of some of the “most capable people" to serve as recruiters, improvements in career development and training programs, internal audits of promotion procedures, equal opportunity programs, and complaint processes. Sessions also said that "from the beginning, I have tried to make the FBI's policy against racism and discrimination crystal clear to every member of the FBI, both by policy statements ... and by personally addressing employees." As Sessions issued his declaration, there were only 417 Blacks and 439 Hispanics among the 9,597 agents in the FBI. Of the Hispanic agents, 311 had filed a class action suit contending that the FBI discriminated in the promotion, discipline, and assignment of Hispanics, while a Black agent, Donald Rochon of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, office, had filed a racial harassment charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In July 1988, Gary Miller, a White agent in the Chicago, Illinois, office, acknowledged that he and some White colleagues had harassed Rochon. The EEOC also upheld many of Rochon's complaints of actions against him while he served in the FBI's Omaha, Nebraska, office in 1983-1984 and in Chicago from 1984 to 1986.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 6)
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City officials in Yonkers, New York, pay a fine of $192,000 for contempt of court for refusing to carry out a federal judge’s order to desegregate the city’s housing.
City officials in Yonkers, New York, paid a fine of $192,000 for contempt of court for refusing to carry out a federal judge's order to desegregate the city's housing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 12)
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U.S. District Court judge William H. Barbour, Jr., rules in Jackson, Mississippi, that Mississippi judges were elected in a discriminatory manner.
U.S. District Court judge William H. Barbour, Jr., ruled in Jackson, Mississippi, that Mississippi judges were elected in a discriminatory manner. The order divided some of the state's judicial districts into subdistricts where the Black majority would be 60 percent to 65 percent. This division was designed to overcome what the judge said was the White majority's bloc votes, which usually defeat the minority's preferred candidate. As a result of the ruling, eight judicial sub-districts with large Black majorities were created. At the time of the ruling, there were only three Blacks among the 111 trial and appellate judges in Mississippi, although Blacks constituted 35 percent of the state's population. In 1985, the Fund for Modern Courts, a Washington, D.C., research group, had reported that there were only 238 Blacks among the 7,500 elected judges in the United States. At that time, Blacks constituted 12 percent of the American population.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 13)
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President Ronald Reagan signs a bill strengthening enforcement of the open housing law Congress passed in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968.
President Ronald Reagan signed a bill strengthening enforcement of the open housing law Congress passed in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. The law, which was passed overwhelmingly by both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, authorized the federal government, for the first time, to seek fines of up to $100,000 against individuals or organizations found to have engaged in a pattern of housing discrimination. Under the open housing provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the government could only mediate housing discrimination disputes. The act also extended anti-discrimination protection in housing to the handicapped and families with children. President Reagan called the new housing law the most important civil rights legislation in twenty years. He said that discrimination was “particularly tragic when it means a family is refused housing near good schools, a good job, or simply in a better neighborhood to raise children."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 26)
Published
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The New York Times reports that a seven-month New York state grand jury investigation had concluded that Tawana Brawley, a sixteen-year-old Black American, had fabricated her story of abduction and sexual abuse by a gang of White men in Wappingers Falls, New York, on November 24, 1987.
The New York Times reported that a seven-month New York state grand jury investigation had concluded that Tawana Brawley, a sixteen-year-old Black American, had fabricated her story of abduction and sexual abuse by a gang of White men in Wappingers Falls, New York, on November 24, 1987. Brawley, who disappeared from her home four days earlier, was found nude in a garbage bag with feces and racial slurs covering her body. Within days of Brawley's disappearance, her case became a focal point of protests and racial tensions throughout the state. Leaders of the protest and advisors to Brawley included the Reverend Al Sharpton, a community activist, and New York lawyers C. Vernon Mason and Alton H. Maddox, Jr. The three counseled the Brawley family not to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, whom they accused of perpetrating a cover-up in the case. Furthermore, the group contended that law enforcement officials were involved in the alleged attack on Brawley. Nevertheless, the grand jury's final report found "no evidence of any abduction, racial or sexual attack, or any other crime against Miss Brawley."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Sep 26)
Published
0 0
The International Olympic Committee strips Canadian Ben Johnson’s gold medal in the 100-meter dash away after he tested positive for performance-enhancing anabolic steroids.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) took Canadian Ben Johnson's gold medal in the 100-meter dash away after he tested positive for performance-enhancing anabolic steroids. The medal, which he won in the Summer Olympic Games at Seoul, South Korea, on September 24, was then presented to the second place finisher in the 100-meter, Black American Carl Lewis.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Forbes Magazine reports that Michael Jackson, a thirty-year-old Black American, is the world’s highest paid entertainer, earning an estimated $60 million during 1988.
Forbes Magazine reported that Michael Jackson, a thirty-year-old Black American, had become the world's highest paid entertainer, earning an estimated $60 million during 1988. Jackson was ranked ninth in Forbes' Top 40 list of wealthiest celebrities in 1987. Jackson had made about $40 million from a recent worldwide tour. The rest of his earnings came from sales of his album Bad, his autobiography Moonwalk, music publishing, and endorsements and commercials he made for the Pepsi Cola Bottling company. In 1987, the wealthiest entertainer was another Black American, comedian Bill Cosby. Cosby had an income of $84 million in 1986-87. Other Black Americans on the 1988 list were actor-comedian Eddie Murphy, talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and professional boxers Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Michael Spinks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Oct 26)
Published
0 0
S. B. Fuller, founder and president of Fuller Products Company and a “dean of Black entrepreneurs,” dies of kidney failure in Blue Island, Illinois, at age eighty-three.
S. B. Fuller, founder and president of Fuller Products Company and a "dean of Black entrepreneurs," died of kidney failure in Blue Island, Illinois, at age eighty-three. Fuller, a native of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, left school after the sixth grade and lived in poverty until his mother, who died when he was seventeen, convinced him to become a door-to-door salesman. He sold cosmetics and built a national enterprise with more than five thousand salesmen. In the 1960s, Fuller expanded his company into newspapers, appliance and department stores, and farming and beef cattle production. He is credited with teaching business acumen to John H. Johnson, publisher of the highly successful Johnson Publishing Company, and George Johnson, one of the nation's leading cosmetic manufacturers, both of Chicago, Illinois.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Nov 4)
Published
0 0
Comedian and television star Bill Cosby announces his intention to donate $20 million to Spelman College, an institution for Black American women in Atlanta, Georgia.
Comedian and television star Bill Cosby announced his intention to donate $20 million to Spelman College, an institution for Black American women in Atlanta, Georgia. The contribution represented the largest individual gift in the 107-year history of the college and the largest such gift ever made by a Black American. In announcing the donation, Cosby told a group of two thousand people attending an inaugural reception for Spelman's new president, Johnnetta Cole, that "Mrs. Cosby and I wanted this woman to know how much we love this school." He also urged other Blacks to do more in supporting historically Black colleges. “I think we all understand that schools need money, but I think we accepted that White folks were going to keep them alive." College officials indicated that Cosby's money would be used to construct a new academic building, establish endowed academic chairs in the fine arts, humanities, and social sciences, and strengthen the school's $42 million endowment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Nov 4)
Published
0 0
Dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Building was held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Building was held in Atlanta, Georgia. U.S. Congressman John Lewis and members of the slain civil rights leader's family participated in the ceremonies. Lewis had sponsored the bill in Congress to rename the building for King, the first federal building in the nation to bear his name.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Nov 16)
Published
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Toni Morrison, Black American novelist, wins a 1988 Elmer Holmes Bobst Award in Arts and Letters for her “powerful and haunting” book, Beloved.
Toni Morrison, Black American novelist, won a 1988 Elmer Holmes Bobst Award in Arts and Letters for her "powerful and haunting" book, Beloved. Like Morrison's other works, Beloved draws heavily on the Black oral tradition. The Bobst Awards, sponsored by New York University, include medals and $2,000 cash prizes. Previously Morrison had won a National Book Critics Award for Song of Solomon, and the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Beloved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Nov 24)
Published
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Two University of Chicago researchers reports that Blacks still encounter major barriers to integrated housing in the nation’s suburbs.
Two University of Chicago researchers reported that Blacks still encounter major barriers to integrated housing in the nation's suburbs. In a report entitled "Suburbanization and Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton found that Asians and Hispanics had greater contact with other races as they moved out of larger American cities than did Blacks. They concluded that "two decades after the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which, in theory, banned racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing, Blacks have still not achieved equal access to housing in American cities and suburbs." The study was published in the November 1988 issue of the American Journal of Sociology.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 27)
Published
0 0
The American Tobacco Company and Local 182 of the Tobacco Workers’ International Union is ordered to allow Blacks and females to “bump” white employees with less seniority.
U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan, Jr., in Richmond, Virginia, ordered the American Tobacco Company and Local 182 of the Tobacco Workers' International Union to allow Blacks and females to "bump" white employees with less seniority. Having found Local 182 and the American Tobacco Company's two Richmond plants guilty of sexual and racial discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Judge Bryan directed the company to freeze hiring and promoting white male supervisors and adjust retirement and pension plans in order to halt discrimination. Any white employees who were displaced would be allowed to retain their present rates in the lower classifications. Litigation in the case began in March 1973. It is believed to be the first instance in which a court has sanctioned “bumping” in a civil rights case. At the time of the decision, the tobacco company employed more than 1,000 production workers at its two plants in Richmond. Of that number, 239 were Black and 441 were female.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 21)
Published
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A study shows that white voters are reluctant to vote for Black candidates for mayor in cities where Blacks constitute a majority of the population.
White voters are reluctant to vote for Black candidates for mayor in cities where Blacks constitute a majority of the population, according to a study appearing in the September issue of Psychology Today. In comparing recent mayoral elections in Los Angeles (a white majority city) with Detroit and Atlanta (Black majority cities), the article's author, Professor Howard Schuman. Research, found that Los Angeles was the only major city where close to a majority of whites voted for a Black candidate (Thomas Bradley) in preference to a white candidate (Sam Yorty). Los Angeles, Schuman said, apparently separated the question of the candidate's own race from the issue of which race would control the city. By contrast, in Atlanta and Detroit, where whites were becoming the minority population, the elections became “full scale battles over which race would run the city.” In a previous study, Schuman had found that about 60 percent of the whites surveyed in fifteen cities said they would be willing to vote for a qualified Black mayoral candidate of their own party. Yet, he pointed out, successful Black mayoral candidates like Maynard Jackson of Atlanta and Coleman Young of Detroit received far less than half of the white vote. Schuman concluded that while whites are becoming more liberal, they are still opposed to basic, structural changes in society. At the same time, he observed, Blacks are becoming more open in their criticism of whites and are more distrustful of whites than in the past. Schuman's study is entitled “Are Whites Really More Liberal?"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 17)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Senate approved amendments to a $39.9 billion appropriations bill to prohibit the use of federal funds for busing to achieve school desegregation.
The U.S. Senate approved amendments to a $39.9 billion appropriations bill to prohibit the use of federal funds for busing to achieve school desegregation. According to the anti-busing amendment, which was approved by a vote of 45-42, federal funds could not be used for transporting students to achieve racial balance in schools. The practical effect of the bill, however, would be minimal, since very little federal money is used for such purposes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Sep 12)
Published
0 0
Marcus Wayne Chenault is convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mother, Alberta King.
Marcus Wayne Chenault of Dayton, Ohio, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Alberta King, mother of the slain civil rights leader, and Deacon Edward Boykin during a worship service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on June 30, 1974. Chenault was identified as the gunman who interrupted that service with bullets. The Fulton County Court jury rejected Chenault's plea of insanity in delivering their verdict.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 8)
Published
0 0
Southern Democratic Congressmen, reportedly concerned about a major increase in Black registered voters, joined with Republicans to defeat a bill which would have allowed voters to register for federal elections by postcard.
Southern Democratic Congressmen, reportedly concerned about a major increase in Black registered voters, joined with Republicans to defeat a bill (by a vote of 204 to 197) which would have allowed voters to register for federal elections by postcard.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
President Richard Nixon makes racial and ethnic slurs toward Black justice Thurgood Marshall and other minorities.
The Washington Star-News reported that President Richard Nixon called the U.S. Supreme Court's only Black justice, Thurgood Marshall, a “jackass” in a tape recording of a White House conference with then-counsel John W. Dean III on February 28, 1973. In the same conversation, the President reportedly made other racial and ethnic slurs, particularly against Jews. The tape recording was one of many released to the public during the Watergate scandal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 4)
Published
0 0
James Meredith is nominated for Congress.
James Meredith, the first officially recognized Black student to attend the University of Mississippi, led a field of five candidates for the Democratic congressional nomination in the Fourth District of Mississippi. Meredith, a forty-three-year-old businessman, had previously run for the U.S. Senate in 1972 and the Jackson City Council in 1973. Forty-four percent of the population of the fourth district was Black at the time of the election. Meredith assessed his primary victory as a milestone in the Black struggle for self-determination and full freedom, boasting that he had won the nomination without "white folks' money" and without "white folks' niggers, white folks' colored people, and white folks' Negroes.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
Alabama’s discriminatory hiring practices show progress two years after a federal court order mandates changes.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the state of Alabama was moving toward total compliance with a federal court order issued in 1972 which required that racial discrimination in hiring be eliminated. When the suit was filed in 1970, only a few Blacks were on the state's payroll, most of these in janitorial and other low-paying jobs. As of June 30, 3,000 of the state work force of 21,000 were Black. At that rate of hiring, the state was about four years away from reaching the court-assigned goal of a 25 percent Black workforce. At the upper levels, a Black executive assistant had been hired by the head of the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General had selected several Black assistants. Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, according to the report, had named several Blacks to positions on various governmental boards, commissions, and committees but had not hired a single Black to an administrative position. The report quoted an unidentified Black leader as saying that Alabama "will someday have the most model race relations program of any state in the Union.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
Mrs. Alberta King, mother of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., is killed by a Black man.
A young Black man interrupted the worship services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta with gunfire, killing church deacon Edward Boykin and Alberta King, mother of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Another worshipper, Mrs. Jimmie Mitchel, was wounded. The alleged gunman, identified as Marcus Chenault of Dayton, Ohio, was subdued by other worshippers, including Derek King, grandson of the slain woman. Chenault told Atlanta police that he had orders from "his god” to go to Atlanta and kill the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., father of the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader. Instead, he allegedly fired upon Mrs. King and others as the sixty-nine-year-old matriarch of the King family played “The Lord's Prayer” on a church organ. The accused slayer was described as an Ohio State University dropout who became deeply involved in a small religious cult that claimed that Blacks were descendants of the original Jews. Chenault was said to have taken the name “Servant Jacob” and discarded his original name. The cult reportedly believed that Black Christian ministers deceived Black Americans and hence were the cause of many of the social and economic woes of Blacks. Mrs. Alberta Williams King was the daughter of the Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, one of the founders of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. Her husband, a powerful religious and political figure in Atlanta for more than twenty-five years, succeeded Williams as pastor of the church. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was serving as co-pastor of the church at the time of his assassination in April 1968. Another son, the Reverend A. D. Williams King, drowned in 1969. Reacting to the tragedy, Atlanta Mayor Maynard H. Jackson compared the deaths of the King family to those of the family of the late President John F. Kennedy, stating “Never have I seen a family suffer so much for so long and yet give such brilliant leadership.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 29)
Published
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A conspiracy is suspected in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.
Robert Livingston, the Memphis, Tennessee, attorney handling the legal appeals of James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr., told newsmen he was convinced that a conspiracy existed in the slaying of the civil rights leader. The attorney said he was contacted on March 22, 1974, by an intermediary for the gunmen actually hired to kill King. The intermediary and two other men were prepared to testify before a grand jury that they were hired to kill King by four prominent Black and white men, according to Livingston. The theory of a conspiracy in the assassination of the famed civil rights leader had been previously discounted by law enforcement officials. They continued to insist that James Earl Ray acted alone.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 26)
Published
0 0
Black demonstrators in Atlanta, GA, protesting a police brutality incident, are broken up by police officers armed with clubs.
Atlanta police officers armed with clubs broke up a march of about 250 Blacks and arrested fourteen people, including the demonstration's leader, Hosea Williams, president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Seven people, including three police officers, were injured in the disturbance. The violent conflict, the first in Atlanta since the riots of the 1960s, came as the marchers sought to protest the killing by police of a seventeen-year-old Black youth the previous weekend and to continue their demand that the city's police chief, John Inman, be removed from office. The Blacks arrested were charged with parading without permits. The controversial police chief defended the force used against the marchers, but the city's Black mayor, Maynard Jackson, described it as excessive. The latest incident occurred as the Georgia Supreme Court was considering whether the city of Atlanta could legally fire Inman, who was viewed by many of the city's whites as a staunch defender of law and order, but by many Blacks as a racist.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
The Atlanta Constitution reports that the United Methodist Church had abolished districts that were racially segregated.
The Atlanta Constitution reported that the United Methodist Church had abolished districts that were racially segregated. According to the report, the last all-Black districts, ones in Mississippi and South Carolina, were abolished in June 1974. At the same time, Methodist officials announced that 37 of its 530 districts in the United States were now headed by ethnic minority persons, including 34 Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 5)
Published
0 0
200 Blacks in Georgia protest the shooting of Willie Gene Carraker by white Police Chief Doug Watson.
Approximately 200 Blacks marched about seven miles along Highway 41 in Talbot County, Georgia, to protest the shooting of a young Black man by the white police chief of Woodland. Willie Gene Carraker, a twenty-five year-old Black resident of Woodland, died from gunshot wounds on June 29, 1974. The Black man's family accused Police Chief Doug Watson of aggravated assault and murder in the slaying of Carraker. These charges were subsequently dismissed by a local Justice of the Peace. In the march on July 5th, Black protesters, led by SCLC field secretary Tyrone Brooks, demanded the prosecution and removal of the chief. During the demonstration Brooks told the crowd: “We are sick and tired of white folks shooting down our young men every weekend. We are sick and tired of being treated like second class citizens.” Woodland city attorney George R. Jacobs defended the dismissal of charges against Chief Watson and advised that the matter be considered by the county grand jury in November, or by a specially called grand jury.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 4)
Published
0 0
Several thousand protesters march on the North Carolina state capitol in Raleigh to call for an end to the death penalty in the state.
Several thousand protesters, led by Black Communist Angela Davis and SCLC president Ralph David Abernathy, marched on the North Carolina state capitol in Raleigh to call for an end to the death penalty in that state. The march, which was organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, was called by its organizers "a rebirth of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, but on a higher level.” During the march, twelve picketers representing the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, and similar groups stood alongside the route holding signs urging segregation forever as well as support for Governor George Wallace of Alabama as president of the United States. Raleigh police kept the two groups apart amid jeering and shouting. There were no major incidents or arrests. The crowd of four to five thousand protesters were invited to the city by its Black mayor, Clarence Lightner.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 3)
Published
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The funeral service for Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother, Alberta King is held in Atlanta, GA.
More than six hundred mourners, including First Lady Betty Ford, Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller, Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, and Atlanta mayor Maynard H. Jackson, attended funeral services for Alberta King, mother of the slain civil rights leader, in Atlanta, Georgia. Mrs. King was murdered by a gunman on June 30, 1974.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
The United Negro College Fund receives their largest ever donation by a Black organization.
The Atlanta University Center Digest reported that the largest single gift ever donated by a Black organization was received by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). UNCF executive director Christopher F. Edley announced that the $132,000 gift came from the Links, Inc., a national Black women's social organization. At the time, the Links had more than 130 chapters in thirty-five states across the nation. Helen G. Edmonds, a North Carolina Central University history professor and president of the Links, said that her organization “recognized the absolute importance of higher education to Black people at this point in history and agreed wholeheartedly with the UNCF slogan, A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 7)
Published
0 0
Maryland agrees to hire more Blacks and women for the state police in response to a suit filed by the Justice Department.
The Department of Justice announced that it had obtained a consent decree whereby the state of Maryland agreed to hire more Blacks and women for the state police and assign them on a nondiscriminatory basis. The state police stipulated that they would set a goal for the force to become 16 percent Black within a five-year period and that it would no longer use a pre-employment test that had been adjudged discriminatory to Blacks and women. The Maryland agreement was made in response to a suit filed by the Justice Department on January 4, 1974.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 28)
Published
0 0
A Brooklyn, NY middle school is ordered to create a desegregation plan by U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein.
U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein of New York City ordered federal, state, and local housing authorities, along with the city departments of police, parks, and transportation, to cooperate with city school officials in formulating plans to desegregate a junior high school in Brooklyn. As of 1973, the school in question had an enrollment of 43 percent Black, 39 percent Hispanic, and only 18 percent white. In his order, Weinstein told housing officials to develop a joint plan to undo the racial imbalance in the public housing near the school. He said all levels of government had failed to take appropriate and available steps to counter trends toward segregation in both housing and education and ruled that "federal complicity in encouraging segregated schooling through its housing programs” was unconstitutional. In his order, Weinstein directed housing authorities to include in their plan advertisements and inducements directed at the white middle class so as to stabilize the district's population. He also directed the city's department of transportation to develop busing plans for the immediate balancing of the school's enrollment. The police department was ordered to submit plans for the adequate protection of children in the area and the parks department, whose facilities were used frequently by the school, was directed to develop a desegregation plan. Weinstein set a March 1, 1974, deadline for submission and a September deadline for implementation of the joint desegregation program. The ruling, said to be the first decision of its kind, resulted from a suit filed by attorneys for the NAACP.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 24)
Published
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The city of Boston is sued for discrimination in the hiring of Black and Hispanic applicants as firemen.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a suit in the federal court in Boston accusing the city of Boston of discrimination in the hiring of Black and Hispanic applicants as firemen. The Justice Department cited that out of twenty-one hundred firemen in Boston, only sixteen were Black and three were Hispanic, although these minorities constituted 16 percent and 4 percent of the city's population, respectively. These facts demonstrated, the department said, that the city had failed or refused to hire minorities on an equal basis with whites and had employed tests and other qualifications that had “not been shown to be required by the needs of the fire department or predictive of successful job performance.” The suit asked the district court to order city officials to begin an active recruiting program and to hire enough Black and Spanish-surnamed firemen to compensate for individuals who had taken fire department examinations but had been unfairly denied positions. In a closely related matter, the Justice Department also reported that a job-bias suit against Montgomery, Alabama, was resolved by a consent decree filed on October 3, 1972. This action, the department said, substantially expanded job opportunities for Blacks in Montgomery's city government.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 21)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling approving a school desegregation plan for Knoxville, Tennessee.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling approving a school desegregation plan for Knoxville, Tennessee. Under the approved plan, 59 percent of the city's Black students would be placed in nine schools where the Black enrollment would be 64 percent or more. Justices Powell and White dissented. Justice Marshall did not participate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Jan 31)
Published
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About one thousand people rallied in Louisville, Kentucky, to protest the burning of a picture of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., by Ku Klux Klansmen.
About one thousand people rallied in Louisville, Kentucky, to protest the burning of a picture of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., by Ku Klux Klansmen and what they called a resurgence of racism and racist violence in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Feb 19-20)
Published
0 0
About two hundred Blacks ran through the streets throwing rocks and setting fires in Tampa, Florida, after a twenty-three-year old Black man died when police tried to subdue him by using a “choke hold,” which entails applying pressure to the carotid artery.
On February 19, about two hundred Blacks ran through the streets throwing rocks and setting fires in Tampa, Florida. The disturbances began one night after a twenty-three-year old Black man died after police had tried to subdue him by using a “choke hold," which entails applying pressure to the carotid artery. On February 20, isolated incidents involving rock and bottle throwing by Black youths continued, but there were no injuries. Two people were arrested. Meanwhile, Black leaders and other volunteers walked the streets urging residents to remain calm. Before the most recent incidents, another Black man had been killed by police, and other incidents involving Blacks and law enforcement officers had occurred in December 1986, including the arrest of the New York Mets' star pitcher Dwight Gooden. Gooden had been charged with “battering police officers.” A report released on February 19, 1987, by City Attorney Michael Fogarty, however, placed some of the blame for the Gooden incident on the police. The report also called on the city of Tampa to recruit more Black police officers. At the time of these latest altercations, only 65 members of Tampa's 790 member police force were Black, and the paucity of Black police officers had been a constant complaint of local Black leaders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Feb 26)
Published
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Edgar Daniel “E.D.” Nixon, “one of the fathers of the civil rights movement,” dies after prostate surgery in Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of eighty-seven.
Edgar Daniel "E.D.” Nixon, “one of the fathers of the civil rights movement,” died after prostate surgery in Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of eighty-seven. Nixon was born July 12, 1899, in Montgomery. He received only about sixteen months of formal education. Between 1923 and 1964, he worked as a Pullman porter on a Birmingham-to-Cincinnati train and was a long-time member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. In 1949, Nixon was elected president of the Alabama state NAACP. At the time that a Montgomery seamstress, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus to a White man, Nixon was still active in the state and local NAACP and was, according to another local NAACP official, “the most militant man in town.” Parks was also secretary of the local NAACP at the time and a close acquaintance of Nixon's. After Parks's arrest, she called Nixon, but he was unable to learn more about the situation because Montgomery police told him he was an “unauthorized person." Following his rebuff by the Montgomery police, Nixon phoned Clifford Durr, a White Montgomery lawyer sympathetic to Blacks. Durr was able to obtain the specific charge against Parks, "failing to obey a bus driver,” and urged Nixon to seek the services of NAACP lawyer Fred D. Gray. Durr further advised that the defense should be based on the unconstitutionality of the state law requiring segregation on city buses, rather than the Montgomery city ordinance relating to retaining and giving up seats. Such a defense, he suggested, could best provide “a test case" for bus segregation laws. In addition to contacting Durr and Gray immediately after Parks's arrest, Nixon is also credited with posting bail for the seamstress; informing Martin Luther King, Jr., of the arrest; proposing the Montgomery bus boycott; and helping to choose King as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which directed the successful 381-day boycott. Nixon is quoted as once having told a friend, referring to King, "I don't know just how, but one day I'm going to hook him to the stars.” He made the remark after hearing King preach. Nixon is also credited with avoiding a potential major division at the beginning of the boycott by declining to aspire to the leadership of the movement. This move may also have helped keep one of his rivals, Rufus Lewis, a local funeral director, from seeking the presidency of the Improvement Association, opening the way for King, who had few partisan ties, to lead the boycott. Finally, it was also Nixon who publicly browbeated recalcitrant Blacks and chided fearful ones into action. After some Black ministers urged that the boycott be keep secret, Nixon asked, “What the heck you talking about? How you going to have a mass meeting, going to boycott a city bus line, without the White folk knowing it? You ought to make up your mind right now that you either admit you are a grown man or concede to the fact that you are a bunch of scared boys.” He also told a crowd at a mass meeting, “Before you brothers and sisters get comfortable in your seats, I want to say if anybody here is afraid, he better take his hat and go home. We've worn aprons long enough. It's time for us to take them off.” According to the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, also one of the leaders of the Montgomery boycott, Nixon “wouldn't take any mess." Nixon's home, which had a bomb tossed in its driveway during the height of the protests, is now an Alabama state historical landmark. Nixon himself was feted at a testimonial dinner in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985. At that time, he remarked: “Fifty thousand people rose up and rocked the cradle of the Confederacy until we could sit where we wanted to on a bus. ... A whole lot of things came about because we rocked the cradle."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Mar 19)
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Alice Bond, estranged wife of former Georgia senator and civil rights activist Julian Bond, tells police in Atlanta, Georgia, that her husband and other prominent Atlantans were either users or suppliers of cocaine.
Alice Bond, estranged wife of former Georgia senator and civil rights activist Julian Bond, told police in Atlanta, Georgia, that her husband and other prominent Atlantans were either users or suppliers of cocaine. Andrew Jackson Young, the Black mayor of Atlanta, was also drawn into the matter when his name appeared as one of those individuals allegedly named by Bond, and when he made a telephone call “to counsel” her after her allegations were revealed. The accusations led to investigations by the Atlanta police, the FBI, and the U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia. No formal charges, however, were lodged against Senator Bond, and after a lengthy federal grand jury investigation U.S. Attorney Robert Barr announced that there was "insufficient evidence” to prosecute Mayor Young for obstruction of justice.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Apr 16 )
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A U.S. District Court jury in New York City found the New York Daily News, considered the nation’s largest general newspaper, guilty of retaliation against copy editor Causewell Vaughan, reporters Steven Duncan and David Hardy, and editor Joan Shepard because they complained of unfair treatment.
A United States District Court jury in New York City found that the New York Daily News, considered the nation's largest general newspaper, was guilty of retaliation against copy editor Causewell Vaughan, reporters Steven Duncan and David Hardy, and editor Joan Shepard because they complained of unfair treatment. The four Black journalists had filed suit against the Daily News claiming they had been denied salaries comparable to their White colleagues and were given fewer promotions. At the time of the trial, only 6.5 percent of the nation's journalists were members of minority groups. In praising the jury's verdict in the Daily News case, Albert Fitzpatrick, president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), commented that "Blacks are under-represented in all areas of the media.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Aug 24)
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Bayard Rustin, the Black American civil rights activist who directed the 1963 March on Washington, dies in New York City at the age of seventy-seven.
Bayard Rustin, the Black American civil rights activist who directed the 1963 March on Washington, died in New York City at the age of seventy-seven. In addition to being chief organizer of the 1963 march, Rustin was also responsible for "many of the tactics and much of the strategy” used by Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leaders of the civil rights movement. During the 1960s and 1970s he was often criticized by “more radical Blacks” because he advocated better education as the best means for Blacks to gain racial equality and because he was an apostle of non-violent protest. Yet Rustin continued to oppose nationalist and separatist ideas among Black Americans. Rustin's pacifist ideology extended at least back to World War II when he spent more than two years in jail as a conscientious objector. In the 1960s, he became an early vocal opponent of American involvement in the war in Vietnam. At the time of his death, Rustin was co-chairman of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a social-reform lobbying group and had recently traveled to Cambodia and Haiti investigating "violence and injustice.” In its tribute to Rustin published on August 26, 1987, the Atlanta Constitution said that he “devoted his life to the fight for human rights, freedom and justice, not just in [the United States], but around the world. ... His commitments to human rights and peace were neither trendy nor shallow. . . . America is indebted to Bayard Rustin. It is a better nation because of him.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Sep 13)
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Thurgood Marshall states in a televised interview that President Ronald Reagan ranks at “the bottom” among presidents in “protecting and advancing civil rights.”
Thurgood Marshall, at that time the only Black American ever to sit on the United States Supreme Court, said in a televised interview that President Ronald Reagan ranked at "the bottom” among presidents in “protecting and advancing civil rights.” “Honestly," Marshall said, "I think he's down with [Herbert] Hoover and that group—[Woodrow] Wilson—when we [Blacks] really didn't have a chance." Marshall went on to say that Reagan, "as the 'gatekeeper' of fairness and justice in America, had neglected his job.... I don't care whether he's the president, the governor, the mayor, the sheriff, whoever calls the shots determines whether we have integration, segregation, or decency. ... That starts exactly with the president." Marshall's remarks were broadcast on television stations affiliated with the Ganett Broadcasting Company. Marshall's off-the-bench criticisms were rare both for him and for any justice of the United States Supreme Court. When excerpts were published in newspapers prior to the actual telecast, President Reagan's advisor for domestic affairs, Gary Bauer, called them "outrageous." He said President Reagan's policies had permitted Blacks and other minorities to “enter the economic mainstream of the country." He specifically cited the president's endorsement of the 1986 tax reform act, which he claimed removed the federal tax burden from millions of poor people, and the president's proposals to help low income families buy public housing and to receive cash vouchers to pay for their children's tuition at better schools. Justice Marshall's criticisms echoed those of other Black American leaders who had complained for several years that the president had "tried to undercut minority hiring programs, school busing to achieve integration, the Voting Rights Act, and other efforts to prevent discrimination and advance the social and economic conditions of minorities.” The Justice Department, for example, had joined several cases in federal courts to argue against affirmative action in employment, contending that employers should exercise total “color blindness" in hiring and promotions. The government also took the side of the Norfolk, Virginia, School Board in a case challenging the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in public schools. While domestic advisor Bauer had defended “a colorblind approach,” saying "if people are looking for us to meet certain quotas all the time, they're going to be very disappointed,” B.J. Cooper, a White House deputy press secretary, countered that Reagan's critics overlooked “the administration's crackdown on cases of racial violence and its commitment to enforce fair employment and fair housing laws.” He claimed that the administration had prosecuted 55 cases of racial violence involving 137 defendants, including 75 Ku Klux Klansmen, since Reagan took office. “That compares,” Cooper added, "with 22 cases involving 52 defendants, of whom 35 were Klansmen, in the previous Democratic administration of President Jimmy Carter.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Sep 24)
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Members attending the annual convention of the National Black Alcoholism Council, Inc. (NBAC) in Atlanta, Georgia, declared that alcoholism was a serious threat to the continued welfare of black America.
Members attending the annual convention of the National Black Alcoholism Council, Inc. (NBAC) in Atlanta, Georgia, declared that alcoholism was a serious threat to the continued welfare of Black America. Although figures varied, it was estimated that between ten million and twenty-four million Americans were alcoholics in 1987. However, a recent government study showed that Blacks were twice as likely to die from cirrhosis than Whites and that esophageal cancer among Blacks was ten times higher than among Whites. Maxine Womble, chairwoman of the nine-year-old NBAC, said that the impact of alcoholism among Blacks could be seen in "the large number of single-parent households, the prevalence of poverty, youth gangs, violence," high dropout rates from schools, teenage pregnancies, and "Black-on-Black crime.” Some studies, for example, suggested that alcohol and drugs were involved in between 50 percent and 70 percent of the Black homicides in the United States. "A lot of what we're doing is about images and education,” Mrs. Womble said. “People in these [Black] communities must realize only they can save themselves.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Sep 24)
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The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) issued a report that charged that Black elected officials were “victims” of harassment by various prosecutorial branches of government and the White-controlled media in disproportionate numbers.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) issued a report that charged that Black elected officials were “victims” of harassment by various prosecutorial branches of government and the White-controlled media in disproportionate numbers. The report concluded that while the number of Black elected officials had almost doubled between 1977 and 1987 and "some of the names in the drama... changed... the circumstances remain[ed] essentially unchanged.” The CBC contended that while black officials were rightfully scrutinized, their “scrutiny... too often issue[d] from ignoble motives; it [was] designed not to protect the public interests but to prevent the public's interest from being represented by persons of the public's choosing." An appendix to the report listed seventy-eight cases of "harassment” against Black elected officials, but almost half of the cases occurred before 1977 and several did not involve investigations by government or the press. For example, Lloyd Edwards, who ran for president of the St. James Parish in Louisiana in 1983, and Katie Jackson Booker, who ran for mayor of Ditmoor, Illinois, in 1985, were not included because of cross-burnings on their lawns. The report included, however, at least a dozen cases of Black politicians who were either brought before grand juries and never indicted or who were indicted and later acquitted since 1977. These included Kenneth Gibson, the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, whom the study said was indicted in 1982 on 146 counts of “conspiracy misuse of funds and misconduct” and was acquitted of all the charges; Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, D.C., who was the target of an investigation of cocaine use and whose administration was probed extensively by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for alleged corruption in the letting of contracts to minority businesses; and that of Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta, Georgia, who appeared before a federal grand jury investigating whether he "tampered” with a witness during a probe into allegations of drug abuse by several well-known Atlanta citizens. Of Young, the report said, "for him even to have become the subject of an investigation, was widely perceived as a totally inappropriate and abusive use of prosecutorial discretion by the U.S. Attorney." The CBC report also claimed that the harassment of Black officials occurred through audits and investigations by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); electronic surveillance, burglaries, and covert disruptive activity by various intelligence agencies; and grand jury investigations and indictments by criminal justice agencies. However, John Russell, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, labeled the CBC report “nonsense.” He said, “I don't think those allegations can be substantiated in any way." Jackie Greene, regional director for the National Association of Black Journalists and director of editorial services at USA Today in Washington declared, “I think that Black politicians should be held to the same scrutiny that any other politician faces by the media. . . . For the most part that is being done." The CBC report was written by Mary Sawyer, a professor of religion at Iowa State University, who wrote a similar report in 1977, and was published by Voter Registration Action Inc. in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Oct 27)
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John Oliver Killens, author and teacher, dies in New York City.
John Oliver Killens, author and teacher, died in New York City. Killens was born in Macon, Georgia, but left the South at age seventeen and lived most of his life in the North. Like many other Blacks who left the South in the first half of the twentieth century, Killens was “reluctant to return” to his native region. His first extended visit to his hometown occurred in 1986, when he spent two weeks as a lecturer and writer-in-residence Killens' major novels included Youngblood (1954), And Then We Heard the Thunder (1963), and The Cotillion, or One Good Bull Is Half the Herd (1971). Youngblood was a story of “powerful courage” among ordinary Black folks in a small Georgia town, while The Cotillion was a "hilarious satire [of] social-climbing" Black Northerners. Some critics contended that Killens's later works "lacked the power” of his first two novels, Youngblood and And Then We Heard the Thunder. But at least one reviewer, Tina McElroy Ansa, asserted that if literary historians are looking for the quality of "power.... they should also look to the man. There, they will find the power they seek. The power of his teaching, the power of his courage, the power of his generosity, the power of his gentleness, the power of his example, the power of his life.” Killens was known to have inspired a generation of young Black writers, including Wesley Brown, Nikki Giovanni, Richard Perry, Janet Tolliver, and Brenda Wilkinson. His own philosophy was that “the responsibility of the writer is to take the facts and deepen them into eternal truth. Every time I sit down to the typewriter, put pen to paper,” he once said, “I'm out to change the world.” Killens was an original member of the Harlem Writers Guild and worked on Paul Robeson's newspaper, Freedom. He held fundraisers during the civil rights movement for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and traveled to Africa, China, and the Soviet Union. During his tenure on the faculty of Columbia University, Killens achieved a reputation for opening his home at night to students “for talk, food, and sometimes, shelter."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Nov 3)
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Baltimore, Maryland, elects its first Black mayor; the Black mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is re-elected; and the Black mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, is defeated.
Baltimore, Maryland, elected its first Black mayor; the Black mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was re-elected; and the Black mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, was defeated. In Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, an attorney, prosecutor, and Rhodes Scholar, gained 100,923 votes (78.5 percent) to defeat his Republican challenger Samuel Culotta, who had 27,636 votes. In Philadelphia, Mayor W. Wilson Goode, the city's first Black mayor, gained 331,659 votes (51.1 percent) to defeat former mayor Frank Rizzo who had 317,331 votes (48 percent) with 99.13 percent of the vote counted. Goode scored heavily among Blacks who made up 40 percent of the 1.6 million residents of the nation's fifth largest city, despite lingering opposition to his decision to bomb a house occupied by MOVE, a radical Black group in 1985. The sixty-seven-year-old Rizzo continued to labor under accusations that he was a racist and had permitted police brutality against Blacks while he served as police commissioner and later as mayor. In Charlotte, Sue Myrick, a White Republican and former city councilwoman, defeated mayor Harvey Gantt, the first Black mayor of the city, 47,311 to 46,296. Myrick had accused Gantt of failing to solve the city's traffic congestion problems. Her campaign was also aided by the support of North Carolina Governor Jim Martin. Sixty-four percent of the registered voters in Charlotte were white at the time of the election.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Nov 25)
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Harold Washington, the first Black American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, dies of an apparent heart attack at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Harold Washington, the first Black American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, died of an apparent heart attack at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Washington was six months into his second term as mayor when he collapsed while working in his City Hall office. Washington was first elected mayor of Chicago in 1983 after "a bitter, racially-charged election.” He had once said he wanted to serve the city for twenty years. Washington won re-election in April 1987 after campaigning on a theme of “uniting the city's diverse racial and ethnic groups.” His first term was marred by racial divisiveness among Black and White aldermen and by White, ethnic opposition to his policies on the city council. President Ronald Reagan led those expressing grief at Washington's death. The president observed that “Harold Washington will truly be missed, not only by the people of Chicago but also by many across the country for whom he provided leadership on urban issues." Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy called Washington's death “a tragedy for Chicago and for civil rights.... He was an outstanding congressman and an outstanding mayor, and the civil rights movement in America has lost one of its greatest and most respected leaders." Representative William Gray from Pennsylvania, the most powerful Black in Congress, said Washington's death was a real great tragedy." Finally, Richard Daley, Cook County state's attorney and the son of the legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley remarked, “Mayor Washington had a deep love for his city, which has suffered a tremendous loss with his passing. His name will loom forever large in the history of Chicago, and rightfully so."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 6)
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The city council of Jackson, Mississippi, vote unanimously to declare a local holiday in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The city council of Jackson, Mississippi, voted unanimously to declare a local holiday in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The vote in Jackson raised to seven the number of Mississippi localities commemorating the birth of the slain civil rights leader. The action of the Jackson City Council followed that of the governing body of Clarksdale, a Mississippi Delta town, by just one day and also followed “disparaging remarks” that New York City mayor Ed Koch had made about the South in general, only a few days earlier. Koch, in noting a recent racial attack in New York, said such an incident was "something he expected to see in the Deep South,” but not in his region. Several Mississippi mayors wrote Koch in protest. After the Jackson vote, Councilman Louis Armstrong declared, “I think this will send a clearer message to the Mayor Koches of the world that Mississippi has changed.” E. C. Foster, the Black president of the Jackson City Council who introduced the motion to honor King, added, “Dr. King had those values most Americans shared."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 18)
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Political, civil rights, and religious leaders throughout the nation lead commemorations of the third national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Political, civil rights, and religious leaders throughout the nation led commemorations of the third national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They generally urged Americans to renew King's struggle against injustice and intolerance of any kind. In Phoenix, Arizona, thousands marched through the downtown area demanding that the King holiday be restored. In 1987, Governor Evan Meacham had repealed the state's observance of the holiday. This action was the first of many that led to an effort to remove him from office. During the demonstration, Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard observed that "it is time to stop having the rest of the country think of us as the site of a three-ring circus." In Los Angeles, California, celebrities and politicians led a group of singers, marching bands, and floats down a boulevard named for King to Exposition Park. In Boston, Massachusetts, Senator Edward Kennedy,commented that it was a "national disgrace that social justice [was] in retreat.” He added, “bankrupt national policies have spawned a national environment that encourages discrimination and repudiates opportunity.” In Gretna, Florida, Governor Bob Martinez led 250 marchers in a driving rain through the streets of a poverty-ridden Black neighborhood. The Republican governor told the crowd that he had felt the efforts of King's work himself. Martinez recalled that he had been told years ago that he could never become mayor of Tampa because he was both Roman Catholic and Hispanic. At Yokota Air Base in Japan, 150 Black airmen and civilians gathered on a baseball field to re-enact King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Jackie Chambers, a secretary at the base, recited the oration. During the ceremony Chambers stated that King “gave me the opportunity to get an education, and he's always given me the opportunity to progress.” Sergeant Earl Richard, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, commented, “I think he made a difference in everybody's life, no matter who you are, if you are an American." In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rosa Parks, whom King once called "the great fuse" of the civil rights movement for her role in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 1955, was given a replica of the Liberty Bell during ceremonies honoring King in that city. Finally, in Memphis, Tennessee, a wreath was laid at the steps of the Lorraine Motel where King was mortally wounded in 1968. Blues musicians played “When the Saints Go Marching In," and Jacqueline Smith, a motel resident who refused to leave to make way for the construction of a civil rights museum on the site, was generously applauded when she simply said “Happy birthday, Dr. King."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 18)
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Hundreds of Americans, Black and White, attend the 20th annual ecumenical services honoring the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hundreds of Americans, Black and White, attended the 20th annual ecumenical services honoring the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The services were held on the third observance of the national holiday in honor of King. Among those in attendance were two Democratic presidential candidates, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson and Senator Paul Simon from Illinois; National Security Advisor Lieutenant General Colin Powell; Senators Lowell Weicker, Jr., from Connecticut and Sam Nunn from Georgia; Congressmen John Lewis and Newt Gingrich, both from Georgia; comedian Dick Gregory, and Martin Luther King III, a Fulton County, Georgia, commissioner, and son of the martyred civil rights leader. One of the speakers at the services, Ebenezer's pastor, Joseph L. Roberts, called King a visionary and “our general of peace," and urged the crowd to continue King's work. Senator Weicker told the congregation that King's death would not be in vain if Americans remembered the ideals for which King stood. Weicker asserted: “Martin Luther King, Jr., did not wait for the multitude. He talked and wrote and marched through the intimidation, through the violence. ... And in the end, even his death was an ally, and his example lives as powerfully as the man.” Another speaker, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), cautioned that “the holiday cannot lose sight of the holy day and close the curtain before the crowning victory is won. ... The holy day reminds us that the holiday honors an individual but also a struggle and a people who are on fire for justice and liberty." Later in the day, more than 200,000 people from throughout the United States and abroad stood in a drizzle in downtown Atlanta to watch the third annual Martin Luther King, Jr., National Holiday Parade. Floats and banners in the procession included “Free South Africa,” “Prejudice Is a Handicap,” “Civil Rights/ Gay Rights. Same Struggle, Same Fight," and “Stop the Death Penalty.” The Atlanta Constitution conducted an informal poll of children along the parade route, asking "Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?" A third grader, Michael Paisant of Duluth, Georgia, responded typically, "he was a peacemaker."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 23)
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Jon Lester, a White teenager, is sentenced in New York City to a prison term of ten to thirty years for his part in the beating death of a Black man in the Howard Beach section of Queens in December 1986.
Jon Lester, a White teenager, was sentenced in New York City to a prison term of ten to thirty years for his part in the beating death of a Black man in the Howard Beach section of Queens in December 1986. The assault of three Black men in the predominantly white neighborhood inflamed racial tensions in the city and led to several days of protest demonstrations. Lester was the first of three convicted White teenagers to be sentenced. Lester's attorney, Bryan Levinson, said after the sentencing that his client should not have been sentenced "so harshly because this was a reckless act, not an intentional act.” However, Justice Thomas Demakos, who sentenced the youth to the maximum term under the law, commented that Lester showed “no remorse, no suggestion of guilt," but instead demonstrated a "pretty close to craven indifference to life.” The judge also added that the three Black victims were attacked “just because they [were] Black. ... Make no mistake. ... There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: This was racial violence.” The Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist who had led demonstrations against the assault, said “the stiff sentencing vindicated those who pressed for appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the case.” Sharpton also contended that Lester's sentence was "an affirmation that racism and racist violence will not have a place in our society."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 31)
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the results of a poll showing that 75 percent of Alabama’s white residents favored the continued flying of the Confederate flag over the state capitol at Montgomery.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the results of a poll showing that 75 percent of Alabama's white residents favored the continued flying of the Confederate flag over the state capitol at Montgomery. In December 1987, the Alabama NAACP announced a campaign to remove the flag from the statehouse, and the organization's state director, Thomas Reed, said he would climb the flagpole and tear it down. Yet Alabama governor Guy Hunt assured that the flag would remain unless a majority of Alabamians wanted it removed. The poll also revealed that 63 percent of the four hundred people queried believed that the Confederate flag should fly over state office buildings. But among Whites, 75 percent wanted the flag to continue to fly, while 53 percent of Blacks said the flag should be removed. In 1988, Alabama and South Carolina were the only two southern states that continued to officially fly the Confederate flag. Mississippi and Georgia incorporated the Confederate symbol into their state flags. Some Blacks in these states have periodically protested the use of the Confederate symbol by public agencies and institutions. They contended that its identification with the pro-slavery states in the American Civil War made it a racist emblem.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jan 31)
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Doug Williams, the Black American quarterback of the Washington Redskins, was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXII.
Doug Williams, the Black American quarterback of the Washington Redskins, was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXII. Williams, the first Black quarterback ever to start in a Super Bowl, completed 18 of 29 passes totaling 340 yards and four touchdowns. The Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos of the American Football Conference, 42-10. Of Williams' achievements, Redskins coach Joe Gibbs commented: “I think it's a great success story.... He's had some tough experiences in life, and in football. He saw the downs, but he's the type of man who has overcome them.” Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke added, “this is a tribute not only to a Black quarterback, but to a very great quarterback.” Williams, a graduate of predominantly black Grambling University in Louisiana, remarked, “I didn't come here with the Washington Redskins as a Black quarterback. I came here as a quarterback with the Washington Redskins to play a football game."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 11)
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Jason Ladone, age seventeen, is sentenced to serve five to fifteen years in prison for his part in the December 20, 1986, death of Michael Griffith, a twenty-three-year-old Black man, in the Howard Beach section of Queens, New York City.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos sentenced Jason Ladone, age seventeen, to five to fifteen years in prison for his part in the December 20, 1986, death of Michael Griffith, a twenty-three-year-old Black man, in the Howard Beach section of Queens, New York City. In imposing the light sentence for manslaughter and assault, Demakos rejected the defense's appeal for mercy because of Ladone's age. The judge said that on the night of the incident, the otherwise exemplary Ladone had become a "violent person.” Ladone was the only defendant in the Howard Beach assaults to plead for mercy and the only one to apologize to the victim's mother, Jean Griffith. He told Mrs. Griffith, “I am sorry ... for your senseless loss."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 19)
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Several hundred students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst hold a demonstration against racism at the institution.
Several hundred students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst held a demonstration against racism at the institution. Shouting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, racism has got to go," the students supported an agreement reached between minorities and the school's administration after a six-day takeover of a campus building. The demonstrators also called for a two-day moratorium, beginning March 22, on attending classes. The moratorium was aimed at denouncing racism, sexism, and an alleged attack against three Puerto Rican students on February 17. Racial tensions on the Amherst campus had increased after at least two hundred Black, American Indian, and Hispanic students took over the New Africa House on February 12 to protest alleged assaults and racial slurs by White students. The occupation of the building ended on February 17 after an agreement was reached that stipulated that Chancellor Joseph Duffey would expel students who repeatedly committed acts of racial violence and that he would also promote multicultural education. About 7 percent of the university's 18,000 undergraduates were Black Americans at the time of the incidents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 20)
Published
0 0
Alfred Jewett, the dean of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, warns students on his campus that anyone involved in racial incidents would be subject to expulsion and other disciplinary measures.
Alfred Jewett, the dean of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, warned students on his campus that anyone involved in racial incidents would be subject to expulsion and other disciplinary measures. Jewett's warning was published in the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, a week after a group of students took over a building at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to protest campus racism.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 14)
Published
0 0
School desegregation is enforced in 125 school districts in sixteen states where voluntary desegregation was in effect. The ruling came as a result of a suit filed by the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund in 1971.
United States District Court Judge John H. Pratt in Washington, D.C. ordered the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to quickly enforce school desegregation laws in 125 school districts in sixteen states where voluntary desegregation was in effect. The judge told HEW to begin proceedings against the school systems within two months and said that in the future only seven months would be granted for systems to formulate voluntary school desegregation plans. HEW had found within the past fifteen months that the school districts included in the order were substantially disproportionate in their racial composition. The affected districts were located in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The ruling came as a result of a suit filed by the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund in 1971. Failure of any district to comply with HEW requirements could mean a cut off of federal funds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
Popular newspaper, the Atlanta Constitution, reports that the FBI had been spying on Black individuals and organizations.
News reports of the FBI spying on Black individuals and organizations appeared in the Atlanta Constitution. According to the newspaper, the FBI had spied on the Afro-American Patrolmen's League since its founding in Chicago in 1968. The report quoted the Patrolmen's League founder, Renault Robinson, as saying that the FBI shared its information with Army intelligence units and with the intelligence division of the Chicago Police Department. The Afro-American's Patrolmen's League was organized to voice the particular racial grievances of Black police officers in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jun 5)
Published
0 0
Joann Little, accused of murdering a North Carolina jail guard, files a $1 million damage suit against the estate of Clarence Alligood, whom Little accused of attempting to rape her in a Beaufort County jail, where she stabbed him to death.
Attorneys for Joann Little, accused of murdering a North Carolina jail guard, announced that they were filing a $1 million damage suit against the estate of the man whom Little accused of attempting to rape her in a Beaufort County jail, where she stabbed him to death. The suit claimed that the deceased guard, Clarence Alligood, acting under the color of North Carolina law, inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on Little and invaded her privacy in the alleged sexual attack. Little was being held in the Beaufort County Jail on a charge of breaking and entering at the time of the alleged assault. The suit, sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, also asked the Federal District Court in New Bern, North Carolina, to protect all female inmates from sexual abuse by male attendants at the Beaufort County Jail. The class action portion of the suit claimed that women prisoners were largely supervised by males who could see them as they bathed, undressed, or used restroom facilities; that women inmates were "confined in such a manner that male trustees, jailers, and other male persons given free run of the jail expose(d) their genitalia ... and ma[d]e vulgar and obscene remarks and gestures against the will and beyond the control" of the female inmates; that bail bondsmen were allowed access to the women's cells to conduct bonding business and at times had "made lewd and vulgar sexual propositions" to the female prisoners, and that prior to the slaying of Alligood, the women inmates were under twenty-four-hour surveillance by closed-circuit television cameras that anyone in the jailer's office could watch. Little's suit was filed as she awaited trial for the murder of Alligood.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jun 14)
Published
0 0
The voting rights of minorities are affected by Mississippi’s reapportionment plan. The United States Department of Justice asks the state to adopt a new plan.
The United States Department of Justice announced in Washington that it had asked a federal court in Mississippi to order that state to adopt a new reapportionment plan for its legislature that would meet federal standards prior to the 1975 elections. The justice department asked the court specifically to prohibit the use of a reapportionment plan drawn up by the Mississippi legislature during its 1975 session and to forbid the implementation of any plan that was not cleared in advance as having met federal standards. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 required that such advanced clearance be obtained either from the U.S. Attorney General or the U.S. District Court in Washington and that any political change in an affected Southern state must meet the test of whether it would have the intent or effect of diminishing the voting rights of minorities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
A mistrial is declared in the tax evasion trial of mayor Charles Evers after being accused of pocketing campaign contributions.
Judge Dan M. Russell of the United States District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, declared a mistrial in the tax evasion trial of Fayette, Mississippi, mayor Charles Evers after an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent suggested from the witness stand that Evers might have pocketed campaign contributions. The questionable remarks were made by IRS agent William Jack Sykes when asked about possible sources of taxable income that Evers allegedly failed to report. Sykes said, “Well, he did run for Congress.” Defense attorney Michael Fawer objected to the agent's remarks on the ground that the government's attorneys had agreed not to bring up the 1968 campaign as a source of more than $161,000 in taxable income that Evers allegedly concealed between 1968 and 1970. Although he declared a mistrial, Judge Russell refused to agree to a defense motion to dismiss the indictment against Evers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jul 30)
Published
0 0
District Court Judge James F. Gordon orders the full desegregation of the Louisville, Kentucky, public schools.
United States District Court Judge James F. Gordon ordered the full desegregation of the Louisville, Kentucky, public schools. The judge's order called for the busing of 22,600 pupils to achieve the desegregation. Judge Gordon's ruling climaxed four years of litigation by civil rights groups. The order affected a city-county system of 140,000 pupils, including about 20,000 Blacks. Judge Gordon said that all of the Louisville-Jefferson County schools were to be desegregated and each should have a Black enrollment of at least 12 percent. No school could be more than 40 percent Black. Gordon also warned those "who would resort to public disorder and violence" to oppose the desegregation to "think twice.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jul 3 - Aug 25)
Published
0 0
The NAACP files suit to compel the federal government to require Northern and Western states to end school segregation or to face the termination of their school aid, as had been done in the South.
On July 3, attorneys for the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDEF), and the Center for National Policy Review (CNPR) filed a suit in the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., to compel the federal government to require Northern and Western states to end school segregation or to face the termination of their school aid, as had been done in the South. The suit was filed on behalf of the children of eighteen families in eight Northern and Western school districts and as a class action representing the interests of minority children in thirty-three states outside of the South. The suit charged that Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Caspar W. Weinberger had not performed his legal obligation to be certain that no federally funded school system segregated students and teachers by race or national origin. The complaint also charged that HEW had failed to act even when evidence came to its attention suggesting segregation, and that protest proceedings tended to drag on indefinitely. The suit asked that HEW make findings of noncompliance, seek voluntary compliance on a prompt basis, and then cut off federal aid if all else failed. On August 13, 1975, officials at HEW responded to the suit by calling for a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, to plan stepped-up enforcement of school desegregation in Northern districts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jul 24 - 28)
Published
0 0
The United States Senate votes to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for an additional seven years.
The United States Senate voted 77-12 to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for an additional seven years. On July 28, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 346-56 to approve the same measure. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed federal registrars and the Department of Justice to enable thousands of Blacks to register and vote in the South. The new law was even supported by a few Southern senators and scores of representatives from the region. Some of the Southerners had failed earlier in an attempt to extend the coverage of the law from the South to the entire nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
Students returned to school in South Boston, Massachusetts, with more than four hundred police officers on guard as racial tension escalates.
Students returned to school in South Boston, Massachusetts, for the first time in four weeks as more than four hundred police officers kept watch on the arrival and departure of school buses. Four schools in the South Boston area had been closed since December 11, 1974, when a white student was stabbed at South Boston High School. As the students returned to school, officials announced a first day attendance of 876 out of a total of 3,000 pupils enrolled in the four affected buildings. Meanwhile, the Boston School Committee appeared before U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., with a new desegregation plan. The new plan, which omitted busing, was the means by which the committee hoped to avoid punishment for contempt of court for three of its five members.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denies the Alabama Educational Television Commission renewals of licenses for all eight of its television stations because of racial discrimination.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied the Alabama Educational Television Commission renewals of licenses for all eight of its television stations because of racial discrimination. The FCC said that the Alabama Commission had, between 1967 and 1970, failed to meet the high standards it expected broadcast stations to maintain. It found that the Alabama Commission had followed a racially discriminatory policy in its overall programming practices and through its "pervasive neglect” of Alabama's Black population. Furthermore, it had failed to adequately meet the needs of the public it served. Still, the FCC said the commission could continue to operate the television stations on an interim basis pending a final determination of its future. The denial of license renewal was one of the FCC's most severe and most rarely used actions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
Professor Moses W. Vaughn of the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore receives a $175,000 federal grant for his two-year study on the nutritional value of soul food.
Professor Moses W. Vaughn of the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore announced that he was studying the nutritive value of some types of soul food—the popular name for a number of items, including chitterlings, pigs' ears, pig knuckles and feet, hog maws, neck bones and pigs' tails, said to be particularly favored by African Americans. Vaughn said the study was expected to fill a gap in nutritional knowledge, for even the official Department of Agriculture handbook contained no mention of soul food pork products. Yet, according to Vaughn, consumer research organizations and the Agriculture Department had received numerous requests for information about these foods. Vaughn received a $175,000 federal grant for his two-year study.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
The Swope Parkway National Bank, the only Black-operated bank in Kansas City at the time, closes.
The Swope Parkway National Bank, the only Black-operated bank in Kansas City at the time, was declared insolvent by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Officials, however, said that the bank, with total assets of $10.6 million, would be reopened on January 4 as the Deposit Insurance National Bank under FDIC receivership. The Deposit Insurance Bank stood ready to assume all of Swope's “insured and fully secure deposits.” An FDIC spokesman said these moves were being taken “in recognition of both the practical and symbolic importance of the Swope Parkway National Bank to [Kansas City's] Black community.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 29)
Published
0 0
Former Georgia State Senator Leroy R. Johnson is convicted of IRS fraud.
Former Georgia State Senator Leroy R. Johnson was convicted in the United States District Court in Atlanta of submitting a false statement to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in connection with his 1969 and 1970 income tax returns. Johnson was acquitted of two other charges of willfully evading some $40,000 in taxes for 1969 and 1970. Johnson's lawyers announced that they would appeal the verdict. Johnson was the first Black American elected to a Southern state legislature since Reconstruction days when he won a seat in the Georgia legislature in 1962. During his twelve years in the state legislature, he became one of the most powerful Black politicians in Georgia and the South. Johnson was defeated for reelection in 1974, after an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Atlanta, with the tax charges against him still pending.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 29)
Published
0 0
Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson appoints Black leaders.
Atlanta Mayor Maynard H. Jackson appointed the first full-time Black municipal traffic judge and the first Black municipal court solicitor in the city's history. Edward L. Baety, a thirty-year-old attorney who graduated from Morris Brown College and Harvard University, was named judge. Mary Welcome, a thirty-one-year-old attorney who graduated from the Howard University Law School, was named municipal court solicitor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 25)
Published
0 0
Nannie Mitchell, founder of the St. Louis Argus and a veteran Black business and civic leader, dies in St. Louis, Missouri.
Nannie Mitchell, founder of the St. Louis Argus and a veteran Black business and civic leader, died in St. Louis, Missouri, at age eighty-eight. In 1905, Mitchell, along with her late husband William and her brother-in-law, J. E. Mitchell, founded the We Shall Rise Insurance Company in St. Louis and began publishing a newsletter to be distributed to Black churches in the area. This newsletter eventually became the Argus, a newspaper that was published weekly starting in 1915.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 25 - Feb 15)
Published
0 0
George C. Wallace, white politician and perennial symbol of resistance to civil rights for Blacks, began his third term as governor of Alabama. His reelection was met with much controversy in Black communities nationwide.
George C. Wallace, a perennial symbol of resistance to civil rights for Blacks, began his third term as governor of Alabama. At this inauguration, Wallace observed that social changes had been effected so smoothly in Alabama that other states might want to emulate it. Fifteen Black state legislators and the state's first Black cabinet officer, Jesse Lewis, witnessed the ceremonies. Wallace had received more Black support than ever before in his recent successful reelection campaign and his subsequent recognition by Black organizations had been the source of considerable controversy in the Black communities of the nation. John Lewis, Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP), who was assaulted during the famous Selma to Montgomery March, is one of those who opposed Black support for Wallace. In an interview with Boyd Lewis of the Atlanta Inquirer, John Lewis said: “Black people giving Wallace an award is like the Anti-Defamation League giving a posthumous award to Hitler.” Lewis also observed that "George Wallace, in spite of his condition, remains a symbol of the most brutal forms of violence inflicted against poor and Black people in Alabama. . . . There is no way you can erase that from the psyche of Black people. . . . As we celebrate Black History Week, we must not forget.... I am troubled by this newly found admiration of a man like Governor Wallace."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
J. Mason Brewer, possibly the best known writer of Black folklore in the United States, dies.
J. Mason Brewer, possibly the best known writer of Black folklore in the United States, died in Commerce, Texas, at age seventy eight. Brewer wrote some of his stories and poems in Black dialect so ancient that it was difficult for most people to read. Others were written in standard English. Prior to his death, Brewer had served as a vice president of the American Folklore Society and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas Folklore Society. He was a lecturer at Yale University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at East Texas State University. The late J. Frank Dobie, himself a distinguished folklorist, once called Brewer "the best storyteller of Negro folklore anywhere in the world.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 22)
Published
0 0
The Voter Education Project (VEP) reports on the political progress of Blacks in the 1974 general elections. Executive Director John Lewis states that the progress is small, but important.
The Voter Education Project (VEP) rendered an assessment of the political progress of Blacks in the 1974 general elections. Georgia, according to the VEP, led the South in the number of Blacks elected and reelected to public office. In elections from coroner to congressman, Georgia had 101 Blacks elected out of the 525 successful Black candidates in the region. Among the new Black officeholders in Georgia were John White, the first Black American to represent Dougherty County in the state legislature, and Henry Dodson and J. O. Wyatt, the first Black commissioners of Fulton County (of which Atlanta is the county seat). Elsewhere, Harold Ford was elected to the U.S. Congress from Memphis, Tennessee; forty-six Blacks were elected to state legislatures in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina; and Blacks were elected to 226 city councils and commissions. In the end, however, VEP Executive Director John Lewis said “the election of 525 Blacks in a single year is a small but important step in the long march toward equity of representation in Southern politics."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 22)
Published
0 0
The United States Commission on Civil Rights takes a more aggressive stance on enforcement of civil rights, stating that more must be done after government agencies had failed to properly enforce the new laws.
In its latest report, the United States Commission on Civil Rights said that President Gerald Ford must exert leadership to insure "vigorous and effective enforcement” of school desegregation laws. The commission was also, as in the past, highly critical of the civil rights enforcement of several governmental agencies. Noting the continued resistance to school desegregation in Boston, Massachusetts, and elsewhere, the commission said: “We are at a dangerous crossroads in connection with school desegregation. ... We cannot afford—because of organized resistance in Boston or any other community—to turn back.” It called for “extraordinary actions, including appointment by the President of a federal official who would have the responsibility of making certain federal agencies fully enforce civil rights laws. In the new report, the commission charged that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Veterans Administration (VA) had failed to use existing federal laws to guarantee equal educational opportunities for racial minorities, non-English speaking people, and women. The HEW, according to the commission, had “diminished its overall effectiveness and credibility” by interminable negotiations with segregated school districts, rather than cutting off their federal funds. It had also failed to tell school districts what they must do to comply with civil rights laws, including the degree of busing required to desegregate schools. The IRS, the commission contended, had taken little action to make sure that private schools that received exemptions from federal taxes were operated without racial bias. The VA, which was responsible for enforcing anti-bias laws regarding profit-making schools, apprenticeship programs, and on-the job training programs, remained deficient in several areas, according to the commission. The VA, for example, had refused to examine possible discrimination in the hiring of faculty at certain schools. The latest Civil Rights Commission document was the third in a series of reports assailing the degree of civil rights enforcement under the Nixon and Ford administrations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 20)
Published
0 0
Attorneys for Boston University ask a Suffolk Superior Court judge to order Coretta Scott King to release tapes of conversations between her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others that were secretly recorded by federal investigators.
Attorneys for Boston University asked a Suffolk Superior Court judge to order Coretta Scott King to release tapes of conversations between her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others that were secretly recorded by federal investigators. The motion also asked for release of correspondence between King and his colleagues. This action was the latest round in a legal battle between the school and Mrs. King over an estimated 83,000 documents relating to her husband that were held at Boston University. Mrs. King had filed suit earlier, contending that the documents belonged in the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. She further claimed that the university had “mishandled or lost some of the papers.” The tapes sought in the suit included those reportedly sent anonymously to Mrs. King in the 1970s, after the FBI had bugged hotel rooms where Martin Luther King, Jr., was staying. Some of these tapes implicating King in alleged extramarital sexual activities were made available also to President Lyndon Johnson, members of Congress, and news reporters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 25)
Published
0 0
Associate Judge Stuart Nudelman of the Cook County (Illinois) Circuit Court sentences James Kalafut, a twenty-one-year-old White man, to two hundred hours of community service for his role in an assault on three Blacks in the Gage Park neighborhood in 1987.
Associate Judge Stuart Nudelman of the Cook County (Illinois) Circuit Court sentenced James Kalafut, a twenty-one-year-old White man, to two hundred hours of community service for his role in an assault on three Blacks in the Gage Park neighborhood in 1987. Kalafut, who had stated that he had been "taught to hate Black people,” was also ordered to report to the judge's chambers once a month for a year. Edward McClellan, executive secretary of the NAACP's south side Chicago branch, responded to the sentencing by declaring that Judge Nudelman had “opened up a completely new approach to dealing with an old American problem: racism.” The sharp increase in the number of racist attacks on Blacks in the 1980s led many Black American leaders to link the civil rights policies of President Ronald Reagan to such incidents, contending that the Reagan administration was hostile to civil rights advances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Feb 27)
Published
0 0
A U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in a 2-1 decision, rules that “an affirmative action plan aimed at increasing the number of Black firefighters” in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
A U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in a 2-1 decision, ruled that "an affirmative action plan aimed at increasing the number of Black firefighters” in the District of Columbia was unconstitutional. The court said that “preferential treatment" for Black firefighter applicants was not needed because Blacks had not been discriminated against. The Washington, D.C., city government had set aside six out of every ten new positions in the fire department for Black applicants. In 1984, when Blacks first complained about tests being used to “screen applicants for entry-level” firefighter jobs, only 38 percent of the members of the D.C. fire department were black. Only 26 percent of the higher ranking officers were Black at the time. The population of the city was 70 percent Black. Judge Kenneth Starr wrote in the majority opinion, however, that it was undisputed that the fire department [had] consistently hired from the entire Washington metropolitan area,” where the Black population was only 29.3 percent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Experts on race and urban affairs, some of whom worked with the Kerner Commission in producing the 1968 Report of the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders, announce that the prediction of the Commission twenty years ago that the United States was moving toward two societies—one White and affluent, the other Black and impoverished—was becoming a reality.
Experts on race and urban affairs, some of whom worked with the Kerner Commission in producing the 1968 Report of the President's Commission on Civil Disorders, announced that the prediction of the Commission twenty years ago that the United States was moving toward two societies—one White and affluent, the other Black and impoverished—was becoming a reality. A new report, published after a seven-month study following widespread racial rioting in the summer of 1987, proclaimed that “segregation by race still sharply divides American cities in both housing and schools for Blacks, and especially in schools for Hispanics.” It also contended that the nation was being torn apart “by quiet riots”: unemployment, poverty, crime, and housing and school segregation. It claimed that “less than one percent of the federal budget is spent for education, down from two percent in 1980” and that "the gap between rich and poor has widened, and there is a growing underclass.” One of the former members of the original Kerner Commission, former senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma, and the co-chairman of the new panel, former Justice Department official Roger Wilkins, offered comments on the new report at a news conference in Washington, D.C., as the new study was presented. Harris said that “twenty years later, poverty is worse, more people are poor. ... It is harder to get out of poverty now.” Wilkins added that the "quiet riots” of 1987 were caused "by racism in American culture” and economic discrimination. The original fourteen-hundred-page Kerner Report had also said that “White racism” was largely responsible for the “explosive mixture” of “poverty and frustration" in the Black communities that erupted in violence. Both Harris and Wilkins blamed the administration of President Ronald Reagan for "cutting back funds on social programs and not taking a stronger stand for equal rights in employment and housing.” The new report concluded its findings with this statement: “We know what should be done. . . . Jobs are the greatest need. Full employment is the best anti-poverty program.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 5)
Published
0 0
Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts moved closer to winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States after a “decisive victory” over his Black American rival, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, in the Wisconsin primary.
Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts moved closer to winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States after a "decisive victory" over his Black American rival, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, in the Wisconsin primary. As a result of the balloting, Dukakis took 43 of the state's 81 Democratic delegates, while Jackson captured 27 and Senator Albert Gore from Tennessee won 11. Before the Wisconsin primary, Dukakis led Jackson in delegates only by a margin of 691 to 682. Although Wisconsin had a Black population of only 3 percent at the time of the balloting, Jackson was expected to run very well among White blue collar workers and White liberals in the state. Yet, in the end, while Jackson won nearly all of the Black vote, he lost the White blue collar vote to Dukakis and garnered only about 25 percent of the total White vote, according to exit polls conducted by the media.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 12)
Published
0 0
The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Black American candidate for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination, wins precinct caucuses in the state of South Carolina.
The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Black American candidate for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, won precinct caucuses in the state of South Carolina. In the caucus election, Jackson acquired approximately 55 percent of the delegates; 20 percent were uncommitted, 17 percent went to Tennessee senator Albert Gore, 6 percent to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, and two other candidates shared the remaining 2 percent. Kevin Gray, Jackson's campaign manager in South Carolina, estimated that his candidate would eventually be awarded about 25 of the 44 national convention delegates at stake in the South Carolina balloting. Although Jackson was a resident of Chicago, Illinois, he was a native of Greenville, South Carolina, had "the status of a favorite son" as well as the almost solid support of the South's second largest Black population, and had a campaign organization that worked hard with the state's 4,000 Black churches to turn out the vote. Before the South Carolina caucuses, according to figures from the Associated Press, Jackson trailed Governor Dukakis in the delegate count 459.5 to 400.5.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 15)
Published
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Chevene Bowers “C. B.” King, the first Black person to run for governor of Georgia since the Reconstruction era, dies of cancer in San Diego, California, at age sixty-four.
Chevene Bowers "C. B." King, the first Black person to run for governor of Georgia since the Reconstruction era, died of cancer in San Diego, California, at age sixty-four. King, who was also an attorney and civil rights activist, represented Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and other civil rights leaders as well as student sit-in demonstrators during the tumultuous civil rights movement in Albany, Georgia, in 1962. He was beaten on the steps of the Dougherty County courthouse (of which Albany is the county seat) during the demonstrations. Prior to running for governor in 1970, King had also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1964. In the governor's race, he received 70,424 votes (8.82 percent) in the Democratic primary. The victorious candidate for governor was Democrat Jimmy Carter, who was later elected president of the United States. Reacting bitterly to his defeat, King blamed it on "little Black political puppets who have exploited politics for their own selfish ends" and on Blacks who still had "social and psychological hangups" about voting for a candidate of their own race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 15)
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Pope John Paul II appointed Eugene Antonio Marino, a Black Josephite priest, as the archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia, making it was the first time that a Black American was named an archbishop in the American Roman Catholic Church.
Pope John Paul II appointed Eugene Antonio Marino, a Black Josephite priest, as the archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia. It was the first time that a Black American was named an archbishop in the American Roman Catholic Church. Marino, age fifty-three and a native of Biloxi, Mississippi, studied at St. Joseph's Seminary in Washington, D.C., from 1956 to 1962 and earned a master's degree in religious education from Fordham University. From 1962 to 1968, he taught in and directed training activities in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C. On July 13, 1971, Marino was elected to a four year term as vicar general of the Josephite Fathers. Prior to being named archbishop of Atlanta, Marino was the auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., and secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was one of only twelve Black bishops in the United States at the time of his appointment as archbishop In 1985, Marino was one of the ten Black bishops who called on the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to create "a preferential option for Black Americans" to help forestall “potential explosive racial strife in our country" which was "as immediate a threat as a nuclear holocaust." Marino's appointment made him the spiritual leader of 156,000 Roman Catholics in sixty-nine counties in north Georgia, comprising the Archdiocese of Atlanta, of which ten thousand are Blacks (most of whom were members of seven churches, including three predominantly Black ones, in the city of Atlanta). In the United States, 1.3 million of the Church's 52 million members were Black in 1988.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 16)
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President Ronald Reagan vetoes a civil rights bill that was designed to reverse a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision and restore the impact of four federal laws that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, age, handicap, or sex.
President Ronald Reagan vetoed a civil rights bill that was designed to reverse a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision and restore the impact of four federal laws that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, age, handicap, or sex. The high Court's ruling had limited "the liability for discrimination only to offending programs or activities that receive federal funds, not to an entire institution or entity." Reagan objected to the bill, which passed 75-14 in the U.S. Senate and 315-98 in the House of Representatives, because he felt it "proposed unwarranted federal intervention in the affairs of corporations and institutions with religious affiliations." But supporters of the bill contended that its provisions adequately exempted small businesses, church institutions, and farmers. Nevertheless, Reagan said the bill failed "to eliminate invidious discrimination and to ensure equality of opportunity for all Americans while preserving their basic freedoms from governmental interference and control.” Instead, he offered an alternative—a slight expansion on a previous version that had been rejected in both houses of the Congress which he said would “protect civil rights and at the same time preserve the independence of state and local governments, the freedom of religion, and the right of America's citizens to order their lives and businesses without extensive federal intrusion." Massachusetts senator Edward M. Kennedy, one of the sponsors of the legislation, called Reagan's veto "shameful."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 16)
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After finishing second in the Democratic presidential primary in Illinois on March 15, Black American presidential candidate Jesse Jackson has an estimated 460.5 delegates.
After finishing second in the Democratic presidential primary in Illinois on March 15, Black American presidential candidate Jesse Jackson had an estimated 460.5 delegates. Jackson's total placed him four delegates behind the Democratic frontrunner, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who had 464.5 delegates at the time. A total of 2,082 votes were required to capture the Democratic nomination. With almost half of the Democratic delegates chosen by March 16, Jackson had obtained more popular votes than any other Democratic contender and had combined the largest number of first and second place finishes in the balloting held in thirty states thus far.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 20)
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The U.S. House of Representatives house votes to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court civil rights ruling that limits four laws banning discrimination based on age, race, sex, or handicap.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 315-98 to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited four laws banning discrimination based on age, race, sex, or handicap. The same measure had been approved by the U.S. Senate on January 28, by a vote of 75-14. The legislation, known as the Civil Rights Restoration Act, requires that any institution or entity receiving federal funds, including school systems, corporations, and health facilities, must comply with civil rights statutes. It allows limited exemptions for small businesses and for institutions controlled by religious organizations. The Supreme Court, in a 1984 case involving Grove City College in Pennsylvania, had ruled that only a program or activity receiving federal funds was subject to the federal anti-bias laws. Although the case focused on a 1972 law that prohibited sex discrimination in education, the Court's decision also applied to three other civil rights laws that contained the same language at issue in the Grove City College case. After the decision, federal agencies had dropped or limited hundreds of civil rights cases. In October 1987, a federal court of appeals rejected a lawsuit by a group in Alabama, which had been joined by the federal government against the state school system. That court held that only the "allegedly discriminatory program could be sued."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 20)
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Mike Tyson knocks out challenger Tony Tubbs to retain the world heavyweight boxing championship in Tokyo, Japan.
Mike Tyson knocked out challenger Tony Tubbs to retain the world heavyweight boxing championship in Tokyo, Japan. The thirty-year-old Tubbs collapsed in the second round of the scheduled fifteen-round fight in the Tokyo Dome; his cornermen asked referee Arthur Mercante to stop the fight. Tyson improved his record to 34 wins (30 by knockout) with no losses. The twenty-one-year-old Tyson was guaranteed $5 million for defending his title.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 22)
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The U.S. Congress overrides President Ronald Reagan’s veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act.
The U.S. Congress overrode President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act. The vote in the Senate was 73-24 and in the House of Representatives 292-133. The new law was designed to reverse a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1984 which had limited the enforcement of previous civil rights acts. In that decision, the Court, in a case involving Grove City College in Pennsylvania, had ruled that some earlier civil rights laws "did not cover entire school systems, businesses, local governments or other entities, but only the programs receiving federal aid." The new law specifically extended coverage to entire institutions, although exemptions were provided for small businesses, churches, farmers who received price supports, and welfare recipients. President Reagan had objected on the grounds that the exemptions were inadequate and that religious freedoms were being threatened. After the veto was overridden, Republican senator Lowell Weicker from Connecticut, one of the sponsors of the measure, exclaimed: "[This] is as important a day as any of us have ever experienced or will experience in the near future. It has the potential of being a restatement... of our national commitment to equal opportunity for all."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 25)
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The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a study by the American Council on Education and the Education Commission of the United States had concluded that America must renew its commitment to the advancement of minority groups or jeopardize the future prosperity of the nation.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that a study by the American Council on Education and the Education Commission of the United States had concluded that America must renew its commitment to the advancement of minority groups or jeopardize the future prosperity of the nation. The Council and Commission report stated that "America is moving backward—not forward—in its efforts to achieve the full participation of minority citizens in the life and prosperity of the nation." The report, entitled "One Third of a Nation," also documented that "in education, employment, income, health, longevity, and other basic measures of individual and social well-being, gaps persist—and in some cases are widening—between members of minority groups and the majority population. ... If we allow these disparities to continue, the United States inevitably will suffer a compromised quality of life and a lower standard of living.... In brief, we find ourselves unable to fulfill the promise of the American dream." "One Third of a Nation" emerged from a project established in 1987 by the American Council on Education and the Education Commission of the United States because of concern over a series of racial incidents on college and university campuses and the declining proportion of minority students in college. The report noted specifically that in 1986, 31.1 percent of the nation's Blacks and 27.3 percent of its Hispanics had incomes below the poverty level-nearly three times the rate for Whites. Also, in 1986, 20.1 percent of Whites over age twenty-five had completed at least four years of college. For Blacks, the completion rate was only 10.9 percent and for Hispanics, only 8.4 percent. In the same year, Blacks were twice as likely to be unemployed than were Whites. As a result of its findings, the report recommended, among other things, that colleges and universities, particularly: 1) recruit minority students more aggressively; 2) create an academic atmosphere that nourishes and encourages minority students to stay enrolled and to succeed; 3) create a campus culture that values the diversity minorities bring to institutional life—one that responds powerfully and forthrightly to the recrudescences of racism that have occurred too often on campus in recent years; 4) place special emphasis on inspiring and recruiting minority candidates for faculty and administrative positions; and 5) work with educators at the primary and secondary levels to improve the education, training, and preparation of minority students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Mar 31)
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Black American novelist Toni Morrison wins a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her book Beloved, a novel that depicts the agonizing reminiscences of a former enslaved person in post-Civil War Ohio.
Black American novelist Toni Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her book Beloved. The novel depicts the agonizing reminiscences of a former enslaved person in post-Civil War Ohio. Morrison's work had provoked a controversy in the fall of 1987 when it failed to win the prestigious National Book Award. In January 1988, forty-eight Black writers had written an open letter to the New York Times Book Review protesting that failure as well as the fact that Morrison had never won the even more prestigious Pulitzer. Responding to the announcement of the award, Morrison said, "I think I know what I feel. ... I had no doubt about the value of the book and that it was really worth serious recognition. But I had some dark thoughts about whether the book's merits would be allowed to be the only consideration of the Pulitzer committee. The book had begun to take on a responsibility, an extra-literary responsibility, that it was never designed for." An excerpt from a review of Beloved by author and critic Margaret Atwood in the New York Times, September 13, 1987, follows: "In Beloved, Ms. Morrison turns away from the contemporary scene that has been her concern of late. The new novel is set after the end of the Civil War, during the period of the so-called Reconstruction, when a great deal of random violence was let loose upon Blacks, both the slaves freed by emancipation and others who had been given or bought their freedom earlier. But there are flashbacks to a more distant period, when slavery was still a going concern in the South and the seeds for the bizarre and calamitous events of the novel were sown. The setting is similarly divided: the countryside near Cincinnati, where the central characters have ended up, and a slave-holding plantation in Kentucky, ironically named Sweet Home, from which they fled 18 years before the novel begins. ...Beloved is written in an anti-minimalist prose that is by turns rich, graceful, eccentric, rough, lyrical, sinuous, colloquial, and very much to the point."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (May 11)
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Tabatha Foster, a three-year-old Black American child, dies after having been the longest survivor among American children who had received multiple organ transplants.
Tabatha Foster, a three-year-old Black American child, died after having been the longest survivor among American children who had received multiple organ transplants. Tabatha had survived nearly seven months after she received the organs of a baby killed in an automobile accident in October 1987. Other children who were recipients of multiple organ transplants had survived no longer than three days.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jun 5)
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Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (CCR), dies of an apparent heart attack in San Diego, California, at age fifty-seven.
Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (CCR), died of an apparent heart attack in San Diego, California, at age fifty-seven. Pendleton was born on November 10, 1930, in Louisville, Kentucky, but grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father was the first swimming coach at Howard University and an assistant director of the District of Columbia's recreation department. He received a bachelor of science degree from Howard in 1954 and worked briefly for the D.C. recreation department before joining the U.S. Army. After his release from the Army in 1957, Pendleton returned to Howard and became an instructor of physical education. In 1970, Pendleton became a director of the urban affairs department of the National Recreation and Parks Association. Two years later he moved to San Diego to take a position as director of the Model Cities program there. By 1975, Pendleton had become head of the San Diego Urban League. He was the only one of more than 150 officers in the League to support the presidential candidacy of former California governor Ronald Reagan. By 1980, Pendleton had abandoned what he called his "bleeding-heart liberalism" and switched to the Republican party. On November 16, 1981, President Reagan appointed him chairman of the CCR. As CCR chairman, Pendleton followed Reagan's desires and led the commission toward a "color-blind" approach to matters of civil rights. He opposed busing to achieve school desegregation and called affirmative action a "bankrupt policy." Civil rights leaders, some political leaders, and even some members of the CCR itself expressed shock at the stances that the commission's first Black chairman took. Congress responded by cutting the CCR's budget from $11.6 million in 1985 to only $7.5 million in 1986. These cuts caused a considerable slowing of activity at the CCR. After Pendleton's death, William Bradford Reynolds, assistant attorney general for civil rights, called him "a man who felt very deeply that the individuals in America should deal with one another as brothers and sisters totally without regard to race and background."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jun 17)
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Alabama state representative Thomas Reed, who also served as president of the state’s NAACP, is indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of accepting more than $15,000 in cash and restaurant equipment to secure the early release of a convicted murderer, Anthony Chesser.
Alabama state representative Thomas Reed, who also served as president of the state's NAACP, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of accepting more than $15,000 in cash and restaurant equipment to secure the early release of a convicted murderer, Anthony Chesser. According to the indictment, Chesser's family paid Reed to use his position as a member of the Legislature's Joint Prison Committee to get "the state Department of Corrections to place Chesser in a work release program and get the Board of Pardons and Paroles to move up his date for parole consideration by 51/2 years." At the time, Chesser was serving a 40-year sentence in a 1984 conviction for murdering his wife. Reed, age sixty, was one of fourteen Black state legislators arrested February 2, 1988, when they tried to remove the Confederate flag from the Alabama state capitol at Montgomery. Reed, who was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Tuskegee University, refused to comment on his indictment except to reiterate his innocence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 1)
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William H. Harris, a forty-four-year-old Black historian, is named President of Texas Southern University in Houston.
William H. Harris, a forty-four-year-old Black historian, assumed the presidency of Texas Southern University in Houston. Harris, a native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, had previously been president of Paine College in Georgia, and a professor of history and associate dean of the graduate school at Indiana University in Bloomington. At the time of his selection to the Texas Southern presidency, Harris was also completing a three-year term as president of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). At his inaugural ceremonies, which were attended by the new president's ninety-eight-year-old grandmother, Mary Graham, Harris commented, "we now begin to speak in one voice, play by one score and the theme of that voice and score will be academic excellence."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1988 (Jul 11)
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The Atlanta Constitution reports results of a poll that revealed that if Black American presidential candidate Jesse Jackson was not offered the vice presidential nomination or did not signal his support for the presidential ticket, more than a third of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention indicated that they would be less likely to support the party in the 1988 presidential election.
The Atlanta Constitution reported results of a poll that revealed that if Black American presidential candidate Jesse Jackson was not offered the vice presidential nomination or did not signal his support for the presidential ticket, more than a third of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention indicated that they would be less likely to support the party in the 1988 presidential election. The poll showed a strong potential for disunity among Democratic party delegates as they headed to the National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 18. Another important result of the poll was that 20 percent of the delegates polled thought Jackson was “pulling the party too far to the left." Among delegates pledged to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, 24 percent expressed that sentiment, compared with only 5 percent of the Jackson delegates. The poll was conducted from June 15 to July 7, 1988. It included interviews with 1,921 delegates and alternates pledged to Governor Dukakis, 935 pledged to the Reverend Jackson, and 447 who were “either uncommitted or technically committed" to other candidates who had dropped out of the presidential race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jan)
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Bryant Gumbel is named co-host of the “Today” show with Jane Pauley on NBC.
Bryant Gumbel began co-hosting the “Today" show with Jane Pauley on NBC. Gumbel was born Sept. 29, 1948, to Rhea and Richard Gumbel in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, awarded him a liberal arts degree in 1970. He worked as a sports writer and editor-in-chief for Black Sports Magazine before entering broadcasting. In 1972 Gumbel became the weekend sportscaster for KNBC. Gumbel retired from the “Today” show January 3, 1997.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jan 6)
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United States District Court Judge Milton Shadur upholds the constitutionality of a new desegregation plan for the public schools of Chicago, Illinois, that would have no school more than 70 percent white.
United States District Court Judge Milton Shadur upheld the constitutionality of a new desegregation plan for the public schools of Chicago, Illinois. The plan pledged that by September 1983, no school would be more than 70 percent white. It relied largely on “magnet schools” and voluntary transfers, with 180 programs from which students of all races and ethnic groups could choose. At the time of the ruling, only 16.3 percent of white students were in the public schools of Chicago and more than 100,000 of 435,000 students were in desegregated settings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jan 15)
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Martin Luther King, Sr., and Richard Attenborough, the British film maker who produced and directed the epic motion picture Gandhi, are named co-recipients of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Peace Prize.
Martin Luther King, Sr., and Richard Attenborough, the British film maker who produced and directed the epic motion picture Gandhi, were named co-recipients of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Peace Prize. The awards were presented by Coretta Scott King, president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change and widow of the slain civil rights leader, at ceremonies marking the 15th annual observance of King Jr.'s birthday in Atlanta, Georgia. Each man was given a medal inscribed with a quote from a King, Jr., speech: “Now the judgment of God is upon us, and we must all live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.” They were also presented checks for $1,000. Upon receipt of his award, Attenborough recalled that in the Gandhi Museum in New Delhi there was one picture in the great hall,” the picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. “That is fitting,” he said, because “no one—and there are many who claim to-followed his teachings more closely than Dr. King.... I feel more touched now than I can ever remember on any occasion in my life.” King, Sr., thanked his family for helping him through the deaths of his two sons and his wife and thanked "God for what he left me."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jan 19)
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In its annual report on the “State of Black America,” the National Urban League (NUL) claims that Blacks ended 1982 “in worse shape than in 1981″ and expressed concern that “an economic recovery would bypass many minority Americans.”
In its annual report on the “State of Black America,” the National Urban League (NUL) claimed that Blacks ended 1982 “in worse shape than in 1981" and expressed concern that “an economic recovery would bypass many minority Americans.” The League added that Blacks had continued to be hurt by the severity of the economic recession and by federal cutbacks in domestic social service programs. “Vital survival programs were slashed at the same time that the Black economy was plunged even deeper into depression. The result was to drive already disadvantaged people to the wall,” according to John Jacob, president of the NUL. Jacob also contended that many Black Americans would not benefit from an economic upturn. “We've never fully participated in post recession recoveries,” Jacob said. He also noted that Black employment was concentrated in automobile and other heavy industries that were hit hard by the recession, and he predicted that those industries would never employ as many people as in the past. “A major question facing the nation in 1983 is whether the inevitable restructuring of the American economy will include Black people,” Jacob asserted. Jacob also claimed that President Ronald Reagan didn't understand the effects his economic policies were "having on the nation's poor. ... He is looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, both of which are painted black." The NUL maintained that federal programs serving the poor had been cut by $10 billion in 1972. As a result, welfare rolls had fallen by one million people, the federal school lunch program was serving about one million fewer children, one million people weren't getting federal food stamps any longer, and 200,000 infants and pregnant women weren't receiving federal nutrition aid. The NUL recommended that Congress pass "a broad job-training and job creation program" and that it resist efforts by President Ronald Reagan to decrease money for several federal civil rights enforcement agencies. It also urged the Reagan administration not to reduce Social Security benefits in "an attempt to bolster the nation's financially beleaguered retirement system.” The League report concluded: "We are not recommending a 'welfare state,' but certainly some better way has to be found to take care of our people than we presently practice.” The administration of President Reagan continued to reject suggestions by the NUL and other civil rights groups and leaders that its policies were unfair or insensitive to the concerns of minorities. Yet criticisms continued from these as well as other sources. The Atlanta Constitution, in an editorial on December 15, 1982, had made sharp and specific attacks on the Reagan administration's civil rights policies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jan 25)
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The United States Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge to a busing plan to achieve school desegregation in Nashville, Tennessee, that required elementary school pupils to be bused rather than attend neighborhood schools.
The United States Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a busing plan to achieve school desegregation in Nashville, Tennessee. The plan required elementary school pupils to be bused rather than attend neighborhood schools. It had been opposed by the Department of Justice, which contended that "busing does not work.” After the Court's action, Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds remarked that the decision "in no way indicates that the legal issue of mandatory busing is closed. ... We see no reason for a change of this administration's position of advancing alternatives to mandatory transportation to remedy intentional school segregation.” But the decision pleased Avon N. Williams, Jr., a civil rights lawyer who had fought segregation in Nashville's schools for over twenty-five years. Williams stated: “I think all right-thinking people were or should have been shocked that the Justice Department, for the first time in several decades, intervened on the side of segregation and discrimination."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Feb 12)
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Eubie Blake, Black-American ragtime pianist composer, dies of natural causes in Brooklyn, New York, after having celebrated his one-hundredth birthday on February 7.
Eubie Blake, Black-American ragtime pianist composer, died of natural causes in Brooklyn, New York, after having celebrated his one-hundredth birthday on February 7. Blake, the son of former slaves, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. At the age of four, he wandered into a music store while his mother was shopping and began to play a pump organ. A salesman convinced his mother that the boy had "a God-given talent" and she purchased the $75 instrument. Blake learned about ragtime by tagging after Black funeral processions, where he heard melodies played as dirges on the way to the cemetery and "ragged” on the way back. In his biography, Eubie Blake by Al Rose, he recalled the processions and exclaimed, “Oh how they'd swing." Like most young Black musicians of his time, Blake began his career as a pianist playing in a local bordello. He was fifteen at the time and his mother, Emily Blake, a deeply religious woman, was mortified when she found out. His father, however, convinced her to allow him to continue to play, especially since he contributed a portion of his earnings to the family. Blake wrote his first composition, Charleston Rag, in 1899 (although it was not notated until 1915). Yet Blake observed in his memoirs that "it ain't until modern times that I ever really looked at it as a piece of music.” His biographer Rose also observed that Blake “considered most of what he composed a mere point of departure for his personal improvisations. The music on the paper wasn't designed to be played literally. In fact, it would change in each rendition.” After 1915, Blake collaborated with bandleader Noble Sissle, who served not only as a lyricist but also a business agent. Then, in 1921, Blake composed Shuffle Along, one of the first Black musicals to appear on Broadway. It played for 504 performances and helped launch the careers of Josephine Baker, Florence Mills, and Paul Robeson, among others. The song Love Will Find a Way made musical history depicting Blacks as people with a full range of emotions. Shuffle Along was such a success that police had to make 63rd Street in New York into a one-way thoroughfare in order to handle the crowds. After Broadway, the show toured the country in three companies. Another of Blake's shows, Blackbirds (with lyrics by Andy Razaf), became a big hit in 1930. It featured John Bubbles, Buck Washington, and Ethel Waters and such famous tunes as Memories of You and You're Lucky to Me. Blake's popularity began to wane during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and he himself fell into a state of dejection and depression following the death of his wife of twenty-eight years, Avis, in 1939. He emerged to play in USO camps and military hospitals during World War II. In 1945, Blake married Marion Tyler, a former showgirl and secretary, who helped him put his personal life and business affairs back in order. But it was not until the 1960s, with the increased awareness of Scott Joplin and ragtime (furthered by the emergence of the Black consciousness and Black studies movements), that Blake became known to new generations of music lovers. In 1969, Columbia Records signed him to a massive recording project. At the time, Blake was the oldest living exponent of ragtime, and scores of fans hummed I'm Just Wild About Harry, the hit tune from Shuffle Along, and the song that also became the theme song for Harry Truman's 1948 presidential campaign.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Feb 16)
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Luis Alvarez, a police officer in Miami, Florida, is indicted by the Dade County grand jury for manslaughter in the shooting death of Nevell Johnson, Jr., a twenty-one-year-old Black man, on December 28, 1982.
Luis Alvarez, a police officer in Miami, Florida, was indicted by the Dade County (of which Miami is the county seat) grand jury for manslaughter in the shooting death of Nevell Johnson, Jr., a twenty-one-year-old Black man, on December 28, 1982. The killing of Johnson had sparked two days of racial rioting in the Overtown section of Miami. Garth Reeves, editor of the Miami Times, a Black newspaper, said the indictment of Alvarez would probably satisfy "the Black communities, although he (Alvarez) had expected a harsher charge." He added: "For so long, police killings have gone unindicted. so this is a small victory of sorts."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Feb 23)
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Former Black American congressman Harold Washington wins the Democratic primary election for mayor of Chicago, Illinois.
Former Black American congressman Harold Washington won the Democratic primary election for mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Washington defeated incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne by 32,810 votes in a race that drew a record 1.2 million voters. Washington's election came after a bitter and racially divisive campaign. While the Black American candidate appealed to Whites for their votes, he built the foundation of his quest on turning out a solid block of Black voters. Washington repeatedly told them that “it's our turn. ... We don't need to apologize for it, and we're not going to waste a lot of time explaining it. ... It's our turn—that's all.” In the end, Washington garnered about 85 percent of the votes cast by Blacks. The new Democratic nominee was born in Chicago, the son of an attorney and a Democratic precinct captain. He attended Roosevelt College in Chicago and the Northwestern University Law School. Before his election to the U.S. Congress, Washington was a city prosecutor, an arbitrator for the Illinois Industrial Commission, a state legislator, and a Democratic precinct captain in Chicago. The sixty-year-old-nominee had also served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Feb 23)
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Herschel Walker, the Black American collegiate football player who received the Heisman Trophy in December 1982, signs the largest contract in football history with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League.
Herschel Walker, the Black American collegiate football player who received the Heisman Trophy in December 1982, signed the biggest contract in football history with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. The value of the three-year contract was estimated at more than $8 million. Walker, a resident of Wrightsville, Georgia, passed up his senior year at the University of Georgia in order to join the Generals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Apr 4)
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Twenty-two school districts in St. Louis County, Missouri, agree to a desegregation plan to begin the nation’s first widespread voluntary school busing between a major city and its suburbs.
Twenty-two school districts in St. Louis County, Missouri, agreed to a desegregation plan to begin the nation's first widespread voluntary school busing between a major city and its suburbs. The accord came just before a deadline imposed by United States District Judge William L.Hungate in an eleven-year-old desegregation suit. Under the plan, all transfers would be voluntary. Predominantly White suburban school districts agreed to accept Black students from the city of St. Louis until “their racial balance was at least 15 percent, but no more than 25 percent, Black.” In order to achieve the ratios, fifteen thousand Black students would have to be bused to suburban schools in the fall of 1983. White suburban students would be encouraged to attend “magnet schools” in the city and city schools would be improved. Teachers were also to be reassigned to achieve more racial balance.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Apr 7)
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Hodding Carter III, one of the nation’s leading journalists and a correspondent for the PBS network, gives a broad assessment of Dr. King’s meaning for America, then and now, in the April 7, 1983, edition of the Wall Street Journal.
As the nation marked the fifteenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with memorial services across the country, Hodding Carter III, one of the nation's leading journalists and a correspondent for the PBS network, gave a broad assessment of King's meaning for America, then and now, in the April 7, 1983, edition of the Wall Street Journal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Apr 12)
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Former Black American congressman Harold Washington defeats Republican lawyer Bernard Epton to become the first Black mayor of Chicago, Illinois.
Former Black American congressman Harold Washington defeated Republican lawyer Bernard Epton to become the first Black mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Washington, a Democrat, captured 636,136 votes (51.5 percent) to 595,694 (48.2 percent) for Epton, totaling 96 percent of 2,914 precincts. Washington's victory was made possible by a very heavy turnout of Black voters, strong Hispanic support, and some support from middle class Whites, although the election had been marked by serious racial divisions. On March 27, for example, an angry white crowd forced Washington to curtail a campaign appearance at a Catholic church in a white area of the city. The group waved signs in support of candidate Epton, who later denounced the incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Apr 19-20)
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On April 19, about one hundred Black students prayed and sang in front of the administration building at the University of Mississippi at Oxford in a protest against the use of the Confederate flag as a symbol of the university.
On April 19, about one hundred Black students prayed and sang in front of the administration building at the University of Mississippi at Oxford in a protest against the use of the Confederate flag as a symbol of the university. During the previous night, several hundred White students had waved the flag and sang the Confederate battle song, “Dixie," in front of a Black fraternity house on the campus. Charles Griffin, a Black student, told reporters that the Whites also yelled "nigger night" and "save the flag." In the fall of 1982, some Black students at the university had called for the banning of the rebel flag, the display of the Colonel Reb cartoon mascot, and the singing of “Dixie" at athletic games. John Hawkins, the first Black varsity cheerleader at the university, refused to wave the flag as he lead cheers at football games. The protesting Blacks said the Confederate symbols were both racist and offensive. On April 20, Porter Fortune, chancellor of the University of Mississippi, announced that the Confederate flag would no longer be used as a school symbol. But Black students complained because the statement did not ban individuals from continuing to wave the flag on campus or at athletic contests, nor did it prohibit the use of the Colonel Reb mascot or the singing of “Dixie.” A group of White students cheered the chancellor's announcement and waved Confederate flags.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jun 17)
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Nelson W. Trout is elected Bishop of the American Lutheran Church’s South Pacific District, becoming the first Black person ever elected to full-time office among North American Lutheran Church bodies.
Nelson W. Trout, the sixty-two-year-old professor and director of minority studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, was elected Bishop of the American Lutheran Church's South Pacific District (located in California), becoming the first Black person ever elected to full-time office among North American Lutheran Church bodies. The members of the Lutheran Church in the United States have been historically concentrated among Scandinavian and Germanic ethnic groups in the East and Midwest and had little success in attracting large members of Blacks to the denomination. Election of Blacks to positions of "prominence in predominantly-White denominations has been a way of returning the church's focus to Black concerns," according to the National Leader, a Black-oriented news digest. Trout himself said of his election, “It's the one exception that defies the rule. It does not mean that the rapture has come or anything like that. It means that at a certain time and place the Lord was in our midst and He blessed us."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Jun 22)
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The state senate of Louisiana repeals the last of the nation’s racial classification laws.
The state senate of Louisiana repealed the last of the nation's racial classification laws. The unanimous senate action followed a 90-4 vote for repeal in the Louisiana House of Representatives on June 9, 1983. The racial classification law had defined a Black person as anyone with one-thirty-secondth “Negro" blood. The repeal effort gained impetus after an unsuccessful effort was made by Susan Guilliory Phipps of Sulphur, Louisiana, to have the racial designation on her birth certificate changed from Black to White. A state court judge, however, had ruled that Phipps had not proved "beyond doubt" that she was not at least one-thirty-second Black.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Aug 13)
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President Ronald Reagan vetoes a bill that allocated $20 million to implement a school desegregation program in Chicago.
President Ronald Reagan vetoed a bill that allocated $20 million to implement a school desegregation program in Chicago. The desegregation had been ordered by United States District Court Judge Milton I. Shadur on June 30, 1983. In that order, the judge said that the federal government should allocate more than $14 million for desegregating Chicago's schools in 1983-1984 and set aside $250 million more for possible distribution in the next five years. Pending resolution of the case, Shadur also ordered that $55 million allocated for other education programs across the nation be frozen. But in July 1983, he freed $6.5 million of the amount. In his veto message, President Reagan said: "The Chicago court's ostensible purpose in issuing this order was to provide a source of funds for the implementation of its decree. . . . Congress hoped by the passage of this legislation to induce the court to release the funds that were impounded by the court. But I believe that the better course is to seek swift reversal of the district court's order.” The president added that the government would pay the money mandated by the court if the decision was upheld, but he claimed that it was "inappropriate . . . for a court to withhold millions of dollars worth of unrelated and necessary education programs to enforce its orders.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Aug 20)
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A Chicago Sun Times survey revealed that more than 600,000 new Black voters were expected to register in nine southern states in time for the 1984 presidential election.
A Chicago Sun Times survey revealed that more than 600,000 new Black voters were expected to register in nine southern states—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia—in time for the 1984 presidential election. The survey's projections were derived from interviews with election officials in six states, who based their estimates on "current and anticipated registration trends." In the other three states—Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee—the figures were provided by independent Black organizations. By August 1983, 190,000 new Black voters had already been added to voter rolls in the southern states. The new Black voters were expected to have a “potent” and “perhaps decisive" impact not only in the upcoming presidential contest, but also in many local elections. One potential presidential candidate, Jesse Jackson, a Black minister and civil rights leader, had set a goal of two million new Black voters in the South by 1984. The attainment of this goal was viewed as "a key to his decision" whether or not to pursue the Democratic presidential nomination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Aug 21)
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The Bureau of the Census reports that the long standing trend of Blacks moving from the South to the North and West reversed in the 1970s.
The Bureau of the Census reported that "the traditional migration of Blacks from the South to the urban center of the North and West ended" in the 1970s. "Between 1975 and 1980, about 415,000 Black moved to the South, whereas (in the more recent period) only about 220,000 left, thereby reversing the longstanding Black exodus from the South.” In 1980, 53 percent of the nation's Blacks lived in the South—the same proportion as in 1970, yet approximately 60 percent of the nation's Black population lived in central cities—an increase of approximately 13 percent. The new demographic data was contained in a report entitled "America's Black Population: 1970 to 1982." It was based on data from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Labor Department, and other governmental agencies. The Census Bureau's report also noted that: 1) The number of Blacks in the civilian labor force increased by 2.7 million or 31 percent between 1972 and 1982, and the number of employed Blacks grew by 1.4 million, or 19 percent. However, the number of Blacks who were unemployed rose 140 percent, from 900,000 in 1972 to 2.1 million in 1982. The unemployment rate for Blacks continued at more than double the rate for Whites. In 1972, when the unemployment rate for Whites was 5 percent, the unemployment rate for Blacks was 10.3 percent. In 1982, the unemployment rates for both Blacks and Whites were the highest for any period since the second World War. 2) The median income for Black married couples increased 6.9 percent between 1971 and 1981. Such families, however, made up only 55 percent of all Black families in 1982, compared with 64 percent in 1972. 3) For all Black families, median income, after adjustment for inflation, declined by 8.3 percent since 1971, with a 5.2 percent drop occurring between 1980 and 1981. This decline was attributed to the increase in the number of single-parent Black families headed by females. In 1982, these families totaled 2.6 million—up 32 percent from 1972. Female-headed households made up 41 percent of all Black families and 70 percent of all poor Black families. 4) The poverty rate for Blacks remained steady at 34 percent, though there were one million more poor Blacks in 1980 than in 1970—nine million compared with eight million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Aug 23)
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Clarence Thomas, the Black chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, expresses concerns for Black colleges over the effort to desegregate the nation’s colleges.
Clarence Thomas, the Black chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, told a group of faculty and staff at Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, that Black colleges had become “the victim” in the effort to desegregate the nation's colleges. He added that the "threat” to Black colleges stemmed “from a misguided philosophy of desegregation that focuses on numbers rather than quality education for Blacks. ... If the goal of desegregation is to have every Black student sit next to a White student then there is no room in education for Black colleges,” he said. “If the goal is for quality education,” Thomas asserted, “then there is plenty of room.” Thomas also said that as the former assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, he became “terrified by the prospective effects of desegregation on Black colleges,” but added "they were not the ones doing the discriminating.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Aug 24)
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The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) opens its twenty-sixth annual convention in Washington, D.C.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) opened its twenty-sixth annual convention in Washington, D.C. In one of the opening addresses, the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, president of the SCLC, asserted: "We are being told still that America cannot afford freedom and justice for all of our citizens.... Two decades of hard-fought progress are in danger of erosion through budget cuts.... Federal agencies have callously abdicated their mandated responsibility to enforce anti-discrimination laws. ... Those rights we fought for dearly are being eroded." The SCLC was founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other southern civil rights leaders. The focus of the 1983 convention was “Jobs, Peace, and Freedom.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Sep 1)
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Luther Burse, former interim president of Cheyney State college in Pennsylvania, assumes the presidency of Fort Valley State College in Georgia.
Luther Burse, former interim president of Cheyney State college in Pennsylvania, assumed the presidency of Fort Valley State College in Georgia. Burse was born June 3, 1937, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He received a bachelor's degree from Kentucky State University in 1958 and a master's degree from the University of Maryland in 1969. He was also a research assistant at the University of Maryland from 1966 to 1969. Prior to accepting the presidency of Fort Valley State, Burse had also taught at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina (1960-1966), served as coordinator of graduate studies in the division of Applied and Behavioral Sciences (1969–1981), and was interim president of Cheyney State from 1981 to 1982.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Sep 17)
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Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America for 1984, making her the first Black woman to win the title.
Vanessa Williams, a twenty-year-old Black American woman from Millwood, New York, was crowned Miss America for 1984. It was the first time in the history of the sixty-year-old pageant that a Black woman had won the title. Indeed, for half of the pageant's history, Black females were barred from entering the competition. Williams, a junior at Syracuse University, entered the pageant as Miss New York. She cried as she walked down the runway after receiving the crown.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1980 (Dec 22)
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President-elect Ronald Reagan names Samuel Riley Pierce, Jr., a Black American lawyer, secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
President-elect Ronald Reagan named Samuel Riley Pierce, Jr., a Black American lawyer, secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He was the only minority person selected to join the new president's cabinet. Pierce was born on September 6, 1922, in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. He played football at Cornell University and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. After service in World War II, Pierce obtained a law degree from Cornell and began working as an assistant district attorney in New York City. In later years, he was appointed, on two separate occasions, to court vacancies in Manhattan borough by then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller, yet in 1959 he was defeated in a bid for election to a Manhattan judgeship. Pierce entered governmental service at the federal level in 1955 when President Dwight Eisenhower named him an assistant to the undersecretary of labor. He was the first Black American appointed to this position. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon made him the first Black to serve as a general counsel to the Treasury Department. At the time of his appointment to the Reagan cabinet, however, Pierce had left government and was serving as a partner in a prestigious New York law firm. Of Pierce's cabinet appointment, Barbara Penn Wright, Pierce's wife and a physician with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, remarked, "He's never been adverse to accepting a challenge. And he's always been able to handle them."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1981 (Apr 15)
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Thomas (Tom) Bradley is re-elected to a third term as mayor of Los Angeles, California.
Thomas (Tom) Bradley was reelected to a third term as mayor of Los Angeles, California. Bradley, a sixty-three-year-old Black American, defeated his perennial opponent, former mayor Sam Yorty, by a margin of 64 to 32 percent to gain four more years as mayor of the nation's third largest city.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1981 (Aug 1)
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Benjamin F. Payton assumes the office of president of Tuskegee Institute.
Benjamin F. Payton assumed the office of president of Tuskegee Institute. Payton succeeded Luther H. Foster, who retired after twenty-eight years as president of the historic and predominantly Black university founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881. Payton was program officer for education and public policy at the Ford Foundation at the time of his appointment to Tuskegee. He had previously taught and directed the Community Service Project at Howard University, directed the Commission on Religion and Race and the Department of Social Justice at the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A., and was a president of Benedict College in South Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Dec 1)
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James Baldwin, Black writer and civil rights activist, dies of cancer in France.
James Baldwin, Black writer and civil rights activist, died of cancer in St. Paul de Venece, France, at age sixty-three. Baldwin had moved to France in 1948 to escape what he felt was “the stifling racial bigotry” of the United States. Baldwin, the son of “an autocratic preacher who hated his son,” was born in the Harlem section of New York City in 1924. He began writing while a student at the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and by his early twenties was publishing essays and reviews in such publications as the Nation, the New Leader, Commentary, and Partisan Review. Baldwin also began socializing with a circle of New York writers and intellectuals, including William Barrett, Irving Howe, and Lionel Trilling. A prolific author, Baldwin published his three most important collections of essays: Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963) during the height of the civil rights movement. Some critics, the New York Times reported, "said his language was sometimes too elliptical, his indictments sometimes too sweeping. But then [his] prose, with its apocalyptic tone-a legacy of his early exposure to religious fundamentalism-and its passionate yet distanced sense of advocacy, seemed perfect for a period in which Blacks in the South lived under continued threats of racial violence and in which civil rights workers faced brutal beatings and even death." Other important works by Baldwin included Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), his first book and novel; Giovanni's Room (1956) and Another Country (1962), which contains a frank discussion of homosexuality; and the drama Blues for Mister Charlie (1964). In the preface to Blues for Mister Charlie, Baldwin noted that the work had been inspired “very distantly” by the murder of Emmett Till, a Black youth in Mississippi in 1955. He wrote: “What is ghastly and really almost hopeless in our racial situation now is that the crimes we have committed are so great and so unspeakable that the acceptance of this knowledge would lead, literally, to madness. The human being, then, in order to protect himself, closes his eyes, compulsively repeats his crimes, and enters a spiritual darkness which no one can describe.” During the civil rights movement, Baldwin not only wrote about the struggle, but helped raise money for it and organized protest marches. He was also an early opponent of the United State's involvement in the Vietnam War and a critic of discrimination against homosexuals. Baldwin's writings and activism were recognized by many groups both in this country and abroad. Perhaps the most distinguished of these was the Legion of Honor, France's highest national award, which was presented to him in 1986. Among those eulogizing Baldwin was a fellow African American novelist, Ralph Ellison, who commented, “America has lost one of its most gifted writers.” Henry Louis Gates Jr., a literary critic and professor at Cornell University, said Baldwin “educated an entire generation of Americans about the civil rights struggle and the sensibility of Afro-Americans as we faced and conquered the final barriers in our long quest for civil rights.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Dec 15)
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Civil rights activist Septima Poinsetta Clark dies.
Septima Poinsetta Clark, Black American civil rights activist, died on John's Island, South Carolina, at age eighty-nine. Clark was born to a former slave in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1898. She received a bachelor's degree from Benedict College in her native state and a master's from Hampton Institute in Virginia. Clark began her teaching career in a public school on John's Island in 1916. In 1918, she transferred to Avery Institute in Charleston and in that same year Clark led a drive to collect 20,000 signatures on a petition to have Black teachers hired by the Charleston County School District. The law barring their employment was changed in 1920. When Clark moved to Columbia in 1927, she aided a campaign to equalize salaries for Black and white teachers. After returning to Charleston several years later, Clark was dismissed from her teaching job for being a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1955. In the late 1950s, Clark worked at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, where she developed a program to teach illiterate Blacks so that they could pass literacy tests and qualify to vote. She later became a director of the school, a supervisor of teacher training for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and a national lecturer for voting and civil rights. In recognition of her contributions to the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. selected Clark to accompany him to Norway in 1964 when he was presented the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1974, she was elected to the Charleston County School Board. Five years later, President Jimmy Carter presented to Clark a Living Legacy Award. In 1982, she received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina's highest civilian award. Clark told the story of much of her life in her autobiographies, Echo in My Soul (1962) and Ready from Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement (1987). The latter won an American Book Award. Upon learning of Septima Clark's death, South Carolina Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr., said “the state has lost not only a leading civil rights activist but a legendary educator and humanitarian.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Oct)
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Hundreds of scholars, teachers, and students attend a major conference on the Study and Teaching of Afro-American History at Purdue University.
Hundreds of scholars, teachers, and students attended a major conference on the Study and Teaching of Afro-American History at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The meeting, which assessed the latest studies and trends in Black American life and history, was sponsored by the American Historical Association and directed by Darlene Clark Hine, a Purdue University history professor. In one of the keynote addresses at the conference, John Hope Franklin, professor of history at Duke University and one of the premiere scholars in Black American history, described a fourth generation of practitioners of Black American historical scholarship. He said the approaches of the recent generation of scholars, “the largest and perhaps the best trained [ever) were greatly stimulated by the drive for equality [during the 1950s and 1960s]." He also said that they had kept the subject "alive and vibrant.” Another keynote speaker, Black American labor historian William H. Harris (also the president of Paine College in Augusta, Georgia), suggested that scholars needed to do “more work” on the Black working class. He also indicated that “the quest for a change in perspective” by historians would "improve overall the range of history and the level of our understanding of the numerous Black experiences that have been lived in America."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Oct 27)
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Civil rights activist John Lewis receives the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award for his contributions to voter education and registration.
John Lewis, civil rights activist, was presented the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award for his contributions to voter education and registration by the Voter Education Project (VEP), at ceremonies commemorating the organization's twenty-first anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia. During its twenty-one year history, the VEP had helped register at least four million Black voters across the South. Lewis, who was beaten unconscious four times and arrested at least forty times during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, served as executive director of the Voter Education Project from 1970 to 1977. In accepting the VEP's highest honor Lewis said, “it means a great deal to me, but this isn't so much an honor for me as it is for the thousands of people who have worked in the voter registration movement. ... I think we're on the way to a biracial democracy in the South.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Nov 24)
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An A.C. Nielson survey reports that Blacks spend more time watching television than whites, and that their tastes are different.
An A.C. Nielson survey reported that Blacks spent more time watching television (35 percent) than whites, and “that their prime-time choices” were different. The top ranked television program among whites was the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” which ranked eighteenth among Black viewers. The top rated program among Blacks was the drama “Dynasty,” which ranked sixth among whites. Television programs with largely Black casts, "The A Team,” “Gimme a Break,” and “The Jeffersons” ranked second, third, and fourth among Blacks; among white viewers they were 23rd, 64th, and 24th, respectively.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Nov 2)
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President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing a federal holiday in honour of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
President Ronald Reagan signed a bill at the White House establishing a federal holiday in honour of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The president also paid personal tribute to King, saying his words and deeds had “stirred our nation to the very depths of its soul.” Reagan continued: “Dr. King made equality of rights his life's work. ... Often he was beaten, imprisoned, but he never stopped teaching nonviolence. ... If American history grows from two centuries to 20, Americans and others will still remember King's 'I Have a Dream' speech.” The president warned, however, that “traces of bigotry still mar America. . . . So each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the commandments he believed in and sought to live every day. Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” Many Americans, including soul singer Stevie Wonder (who composed and recorded a birthday song honoring King) and Coretta Scott King, the slain civil rights leader's widow, had lobbied for the holiday (which was to begin on the third Monday in January 1986) since King's assassination in 1968. At the White House ceremonies at which the president signed the holiday bill, Mrs. King remarked: “Thank God for the blessing of his [King's] life and his leadership and his commitment. What manner of man was this? May we make ourselves worthy to carry on his dream and create the [beloved] community.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Nov 11)
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The United States Congress and the Reagan administration reach an agreement to extend the life of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) after previous controversy between Reagan and the commission.
Representatives from the United States Congress and the Reagan administration reached an agreement to extend the life of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (CCR). Under the new accord, the six-member body would be reorganized into an eight-member one. The president and Congress would each name four members to serve staggered six-year terms and can only be removed "for cause, thus eliminating the possibility of firings for political reasons." Earlier, President Reagan had tried to replace but eventually fired three Democratic members of the Commission "who did not share his administration's views in opposing busing to achieve school desegregation and broad affirmative action relief in job-discrimination cases." Many congressmen complained that Reagan was attempting to destroy "the commission's independence and integrity." Congress refused to appropriate funds for the extension of the Commission on September 30, 1983. Under the agreement of November 11, two Democratic commissioners, Mary Frances Berry (a Black American) and Blandina C. Ramirez (a Hispanic), were reappointed by Congress. The two women were among the three commissioners released by Reagan. The CCR, an advisory group, investigated reports of discrimination and recommended steps for Congress and the president to take in remedying it. It was established in 1957.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (May 24)
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The United States Supreme Court rules that the federal government cannot grant tax exemptions to private schools that practice racial discrimination.
The United States Supreme Court, in an 8–1 decision, ruled that the federal government cannot grant tax exemptions to private schools that practice racial discrimination. Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, stated that "it would be wholly incompatible with the concepts underlying tax exemption to grant the benefit of tax exempt status to racially discriminatory educational entities.” Justice William H. Rehnquist was the lone dissenter. The Court's ruling upheld a policy of non-exemption for discriminatory private schools that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had adopted in 1971, but which the administration of President Ronald Reagan had tried to abandon in 1982. Under the original policy, Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, lost its tax-exempt status in 1975 because it prohibited interracial dating or marriage among its students, and the Goldsboro Christian Schools of Goldsboro, North Carolina, which refused to admit Blacks, also lost its tax-exempt status for 1969 through 1972. Both schools subsequently sued the IRS, but lost in both federal district and appellate courts. Both cases reached the Supreme Court on appeal from a lower court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (May 12)
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Louis Gossett, Jr., wins an Oscar for his role in the film An Officer and a Gentleman. Blacks demonstrate outside the Hollywood Music Center calling the Academy Awards a racist affair.
Louis Gossett, Jr., won an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role as a Marine Corps drill sergeant in the film An Officer and a Gentleman. He became the third Black actor or actress to win an Oscar in the fifty-five-year history of the awards. The first Black person to win the coveted honor was Hattie McDaniel, who was named best supporting actress for her work in Gone with the Wind in 1940. Sidney Poitier was named best actor for his lead role in the 1963 film Lillies of the Field. Gossett, age forty-four, had won an Emmy Award in 1977 for his role as Fiddler in the ABC miniseries "Roots.” As Gossett received his Oscar, Blacks demonstrated outside the Hollywood Music Center calling the Academy Awards a racist affair. In reaction to the protest, Gossett commented: “You shouldn't call anything racist if [it is] improving." He expressed the hope that his award would catch on like measles and "lead to the creation of more roles for Black actors and actresses in Hollywood."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1983 (Mar 4)
Published
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The Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Medal is awarded to Coretta Scott King.
Coretta Scott King, president of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change, was awarded the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Medal at Hyde Park, New York. King was cited for epitomizing the late president's four freedoms: worship, speech, from want, and from fear.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1981 (Nov 16)
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President Ronald Reagan appoints Clarence Pendleton, Jr., a fifty-year-old Black Californian, as the chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (CCR).
President Ronald Reagan fired Arthur S. Flemming, the seventy-six-year-old chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (CCR). Sources told United Press International (UPI) that the White House was "angered by the Commission's and Flemming's strong advocacy of affirmative action, voting rights, and . . . busing to achieve school desegregation." This was the first time in the twenty-four-year history of the commission that "an incoming administration [had] changed [the CCR's] membership, a restraint underlining a bipartisan commitment to civil rights." Flemming, a former secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was appointed to the commission in 1974 by President Richard M. Nixon. He had recently said that the Reagan administration's views on school desegregation were "in conflict with the Constitution." Reagan appointed Clarence Pendleton, Jr., a fifty-year-old Black Californian, to replace Flemming as chairman of the CCR. Pendleton, considered a conservative Republican, had supported Reagan in the 1980 elections. He had previously been chairman of the San Diego Transit Corporation and head of the San Diego Urban League. Pendleton became the first Black chairman of the Civil Rights Commission.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Feb 17)
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Pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk dies after suffering a massive stroke.
Pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk died after suffering a massive stroke. An important pioneer in the development of bop, Monk played a vital role in the jazz revolution of the early 1940s. At first, the pianist—a gifted technician and composer—was appreciated only by a small circle of New York's brightest. His angular melodies, harmonies marked by jarring surprises, unusual treatment of notes, and the absence of notes conspired to limit his initial appeal. Before his death in 1982, however, he was generally recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern jazz, and he is considered by some to be the most important jazz composer since Duke Ellington. Born October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Monk moved with his family to New York City in the early 1920s. At the age of eleven, weekly piano lessons supplemented Monk's rigorous gospel training, and he accompanied the Baptist choir in which his mother sang. Two years later, Monk was already playing in a trio at a local bar and grill, and he eventually won so many of the weekly Apollo Theater amateur contests that he was banned from entering any more. At age sixteen he left school to travel with an evangelical faith healer and preacher, and he returned the following year, well schooled in rhythm and blues accompaniment, to form his first group. With the exception of some brief work with the Lucky Millander Band and Coleman Hawkins, Monk was generally the leader of his own small groups. In the early 1940s, Monk found himself in the midst of a new wave of jazz music. Bebop, a faster and more complex style than its swing predecessor, was spontaneously generated late at night in jam sessions at jazz clubs, most notably at Minton's, where Monk reigned as house pianist. In fact, Keyboard claimed "Monk was at the eye of what would become the bebop hurricane." Monk's own music, however, was developing a unique style, and by the early 1950s the iconoclastic composer had penned the classics Blue Monk, Round Midnight, and Epistrophy. In 1951, Monk's career—already faltering—was dealt a serious blow as the result of questionable charges of narcotics possession that landed him in jail for sixty days and, more importantly, caused the New York State Liquor Authority to rescind his cabaret card. Without the card, Monk was prevented from playing local club dates and relied on the support of his patron and friend, the Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter. Within a few years his luck changed: Monk gave a series of concerts in Paris in 1954, cut Pure Monk, his first solo album, and signed with the Riverside label. An eight-month engagement at New York's Five Spot in 1957 established Monk as a cult icon and there he met jazz newcomer John Coltrane. In the following couple of years, the improvisational genius made several recordings for Riverside, including Brilliant Corners, Thelonious Himself, and Monk with Coltrane. These recordings were so successful that in 1962 Columbia Records offered Monk a lucrative contract, and in 1964 Time magazine featured his picture on its cover, a rare distinction for a jazz musician. In the following decade, living up to the New York Post's description of him as "one of jazz's great eccentrics," Monk retreated from the public eye, making only a few solo and trio recordings for Black Lion in London and giving occasional concerts. After suffering a massive stroke on February 17, 1982, Monk died. Monk's son, T.S. Monk, Jr., a drummer, recorded with blue note; his recording, Take One, was a tribute to his father and other bop composers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Feb 21)
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United States District Court Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., of the District of Columbia, rules that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) must give Black special agents preference in promotions and pay them for the period during which they suffered from a discriminatory promotions policy.
United States District Court Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., of the District of Columbia, ruled that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) must give Black special agents preference in promotions and pay them for the period during which they suffered from a discriminatory promotions policy. The order required a payment of about $2 million to be shared among the hundreds of Black DEA agents, according to their attorney. The ruling also meant that one Black agent for every two whites would have to be promoted to the sixth highest pay grade, or a higher federal pay grade. Those ranks carried salaries of $33,586 to $47,500 at the time. Judge Robinson had ruled in 1981 that the drug agency discriminated against Black agents with respect to salary, entry grades, work assignments, evaluations, discipline, and promotion during the period 1972 to 1981. The new order set the amount of back pay and provided a remedy for "eliminating the effect of the discrimination in the future." The judge said the preferential promotions for Blacks must continue either for five years or "until the percentage of Blacks in the six highest pay grades reached 10 percent."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Feb 27)
Published
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Wayne Williams, a twenty-three-year-old Black entertainment talent scout, is convicted of murder in the slaying of Jimmy Ray Payne, age twenty-one, and Nathaniel Cater, age twenty-seven, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Wayne Williams, a twenty-three-year-old Black entertainment talent scout, was convicted of murder in the slaying of Jimmy Ray Payne, age twenty-one, and Nathaniel Cater, age twenty-seven, in Atlanta, Georgia. Payne and Cater were two of the twenty-eight young Blacks, mostly males, who were slain in Atlanta in a twenty-two month period beginning in 1979. Most of the victims were strangled. The serial murders became known as the "Atlanta child murder cases," since most of the victims were under twenty-one years of age. The case began on July 27, 1979, when the first two bodies were found, but it was July 1980 before the police publicly linked the two cases. By that time, eleven Black children had disappeared or were found slain. The police action came after an organization of parents, the Committee to Stop Children's Murder (STOP), led by the mother of one of the victims, was formed in May 1980 to show linkages in the cases. During the twenty-two months when Black children's bodies were being found periodically in the metropolitan Atlanta area, President Ronald Reagan committed $1.5 million in federal funds and scores of FBI agents to the case. Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali pledged $400,000, and hundreds of thousands in additional dollars were donated by other athletes and celebrities or raised in benefit concerts. The state of Georgia and citizens throughout the nation gave thousands of dollars to help with the investigation or for a reward fund. Some of the donations went to STOP or directly to the mothers of the slain youths. The Guardian Angels, a group of New York City citizens who patrolled the subways of their city to deter crime, went to Atlanta to teach local youths how to defend themselves. A vigilante group of Blacks armed with baseball bats in the Techwood housing projects formed a "Bat Patrol" to protect Black children. In addition, psychics, writers, civil rights activists, and others offered theories on the motives and identities of the killer or killers. Many were convinced that Ku Klux Klansmen or other white supremacist groups were responsible for the murders. And since most of the victims were young Black males, the theory that a homosexual committed the crimes also emerged. On May 22, 1981, law enforcement officers on stake out along the Chattahoochee River in north Atlanta heard a loud splash. Shortly thereafter, other officers questioned and detained Wayne Williams after he was noticed driving slowly with his headlights dimmed across the James Jackson Parkway Bridge over the Chattahoochee. Two days later, the body of twenty-seven-year-old Nathaniel Cater was found floating in the river. On June 21, 1981, Williams was arrested and charged with the murders of Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne. Williams, who took the stand in his own defense during the trial, vigorously denied that he had committed the murders. He and his attorneys refuted suggestions of a homosexual motive and denied any acquaintance with most of the seven victims in whose company prosecution witnesses had placed him. The prosecution, however, had also presented fibers taken from clothing and other fabrics and bloodstains found in Williams's car as evidence. On February 27, 1982, after eleven hours of deliberations, a majority Black jury found Williams guilty of two counts of murder. The presiding judge, Clarence Cooper, also a Black American, sentenced Williams to two consecutive life terms in prison. The defense promised an immediate appeal. The "Atlanta child murder cases" involved one of the largest searches for a killer in the nation's history, and Wayne Williams was convicted as America's first Black major serial murderer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Mar 17)
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Reuben M. Greenberg is named the first Black police chief of Charleston, South Carolina, by Mayor Joseph Riley.
Reuben M. Greenberg, a thirty-two-year-old deputy director of the Florida Division of Criminal Justice Standards and Training, was named the first Black police chief of Charleston, South Carolina, by Mayor Joseph Riley. The South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy also announced that Greenberg's appointment made him "the first Black police chief in modern South Carolina history."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Mar 20)
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Ernest “Dutch” Morial is re-elected mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ernest "Dutch" Morial was re-elected mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. The city's first Black American chief executive defeated Ron Raucheux, a White legislator, 71,231 votes (56 percent) to 55,814 votes (44 percent) with 75 percent of the vote counted. Although New Orleans had a majority Black population at the time of the election, more Whites were registered to vote than Blacks. Morial was expected to need about fifteen percent of the White vote to win.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Mar 23)
Published
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The City Council of Houston, Texas, confirms Lee P. Brown as the city’s first Black police commissioner.
The City Council of Houston, Texas, confirmed Lee P. Brown as the city's first Black police commissioner. Brown, age forty-four, had recently been the second Black police commissioner in Atlanta, Georgia. During his tenure in Atlanta, the city was the site of the murders of twenty-eight young Black people over a period of twenty-two months. The murders were linked in 1980 and in the following year, Wayne Williams, a young Black man, was accused of the serial slayings. He was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison less than one month before Brown resigned from the police department. Although Brown was variously praised and criticized for his department's handling of the "Atlanta child murder cases," he denied that his resignation was connected with the infamous case. Brown, a former head of the police department in Portland, Oregon, said it was simply time for him to seek a new challenge. Brown was the first person chosen from outside the department to head Houston's police force. The department was frequently under criticism by some of the city's Blacks for alleged brutality.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (May 6)
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Loretta Glickman is elected mayor of Pasadena, California, by the city’s board of directors, making her the first Black woman to become mayor of a major city in the United States.
Loretta Glickman, a thirty-six-year-old Black American investment counselor, was elected mayor of Pasadena, California, by the city's board of directors. Glickman, who had also been a teacher and singer, was the first Black woman to become mayor of a major city in the United States. In response to her election, Glickman said that Pasadena was a place "where dreams can and do come true."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Jun 23)
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Coleman Young, the first Black American mayor of Detroit, Michigan, is elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its fiftieth annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Coleman Young, the first Black American mayor of Detroit, Michigan, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its fiftieth annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, succeeding Helen Booalis of Lincoln, Nebraska. Young announced immediately after his selection that he would ask mayors to return soon for a special meeting to recommend ways to strengthen their local economies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Jun 30)
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The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturns an initiative from the state of Washington that prohibited the voluntary assignment of students to schools beyond their neighborhoods.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned an initiative from the state of Washington that prohibited the voluntary assignment of students to schools beyond their neighborhoods. In an opinion written by Justice Harry Blackmun, the Court said the statewide vote in the state of Washington violated the equal protection guarantee of the U.S. Constitution because it imposed an "unfair burden" on minority groups, who were to "be dealt with at the state level, which is more remote than the local school board." The high Court also said the initiative burdened "all future attempts to integrate Washington schools in districts throughout the state by lodging decision-making authority over the question at a new and remote level of government." Justices Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Chief Justice Warren Burger dissented. Justice Powell considered the ruling an "unprecedented intrusion into the structure of a state government" by depriving "the state of Washington of all opportunity to address the unsolved questions resulting from extensive mandatory busing." The case stemmed from a voluntary plan that the Seattle school board adopted in 1977. It involved the busing of some seven thousand students. In 1978, the state's voters approved Initiative 350 to end the busing. A lower federal court, in a suit filed by the school board, upheld the plan and declared the referendum unconstitutional. Thus, the case reached the Supreme Court on further appeal by opponents of busing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Jul 5)
Published
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The United States Supreme Court rule that “nonviolent boycotts, organized to achieve constitutional rights goals,” are protected by the First Amendment guarantees of free speech.
The United States Supreme Court ruled that "nonviolent boycotts, organized to achieve constitutional rights goals," are protected by the First Amendment guarantees of free speech. The decision reversed a ruling by the supreme court of Mississippi that held that the NAACP and ninety-one Black citizens were liable for business losses caused by a boycott of local merchants in Port Gibson, Mississippi, which began in 1966. The Port Gibson boycott was launched by Blacks to achieve desegregation in schools and public facilities, to encourage the hiring of Black police officers, and to improve lighting, sewers, and the paving of streets in Black neighborhoods. The Mississippi court, however, citing evidence of coercion and violence during the boycott, declared the protest "an illegal conspiracy" and ordered its end. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, ruled that "the presence of some illegal threats and violence" did not mean that all of the business losses, in the seven-year period, were attributable to the "illegal" aspects of the boycotts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Aug 21)
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Calvin Simmons, the thirty-two-year-old Black American conductor of the Oakland (California) Symphony Orchestra, drowns in Lake Placid, New York.
Calvin Simmons, the thirty-two-year-old Black American conductor of the Oakland (California) Symphony Orchestra, was presumed drowned in Lake Placid, New York. Witnesses said he never surfaced after his boat capsized in about twenty-three feet of water on Connery Pond. Simmons was considered one of the nation's most promising young Black Conductors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Oct 27)
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Richard T. Rives, senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit who rendered the historic decision in 1955 that declared discrimination on Montgomery, Alabama, buses unconstitutional, dies of an apparent heart attack in Montgomery, Alabama, at age eighty-seven.
Richard T. Rives, senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, died of an apparent heart attack in Montgomery, Alabama, at age eighty-seven. Rives had served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit since 1951 and served as that court's chief judge from 1959 to 1966. He became senior judge of the eleventh circuit court after it was split from the fifth circuit at the time of his death. Rives and Judge Frank M. Johnson rendered the historic decision in 1955 that declared discrimination on Montgomery, Alabama, buses unconstitutional. The ruling was later upheld by the United States Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Nov 5)
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Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., accepts a posthumous award for her father from the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., accepted a posthumous award for her father from the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The award recognized the late civil rights leader's work against apartheid in South Africa. In 1965, King had called for an international boycott against South Africa. He predicted that "the day is fast approaching when people of good will all over the world will rise up in nonviolent solidarity with freedom fighters in Africa."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Dec 4)
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Herschel Walker, Black American running back for the University of Georgia, wins the Heisman Trophy.
Herschel Walker, Black American running back for the University of Georgia, won the Heisman Trophy, football's highest collegiate award, in New York City. Walker, a native of Wrightsville, Georgia, became the seventh person to capture the Heisman in his junior year. He had previously been named to the football writers All-America team on three occasions. In the balloting for the Heisman, Walker received 525 first place votes, followed by Stanford University (California) quarterback John Elway with 139 first place votes, and Southern Methodist University (Texas) running back Eric Dickerson with 31 first place votes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Dec 16)
Published
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit orders approval of a system of promotions on the New Orleans police force that would make it half Black at every level.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered approval of a system of promotions on the New Orleans police force that would make it half Black at every level. Under the ruling, Blacks would be promoted to forty-four new positions immediately, then Blacks and Whites would be promoted on a one-to-one ratio. In addition, the police department was ordered to recruit more Blacks, make it more difficult for a Black police cadet to fail, set up $300,000 as a back-pay fund, and pay the fees of the plaintiffs' lawyers. The suit that resulted in this ruling was filed by thirteen Black New Orleans police officers in 1973. They claimed that the city, its Civil Service Commission, and various officials discriminated against them. The suit was dismissed for failure to prosecute in 1978, but was later reopened.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1982 (Dec 16)
Published
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James C. White is appointed commissioner of the Department of Revenue for the state of Alabama by Governor George C. Wallace who was formerly a devoted segregationist.
James C. White, a thirty-four-year-old accountant, was named commissioner of the Department of Revenue for the state of Alabama. White, a resident of Birmingham, was appointed to the position by Governor George C. Wallace, formerly a staunch segregationist. White, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, earned a Bachelor's degree in accounting from Dillard University in Louisiana. In May 1973, he co-founded Banks, Finley, White, and Company Certified Public Accountants, "the largest minority CPA firm in the nation." White's appointment as revenue commissioner made him the highest-ranking Black in the executive branch of Alabama government and one of the few Blacks to hold such a position in the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jan 31)
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The Georgia Power Company is ordered to pay retroactive wages and pension benefits to Black employees who had been denied equal job rights.
A federal court in Atlanta ordered the Georgia Power Company, the state's largest utility corporation, to pay retroactive wages and pension benefits amounting to almost $2.1 million to Black employees who had been denied equal job rights. The ruling also required the company to increase Black employment to 17 percent of the total work force within five years. At the time of the court's decision, 9.3 percent of the company's 8,278 workers were Black. The ruling resulted from a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Mar 10)
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The CDC reports that between 1992 – 1993, AIDS cases rose by 111 percent, and half of all new heterosexual cases involved Blacks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported that from 1992 to 1993 AIDS cases rose by 111 percent. Half of all new heterosexual cases involved Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Dec 16)
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Gwendolyn Brooks receives the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for her poetry collection, Annie Allen.
Gwendolyn Brooks received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for her poetry collection, Annie Allen. This same collection brought Brooks fame back in 1950, when she became the first Black American to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. After the book's publication she became established as a major American poet, and in 1976 she was the first Black woman to obtain membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters. A sensitive interpreter of Northern ghetto life, Brooks began to write poetry at age seven. From 1969 on she has promoted the idea that Black Americans must develop their own culture. She was poet laureate of Illinois for sixteen years and is poetry consultant to the Library of Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 9)
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The Justice Department is called to investigate Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in connection with gifts he had allegedly accepted from Tyson Foods, Inc.
Attorney General Janet Reno called for the Justice Department to investigate Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in connection with gifts he had allegedly accepted from Tyson Foods, Inc. Espy announced his resignation two months later, while the investigation was still in progress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 8)
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Barbara Jordan and Dorothy Height are awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In a ceremony held in Washington, D.C., President Bill Clinton awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, to nine people. Included in the group were Barbara Jordan, former representative from Texas, and civil rights activist Dorothy Height.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 6)
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A race riot erupts at a Boston, MA high school.
Outside South Boston High School in Massachusetts, racial violence arose between Black and white students. The problem began earlier in the day when about one hundred Black and white students walked out of class to protest what they felt were inadequate security measures at the school. Classes were dismissed due to the peaceful demonstration. As Black students got on buses to ride home, a crowd of white students began throwing rocks and bottles at them. The two groups exchanged racial slurs, and several people—including Boston's mayor, who had come to the school to talk to the students about security—received minor injuries. During the mid-1970s, South Boston High School was the scene of the nation's most brutal battles against court-ordered busing to achieve desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 24)
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The second African American Summit is held Libreville, Gabon. Many Black Americans and African heads of state attend to establish ties between Blacks from all nations.
In the African city of Libreville, Gabon, the second African American Summit opened. In attendance were more than one thousand Black Americans (including prominent politicians, civil rights activists, religious leaders, corporate officials, and entertainers) and three thousand Africans, including twenty heads of state. Organized by African American human rights activist Leon Howard Sullivan, the summit was intended to establish ties between Blacks from all nations. Attendees were also scheduled to discuss ways of promoting economic development and improving health care and farming techniques in Africa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 22)
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Heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe retains his title by defeating challenger Jesse Ferguson.
In Washington, D.C., heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe retained his title by defeating challenger Jesse Ferguson just seventeen seconds into the second round of their fight.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 18)
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Black poet Rita Dove becomes the first Black U.S. poet laureate.
Librarian of Congress James Billington named forty-year-old Black poet Rita Dove as U.S. poet laureate. She was the first Black woman to serve in the ceremonial post. (Author Gwendolyn Brooks was a consultant on poetry to the Library of Congress before the poet laureate position was created.) The job of U.S. poet laureate—a term borrowed from the British—is to promote poetry through the library's literature programs and advise the library on literary matters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 16)
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Singer Marv Johnson, co-creator with Berry Gordy of the famous Motown sound, dies.
Singer Marv Johnson, co-creator with Berry Gordy of the famous Motown sound, died two days after suffering a stroke during a concert in South Carolina. He was fifty-four. Johnson was the first singer that Gordy recorded and managed. The two of them combined Johnson's background in gospel music with a churchy-sounding female chorus and a male bass to create a uniquely Black American product that appealed to Black as well as white audiences. The new sound debuted in 1959 with a song entitled "Come to Me" that Johnson recorded on the United Artists label. He had his first big hit a year later with "You Got 'What It Takes." Several other hits followed over the next few years, but by the 1970s, Johnson's popularity declined. He continued to tour throughout the United States and Europe, however, often appearing with various Motown artists.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 12)
Published
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Blacks in Miami, Florida, call off their tourism boycott that start three years prior when the local government snubbed South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela during his visit there.
After nearly three years, Blacks in Miami, Florida, called off a tourism boycott that had cost the city an estimated $50 million. The boycott had begun shortly after local government officials snubbed South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela during his visit in June 1990. It ended when Blacks in the Miami area felt they had finally convinced Hispanic and white business and government leaders to give them more economic and political power.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 26)
Published
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Former Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy “Campy” Campanella dies.
Former Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy "Campy" Campanella, who spent the last thirty-five years of his life in a wheelchair following a car accident that ended his career, died in Los Angeles, California, of a heart attack. He was seventy-one.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that workers who file job discrimination suits must prove that accusations are rooted in racial discrimination and not for other reasons.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case involving job discrimination that workers do not automatically win bias suits by proving that their employers gave false reasons for firing them. According to legal experts, the new ruling meant that workers who suspected they were fired because of racial discrimination must prove the cause of the firing was really rooted in racial bias and not just the result of personal conflicts or other reasons.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 24)
Published
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Virginia’s L. Douglas Wilder, the country’s first Black elected governor, announces his Senate seat plans.
Virginia's L. Douglas Wilder, the country's first Black elected governor, revealed that he intended to challenge fellow Democrat Charles Robb for Robb's seat in the U.S. Senate in the 1994 elections.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 24)
Published
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Longtime mayor of Detroit, Michigan, Coleman Young, announces that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term.
Saying he lacked the energy to continue leading the city, the longtime mayor of Detroit, Michigan, Coleman Young, announced that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term. He had served as mayor since 1973.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 22)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Post Office unveils a stamp honoring the late Black American boxer Joe Louis.
In Detroit, Michigan, the U.S. Post Office unveiled a stamp honoring the late Black American boxer Joe Louis on the fifty-fifth anniversary of his stunning defeat over Germany's Max Schmeling. Louis was the first fighter to be honored with a stamp.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 19)
Published
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James B. Parsons, the country’s first Black federal judge, dies.
James B. Parsons, who became the country's first Black federal judge when President John F. Kennedy appointed him in 1961, died in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of eighty-one. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Parsons worked as a teacher during the 1930s and 1940s before earning his law degree at the University of Chicago in 1949. He then taught briefly at John Marshall Law School and was a lawyer for the city of Chicago. From 1951 until 1960, Parsons was an assistant U.S. attorney He served with the old Superior Court of Cook County (Illinois) for a year before taking the federal judgeship. He remained in the position and was active in trial work until 1992, when he retired due to illness.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 18)
Published
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The trial of three white police officers charged in the 1992 death of Black motorist Malice Green begins.
In Detroit, Michigan, opening arguments began in the trial of three white police officers charged in the 1992 death of Black motorist Malice Green. According to witnesses who testified for the prosecution, officers Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers approached Green while he was in his car, which was parked in front of a suspected drug house. They became angry when he refused to obey their orders to open up his clenched right fist, and began beating him with their heavy police flashlights. A third officer, Robert Lessnau, arrived while the beating was underway. He pulled Green from his car, threw him on the ground, and kicked him. The beating continued until the officers finally allowed a waiting ambulance crew to treat Green, who died on the way to the hospital. An autopsy later showed he had received at least fourteen blows to the head. Budzyn and Nevers were charged with second-degree murder in Green's death, and Lessnau faced charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. All three men were fired from the police force after being charged. Attorneys for the former officers based their defense on doubts about the true cause of Green's death. They did not deny that the policemen had beaten the Black man, but they depicted Green as high on drugs and ready for a fight when the officers approached him. The defense attorneys claimed that he had alcohol and cocaine in his system when he died and that he had a diseased heart. They argued that those conditions played a bigger role in his death than the beating did. On August 23, 1993, two separate juries found Budzyn and Nevers guilty of second-degree murder. They both faced up to life in prison but were allowed to go free on bond while waiting to be sentenced. Meanwhile, their attorneys vowed to appeal the convictions. Former officer Lessnau, who had allowed the judge rather than a jury to decide his case, was found not guilty of assault. Most Black Detroiters praised the verdicts but were angry that Budzyn and Nevers would remain free until their sentencing on October 12.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jul 19)
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Lawyer Gaynelle Griffin Jones is nominated to be the first black U.S. attorney in Texas.
President Bill Clinton nominated Houston lawyer Gaynelle Griffin Jones to be the first black U.S. attorney in Texas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 30)
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Thomas A. Dorsey, “the father of gospel music,” dies of Alzheimer’s disease.
Thomas A. Dorsey, "the father of gospel music," died of Alzheimer's disease at his home in Chicago, Illinois. He was ninety-three.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 26)
Published
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The FBI and Black agents settle a racial discrimination dispute. White agents who opposed the settlement challenged it in federal court.
After nearly two years of negotiations, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department announced that an agreement had been reached in a racial discrimination dispute between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its Black agents. Under the terms of the agreement, more than one hundred Black special agents were scheduled for promotions, transfers, or new training that had been denied to them as a result of racial bias in the overwhelmingly white federal agency. (At the time of the settlement, about ninety percent of FBI agents were white males; only about five percent were Black) The FBI also agreed to let a federal judge supervise its personnel practices for five years. In addition, the agency planned to hire outside consultants to study its procedures for promoting, evaluating, and disciplining special agents, and it pledged to change the way in which it chooses agents for assignments and training programs. White agents opposed to the settlement later took steps to challenge it in federal court. They felt it was a "race conscious" agreement that violated the equal employee rights of non-Black agents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 25)
Published
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Bert Andrews, a photographer whose work chronicled the history of Black theater, dies of cancer.
Bert Andrews, a photographer whose work chronicled the history of Black theater, died of cancer in New York City. He was sixty-three. Andrews photographed many of Broadway's biggest stars, including James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Denzel Washington, Billy Dee Williams, Lou Gossett Jr., Morgan Freeman, Phylicia Rashad, Raymond St. Jacques, and Diana Sands. He also took pictures of memorable scenes from the shows Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, A Soldier's Play, and Bubbling Brown Sugar, to name a few. Much of his work is on display at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, and in the 1990 book In the Shadow of the Great White Way: Images from the Black Theater.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 24)
Published
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Retired Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall dies of a heart attack.
Just days after illness forced him to cancel plans to swear in new vice-president Al Gore, retired Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall died of a heart attack in Bethesda, Maryland. An outspoken opponent of the conservative direction the country had taken since 1980, the eighty-four-year-old jurist had once vowed that he would not die until the Democrats were in the White House again. On the Wednesday after Marshall's death, nearly twenty thousand people filed past his coffin in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court. There they paid their respects to the man known as "Mr. Civil Rights" in recognition of his lifelong commitment to achieving justice for all, especially the poor and minorities. The next day, four thousand civil rights leaders, members of Congress, and others (including the president and the vice-president and their wives) gathered at Washington's National Cathedral for a memorial service. Marshall was buried on Friday at a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 21)
Published
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Michael Espy is appointed secretary of agriculture. He later resigned.
President Bill Clinton appointed Michael Espy as secretary of agriculture. Espy had served as a congressman from Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1986, working on committees such as the House Agricultural Committee, the Sub-Committee on Cotton, Rice, and Sugar, and the Sub-Committee on Conservation, Credit, and Rural Development. Espy resigned as secretary in December of 1994 because of a federal ethics investigation of accusations that he had accepted gifts from companies regulated by the Department of Agriculture.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Feb 6)
Published
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Heavy-weight boxing champion Riddick Bowe defends his title by defeating challenger Michael Dokes.
In New York City, heavy-weight boxing champion Riddick Bowe retained his title by taking only a little more than two minutes to defeat challenger Michael Dokes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Feb 3)
Published
0 0
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott is fined $25,000 and suspended from Major League Baseball games for one year for her alleged use of racial slurs. Many people were dissatisfied with this seemingly mild punishment.
Major League Baseball owners fined Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott $25,000 and suspended her from the game for one year for her alleged use of racial slurs. Under the terms of the suspension, Schott was banned from watching games in the owner's box. She was also forbidden from running the team's day-to-day business but was allowed to be involved in major decisions. Her fellow owners also agreed to cut her suspension to only eight months if she behaved herself and if she attended a multicultural training program. Many people, including Atlanta Braves vice-president Hank Aaron, were dissatisfied with this punishment. They felt it amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist for Schott. It was hoped that the other team owners would remove her from the game permanently.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Dec 5)
Published
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Pearl Stewart, the first Black woman editor of a major daily newspaper, resigns her position with the Oakland Tribune after the formerly Black-owned Tribune was sold to the Alameda Newspaper Group the previous year.
Pearl Stewart, the first Black woman editor of a major daily newspaper, resigned her position with the Oakland Tribune due to differences with the new management. A longtime symbol of racial pride, the formerly Black-owned Tribune was sold to the Alameda Newspaper Group the previous year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Aug 14)
Published
0 0
Jacqueline Mofokeng becomes the first Black woman to be crowned Miss South Africa.
In Johannesburg, 21 year-old Jacqueline Mofokeng became the first Black woman to be crowned Miss South Africa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 30)
Published
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President Bill Clinton nominates University of Pennsylvania law professor Lani Guinier as assistant attorney general for civil rights, but later withdraws the nomination.
President Bill Clinton nominated University of Pennsylvania law professor Lani Guinier as assistant attorney general for civil rights, one of the most important posts in the Justice Department. On June 4, 1993, he withdrew her nomination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-05-mn-43571-story.html. Retrieved 1/14/2023.
1993 (Apr 30)
Published
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The first National Urban Peace and Justice Summit begins, bringing together over one hundred current and former gang members, community organizers, and religious leaders.
In Kansas City, Missouri, the first National Urban Peace and Justice Summit began in an inner-city Baptist church. The unusual three-day meeting was deliberately scheduled to coincide with the first anniversary of the Los Angeles riots. It brought together over one hundred current and former gang members, community organizers, and religious leaders from twenty-six cities across the country. (About half the participants were Black, and the other half were Hispanic.) They discussed how to stop the violence in America's urban areas (including ways to expand the gang truce in Los Angeles that began after the riots), fostering neighborhood economic development, dealing with police brutality, and gaining political power.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 28)
Published
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President Bill Clinton nominates Lee Brown as head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.
President Bill Clinton nominated fifty-five-year-old Lee Brown as "drug czar"—the head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, a cabinet-level position. With a background in law enforcement, Brown had formerly served as head of the police departments in Atlanta, Georgia (1978-82), Houston, Texas (1982-90), and New York City (1990-92). He was the first Black and the first police officer ever chosen to lead the country's war on drugs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jan 9)
Published
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The National Urban League recommends a $50 billion aid program to help close the economic gap.
The National Urban League (NUL) said that in order to close the economic gap between black and white Americans, a $50 billion aid program, similar to the one that rebuilt Europe after World War II (the Marshall Plan) was needed. In the 15th Annual "The State of Black America" Report, the NUL contended that the fiscal and social policies of the administration of former president Ronald Reagan had helped "stall the efforts of blacks to achieve greater economic parity" with whites in the 1980s. The report added, however, that "the greater openness" of the administration of President George Bush had "inspired new confidence in the federal government's ability to complete our unfinished revolution for democracy and human rights."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jan 13)
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Lawrence Douglas Wilder is inaugurated as governor of Virginia, making him the first Black American elected chief executive of a state in American history.
Lawrence Douglas Wilder was inaugurated as governor of Virginia, making him the first Black American elected chief executive of a state in American history. The only other Black to have occupied a governor's office was P. B. S. Pinchback, who served as acting governor of Louisiana for a month at the end of 1872. Wilder, the grandson of slaves, was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1931, the seventh of eight children of Robert and Beulah Wilder. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Virginia Union University in 1951 and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law in 1959. Returning immediately to his Church Hill neighborhood in Richmond to open a law practice, Wilder "soon developed a reputation for flamboyance, driving convertibles and breezing into court, all smiles and trendy clothes, to take on difficult criminal cases." Wilder's political career began in 1970, when he was elected to the Virginia state senate. There he spearheaded a campaign to make the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a state holiday. The best he could achieve, however, was the addition of King's name to a holiday for Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Although he had not been an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Wilder began his tenure in the senate with "a blistering attack" on the state song "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny." He and other Blacks objected to "the sentimental [melody] about a slave pining for the plantation," which included such lyrics as "There's where this old darky's heart am long'd to go" and ""There's where I labor'd so hard for old massa." Although the song was not removed, its playing at public functions was greatly diminished. Wilder remained in the state senate until 1986, when he was lieutenant-governor. At the time, he was the only Black serving in that position in the country, but gained increasing popularity in the state for his opposition to a sales tax increase. When Wilder began his campaign for governor, he changed his position against the expansion of the death penalty to support for its more frequent use. He also went from a vague position on a woman's right to an abortion to an enthusiastic supporter of that right, after polls showed that some two-thirds of Virginians supported a woman's right to choose. Following his election, several analysts credited Wilder's strong pro-choice position for providing him the margin of his slim victory. When Wilder took the oath of office as governor, he declared, "I am a son of Virginia. ... We mark today not a victory of party or the accomplishments of an individual but the triumph of an idea, an idea as old as America, as old as the God who looks out for us all. It is the idea expressed so eloquently from this great commonwealth by those who gave shape to the greatest nation ever known. ... The idea that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jan 10)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census reports that the Black population is increasing in the southern U.S.
The Bureau of the Census reported that the proportion of Blacks living in the Southern region of the United States increased from 1980 to 1988, the first such rise in this century. Fifty-six percent of all Blacks resided in the South in 1988, compared with 52 percent in 1980. The proportion had been declining since the beginning of the century when it was at 90 percent. The Northeast was the only region in the 1980s to show a significant decline in the proportion of its Black population, dropping from 19 percent to 17 percent. The proportion for the Midwest (19 percent) and West (8 percent), according to the Bureau, did not change significantly. The number of Blacks living in the South in 1988 totaled 16.4 million, an increase of 2.8 million since 1980.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jan 10)
Published
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Marcelite J. Harris is named brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, becoming the first Black woman to hold this rank in that branch of the Armed Services.
Marcelite J. Harris, a forty-six-year-old native of Houston, Texas, was named brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force. She was the first Black woman to hold this rank in that branch of the Armed Services. Harris earned a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Maryland. She was the Air Force's first female aircraft maintenance officer. In 1975 Harris was named personnel staff officer at Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she also served as a White House aide to former president Jimmy Carter.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 4 - 7)
Published
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Four Black demonstrators protesting the dismissal of Norward Roussell as the first Black superintendent of Selma, Alabama’s schools, are arrested after a melee in the mayor’s office.
Four Black protesters were arrested after a melee in the mayor's office in Selma, Alabama, on February 4. The Blacks were protesting the earlier dismissal of Norward Roussell as the first Black superintendent of the city's schools. The Selma Board of Education had said that Roussell's managerial skills were questionable. Among those arrested on February 4 were, Rose Sanders and Carlos Williams, local attorneys, and Perry Varner, a Dallas County commissioner. On February 6, the Selma Board of Education offered to rehire Superintendent Roussell at least temporarily and asked the five Black members of the board to return to their posts. The five Blacks had resigned in December 1989 after a racially divided school board voted against extending Roussell's contract. F. D. Reese, the Black high school principal who had been named interim school superintendent on February 4, said he would relinquish the job to Roussell. On February 7, despite the temporary reinstatement of Roussell as superintendent of Selma's schools, hundreds of demonstrators protested at City Hall. They demanded a permanent reinstatement for Roussell and charged that Rose Sanders, an attorney arrested in a previous protest on February 4, had been brutalized by police. Meanwhile, the town's schools, which were 70 percent Black, remained closed. Since December 1989, when the six white school board members rebuffed the five Black ones and voted to oust Roussell as superintendent, Black students had also boycotted several of the city's schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 3)
Published
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Professor and activist Angela Davis addresses a crowd at Spelman College, stating that activism is intensifying.
Angela Davis, professor of ethnic and women's studies at San Francisco State University, told a crowd of 1,500 people at Spelman College in Atlanta that "we're moving to an era of intense activism, something that is going to make the '60s look like a tea party." Davis was a controversial figure in the 1960s and 1970s as an activist who took more radical stances on issues than did leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roy Wilkins, of SCLC and the NAACP, respectively. In 1972, at the age of twenty-eight, Davis was tried and later acquitted of aiding three Black men who killed a judge during a shootout at the Marin County, California, courthouse. In 1980, she was the vice presidential candidate of the American Communist Party. In the 1980s, Davis, the late Malcolm X, and other Black "radicals" of the 1960s and 1970s had a resurgence of influence among young Black Americans, particularly on college campuses, as folk heroines and heroes. Their calls for "liberation by any means necessary" seemed to have new relevance to the problems of Blacks in the current decades, in the eyes of the students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 23)
Published
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Arthur A. Fletcher is named chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
President George Bush named Black businessman Arthur A. Fletcher chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR). Fletcher, age sixty-five, had served with Bush when the president was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1971. Fletcher was an assistant secretary of labor in the administration of President Richard M. Nixon and deputy assistant for urban affairs for President Gerald R. Ford. In 1978, he lost a contest for mayor of Washington, D.C., to Democrat Marion Barry. Fletcher succeeded William Barclay Allen, who, as chairman of the CCR, had been embroiled in several controversies, even with fellow commissioners. After he delivered a speech in 1989 titled "Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?" the commission, by vote of 6-1, condemned Allen's speech as thoughtless, disgusting and unnecessarily inflammatory." Allen and his predecessor, the late Clarence Pendleton, had also drawn the ire of some congresspersons and civil rights leaders for failing to aggressively champion civil rights enforcement. But the appointment of Fletcher drew praises. Benjamin Hooks, Executive director of the NAACP, for example, described Fletcher as a fair-minded, down-the-middle-of-the-road kind of person."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 21 - 24)
Published
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Students at historically Black Tennessee State University stage sit-ins and marches protesting poor conditions at the school.
Students at historically Black Tennessee State University in Nashville staged sit-ins and marches protesting poor conditions at the school. Targets of the protest were university president Otis Floyd and the state Board of Regents, the governing body for Tennessee's institutions of higher education. Several students were arrested for violating school rules or criminal laws during the demonstrations. Some of them, including Jeff Carr, the student body president, rejected offers of amnesty.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 11)
Published
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James “Buster” Douglas defeats Mike Tyson in a major upset, becoming the world’s heavyweight boxing champion.
James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the tenth round of the Tokyo, Japan, match to take the world's heavyweight boxing championship in a major upset. Douglas, a twenty-four-year-old Black American from Columbus, Ohio, went into the contest against the champion with a 18-2-1 record, including fourteen knockouts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 11)
Published
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Nelson R. Mandela, the major symbol of the struggle for human rights in the Republic of South Africa, is released from prison after serving twenty-seven years.
Nelson R. Mandela, the major symbol of the struggle for human rights in the Republic of South Africa, was released from prison after serving twenty-seven years. Mandela's release was ordered by Frederick W. de Klerk, the new president of South Africa. It was applauded by political and human rights leaders around the world, including the United States. In 1986, the U.S. Congress had passed the Anti-Apartheid Act, which imposed economic sanctions on the white minority government of South Africa. (President Ronald Reagan had vetoed the measure earlier.) The act stipulated that the sanctions could only be lifted after South Africa had freed all political prisoners (of which Mandela was considered the principal one); legalized the African National Congress (ANC) and other anti-apartheid groups, engaged in good faith negotiations on the nation's political future; lifted the state of emergency, and made substantial progress on dismantling apartheid, South Africa's system of racial segregation. President de Klerk lifted a thirty-year-old ban on the ANC on February 2, 1990. Randall Robinson, executive director of Trans-Africa, the leading anti-apartheid group in the United States, expressed the great delight of most Black Americans upon the news of Mandela's release, but he warned that sanctions must remain in place and that "it would be a mistake... at this juncture for President Bush to invite President de Klerk to visit the U.S."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 8)
Published
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Justice Thurgood Marshall criticizes a series of Supreme Court rulings for putting the civil rights of all citizens at risk.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall told a group of federal judges meeting at Bolton Landing, New York, that a recent series of high Court decisions had "put at risk not only the civil rights of minorities but the civil rights of all citizens." The Supreme Court's only Black justice was referring to several rulings during the 1989 term of the Court that struck severe blows to the notions of affirmative action programs and minority "set aside" laws. In a rare criticism of colleagues on the high bench, Marshall also said "it is difficult to characterize last term's decisions as the product of anything other than a deliberate retrenching of the civil rights agenda." But he warned, "We forget at our peril [that] civil rights and liberty rights (are] inexorably intertwined."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 3)
Published
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A confrontation between police and Black college students in Virginia Beach, Virginia ends in violence.
Four people were injured (two by gunfire) and at least 160 were arrested during a confrontation between police and Black college students in Virginia Beach, Virginia. An estimated ten thousand people, mostly Black collegians from Eastern colleges and universities, had gone to the resort city for Labor Day frolicking. The police department said that more than one hundred businesses were looted in the riot. Some students who witnessed the melee said law enforcement authorities overreacted to their activities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 24)
Published
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Thomas W. Cole, Jr., is inaugurated as the first president of Clark-Atlanta University.
Thomas W. Cole, Jr., former president of West Virginia State College, was inaugurated as the first president of Clark-Atlanta University. The new institution resulted from a merger of historically Black Clark College and Atlanta University on June 26, 1989. Cole had formerly been a professor of chemistry and served as provost at Atlanta University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 20)
Published
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Two new national magazines, Sazz and Emerge, targets Black readers.
The Atlanta Constitution reported that two new national magazines targeted for Black audiences were beginning publication. Sazz, a women's fashion magazine, was founded by Mary Anne Holley, and Emerge, a national news monthly, was founded by Wilmer Ames. The New York City-based magazines were the first national Black-oriented periodicals to surface since the mid-1980s, according to Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi who specialized in new magazines. Both publications arose at a time, however, when the magazine industry in general was facing declining circulations, and Black magazines in particular were "facing a tough battle for advertising dollars." Both were aimed at "upscale black readers," i.e., higher income and college-educated Blacks. Prior to the appearances of Sazz and Emerge, several other recent attempts at publishing national Black magazines had failed. These included Elan, Elancee, Excell, Modern Black Man (MBM), Spice, and Black Teen. The most successful Black magazines continued to be Ebony. Jet, Ebony Man, and Essence, geared toward women, and Black Enterprise, aimed at the Black entrepreneur. All of these have been produced by Chicago's Johnson Publishing Co. Ebony was founded in 1945 and had a circulation of 1.8 million in 1989; Jet, a news weekly, was founded in 1951 and reported a circulation of 892,000 in 1989. Both Essence and Black Enterprise were founded in 1970, and had circulations of 850,000 and 230,000, respectively, in 1989, and Ebony Man, which first appeared in 1985, had gained a circulation of 205,000 by 1989.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 20)
Published
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Colin Powell is nominated chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, becoming the first Black American to lead the joint military forces of the United States.
The Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to approve the nomination of General Colin L. Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vote cleared the way for Powell to become the first Black American to lead the joint military forces of the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 20)
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The House of Representatives votes to subpoena HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, Jr.
The employment and housing subcommittee of the Government Operations Committee of the House of Representatives voted unanimously to subpoena former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Samuel R. Pierce, Jr., to testify about alleged influence-peddling and mismanagement at the department he headed for eight years during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The subpoena was issued after Pierce demanded a third delay on the eve of his scheduled voluntary testimony on September 15. Pierce's attorney, Paul L. Perito, said the former secretary--who had appeared voluntarily before the subcommittee in May was willing to testify but needed two additional weeks for preparation. But Representative Ted Weiss from New York, a member of the subcommittee, charged that "rather than coming forth and clearing the record ... he is toying with the subcommittee in order to evade or avoid his responsibility." The subcommittee ordered Pierce to make his first appearance on September 26. The former HUD secretary, who served from 1981 to 1989, was the only Black American appointed to the cabinet of former President Reagan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 19)
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The chancellor of the University of Mississippi, apologizes to officials at predominantly Black Rust College after members of a fraternity at his university dumped two naked white pledges, whose bodies were painted with racial slurs, on the Rust campus.
Gerald Turner, chancellor of the University of Mississippi, apologized to officials at predominantly Black Rust College after members of a fraternity at his university dumped two naked white pledges, whose bodies were painted with racial slurs, on the Rust campus. The two naked pledges of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity with "KKK" and "We Hate Niggers" painted on their chests ran into the Rust College security office while escaping pursuing students. In addition to his own apology, Chancellor Turner had directed officers of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity to also extend an apology to Rust College. The Black private school is located about twenty-five miles from the University of Mississippi campus at Oxford.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 11)
Published
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The U.S. Court of Appeals rules in favor of desegregating the Dekalb County, Georgia, school system.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the Dekalb County, Georgia, school board must dismantle its segregated neighborhood school system and consider "forced busing of students to achieve greater desegregation." The Court of Appeals also declared that Dekalb County must consider "drastic gerrymandering" or redrawing of school attendance zones and "dramatically expanded magnet schools" to expand its desegregation. The court overturned a June 1988 decision by U.S. District Court judge William C. O'Kelley, that ruled the Dekalb school board had done all that it could to desegregate its schools. O'Kelley agreed with the board's argument that housing patterns were the primary cause of any remaining school segregation. The appeals court disagreed and ruled that the Dekalb school system "may not shirk its constitutional duties by pointing to demographic shifts.... [The] system has a continuing constitutional duty to achieve the greatest possible degree of desegregation and to prevent segregation."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 11 - 12)
Published
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Violence erupts at an Alabama high school as racial tension escalates.
The principal and a student of Minor High School in Adamsville, Alabama, were stabbed during a fight between Black and white students. Principal Judson Jones, who received a two-inch knife wound to his stomach in the altercation, said tensions had escalated for several days, with several fights between Blacks and whites in the previous week. In an effort to bring peace, he had called for additional police officers to patrol the grounds of the school and ordered all Black students into the cafeteria and all whites into the gymnasium as they entered the school on October 11. But when Jones took a group of white students to the cafeteria to meet with the Blacks, a fight erupted that quickly spread to other areas of the building. Seven students were arrested at the school on October 11 on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to attempted murder. On October 12, two additional students were incarcerated on charges of possessing alcohol and weapons. William James, a Black senior at Minor High School, told newspaper reporters that the school's problems were not new. "There's always been racial trouble here.... They didn't want us here anyway." These racial disturbances in Alabama were a part of the growing number of such encounters on high school and college campuses throughout the year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 12)
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules that workers “adversely affected” by affirmative action plans may file lawsuits alleging discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that workers "who are adversely affected by court-approved affirmative action plans may file lawsuits alleging discrimination." The high Court's ruling came in a case from Birmingham, Alabama, which had adopted an affirmative action plan, with federal court approval, in 1981 after Blacks had filed suit "charging that the city had engaged in discriminatory hiring and promotions." However, white fire fighters challenged the plan, claiming that it denied them promotions because of their race. The Supreme Court agreed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that, contrary to previous appellate court findings that prohibited "secondary attacks on court-approved affirmative action plans," the white fire fighters did have a right to sue. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, “A voluntary settlement... between one group of employees and their employer cannot possibly settle, voluntarily or otherwise, the conflicting claims of another group of employees who do not join in the agreement." Justices Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and John Paul Stevens dissented. Justice Stevens called the majority opinion ""unfathomable” and said it would “subject large employers who seek to comply with the law by remedying past discrimination to a never-ending stream of litigation and potential liability."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jul 21)
Published
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Boxing Champion Mike Tyson retains the heavyweight title by knocking out Carl “The Truth” Williams less than two minutes into the first round.
Black heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson knocked out Carl "The Truth" Williams in the first minute and a half of the first round to retain his world title. It was the fifth fastest title bout in boxing history. Although Williams was on his feet at the count of seven (knockouts are usually declared at the count of ten), referee Randy Neumann declared him out in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, contest.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Jan 23)
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The National Urban League assesses 1984 in their eleventh annual State of Black America report.
The National Urban League (NUL) said that 1984 was a year of “survival and hope" for Black Americans, despite attempts by the administration of President Ronald Reagan “to be a Rambo-like destroyer of civil rights gains.” In 1984, the NUL reported that most Black children lived in poverty, Black unemployment had declined to 15 percent but was still three points above the Black average since 1975 and more than double the White rate; and although Black family incomes rose, the gap between Black and White incomes had “grown wider for every type of family except those with two earners.” The statistics and observations were included in the NUL's eleventh annual “State of Black America” report. In commenting on the report, John Jacob, president of the NUL, said that President Ronald Reagan's citation of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, call for “a colorblind society” in 1963 was “obscene” and used “as a justification for trimming 'measures like affirmative action [that] move us toward a racially neutral society by opening opportunities that help Black people enter the mainstream.'"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Feb 26)
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Several Black American entertainers receive awards during the presentations of the 1984 Grammys, the highest honors for recording artists.
Several Black American entertainers received awards during the presentations of the 1984 Grammys, the highest honors for recording artists. Tina Turner, the "Queen of Rhythm and Blues,” won three Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "What's Love Got to Do With It?” Three Grammys also went to Prince for Best Rock Performance by a Group and Best Original Film Score for Purple Rain. For his songwriting efforts, Prince won Best New Rhythm and Blues Song for "I Feel for You.” Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down” was named Album of the Year. Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Pointer Sisters, and Shirley Caesar also won two Grammys each. Marsalis won in the jazz and classical categories, the Pointer Sisters in pop, and Caesar in gospel. Michael Jackson won an award for his video Making Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' and the late Count Basie was awarded a Grammy for his orchestra's 88 Basie Street.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Mar 21)
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The Joint Center for Political Studies reports that the 1984 elections increased the number of Black mayors serving in the United States to 286.
The Joint Center for Political Studies (JCPS), a Washington, D.C., research firm, reported that the 1984 elections increased the number of Black mayors serving in the United States to 286. Thirty-one new Black mayors were elected in 1984 in such cities as Battle Creek, Michigan; Gainesville, Georgia; Union Springs, Alabama; Pasco, Washington; Peekskill, New York; and Portsmouth and South Boston, Virginia. The increases in Black mayors during 1984 was the largest "one-year increase yet recorded." Since 1975, the number of Black mayors in the country had more than doubled from 135 to 286.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (May 5)
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The historic Apollo Theater in the Harlem section of New York City reopens to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The historic Apollo Theater in the Harlem section of New York City reopened to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The theater, which was once the premiere showplace for America's Black entertainers, had been closed for fifteen months and had undergone more than $10 million in refurbishments. More than fifteen hundred people attended the reopening celebrations while another two thousand stood outside. The Apollo opened on 125th street in Harlem in 1916 as an unnamed storefront and began offering showcase talent in 1935. Its earliest performers included comedians Jackie "Moms” Mabley and “Pigmeat" Markham. At the reopening ceremonies, many of the biggest names in Black entertainment returned for an appearance, including comedian Bill Cosby, and singers and dancers Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, and the Four Tops. During the ceremonies, Percy Sutton, the chairman of the Inner City Broadcasting Company who was “the prime mover behind the renovation,” said, “this theater is legendary to the thousands of performers who appeared on its stage, to the millions of people who attended its shows, and to the entertainment industry, which has been influenced by the innovations that occurred on the stage for five decades."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Jul 30)
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The U.S. General Accounting Office agrees to pay $3.5 million in back pay to about three hundred present and former Black employees who were denied promotions because of racial discrimination.
The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) agreed to pay $3.5 million in back pay to about three hundred present and former Black employees who were denied promotions because of racial discrimination. Under the terms of the arrangement, thirty-two Black evaluators would be promoted immediately and the GAO would then change its "competitive selection programs, including the preparation of an affirmative action plan to increase the percentage of minority people in upper-level positions.” The settlement resulted from class action suits filed by two GAO employees from Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, in 1980 and 1983, respectively, which claimed that Whites were favored over Blacks in promotion to supervisory positions from 1976 through 1983. In 1984 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found that the GAO's use of two different promotion systems had, indeed, “resulted in racial discrimination against many of its Black employees.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Nov 7)
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The Bureau of the Census reports that the number of Black-owned businesses in the United States had increased forty-seven percent over a five year period.
The Bureau of the Census reported that the number of Black-owned businesses in the United States had increased forty-seven percent over a five year period. In 1982, there were 339,231 Black-owned firms, compared to 231,203 in 1977. The majority of Black-owned companies were service and retail businesses with gross receipts totaling $12.4 billion in 1982. That was an increase of nearly forty-four percent from $8.6 billion five years earlier. The largest segment of Black firms were “miscellaneous retail businesses,” 53,981, with total receipts in 1982 of $993 million. Black automotive dealers and service stations accounted for the largest dollar volume, however, $1.3 billion for 3,448 firms in 1982. Small, sole proprietorships firms totaling 322,975 accounted for more than ninety-five percent of all black businesses in 1982, while corporations made up only 1.8 percent."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Nov 19)
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Veteran Black American actor Lincoln Theodore Andrew Perry, better known as Stepin Fetchit, dies of pneumonia and congestive heart failure in Woodland Hills, California.
Veteran Black American actor Lincoln Theodore Andrew Perry, better known as Stepin Fetchit, died of pneumonia and congestive heart failure in Woodland Hills, California. He was eighty-three years old. Perry, a native of Key West, Florida, began his acting career in the 1930s, appearing in such films as Steamboat Round the Bend, and was best known for his roles as “a shuffling, head-scratching” servant. He took his stage name from a race horse on which he had won some money in Oklahoma before leaving for Hollywood in the 1920s. Perry was the first Black performer to appear on film with such movie stars as Will Rogers and Shirley Temple. Perry's film characters were viewed by many Blacks as negative stereotypes of their race, but Perry himself often bristled at such criticism and defended his “contributions." He once said that “when I came into motion picture, it was as an individual. ... I had no manager, and no one had the idea of making a Negro a star. ... I became the first Negro entertainer to become a millionaire. ... All the things that Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier have done wouldn't be possible if I hadn't broken that law (the race barrier). I set up thrones for them to come and sit on.” After the CBS television documentary entitled “Of Black America" characterized him as a “stupid, lazy, eye-rolling stereotype” in the 1960s, Perry sued the network for $3 million, alleging that he had been held “up to hatred, contempt, and ridicule.” A federal judge dismissed the suit in 1974.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jan 16)
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A bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is placed in the United States Capitol building, becoming the first of any Black American to stand in the halls of Congress.
A bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was placed in the United States Capitol building. The statue was the first of any Black American to stand in the halls of Congress. The bust, which depicts King in a meditative mood with a slightly bowed head, was created by John Wilson, a Black artist at Boston University. After being displayed in the rotunda of the Capitol building for six months, the bust was to be moved to Statuary Hall to stand beside the statues of other famous Americans on display there. The bust was unveiled by King's widow, Coretta Scott King. Among those who spoke at the ceremonies were Senator Charles Mathias from Maryland who said, “today, Martin Luther King, Jr., takes his rightful place among the heroes of this nation." Representative Mary Rose Oakar from Ohio added: “No other American of my generation affected the course of American history more than Dr. King."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jan 18)
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A group of whites march in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, to honor the birthday of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and to protest the first federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A group of whites marched in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, to honor the birthday of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and to protest the first federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Glenn Miller, leader of the White Patriots Party and a former Ku Klux Klansman, said that he was “nauseated and sickened” by the national tribute to King. Miller added, "we're down here to tell the world that we will never accept a birthday honoring a Black communist. Never!" The Raleigh demonstration was one of several protests and acts of vandalism directed at the first annual King holiday. During the week, vandals in Buffalo, New York, painted a bust of King displayed in a city park white, while several municipalities and states refused to recognize the holiday altogether.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jan 20)
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The nation celebrates the first national holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The nation celebrated the first national holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Atlanta, Georgia (King's birthplace), Vice President George Bush attended a wreath laying ceremony at King's crypt and an ecumenical service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King pastored at the time of his death. Other political leaders attending the services were Senators Bill Bradley from New Jersey, Bob Dole from Kansas, and Mack Mattingly and Sam Nunn, both from Georgia. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel Pierce, Representative Newt Gingrich from Georgia, and Georgia Governor Joe Frank Harris were also in the audience, as was Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the famous Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott in 1955. The celebrations also included the first national Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Parade held in Atlanta. Atlanta Police Chief Morris Redding stated that the parade yielded "probably the largest turnout we've ever had” for such an event in the city. The Martin Luther King, Jr., national holiday was the first such honor ever extended to a Black American in United States history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jan 20)
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Bishop Desmond Tutu is awarded the 1986 Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Peace Prize for his leadership in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
The 1986 Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Peace Prize was awarded to Bishop Desmond Tutu, a leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The award was presented on behalf of the King Center for Non-Violent Social Change by its president and King's widow, Coretta Scott King. She said that Tutu, like King, possessed “faith that dissipates despair.” Also, like King, Tutu repeatedly encouraged those "who are denied fundamental human, civil, and political rights never to doubt that they will one day be free.” In his acceptance speech, Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, said he trembled as he stood "in the shadow of so great a person” as King. He added, “I receive the award on behalf of those languishing in jail, sentenced to terms of life imprisonment because they have the audacity to say, 'All we want for ourselves is what white people want for themselves.'"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jan 28)
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Ronald McNair, a Black American astronaut, dies aboard the Challenger space shuttle shortly after its lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Ronald McNair, a Black American astronaut, died aboard the Challenger space shuttle shortly after its lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. McNair, a thirty-five-year-old physicist, was the nation's second Black astronaut. He was one of a crew of seven aboard the Challenger when it exploded in the skies. In one of the eulogies for McNair, actress Cicely Tyson remarked, “Ron and his crewmates touched ... us. ... They touched the other side of the sky for us."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Feb 8)
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Lorimer Douglas Milton, one of the nation’s leading Black bankers, dies in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-seven.
Lorimer Douglas Milton, one of the nation's leading Black bankers, died in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-seven. Milton was born on September 3, 1898, in Prince William County, Virginia, to Samuel Douglas and Samuella Anderson Milton. He was raised in Washington, D.C., and attended Brown University in Massachusetts on an ROTC scholarship. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in business from Brown in the 1920s, he began a long teaching career at Morehouse College and Atlanta University in Georgia. He retired as director of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Atlanta University in 1955. In 1921 Milton began working in the Citizens Trust Bank of Atlanta, one of the nation's oldest and largest Black financial institutions. He was elected president of the bank in 1930 and served in that position until 1971. At the time of Milton's retirement, Citizens Trust Bank had assets totaling $30 million and had established “a reputation for having opened the doors of the credit market to Blacks.” Milton had served on a number of federal banking committees, including the advisory board of the Commodity Credit Corporation, which had responsibility for financing the government's farm price-support program. He also served on the president's Committee for the White House Conference on Education in 1955; the Federal Advisory Council's Social Security Board; and the National Commission of Economic Development in 1963. In addition, Milton was a former chairman of the board of trustees of Howard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Mar 2)
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City Councilman Sidney Barthelemy defeats state senator William Jefferson to become the second Black mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana.
City Councilman Sidney Barthelemy defeated state senator William Jefferson to become the second Black mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. Barthelemy garnered 93,054 votes (58 percent) to Jefferson's 67,668 (42 percent) votes to succeed Ernest “Dutch” Morial, New Orleans's first Black mayor. Barthelemy, age forty-three, told his supporters after his victory, “this is like a dream! ... Let us close ranks and fight the real problems." In the New Orleans municipal elections held on March 2, two Black Americans were also elected to the city council, giving Blacks a majority on the seven-member body for the first time in that city's history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jun 30)
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A U.S. Department of Defense survey reveals that more than 400,000 Black Americans were serving in the armed services during 1986.
A U.S. Department of Defense survey revealed that more than 400,000 Black Americans were serving in the armed services during 1986.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Jul 2)
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The United States Supreme Court, in two separate rulings, upholds affirmative action programs in hiring and promotions.
The United States Supreme Court, in two separate rulings, upheld affirmative action programs in hiring and promotions. In one case, the justices approved by a vote of 6– 3 a plan from Cleveland, Ohio, that reserved about half of the promotions in its fire department for "qualified minority candidates." In the other ruling, the Court declared by a margin of 5-4 that a union representing sheet metal workers in New York state and New Jersey must double its non-white membership. In the majority opinion, Justice William Brennan wrote, “We... hold that [federal law] does not prohibit a court from ordering in appropriate circumstances, affirmative race-conscious relief as a remedy for past discrimination.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Sep 30)
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Edward Perkins, a veteran diplomat, is named United States Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, becoming the first Black American ever to serve in that position.
Edward Perkins, a veteran diplomat, was named United States Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, becoming the first Black American ever to serve in that position. At the time of the appointment, the U.S. Senate was considering whether or not to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of "harsh" economic sanctions against the white-minority government of South Africa. However, a "senior White House official" told news reporters that the "nomination was not made with the expectation of winning any converts in the Senate.” Perkins was currently serving as United States Ambassador to Liberia when President Reagan appointed him to the South African post.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Oct 15)
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President Ronald Reagan’s approval rating among Blacks triples between 1984 and 1986.
A special Gallup Poll commissioned by the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, D.C., revealed that President Ronald Reagan's approval rating among Blacks tripled between 1984 and 1986. The approval rate climbed from only eight percent in 1984 to 25 percent in 1986. In 1984, 82 percent of Black Americans polled disapproved of the president's performance. By 1986, however, the negative rating had dropped to 66 percent. The highest approval rates for Reagan (30 percent or better) came from Blacks who were male, blue-collar workers, political independents, urban southerners, and individuals younger than thirty years of age. The poll was based on a national survey of 868 Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Oct 18)
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The NAACP, one of the oldest and most prominent of the nation’s civil rights organizations, dedicates its new national headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NAACP, one of the oldest and most prominent of the nation's civil rights organizations, dedicated its new national headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The group, which was founded in 1909 “to fight discrimination and injustice," moved to Baltimore from its original headquarters in New York City, partially because "it could not afford the high rent and taxes.” Baltimore was chosen for the new headquarters largely because of “its majority Black population and long history in promoting civil rights."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1986 (Oct 23)
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White students dressed in Ku Klux Klan-type attire broke into the room of Kevin Nesmith, a Black cadet at The Citadel in South Carolina, leaving a charred paper cross in his room.
Five white students dressed in Ku Klux Klan-type attire broke into the room of Kevin Nesmith, a Black cadet at The Citadel in South Carolina. The five students taunted Nesmith and left a charred paper cross in his room. Nesmith said that he slept through most of the incident. On November 14, Nesmith resigned from the South Carolina military college because he felt he had been "made the [villain]” in the hazing incident, but added “the [villains] remain at Citadel.” Nesmith also said that "anger and frustration built up, and I felt mentally drained and no longer wanted to subject myself to this humiliation." The five white cadets who cursed Nesmith in the October incident were suspended from the college, but the suspensions were “stayed on the condition they not get into any more serious trouble during the school year.” They were also restricted to campus for the remainder of the school year and “given additional marching tours.” But some Black leaders in the state contended that the five should have been expelled. The NAACP filed an $800,000 lawsuit against The Citadel, alleging that Nesmith's civil rights had been violated and that the school historically had “tolerated and sanctioned” racial bigotry. On November 17, civil rights leader Jessie Jackson met with Nesmith and later requested a congressional investigation of race relations at the college. On November 16, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission issued a report stating that a “minimal Black representation” on the campus created “an environment lacking in ethnic diversity and cultural sensitivity.” They recommended, among other things, that the school increase its Black enrollment from 6 percent to 10 percent in two years and incorporate "mandatory human relations and cultural sensitivity classes” into the leadership training curriculum.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 1)
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Cleveland L. Dennard, president of the Washington Technical Institute in Washington, D.C., assumed the presidency of historically Black Atlanta University in Georgia.
Cleveland L. Dennard, president of the Washington Technical Institute in Washington, D.C., assumed the presidency of historically Black Atlanta University in Georgia. Dennard, a native of Sebring, Florida, was educated at Florida A&M University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Tennessee, from which he earned a Ed.D. degree. Prior to becoming president of the Washington Technical Institute in 1967 he had been principal of the George Washington Carver Vocational School in Atlanta (1960-1965), and Deputy Commissioner for Manpower and Program Management in the New York City Human Resource Administration (1965-1967). Dennard had also lectured in sixteen foreign countries under the auspices of the United States Information Agency (USIA).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 6)
Published
0 0
Governor Mills E. Godwin announces that the state of Virginia would not comply with federal racial quotas to desegregate its colleges and universities.
Governor Mills E. Godwin announced that the state of Virginia would not comply with federal racial quotas ordered by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to desegregate its colleges and universities. In a letter to HEW, Governor Godwin stated: “All our accomplishments to date signal one thing—Virginia's intention to provide access, for all of its citizens regardless of race, to higher education which is as diverse and as excellent as it can possibly be." But he said the state would not surrender its "administrative responsibilities to the federal government." Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia were under orders to submit revised desegregation plans to HEW by the week of September 5. Louisiana had previously refused to submit any plan to HEW and Mississippi had submitted an unacceptable one. Both states were still in federal courts for their actions. Virginia, which did not fully comply with the HEW desegregation guidelines, faced the possible loss of an estimated $40 million in federal funds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Ten members of the United States House of Representatives sign a resolution calling for the impeachment of Andrew J. Young, the first Black American ambassador to the United Nations.
Ten members of the United States House of Representatives signed a resolution calling for the impeachment of Andrew J. Young, the first Black American ambassador to the United Nations (UN). Most of the charges stemmed from public statements made by Young before and since his appointment to this position. The document cited twenty actions by Young that warranted his impeachment, including his depiction of Great Britain and Sweden as racist nations. The resolution also accused Young of failing to oppose the admission of Vietnam to the United Nations and of "seeking to transfer the governing power in the anti-communist nation of Rhodesia to the pro-Marxist guerilla coalition."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Oct 29)
Published
0 0
Muhammad Ali retains the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship with a unanimous decision in fifteen rounds, over challenger Earnie Shavers.
Muhammad Ali retained the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship with a unanimous decision in fifteen rounds, over challenger Earnie Shavers. The pattern of the fight was "one of Shavers stalking and looking to throw the big right hand that had enabled him to knock out fifty-two of his first sixty opponents, while Ali looked for ways to nullify the challenger's power." Ali, using "jabs, hooks and flurries of punches with both hands to the head," was the most successful. At the end of the New York City fight, Shavers cried, "they robbed me! They robbed me!"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Nov 18)
Published
0 0
Robert Edward Chambliss, a seventy-three-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, is convicted of first degree murder in the 1963 dynamite bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Robert Edward Chambliss, a seventy-three-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was convicted of first degree murder in the 1963 dynamite bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The blast killed four young Black girls who were attending Sunday school. Chambliss was convicted specifically for the death of eleven-year-old Carol Denise McNair. He was immediately sentenced to a term of life imprisonment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Nov 30)
Published
0 0
The Atlanta Constitution reports increased enrollments in many of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities.
The Atlanta Constitution reported increased enrollments in many of the nation's historically Black colleges and universities. The ten Black colleges with the largest enrollments in 1977 were: 1) Howard University, Washington, D.C. (9,752); 2) Texas Southern University, Houston (9,552); 3) Southern University, Baton Rouge (9,002); 4) Jackson State University, Mississippi (7,844); 5) Norfolk State College, Virginia (7,263); 6) Morgan State College, Baltimore (6,424); 7) Florida A&M, Tallahassee (5,837); 8) North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro (5,515); 9) Tennessee State University, Nashville (5,348); 10) Prairie View A&M University, Texas (5,146).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Dec 10)
Published
0 0
Barbara Jordan, Black American congresswoman from Texas, announces that she would not seek reelection.
Barbara Jordan, Black American congresswoman from Texas, announced that she would not seek reelection. She denied rumors of poor health and said she would not seek a seat on the federal bench. She did say "the longer you stay in Congress, the harder it is to leave. ... I didn't want to wake up one fine sunny morning and say there is nothing else to do." Jordan had gone to Congress from Houston's eighteenth district in 1972 after serving in the Texas State Senate, where she became president pro tempore (the first Black American to preside over that body). During the impeachment hearings for President Richard Nixon in 1974, Jordan caught the attention of the nation with an eloquent condemnation of the president's involvement in the Watergate burglary scandal and an equally eloquent defense of the Constitution of the United States. At the 1976 Democratic National Convention held in New York City, she "electrified what had previously been a dull gathering, speaking with a precise, clipped delivery."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jan 13)
Published
0 0
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, a key leader in the fight for passage of civil rights legislation, dies of cancer in Waverly, Minnesota, at age sixty-one.
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, who served as senator from Minnesota, vice president of the United States under Lyndon Johnson, and a key leader in the fight for passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s, died of cancer in Waverly, Minnesota, at age sixty-one. Commenting on Humphrey's death, African American civil rights activist John Lewis said, "in this century, we lost two great Americans. ... One was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the other was Hubert Humphrey, who was the champion for the rights of all people. His life should be an inspiration to us all."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jan 17)
Published
0 0
The National Urban League releases its third State of Black America report.
In its third "State of Black America" report, the National Urban League (NUL) stated that 1977 was "a year of continued depression, with unacceptably high unemployment and a widening income gap" for Black Americans. In remarks accompanying the presentation of the report, NUL director Vernon Jordan said the group was "disappointed” in President Jimmy Carter. He added, "the administration must face up to two basic realities. Firstmore, much more, is needed by way of federal actions to assist poor people and the cities. .. Second, it must recognize that the priority of balancing the budget by 1981 cannot be reconciled with more pressing priorities."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Feb 25)
Published
0 0
Daniel “Chappie” James, the only four-star Black general in the U.S. Armed Forces, dies of a heart attack in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at age fifty-eight.
Daniel "Chappie" James, the only four-star Black general in the U.S. Armed Forces, died of a heart attack in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at age fifty-eight. James, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, grew up in Pensacola, Florida, during a period of rigid racial segregation. His mother, Lillie A. James, who founded her own school for Black youths, encouraged him to dream of higher things. James emerged from pushing a coal dolly in a Pensacola gas plant to one of the nation's most influential military leaders. Of his mother's influence, James once stated: “My mother used to say, 'Don't stand there banging on the door of opportunity, then, when someone opens it, you say, 'Wait a minute, I got to get my bags.' You be prepared with your bags of knowledge, your patriotism, your honor, and when somebody opens that door, you charge in." James, who served in three wars with the Air Force, retired on January 26, 1978. He wrote on a portrait of himself that now hangs in the Pentagon: “I fought three wars and three more wouldn't be too many to defend my country. ... I love America and as she has weaknesses or ills, I'll hold her hand."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Feb 27)
Published
0 0
The United States Supreme Court rules that the federal government does not have to help pay the costs of court-ordered busing to achieve racially desegregated public schools.
The United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government does not have to help pay the costs of court-ordered busing to achieve racially desegregated public schools. The justices rejected without comment an appeal by Kentucky Governor Julian M. Carroll, who sought permission to ask for federal help in paying for the busing of school children in Louisville and surrounding Jefferson County, Kentucky. A school desegregation plan, which was in effect in the area, required the busing of approximately 23,000 students daily. In his appeal, Governor Carroll had said that "the drain on state and local funds [was] quite real and devastating." Thus, he challenged the constitutionality of three federal laws that prohibited federal funding of busing to achieve desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Cleveland Leon Dennard was inaugurated as the eighth president of historically Black Atlanta University.
Cleveland Leon Dennard was inaugurated as the eighth president of historically Black Atlanta University. The new president of the 112-year old institution formerly served as president of the Washington Technical Institute in the District of Columbia
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 14)
Published
0 0
The National Catholic Educational Association reported that while the overall attendance in Roman Catholic parochial schools dropped in 1977, the percentage of minority students increased sharply.
The National Catholic Educational Association reported that while the overall attendance in Roman Catholic parochial schools dropped in 1977, the percentage of minority students increased sharply. The exact percentage of minority students enrolled in both Catholic elementary and secondary schools over the six year period, 1971 to 1977, increased from 10.8 percent to 16 percent. Among Black students in elementary schools alone, the increase was from 5.1 to 7.6 percent. The figures were contained in the Catholic Educational Association's 1978 edition of "Catholic Schools in America."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 17)
Published
0 0
The Atlanta Constitution reports that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited Black Americans to spy on members of the Black Panther Party in the United States and Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Atlanta Constitution, quoting from the New York Times, reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited Black Americans to spy on members of the Black Panther Party in the United States and Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Times based its information on "sources with firsthand knowledge of the operation." The activities of the Black agents included "following and photographing" suspected Black Panther Party members in the United States and infiltration of Panther groups in Africa. One agent even “managed to gain access to the personal overseas living quarters of Eldridge Cleaver, the exiled Panther leader who set up a headquarters in Algeria in the late 1960s." The CIA had said "repeatedly that the goal of the agency's domestic spying program was to determine whether anti-war activists and Black extremists were being financed and directed by Communist governments," but "one longtime operative with direct knowledge of the spying said ... that there was an additional goal in the case of the Black Panthers living abroad: to 'neutralize' them; to try and get them in trouble with local authorities wherever they could.” The Times sources further revealed that the CIA conducted at least two major operations or programs involving the use of Black Americans at the time that the Black Panther Party was "attracting wide public attention" in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the programs, directed by the CIA Office of Security, was operated in the Washington, D.C., area with the code name "Merrimac.” In this operation, Black agents attended rallies and even funerals, "in hopes of identifying members of the Black Panther Party." In the second program, centered in North and East Africa, "carefully recruited" Black American agents were sent to Algeria, Kenya, and Tanzania, "among other places, to keep close watch on American Black radicals." Details of the clandestine activities against the Panthers were considered among the CIA's “most sensitive and closest held information," according to the Times sources, “because of fears that disclosures about the program would arouse a public backlash."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 22)
Published
0 0
Federal funds are withheld for public universities in North Carolina after their plan to desegregate its universities is deemed unacceptable.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), announced that he would withhold some federal funds for public universities in North Carolina because that state had “failed to submit an acceptable plan to eliminate the vestiges of segregation." At the same time, the HEW secretary "initiated formal administrative action" that could result in a withdrawal of all federal funds for the sixteen universities in North Carolina, which were once legally segregated. At the time of this action, eleven of the schools were still predominantly White (91.2 percent) and five predominantly Black (91.6 percent). On February 3, 1978, HEW had rejected North Carolina's plan to desegregate its universities but accepted a proposal for its 57 community colleges. North Carolina was one of six Southern states under a federal court order to submit an acceptable plan to HEW by February 3. It was the only one of the six states that did not fully comply.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
Bill Kenny, of the Ink Spots, dies of a respiratory ailment in New Westminster, British Columbia, at age sixty-three.
Bill Kenny, "whose tenor voice helped make the original Ink Spots one of the world's best known singing groups in the 1940s," died of a respiratory ailment in New Westminster, British Columbia, at age sixty-three. Kenny, together with Charles Fuqua, Orville Jones, and Ivory Watson, formed the Ink Spots in 1939. He was the last survivor of the group and continued performing almost up to his death.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Apr 15)
Published
0 0
Horace T. Ward, the first Black person to sit on the Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court, is presented the 1978 Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award.
Horace T. Ward, the first Black person to sit on the Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court, was presented the 1978 Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award for "outstanding contributions to his profession" in Evanston, Illinois. After receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees from Morehouse College and Atlanta University and serving a three year stint in the United States Army, Ward earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Northwestern in 1959. He enrolled at Northwestern only after having been denied admission, possibly because of his race, to the School of Law at the University of Georgia. In 1964, Ward became one of the first Blacks elected to the Georgia State Senate since Reconstruction. He was reelected to the Senate four times, ending his service there in 1974. He also served as a deputy city attorney for Atlanta (1969–1970) and assistant attorney for Fulton County (of which Atlanta is the county seat). In 1974, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter appointed Ward to the Civil Court of Fulton County and three years later Governor George Busbee elevated him to the Fulton Superior Court, where he became one of eleven the Atlanta circuit. Ward was an active civil rights attorney during the height of the civil rights movement in Georgia. He participated in bus desegregation cases in Augusta; the Martin Luther King, Jr., case in Dekalb County; and the desegregation of the University of Georgia at Athens.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Sep 15)
Published
1 0
Muhammad Ali regains the World Boxing Association’s (WBA) heavyweight boxing championship in a unanimous decision over Leon Spinks in New Orleans.
Muhammad Ali regained the World Boxing Association's (WBA) heavyweight boxing championship in a unanimous decision over Leon Spinks, age twenty-five, in New Orleans. The thirty-six-year-old Ali thus became the first heavyweight boxer to win the championship three times. A crowd of seventy thousand witnessed the match in the Louisiana superdome.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Dec)
Published
0 0
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination in public accommodations is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited discrimination in public accommodations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1985 (Jan 7)
Published
0 0
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, upholds the use of affirmative action plans by states that grant special employment preferences to minorities.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, upheld the use of affirmative action plans by states that grant special employment preferences to minorities. The Court rejected arguments by fifteen prison guards in New York who contended that their chances of being promoted to captain were unlawfully diminished when state officials added points to promotion test scores of Blacks and Hispanics. The guards sued the New York Civil Service Commission in 1982 after eight minority guards, whose promotion test scores had been upgraded, were added to a list of candidates for the rank of captain. At the time, there were no minority officers holding permanent positions as captain in any prison in the state of New York.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 4)
Published
0 0
Robert O. Goodman, Jr., a Black Navy lieutenant, is welcomed by President Ronald Reagan and others at the White House after having been freed from captivity in Syria.
Robert O. Goodman, Jr., a Black Navy lieutenant, was welcomed by President Ronald Reagan and others at the White House after having been freed from captivity in Syria. The release was negotiated by the Black American Democratic presidential candidate Jesse L. Jackson. At the White House, Reagan declared, “this is a homecoming, and a very happy and welcomed one.... We are very proud of him.” Goodman had served a month as a prisoner in Syria after an A-6E Intruder jet, on which he was serving as bombardier-navigator, was shot down during an American air strike against Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon on December 4, 1983. The pilot of the plane, Mark Lange, was killed in the attack. Goodman's release was made possible by "a moral appeal” that candidate Jackson, also a national civil rights leader, made to Syrian President Hafez Assad. Jackson's intervention into the realms of American foreign policy had been the subject of both praise and criticism, yet President Reagan said following Goodman's release, "you don't quarrel with success.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 6)
Published
0 0
Robert N. C. Nix, Jr., is inaugurated as chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, becoming the first Black American to sit on a state supreme court bench since the Reconstruction era.
Robert N. C. Nix, Jr., was inaugurated as chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, becoming the first Black American to sit on a state supreme court bench since the Reconstruction era. Nix was born on July 13, 1928, the grandson of a college dean and the son of Robert N. C. Nix, Sr., Pennsylvania's first Black democratic congressman. He received a bachelor's degree from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania in 1956–1957, Nix spent ten years in private practice. In 1968, he returned to public life to serve on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1971. Nix hoped that his appointment as chief justice would “inspire confidence in the legal system,” and saw it as a reaffirmation of those principles upon which “American democracy was founded."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 6)
Published
0 0
Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse College and the Atlanta, Georgia, school board, is inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.
Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse College and the Atlanta, Georgia, school board, was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. Mays, age eighty-nine, a native of South Carolina and the son of former slaves, was cited for his long career in education and civil rights. Since Mays was hospitalized with pneumonia, the plaque recognizing his induction was presented to him in Atlanta by former president Jimmy Carter, a longtime friend. Carter called Mays “a credit to Georgia and South Carolina, he's a credit to the Southland and he's a credit to the United States of America and to the world.” In his response, Mays commented: “I was born a little stubborn on the race issue. . . . I felt that no man had a right to look down on another man. Every man, whether he's on the right of you, the left of you, certainly in back of you—it makes no difference—is still a man.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 16)
Published
0 0
Michael Jackson is honored at the eleventh annual American Music Awards with the Award of Merit.
The American Music Awards presented the Award of Merit to Black American pop singer Michael Jackson at its eleventh annual ceremonies. The award recognized Jackson's "outstanding contributions over a long period of time to the musical entertainment of the American public." Previous Black American winners of the award included Berry Gordy, Jr., founder of Motown Records, and singers Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jan 22)
Published
0 0
Marcus Allen, Black American running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, is named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the twenty-eighth annual Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida.
Marcus Allen, Black American running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the twenty-eighth annual Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Allen gained a record 191 yards rushing on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns, one on a five-yard run, the other on a seventy-four-yard run. The Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Feb 2)
Published
0 0
Ku Klux Klansman Henry Hays is sentenced to death for the 1981 strangulation murder of Michael Donald, a nineteen-year-old Black youth.
Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Braxton Kittrell sentenced Ku Klux Klansman Henry Hays to death for the 1981 strangulation murder of Michael Donald, a nineteen-year-old Black youth whose body was found hanging from a tree in downtown Mobile, Alabama. Hays, age twenty-nine, was convicted of capital murder by a jury of eleven Whites and one Black on December 10, 1983. In sentencing Hays to death by electric chair, Judge Kittrell ignored the recommendation of the jury for a life sentence in prison. But Mobile County District Attorney Chris Galanos said there was only “one chance in a million” that the death penalty would stand up on appeal since Donald (who was beaten, slashed across the throat, and found hanging across the street from Hays's house) had been killed four months before Alabama law permitted judges to give a stiffer penalty than that recommended by jurors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Feb 7)
Published
0 0
Walter Bergman, an eighty-four-year-old former Freedom Rider who was beaten by Ku Klux Klansmen at an Alabama bus station in 1961, is awarded $50,000 by a U.S. District court judgement.
United States District Court Judge Richard Enslen in Kalamazoo, Michigan, awarded a judgement of $50,000 to Walter Bergman, an eighty-four-year-old former Freedom Rider who was beaten by Ku Klux Klansmen at an Alabama bus station in 1961. On May 31, 1983, Judge Enslen had decided that there was a “preponderance of evidence" to indicate that the FBI knew the Klan planned to attack Bergman and other Freedom Riders as they rode through Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama, during the height of the civil rights movement. The Bureau, he added, "had specific information” that the Klan "would be given free reign” by police in the two cities "to attack the Freedom Riders." Thus, he ruled, it could be sued for damages. At the time of Judge Enslen's decision, Bergman, a former Wayne State University professor from Grand Rapids, was confined to a wheelchair from injuries suffered in the 1961 attack. He had asked for $2 million from the FBI for himself and the estate of his late wife, Frances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Feb 28)
Published
0 0
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, rules that federal law prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination by schools and colleges extends only to the affected program or unit, not to the entire institution.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that federal law prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination by schools and colleges extends only to the affected program or unit, not to the entire institution. The case came to the high Court from Grove College in Pennsylvania, which had refused to sign a required “assurance of compliance” with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The federal government then began proceedings to disqualify the college from receiving federal scholarship aid. The college and four of its students brought suit in a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania, challenging the government's actions. Although the district court sided with the college, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that despite the limited nature of the federal assistance received by Grove College, the law applied to the entire institution. The Supreme Court's majority disagreed. Justices Lewis Powell and Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the case presented "an unedifying example of overzealousness on the part of the federal government" in its previous interpretation of Title IX. While the administration of President Ronald Reagan applauded the decision, many congressmen and women's rights and civil rights groups reacted with alarm. For a while the issue presented by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 focused on sex discrimination, the broader provisions of the landmark Title VI of the omnibus Civil Rights Act of 1964 contained almost identical language. Thus, these groups feared its application too might be restricted by the Supreme Court's decision in the Grove College case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 11)
Published
0 0
A grand jury in Tennessee decides not to charge any white police officers in the choking death of Black motorist Larry Powell, even after a medical examiner confirmed that the choke hold caused his death.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a grand jury decided not to charge any white police officers in the choking death of a Black motorist. The incident occurred on February 5, 1993, when thirty-nine-year-old Larry Powell was pulled over by two police officers who suspected him of driving while drunk. Powell allegedly resisted arrest, and five other officers responded to a call for help from the two officers on the scene. In the scuffle that followed, the officers handcuffed Powell, put him face down on the ground, then gripped his neck with their hands and batons. A medical examiner testified that this choke hold caused Powell's death but that there was no evidence of abuse. Outraged Black leaders in Chattanooga, as well as Powell's widow, strongly condemned the grand jury's decision.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 9)
Published
0 0
Black managers at Ford Motor Company file a class-action lawsuit charging that they practiced racial discrimination in promoting and paying Blacks.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, twelve Black managers employed by Ford Motor Company in eight different states filed a class-action lawsuit charging racial discrimination in promoting and paying Blacks. The suit also claimed that supervisors had used racial slurs in front of several Black managers. The company had no immediate comment other than to say that it had aggressive anti-discrimination policies. The case was not expected to go to trial until 1995.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Mar 15)
Published
0 0
The College Board, promoters of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), reports that the average SAT scores for Blacks has risen twenty-two points since 1976.
The College Board, promoters of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), reported that the average SAT scores for Blacks had risen twenty-two points since 1976. While the national SAT verbal average decreased six points between 1976 and 1983, the average for Blacks increased by seven points verbally and fifteen points in mathematics during the period. The report said that the Black SAT score increases had occurred "in all regions of the country.” But among Blacks students who took the SAT in 1983, those enrolled in private schools had average scores forty-three points higher in verbal and twentyfour points higher in mathematics than those in public schools. The new results of Black SAT scores, overall, represented a reversal of a trend of falling test performances. The new statistics on Black SAT performances were included in a report entitled, "Profiles, College Bound Seniors,” published by the College Board in New York City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 9)
Published
0 0
Mayor Maynard Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia, announces he will not seek re-election to a fourth term.
Citing personal reasons that were believed to be related to his health, Mayor Maynard Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia, announced he would not seek reelection to a fourth term.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 8)
Published
0 0
Scott Barrie, one of the first Black designers to gain fame in the world of fashion, dies.
Scott Barrie, one of the first Black designers to gain fame in the world of fashion, died of brain cancer in Italy. He was fifty-two. A native of Florida, Barrie—born Nelson Clyde—began creating clothes at the age of ten. He later studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. After working for twenty years in New York City, he moved to Milan, Italy, in 1982. There, Barrie worked for the fashion houses of Krizia and then Kinshido. He opened his own showroom in 1988. He specialized in a soft, fluid style of clothing, using jerseys and chiffon in designs that appealed mostly to young people.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Mar 28)
Published
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Benjamin Elijah Mays, educator and civil rights spokesperson, dies of heart failure in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-nine.
Benjamin Elijah Mays, educator and civil rights spokesperson, died of heart failure in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-nine. Mays was born August 1, 1894, in Epworth, South Carolina, the youngest of eight children of Hezekiah and Louvenia Carter Mays, former slaves and tenant farmers. After graduating as valedictorian from the high school department of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, he entered virginia union College in Richmond, where he earned an “A” average. A year later Mays transferred to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, from which he graduated with honors in 1920. While a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Mays taught mathematics at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He completed a doctorate degree at Chicago in 1935. In the interval, Mays had also pastored the Shiloh Baptist Church in Atlanta (1921-1924), taught English at South Carolina State College (1925), served as executive secretary of the Tampa, Florida, Urban League (1926–1928), served as national student secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) (1928–1930), directed a study of Black churches under the auspices of the Institute of Social and Religious Research (1930–1932), and began a career as dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in Washington, D.C. (1934–1940). In 1940, Mays was elected president of Morehouse College (a prestigious all-Black, all-male institution), which was faltering in a weakened Depression economy and which had lost much of its student body to war-time employment. One of his earliest students was young Martin Luther King, Jr., who came to the school in 1944 from the eleventh grade of high school. King soon became a protégé of the college president. Through his skills as an orator and a fund-raiser, Mays restored the viability and prestige of Morehouse College and when he retired in 1967, the school had just been awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the country's oldest and most prestigious academic honors society. Only two other Black institutions of higher education in the nation, Fisk and Howard Universities, had previously earned such a distinction. Following his retirement as president of Morehouse, Mays won a seat on the Atlanta Board of Education in 1969. The next year he was elected the first Black president of the city's school board and was subsequently re-elected six times over the next twelve years. During May's tenure as head of the school board, a group of Black and White leaders adopted the so-called Atlanta Compromise Plan for school desegregation. With the approval of federal court judges, the Blacks agreed to abandon pressures for cross-town and cross-jurisdictional busing to achieve further school desegregation, while Whites consented to Black administrative control of the school system. As a result of the pact, Alonzo Crim became the first Black superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools in 1973. Mays began his civil rights activities as early as 1942 when he filed a successful suit challenging separate Black and White dining cars on railroads. Between 1950 and 1970, he wrote hundreds of essays in magazines and newspapers (including a column in the Pittsburgh Courier), scholarly articles, and books denouncing segregation and discrimination and pleading for racial justice and racial harmony. Among these were A Gospel for the Social Awakening (1950), Seeking to Be Christian in Race Relations (1957), Disturbed About Man (1969), and his autobiography, Born to Rebel (1971). He gave an invocation and remarks at the historic March on Washington in 1963 and preached the principal eulogy at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. During that sermon Mays said, “God called the grandson of slaves and said to him, 'Martin Luther, speak to America about war and peace, speak to America about social justice, speak to America about racial discrimination, about its obligation to the poor.'" In commenting on Mays' death, Charlie Moreland, president of the Morehouse College Alumni Association, remembered one of Mays's favorite quotations: “It must be born in mind that not reaching your goal is not tragic. The tragedy lies in not having a goal to reach."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 8)
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A Judge orders the U.S. government to release the Haitian refugees it held at a naval base for as long as 20 months after testing positive for AIDS.
A district court judge ordered the U.S. government to release more than 150 Haitian refugees who had been held at an American naval base in Cuba for as long as twenty months after testing positive for the AIDS virus. Many Black Americans had closely followed the problems of the Haitian men, women, and children ever since the Bush administration forbade them from entering the country. Prominent figures such as Jesse Jackson and, before his death, Arthur Ashe, had repeatedly condemned the government's actions as racist and inhumane. They described the crowded and dirty conditions at the naval base where the Haitians lived as little more than an "HIV prison camp."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Apr 2)
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John Robert Thompson, Jr., head basketball coach at Georgetown University, becomes first Black coach to win a NCAA basketball title.
John Robert Thompson, Jr., head basketball coach at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), became the first Black American to coach a team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball title.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Apr 26)
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William “Count” Basie, Black American band leader, dies of cancer in Hollywood, Florida, at the age of seventy-nine.
William "Count" Basie, Black American band leader, died of cancer in Hollywood, Florida, at the age of seventy-nine. Basie grew up in Red Bank, New Jersey, and began taking twenty-five-cent music lessons at age eight. Despite his protests, Basie's mother insisted that he was "going to learn how to play the piano if it kills you." Basie began playing professionally with Walter Page's Blue Devils group in Kansas City, Missouri, in the late 1920s and later joined Benny Moten's band in 1929. When Moten died six years later, Basie took over and began the Count Basie Band. The group was not really “discovered" until 1935 when John Hammond, a jazz impresario who had brought Billie Holiday to prominence, saw Basie's ten-piece band in Kansas City. He was so impressed that he urged Basie to increase the size of his ensemble and booked its first national tour. It was also in Kansas City that Basie acquired the famous nickname "Count.” A radio announcer discussing the “royal family" of jazz, which included “Duke of Ellington” and “King of Oliver,” struck upon the idea of a "Count of Basie,” yet Basie never really liked the title. He said in 1982, “I wanted to be called Buck or Hoot or even Arkansas Fats," all silent-film heroes. By 1936, Basie and his band had garnered a reputation far beyond Kansas City and it traveled widely throughout the country, with its residency at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. It "delivered several seminal improvisers to the world of jazz." Most notable were Buck Clayton, Herschel Evans, and Lester Young, “whose logical flow of melody became the standard for horn players of subsequent generations." The Basie band began recording in 1937 and such tunes as “One O'Clock Jump” became "studies in call-and-response phrasing in which the saxophones often trade simple blues riffs with the brass.” The group's early albums included Basie's Back in Town, Blues by Basie, and Super Chief. The Basie band began to pare down in the 1950s, collaborating with blues singer “Big” Joe Williams in what “was widely considered a creative peak” for both Basie and Williams. The demeanor of Basie, who was influenced by the legendary “Fats” Waller, was perhaps best described by Whitney Balliett, a jazz critic, in his book Night Creature (1980). Balliett said the band leader “pilots his ship from the keyboard with an occasional raised finger, an almost imperceptible nod, a sudden widely opened eye, a left-hand chord, a lifted chin, a smile, and plays background and solo piano that is the quintessence of swinging and taste and good cheer, even when almost nothing happens around it.” Basie's last performance was on March 19, 1984, at the Hollywood Palladium in California. He was completing more than fifty years as a jazz artist. In commenting on Basie's death, blues singer Joe Williams said "we have just lost a national treasure but the happiness that his music gave us will live.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 8)
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Black teenager Ronald Ray is found guilty of killing a state trooper in 1992. He confessed to the murder but blamed it on years of listening to violent, anti-police “gangsta rap” that made him hate and fear law enforcement authorities.
In Austin, Texas, a nineteen-year-old Black teenager named Ronald Ray was found guilty of killing a state trooper in 1992. The case was unusual in that Ray and his attorneys claimed that rap music had driven him to commit the crime and that he should not have to pay for it with his own life. (Since killing the trooper was a capital crime, Ray faced the possibility of receiving a death sentence). Ray confessed to the murder but blamed it on years of listening to violent, anti-police "gangsta rap" that made him hate and fear law enforcement authorities. On the night of the incident, he had driven for about 120 miles while the music of California gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur played. He said he was very angry by the time Trooper Bill Davidson "pulled [him] over for nothing." (Actually, Davidson had pulled over Ray because he had a missing headlight.) The power of gangsta rap to influence behavior also promised to be an issue in a related case. Davidson's widow filed a product liability lawsuit against Shakur and his record company, Time Warner, charging both of them with contributing to her husband's death.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jul 17)
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The Center for the Study of Social Policy, a Washington, D.C., research group, released a study that reveals that “the gap between the average incomes of Whites and Blacks” is as wide in 1984 as it was in 1960.
The Center for the Study of Social Policy, a Washington, D.C., research group, released a study that revealed that "the gap between the average incomes of Whites and Blacks” was as wide in 1984 as it was in 1960. The group blamed the disparity on the increase in the proportion of Black families headed by females, from one-fifth to nearly one-half, and a sharp drop in the number of jobs held by Black men. In 1984, 14 percent of White families with children were headed by women, whereas 47 percent of Black families fell in that category, an increase of 8 percent since 1950 and 21 percent since 1960. In 1984, only 55 percent of Black men over the age of sixteen were employed, compared to 74 percent in 1960. As a consequence, the Center's study disclosed the median income of Black families in 1981 was 56 percent of the Whites' median, compared to 51 percent in 1960, but “the difference of one percentage point is statistically insignificant." The report concluded: “Despite the fact that Black Americans have made some gains since the civil rights movement, the economic gap between Blacks and Whites remains wide and is not diminishing. On measures of income, poverty, and unemployment, wide disparities between Blacks and Whites have not lessened or have even worsened since 1960.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Jul 27)
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C.L. Franklin, minister and civil rights leader, dies in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of sixty-nine.
C.L. Franklin, minister and civil rights leader, died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of sixty-nine. Franklin, who was the father of soul singer Aretha Franklin, had been in a coma for five years after having been shot by robbers in his home. Franklin was pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for thirty-eight years and recorded more than twenty albums of his sermons, including The Eagle Stirred Its Nest. On some of his recordings, he was joined by the New Bethel Baptist Church Choir and his daughter Aretha. Just months before the famous March on Washington in 1963, Franklin led a civil rights march in Detroit that attracted thousands of people. Jesse Jackson, one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders and also a minister, eulogized Franklin as “the high priest of soul preaching."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Aug 4-11)
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At the Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California, several Black American athletes win gold medals, indicating first-place finishes.
At the Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California, several Black American athletes captured the coveted gold medal, indicating first-place finishes. On August 4, Carl Lewis won the finals of the prestigious 100-meter dash in track and field. Lewis defeated Sam Graddy by finishing in 9.99 seconds. Graddy won the silver medal for his second place finish in 10.19 seconds. Lewis' winning margin of two-tenths of a second was the largest in Olympic history for the event. It was also the first gold medal in track and field for the United States in the 1984 Olympics and the first for the United States in the 100-meter since 1968, when Jim Hines set a world record of 9.95 in the high altitude of Mexico City. Still, Lewis' 9.99 represented the fastest 100 meters ever run at sea level in the Olympics. On August 5, Evelyn Ashford set an Olympic record of 10.97 seconds while winning the women's 100-meter finals, and Edwin Moses won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 49.75 seconds. On August 11, Carl Lewis completed his sweep of four gold medals by running the last leg of the U.S. 400-meter relay team. He went 100 meters in 8.94 seconds, enabling the Americans to set the first track and field record of the 1984 Games, 37.83 seconds. Earlier, Lewis had won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the long jump. Lewis' feats in the 1984 Olympics equaled those of Jesse Owens, the Black American who won four gold medals in the same events in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Of his achievements, Lewis told news reporters, “it is an honor. Two years ago, everyone in the world said it couldn't be done. Even a year ago, I said I couldn't do it.” He added, “I was looking for Ruth Owens [Jesse Owens' widow]. Jesse has been such an inspiration to me. I wanted to dedicate one medal to her."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Nov 6)
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Ronald Reagan is re-elected as president of the United States after alleged insensitivity toward Black issues during his first term and only receiving 20 percent of the Black American vote.
Ronald Reagan was re-elected president of the United States by the biggest margin in recent history. Reagan captured at least 58 percent of the more than fifty million votes cast, while his Democratic challenger, former vice president Walter Mondale, received approximately 41 percent. Reagan's landslide victory was comparable to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt's over Alf Landon in 1936; Lyndon B. Johnson's defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964; and Richard Nixon's defeat of George McGovern in 1972. Regan, who was frequently attacked by civil rights leaders during his first term for alleged insensitivity toward Black issues, received only 20 percent of the Black American vote by most estimates, including media exit polls.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 7)
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Heavyweight boxer George Foreman’s comeback attempt ends in defeat as he loses to Tommy Morrison.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, forty-four-year-old heavyweight boxer George Foreman's comeback attempt ended in defeat as he lost to twenty-four-year-old Tommy Morrison in a twelve-round unanimous decision. Foreman had originally retired from the ring in 1977 and then began a comeback in 1987. In 1991, he became the oldest fighter ever to challenge for the heavyweight title when he took on Evander Holyfield.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 30)
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In California, Tom Bradley steps down from office after serving as mayor of Los Angeles for twenty years.
In California, 75 year old Tom Bradley stepped down from office after serving as mayor of Los Angeles for twenty years. He had decided earlier not to run for re-election in the face of the city's serious financial problems, rising crime rate, and strained race relations. A liberal Black Democrat, Bradley had been in public service for fifty years at the time of his retirement, first as a policeman, then as a councilman, and finally as mayor. Taking his place was a conservative white Republican businessman, Richard Riordan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 28)
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The U.S. Supreme Court declares that states may be violating white voters’ rights by creating congressional districts that appear to be based only on race.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared that states may be violating white voters' rights by creating congressional districts that appear to be based only on race. The ruling—which many legal experts called one of the most significant in a decade, casted doubt on key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This landmark civil rights law made it possible for Blacks to gain more seats in the U.S. Congress as well as in state legislatures. It protected minority voters against discrimination and underrepresentation at the hands of whites who divided up voting districts in such a way that Blacks never would be in the majority, a process known as "gerrymandering." The new Supreme Court decision also cleared the way for white voters to sue states that go to extremes to create voting districts where Black and/or Hispanic voters end up in the majority.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 26)
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Thousands of people assemble to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the freedom walk led by Martin Luther King, Jr.
In Detroit, Michigan, thousands of people assembled to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of a freedom walk led by Martin Luther King, Jr. They celebrated the occasion with another march and a downtown rally calling for a renewed commitment to political activism, economic justice, and closer ties between people of African descent all over the world. With a new generation of leaders in attendance including NAACP executive director Ben Chavis and Martin Luther King III, marchers retraced the same route the slain civil rights leader took on June 23, 1963, along with 125,000 of his supporters. At the end of that historic march, King delivered for the first time a version of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The rest of the country heard the final version later that same summer in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 30)
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Rosa Parks is attacked and robbed in her home.
Eighty-one-year-old Rosa Parks, who helped launch the civil rights movement, was assaulted in her Detroit home and robbed of $50. The following day a suspect was arrested.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 29)
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Tennessee civil rights leader Avon Williams dies.
Avon Williams, a former Tennessee state senator, civil rights leader, and attorney, died in Nashville, Tennessee, at age seventy-two. In 1950, four years before the historic Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision, Williams sued to desegregate schools in Anderson County, Tennessee. He subsequently appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court seven times arguing public accommodations, school segregation, and teacher dismissal cases. He was also active in other efforts to desegregate golf courses, lunch counters, and other public facilities in Tennessee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 28)
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Tiger Woods wins the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship.
Eighteen-year-old Eldrick "Tiger" Woods became the first Black player, and the youngest player ever, to win the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship. A year later, Woods won his second amateur golf title.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Nov 11)
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Martin Luther King, Sr., minister, civil rights activist, and father of slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., dies following a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-four.
Martin Luther King, Sr., minister, civil rights activist, and father of slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., died following a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia, at age eighty-four. King, Sr., was born Michael Luther King to a sharecropper and cleaning woman in Stockbridge, Georgia, on December 19, 1899. He changed his name "to honor” the famous German theologian Martin Luther in 1934. King moved to Atlanta and became a minister at age seventeen. He also attended Morehouse College, from which he graduated in 1930. A year later King succeeded his deceased father-in-law, the Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, one of Atlanta's largest Black congregations. He remained as pastor or co-pastor of the church until 1975. Even before King assumed the pastorate at Ebenezer Baptist Church, he had become active in political and racial affairs in Atlanta. He was one of the Black leaders who "successfully lobbied” for the construction of the Booker T. Washington High School, the first secondary school for Blacks in the city, in 1924. In 1936, King was a leader in a voting rights march to Atlanta's City Hall and participated in protests against segregated cafeterias in the city and helped negotiate an agreement for their desegregation in 1961. The elder King accumulated considerable wealth as well as political and social influence. He was a director of Citizens Trust Company, the city's Black bank, and a member of the board of directors or trustees of SCLC, Morehouse College, the Morehouse School of Religion, and the Carrie Steele-Pitts Orphans Home. In 1972, he was named “Clergyman of the Year” by the Atlanta Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. A year before his death, King was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Peace Prize. Although King lost his famous son to an assassin's bullet in 1968 and his wife to another assassin in 1974, he continued to insist: "I don't hate. ... There is no time for that, and no reason either. Nothing that a man does takes him lower than when he allows himself to fall so low as to hate anyone.” In commenting on King's death, Marvin Arrington, the Black president of the Atlanta City Council, remarked, “we've lost one of our patriarchs.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 22)
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Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank settles their discrimination suit in which the Justice Department claimed the bank had violated the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Acts by engaging in “redlining.” The bank denies the allegations but opts to settle to avoid litigation that could prove to be more costly.
The U.S. Justice Department announced that an $11-million-dollar settlement had been reached with Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank. A discrimination suit contended that the bank had used bias in its lending practices against minorities and low-income people. The Justice Department claimed that the bank had violated the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Acts by engaging in "redlining," the practice of not providing services in known low-income areas. In addition to the $11-million-dollar settlement, Chevy Chase Bank agreed to open three mortgage offices and one new branch office in areas of Washington, D.C., with majority Black populations. The settlement also included recruitment of minorities for staffing, advertisement of mortgage services to agents representing minority areas, and the retraining of current staff on fair lending practices. While the bank denied the Justice Department allegations, it opted to settle to avoid litigation that could prove to be more costly.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Nov 14)
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The Wonder Woman Foundation presented its first “Eleanor Roosevelt Woman of Courage Award” to Rosa Parks, the Black woman who sparked the famous Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott in 1955.
The Wonder Woman Foundation presented its first "Eleanor Roosevelt Woman of Courage Award" to Rosa Parks, the Black woman who sparked the famous Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott in 1955. Parks, age seventy-one, recalled her experience in accepting the award in New York. She said, “I am not going to move," when a bus driver told her to give up her seat to a white man. Parks added, “I stand before you full of new courage and determination not to retire, as long as I feel I can be of some assistance to troubled people...." The Wonder Woman Awards were established in 1981 to highlight the fortieth anniversary of “Wonder Woman," the comic book heroine created by William Moulton Marston.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Aug 20)
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Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., is fired as the head of the NAACP after accusations of mishandling funds to aid his sexual discrimination charges.
Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., was fired by the board of the NAACP following allegations that he, acting as head of the organization, approved payments in excess of $300,000 in order to silence sexual discrimination charges against him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Dec 15)
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Miles Davis, Black American jazz trumpeter, is awarded the Sonning prize for musical excellence in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Miles Davis, the fifty-eight-year-old Black American jazz trumpeter, was awarded the Sonning prize for musical excellence in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was also presented with $9,000 in cash. Davis has played a major role in the transition from the hard, aggressive stance of bop to a softer, more subtle sound in jazz. In 1956 success came to the performer with the release of his first record, Miles Ahead. Other landmark recordings included Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. By the late 1960s Davis's musical explorations took him into the realm of electronic instruments, a sound that can be heard in the album Bitches Brew. In decades to follow, Davis' rhythmic and harmonic experimentation served to diversify the musician's audience and increase his popularity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1984 (Dec 31)
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The United Negro College Fund raises more than $14 million in pledges during a national telethon.
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF), a coordinating fund-raising organization for most of the nation's private Black colleges and universities, announced that it had raised more than $14.1 million in pledges during a national telethon. The event, the first of its kind carried on national television, was hosted by singer Lou Rawls and had a goal of $15 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Apr 26)
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The Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1991 cannot be applied retroactively.
The Supreme Court ruled twice by an 8-1 margin that the Civil Rights Act of 1991 could not be applied retroactively. Landgraf v. USI Film Products and River v. Roadway Express were the two cases the court considered in rendering its decisions. The 1991 Civil Rights Act allowed victims of workplace discrimination to file for compensatory and punitive damages in addition to back pay and lost benefits. It also allowed the right to a trial by jury. Then-president George Bush had signed the act into law.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Apr 26 - 29)
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South African Blacks vote for the first time in the history of the Republic of South Africa. This promised to end nearly 350 years of minority rule by whites, made possible by changes stemming from Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990.
South African Blacks, for the first time in the history of the Republic of South Africa, participated in the election process. The milestone event, which promised to end nearly 350 years of minority rule by whites, was made possible following the momentous changes that began with Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990 by then-president Frederik Willem de Klerk. On May 10, African National Congress leader Mandela, following a landslide victory, was inaugurated as the first Black president of South Africa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Apr 16)
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Award-winning novelist Ralph Waldo Ellison dies.
Ralph Waldo Ellison died in New York at the age of eighty. Ellison won the National Book Award for his only published novel, Invisible Man, in 1952. He was the first Black writer to win this award and his novel, about the alienation of Blacks in a white society, has been hailed as an American masterpiece. Ellison was also honored during his lifetime by election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1969 he received the Medal of Freedom from President Richard M. Nixon.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 20)
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Track star Florence Griffith Joyner is appointed co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness and Sports.
President Bill Clinton appointed track star Florence Griffith Joyner co-chair of the President's Council on Fitness and Sports. She was scheduled to share the job with former basketball player and congressman Tom McMillen. Together, they replaced bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had been appointed by President George Bush. Griffith Joyner was a standout at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, where she set a world record in the 100 meters. Later that year at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, she won three gold medals and set a world record in the 200 meters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Oct 7)
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Novelist Toni Morrison is awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature.
Novelist Toni Morrison was named the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was the first Black American to receive this highest of all literary honors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Oct 22)
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White racists Mark Kohut and Charles Rourk are sentenced to life in prison for setting fire to Jamaican immigrant Christopher Wilson.
In Tampa, Florida, white racists Mark Kohut and Charles Rourk were sentenced to life in prison for setting fire to Jamaican immigrant Christopher Wilson. Seventeen-year-old Jeff Ray Pellett, charged as an accessory in the hate crime, received a twenty-two-month jail sentence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Oct 21 - 25)
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Civil rights leaders and gangs hold a Peace Summit in Chicago.
Thousands of gang members and dozens of Black civil rights leaders attended a United in/and for Peace gang summit in Chicago.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Nov 9)
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Deputy Secretary Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., the highest-ranking Black in the State Department, resigns his position.
Deputy Secretary Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., the highest-ranking Black in the State Department, resigned his position after a series of unfavorable press reports on his performance.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Nov 24)
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Grammy award winning guitarist Albert Collins dies.
Guitarist Albert Collins, a Grammy award winner and a member of the Blues Hall of Fame, died in Las Vegas at the age of 61.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Nov 21)
Published
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The heavily black-populated District of Columbia is denied statehood.
By a margin of more than one hundred votes, the U.S. House of Representatives defeated a bill proposing that the heavily Black-populated District of Columbia (Also known as Washington D.C.) become the nation's fifty-first state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Nov 2)
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Sharon Sayles Belton is elected the first Black and female mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sharon Sayles Belton was elected the first Black and the first female mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 6)
Published
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After a long running dispute, the jury rules in favor of Boston University over the ownership of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s personal papers. The ruling disappoints his widow, Coretta Scott King, who says she will consider filing an appeal.
In a Boston courtroom, a jury ruled in favor of Boston University in a long-running dispute between the school and the family of Martin Luther King, Jr., over ownership of about one-third of the slain civil rights leader's personal papers. On July 16, 1964, King had sent a letter to officials at Boston University (where he had received his doctorate degree) saying that he wanted to give his correspondence, manuscripts, and other papers and items of historical interest to the school's library. Later that year and the next, he did indeed hand over about 83,000 documents. Most dated back before 1961 and covered the birth of the civil rights movement. In her lawsuit, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, claimed that her husband had changed his mind about the donation before his death but that he had never let the university know. She said that he had only sent his papers up north temporarily because he thought they would be safer there than anywhere in the South. (At the time, his home and office were often the targets of fire bombings.) According to Mrs. King, he really intended for them to be returned to him at some future date. Describing herself and her family as deeply disappointed about the verdict, Coretta Scott King said she would consider filing an appeal. She had hoped to bring all of her husband's papers together in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (May 24)
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Hugh B. Price is named president of the National Urban League.
The National Urban League selected Hugh B. Price as its new president and chief executive officer. Price succeeded John E. Jacob, who had served the organization for the past twelve years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (May 24)
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Denny’s, the popular restaurant chain, settles its discrimination lawsuit.
Flagstar Cos., the parent company of Denny's restaurants, agreed to pay a settlement of more than $54 million to Black customers who had filed a class-action discrimination lawsuit.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (May 2)
Published
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Damian Williams is convicted of beating white trucker Reginald Denny during the 1992 Los Angeles Riot.
Damian Williams received a maximum ten-year sentence for his involvement in the beating of white trucker Reginald Denny during the 1992 Los Angeles Riot. Four other Black men were acquitted of felony weapons charges stemming from the incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (May 14)
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The Auburn Avenue Research Library opens, becoming the second public library in the nation to open with a focus exclusively on Black history and culture.
The Auburn Avenue Research Library, part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library in Atlanta, Georgia, became the second public library in the nation to open with a focus exclusively on Black history and culture (the first was New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture). Opened at a cost of $10 million, the 50,000-square-foot library houses three buildings in one: a library research area containing general reference books and materials, a public section housing exhibit cases and a main reading room, and an archive that includes a core of library stacks running through the center of the building, The library's core collection is the Negro History Collection, established at the original Auburn Avenue branch in 1934. The library's reference collection included 23,000 books, 2,000 periodical titles, 181 African American-related newsletters, and 1,600 vertical files augmenting these primary materials.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Mar 5)
Published
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White supremacist Byron de la Beckwith is sentenced to life in prison for the 1963 assassination of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers.
In Jackson, Mississippi, white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith was sentenced to life in prison for the 1963 assassination of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers. In two previous trials, all-white juries were unable to reach a verdict. The case was reopened in 1989 following the discovery of new evidence and in February 1994, a jury of eight Blacks and four whites found Beckwith guilty.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Mar 1)
Published
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Leonard Coleman is elected the new National Baseball League president, becoming the highest ranking Black executive in professional sports.
Leonard Coleman was elected president of the National Baseball League, replacing fellow Black American Bill White. A former marketing development director of Major League Baseball, Coleman now held the rank of the highest Black executive in professional sports.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Jun 17)
Published
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Former professional football Hall-of-Famer Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson leads police on a low-speed chase before giving himself up for arrest for the June 12th murders of his ex-wife and her friend.
The nation watched with a mixture of fascination and horror as former professional football Hall-of-Famer Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson led police on a low-speed chase through Anaheim, California, before giving himself up for arrest for the June 12th murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman. The media reported that Simpson had earlier left what appeared to be a suicide note and that he now carried a gun. Until Simpson reached his Brentwood estate, accompanied by friend Al Cowlings, it remained unclear whether the country would be witness to a televised suicide. A possible motive for the crime remained clear from the beginning: Simpson, despite his until now largely untarnished public image, was known to be a jealous husband and wife-beater. Whether Simpson had the means to commit the murders remained to be seen. But on June 27, Time magazine featured an artificially darkened police mugshot of the football star, bringing home the fact that no other suspect existed and that race would, however unfortunately, play a key role in the trial and the minds of Americans. A Heisman Trophy winner, Simpson began his professional football career with the Buffalo Bills in 1969. Three years later he won his first rushing title, after gaining over 1,200 yards in a single season. Then, in 1973, "The Juice" accelerated to superstar status. On opening day he rushed for 250 yards, becoming the first Black to do so in a single game. Throughout the season, he chalked up 10 additional games in which he ran for more than 100 yards, an NFL record. Simpson concluded this remarkable season by amassing a total of 2,003 yards and eclipsing the record of 1,863 yards set earlier by Jim Brown. In 1979 Simpson was named the NFL Player of the Decade. Later honors included his entry into the College Football Hall of Fame (1983) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1985). Following the conclusion of his pro football career, Simpson continued to make a name for himself as a sports commentator, actor, and TV commercial spokesman.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Jun 12 - 14)
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NAACP leader Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., hosts the first African American Leadership Summit.
NAACP Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., hosted the first African American Leadership Summit. Chavis received criticism for inviting controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to the Baltimore conference.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Jan 25)
Published
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Michael Jackson settles his child molestation suit out-of-court despite maintaining his innocence.
In an out-of-court settlement, singer Michael Jackson reportedly paid millions of dollars following charges of child sexual molestation, despite maintaining his innocence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Feb 3)
Published
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Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan suspends national spokesman Khalid Abdul Muhammad after his controversial remarks.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan suspended national spokesman Khalid Abdul Muhammad following a speech in which Muhammad referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers" of the Black community, labeled Pope John Paul II a "cracker" and Nelson Mandela "a fool." In May 1994 the spokesman was shot and wounded by another Nation of Islam member while delivering a speech at Riverside, California.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Feb 2)
Published
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Commerce Secretary Ron Brown is cleared of bribery charges.
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was cleared of charges that he accepted a $700,000 bribe in exchange for the lifting of a Vietnam trade embargo.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Dec 9)
Published
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President Bill Clinton asks Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders to resign after remarks about sex education in schools.
President Bill Clinton requested that Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders resign following remarks in which she implied that students should be taught how to masturbate as part of their sex education in the schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Dec 4)
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Singer Aretha Franklin is honored for her achievement in the performing arts.
At the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., singer Aretha Franklin was honored for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. The "Queen of Soul" was the first Black woman selected for induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. As a child she sang gospel in the church pastored by her father, a noted evangelist and singer, and later joined the quartet directed by James Cleveland. She turned to blues in the 1960s, and in 1967 two of her albums sold more than 1 million copies each. Franklin won four Grammy awards between 1967 and 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Dec 28)
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The King family bars the U.S. Park Service from continuing its visitor’s tours through Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, birthplace and tomb.
In opposition to the U.S. Park Service plan to build a visitor center across from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthplace and tomb, the King family barred the agency from continuing its visitor's tours through the historic site. The King family wanted to create a multimedia museum instead of the planned visitor center. King's birthplace and tomb are owned by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Sep 10)
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Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, former president of historically Black Howard University, dies in Washington, D.C., at age eighty-six.
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, former president of historically Black Howard University, died in Washington, D.C., at age eighty-six. Johnson was born on January 12, 1890, the son of a Baptist minister. He received undergraduate degrees from both Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) in 1911 and the University of Chicago in 1913, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Rochester (New York) Theological Seminary in 1920, and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Howard University in 1932. After serving nine years as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charleston, West Virginia, Johnson assumed the presidency of Howard University in 1926 and held the position until 1960. Under his leadership Howard grew from a mostly Black school to an international university in its student body, faculty, and scope of its academic programs. During this period, the student population increased by 250 percent, seventeen new buildings were constructed, and the annual budget increased from $700,000 to $6 million. Johnson also gained a reputation as a champion of human rights and a spellbinding orator. After addressing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in June 1959, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the "650 delegates heard the most courageous exposé that one might be able to hear at such a meeting," and the New York Post remarked that “many were moved (by the address), some with annoyance, but at its end, the applause lasted for five minutes." In commenting on Johnson's death, the current president of Howard University, James Cheek, said that "love and dedication to Howard University will long be remembered by thousands of persons whose lives he touched throughout the world."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Sep 19)
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William “Bill” Lucas, a former professional baseball player, is named Director of Player Personnel by the Atlanta Braves club. It is the highest position ever held by a Black American in professional baseball.
William "Bill” Lucas, a former baseball player for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves of the National Baseball League, was named director of player personnel by the Atlanta Braves club. The position is the highest ever held by a Black American in professional baseball. After leaving the playing field in 1964, Lucas joined the Braves' executive staff in sales and promotions. The following year he worked in public relations, and then, in 1962, was named assistant farm director and director of player development. Of his new appointment, Lucas said that it held no special meaning. Wayne Embry, also an Black American, held a similar position for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. Another prominent Black baseball figure, Hank Aaron, also formerly of the Atlanta Braves, led a campaign to get more Blacks into "front office” jobs in baseball and other professional sports.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Oct 25)
Published
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Clarence “Willie” Norris, the last of the “Scottsboro Boys,” was pardoned for a 1931 rape conviction by Governor George C. Wallace.
Clarence "Willie" Norris, the last of the "Scottsboro Boys," was pardoned for a 1931 rape conviction. The order was signed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Governor George C. Wallace. Norris, age sixty-four, was among eight Black men convicted of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama, and sentenced to death in 1931. The original conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, and a subsequent guilty verdict was set aside after one of the alleged victims recanted her previous testimony. Although the eight were also convicted at a third trial, all but Norris, who escaped while on parole in 1946, had already been pardoned. The NAACP, along with the Communist Party and other organizations, had waged celebrated protests as well as legal actions on behalf of the Scottsboro Boys over the years and announced after the pardon that it was interpreting it "as a total absolution for Norris.... (He) has been absolved of any wrongdoing. We will interpret this as applying to the others." All of the other Scottsboro Boys were, however presumed to be dead at the time of Norris's release.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Nov 15)
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Blacks are accepted by the all-white Plains Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, which previously held a racially exclusionary policy.
The congregation of all-white Plains Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, voted 120-66 to admit Black worshipers as members. The church's racially exclusionary policy had been under attack since October of that year when Clennon King, a fifty-six-year-old Black minister from Albany, Georgia, announced that he would seek to join the congregation. The Plains Baptist Church had at various times included among its membership President-elect Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalyn, and his mother, Lillian. After the motion to admit Blacks was approved, Carter admitted being "proud of my church, God's church."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jun 25)
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The United States Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was “not limited to discrimination against members of any particular race,” after two white employees accuse their employer of discrimination against them.
The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that victims of so-called reverse discrimination have the same rights as Blacks to sue in federal courts if they have been terminated from their jobs. The high Court said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was "not limited to discrimination against members of any particular race." The Court ruled in a case from Houston, Texas, where two white employees of the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company had been fired because they allegedly misappropriated ten cases of antifreeze. A Black employee who was also charged in the incident was not terminated. The whites charged that their employer had discriminated against them on the basis of race and that their labor union had acquiesced in the bias by failing to represent one of them properly. The Supreme Court agreed with the petitioners and returned the matter to a lower court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jun 16)
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Reverend Richard Allen Chapelle is elected general conference secretary of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.
The Reverend Richard Allen Chapelle of Jacksonville, Florida, was elected general conference secretary of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church during the Fortieth Quadrennial General Conference of the Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Chapelle succeeded the Reverend Russell S. Brown of Chicago who at seventy-eight was at the age of retirement. More than thirty thousand participants, representing more than one million members of the denomination from eighteen districts in the United States, Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean, attended the meeting.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jul 26)
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Dayton, Ohio, public schools are ordered to reflect roughly the same Black-white population as the entire state school system. The Dayton Board of Education said it would appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that each of the sixty-eight public schools of Dayton, Ohio, "must reflect roughly the same Black-white population as the entire state school system." The order would require a Black-white student population in each school that "reflects within 15 percent" - the racial composition of each school district. The Dayton Board of Education said it would appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jul 15)
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Jimmy Carter accepts nomination for president. Martin Luther King, Sr., a strong supporter of Carter, provides the benediction.
Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, accepted the Democratic nomination for president of the United States at the close of his party's national convention in New York City. The convention ended with the singing of the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, "We Shall Overcome," and a benediction by Martin Luther King, Sr., father of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and one of Carter's strongest supporters during the presidential primary campaigns.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 31)
Published
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The Detroit, Michigan, school system initiates a school desegregation plan. The NAACP opposes it on the grounds that it did not go far enough.
A plan that involved a limited amount of busing to achieve school desegregation was initiated in the Detroit, Michigan, school system—the nation's fifth largest. The implementation of the desegregation plan climaxed a court battle that began in 1970. The NAACP filed suit against the Detroit system in 1970 after the Michigan legislature overruled the city's first desegregation plan. In 1972, a federal district court ordered the integration of the primarily Black schools of Detroit with those of surrounding predominantly white suburbs. But in an important decision in July 1974, the United States Supreme Court struck down the provision relating to suburbs and ordered the district court to draw up a plan relating to Detroit only. The Detroit plan, which was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Robert De Mascio, permitted a total of 21,800 pupils in kindergarten through the eighth grade to be bused. Another 4,700 were transferred to schools within walking distance. In addition, 1,500 ninth and tenth graders were transferred to other schools, but they had to provide their own transportation. In sum, approximately 160 schools exchanged pupils in order to achieve enrollments of about half Black and half white. The city's remaining 140 schools remained all Black. The NAACP opposed the Detroit plan on the grounds that it did not go far enough, but urged compliance with the court order.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 28)
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Vivian W. Henderson, president of Clark College in Georgia, dies during heart surgery in Atlanta.
Vivian W. Henderson, president of Clark College in Georgia, died during heart surgery in Atlanta, at age fifty-two. Henderson, a native of Bristol, Virginia, was born on February 10, 1923. He received a bachelor's degree from North Carolina College in Durham (later North Carolina Central University), and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Iowa. In 1948, Henderson began his teaching career in Texas at Prairie View A&M College, but returned to his alma mater, North Carolina College, the following year as a professor of economics. In 1952, Henderson moved to a similar position at Fisk University in Tennessee where he eventually became chairman of the Department of Economics. Henderson was named president of Clark College in 1965. In addition to his roles as a teacher and an administrator, Henderson achieved distinction as one of the nation's most foremost Black scholars in economics. He was the author of The Economic Status of Negroes (1963), co-author of The Advancing South: Manpower Prospects and Problems (1959), and contributing author of Principles of Economics (1959). He also contributed to "Race, Regions and Jobs," edited by Arthur Ross and Herbert Hill in 1967. His work, according to the Atlanta Journal, “is considered to have had an important impact in convincing industry and business of the buying power of the Black American community." Outside the academic world, Henderson was a member of the boards of directors of the Atlanta Community Chest (later the United Way), the Atlanta chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Atlanta Urban League, the Ford Foundation, the National Sharecroppers Fund, the Institute for Services to Education, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change, and the Voter Education Project (VEP), among others. He was also chairman of the board of the Southern Regional Council (SRC) and chairman of the Georgia advisory committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR). Henderson's governmental activities included serving as a member of the advisory committee of the Atlanta Charter Commission, co-chairman for education of the Georgia Goals Commission, advisor to former President Lyndon Johnson, and member of the Manpower Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Labor. Former Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., called Henderson's death “a great loss to the city. ... He left a vital and lasting impact. ..." Atlanta mayor Maynard H. Jackson added that the educator was a man "never too busy to accept the call to service."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 12 - 15)
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Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is celebrated throughout the nation.
Celebrations were held throughout the nation commemorating the forty-sixth birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Much of the activity was focused in King's hometown, Atlanta, Georgia. On January 12, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, gave a major new assessment of the current civil rights struggle. Excerpts from her statement follow: “What we are seeing in the South is a transformation. ... You don't have the tension in the South that you had 10-15 years ago. The battleground is definitely in the North now... Detroit, Chicago, New York-most of these cities are sitting on a powder keg because of neglect. Urban America is where it is going to happen in the 70's and 80's. The problems in the major cities across the country are the problems of America in miniature. Every city is beset by problems of poverty, crime and housing. ... Blacks always suffer more than any other group..... “[The Nixon administration was] totally unresponsive to the basic human needs of Blacks and whites. ... [In the Ford administration] the only thing is the climate is a little less oppressive.... I think that the people were so relieved to get rid of Nixon that they set Ford up as a kind of savior. I don't think that he's really a leader.... "In some instances we still have to march but not as much as we once did. . . . I think the movement has reached a more sophisticated state. Marches, picketing and boycotting are part of it, but we are at the stage now where we have some political power. We are the balance of power in many areas.... “We do have a lot to work on but I do believe Martin Luther King left us a great legacy and told us how we can achieve the American dream-a just and peaceful society.” King made her remarks during an interview with Walt Smith of United Press International. Also in connection with the birthday celebration, a summit meeting of national civil rights and political leaders was held in Atlanta on January 13. The meeting, called to discuss the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its possible extension or renewal, was sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change. Participants included United States Senators Hugh Scott, a Michigan Republican, and Birch Bayh, an Indiana Democrat; U.S. Representatives Ronald Dellums of California and Andrew Young of Georgia (both Black Americans); former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach; National Urban League director Vernon E. Jordan; veteran civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, executive director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute; John Lewis, executive director of the Voter Education Project; Georgia State Senator Julian Bond; and Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. In his remarks at the conference, Senator Bayh said that other minorities needed the extension of the Voting Rights Act to foster their causes, because there was substantial evidence that the protections provided by the act could aid Mexican Americans especially. The Nixon administration, according to Bayh, tried to "gut" the Voting Rights extension bill in 1970, but he didn't anticipate that the Ford administration would try to do the same. Former Attorney General Katzenbach expressed the opinion that the Voting Rights Act freed Southern white politicians from campaigns of “race, race, race" and enabled them to seek office without reference to race. It also enabled Blacks to seek national office for the first time in forty years, he said. In his remarks, Rustin said that the issues of the turbulent 1960s were Black issues—equality under the law and the end of segregation. But today the issues were broader and included Blacks, other minorities, and women and were economic and political in nature. The agenda, he said, had now changed from getting the rights whites had to the things whites wanted—“a job, a house, a decent education.” On January 15, an ecumenical service was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King pastored, with the Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame University and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, as the principal speaker. Other activities in King's hometown during the day included the dedication of the civil rights leader's birthplace as a national historic site and a "people's march” in the downtown area of the city.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 15)
Published
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John Lewis is awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-violent Peace Prize. It is the highest prize of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change.
John Lewis, executive director of the Voter Education Project (VEP), was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-violent Peace Prize for 1975. The award is the highest prize of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change. The presentation was made by Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, who said of Lewis: "We feel that this man exemplifies the life, the teachings, and the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr., and certainly has brought about in his efforts the kind of non-violent social changes in our society that have moved us forward and will continue to move us toward the dream. ... This young man is a very humble man, a deeply committed man, and a man whom I respect, admire, and love very deeply." Lewis began his civil rights career as a member, and later executive secretary, of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He participated in the first Freedom Rides in 1961 and was a principal speaker at the March on Washington in 1963. He was a leader of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights Marches. It was during the first of these marches in 1965 that Lewis received a fractured skull after Alabama law enforcement officers charged the crowd of peaceful demonstrators. As head of the VEP, Lewis directed programs to advance, through nonpartisan action, minority political participation. In receiving the award, Lewis said, “I am deeply moved and I hope that in the days, months, and years to come I will be worthy of this honor. As Dr. King said so many times, We've come a distance, but we still have a distance to go.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 11)
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The Governor’s Minority Affairs Council of Mississippi begins investigating reports of police brutality by the state’s highway patrol officers.
A committee of the Governor's Minority Affairs Council of Mississippi reported that it was investigating reports that highway patrol officers had beaten African Americans. The council, composed of fifteen African American citizens, met with Governor Bill Waller to inform him of its plan for the investigation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 10)
Published
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A crowd of three thousand, mostly young Black people, rush the doors at the Atlanta Civic Center Auditorium to apply for 225 new public-service jobs. The incident spotlighted the Black unemployment challenge of the current recession.
A crowd of three thousand people, most of them young Black Americans, crashed into the glass doors at the Atlanta Civic Center Auditorium in their rush to apply for 225 new public-service jobs. The job seekers had gathered in the pre-dawn hours in search of employment. In December 1974, the unemployment rate in Atlanta had been 7.5 percent, but the jobless rate among Blacks was 9.2 percent. The spectacle at the Civic Center Auditorium pointed out again the growing economic desperation of Blacks during the current recession.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 1)
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Samuel DuBois Cook assumes the presidency of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Samuel DuBois Cook assumed the presidency of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Cook earned his bachelor's degree from Morehouse College and his master's and doctorate degrees from Ohio State University. Previously, he had taught at Atlanta University and Duke University and served as a consultant to the U.S. Office of Education and the Ford Foundation. Cook was also a former president of the Southern Political Science Association and, at the time of his appointment, was serving as a trustee of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change. Cook succeeded Broadus Butler as president of the 105-year-old predominantly Black college.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb)
Published
0 0
The Free Southern Theater, a group that dramatized the concept of Black liberation, embarks on its first tour. Many viewed it as the beginning of a modern renaissance of Black culture.
The Free Southern Theater presented the play "If the Opportunity Scratches, Itch It," in Eutau, Alabama. It was the first time ever that live theater, other than high school plays, was performed in this predominantly Black farm community in central Alabama. The occasion also marked the first time since 1969 that the Free Southern Theater had taken a show on tour, although this was its original purpose when it was established in 1962 as a cultural arm of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The Free Southern Theater was viewed by some as the beginning of a modern renaissance of Black culture that grew out of the civil rights and Black consciousness movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The idea of a theater to dramatize the concept of Black liberation had spread rapidly across the country, and most cities with a sizeable Black population had some form of organized cultural activity. They included: The Fire Company in Birmingham, Alabama; the New African Company, the National Center of Afro-American Artists and the Museum of Afro-American History in Boston, Massachusetts; the Ku Mba Workshop in Chicago, Illinois; the Karamu House Theater in Cleveland, Ohio; the Rapa House in Detroit, Michigan; Opera South in Jackson, Mississippi; Bodaciouis Buggerilla; the Mafandi Institute and the Performing Arts Society in Los Angeles, California; the Black Theater Troupe and Umba Ujaama in Phoenix, Arizona; and the Kahero Cultural Gallery of Richmond, Virginia. The aim of all of this activity was to allow Blacks, who felt that they had been generally left out or misrepresented in America's cultural media, to interpret their own history, thought, ideas, strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations. In addition to theater, Blacks were engaged in community writing, dancing, directing, designing, sculpturing, singing, and photography. In interviews with the New York Times in February 1975, Kenneth E. Snipes, executive director of the Karamu House Theater, and Gilbert Moses, one of the founders of the New Orleans-based Free Southern Theater, assessed the new movement. According to Snipes: “Blacks have more needs for certain kinds of programs to provide them with a sense of self-worth, more of the things that are appreciative of Black people. There is a need to appreciate Black people, to appreciate the role of Blacks in the history of this country, to appreciate the work of the Black playwright or what the Black dancer is doing today to eventually attain self-worth and self-esteem.” Moses added that “it was more important that we develop our own artists, our own image. It had to happen.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 3)
Published
0 0
Demonstrators are arrested in Atlanta after demanding to see president Gerald Ford to ask for jobs for the poor.
Georgia State Representative Hosea Williams, head of the Atlanta chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and three other men, including Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Peter Camejo, were arrested during a demonstration in Atlanta outside of a hotel where President Gerald Ford was speaking. Williams and fifty other demonstrators demanded to see the president to ask for jobs for the poor. A presidential aide told them that Ford's schedule did not permit such a meeting. Amid jeering from hotel guests, the demonstrators were arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 28)
Published
0 0
James Earl Ray’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea and face a new trial for the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is denied.
United States District Court Judge Robert M. McRae, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee, denied James Earl Ray's motion to withdraw his guilty plea and face a new trial on the charge that he murdered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. McRae said Ray's original plea of guilty was “cooly and deliberately” submitted and that he found no violation of Ray's constitutional rights that would warrant a reversal of the plea and a full trial in state court. McRae rejected Ray's contention that he came to believe he had no choice but to plead guilty because of his former attorney's actions and rejected Ray's allegations that famed criminal lawyer Percy Foreman of Houston, Texas, and attorney Arthur Hanes, Sr., of Birmingham, Alabama, failed to take adequate steps to prepare a defense because they were more interested in promoting their royalties on the Ray story under contracts with Alabama author William Bradford Huie. McRae ruled groundless Ray's argument that Foreman, specifically, coerced him into the guilty plea. The judge said there was no impermissible pressure from the attorney. “On the contrary, the matter was discussed on numerous separate occasions over almost one month, at the least." Ray “carefully considered and partially amended the lengthy stipulation of facts that formed the basis for accepting his guilty plea ... and entered the plea in an open court where he spoke to correct the record as he thought appropriate,” according to Judge McRae. Robert I. Livingston, one of Ray's new attorneys, announced an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
1975 (Feb 25)
Published
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Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, dies.
Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims, also known as the Nation of Islam (NOI), died in Chicago at age seventy-seven. Muhammad was born Elijah Poole near Sandersville, Georgia, in 1897. He moved to Detroit in the 1930s and met W. D. Fard, founder of the Temple of Islam (Black Muslims). Muhammad himself erected a temple in Detroit, then, in 1934, moved to Chicago. Subsequently, seventy-nine temples were erected in seventy cities. Jesse Jackson eulogized Muhammad as “the single most powerful Black man in this country. ..His leadership extended far beyond his membership. He was the father of Black self-consciousness during our ‘colored' and Negro days.” Muhammad was succeeded by his son, Wallace D. Muhammad. During the height of the civil rights movement, Muhammad and his followers provoked the ire of white and Black leadership alike for their preaching of racial separatism, racial pride, and self-defense. The increasing popularity of those teachings among Blacks, however, was demonstrated in the scope of philosophies represented in the eulogies for Muhammad. Civil rights leaders, including Jackson and Tyrone Brooks of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), joined Julian Bond of Georgia and traditional Black Baptist ministers in extolling the virtues of the Black Muslim patriarch.
1975 (Feb 2)
Published
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Black-owned companies are showing progress according to Sam Beard, head of the the non-profit, Development Council.
Sam Beard, head of the Development Council, announced in New York that minority-owned companies were moving into the economic mainstream and doing business with the industrial giants of the nation. According to Beard, “There was almost no history of minority business ownership prior to the Sixties,” but in the last three years, his nonprofit organization had arranged 1,003 contracts totaling $141 million between minority-owned businesses and major corporations. Included among the Council projects were the financing of a health center in South Jamaica, a section of Queens, New York, where thirty Black doctors had tried unsuccessfully for eighteen months to raise money for a medical facility to treat the community of 150,000; the funding of Soul City, the multi-racial town under construction in North Carolina; assistance to the Black Feet Indian Writing Company in Montana, which supplied pens to Atlantic-Richfield Company; and assistance to the Black-owned Baldwin Ice Cream Company of Chicago, which sold food to United Airlines. The Council, according to Director Beard, was not a charity organization. Instead, he said, “We're building long-lasting business relationships that will feed hundreds of thousands of dollars back into minority communities and create jobs.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1820 (Mar 3)
Published
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The Missouri Compromise is approved by Congress, prohibiting enslavement north and west of the 36-30 parallel line within the Louisiana territory.
The famous Missouri Compromise was approved by Congress. Slavery was prohibited north and west of the 36-30 parallel line within the Louisiana territory. Missouri itself entered the Union as a slave state, while Maine entered as a free state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1821
Published
0 0
Black Americans are encouraged to emigrate to the Black Republic of Liberia, a West African country, as a means of alleviating the race problem.
The Black Republic of Liberia was founded under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. Black Americans were encouraged to emigrate to the West African country as a means of alleviating the race problem. In the end, only about 20,000 did so. The capital city, Monrovia, was named for President James Monroe.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1823
Published
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Birth of Mary Smith Kelsick Peake, teacher and founder of the Daughters of Zion, where children and adults received education in her home.
Mary Peake was born in Norfolk County, Virginia. In September of 1861, she opened the first school sponsored by the American Missionary Association. It was housed in a cottage on the Chesapeake Female College campus where she had arrived only one month before. Chesapeake had become her home after she fled Hampton as Confederates set the city aflame on August 7. In Hampton, Peake had founded the Daughters of Zion through which children and adults received education in Peake's home. Her motivation to teach others may have stemmed from her own opportunity as a free-born woman to receive a good education in Alexandria before the city was retroceded to Virginia in 1846 and its schools closed to Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1823
Published
0 0
Alexander Lucius Twilight receives his B.A. degree from Vermont’s Middlebury College in 1823, making him the first known Black American to graduate from college.
Alexander Lucius Twilight received his B.A. degree from Vermont's Middlebury College in 1823, making him the first known Black American to graduate from college. He then turned to educating Black Americans, teaching in New York and Vermont. In 1829, Twilight became principal of the Orleans County Grammar School in Brownington, Vermont, where he also ministered to the congregation that worshipped in the same building. Under Twilight's administration, the school's expanding enrollment led to the construction of an additional three-story building. He left the school in 1847 to educate Blacks in villages, but he returned as headmaster in 1852. During Twilight's tenure in Brownington, he also became one of the first Black Americans to be elected to a state legislature, serving in the Vermont congress from 1836 to 1837. Twilight was one of six children born to free Blacks, Mary and Ichabod Twilight, in Bradford, Vermont. He was indentured to a neighboring farmer but purchased his freedom in 1815. Mary Ladd Merrill married him in 1826. Twilight died in June 1857.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1824
Published
0 0
African Free Schools gain support of the New York Common Council.
African Free Schools succeeded in gaining the support of the New York Common Council.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1824 (Nov)
Published
0 0
America eliminates the property requirements for voting, allowing for universal male suffrage. Blacks, however, are still denied the right to vote.
American politics was becoming democratized as the elimination of the caucus system for choosing presidential candidates was accompanied by the removal of property qualifications for voting. The way was being paved for virtual universal male suffrage in the United States. At the same time, the Northern and Western states adopted measures denying Black Americans the right to vote.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1827 (Mar 16)
Published
0 0
John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, debut Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first Black American newspaper, in New York City.
Two Black Americans, John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, began publication of Freedom's Journal, the nation's pioneer Black American newspaper, in New York City. The paper was not very successful, and two years later Cornish began a second publication, the more militant paper, Rights of All, which also was short-lived. In 1836, Cornish published Weekly Advocate and the following year co-edited the Colored American. Most of the Black American newspapers founded before the Civil War were principally abolitionist propaganda sheets, with Frederick Douglass' North Star being the most successful.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1830 (Sep 20 - 24)
Published
0 0
The first National Negro Convention meets at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia with delegates from Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in attendance.
The initial National Negro Convention met at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia. Delegates from Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia attended. The convention, under the leadership of Richard Allen (other prominent Black American leaders present included abolitionist and shipmaker James Porten and journalist Samuel Cornish), adopted resolutions calling for improvements in the social status of Black Americans. The delegates considered projects to establish a Black college and to encourage Blacks to emigrate to Canada. Neither of these proposals were adopted. Opposition even arose to the mere idea of an Black American convention. Yet these ad-hoc conventions continued to convene and occasionally were attended by White abolitionists and reformers. In the ten years before the Civil War, there was a rash of such conventions held in Cleveland, Rochester, and New York City as well as in Philadelphia. One of the most important meetings was in Rochester in 1853, when the National Council of Colored People was formed. This group issued a statement that both denounced racial oppression in America and cited instances of Black progress. These conventions were in the American tradition of assembling for redress of grievances and increased solidarity among Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1830 (Apr 6)
Published
0 0
The birth of James Augustine Healy. He becomes the first Black Catholic Bishop in America.
James Augustine Healy was the son of an Irish immigrant and an enslaved mixed-race Black. His father sent he and his brothers to the North for their education, but after being rejected by several academies, the Healys entered a Quaker school in Long Island, New York. Later, they transferred to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where James was the most outstanding pupil. In 1852, he entered the Sulpician Seminary in Paris, and on June 10, 1854, he was ordained a priest in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Healy's first assignment as a priest was in a white parish in Boston. He became secretary to the bishop of Boston, then became pastor of the New St. James Church. Healy's stature in the New England Catholic hierarchy continued to rise; in 1874, he was appointed bishop of Maine and was consecrated in the Cathedral at Portland on June 2, 1875. Healy proved to be energetic and devoted to duty. He ministered to an all-white following, but only occasionally was subjected to racial abuse. Shortly before his death on August 5, 1890, Healy was promoted to the rank of assistant at the Papal Throne.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1828
Published
0 0
Theodore Sedgwick Wright graduates from the Princeton Theological Seminary, making him the first Black to graduate from an American theological seminary.
Theodore Sedgwick Wright graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary, making him the first Black to graduate from an American theological seminary. He then took his lifelong post as pastor of the First Colored Presbyterian Church, also called the Shiloh Presbyterian Church. Wright constantly organized and promoted civil rights efforts. Throughout the 1830s, he lectured for active abolitionist movements and, in 1833, helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society. After withdrawing from the organization in 1840 over the growing trend toward Garrisonian radicalism, he helped form the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In addition to fighting for freedom, Wright pushed for jury trials in fugitive enslaved people cases and Black franchisement, including an 1840 push for suspension of the property requirement for Black voters. Wright was also active in the temperance movement and missions to evangelize African peoples. Wright was born to R. P. G. Wright in 1797. He received his early education at the New York African Free School. Wright died in 1847.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1829 (Mar 4)
Published
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Black Americans attend the inaugural reception for President Andrew Jackson at the White House.
Black Americans attended the inaugural reception for President Andrew Jackson at the White House.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1838
Published
0 0
The Caulkers’ Association is founded as one of the first Black American labor unions.
The Caulkers' Association formed as one of the first Black American labor unions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1840
Published
0 0
Delaware allows Blacks to attend schools with Whites.
Blacks in Wilmington, Delaware, were permitted to attend schools with Whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1700
Published
0 0
William Penn and the Quakers establish a monthly meetings for Blacks.
A monthly meeting for Blacks was established with the help of William Penn and the Quakers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1715
Published
0 0
The census records 2,000 Blacks in New England.
According to the census there were 2,000 Blacks in New England.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1715
Published
0 0
Virginia enslaved population rises from less than 5 percent to 24 percent in a 44-year period.
The Black enslaved population in the Virginia colony rose to 24 percent, up from less than five percent in 1671.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1717
Published
0 0
Cotton Mather, a White minister, opens an evening school for Indians and Blacks in Boston, Massachusetts.
Cotton Mather, a White minister, began an evening school for Indians and Blacks in Boston, Massachusetts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1720
Published
0 0
The enslaved population of the Pennsylvania colony is estimated at 2,000.
The enslaved population of the Pennsylvania colony was estimated at 2,000.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1727
Published
0 0
Blacks receive instruction in New Orleans, Louisiana, from the Roman Catholic Ursuline Nuns.
Blacks received instruction in New Orleans, Louisiana, from the Roman Catholic Ursuline Nuns.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1728
Published
0 0
Nathaniel Pigott founds a school for the instruction of Blacks in reading, catechizing, and writing.
Nathaniel Pigott announced his plans to begin a school for the "instruction of Negroes in reading, catechizing, and writing."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1753 - 1763
Published
0 0
The slave trade increases as 13 New England vessels bring 869 enslaved people to Virginia.
Between 1753 and 1763, thirteen New England vessels brought 869 enslaved people to Virginia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1804 (May 14)
Published
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The enslaved man known as York embarks on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
The enslaved man known as York set out as part of the Lewis and Clark expedition, officially as Clark's valet. York was the son of Old York and his wife, Rose, who were enslaved house laborers of the Clark family. During the two-year journey, however, York also served as a diplomat of sorts: he apparently acted as a French-Canadian interpreter for Clark and built friendships with Native Americans by dancing for them. According to some accounts, York returned to Kentucky with Clark and served as his valet until his death. Clark, however, claimed to have set York free in 1813 when he went to St. Louis as governor of the Missouri Territory.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Feb 13)
Published
0 0
American colleges are criticized for preventing research and debate on race-intelligence.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a statement condemning both students and faculties at American colleges who prevented research and debate on the race-intelligence issue that recently had been brought into focus by Stanford University's William Shockley. The AAUP accused some of its own members of "undermining the integrity of the academic community by attempting to suppress unpopular opinions.” Nevertheless, on February 18th, the student-controlled Political Union at Yale University cancelled a scheduled debate between Shockley and Roy Innis, National Director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), after protest from various student groups.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Dec 8)
Published
0 0
Claims of discrimination in Grand Rapids, Michigan, schools are rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The Sixth U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower court ruling that the Grand Rapids, Michigan, schools were not segregated. The appealate court said that “a review of the evidence and statistics in this case makes it clear not only that Grand Rapids was not guilty of acts of intentional segregation, but that much progress has been made toward elimination of the de facto segregation resulting from housing patterns.” The court rejected the contentions of Black plaintiffs that discriminatory acts of other individuals and governmental agencies were sufficient to support a finding of de jure segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Dec 21)
Published
0 0
Five Black women are named among the forty most highly respected women in the US.
Five Black women were named among the forty most highly respected women in the United States, according to a poll appearing in the January 1975 edition of Good Housekeeping magazine. Those honored were California Congresswoman Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, and actress Cicely Tyson. The Black women were selected from a slate of forty-seven prominent women presented to the readers of Good Housekeeping in the sixth annual Most Admired Women's Poll. In the poll, King, whose name has been among the winners since 1970, ranked 19th, the highest position among the five Black women selected. The total number of Black women named for 1974 was three more than in 1973.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Aug)
Published
0 0
Beverly Johnson becomes the first Black model to adorn the cover of Vogue magazine.
Beverly Johnson became the first black model to adorn the cover of Vogue magazine. Johnson had won a full academic scholarship to Boston's Northeastern University but left after her freshman year to pursue modeling as a career. She became one of the world's top high fashion models as well as an outspoken and career-minded woman. When a radio host commented that she was the biggest Black model in the business, she replied: “No, I'm not. I'm the biggest model-period.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Aug 29)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Department of Labor reports on Black unemployment and poverty statistics.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that in 1973 the unemployment rate in poverty areas of metropolitan centers was almost twice that in the non-metropolitan poverty areas, 9 percent as opposed to 4.7 percent. The report also revealed that 70 percent of the Black people living in poverty areas were in metropolitan centers. The total unemployment for Blacks in all poverty areas was 10.8 percent as opposed to 4.6 percent for whites. The labor department defined a poverty area as a census tract in which at least one-fifth of the residents had income at or below $4,540 (based upon a non-rural family of four).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Aug 25)
Published
0 0
Former HUD secretary Robert C. Weaver criticizes federal policies on equal opportunity housing during a news conference.
Robert C. Weaver, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the first Black to serve in a presidential cabinet, said during a news conference in Atlanta that the federal government had a laissez-faire attitude that threatened efforts for equal opportunity in housing. Weaver said the attitude was based on the revenue-sharing policy of allowing federal funds to be allocated at the local level and the lack of responsibility for social issues on the federal level. He said: “Federal funds (for housing) without strings attached are used for other things. ... Sophisticated and concerned people must be watchful and vigilant to see that there is equitable participation and involvement in access to housing. ... The federal government can make an impact.” Weaver, president of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing (NCADH), made his remarks as he prepared to address the Southern Regional Conference of the NCADH.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Aug 23)
Published
0 0
Franklin W. Morton becomes the first Black person to hold a national leadership position for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
Franklin W. Morton was elected chief legal advisor for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He was the first Black person to hold a national leadership position in the organization.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
Congressional hiring practices are investigated after the Fort Worth Star Telegram reports that it had proof that hiring requests for members of Congress were explicitly discriminatory.
The Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, which handles hiring requests for members of Congress, began an investigation to determine whether one senator and nineteen congressmen were duped or actually had been practicing racial or religious discrimination in seeking staff personnel. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported on August 18, 1974, that it had obtained copies of the hiring forms with varying discriminatory requests from Senator William Scott from Virginia and members of the House of Representatives. Senator Lee Metcalf from Montana, chairman of the Joint Committee, said that some of the request forms contained such notations as “no minorities," "white only,” “no Catholics,” or “no Blacks.” While most of the congressmen disclaimed responsibility for the biased forms, Senator Metcalf said it was “possible that (discriminatory) limitations expressed were those of the staff persons placing the request or a misunderstanding by the office staff.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr)
Published
0 0
The Virginia school board is ordered to rehire Black teachers that were discriminated against in the administration of a national teaching test.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth District ordered the Nansemond County, Virginia School Board to rehire 56 Black teachers who the court said were arbitrarily discriminated against in the administration of a national teaching test. The appellate court directed the U.S. District Court in Norfolk to reexamine the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of the teachers, a practice which was begun in 1971. The court also enjoined the school board from any further discrimination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 8)
Published
0 0
Reverend C. Shelby Rooks is named the first Black president of the Chicago Theological Seminary.
The Reverend C. Shelby Rooks was named the first Black president of the predominantly white Chicago Theological Seminary, an affiliate of the United Church of Christ. Rooks, age forty-nine, was executive director of the Fund for Theological Education in Princeton, New Jersey, at the time of his new appointment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 8)
Published
0 0
Denver, CO, public schools are ordered to desegregate.
U.S. Circuit Court Judge William E. Doyle ordered the desegregation of 70,000 students in the Denver public school system during the 1974–75 school year. The desegregation was to be accomplished mostly through the redrawing of attendance boundaries or zones and the pairing of Black, white, and Mexican-American pupils so that they might share classrooms on a half-day basis. The order further provided that elementary schools would have between 40 percent and 70 percent white enrollment and that white enrollment in high schools would be between 50 and 60 percent. Judge Doyle rejected the school board's plan to close twelve of the public schools. He saw his move as a tactic to avoid adoption of a desegregation plan. He also ordered the merger of two high schools and the introduction of bilingual programs in schools with large numbers of Mexican-American pupils. The U.S. Supreme Court had first ordered a desegregation plan to be drawn up by Denver in 1973.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 8)
Published
0 0
Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s record, becoming the all-time leading home run slugger in professional baseball.
Atlanta Braves baseball star Henry (Hank) Aaron hit his 715th career home run, thus becoming the all-time leading home run slugger. Aaron broke the record, previously held by the immortal Babe Ruth, at Atlanta Stadium. The Braves star had tied Ruth's record on April 4, 1974, in Cincinnati. The record-breaking pitch was thrown by a Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, Al Downing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 26)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Department of Justice rejects a Mississippi voting act that is viewed as discriminatory.
The U.S. Department of Justice rejected a Mississippi act eliminating party primaries and replacing them by a single open primary in which no candidate could be elected with less than a majority vote. The Justice Department said that such a system would discriminate against independent candidates, and thus against Blacks, since most of the successful Black candidates in recent general elections had run as independents. The Mississippi legislature was seeking to repeal current statutes which required a majority vote to win the separate party primaries but which allowed independents to run in the general election and win with only a plurality. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, states like Mississippi, where a pattern of voter discrimination had been found, were required to submit changes affecting the suffrage to the Justice Department for approval.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 25)
Published
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U.S. District Court Judge Alfonso J. Zirpoli rules that the San Francisco police violated the constitutional rights of six hundred Black men in their investigation of the “Zebra” killings.
U.S. District Court Judge Alfonso J. Zirpoli in San Francisco ruled that the San Francisco police had violated the constitutional rights of six hundred Black men they had stopped for questioning in their investigation of the so-called “Zebra” killings (“Operation Zebra” was the police code used in the dragnet officers conducted in their probe of the random slayings of twelve whites). Zirpoli issued an injunction prohibiting their profile of the Zebra killer, a slim-built young Black man, as the sole basis for stopping men for questioning. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 22)
Published
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The Joint Center for Political Studies, a privately funded research organization, reports on statistics of elected Black officials.
The Joint Center for Political Studies, a privately funded research organization, reported from Washington that 2,991 Blacks held political office in forty-five states and the District of Columbia, a gain of more than 300 between 1972 and 1973 and a jump of more than 1,000 from 1969. The center noted that most of the gains during 1973 had resulted from municipal elections. For example, 1,080 out of the latest total were city councilmen, and 108 were mayors. Michigan led in the number of Black elected officials with 194, followed by Mississippi with 191. Other states with 150 or more Black officeholders included New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 20)
Published
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The New York Times reports an assessment of Black studies in predominantly white colleges and universities. The findings receive mixed reviews.
The New York Times reported a sixth anniversary assessment of Black studies in predominantly white colleges and universities. Since the student protests in the 1960s, which helped to give impetus to Black Studies as a legitimate academic enterprise, 1,272 institutions of higher learning had offered at least one course in the area. Although the tumult that surrounded the initiation of Black Studies movement had ceased, the controversy over the validity, viability, and aims of the programs continued. One of the more vocal critics of the programs was Professor Martin Kilson, a Black political scientist at Harvard University who called them "distinctly anti-intellectual and anti-achievement in orientation." Others saw them differently. Professor Barbara A. Wheeler of the City University of New York supported Black Studies as different from traditional studies in that they are organized around the Black experience rather than around the subject matter, allowing the Black student to see the impact of the event on his own life. Professors Elias Blake, Head of the Institute for Services to Education; Henry Cobb, Dean of Southern University at Baton Rouge; and Tobe Johnson, Director of undergraduate African American studies programs for the Atlanta University Center, completed an analysis of twenty-nine Black Studies programs for the U.S. Office of Education just prior to the Times report. Blake told the Times that the ideological questions had been settled, saying, "God knows we need more study on Black Americans. The issue is how do you build a good program." The Blake-Cobb-Johnson team found that only carefully structured programs were likely to survive in an era when colleges were undergoing financial retrenchment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 18)
Published
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Peter Holmes, Civil Rights Director of the HEW, reviews the progress of school desegregation in the nation.
Peter Holmes, Civil Rights Director of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), reviewed the progress of school desegregation in the nation on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision and the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Holmes told a group of Washington journalists that there were virtually no Blacks in school with white students in the eleven southern states in 1964. By 1968, he noted, a total of 18.4 percent of the Black pupils in the South were in majority white schools. This rose to 39.1 percent in 1970 and 44.4 percent in 1972. Perhaps of greater significance, Holmes said, was the fact that the Black pupils in all-Black schools decreased in the South from 68 percent in 1968 to 14.1 percent in 1970, and to 9.2 percent in 1972. On the other hand, Holmes noted that while current school year figures were not available, there was likely to be an increase in segregation in northern metropolitan school districts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Apr 15)
Published
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Nine major steel companies agree to a five-year plan for ending job discrimination against women and minorities.
The U.S. Department of Labor and Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) announced that nine major steel companies had agreed to a five-year plan for ending job discrimination against women and minorities, and would grant back pay of more than $30 million to the victims of such bias. The companies directly involved were the Allegheny Ludlum Industries, Inc., Amco Steel Corporation, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, National Steel Corporation, Republic Steel Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, and Youngstown Sheet and Steel Company. Together, they employed 347,000 employees in 249 plants at the time of the agreement. The steel companies vowed to restore more than $30 million in back pay to 34,000 Black and Spanish-surnamed male employees and to 5,599 women who were adjudged to be victims of job bias. The back pay settlements ranged from $250 to $3,000 per person, depending upon length of service.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Sep)
Published
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Henry C. Ponder becomes president of Benedict College and W. Clyde Williams becomes president of Miles College.
Henry C. Ponder, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Alabama A&M College, assumed the presidency of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. W. Clyde Williams, acting president of Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, since 1971, was inaugurated as the tenth president of the historically Black institution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Nov 9)
Published
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Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter requests the portraits of three outstanding Black Georgians to be displayed at the Georgia State Capitol.
An eight-member biracial committee which included Georgia's Secretary of State Ben Fortson and Clarence A. Bacote, veteran professor of history at Atlanta University, met at the request of Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter to select the portraits of three outstanding Black Georgians to be displayed in the rotunda of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. It was agreed almost immediately that the portrait of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., would be one of those selected. Tennessee had previously honored Blacks by placing the portraits of blues musician W.C. Handy and Memphis political leader and writer George Washington Lee in its capitol building at Nashville.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Nov 26)
Published
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The U.S. Department of Justice files fifteen civil rights suits to desegregate establishments in seven Southern states.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed fifteen civil rights suits to desegregate twenty-four bars, liquor stores, and pool halls in seven Southern states-Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The civil suits charged the owners and operators of the establishments with violating the public accommodations section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A Justice Department representative said it was the largest number of civil rights suits filed in one day within memory.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (May 29)
Published
0 0
Thomas Bradley is elected mayor of Los Angeles, CA.
Thomas Bradley, a veteran Los Angeles city councilman, was elected mayor of the city of Los Angeles, California. Bradley defeated incumbent mayor, Sam Yorty, who was seeking a fourth four-year term. The new Black mayor, who lost to Yorty in 1969, won about 56 percent of the votes cast. Yorty's campaign rhetoric had pictured Bradley as a left-wing radical. Bradley assessed his victory as a rejection of racism in the election.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Jul 29)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census released a report showing that southern-born Black males in the north were more likely to be employed and living with their wives than northern-born Blacks living in the same areas.
The Bureau of the Census released a report of six northern urban areas that showed that southern-born Black males living in those areas were more likely to be employed and living with their wives than northern-born Blacks living in the same areas. The study, which was based upon data from the 1970 Census, reported that about 65 percent of the Black men born in New York City were employed. The figure rose to 78 percent for southern-born Blacks who migrated north before 1965 and to 85 percent for those who moved north since 1965. The study also revealed that 70 percent of southern-born Black men were living with their wives as compared with 51 percent of the Blacks born in Illinois. Robert Hill, the National Urban League's research director, said the report refuted the widely held view that southern Blacks migrated to the North to obtain higher welfare benefits.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Jul 2)
Published
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The nation’s first Black-owned radio news network, The National Black Network, begins operations.
The National Black Network (NBN), the nation's first radio news network owned and operated by Black Americans, began operations with hourly newscasts to forty affiliated stations. Although based in New York City, the NBN planned to provide news stories of interest to Blacks everywhere.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
Alonzo A. Crim becomes the first Black superintendent of the public schools in Atlanta, Georgia, as a result of a controversial agreement.
Alonzo A. Crim, former superintendent of schools in Compton, California, assumed his duties as the first Black superintendent of the public schools in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the Deep South's largest predominantly Black school systems. Crim's selection resulted from a compromise desegregation plan worked out between local Black and white business and political leaders in which the Blacks agreed to desist from further pressures for busing to achieve desegregation and the whites agreed to the hiring of a Black superintendent and other Black school administrators. The plan, reminiscent of the famous Atlanta Compromise of 1895, in which Booker T. Washington urged Blacks to shun social equality for economic advancement, was denounced by the national NAACP leadership in New York. They felt the agreement set a bad precedent and would hamper future efforts to achieve massive desegregation of the nation's schools. Although local NAACP leaders who assented to the pact argued that massive desegregation was impossible in Atlanta, a city with a 55 percent Black population and an 80 percent Black school-age population, they were suspended and eventually expelled from office for their support of the desegregation agreement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Jan 4)
Published
0 0
An FBI report on the killings of two Black students in Louisiana is under suspicion.
U.S. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst announced that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department would have to conduct a careful examination of an FBI report on the killings of two students at Black Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, before deciding whether to call a federal grand jury into the case. The two Black youths were slain by law enforcement officers on the Southern campus during student protests on November 16, 1972.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Dec 4)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals upholds a desegregation plan for the Memphis, Tennessee, school system.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a desegregation plan for the Memphis, Tennessee, school system. Although the plan involved some crosstown busing, the NAACP opposed it because it allowed too many all-Black schools. In rejecting the NAACP's contentions, the court said there was a “necessity of tolerating some one-race schools because minority groups concentrate in urban areas.” The Appeals Court also agreed with a lower court that the city of Memphis had acted improperly by cutting its transportation budget in an attempt to circumvent an order for busing to achieve desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Dec 3)
Published
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The Supreme Court maintains conviction of a group of Black people who violated a city ordinance while protesting local police hiring practices in Columbus, GA.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the contempt conviction of eighty-one Columbus, Georgia, Black people who were convicted of violating a city ordinance prohibiting the gathering of more than twelve people in a group. The group was part of a larger movement formed to protest local police hiring practices in June 1971.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Dec 20)
Published
0 0
The Department of Labor presents a plan to increase the employment of minorities on federally aided construction projects in the Chicago area after voluntary efforts to end bias failed.
The Department of Labor announced that it had prepared and presented a plan to increase the employment of minorities on federally aided construction projects in the Chicago area. The plan set goals and timetables and provided penalties, including contract cancellations and ineligibility for future contracts, if companies failed to demonstrate good faith efforts to comply. The labor department imposed its plan in Chicago after voluntary efforts to end bias failed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 2)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census estimates the Black American population at 30.6 million as of January 1, 1989, an increase of 462,000 from a year earlier.
The Bureau of the Census estimated the Black American population at 30.6 million as of January 1, 1989, an increase of 462,000 from a year earlier. The total represented a growth of 1.5 percent during the year for Blacks, which doubled the White increase of 0.8 percent. The annual growth rate of Blacks had exceeded that of Whites since 1950, according to the Bureau. Most of the gain for both groups came from "natural increase." At the beginning of 1989, Blacks made up 12.3 percent of the nation's population of 247.6 million. Whites comprised 84 percent of the total and other races (including Asians, Native Americans Aleuts, Eskimos, and Pacific Islanders) made up three percent. The number of Hispanics rose by 3.4 percent and totaled 20.2 million or eight percent of the national total
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 3)
Published
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Walter H. Annenberg, former publisher of TV Guide, makes a fifty million dollar pledge to the United Negro College Fund, making it the largest single donation ever offered to the group.
Walter H. Annenberg, former publisher of TV Guide, made a fifty million dollar pledge to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). His gift was the largest single donation ever offered to the group, which serves as a coordinating fundraising agency for more than forty private Black colleges in the United States. Annenberg called Black colleges "major force for positive change... As a society we cannot afford to waste our most valuable resources our citizens... Unless young Blacks are brought into the mainstream of economic life, they will continue to be on the curbstone. The key to this problem is education." President George Bush applauded the gesture, remarking, "I think that generosity is a challenge.. that will bring on well-deserved support from others. It's most generous and one of the most brilliant points of light I can think of." In 1989, the UNCF had raised a total of $45.8 million for distribution to its member institutions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 3)
Published
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Carole Gist, twenty year-old Black American from Detroit, Michigan, is crowned Miss USA in Wichita, Kansas.
Carole Gist, twenty year-old Black American from Detroit, Michigan, was crowned Miss USA in Wichita, Kansas. Gist, a student at Northwood Institute, became the first Black American to gain the beauty title. Three Blacks have held the older title of Miss America. Of her selection, Gist said "there is so much more to me than my Blackness, the color of my skin. Never give up on your dreams. The new Miss USA received prizes totalling about $220,000, including $88,000 in cash
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 12)
Published
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Black American leaders meet with the Secretary of State to lobby for a significant increase in economic aid for African nations.
A group of Black American leaders met with Secretary of State James A. Baker III in Washington, D.C., for discussions involving the redistribution of foreign aid "from emerging East European democracies to needy African nations struggling for freedom." The group specifically requested an increase in aid to Namibia, from $7.8 million budgeted for 1991 to $25 million in 1990 and 1991, and a grant of $25 million to the African National Congress (ANC) "for its struggle to end apartheid in South Africa." One of the Blacks present at the meeting, Randall Robinson, head of TransAfrica, a lobbying group for U.S. foreign policy towards Africa, said there were "sharp disagreements" with Baker over increased aid to Namibia, as well as "continued covert aid" to rebels in Angola. Other Blacks who attended the meeting included civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 19)
Published
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Harold Irwin Bearden, minister and civil leader, dies after suffering a stroke in Atlanta, Georgia, at age seventy-nine.
Harold Irwin Bearden, minister and civil leader, died after suffering a stroke in Atlanta, Georgia, at age seventy-nine. Bearden was born in Atlanta on May 8, 1910, to Lloyd and Mary Da Costa Bearden. He obtained an A.B. degree at Morris Brown College and a B.D. degree from Turner Theological Seminary (both in Georgia). Bearden was ordained a deacon in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1930 and an elder in 1931. He pastored the Big Bethel AME Church, one of the oldest and largest congregations in Atlanta, from 1951 to 1964. From 1960 to 1962, Bearden was an acting presiding elder of the A.M.E. Church and in 1964, he was consecrated a bishop in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bearden's first assignments upon elevation to the bishopric were in Central and West Africa. While there, he was elected president of the board of Trustees of Monrovia College in Liberia Upon his return to the United States, Bearden had church district assignments in Ohio and Texas before being named bishop of the Sixth Episcopal District in his native Georgia in 1976. He was president of the A.M.E. Council of Bishops in 1973-74. Bearden served as bishop in the Sixth Episcopal District of Georgia until 1980 and continued to serve on special assignments for his church until his retirement in 1984. While Bearden was president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP in 1958-59, a suit was filed to desegregate the Atlanta public schools and a federal court ordered desegregation on the city's buses. Bearden was one of several Black ministers who were arrested in 1957 for defying Georgia's bus segregation laws. He continuously used his Sunday radio broadcasts to chide both segregationists and Black accommodationists about Jim Crow practices in Atlanta and the nation, and he supported student sit-in demonstrations in the city in the 1960s. Bearden served as a director of the Atlanta University Center consortium of Black colleges and was a chairman of the boards of trustees at both of his alma maters, Morris Brown College and Turner Theological Seminary. The state senate of Georgia named him an outstanding citizen in 1978. In one of the eulogies for Bearden, Jesse Hill, president of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and a trustee of the Big Bethel Church, said, "When the history of the turbulent '60s and the bi-racial progress of Atlanta is written, the name of bishop Harold I. Bearden then the dynamic, fearless pastor of Big Bethel A.M.E. Church, has to be placed up front." John Hurst Adams, the current senior bishop of the A.M.E.'s Sixth Episcopal district, remembers Bearden as a major influence in the life of the community. He was active in community development, the civil rights movement, and all aspects in the advancement of the community and especially aspects of Black American community unity."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Mar 30)
Published
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Thea Bowman, Catholic educator and only Black American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, dies of cancer in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age fifty-two.
Thea Bowman, Catholic educator died of cancer in Jackson, Mississippi, at age fifty-two. Bowman was the only Black American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. She served as director of intercultural awareness for its Jackson diocese and was a member of the faculty of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1988, Bowman recorded an album, Sister Thea: Songs of My People, which consisted of fifteen Black spirituals. The recording made the nun a popular figure at conventions and on college campuses across the nation. In that same year, she was featured on the CBS-TV news program "60 Minutes," which led to plans for a movie about her life and work. She was widely honored for her educational work as well as her pioneering efforts to encourage Black Catholics "to express their cultural roots inside the church." In 1989, she received the U.S. Catholic Award from US Catholic Magazine "for furthering the cause of women in the Roman Catholic Church." In addition, the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Educational Foundation was established in 1989 "to provide financial support for Black students in Catholic primary and elementary schools and Catholic colleges and universities." Upon her death, Joseph Houck, bishop of the Diocese of Jackson, said, "She was an outstanding woman. She was proud of her heritage and totally dedicated to the vision of Jesus Christ for love and growth of all people."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Apr 4)
Published
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Sarah Vaughan, Black American jazz singer known affectionately as “the Divine One,” dies of cancer in San Fernando Valley, California, at age sixty-six.
Sarah Vaughan, Black American jazz singer known affectionately as "the Divine One," died of cancer in San Fernando Valley, California, at age sixty-six. Vaughan was born on March 27, 1924 in Newark, New Jersey, to Asbury, a carpenter and amateur guitarist, and Ada Vaughan, a laundry worker and choir singer. Sarah joined a Baptist church choir as a child and the gospel influence remained with her throughout her career. She occasionally included a version of "The Lord's Prayer" in her performances. Ada Vaughan had wanted her daughter to pursue a career in classical music, and sent her to weekly organ and piano lessons, but young Sarah soon turned to a different path. At age eighteen, she won a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, with a rendition of "Body and Soul." She was soon singing and playing piano with the Earl Hines Band and later toured with Billy Eckstine. Vaughan began a solo career in the 1940s. Between 1940 and her death, she performed before jazz audiences throughout the nation and recorded at least three Top 10 pop singles, including "Broken-Hearted Melody," which sold more than a million records. Other notable recordings included "Misty, The Divine Sarah Vaughan, Gerson Live and Lover. Although Vaughan "did not swing as effortlessly as Ella Fitzgerald," according to Bo Emerson, music critic of the Atlanta Constitution, "nor bring to bear Billie Holiday's intensity, the physical pleasure of her voice set her apart from most vocalists in any discipline." "She had the kind of voice that comes along once in a hundred years, once in a lifetime, maybe once in a thousand years," remarked jazz saxophonist and "elder statesman" Benny Carter. At the 1989 Grammy Award ceremonies, Vaughan received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Apr 12)
Published
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A New York Times/CBS Network News Poll revealed that Black Americans had given George Bush “the highest level of sustained approval” of any Republican president in thirty years.
A New York Times/CBS Network News Poll revealed that Black Americans had given George Bush "the highest level of sustained approval" of any Republican president in thirty years. Fifty-six percent of Black Americans in the poll supported the way the president was doing his job. The survey was conducted by telephone from March 30 to April 2, 1990, and involved 403 Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Apr 17)
Published
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Ralph David Abernathy, minister and civil rights leader, dies of heart problems in Atlanta, Georgia, at age sixty-four.
Ralph David Abernathy, minister and civil rights leader, died of heart problems in Atlanta, Georgia, at age sixty-four. Abernathy was born on March 11, 1926, in Linden, Alabama, to William L., a farmer and deacon, and Louiverney Valentine Abernathy. He was the tenth of twelve children. After his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1945, Abernathy enrolled in the Alabama State College in Montgomery, where he became both student body and class president. Abernathy led successful student protests against poor food in the cafeteria and inadequate living conditions for male students. He received a bachelor's degree from Alabama State in 1950. While attending graduate school at Atlanta University, Abernathy heard Martin Luther King Jr., speak at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and developed an acquaintance with the young minister. Prior to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Abernathy was a dean at Alabama State College and part-time pastor of a church in Demopolis, Alabama. In 1948, he was named pastor of Montgomery's Black First Baptist Church When King went to Montgomery in 1954 to assume the pastorate of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, he received a warm welcome from Abernathy and their friendship was strengthened. King planned to spend two or three years getting himself established in the city before becoming active in civic affairs, while Abernathy wanted to return to his graduate studies in order to obtain, in his words, the same kind of academic credibility that his friend King had. Their plans were disrupted by the arrest of Rosa Parks and the subsequent Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956. Both men were thrust into the leadership of the protest—King as the major figure and Abernathy as his number one lieutenant. For thirteen years, Abernathy remained King's closest aide, confidante, and supporter as they engaged in the civil rights struggles of Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Selma, Chicago, Memphis, and dozens of other cities, towns, and hamlets. After an assassin's bullet struck King on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel on the evening of April 4, 1968, Abernathy cradled his fallen comrade in his arms and remained with him through his death and autopsy. He gave one of the principal eulogies at King's funeral ceremonies, on what he called "one of the darkest days in American history." Abernathy the succeeded King as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In his own right, Abernathy also led the "Poor People's Campaign" for jobs and freedom in Washington after King's death in 1968. He ran for Congress from Georgia's Fifth District in 1978 but received only 3,614 votes. Abernathy addressed the United Nations in 1971 and was a president of the World Peace Council. In 1980, he was one of the few national Black leaders to endorse the Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan over President Jimmy Carter. Abernathy considered Carter's presidency ineffectual and felt that Reagan would revive the economy and develop jobs for Blacks. In 1984, he broke with some of his colleagues in the Civil Rights Movement, including former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young, and endorsed another civil rights veteran, Jesse L. Jackson, for president.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Apr 27)
Published
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Jury announces that it is unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Harold Ford, Black U.S. representative, who had been charged with bank fraud and conspiracy.
A federal court jury in Memphis, Tennessee, announced that it was unable to reach a verdict in the two-and-one-half month trial of Harold Ford, Black U.S. representative. The forty-four-year-old Tennessee Democrat had been charged with nineteen counts of bank fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy. He was specifically accused of taking more than one million dollars in "political payoffs disguised as loans" from bankers C. H. and Jake Butcher of Knoxville, Tennessee. Ford had consistently maintained his innocence and suggested that the charges against him were racially motivated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 4)
Published
0 0
Andrew J. Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, addresses the annual convention of the Rainbow Coalition in Atlanta.
Andrew J. Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, addressed the annual convention of the Rainbow Coalition in Atlanta. The coalition was founded by former Black American Democratic presidential candidate Jesse L. Jackson. In the 1984 Democratic presidential contest, Young publicly opposed Jackson's candidacy and supported his rival former vice-president Walter Mondale. In 1988 Young, citing his role as mayor of the host city of the Democratic National Convention remained neutral. He once called Jackson's presidential ambitions "dangerous." But at the Rainbow Coalition Convention on May 4. 1990, Young drew applause when he described Jackson as the "only person in the Democratic Party who has dared to challenge" the administration of President George Bush. He also said that Jackson had "had the fire in his belly, the dream in his heart. He had the gleam and vision in his eyes." For his part, Jackson said, "Young can win and deserves to win" his current quest for the Democratic nomination as governor of Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 12)
Published
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Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), holds a workshop on race relations with four Ku Klux Klansmen in Birmingham, Alabama.
Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), held a workshop on race relations with four Ku Klux Klansmen in Birmingham, Alabama. The four were among group of five Klansmen who had been sentenced to participate in the two-hour meeting for their participation in a racial melee in Decatur, Alabama, in 1979. Four people were wounded in an exchange of gunfire between Blacks and Whites after more than one hundred Klansmen tried to block a civil rights match. After the workshop, Roger Handley, a former grand dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, called the affair "a waste of two hours." Lowery, who preached patriotism, love, and brotherhood to the white supremacists, however, called it "heartwarming."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 12)
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Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder orders state agencies to divest themselves of business investments in companies not “substantively free” of economic activity in South Africa.
Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder ordered all of his state's agencies and institutions to divest themselves of business investments in companies not "substantively free" of economic activity in South Africa. Virginia officials estimated that such holdings amounted to more than $750 million. A large amount of this money was invested by the agency, which paid pensions to retired state employees. In announcing his actions, Governor Wilder said that Virginians should support the efforts of South African Blacks to break the chains of apartheid with the same vigor and enthusiasm that greeted the aspirations to freedom by people in China and Eastern Europe. He added: "If we are to participate in the extension to all peoples of the freedoms and liberties which we hold dear, we must take concrete actions which reflect our support." Wilder made his declarations in a commencement address at the predominantly Black Norfolk State University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 13)
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George Augustus Stallings is ordained the first bishop of the African American Catholic Church.
George Augustus Stallings was ordained the first bishop of the African American Catholic Church. The forty-one-year-old Black priest broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in June 1989 after declaring that the Church failed to meet the needs of its Black American parishioners. On July 4, 1989, he was suspended for "founding an independent Black congregation." At the ordination of Bishop Stallings, African dancers and gospel singers performed before an audience of 1,000 people. Stallings "knelt on a decorated stage filled with elaborate banners, drummers, and icons as six White bishops from the Independent Old Catholic Churches of California (which broke away from Rome in the 1870s) declared him "suitable candidate for the office of bishop in the Church of God." At the time of Stallings' assumption of his new post, his African American Catholic Congregation had expanded from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland, Norfolk, Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 16)
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Sammy Davis, Jr., Black American entertainer and America’s “Ambassador of Goodwill,” dies of cancer in Beverly Hills, California, at age sixty-four.
Sammy Davis, Jr., Black American entertainer and America's "Ambassador of Goodwill," died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California, at age sixty-four. He was born on December 8, 1925, in the Harlem section of New York City. Davis was the consummate star, the epitome of versatility. He began performing at age three with his father, Sam, Sr., and his uncle, Will Mastin, in vaudeville. In his adult years, Davis' talents as a dancer, singer, and actor were revered on the stage, film, television, and in nightclubs. He made his Broadway debut in 1956 in the musical Mr. Wonderful and won a Tony nomination for his starring role as a cosmopolitan boxer in Golden Boy. Davis's major recordings included "The Way You Look Tonight" (1946); "Hey There" (1954); "That Old Black Magic" (1955); "The Shelter of Your Arms" (1964); "I've Got to Be Me" (1969); and "The Candy Man" (1972). In his recordings, as in his films, Davis often worked with his friends Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. His first movie role was as a child in Rufus Jones for President (1933) with singer Ethel Waters Davis also had major roles in Anna Lucasta (1958); Porgy and Bess (1959); Oceans Eleven (1960); Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964); and Sweet Charity (1969). Davis' last film appearance was in 1989 with dancer Gregory Hines in Tap. Between 1956 and 1980, Davis appeared on almost every variety show and comedy series on network television; in 1966, he starred in his own television series, one of the first ever hosted by a Black person. Davis supported the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s by singing at fundraisers, especially for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was with King at the end of the famous Selma to Montgomery voting rights march in Alabama. He also helped raise money for the defense of Angela Davis, who was imprisoned for conspiracy to commit murder in the late 1960s. The entertainer was also the target of controversy, after being invited to an inaugural activity for President John F. Kennedy in 1961, he was later asked not to attend the affair because of fear that his presence there with his then-wife, Swedish actress Mai Britt, would "inflame Southerners." Davis also made headlines in 1972 at a function for President Richard M. Nixon during the Republican National Convention. He started the president and many Black Americans, particularly, when he came up behind Nixon and gave him a big hug while flashing a wide, "cattish" grin. The rise of Davis from demeaning, stereotypical roles in vaudeville and his early films to the highest place in the annals of American entertainment is documented in his autobiographies Yes I Can (1965) and Why Me (1989). At the time of his death, Davis had become, in the words of NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks, "an American treasure that the whole world loved."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 18)
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Joseph Fama, a nineteen-year-old New York City youth, is convicted of second degree murder in the 1989 slaying of Yusuf Hawkins, a sixteen-year old Black youth, in the Bensonhurst section of the city.
Joseph Fama, a nineteen-year-old New York City youth, was convicted of second degree murder in the 1989 slaying of Yusuf Hawkins, a sixteen-year old Black youth, in the Bensonhurst section of the city. The mob attack that led to Hawkins's death in an all-White neighborhood had been the focus of racial tension in the nation's largest city for more than six months. It was also frequently cited by some Blacks as evidence of a resurgent racism in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 18)
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Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, the nation’s oldest Black owned commercial bank, expands, in a move that allows it to purchase the assets of two failed Virginia lending institutions.
Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, the nation's oldest Black owned commercial bank, expanded, in a move that allowed it to purchase the assets of two failed Virginia lending institutions. In an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Richmond-based Consolidated paid a $315,000 premium to add the assets of the Black-owned People's Savings and Loan Association and Community Federal Savings & Loan Association to its portfolio. It also assumed all loans and deposits of the two S&L's The 107-year-old People's of Hampton and Community Federal, a 23-year-old Newport News, Virginia, financial institution, had combined assets of $30 million. The transaction boosted Consolidated's total assets to $93.5 million--up from $62 million. The bank was the 12th largest on listing of Black-owned banks by Black Enterprise magazine.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (May 25)
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Judge rules that a thirty nine-year-old law that prohibits members of the Ku Klux Klan from wearing hooded masks in public is unconstitutional.
A Gwinnett County, Georgia, state court judge ruled that a thirty nine-year-old law that prohibited members of the Ku Klux Klan from wearing hooded masks in public was unconstitutional. Judge Howard E. Cook said that the state law was "overly broad" and violated the rights to "free speech, association, and equal protection" of the Klansmen. Although the Klan may "represent .....hateful ideas, such ideas are still entitled to protection," Judge Cook declared. Georgia state officials and civil rights leaders said they were "shocked" by the judge's decision and filed notice of appeal to the state Supreme Court "20 minutes after the decision was filed."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 3)
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Bobby Rush, former leader of the militant Black Panther Party in Chicago, becomes deputy chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.
Bobby Rush, former leader of the militant Black Panther Party in Chicago, became deputy chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party. A South Side alderman since 1983, Rush had quietly gained political clout in the city where he once decreed, "The power structure has genocide in their minds," and noted that the solution was revolution. Rush rode into city council in 1983 on the coattails of the popular Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of the Windy City. He made an unsuccessful bid for alderman in 1974 shortly after leaving the Panther Party. Born in Albany, Georgia, he moved to Chicago with his family in 1954 when he was seven years old.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 6)
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Harvey Gantt, the former Black American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, wins his state’s Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Harvey Gantt, the former Black American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, won his state's Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Gantt gained 272,576 votes (57 percent) to defeat Michael Easley, a county district attorney. Easley received 206,397 votes (43 percent) with 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting. Gantt, a forty-seven-year-old architect, was the first Black in North Carolina to receive the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator. In 1963, he became the first Black student to enroll in Clemson University in South Carolina and was the first Black mayor of Charlotte Of his nomination Gantt remarked, "There's a new day in North Carolina. This is a day where people are judged by what they can do and not by the color of their skin."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 11)
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Judge Thaddeus Owens sentences two nineteen-year-old White youths to prison for the shooting death of Yusuf K. Hawkins, a sixteen-year-old Black youth, in New York City.
Judge Thaddeus Owens sentenced two nineteen-year-old White youths to prison for the August 23, 1989, shooting death of Yusuf K. Hawkins, a sixteen-year-old Black youth, in New York City. Joseph Fama, who prosecutors and police authorities said actually shot Hawkins, was sentenced to thirty two-and-two-thirds years to life in prison. He had been convicted of second-degree murder, inciting a riot, unlawful imprisonment, weapons possessions, and other crimes. Keith Mondello received a sentence of five-and-one-third to sixteen years in prison and a two-thousand dollar fine. He was acquitted of murder and manslaughter, but convicted of inciting a riot, unlawful imprisonment, and discrimination Mondello was identified as the ringleader of the mob that attacked Hawkins and three other Blacks in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of New York City in 1989. The family of the slain Hawkins and other Blacks applauded Fama's sentence, but some threw rocks and bottles in Brooklyn when they heard that Mondello had been acquitted of the more serious charges.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 12)
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Theo Mitchell, a Black state senator, wins the Democratic primary contest for governor of South Carolina.
Theo Mitchell, a Black state senator, won the Democratic primary contest for governor of South Carolina. Mitchell gained 107,473 votes (61 percent) to 69,766 votes (39 percent) for Ernest Parsailaigue, a freshman senator (with 92 percent of precincts reporting).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 13)
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Marion S. Barry, Jr., mayor of Washington, D.C., announces he will run again after previously saying he would not.
Marion S. Barry, Jr., mayor of Washington, D.C., announced he would not seek a fourth term. At that time, Barry, former civil rights activist, was on trial in a federal district court in Washington. He was arrested on January 18, 1990, in a drug sting at a local hotel. The mayor had pleaded innocent to three felony counts of lying to a grand jury about his alleged drug use, ten misdemeanor cocaine possession charges, and one misdemeanor cocaine conspiracy charge.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 17)
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The National Collegiate Black Caucus sponsors march and rally in Washington, D.C.
About 850 people, mostly students, attended a march and rally sponsored by the National Collegiate Black Caucus (NCBC) in Washington, DC. The organizers had expected a crowd of more than 5,000. The demonstration was organized to coordinate the concerns of Black collegians throughout the nation. In the past decade, Black college students on both predominantly Black and predominantly White campuses had demonstrated against racism and for a greater infusion of African and Black American studies into college and university curricula. The students at the Washington rally were also concerned about inadequate housing on their campuses and insufficient financial aid.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 18)
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Kenny Leon, a thirty-four-year-old actor, is named artistic director of the Alliance Theater Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kenny Leon, a thirty-four-year-old actor, was named artistic director of the Alliance Theater Company in Atlanta, Georgia. The appointment made him the second Black artistic director of major American theater. (Yale Repertory Theatre's, Lloyd Richards, who was the first.) Leon was associate artistic director at the Alliance Theater, where he gained popularity for his direction of such productions as Fences, Gal Baby, and joy Turner's Come and Gone.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 20)
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The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that the percentage of Black high school graduates increased between 1978 and 1988 and now approaches the percentage rate for Whites.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the percentage of Black high school graduates increased between 1978 and 1988 and now approaches the percentage rate for Whites. The report, based on national census data, indicated that in 1988, 75 percent of Blacks and 82 percent of Whites, aged eighteen to twenty-four, graduated from high school, compared with 68 percent for Blacks and 83 percent for Whites in 1978. There was apparently no change in the graduation or dropout rate for Hispanics during the same period.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 20-30)
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Nelson Mandela conducts a 10-day tour of the U.S. to convince Americans to maintain sanctions against the white-minority government in South Africa until its racial apartheid system is dismantled.
Nelson Mandela, deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) and the major symbol of the struggle for freedom in the Republic of South Africa, conducted a major tour of the United States. The ten-day foray was designed to convince Americans to maintain sanctions against the white-minority government in South Africa until its racial apartheid system was dismantled, and to raise money to assist the ANC's campaign for majority rule. On June 20, Mandela was feted to a ticker tape parade in downtown New York City, where approximately 750,000 people lined the parade routes to greet him. He told crowds that apartheid in his country was "doomed," and that with the aid of supporters in the United States, “we have made the government listen, and we have broken the walls of the South African jails.” On June 22, the South African freedom fighter addressed the United Nations (UN). He cautioned that “nothing which has happened in South Africa calls for a revision of the position that this organization has taken in the struggle against apartheid.” During the almost three decades that Mandela was in prison, the UN consistently adopted resolutions opposing South African apartheid and the many speeches by delegates and others against the system usually ended in the refrain, "Free Mandela." Mandela was in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 23, where his hosts included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, widow of slain president John F. Kennedy, and the late president's brother, Massachusetts senator Edward "Ted” Kennedy. Mandela told audiences, “We lower our banners in memory of Crispus Attucks [a Black American), the first victim to fall in your Revolutionary War," and "given the illustrious history of this city, it is only natural that we consider ourselves as visiting our second home.” He also looked forward to a South Africa that was "free from all forms of racism and sexism. We do not seek to dominate whites in our country. We intend to live true to this principal to the end of our day." On June 25, Mandela arrived in Washington, D.C., where he was greeted by, among others, Randall Robinson, head of TransAfrica, the principal anti-apartheid organization in the United States. The South African leader met President George Bush on June 26. While Bush hailed Mandela's freedom and again denounced the apartheid system, he asked that “all elements in South African society ... renounce the use of violence in armed struggle, break free from the cycle of repression and violent reaction that breeds nothing but more fear and suffering.” In making his plea, Bush quoted slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” In his response, Mandela said Bush's remarks resulted from him not getting “a proper briefing from us." He added that when a government prohibits free political activity, “the people have no alternative but to resort to violence.” The two met for three hours, after which Mandela said they had reached substantial agreement on most issues. Before leaving the capital, Mandela addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on June 26. He invoked the names of Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson, Joe Louis, and other American heroes, and repeated his plea for a continuation of sanctions against the white-minority government in South Africa. He received several thunderous standing ovations. On June 27, Mandela visited Atlanta, Georgia, “the capital of the Civil Rights Movement,” where he laid a wreath at King's tomb, received honorary degrees from about a third of the nation's historically Black colleges, and addressed a rally of more than 50,000 people. In his brief remarks to the mostly Black crowd, Mandela made frequent references to King, and said, “We are ... conscious that here in the southern part of the country, you have experienced the degradation of racial segregation. We continue to be inspired by the knowledge that in the face of your own difficulties, you are in the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement in this country.” Then, drawing upon King's famous "I Have a Dream” oration, Mandela declared, “Let Freedom ring. Let us all acclaim now, 'Let freedom ring in South Africa. Let freedom ring wherever people's rights are trampled upon.'" On June 28, Mandela made brief visits to Miami Beach, Florida, where he spoke to the annual convention of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and to Detroit, Michigan, where he addressed a rally of 50,000 people. In Miami, he repeated his call for continued sanctions against South Africa and thanked the American labor unions which had refused to handle materials destined for South Africa and lent financial support to his struggle. About 250 anti-Castro Cubans and Cuban Americans protested Mandela's visit, however, because he had expressed gratitude for the Cuban dictator's support of the anti-apartheid movement and refused to denounce him during an appearance on an ABC-TV “Nightline” segment. A crowd of 2,000 demonstrators, mostly Black, chanted to the beat of an African drum and waved colorful flags in support of Mandela. There were only a few minor clashes between the two groups. In Detroit, Mandela met Rosa Parks, the Alabama seamstress who sparked the famed Montgomery bus boycott. While visiting the Ford Rouge plant, one of the oldest automobile factories in the country, he told members of the United Auto Workers, another anti-apartheid union, that he was their "comrade ... your flesh and blood." Later that evening, Mandela and his entourage were honored at a rally held at Tiger Stadium. June 29–30, Mandela ended his American tour in California, with stops in Los Angeles and Oakland. He spoke to 80,000 people at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, after declaring that he was on the “last leg of an exhausting but exhilarating tour.” He also said, “Our masses in action are like a raging torrent. We are on freedom road, and nothing is going to stop us from reaching our destination.” As he prepared to leave the United States, Mandela indicated that he would probably return in October 1990 to receive a $100,000 award from the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation in New York and to meet with several Native American leaders. He declared that he was 'very disturbed” about the condition of the Native American. While some Americans either expressed grave concern or opposition to Mandela's views, particularly his refusal to denounce Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, Libya's “pro-terrorist” leader, Yassar Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and his unwillingness to abandon the use of violence in his struggle, the South African leader was very warmly received by most Americans on his tour. In New York, eighteen-year-old Tanera Ford remarked, “I'm glad to see so many Black people here. ... To have all these people together for something positive, it just makes me feel great." In Atlanta, Joseph E. Lowery, president of the SCLC, told Mandela, “We reject the constant nagging that you have experienced about denouncing violence." Finally, in Detroit, Quirita Quates, a young dancer, said the South African anti-apartheid leader was "just the greatest man in the world."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 27)
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Oscar L. Prater, vice president for administrative services at Hampton University in Virginia, is named president of Fort Valley State College in Georgia.
Oscar L. Prater, vice president for administrative services at Hampton University in Virginia, was named president of Fort Valley State College in Georgia. Prater, a fifty-one-year-old Black American, succeeded Luther Burse, who left office in August 1988. The Sylacauga, Alabama, native did his undergraduate work at Talladega College (Alabama) and received a doctoral degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. At Hampton University, he had been a professor of mathematics and an administrator for eleven years. Prater was also active in community affairs in both Hampton and Williamsburg, Virginia, particularly in the Head Start program for disadvantaged youth.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Aug 17)
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Pearl Bailey, a renowned cabaret singer and actress, dies of an apparent heart attack in Philadelphia.
Pearl Bailey, a renowned cabaret singer and actress, died of an apparent heart attack in Philadelphia, where she was recovering from knee surgery. She was seventy-two. Bailey, who had a history of heart ailments, collapsed in her home and was rushed to Thomas Jefferson Hospital where she died. She was buried in Rolling Meadow, in suburban West Chester, Pennsylvania. Bailey was born on March 29, 1918, in Newport News, Virginia, of Black and Creek Indian ancestry. She began her professional career in vaudeville. Her greatest triumph came when she starred with Cab Calloway in the all Black version of the Broadway hit "Hello Dolly.” Bailey's success came partly because she adeptly used her talent to transcend the racial stereotypes that hindered many other Black performers of her time. She went on to become a legend known as the “Ambassador of Love." An entertainer noted for her distinctive style, she often punctuated her performances with mischievous witticisms. "If I just sang a song, it would mean nothing,” she once said.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Jun 25)
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Mollie Lewis Moon, the founder of the National Urban League Guild (NULG), dies from an apparent heart attack at age eighty-two.
Mollie Lewis Moon, the founder of the National Urban League Guild (NULG), died from an apparent heart attack in Long Island City, Queens, New York, at age eighty-two. Moon founded the NULG in 1942 to raise money for Urban League programs "for racial equality and amity.” Under her leadership, the guild grew to eighty units, with thirty thousand volunteers in the United States. A major guild event, over which Moon presided for almost half a century, was the annual Beaux Arts Ball. It began at the old Savoy Ballroom in the Harlem section of New York City in 1942, but moved downtown in 1948. In that year, Winthrop Rockefeller, a New York financier and philanthropist, arranged for the ball to be held in the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center. Moon later recalled that the invitations for the event were sent out in both her name and that of Rockefeller. “Nobody was going to buck the landlord,” she said, “that's how we broke the color barrier." On April 23, 1990, which marked the beginning of National Volunteer Week, David Dinkins, the new Black mayor of New York City, presented an award for "dedicated and innovative volunteerism” to Moon on behalf of President George Bush.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 11)
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Study shows that Blacks were much more likely to be committed to psychiatric hospitals than whites.
The Institute for Southern Study released a report that stated that Black Americans are nearly three times as likely as whites to be committed against their will to the seventy-two public psychiatric hospitals in nine southern states. The survey found that commitment rates for Blacks and whites differed most in Florida, where Blacks were 4.8 times as likely as whites to be committed. In Georgia, Blacks were twice as likely as whites to be committed. Blacks in Mississippi and South Carolina were committed 1.8 times as often as whites. Eric Bates, who supervised the study for the institute's Southern Exposure magazine, said there was "no simple answer why Blacks are committed more than whites, but racism clearly plays a part."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 12)
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Civil rights leaders condemn Reverend Ralph David Abernathy’s memoirs of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Several of the nation's civil rights leaders sent a telegram to the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), urging him to repudiate sections of his published memoirs that claimed that the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spent part of the last night of his life with two different women. The accusations were made in Abernathy's autobiography, And The Walls Came Tumbling Down, which had been released earlier in the month. The civil rights leaders told Abernathy in a "message of pain and love" that "as friends and beneficiaries of the King dream, we are shocked and appalled by some of the statements in your new book." One of the signers of the telegram, John Hurst Adams, president of the National Congress of Black Churches, charged that the book was "riddled with gross inaccuracies and painful distortions." Another signer, NAACP executive secretary Benjamin Hooks, called the book "criminally irresponsible." Hooks took particular issue with Abernathy's account of an alleged encounter between King and a woman on the eve of the assassination. While Abernathy placed King in the woman's home at 1 a.m., Hooks recalled that he was with the civil rights leader at the Mason Temple in Memphis, where he had delivered his final sermon, at that hour. Others who endorsed the message to Abernathy included U.S. representatives Ronald V. Dellums, William H. Gray III, John Lewis, Floyd H. Flake, Alan D. Wheat, Walter D. Fauntroy, former representative Parren Mitchell, Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Joseph L. Lowery, Operation PUSH leader Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, and Atlanta mayor Andrew J. Young. In his response, Abernathy asserted: "In including some of the things in the book, I have had to agonize, balancing my need to tell a complete and honest story with what I know to be my responsibility to respect the privacy and dignity of the living and the dead....I can only say that I have written nothing in malice and omitted nothing out of cowardice."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jul 23)
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A federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado, without explanation, withdrew its ruling that the historic Brown v. Board of Education case, be continued.
A federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado, without explanation, withdrew its June 5, 1989, ruling that the historic case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, be continued.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 11)
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J. Rupert Picott, educator and lobbyist, dies of cancer.
J. Rupert Picott, educator and lobbyist, died of cancer in Washington, D.C., at age sixty-nine. Picott, a native of Suffolk, Virginia, received his undergraduate training from Virginia Union University in Richmond, a master's degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, and a doctorate in education from Harvard University. In the 1940s, he became executive secretary of the Black Virginia Teachers Association. After the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, when some school systems in Virginia attempted to fire some of their Black teachers in the wake of desegregation, Picott moved to protect the jobs of the Blacks. He became best known as executive director of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH), where he served between 1969 and 1985. In this position, Picott lobbied for the promotion of the study and celebration of Black history and succeeded in getting both state and federal governments to proclaim February as Black History Month.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 12)
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The NAACP and Justice Department threatens a South Carolina restaurant owner with a discrimination suit after she denies services to Black government and NAACP officials.
A North Augusta, South Carolina, restaurant owner, Rose Salter, announced that she would begin serving Blacks in her establishment. Salter's declaration was made during a hearing before the South Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Commission, which was considering revoking the liquor license of the Buffalo Room Restaurant and Lounge for barring six Black government and NAACP officials from the premises in early September. As a result of the incident, both the NAACP and the Justice Department threatened to file suit against the restaurant's proprietors for illegal discrimination. During the investigation, it was revealed that the Buffalo Room had discriminated against Blacks for the past twelve years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 18)
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William Barclay Allen resigns as civil rights commission chairman.
The White House revealed that President George Bush had accepted the resignation of William Barclay Allen as chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. During his tenure, Allen, a California professor, had created repeated controversies that led to criticism of his leadership both inside and outside the commission. A recent controversy arose when he gave a speech entitled "Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What Is a Minority?" to the California Coalition for Traditional Values.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 2)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court prohibits attorneys in civil cases from striking jurors because of their race.
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that prohibited attorneys in civil cases from striking jurors because of their race. Although the Supreme Court had barred criminal prosecutors from using their preemptory challenges in a racially discriminatory fashion in 1986, the Eleventh Circuit was one of the first courts in the nation to extend the rule to civil cases. The case reached the Supreme Court from Richmond County, Georgia, (of which Augusta is the county seat) where a Black man sued a white deputy sheriff who had "accidentally" shot him while arresting him on suspicion of drugs. In 1982, an all-white jury found in favor of the defendants, deputy sheriff Frank Tiller and former sheriff J. D. Dykes. However the plaintiff, Willie Fludd, contended that the jury selection process was biased and appealed the decision.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 20)
Published
0 0
Judge Alcee L. Hastings is impeached by the U.S. Senate.
Alcee L. Hastings, a Black U.S. District Court judge from Florida, was convicted by the U.S. Senate on eight articles of impeachment relating to conspiracy and perjury. He became the sixth federal official in American history to be removed from office by impeachment. The vote to convict Hastings was 69-26. Originally, Hastings was charged with seventeen articles of impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives, but the Senate acquitted him on three of the articles and took no action on the six others. Hastings, age fifty-three, was appointed to the federal bench in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He was the first Black American to serve in this position in Florida. After the verdict, Hastings remarked, "I don't accept this as a reading of Al Hastings the man. I didn't commit a crime.... There may be something about me, my outspokenness, and what have you, that allows that maybe it's best that I'm out of this particular arena." He announced that he would later seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 23)
Published
0 0
Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan delivers his Savior’s Day Message, which criticizes the government’s role in the condition of Blacks.
Louis Farrakhan, minister of the Nation of Islam, delivered his Savior's Day Message before a crowd of twelve thousand people in Washington, D.C. Speaking on the theme "Stop the Killing," Farrakhan said the Black people of Washington, D.C., were "brought to nothing in this society by their former slavemasters ... and [were] being kept as nothing by the cruel hand of the government."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 24)
Published
0 0
Ralph Abernathy’s autobiography claiming that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., may have engaged in extramarital affairs on the night before his assassination, is disputed by civil rights activists Abjua Abi Naantaanbuu and Bernard Lee.
In a news conference in Washington, D.C., Abjua Abi Naantaanbuu, a civil rights activist from Memphis, Tennessee, and Bernard Lee, a veteran civil rights activist, disputed allegations made by Ralph David Abernathy in his autobiography, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., may have engaged in extramarital affairs on the night before his assassination in 1968. Naantaanbuu and Lee, who were present when the alleged infidelity occurred, accused Abernathy of being drunk and asleep at the time. The news conference was sponsored by the Coalition of Friends and Beneficiaries of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Dream, which had taken strong exception to Abernathy's published views ever since they appeared earlier in the year. Members of the Coalition of Friends included civil rights leaders Dick Gregory, Benjamin Hooks, John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lowery, and Andrew Young.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 24)
Published
0 0
A South Carolina restaurant’s liquor license gets revoked for discrimination practices. Weeks later the owners, Bruce and Rose Salter, announce that they would serve all people.
Despite the pledge of a North Augusta, South Carolina, restaurant to end its barring of Black customers, the South Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission revoked its liquor license. The Commission said the action to end discrimination was "very fragile and will likely continue only so long as official scrutiny is close at hand." The Buffalo Room Restaurant and Lounge had been under scrutiny by federal and state governments and the NAACP since several Blacks were turned away by its owners on September 5. Within weeks of this incident, the owners, Bruce and Rose Salter, announced that they would serve all people.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Maynard Jackson is reelected as mayor of Atlanta, GA.
Maynard Holbrook Jackson was elected to a new term as mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. Jackson scored a landslide victory over city councilman and veteran civil rights activist Hosea Williams to return to City Hall. Jackson won 82 percent of the votes to less than 20 percent for Williams. Jackson's victory had become all but certain after a more formidable candidate, Michael Lomax, the Black chairman of the Fulton County Commission, withdrew from the race on August 8, 1989. When polls consistently showed that Lomax would also lose decisively to Jackson, the commissioner withdrew rather than jeopardize his seat on the county body. Jackson was first elected mayor of Atlanta in 1973, becoming the first Black American to be elected mayor of a major Southern city since the Reconstruction era. He served two terms until 1982, when he became ineligible for another successive reelection. Between terms in the mayor's office, Jackson had served as a corporate attorney in Chicago and Atlanta.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Art Shell is named the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.
Art Shell, former lineman for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and a member of the Professional Football's Hall of Fame was named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders. The appointment made Shell, age forty-two, the first Black head coach in the NFL since Fritz Pollard was a player-coach for the Hammond (Indiana) Pros in 1923-25. Shell's selection came just one day before the fifteenth anniversary of the appointment of Frank Robinson as the first Black manager in major league baseball. Robinson was first hired by the Cleveland Indians. The first Black head coach in professional basketball, which has had more Blacks in this position than any other professional sport, was Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, who served in 1966-67. Shell called his appointment "an historic event," but did not believe that "the color of my skin entered into the decision."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 6)
Published
0 0
A racial discrimination law suit is filed against restaurant chain Shoney’s.
Two former employees of Shoney's restaurants one Black, one white-filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging that the restaurant chain practiced racial discrimination. The suit claimed that the managers of Shoney's franchises in the metropolitan Atlanta area discriminated by limiting the type and number of jobs offered to Blacks as well as their chances of promotion. It also alleged that the company retaliated against non-Black employees who refused to implement their racist policies. The Black plaintiff, Jackie Montgomery, claimed she was forbidden to work in a Shoney's dining room because of the restaurant's policy that "Blacks should not be allowed out front," particularly in facilities located in predominantly white neighborhoods. The white plaintiff, Cylinda Adams, asserted that she complained to several supervisors about the alleged racism and was fired because of it. The Atlanta suit was filed only four months after a similar allegation was brought before the courts in Florida and only two months after Shoney's executives signed an affirmative action agreement with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In that accord, Shoney's promised to provide $90 million in jobs and minority business participation over the next three years. The agreement also included recruitment and training of Blacks in managerial positions, and pledged to provide scholarships to Black students interested in the food service industry. Shoney's chief executive officer, J. Mitchell Boyd, had said that there was "no real connection" between the lawsuit filed in Pensacola, Florida, in June and the firm's agreement with SCLC.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is condemned for being biased against minorities. Donald Stewart, the Black president of the College Board – which developed and owns the SAT – disagrees with the allegations.
USA Today reported new criticisms of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for alleged bias against Blacks and other minorities. The complaints against the SAT, the nation's best known college admission test, were contained in a book by John Weiss, Barbara Beckwith, and Bob Schaeffer entitled Standing Up to the SAT. The authors emphasized that the SAT employed vocabulary that unfairly penalized low income and minority students because they were unfamiliar with them. The USA Today report cited terms like regatta, melodeon, and heirloom as examples of such words. But Donald Stewart, the Black president of the College Board, which conceived, developed, and owns the SAT, said "it's reverse racism that holds certain assumptions about a race or a gender and what they should know... That's an insult... If there is a bias in the test, it's the same bias we have in American education."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 16)
Published
0 0
Forbes magazine lists Michael Jackson as the world’s highest paid entertainer.
Forbes magazine estimated that Black pop singer Michael Jackson would make $65 million in 1989 and would remain the world's highest paid entertainer. The magazine placed his total earnings for 1988-89 at $125 million. Other Blacks on the Forbes list of the highest paid entertainers for 1988-9 were actor-comedian Bill Cosby ($95 million); boxer Mike Tyson ($71 million); actor-comedian Eddie Murphy ($57 million); talk-show hostess and actress Oprah Winfrey ($55 million); boxer Sugar Ray Leonard ($42 million); and recording artist Prince ($36 million).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
Sharon Pratt Dixon, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, all newcomers to District of Columbia politics, are victorious at the polls.
Sharon Pratt Dixon, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, all newcomers to District of Columbia politics, were victorious at the polls. Dixon won the Democratic mayoral nomination, Norton won her bid to the House of Representatives, and Jackson won his bid to become the District's “statehood senator”—a newly created office devised by the Washington city council to help lobby Congress for the district's statehood. Dixon distinguished herself early in the campaign when she called for Mayor Marion Barry's resignation. She vowed to use a shovel, not a broom, to clean up after the scandal that plagued Barry's administration. Dixon also promised to cut 2,000 senior municipal jobs. Norton, the former chairperson of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), won a narrow victory. She had to overcome a late disclosure that she had failed to file city income taxes since 1982. Norton succeeded former representative Walter Fauntroy. Jackson's victory proved he could win elective office and gave him a platform to lobby for D.C. statehood.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct)
Published
0 0
The Dade County, Florida, affiliate of the National Bar Association (NBA), a group that primarily represents Black American lawyers, calls for a boycott against Miami as a convention and meeting site in response to the treatment of Nelson and Winnie Mandela during their June visit.
The Dade County, Florida, affiliate of the National Bar Association (NBA), a group that primarily represents Black American lawyers, called for a boycott against Miami as a convention and meeting site. The NBA was reacting to treatment city officials gave to South African anti-apartheid leaders Nelson and Winnie Mandela during their June visit. The group also condemned the rampant job discrimination in South Florida's hotel and tourism industry, which they said was dominated by Hispanics who formed labor unions that shut Blacks out of entry-level jobs in hotels and restaurants. Asking all business, professional, religious, labor, and civil associations to join the boycott, one of the NBA's first acts was to call off plans to host its annual convention in the Miami. More than 2,000 members had been expected to attend. The organization was angry that city officials didn't give the Mandela's an official welcome when they arrived during their tour of major U.S. cities. Miami officials had denounced Mandela for his praise of Fidel Castro, Yassar Arafat, and Muammar al-Qaddafi. Convention delegate expenditures totaled more than $405 million in 1989.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct)
Published
0 0
Brady Keys, Jr., a former professional football player who established the first major Black-owned fast food franchise, ventures deeper into the steel industry.
Brady Keys, Jr., age fifty-two, a former professional football player who established the first major Black-owned fast food franchise, ventured deeper into the steel industry. The former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back invested the proceeds from the sale of twelve Detroit-based Burger King restaurants into a new steel company. He formed the Keys Industrial Group with Stoneworth Group executives, Harry Farmer and William Moorehead III. Upon his retirement from football, Keys first built his reputation with the Keys Group Company, owner of fast food franchises, with annual sales of $18.6 million. In 1988 he was franchisee of the year. He then bought HCE Enterprises, a fabricated steel company, renamed it RMK Steel, secured several government contracts, and built sales from $100,000 to $3 million in its first eight months. The company has since been sold for three times its original purchase price.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct)
Published
0 0
Nielsen Media Research improves its data collection and reporting on TV viewing by minorities after criticism by Black media representatives.
Nielsen Media Research, the leading provider of television information services, improved its data collection and reporting on TV viewing by minorities. The improvements came after criticism by Black media representatives who alleged that Nielsen avoided predominantly Black areas, which minimized the potential impact Black American viewers could have on ratings. Byron E. Lewis, president of Uniworld Group Inc., a Black-owned advertising firm headquartered in New York City, said the problem affected Black Americans financially. He noted that advertisers who target Black audiences are less likely to advertise if the programs have low ratings. Nielsen expanded its monthly National Audience Demographic Report to include Black households and approximately 20 Black demographic categories. It also includes additional marketing information, such as market penetration estimates.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Art Blakely, drummer and jazz band leader, dies in New York City at the age of seventy-one.
Art Blakely, drummer and jazz band leader, died in New York City. He was seventy-one. A powerful and influential jazz talent, Blakely was the leader of a constantly evolving ensemble known as the Jazz Messengers. The group, which Blakely founded with Horace Silver, was a virtual conservatory of up-and-coming musicians, including Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Donald Byrd, and McCoy Tyner. His group also included such notable musicians as Keith Jarrett, Chuck Mangione, Chick Corea, Terence Blanchard, Jackie McLean, and Donald Harrison.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct 19)
Published
0 0
The Illinois Supreme Court upholds a lower-court decision to bar the Harold Washington Party from the Cook County November election ballot.
The Illinois Supreme Court upheld a lower-court decision to bar the Harold Washington Party from Cook County's November election ballot. The four Democratic judges voted against including the primarily Black party, while the three Republicans voted for its inclusion. Democrats had been concerned about losing votes to the party, named in honor of the late Democratic mayor of Chicago, while Republicans anticipated gaining a majority of votes as a result. The Washington Party subsequently urged its supporters either to boycott the election or to vote Republican in protest of the Democratic opposition.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct 22)
Published
0 0
President George Bush vetoes the Civil Rights Bill of 1990, saying the document “employs a maze of highly legalistic language to introduce the destructive force of quotas” in the workplace.
President George Bush vetoed the Civil Rights Bill of 1990, saying the document "employs a maze of highly legalistic language to introduce the destructive force of quotas” in the workplace. Two days later an attempt to override the veto in the Senate fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Oct 26)
Published
0 0
The African-American Marketing & Media Association is founded to improve advertising to Black audiences and combat stereotyping.
The African-American Marketing & Media Association was formed to improve advertising to Black audiences and alter what it viewed as stereotyping. Clarence O. Smith, the association chairperson and president and co-founder of Essence Communications, publisher of Essence magazine, said the organization would also help find more work for members.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Nov)
Published
0 0
Chicago business executive Hilmon Sorey, Jr., purchases 51 percent of Hawthorn-Mellody and becomes president and chief executive officer of the nation’s largest minority-owned dairy.
Chicago business executive Hilmon Sorey, Jr., purchased 51 percent of Hawthorn-Mellody and became president and chief executive officer of the nation's largest minority-owned dairy. The fifty-two-year-old company projected sales of more than $100 million and expected to achieve a modest profit after showing a $500,000 loss the previous year. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based dairy has production and distribution facilities in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Sorey was previously president of Hilmon S. Sorey & Associates, a Chicago-based management consultant firm.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Nov)
Published
0 0
Merger makes Atlanta Life one of the largest Black-owned insurance companies.
The Atlanta Life Insurance Company, in its third major acquisition in five years, purchased 100 percent of the stock of the Chicago Metropolitan Life Assurance Company for $750,000. This made Atlanta Life one of the largest Black-owned insurance companies, boosting the company's net worth to more than $231 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Nov 5)
Published
0 0
The Freedom National Bank closes its doors amid controversy over federal regulation standards.
The Freedom National Bank closed its doors amid controversy over federal regulation standards. Established in New York City's Harlem section in 1964, Freedom National quickly became a symbol of Black American pride. With total assets of $120.6 million in 1990, it was ranked among the nation's top five Black American banks by Black Enterprise magazine. The financial institution was a depository for many prominent Black American celebrities and was the bank for numerous Black American organizations and businesses. Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, citing unfair treatment, called for a probe by the House Banking Committee. He charged that regulators used a double standard in procedures used to close the financial institution. Several major customers stood to lose a significant amount of uninsured deposits unless the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) agreed to repay at least 50 percent of all deposit accounts in excess of the insured limit of $100,000. The United Negro College Fund and the Fort Greene Senior Citizen Council were among the larger depositors. The two organizations had more than $11 million in uninsured deposits in Freedom National.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Nov 6)
Published
0 0
Continued debate over the enactment of a Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday in Arizona.
Debate increased over the enactment of a Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday in Arizona. Voters in that state defeated a referendum on the issue, proposing a paid holiday for state employees, by a narrow 17,226 margin. Only two other states, Montana and New Hampshire, had not yet observed a state holiday marking King's birthday. The National Football League had threatened to move the 1993 Super Bowl from Phoenix unless the state adopted the holiday—an act that would cost the state more than $200 million in lost revenues. The defeated legislation also led to the cancellation of a golf tournament memorializing the slain civil rights leader as well as numerous other conventions and special events. The referendum was intended to help voters decide whether to overturn Governor Evan Mecham's 1987 decision to cancel the holiday. Since that decision, the state had lost about 58 conventions and about an estimated $30 million in financial revenues.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Nov 27)
Published
0 0
Charles Johnson, the author of Middle Passage, a novel about a formerly enslaved man and his adventures, wins the 1990 National Book Award for fiction.
Charles Johnson, the author of Middle Passage, a novel about a freed slave and his adventures, won the 1990 National Book Award for fiction. He was the first Black American male to win the award since Ralph Ellison won it in 1954 for Invisible Man.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Dec)
Published
0 0
Black Americans concerned over disproportionate number of Black Americans involved in Operation Desert Shield.
President George Bush promised an infusion of more than 500,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to assure an early end to Operation Desert Shield—a mission to liberate oil-rich Kuwait from the unyielding Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. A Wall Street Journal poll revealed that most Whites but only 41 percent of the nation's Black Americans supported Operation Desert Shield. Blacks also expressed concern over the disproportionate number of Black Americans in the military—many of whom were on the front line—and the belief that far too many minorities served in low-level military positions with far too few in leadership roles. A noted exception was the nation's top soldier, General Colin L. Powell, an Black American who served as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Speculation about the quality of Black American life after Operation Desert Shield increased throughout the ordeal. The public television forum "Frontline" addressed the issue in a segment titled "Black America's War," a one-day town meeting in Philadelphia. Moderated by Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, the program featured the Reverend Jesse Jackson; Lt. Gen. Frank Petersen, the first Black general in the U.S. Marine Corps; Pulitzer prize-winning author Roger Wilkins; Major Elwood Driver, a retired Army Air Corps officer; and journalist Hodding Carter III as panelists.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Dec 12-18)
Published
0 0
The Department of Education announces a prohibition on colleges that set aside federal funds for minorities.
The Education Department announced a prohibition on colleges that received federal funds from setting aside scholarships for minorities—a ban that would affect millions of dollars in minority aid programs. Michael L. Williams, the department's assistant secretary for civil rights, called "race exclusive" scholarships discriminatory and therefore in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. On December 18, the Education Department partially reversed the policy, now allowing federally funded colleges to award minority scholarships if the money comes from private donations or from federal programs designed to aid minority students. Robert H. Atwell, president of the American Council on Education, said the reversal, "was not a clarification, it was not a retraction, it was a confusion."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan)
Published
0 0
Keith Woods becomes the first Black American city editor of the New Orleans Times Picayune.
Keith Woods became the first Black American city editor of the New Orleans Times Picayune. His duties included directing news coverage in the city and supervising editors and reporters. Woods previously served as assistant city editor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan)
Published
0 0
Brotherman, the comic super hero, becomes a hit with Black American youths.
Brotherman, the comic super hero created by brothers David, Jason, and Guy Sims, became a hit with Black American youths in 1991. The Simses created Brotherman to provide a positive Black American image for comic book readers. The first issue sold more than 8,000 copies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 9)
Published
0 0
The National Urban League urges President George Bush to introduce measures to stimulate the economy, as Black Americans would bear the brunt of hard economic times.
In its 16th Annual Report of Black America, the National Urban League urged President George Bush to introduce measures to stimulate the economy. The organization contended that Black Americans were in a permanent recession and would bear the brunt of hard economic times unless preventative measures were taken.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
Troy Chapman, a Black third-year student at Harvard University, produces a calendar featuring Black male students at the Harvard Law School to promote positive Black male images.
Troy Chapman, a Black third-year student at Harvard University, produced a calendar featuring Black male students at the Harvard Law School. He stated that the calendar would promote more positive images of Black men to serve as role models for Black youths.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
The United Church of Christ issues a pastoral letter contending that racism was a deepening problem in America.
The United Church of Christ issued a pastoral letter contending that racism was a deepening problem in America. The document also stated that poverty was worse for non-white Americans and that racially motivated violence had increased since the birth of the civil rights movement thirty years earlier.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 17)
Published
0 0
A New York Times/CBS survey suggests that half of the Black population opposed Operation Desert Storm, the war to free Kuwait from Iraq.
A New York Times/CBS survey suggested that 50 percent of the Black population supported Operation Desert Storm, the war to free Kuwait from Iraq, compared to 80 percent of Whites. Critics charged that Blacks were being placed in front-line battle positions at a higher rate than their White counterparts. Several Black leaders, including representative Charles Rangell of New York, expressed concern over the high number of Blacks serving in the Persian Gulf. Rangell asked how President Bush could order Black Americans into battle after rejecting the civil rights bill, and similar comments were made by National Urban League president John Jacob and Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson. About 104,000 of the 400,000 troops serving in the Persian Gulf were Black. According to the Department of Defense, Blacks accounted for 30 percent of the Army, 21 percent of the Navy, 17 percent of the Marines, and 14 percent of the Air Force personnel stationed in the Gulf. Black Americans accounted for 11 percent of all American citizens over sixteen years old. Critics contended that a high number of fatalities among Black soldiers would have grave implications for the Black community. A high death rate among Black soldiers would create many one-parent households, and some families would lose both parents. Many skilled positions in America's workforce that were held by Blacks who were called up from the reserves would be lost, further diluting Black representation in critical areas of the government and the private sector. Martin Binkin, a military analyst with the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., estimated that up to 35 percent of all qualified Black men between the ages of 19 and 24 have served in the military, compared to 17 percent of all qualified White men.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
AIDS epidemic becomes called major health threat to Black Americans.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control called the AIDS epidemic a major health threat to Black Americans. In New Jersey and New York, AIDS was the leading cause of death among Black Americans between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. Recognizing the need for a major reevaluation of sexual behavior among Blacks, Black American leaders called for safer sex practices. They also noted that drug addicts using infected needles are at high risk.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
Operation PUSH, the Chicago-based civil rights group formed by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, lays off staff members because of financial problems.
Operation PUSH, the Chicago-based civil rights group formed by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, laid off staff members because of financial problems, which had worsened since Jackson left Chicago to pursue a political career in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jan 29)
Published
0 0
Report shows that most Black Americans prefer to be called Black instead of African American.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reported that most Black Americans prefer to be called Black, despite the growing use of the term African American. Seventy-two percent of those polled preferred the designation Black. Fifteen percent preferred African American, three percent preferred Afro-American, and two percent preferred Negro.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Feb)
Published
0 0
Inner City Broadcasting Corp., the owner of Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater, strikes a deal to redesign a performing arts theater in metropolitan Tokyo, Japan.
Inner City Broadcasting Corp., the owner of Harlem's famed Apollo Theater, struck a deal to redesign a performing arts theater in metropolitan Tokyo; under the arrangement, Nichii Company Ltd. paid $150,000 to use the Apollo name for its theater. Inner City thus became one of a few minority-owned American companies with a business interest in Japan. The project grew out of a 1986 cultural exchange program designed to help educate Japanese citizens about Black Americans. The New York-based Inner City owns several radio stations and a cable company.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Feb 9)
Published
0 0
Gospel music great James Cleveland dies in Los Angeles, California, at the age of sixty.
James Cleveland, a Baptist clergyman and major figure in gospel music, died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of sixty. Cleveland was a pianist, composer, arranger, impresario, and leader of the James Cleveland Singers. He was also the founder of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. During his career Cleveland served as mentor to Aretha Franklin, Billy Preston, and many other soul singers who began their career in gospel music. Cleveland wrote more than 400 gospel songs, including "Grace Is Sufficient," "Everything Will Be All Right," "He's Using Me," "The Man Jesus," "Peace Be Still," and "The Love of God." He recorded scores of albums that sold millions of copies and won three Grammy Awards; he was the first gospel singer to have a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. "
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Feb 20)
Published
0 0
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson appears on U.S. Postal cancellations in celebration of Black History Month.
The likeness of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson appeared on U.S. Postal cancellations in celebration of Black History Month. Jackson was the second living personality to be chosen for this honor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Feb 26)
Published
0 0
The Detroit Board of Education approves an all-male academy for Black American students.
The Detroit Board of Education approved an all-male academy for Black American students. The approval came after intense debate over whether Black boys should be segregated from Black girls and White students. Opponents contended that the academy constitutes a return to school segregation akin to that practiced in the rural South before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. Others believed that the academy and others like it help Black Americans who need the most support, particularly young males. Supporters cited a high dropout rate among Black males and the absence of positive male role models as reasons to establish such academies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Feb 26)
Published
0 0
President George Bush praises past and present Black military heroes during White House ceremony.
President George Bush acknowledged Black History Month during a White House ceremony where he called the country's military the "greatest equal opportunity employer." He praised past and present Black military heroes, including General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Lieutenant General Calvin Waller, deputy commander of Persian Gulf forces.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar 14)
Published
0 0
Four Los Angeles police officers are indicted by a grand jury for their roles in the beating of motorist Rodney King.
Four Los Angeles police officers—Stacey C. Koon, Theodore J. Briseno, Laurence M. Powell, and Timothy E. Wind—received indictments from a grand jury for their roles in the beating of motorist Rodney King on March 3, 1991. The four were formally charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of unnecessary assault or beating by a police officer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar 20)
Published
0 0
Education Secretary Lamar Alexander terminates the ban on federally funded minority scholarships.
Education Secretary Lamar Alexander lifted the ban on federally funded minority scholarships, advising colleges to continue granting race-specific financial aid.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar 25)
Published
0 0
Whoopi Goldberg wins an Oscar for her supporting actress role in the movie Ghost, making her the second Black American female ever to win the award.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science awarded comedienne and actress Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar for her supporting actress role in the movie Ghost. She became the second Black American female ever to win an Oscar. The late Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar fifty-three years earlier for her best supporting role in the Civil War epic Gone with the Wind. Goldberg's performance in Ghost also garnered a Golden Globe Award and the Excellence Award at the Sixth Annual Women in Film Festival. In 1990, the NAACP named her Black Entertainer of the Year. Goldberg's previous honors included the NAACP Image Award and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Color Purple. Goldberg was born Caryn Johnson in New York's Chelsea section. Other films she made include Jumpin' Jack Flash, Burglar, Fatal Beauty, Clara's Heart, The Long Walk Home, and Soap Dish.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr)
Published
0 0
Judy A. Smith, a spokesperson for U.S. attorney Jay B. Stephens, is named deputy White House press secretary.
Judy A. Smith, a spokesperson for U.S. attorney Jay B. Stephens, was named deputy White House press secretary. Her duties included assisting White House press secretary Martin Fitzwater with daily press briefings and scheduling interviews with White House staff members.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr 4-8)
Published
0 0
Los Angeles police chief Darryl F. Gates is suspended from duty in connection with Rodney King beating.
Los Angeles police chief Darryl F. Gates was suspended with pay for sixty days by the Los Angeles Police Commission for "allegations of mismanagement and/or neglect of duty" in connection with the March 3 beating of motorist Rodney King. While Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley had called for Gates's resignation two days earlier, the Police Commission's ruling was overruled by the L.A. City Council on April 5. Chief Gates returned to work on April 8.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr 8)
Published
0 0
The Muslim Program, which includes desires for freedom and justice for all, is published.
The Final Call published "The Muslim Program." Their program includes desires for "a full and complete freedom" and "justice applied equally to all, regardless of creed or class or color."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr 15)
Published
0 0
A National Opinion Research Center survey reveals that Americans support affirmative action.
The National Opinion Research Center (NORC), an affiliate of the University of Chicago, revealed in its annual national survey that Americans supported affirmative action but opposed reverse discrimination. It found that 71 percent of the white males and 70 percent of the white females polled believed it was very likely or somewhat likely that an equally qualified or less qualified Black person would be hired or promoted before a white person. The survey also asked the white respondents whether they thought the government should have a special obligation to help improve the living standards of Black Americans, or whether there should be no special treatment. Only 15 percent of the white men polled said they believed there was a special obligation for government help, and 53 percent opposed special treatment. Only 16 percent of the white female respondents said there should be a special obligation, while 49 percent opposed special treatment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr 23)
Published
0 0
A Philadelphia School District study reveals Black American and Hispanic students are lagging behind in grades and test scores.
A study by the Philadelphia School District revealed that Black American and Hispanic students were lagging far behind White and Asian students in grades and test scores. The school board released the findings in an eighty-one-page fact sheet that contained "baseline" figures for the district's five-year academic achievement goals. The data showed that during the 1989-90 school year, Black American and Hispanic students earned only half as many A's as White and Asian students; received twice as many F's; and scored below average on standardized tests about twice as often as Whites and Asians. ''You can't read the document without having concern for African American and Latino students," Superintendent Constance E. Clayton, a Black American, told the board. Some educators and parents, however, contended that the statistics were not useful because they were not broken down on a school-by-school basis. To remedy the problem, the school board wanted to make several changes by 1994, including cutting academic-performance gaps that separate Black American and Hispanic students from White and Asian students by 10 percent; increasing the attendance rate by five percent; increasing the number of students passing from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school by 10 percent; decreasing the number of students who dropout of high school; and decreasing student suspensions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Apr 28)
Published
0 0
Floyd McKissick, a former national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), dies in Durham, North Carolina.
Floyd McKissick, a former national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), died in Durham, North Carolina. He was sixty-nine years old. McKissick's long career as a civil rights activist began after he had difficulty entering the all-white University of North Carolina Law School. He was admitted under a federal appeals court order after he enlisted the legal services of Thurgood Marshall, an NAACP lawyer. McKissick began practicing law in Durham, where he specialized in civil rights, criminal defense, and personal injury cases. He served as national chairman for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1963 to 1966, when he succeeded James Farmer as director, In 1990, McKissick served as a North Carolina district state judge.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
David Ruffin, a former lead singer with the Temptations, dies of an apparent drug overdose at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
David Ruffin, a former lead singer with the Temptations, died of an apparent drug overdose at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Ruffin, who was fifty, had been the baritone voice behind such Temptations hits as "My Girl," "Since I Lost My Baby," and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." On the evening of his death, Ruffin was seen carrying a briefcase with about $40,000 in cash and British travelers checks. A dose friend, Linster "Butch" Murrell, owner of a limousine service, said that Ruffin went to an alleged crack house. The limousine driver later took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Only three weeks before his death, Ruffin had returned to Philadelphia after a successful tour of England with two other former Temptations, Eddie Kendrick and Dennis Edwards. Born January 18, 1941, in Meridian, Mississippi, Ruffin joined the Temptations in the early 1960s and was one of the group's three lead singers. The others were Kendrick and Paul Williams. In 1985, Ruffin made a brief comeback when he and Kendrick recorded act album with D. 1 Hall and John Oates. The album, "Live at the Apollo with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick," went gold.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 5)
Published
0 0
Congressional Democrats attempt to resurrect the vetoed Civil Rights Bill of 1990 with alterations that included provisions for discrimination against women.
Congressional Democrats attempted to resurrect the vetoed Civil Rights Bill of 1990 with alterations that included provisions for discrimination against women. Provisions in the Civil Rights Bill and the Women's Equality Employment Act of 1991 made it easier for minorities and women to sue employers who did not maintain a workforce that resembled the labor pool.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 23)
Published
0 0
White supremacist Tom Metzger, leader of the White Aryan Resistance, and three other men are ordered to stand trial for burning a cross in a racially mixed suburb near Los Angeles.
White supremacist Tom Metzger, leader of the White Aryan Resistance, and three other men were ordered to stand trial for burning a cross in a racially mixed suburb near Los Angeles. The incident occurred in 1983.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 27)
Published
0 0
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announces his retirement, decrying the conservative direction that the nation’s highest court is taking.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement, decrying the conservative direction that the nation's highest court was taking. The eighty-three-year-old Marshall, the first Black to serve on the Supreme Court, contended that "power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court's decision-making." Failing health and a rigorous court schedule prompted him to retire after serving on the Court for twenty-four years. Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908. He attended Lincoln University with the hopes of becoming a dentist. After graduating in 1930, Marshall decided to change his career path by enrolling in Howard University Law School, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1933. He entered private practice and a year later became counsel for the Baltimore branch of the NAACP; in 1938, Marshall was appointed chief legal officer of the organization. He later served as director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In this capacity, Marshall played a crucial role in the fight to dismantle segregation in the United States, leading the legal team that argued before the Supreme Court in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954, in which the high Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in American public schools was unconstitutional. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, making him the second Black jurist to serve on a federal appeals court. Marshall made history in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson named him solicitor general of the United States, and again in 1967 when President Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court. Marshall, a man of fierce pride, understood his role in American history. As a liberal member of the Supreme Court, he was often the influencing factor that kept his fellow justices mindful of the less fortunate. During his tenure on the Court, Marshall earned a reputation for his outspoken interpretations of the First Amendment to the Constitution and for his passionate attacks on discrimination. Among the Supreme Court decisions Marshall authored are Amalgamated Food Employees Union v. Logan Valley Plaza (1968) and Dunn v. Blumstein (1972). Marshall "brought a diversity of viewpoints to the Court," noted J. Clay Smith, Jr., professor of constitutional law at the Howard University Law School. "Justice Marshall provided the Court the point of view of the poor in this country—Black and White. I'm sure his experience and knowledge of poverty and segregation influenced the Justices, conservative and liberal alike."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968, is converted into the National Civil Rights Museum.
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968, was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. It was scheduled to open on July 4.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun)
Published
0 0
Study reveals disproportionate number of minority students are discriminated against in public schools.
A General Accounting Office (GAO) study revealed that "a disproportionate number of minority students in the nation's public elementary and secondary schools are in lower-ability classes and special education programs." Richard J. Wenning, senior evaluator for the GAO's human resources department, said that the findings suggested that schools were discriminately tracking Black students, and that large numbers of Black American and other minority students were being placed in racially identifiable classes. The GAO's study coincided with findings of a Rand Corporation study that reported 25 percent of all Black males in urban high schools were classified as learning disabled and were kept in classes for the handicapped. The Rand study was conducted in late 1990 by social scientist Paul Hill. "Public schools," Hill said, "have low expectations when it comes to Black males." A GAO spokesperson said that congressional members were becoming increasingly concerned over student resegregation, believing it could promote discrimination. The GAO's research suggested that "schools often assign students to ability-grouped classes for academic subjects with no regrouping to reflect differential ability in various subjects. As a result, ability-grouped students remain with the same classmates throughout the day.".
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
President George Bush nominates Judge Clarence Thomas for Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of Thurgood Marshall.
President George Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas of the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of Thurgood Marshall. Many Black Americans rejected judge Thomas because of his stance on affirmative action programs. He was a strong opponent of such programs during his tenure as head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Ironically, Thomas attended the Yale University Law School under a program designed to admit minorities. Bush's appointment was also considered controversial because some politicians and groups were reluctant to criticize an Black American nominee, but did not want a person who was as opposed to abortion or affirmative action as Thomas was believed to be. Such groups as the National Urban League and the NAACP were reluctant to reject the forty-three-year-old Thomas. In a printed statement, the Urban League commented: "We welcome the appointment of a Black American jurist to fill the vacant seat left by justice Marshall. Obviously, Judge Thomas is no Justice Marshall. But if he were, this administration would not have appointed him. We are hopeful that Judge Thomas's background of poverty and minority status will lead him to greater identification with those in America who today are victimized by poverty and discrimination. And we expect the Senate, in its confirmation hearings, to explore whether he is indeed likely to do so."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jul 9)
Published
0 0
An independent commission that was appointed following the Rodney King beating releases a searing report condemning the Los Angeles Police Department.
An independent commission that was appointed following the Rodney King beating released a searing report condemning the Los Angeles Police Department. The report, which was compiled over a three-month period, stated that L.A.P.D. officers "are encouraged to command and confront, not to communicate," and contended that racist and sexist behavior was rampant throughout the department. The commission's panel offered many recommendations, including a "major overhaul" of the police department's procedures for disciplining officers and for handling citizens' complaints, and replacement of the current Police Commission. The panel also recommended that Chief Darryl F. Gates retire after a replacement was hired.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jul 12)
Published
0 0
John Singleton’s box office hit Boyz N the Hood is released.
John Singleton's box office hit Boyz N the Hood opened, starring rap artist Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Larry Fishburne, and Morris Chestnut. The plot revolves around a Black father's struggle to raise his teenage son in the midst of drugs and gang violence in south central Los Angeles. Despite the film's anti-drug, anti-violence message, its opening sparked violence in several cities across the United States. The film ultimately grossed more than $57 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Jul 20)
Published
0 0
An eighteen-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America pageant files rape charge against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
An eighteen-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America pageant filed a complaint with the Indianapolis Police Department charging that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson raped her in his hotel room the night before. A sexual assault lawsuit was filed for $21 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Aug)
Published
0 0
Urban Institute study reveals that Blacks were three times more likely to be discriminated against than Whites when applying for jobs.
A study by the Urban Institute entitled "Opportunities Denied, Opportunities Diminished in Hiring" revealed that Blacks were three times more likely to be discriminated against than Whites when applying for jobs. The findings came when Congress and President George Bush were vigorously debating changes in civil rights laws. Ten pairs of Black and White men aged nineteen to twenty-four with the same job qualifications acted as testers for the study. They responded to advertisements for 476 entry-level job listings in Chicago and Washington, D.C. The Black applicants were denied jobs that were offered to equally qualified White males. Twenty percent of the Black job seekers failed to advance after they were hired.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Aug)
Published
0 0
Plans are announced for a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as a tribute to the men who played the game at a time when the major leagues excluded them.
Plans were announced for a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as a tribute to the men who played the game at a time when the major leagues excluded them. The museum was to be part of a Black culture complex, the first phase of which was expected to open in early 1994. Proceeds from the museum will be used to cover pension, health, and other benefits for surviving members of the Negro Leagues. Although the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, now inducts former star Negro League players, the new museum would do much more, said W. Lloyd Johnson, executive director of the Negro Baseball Leagues. "There's no commitment to Black baseball by the Hall of Fame. It honors the cream of the crop and people don't visit the Hall of Fame to see the stars of the Negro Leagues. We want to honor all the Negro League players and the men and women who made the enterprise work."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Aug 10)
Published
0 0
A Population Reference Bureau study shows a significant number Black Americans moved into the upper-middle-class income bracket in the 1980s.
A Population Reference Bureau study found that more Black Americans moved into the upper-middle-class income bracket in the 1980s, while one-third of Blacks remained locked in deprivation. The number of affluent Black families was 266,000, or one in seventeen, in 1967. In 1989, the latest year for statistics, there were more than one million Black families among the ranks of the affluent, or one in seven. By comparison, one in three White families was affluent by the same measure in 1989.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep)
Published
0 0
The book Brown Eyes, Brown Skin, a story promoting pride and self-awareness wins the 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award for children’s picture books.
The Publishers Marketing Association awarded Just Us Books the 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award for children's picture books. The Orange, New Jersey, publisher won the award for the book Brown Eyes, Brown Skin, a story promoting pride and self-awareness, written by Cheryl Hudson and Bernette G. Ford. Founded in 1988 by Wade and Cheryl Hudson, Just Us Books also publishes a bimonthly newspaper, Harambee, for young school children.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep)
Published
0 0
Saturday morning cartoon “Hammerman,” a series about a Black man who found magic dancing shoes, debuts on ABC-TV.
ABC-TV introduced "Hammerman," a Saturday morning cartoon series about a Black man who found magic dancing shoes. A depiction of rap artist M.C. Hammer, Hammerman was a hero who rescued troubled people. When trouble came, he snuck away to don his magic shoes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep)
Published
0 0
Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, who was the nation’s first elected Black American governor, announces his candidacy for the presidency.
Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder announced his candidacy for the presidency. Some political observers believed that Wilder, who became the nation's first elected Black American governor in 1989, could be a serious candidate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep 9)
Published
0 0
A grand jury indicts boxer Mike Tyson for allegedly raping an eighteen-year-old Miss Black America contestant.
A Marion County, Indiana, grand jury indicted boxer Mike Tyson for allegedly raping an eighteen-year-old Miss Black America contestant. He was charged with rape and deviate sexual conduct. Tyson had been in Indianapolis in July to promote the pageant.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep 10-27)
Published
0 0
Supreme Court nomination hearings begin for Clarence Thomas.
Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Clarence Thomas began. Since his nomination to the Supreme Court on July 1, more Black American and women's rights leaders were speaking out in opposition, fearing that Thomas, a conservative who opposed abortion and affirmative action, would not serve the best interests of the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Sep 28)
Published
0 0
Miles Davis, the jazz legend who helped to define the genre, dies of pneumonia, respiratory failure, and stroke at St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
Miles Davis, the jazz legend who helped to define the genre, died of pneumonia, respiratory failure, and stroke at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was sixty-five. A risk-taking innovator who was forever evolving as a musician, Davis was perhaps the best jazz trumpeter in modern times. He had an unmistakably distinct sound—sometimes haunting, sometimes melancholy, and virtually free of vibrato. Davis played for his own ear and often performed with his back to the audience. He constantly created more distinctive musical styles than any other musician in jazz history. Davis also influenced some of the best musicians, from saxophonists John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter to keyboardist Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Davis played bebop with Charlie Parker's ensemble in the mid-1940s. In the 1950s, he formed his own group, introducing such forms as "cool jazz," hard bop, and jazz-rock, and he experimented with new forms of electrified jazz and funk. Some of Davis's most notable albums include The Miles Davis Chronicles, Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue, Blue Sorcerer, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, On the Corner, Star People, and Tutu.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Oct 6-15)
Published
0 0
Anita Hill testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee accusing Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexual advances toward her years earlier.
Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma who once worked with Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and accused Thomas of making sexual advances toward her years earlier. Hill's appearance, which was televised nationally October 11-14, prompted stiff debate. Many viewers wondered why she had waited several years before coming forward with her allegations and questioned the appropriateness of the issue in selecting a Supreme Court justice, while others criticized the Senate Judiciary Committee's initial reluctance to pursue Hill's allegations and questioned Thomas's suitability as a justice. The hearings brought out the twin issues of race and gender. Hill became a symbol for all working women, and for Black American women her testimony resurrected an age-old dilemma: whether to maintain loyalty to race or have an allegiance to gender. Thomas was later confirmed for the Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Oct 11)
Published
0 0
Redd Foxx, well-known comedian and actor, dies of a heart attack during a brief rehearsal for the television sitcom The Royal Family.
Redd Foxx, well-known comedian and actor, died of a heart attack during a brief rehearsal for the television sitcom The Royal Family. Born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis on December 9, 1924, Foxx began his career performing in various musical groups, including the Bon-Bons, beginning in 1939. He performed as a stand-up comedian and recorded numerous comedy albums during a fifty-year span that began in 1941. Foxx's early comedy routines often featured "blue" material in which he told sex-oriented jokes and used profanity. He performed with comedian Slappy White for predominantly Black audiences from 1947 through 1951. Foxx's career began to accelerate in the 1970s. He made television history as the star of Sanford & Son, which ran from 1972 to 1977 and is still in syndication. He also starred in his own Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, Redd Foxx Show, and The Royal Family. His movie credits included Cotton Comes to Harlem, Norman . . . Is That You, and Harlem Nights. Foxx won a Golden Globe Award for his performance as best television actor in a musical comedy and received three Emmy Award nominations for best actor in a comedy series.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Oct 15)
Published
0 0
300 people march against bigotry in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, after learning that white supremacists were active in the area.
About 300 people marched against bigotry in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, after hearing reports that white supremacists were active in the area.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Oct 25)
Published
0 0
Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Jr., chairman of the Black American Studies Department at the City University of New York, leadership position is in jeopardy in light of anti-Semitic remarks that had been attributed to him.
The board of the City University of New York (CUNY) planned to vote on whether to retain Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Jr., as chairman of the Black American Studies Department in light of anti-Semitic remarks that had been attributed to him. Trustees attempted to block Jeffries's reappointment and hoped to enlist Governor Mario Cuomo, Senator Alphonse D'Amato, and other politicians who had been critical of Jeffries. CUNY chancellor Dr. W. Ann Reynolds lobbied to allow Jeffries to remain as chairman of the department under restrictions, that included a one-year probation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Dec)
Published
0 0
Nine people were trampled to death during a celebrity basketball game featuring rap artists Heavy D and Michael Bivens at the City College of New York.
Nine people were trampled to death during a celebrity basketball game featuring rap artists Heavy D and Michael Bivens at the City College of New York. The event created a frenzy among critics of rap music, who claimed there was a connection between rap music and violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Dec 4)
Published
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Los Angeles Judge J. D. Smith sentences white supremacist Tom Metzger to six months in jail, three years’ probation, and 330 hours of community service working with minority groups for his part in a cross-burning incident eight years earlier.
Los Angeles Judge J. D. Smith sentenced white supremacist Tom Metzger to six months in jail, three years' probation, and 330 hours of community service working with minority groups for his part in a cross-burning incident eight years earlier. The co-defendants, Stanley Witek and Brad Kelley, were given similar sentences.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (May)
Published
0 0
Terry McMillan publishes her novel Waiting to Exhale and within one week the work became a New York Times best-seller.
Terry McMillan published her novel Waiting to Exhale. Within one week the work became a New York Times best-seller, and in 1995 it was made into a star-studded film. McMillan received a Matrix Award from New York Women in Communication in 1993. She had attended Los Angeles City College, Berkeley, and Columbia University, and went on to teach at the University of Wyoming and the University of Arizona. Before the success of Waiting to Exhale, she published Mama (1987) and Disappearing Acts (1989).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan)
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James Brown, the renowned “Godfather of Soul,” is given the Award of Merit for his lifetime contribution to music.
James Brown, the renowned "Godfather of Soul," joined Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, and Elvis Presley as a recipient of the Award of Merit for his lifetime contribution to music. Brown has put an imprint on virtually every Black musical movement since the 1950s. He is credited with influencing soul, funk, disco, and rap either with his songwriting or with his trademark gravelly voice. Brown's performances are punctuated with screams, screeches, grunts, moans, and dramatic body movement. Many rap singers have copied his style or have used portions of his recordings, a technique known as "sampling," in their own performances. Only the late Elvis Presley has appeared more often on the pop song charts. Brown has had ninety-four songs in the top 100 and more top-20 singles than any other musician in history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan)
Published
0 0
The rap group Public Enemy releases the song “By the Time I Get to Arizona” in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, birthday sparking controversy with the music video showing a burning Arizona state trooper’s car.
The rap group Public Enemy released its "By the Time I Get to Arizona" in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday. The recording generated national controversy because the accompanying video depicted the burning of an Arizona state trooper's car, rekindling sentiments about Arizona's failure to make King's birthday a state holiday. The record was the subject of an ABC-TV "Nightline" program. Chuck D, the leader of Public Enemy, appeared on the program.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan)
Published
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In New York City, Madison Square Garden broke a five-year rap concert sabbatical by promoting one of the largest rap shows ever.
In New York City, Madison Square Garden broke a five-year rap concert sabbatical by promoting one of the largest rap shows ever. The event was incident free. Rap artists believe the concert was a positive signal that large groups of teens can gather to hear music without incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan)
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Three Black Americans obtain a majority stake in the purchase of the Tractor & Equipment Co., a Midwestern tractor and heavy equipment sales and lease company, for $5.1 million.
Three Black American and two white executives teamed to purchase Tractor & Equipment Co., a Midwestern tractor and heavy equipment sales and lease company, for $5.1 million. The Black Americans obtained 52.5 percent of the company in the deal. The Hickory Hills, Illinois, company's clients included government agencies, private contractors, and corporations in the metropolitan Chicago area. Edward Lindsey was named chairman and chief executive officer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 2)
Published
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W. Wilson Goode’s term as mayor of Philadelphia ends after serving eight years as the City of Brotherly Love’s first Black mayor.
W. Wilson Goode's term as mayor of Philadelphia ended with the inauguration of Ed Rendell. Goode served eight years (1984-92) as the City of Brotherly Love's first Black mayor. During his tenure, there was enough new office construction to change the Philadelphia skyline. For the first time, buildings exceeded the height of the City Hall Building. Goode also helped promote Black American business; before he left office, there were four Black-owned shopping centers, three of which were built during his tenure. While Goode brought more business and financial strength to the city, some critics believe that such positive contributions were overshadowed by his inability to handle the conflict with MOVE, a predominantly Black "back to nature" group. MOVE members had held Goode responsible for the destruction of a square block of homes after he had authorized police to bomb a house on Osage Avenue, where MOVE members held police at bay in a day-long shootout in 1985.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 3)
Published
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James E. Hair, one of thirteen Blacks who broke the U.S. Navy’s color barrier by becoming officers in World War II, dies at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York of an apparent heart attack.
James E. Hair, one of thirteen Blacks who broke the U.S. Navy's color barrier by becoming officers in World War II, died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. Hair, who was seventy-six, died of an apparent heart attack. A grandson of slaves, Hair faced a segregated Navy that relegated Blacks to duties as cooks and stewards when he enlisted in 1942. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt challenged the segregation practice, the Navy reluctantly admitted thirteen Blacks to its Great Lakes Training Station near Chicago. Segregated from the white candidates, the Blacks were only given eight weeks of training instead of the customary sixteen, so they studied at night and quizzed one another thoroughly on Navy regulations. Dubbed the "Golden 13" in observance of the gold stripes they wanted to wear, they scored so high that skeptical Navy officers ordered them retested. The results were even higher, averaging 3.89 out of 4.00—the best class score ever recorded. They were commissioned as ensigns on March 17, 1944. Hair was assigned to skipper USSYTB-215 tugboat. In 1945, as a first lieutenant, he became the first Black officer on the USS Mason, a landing ship that sailed in Asia with a Black crew.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 10)
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Dennis Green becomes the second Black American professional football coach when he was named head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Dennis Green became the second Black American professional football coach when he was named to replace the retiring Jerry Burns of the Minnesota Vikings. The only other Black American at that level in the National Football League was Art Shell, coach of the Los Angeles Raiders. Green, age forty-two, was previously an offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers, and head coach at Stanford University and Northwestern University. Green's appointment came three days after NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue urged team owners to step up their efforts to hire Blacks and other minority members for coaching and front office positions, recognizing that Blacks already made up about 60 percent of the league's players and several were assistant coaches on winning teams.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 17)
Published
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President George Bush officially declares January 20 a national holiday commemorating the birth of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
President George Bush officially declared January 20 a national holiday commemorating the birth of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. He signed a proclamation to that effect at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, where one of King's daughters, the Rev. Bernice King, delivered an angry speech, saying, "How dare we celebrate in the midst of a recession, when nobody is sure whether their jobs are secure? ... How dare we celebrate when the ugly face of racism still peers out at us?"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 20)
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Civil-rights supporters and Ku Klux Klan members clash in Denver, Colorado, after a Klan rally on MLK, Jr., Day.
Civil-rights supporters and Ku Klux Klan members in Denver, Colorado, became violent following a Klan rally that took place on the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jan 29)
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Willie Dixon, a musician considered one of the greatest traditional bluesmen, dies in Burbank, California.
Willie Dixon, a musician considered one of the greatest traditional bluesmen, died in Burbank, California. He was seventy-six years old. Dixon created lusty and sometimes humorous songs full of risque images and metaphors. He began recording in 1940 and wrote more than 300 songs, including such blues standards as "Hoochie Coochie Man," "Little Red Rooster," "The Seventh Son," and "Bring It on Home." He also wrote "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," "Built for Comfort," and "Wang Dang Doodle." Although many of Dixon's songs were hits, they often were associated with other artists more so than with him. He wrote many of his best works for such artists as Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, and Muddy Waters. Many of his songs also had an impact on the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, and the Yardbirds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Feb 10)
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Alex Haley, author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, dies of a heart attack in Seattle, Washington.
Alex Haley, author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, died of a heart attack in Seattle, Washington. He had been working on a literary project about his hometown of Henning, Tennessee. The first Black American to win literary fame for the delineation of his family history, Haley published Roots during America's bicentennial in 1976. In the book, he brought his family's history to life when he traced his ancestry back to its West African origins. Haley wrote the book after extensive genealogical research that spanned three continents. In 1977, however, Margaret Walker charged that Roots plagiarized her novel, Jubilee, and, later, Harold Courlander claimed that it plagiarized his novel, The African. Courlander received a settlement after several passages in Roots were found to be almost verbatim from The African. Haley claimed that researchers had given him this material without properly citing the source. Roots won a Pulitzer Prize and, a year later, became the basis of one of television's most popular miniseries. The eight-part miniseries, which was viewed by more than 130 million people, provided a frank depiction of the country's formative years and the slavery era. It also reminded viewers that the birth of the nation was not without severe moral complications. Haley was known for his exhaustive research and attention to detail, which are evident in both Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965 after a year of intense interviews with the Black Nationalist leader. It has since become the inspiration behind Black filmmaker Spike Lee's biographical film of Malcolm X. Haley also contributed stories, articles, and interviews to Playboy, Harpers, the Atlantic Monthly, and Reader's Digest.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Feb 15)
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Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), announces his retirement from the organization he served for fifteen years.
Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), announced his retirement from the organization he served for fifteen years. Hooks made the announcement in New York City at the winter meeting of the National Board. He succeeded the late Roy Wilkins. During Hooks's tenure, the NAACP's membership grew to 500,000, making it one of the largest Black institutions in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Mar)
Published
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NBN Broadcasting Inc. and Sheridan Broadcasting Network, the nation’s two largest Black-owned radio network companies, merge to form the American Urban Radio Networks, the largest radio vehicle for Black consumers.
NBN Broadcasting Inc. and Sheridan Broadcasting Network, the nation's two largest Black-owned radio network companies, merged to form the American Urban Radio Networks, the largest radio vehicle for Black consumers. The merger began in October 1991 after both companies began to downsize and make other economic cutbacks. Sheridan chairman Ronald R. Davenport and NBN chairman Sydney L. Small were named co-chairs of the new firm. They said the deal was arranged without a financial exchange, but that the two companies merged to share profits.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Apr 29)
Published
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Four Los Angeles police officers who were captured on videotape beating motorist Rodney King are acquitted, sparking the most severe riot in U.S. history.
The four Los Angeles police officers who were captured on videotape beating motorist Rodney King were acquitted by an Alameda County, California, court jury. Their acquittal sparked the most severe riot in U.S. history. Black youths brutally beat White motorists who drove through the riot-torn area. Rioters burned and looted stores and other businesses in predominantly Black south central Los Angeles. Some Blacks were also upset over Black-Korean relations in the city. Many of the stores destroyed were owned by Korean Americans. The Black residents contended that the Korean merchants were impolite and treated Black shoppers as if they would shoplift. They also cited an earlier incident in which a Korean shop owner shot and killed a girl who was suspected of shoplifting. Fearing for their lives and disappointed over the lack of police protection, some Korean shop owners armed themselves and fired at would-be looters. President George Bush called for calm and dispatched federal troops to the city. He said he would take whatever measures necessary to end the violence. Blacks, Whites, and Asians all believed that the police did not act swiftly enough to quell the rioting and blamed slow response for the property destruction, which was estimated in the billions of dollars. The Los Angeles coroner's office reported fifty-eight people were killed. Rioting also broke out in several other major cities, including Atlanta, Seattle, and New York City, causing federal officials to fear a national crisis. San Francisco suffered more damage than any other city outside of Los Angeles. More than 100 downtown businesses were damaged, and more than 1,500 people were arrested. Immediately after rioting broke out in Los Angeles, many workers in Manhattan left their offices fearing violence. Little happened, however; police officials said there were 13 serious incidents, 14 injured officers, and 116 people arrested.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (May 2)
Published
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Federal troops are dispatched to south central Los Angeles after 3 days of rioting.
Mayor Tom Bradley welcomed federal troops as the residents of south central Los Angeles began cleaning up the debris from three days of rioting. More than 2,000 people were injured, and the death total continued to climb. More than 20,000 federal troops, National Guard troops, federal agents, and police from neighboring cities were dispatched to the area. Property damage from the rioting was estimated at more than $550 million. Rioters destroyed 3,800 buildings and left 10,000 other structures burned, vandalized, or looted. President George Bush declared the riot-torn neighborhoods a disaster area, making Los Angeles eligible for federal disaster aid. Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who managed the city's preparations for the 1984 Summer Olympics, accepted Mayor Bradley's invitation to direct the city's rebuilding effort.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (May 2)
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Rap artist M.C. Hammer and his family enter their racehorse, Dance Floor, in the Kentucky Derby, making Hammer the first Black American to enter a horse in the contest.
Dance Floor, a racehorse owned by rap artist M.C. Hammer and his family, finished third in the Kentucky Derby. Hammer is believed to be the first Black American to enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (May 3)
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Political and civil rights leaders in the nation’s largest cities called for peace and began working on plans to quell future civil disturbances.
Political and civil rights leaders in the nation's largest cities called for peace and began working on plans to quell future civil disturbances. Newly elected Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell went on tours of Black neighborhoods, talking with community leaders, youths, and educators and pleading for calm in the city. He said the city would continue its plans for a Black American and African Cultural Festival that would feature a parade, food fair, and numerous other activities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (May 15)
Published
0 0
Black Diamonds: An Oral History of Negro Baseball, featuring taped interviews as a tribute to Negro League baseball players, is released.
Black Diamonds: An Oral History of Negro Baseball, featuring taped interviews with such noted Negro League baseball stars as Judy Johnson, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Roy Campanella, and Jimmy Crutchfield, was released. The series was a tribute to Negro League baseball players, many of whom were denied an opportunity to play in the major leagues.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jun)
Published
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The United Bank of Philadelphia generates more than $5 million in deposits and $11 million in assets as a Black American-controlled commercial bank proving that Blacks could form a financial institution and succeed during tough economic times.
Two months after it opened, the United Bank of Philadelphia was generating more than $5 million in deposits and $11 million in assets, with more than 3,800 depositors. The city's first Black American-controlled commercial bank since 1956 became living proof that Blacks could form a financial institution and succeed during tough economic times. The bank had become a reality after it turned to the community for the support it needed. Emma C. Chappell, chairperson and chief executive officer, said the bank met some opposition when it tried to sell stock. "They said we couldn't sell stock for a minority bank. So, we created our own market and sold stock directly through the bank's board of directors." United reached its $6 million goal. More than $2.8 million of it came from churches, sororities, fraternities, and individuals. The board itself contributed $600,000, and the balance came from high profile investors such as Mellon Bank and the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company. Chappell believed that United was a vital facility because Philadelphia's largest banks were not serving the Black community. A recent study revealed that the city's six largest bank loaned more than $297.7 million to resident mortgage seekers. Only $8.9 million of that, however, went to people in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jun 30)
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Willie L. Williams, former police commissioner of Philadelphia, replaces controversial Los Angeles police chief Darryl Gates, becoming the city’s first Black police chief.
Willie L. Williams, former police commissioner of Philadelphia, replaced controversial Los Angeles police chief Darryl Gates, becoming the city's first Black police chief. Political infighting, community distrust, and low morale had plagued the department for the previous year. Conditions worsened in late April 1992, when four police officers were acquitted of using excessive force against motorist Rodney King. The verdict resulted in widespread violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jul 13-16)
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Black Americans serve in influential and decision-making roles in the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
Greater numbers of Black Americans served in influential and decision-making roles in the Democratic and Republican national conventions. The most significant gains were exhibited at the Democratic National Convention, where chairperson Ronald Brown's gavel started and ended activities in New York's Madison Square Garden. For the first time, Blacks dominated the administrative roles at the convention. Alexis M. Herman served as convention chief executive officer, overseeing a $35 million budget, Mario M. Cooper served as convention manager, and Frank Williams, Jr., was the convention's chief financial officer. Twenty-three other Blacks were named to key positions on convention committees. Some of those appointments went to such people as New York City mayor David Dinkins and Washington, D.C., delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, both of whom served as vice chairs of the Platform Committee, and Representative Louis Stokes of Ohio and Seattle mayor Norman Rice, both of whom were vice chairs of the Rules Committee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jul 26)
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H. Naylor Fitzhugh, the first Black person to earn a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Business Administration, dies after suffering from a long illness.
H. Naylor Fitzhugh, the first black person to earn a master's degree from the Harvard School of Business Administration, died after suffering from a long illness. He was eighty-two. The Washington, D.C., native became a pioneer in Black consumer marketing. His teachings and philosophies inspired a generation of Black professionals, and his methods of target marketing are well respected. Fitzhugh was often sought by major consumer marketers. After a thirty-one-year tenure as marketing professor at Howard University, Fitzhugh left to join the Pepsi Cola Co. in 1965, where he served as vice president of special markets for nine years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Jul 28)
Published
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Rap artist Ice-T removes the song “Cop Killer” from his Body Count album, a move critics decry as a precedent for the censorship of rap.
Rap artist Ice-T removed the song "Cop Killer" from his Body Count album, a move critics decried as a precedent for the censorship of rap. Criticism fell to the producer, Time Warner, which was accused of bowing to pressure from politicians and special interest groups after initially vowing to support Ice-T's First Amendment rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Aug)
Published
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Clifton Toulson selected to head Philadelphia district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Clifton Toulson was named director of the Philadelphia district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Toulson's duties included responsibility for the headquarters office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, three satellite offices, and a business-loan portfolio of $200 million. He said he would promote more bank involvement with small businesses and contended that heightened interest in small business investments would benefit minority-owned companies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Sep)
Published
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The U.S. Department of Commerce makes plans to open Minority Enterprise Growth Assistance centers to provide specialized management and technical support to expanding minority-owned companies.
The U.S. Department of Commerce declared plans to open Minority Enterprise Growth Assistance centers to provide specialized management and technical support to expanding minority-owned companies. The first center was planned for Chicago, Illinois.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Sep 12)
Published
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Mae C. Jemison, a physician and scientist, blasts off aboard the space shuttle Endeavor becoming the first Black American female astronaut.
Mae C. Jemison, a physician and scientist, was one of seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor as it blasted off for a seven-day mission—the fiftieth mission in the shuttle program. Jemison, age thirty-five, was the first Black American woman in space. In honor of her accomplishment, a Detroit, Michigan, elementary science academy that opened in March was named after her.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 24)
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Cito Gaston, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays since 1989, becomes the first Black American manager to win a World Series championship.
Cito Gaston, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays since 1989, became the first Black American manager to win a World Series championship. Toronto defeated the favored Atlanta Braves. The Toronto Blue Jays were the first non-U.S. team to compete in and win the World Series. (Toronto's two previous attempts for the championship were unsuccessful.)
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct)
Published
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Magazine publisher John H. Johnson and Robert L. Johnson, the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television (BET) are honored by the Executive Leadership Council.
The Executive Leadership Council, an organization of Black American business executives, honored magazine publisher John H. Johnson and Robert L. Johnson, the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television (BET). The Council honored John Johnson with its Heritage Award for his lifelong contributions and dedication to the advancement of Black Americans in business and communications. He began his publishing career in 1942 as editor and publisher of Negro Digest (later called Black World). He started with $500 and an idea for a monthly magazine with condensed articles. A year later, Negro Digest had a circulation of 50,000. Three years later, he published the first issue of Ebony magazine. Robert Johnson was honored with the Council's Achievement Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership and commitment to the Black American community. BET premiered on January, 25, 1980, with initial programming airing only on Fridays from 11 P.M. to 2 A.M. "It's Bob Johnson's commitment and determination that brought Black Entertainment Television to the airways, making it the first and only Black American-owned cable network in the United States," Council member James Jenkins said. "Johnson's success with Black Entertainment Television marks the first time in history that American viewers have had access to quality programming that reflects the needs, interests, and diverse lifestyles of Black America." BET is now a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation, reaching more than 46 million households.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 5)
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Eddie Kendrick, the melodic tenor behind most of the Temptations’s biggest hits, dies of lung cancer at age fifty-two, eleven months after losing a lung to that disease.
Eddie Kendrick, the melodic tenor behind most of the Temptations's biggest hits, died of lung cancer at age fifty-two, eleven months after losing a lung to that disease. He set the standard for falsetto singing and helped propel such Temptations hits as "Get Ready," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," and "Just My Imagination" to the top of the pop and R&B charts. With Kendrick as their lead singer, the Temptations became one of the nation's most popular and successful male groups. They garnered thirteen top-ten hits during his eleven years with the group. He left the group in the early 1970s for a solo career, and soon topped the music charts with the hit "Keep On Trucking." Kendrick rejoined the Temptations in 1982 for a short reunion tour. Fellow Temptations singer David Ruffin died in June 1, 1991, of an apparent drug overdose.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 6)
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Minority students at the University of Massachusetts protested and asked school officials to designate Columbus Day as a time to study discrimination against non-white societies after an earlier attack on a Black student.
Alarmed by an earlier attack on a Black student, minority students at the University of Massachusetts protested and asked school officials to designate Columbus Day as a time to study discrimination against non-white societies. Students occupied offices of a building during a visit by South African clergyman and Nobel Prize-winner Desmond Tutu. The protest culminated two weeks of racial turmoil that began on September 25 with an attack on a Black dormitory assistant by a white man who allegedly punched him and shouted racial insults. The assistant later found feces dumped outside his room and racial epithets written on his door.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 11)
Published
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Prince negotiates a deal with Warner Bros. Records to guarantee him the highest royalty ever paid to a recording artist.
Prince, a musician known for sensual rock songs and provocative outfits, negotiated a deal with Warner Bros. Records to guarantee him the highest royalty ever paid to a recording artist; additionally, Prince was made a company vice president. Under the deal, Prince, who is also a composer and producer for other artists, could earn a $10 million advance for each of his next six albums, if the previous album sells more than five million copics.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 15)
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The 118-year-old Oakland Tribune, the nation’s only major Black-owned daily newspaper, sells its name and certain assets to the Alameda Newspaper Group.
The name and certain assets of the 118-year-old Oakland Tribune, the nation's only major Black-owned daily newspaper, were sold to the Alameda Newspaper Group—part of the Singleton newspaper empire that owns four small dailies in California's East Bay area. The newspaper became a symbol of racial pride when Robert C. Maynard, a well-respected columnist with the Washington Post, and his wife, Nancy Hicks, a noted journalist with the Boston Globe, bought the Tribune from the Gannett Company. The purchase offered hope for Black American success in mainstream publishing; when Maynard and Hicks bought the newspaper, Black Americans represented less than 10 percent of the staffs of the nation's newspapers. Despite cost-effective measures and a restructuring of debt, the Tribune struggled under Maynard's tutelage. High production costs and the inability to upgrade the presses to remain competitive with other newspapers in the San Francisco Bay/San Jose region were major hindrances. Maynard attempted to make the newspaper competitive with a special regionalized East Bay section that catered to that region's residents, but he continually had to battle financial woes. Maynard, who died a year later, announced the sale would not include the newspaper's presses and its landmark building. The Tribune maintained a daily circulation of 121,500 and 120,930 Sundays.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 20)
Published
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Laree Sugg attempts to become the first Black American woman on the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) tour since Renee Powell in 1980.
Laree Sugg, a UCLA senior majoring in English, attempted to become the first Black American woman on the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) tour since Renee Powell in 1980. She had been invited to participate in the LPGA qualifying school. Sugg helped UCLA win the NCAA tournament in 1991 when she sank a birdie on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against San Jose State University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 22)
Published
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The Webster Commission report on the Los Angeles riots blasts former police chief Darryl F. Gates for improper handling of the conflict.
The 222-page Webster Commission report on the Los Angeles riots blasted former police chief Darryl F. Gates for improper handling of the conflict. It also recommended solutions for avoiding future disturbances. Headed by FBI and CIA chief William Webster, the Webster Commission blamed Chief Gates for failing to provide an effective plan and meaningful training to control the disorder sparked by the controversial verdicts in the Rodney King trial. It also said political infighting paralyzed officials when unity was crucial. "Gates had a responsibility to protect citizens," Webster said. "There was too little help and it came too late." Gates, who retired in June, took a job as a radio talk show host. Angry over the report, he responded: "We should've blown a few heads off. Maybe that would have stopped it," according to a news report in USA Today. Gates insisted that he had a good plan that was poorly executed. The committee interviewed more than 400 residents, police, and city officials before issuing recommendations. They were expected to serve as a blueprint for riot response in other areas of the country. Some of the recommendations included increasing police patrols; shoring up outdated emergency communications systems, including 911; developing a riot response plan before controversial riot-related trials end; and improving coordination and cooperation among officials. The Webster Commission report prompted response in other areas such as Dallas, where police chief William Rathburn called for a national riot police squad similar to those in France and other countries. Fifty-three people died during the riot, making it the most deadly riot in U.S. history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 22)
Published
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John Merchant is selected as the first Black member of the U.S. Golf Association’s executive committee.
John Merchant, a Bridgeport, Connecticut, lawyer, was selected as the first Black member of the U.S. Golf Association's executive committee. Merchant's appointment occurred at a time when Black Americans were becoming increasingly visible on the professional circuit. Some private country clubs, however, still restricted Black Americans and other minorities from becoming members.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 27)
Published
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Don Baylor is named manager of the Colorado Rockies, a 1993 National League expansion team, becoming the sixth Black American to manage a team at the major league level.
Don Baylor was named manager of the Colorado Rockies, a 1993 National League expansion team. Baylor, who had played for six American League teams during his nineteen-year playing career, became the sixth Black American to manage a team at the major league level. Frank Robinson, Larry Doby, Maury Wills, Hal McRae, and Cito Gaston preceded him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 28)
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Bill Cosby makes a bid to purchase the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
Bill Cosby, an outspoken critic of the image of Blacks on television, made a bid to purchase the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Cosby, who at the time had an estimated net worth of $300 million, was believed to be one of six candidates to buy the financially struggling NBC. Losing in the ratings war against rivals CBS and ABC, NBC was believed to be on the trading block for $3.5 billion. Cosby said he would make the deal in an arrangement involving two close friends in the industry, and that he would not plan to run the network. In earlier years Cosby helped bring the network from the number-three to the number-one spot with his groundbreaking series The Cosby Show, which debuted in 1984. The situation comedy about middle-class Black American life shot to the top of the ratings and held that position for a record number of years. It featured Cosby as an obstetrician and Phylicia Rashad portraying his wife, an attorney. He later became host of the syndicated game show You Bet Your Life, a remake of the game show that was hosted by the late Groucho Marx in the 1960s, and executive producer for NBC's struggling Here and Now sitcom featuring Malcolm Jamal Warner, a star from The Cosby Show.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 29)
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Melvin Dixon, a novelist, poet, and author of a text-book on Black American literature, dies in his Stamford, Connecticut, home from complications related to AIDS.
Melvin Dixon, a novelist, poet, and author of a text-book on Black American literature, died in his Stamford, Connecticut, home from complications related to AIDS. He was forty-two. An English professor at Queens College in New York, Dixon was noted for his translation of French literature to English. His translations included the Selected Poems of Leopold Senghor, by the longtime president of Senegal The Senghor translation was published by the University Press of Virginia in 1990. Dixon's own writings included Trouble in the Water, his first novel, which won the Minority Fiction Award in 1989. He also wrote a volume of poetry called Change of Territory and a second novel, Vanishing Rooms.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 29)
Published
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The New York State Supreme Court acquits Lemrick Nelson, age seventeen, of the August 19, 1991, stabbing death of an Australian rabbinical student during a riot in a Brooklyn neighborhood shared by Blacks and Jews.
The New York State Supreme Court acquitted Lemrick Nelson, age seventeen, of the August 19, 1991, stabbing death of an Australian rabbinical student during a riot in a Brooklyn neighborhood shared by Blacks and Jews. Nelson was accused of murdering Yankel Rosenbaum, age twenty-nine, of Melbourne, Australia, during the melee that erupted in the Crown Heights community after Gavin Cao, a seven-year-old Black child, was killed by a car that belonged in a motorcade escorting the Lubavitch Grand Rebbe, leader of the ultra-conservative Jewish sect based in Crown Heights. Witnesses said the car went out of control before striking the child. Shortly after the accident, Rosenbaum, a bystander, was surrounded by more than a dozen Black youths and was beaten and stabbed. Only Nelson was charged with the murder; police said they discovered a bloody knife on Nelson and that Rosenbaum had identified the youth as his assailant before he died. The police also stated that Nelson later confessed to the crime. Nelson's lawyer contended that his client was framed by corrupt police. Both deaths created a stir throughout New York City. About 200 people marched on City Hall. New York mayor David Dinkins pleaded for calm and later announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Rosenbaum's murderer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Oct 30)
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James Walker, a lead singer with the Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the country’s best-known gospel quartets, dies in his home in Philadelphia.
James Walker, a lead singer with the Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the country's best-known gospel quartets, died in his home in Philadelphia. The charismatic tenor, who was known by family and friends as 'Walker," was sixty-six. He was buried in Northwood Cemetery in West Oak Lane, Pennsylvania. Born in Mileston, Mississippi, he joined the twenty-six-year-old Dixie Hummingbirds quartet in 1954, after a stint in the Navy and work with other singing groups. Walker eventually became one of the Hummingbirds' most powerful singers and songwriters, composing more than seventy of the group's songs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov)
Published
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The Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center is established at Harvard Law School.
The Harvard Law School established the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center, thanks to a $3 million grant from the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation. The Lewis Foundation is a charitable organization endowed by the personal contributions of Reginald Lewis, chief executive officer of the New York-based TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. Lewis, a Black American business executive and financier and Harvard graduate, made the largest gift in the 175-year history of the school. Dean Robert C. Clark said the unprecedented gift would help sustain the law school's preeminence in the decades ahead. The Lewis Center will house the school's Graduate Legal Studies Program and the school's international library collection. Portions of the grant will also create a faculty committee chaired by professor Christopher Edley and the Reginald F. Lewis Fund for International Study and Research.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 3)
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William “Bill” Clinton rides a tide of discontentment to a lopsided election victory over President George Bush.
William "Bill" Clinton rode a tide of discontentment to a lopsided election victory over President George Bush. Clinton was elected by winning in several key states, including New Jersey, Michigan, New York, Illinois, and California. Much of his support came from Black voters and discontented middle-class Whites who suffered the brunt of a long-lasting recession that left thousands of workers hitting the unemployment lines. A Harris Poll study revealed that Clinton received 78 percent of the Black vote. Among White voters, Bush received 41 percent of the vote, while Clinton received 39 percent. Some political analysts suggested Black support came partly because he managed to bring together coalitions—such as gays, women's rights activists, and Black Americans—who had decided they needed a change from the previous presidential administration and Republican leadership. Many political analysts believed that president-elect Clinton would fill key Cabinet, Supreme Court, and other federal agency positions with women, Black Americans, and members of other underrepresented groups. Clinton launched a multifaceted approach to winning voters. He was the first presidential candidate to visit the riot-torn ruins of South Central Los Angeles: he actually arrived before that section of the city was under police control. He promised that his administration would pay more attention to urban problems. Clinton became the first presidential candidate to appear on the youthful music television station MTV and on "Arsenio," a syndicated talk show written, produced, and hosted by Black American Arsenio Hall. Clinton visited urban areas that were heavily populated by Black Americans and addressed many of their concerns. Many Black Americans hoped that Clinton's election would bring more domestic programs to help spur the economy, help balance minority affairs, and prompt the appointment of a liberal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The president-elect's transition team was expected to include several women and Blacks, including former Urban League leader Vernon Jordan. Others included Texas academic and former Democratic representative Barbara Jordan; former Democratic house majority whip and appropriations expert William Gray III, who resigned to head the United Negro College Fund; Marian Wright Edelman, founding president of the Children's Defense Fund; and Jocelyn Elders, a Black American who ran the human resources department in Arkansas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 3)
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Carol Moseley Braun, Alan Page, and Bobby Rush win their election races.
Carol Moseley Braun, age forty-five, became the nation's first Black female senator when she defeated Republican Richard Williamson, a Chicago lawyer. She became the first Black American in the U.S. Senate since Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts lost his seat in 1979. She was the third Black to serve in the Senate and the second to come from Illinois. (Hiram R. Revels, also from Illinois, was elected in 1870 to fill the seat once occupied by Confederate president Jefferson Davis and was the first Black American in the Senate.) Braun won with 55 percent of the vote. Prior to her primary victory over incumbent Alan J. Dixon, Braun was not considered a serious threat. Her upset victory, however, set her on the path to an easy win over the Republican candidate. Braun drew support from an interracial majority. She appealed to a significant number of young voters and those who strongly believed that Clarence Thomas should not have been confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She even drew some Republican defectors, surveys revealed. Alan Page, a National Football League Hall of Fame defensive lineman, was elected to a six-year term on the Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming the first Black American to hold an elective statewide office in that state. Page won with 62 percent of the vote after fighting to get on the ballot following a dispute with state officials. Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther party leader who later served as deputy chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and as a Chicago alderman, was elected to Congress. Reports by the Senate Historian, House Historian, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Quarterly revealed that there were now more minorities in Congress. A record number of minorities ran for Congress in 1992 and won, making the House and the Senate more reflective of the nation's population than ever before in history. Early campaign returns revealed that sixty-seven of ninety-seven minority candidates claimed victory; that the twenty-six-member Black Caucus would add seventeen members; and that the fourteen-member Hispanic Caucus would add seven members. Because several minorities retired, the result would be forty Blacks in both houses and nineteen Hispanics in the House. At least one Asian American would go to the House, raising the total to six in both houses. The lone Native American, Colorado's Ben Nighthorse Campbell, won a seat in the Senate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 4)
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Pearl Stewart, a longtime journalist in the San Francisco Bay area, is named editor of the Oakland Tribune.
Pearl Stewart, a longtime journalist in the San Francisco Bay area, was named editor of the Oakland Tribune. Upon assuming her new position on December 1, Stewart became the first Black American woman to head a major metropolitan daily newspaper. She was named by officers of the Alameda Newspaper Group, the Tribune's new owners who bought the newspaper from Robert Maynard, the first Black American to own a major metropolitan daily. Maynard, who had bought the newspaper from the Gannett Company, sold the Tribune's name, circulation, and advertising client lists in October 1992.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 6)
Published
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Vernon Jordan, former president of the National Urban League (NUL) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), selected to head President-elect Bill Clinton’s transition team.
President-elect Bill Clinton selected Vernon Jordan, former president of the National Urban League (NUL) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), to head his transition team with Warren M. Christopher, who served as a senior policy adviser in the Clinton campaign. Jordan, age fifty-seven, became a major figure in Washington during the 1970s and 1980s. He served as head of the Urban League from 1972 to 1981, the year he became a partner in the law firm Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld. Active in the civil rights movement since the early 1960s, Jordan served on the board of directors for many corporations, including American Express, Bankers Trust, Union Carbide, J. C. Penney, Xerox Corporation, Corning, Dow Jones, Revlon, and RJR Nabisco.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 9)
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The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the murder conviction and death sentence of Ku Klux Klan leader Henry Hays.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of Ku Klux Klan leader Henry Hays, who argued that his sentence for the 1981 murder of nineteen-year-old Michael Donald was cruel and unjust. Hays's accomplice in the murder was out on parole.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 9)
Published
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The Johnson Publishing Company, publishers of Jet, Ebony, and EM magazines, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.
The Johnson Publishing Company, publishers of Jet, Ebony, and EM magazines, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Founded by John H. Johnson, the company set out to publish magazines that filled a void not met by white publications. The Johnson Publishing Company became a model for other Black-owned companies. The company and its founder have been credited with helping change the way Blacks view themselves. Through his magazines, Johnson helped Blacks build self-esteem, learn about others, follow Black news, and realize that Black Americans could enjoy a satisfying lifestyle and obtain top professional goals. Johnson got the idea for his first publication, Negro Digest, while working with a Black-owned insurance company and compiling a weekly digest for the company's president. Johnson eventually realized that Black news should reach more Blacks. Unable to convince friends to support his dream, he took out a $500 loan secured by his mother's furniture. He then sent a letter to 20,000 people on the insurance company's mailing list. Johnson asked each person if they liked the idea, then asked them to send him 42. Three thousand people responded, and Negro Digest was born. The key to the company's growth was Ebony magazine. Founded in 1945, it was modeled after Life magazine. By 1996, Ebony was the largest circulating magazine published for Blacks, boasting a readership of over 1.9 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 16)
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Two Detroit police officers are formally charged with murder and one other with manslaughter in the death of Malice Green, a Black motorist.
Two Detroit, Michigan, police officers—Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers—were formally charged with murder and one other with manslaughter in the death of Malice Green, a Black motorist. A fourth officer was charged in the assault. Three other officers, who had been suspended, were not charged. Three of the officers, including those charged with murder, were White; the manslaughter charge was lodged against a Black officer. Malice Green, a thirty-five-year-old Detroit resident, died of head wounds after being beaten by officers on November 5. The incident occurred near a suspected drug house. The Green death sparked an outcry in Detroit as parallels were drawn between it and the March 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King, which led to several days of civil unrest in the spring of 1992 after the accused officers were acquitted. In Detroit, however, both the Black American mayor, Coleman Young, and the Black American police chief, Stanley Knox, quickly denounced the beating and immediately suspended the officers involved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1992 (Nov 18)
Published
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The epic motion picture Malcolm X, starring Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, opens nationwide.
The epic motion picture Malcolm X, starring Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, opened nationwide. The $34 million film was produced by Black American filmmaker Spike Lee and based on author Alex Haley's biography of the slain civil rights leader. The film on the life of the controversial Muslim minister and human rights activist was made over a period of two years and was itself wrought with controversy. Hollywood studios initially seemed reluctant to support the story of the Black activist who has become best known for his declaration that Black Americans must defend themselves and achieve racial equality "by any means necessary." They also balked at Lee's proposed length for the movie (more than three hours) and the cost. Lee, however, argued successfully that no less than the recently released film on President John F. Kennedy—a difficult subject like Malcolm X—required more time. Additionally, Black American entertainers, sports figures, and others came to his rescue when money for the project ran low. In the course of filming Malcolm's "life-changing" 1964 pilgrimage, Lee became the first Hollywood filmmaker to be granted permission to film the annual gathering in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca—Islam's holiest city. The movie was also filmed in New York, Egypt, and the Republic of South Africa. Despite some criticism about odd omissions and changes (such as ignoring the importance of Malcolm's supportive sister Ella, who had, among other things, helped finance his pilgrimage to Mecca), Malcolm X was widely praised as an epic motion picture comparable to such films as Lawrence of Arabia and Gandhi. The screening of Malcolm X became a literal cause calibre among many Black Americans and particularly young Blacks, who have raised the stature of Malcolm in recent years to a point where he rivals Martin Luther King, Jr., in their esteem. His fiery orations, including his rejection of non-violence as a way of life in the human rights struggle, have been adopted as the credo for many disaffected Blacks in the 1990s.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan)
Published
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Jackie Barrett becomes the nation’s first Black female sheriff.
In Fulton County, Georgia, Jackie Barrett was sworn in as the nation's first Black female sheriff.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan)
Published
0 0
Alabama lawmakers celebrate winning a lawsuit that ends Governor Guy Hunt’s practice of flying a Confederate flag over the state capitol in Montgomery.
In Alabama, Black legislators celebrated a courtroom victory that ended Governor Guy Hunt's practice of flying a Confederate flag over the state capitol in Montgomery. According to a circuit court judge, an 1895 law said that the only acceptable flags were the U.S. flag and the state flag. The legislators had decided to take the issue to court because they felt the Confederate flag was an offensive symbol of racial oppression and hatred. Various Alabama business groups agreed and spoke out against the governor, too, insisting that displaying the rebel banner hurt the state's image.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 1)
Published
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Christopher Wilson, a Jamaican immigrant from New York City, is kidnapped, set on fire and left for dead by white racists.
A Black man vacationing near Tampa, Florida, was kidnapped by three white men, robbed, drenched with gasoline, and set on fire. His attackers left behind a misspelled note reading, "One les nigger, one more to go. KKK." Thirty-one-year-old Christopher Wilson, a Jamaican immigrant from New York City, had gone out early New Year's morning to buy a newspaper. As he stopped at a shopping center, he was confronted by three men and forced at gunpoint to drive to a remote area. There he was taunted with racial slurs, assaulted, and left for dead. But he managed to make his way to a nearby home where a resident hosed him down with water. When police arrived, Wilson was in so much pain that he begged them to shoot him. Although he suffered severe burns over forty percent of his body, Wilson survived and was able to identify one of the men police later arrested, twenty-six-year-old Mark Kohut. Also arrested were Charles Rourk, age thirty-three, and Jeff Ray Pellett, age seventeen. Authorities described all three men as drifters who had met each other through a day-labor service. They were charged with carjacking (a federal crime), attempted murder, robbery, and kidnapping, for which they faced up to twenty-five years in prison. And since the case was officially classified as a hate crime because the attackers had referred to race as a motive, they faced even more jail time for violating Wilson's civil rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 6)
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Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who helped create the revolutionary bebop style as well as Afro-Cuban jazz, dies of pancreatic cancer in a New Jersey hospital at the age of seventy-five.
Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who helped create the revolutionary bebop style as well as Afro-Cuban jazz, died of pancreatic cancer in a New Jersey hospital at the age of seventy-five. His trademark bulging cheeks, bent horn, and fun-loving showmanship had entertained audiences throughout the world for over fifty years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 18)
Published
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All fifty states finally observe Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.
For the first time since Martin Luther King, Jr., Day became an official federal holiday, all fifty states marked its observance, even longtime holdouts New Hampshire and Arizona.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 19)
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Reginald Lewis, the chairman of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., the nation’s largest Black-owned business, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City.
Reginald Lewis, the chairman of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., the nation's largest Black-owned business, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City. The fifty-year-old executive had been diagnosed with brain cancer about two months earlier. Lewis's background in Baltimore, Maryland, was a modest one. He left there to earn a degree in economics from Virginia State University and a law degree from Harvard University in 1968. He then joined a New York City law firm and specialized in corporate and securities (stocks and bonds) law. In 1973, Lewis established his own law firm. Ten years later he set up an investment company, TLC Group L.P. Its first big deal was to buy the McCall Pattern Company producer of sewing patterns. In 1987, Lewis sought the multinational food distribution company Beatrice for $985 million. It was the largest deal of its kind in history. Despite his status as the country's most prominent Black businessman, Lewis always downplayed the importance of race in his career. He preferred to be judged by his performance, and he refused to consider race as a crutch or an obstacle. "It's understandable that [my race] is something people focus on," he once remarked. "But what I focus on and what others focus on are two different things. . . . I focus on doing a first-rate job on a consistent basis." Lewis' success eventually brought him a personal fortune of some $400 million. Although he carefully guarded his own and his family's privacy, he was well known for his generous donations to civic and charitable causes, including a $1 million gift to Howard University and a $3 million gift to Harvard Law School.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 20)
Published
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Maya Angelou reads a poem at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration that she had been asked to compose for the occasion.
At President Bill Clinton's inauguration, renowned Black poet Maya Angelou read the special verse she had been asked to compose for the occasion. (She was the first poet asked to participate in an inauguration since Robert Frost was part of John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.) Entitled "On the Pulse of Morning," her poem reflected the optimism many people felt at the thought of the country's "new beginnings" under a different administration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jan 21)
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President Bill Clinton appoints Hazel O’Leary as secretary of the Department of Energy.
President Bill Clinton appointed Hazel O'Leary as secretary of the Department of Energy in 1993. Although she was instrumental in dismantling the nation's nuclear weaponry complex and in helping energy producers finance nuclear waste storage programs, O'Leary came under attack for questionable spending of government money. She resigned from her post in late 1996.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Feb 6)
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Tennis great Arthur Ashe, the first and only Black man to win the Wimbledon championship, dies in New York City at the age of 49.
Tennis great Arthur Ashe, the first and only Black man to win the Wimbledon championship, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in New York City. He was forty-nine.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Feb 23)
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The city of New York votes to make an eighteenth-century Black American burial ground in Manhattan a historical landmark.
The city of New York voted to make an eighteenth-century Black American burial ground in Manhattan a historical landmark. The site was first discovered in 1991 during construction of a federal office building. Scientists were eventually called in, and they took away the remains of over four hundred people and thousands of artifacts for closer inspection. Most of the Blacks who had been buried there were believed to have died between 1710 and 1790. In September 1993 the skeletal remains of the Black Americans were turned over to anthropologists at Howard University for further study. Once they have completed their work—which is not expected to be until 1999—the remains are scheduled to be returned to New York City and reburied. Plans are also under way for an Black Burial Ground Museum and Research Center to be built near the site of the historic discovery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Feb 25)
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Opening arguments began in the federal trial of four White police officers charged with beating Black motorist Rodney King.
In Los Angeles, California, opening arguments began in the federal trial of four White police officers charged with beating Black motorist Rodney King. In this second trial, Stacey Koon, Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, and Timothy Wind faced charges of violating King's civil rights. Their first trial on criminal charges related to the same incident ended with acquittals on all but one charge. The verdicts triggered days of deadly rioting in Los Angeles and elsewhere throughout the country. The central issue in the federal case revolved around whether the officers had used excessive force and whether they intended to punish King. (If convicted, they faced up to $250,000 in fines and ten years in prison.) The federal trial was expected to follow along the same lines as the criminal trial with one difference—Rodney King himself was scheduled to take the stand for the first time and testify about his beating.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Mar)
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Astronaut Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, resigns from NASA.
Astronaut Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, resigned from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Her immediate career plans included teaching at New Hampshire's Dartmouth University and establishing a technology firm in Houston, Texas, to improve communications and health care in western Africa. Later, it was announced that Jemison was also scheduled to appear in an episode of the highly popular and acclaimed syndicated television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Mar 8)
Published
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Singer Billy Eckstine, popularly known as “Mr. B.,” died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventy-eight.
Singer Billy Eckstine, popularly known as "Mr. B.," died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventy-eight. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, his rich baritone voice made him one of America's top vocalists and among the first to become a crossover star with white audiences. With his coolly casual look—a shirt with a rolled collar and a jacket loosely draped from his shoulders—Eckstine was also pop music's first Black male sex symbol. Born William Clarence Eckstein in Pittsburgh in 1914, he grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Howard University. He started singing when he was about seven and drifted into it professionally during the 1930s. His first performances were with various amateur shows and dance bands that toured throughout the East and Midwest. In 1939, Eckstine joined Earl "Fatha" Hines's orchestra and taught himself to play the trombone and trumpet. But it was as a singer that he helped the band gain national fame with two hit records, "Jelly" and "Stormy Monday Blues." Eckstine left Hines in 1943 and spent a year as a solo act before pulling together his own band. It did much to popularize the new bebop style of jazz by featuring some of its greatest performers, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie "Bird" Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, and Art Blakey. During the late 1940s, Eckstine turned once again to a solo singing career. He then sang one hit romantic ballad after another. Among his biggest successes were "Fools Rush In," "Everything I Have Is Yours," "Prisoner of Love," "My Foolish Heart," "Body and Soul," "I Apologize," "Blue Moon," and "Passing Strangers." By singing such love songs when a white woman might be listening, Eckstine challenged one of the biggest taboos of a segregated society. "We weren't supposed to sing about love," he later recalled. "We were supposed to sing about work or blues." Despite his popularity, Eckstine was rarely offered opportunities to work in movies or on television due to his race. And when he did make an appearance, he was told not to let his eyes rest on any of the white actresses watching him sing. So he spent the rest of his career entertaining enthusiastic audiences in major jazz dubs across the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Mar 23)
Published
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An all-White jury sentences an admitted white supremacist to ten years probation for the June 1991, drive-by shooting of a Black man, Donald Thomas.
In Fort Worth, Texas, an all-White jury sentenced an admitted white supremacist to ten years probation for the June 1991, drive-by shooting of a Black man, Donald Thomas. Thomas was sitting in his pickup truck talking with some white neighbors when he was killed by shots fired from a car in which an eighteen-year-old white skinhead named Christopher W. Brosky was riding. During Brosky's trial, it was revealed that he had helped plan the shotgun slaying of the thirty-two-year-old Thomas. Two seventeen-year-olds who were also involved, indudmg the alleged triggerman, pleaded guilty and received prison terms. Brosky himself could have received life in prison for his part in the crime. But according to some jurors, his exceptionally light sentence came about as a result of a poorly worded note to the judge. What they had meant to recommend was that he serve five years in jail and then be put on probation for ten years. Instead, what they wrote was interpreted to mean only ten years' probation and no jail time. The decision infuriated local Blacks and sent thousands into the streets on March 28 to participate in what they called a "silent death march." A crowd estimated at more than five thousand people assembled in downtown Fort Worth and walked peacefully to the county courthouse, where they held a rally calling for justice for Black American victims of crime.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 1)
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The nationwide Denny’s restaurant chain announces that it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a case of alleged racial discrimination against Black customers.
The nationwide Denny's restaurant chain announced that it had reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a case of alleged racial discrimination against Black customers. The Justice Department had accused Denny's of treating Black customers less favorably than white customers and of discouraging Black customers from eating there. Restaurant officials denied the charges, but as part of the chain's settlement with the Justice Department, it agreed to hire a civil rights monitor and train its employees and managers to oppose racial discrimination. The company also pledged to let people know about its non-discrimination policy through advertisements in newspapers and on television and on notices appearing in the restaurants themselves. Still waiting to be settled, however, was a lawsuit against the chain filed by an ex-employee claiming racial discrimination. And in March 1993, some Black customers in California had filed a class-action lawsuit against Denny's. They charged that restaurant managers often refused to serve Blacks and threatened them or threw them out. They also said they were routinely the target of racial slurs and insults. Finally, they claimed that managers required them to prepay for their meals or pay a cover charge, and that Denny's would not extend the chain's free birthday meal offer to them.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 6)
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Freeman Bosley, Jr., wins election as the first Black mayor of St. Louis, Missouri.
In a surprise, come-from-behind victory over a better-known opponent who also happened to be his former high school counselor, Freeman Bosley, Jr., won election as the first Black mayor of St. Louis, Missouri. A thirty-eight-year-old lawyer, he had been serving as clerk of the circuit courts for the past eleven years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 8)
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Marian Anderson, whose 1939 concert at Washington, D.C.’s, Lincoln Memorial was a symbolic triumph over racial bigotry, dies from a stroke.
Singer Marian Anderson, whose 1939 concert at Washington, D.C.'s, Lincoln Memorial was a symbolic triumph over racial bigotry, died in Portland, Oregon, of complications from a stroke. She was ninety-six.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 9)
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The NAACP board of directors names Benjamin Chavis, Jr. as executive director of the nation’s oldest civil rights group.
After a year-long search, the NAACP board of directors announced that they had chosen forty-five-year-old clergyman and activist Benjamin Chavis, Jr., to replace Benjamin L. Hooks as executive director of the nation's oldest civil rights group. The energetic and progressive Chavis came to the NAACP from Cleveland, Ohio. He had worked there for the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice for twenty-five years, the last eight as its executive ct director. Originally from North Carolina, he received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina, a master of divinity degree from Duke University, and a doctorate degree from Howard University. A civil rights activist since joining the NAACP at the age of twelve, Chats spent four years in prison during the late 1970s as a member of the socalled Wilmington Ten. This was a group of nine Black men and one white woman who were convicted of firebombing a white-owned store in Wilmington, North Carolina, during a period of unrest over school desegregation. Chats and the others had, in fact, been in town to protest but denied taking part in any bombing. The controversial case prompted Amnesty International to declare the Wilmington Ten political prisoners, making them the first to be identified as such in the United States. A federal appeals court eventually overturned the convictions after witnesses admitted they had lied while giving testimony. Later, Chats made a name for himself as one of the founders of the "environmental racism" movement. This group claims that unusually high amounts of toxic materials are stored in and near Black communities. As the new head of the NAACP, Chavis pledged to make the organization more aggressive and more in tune with young Blacks and Blacks in the inner cities. Describing himself as a Pan-Africanist, he also reached out to Blacks all over the world by announcing plans to set up NAACP branches in Africa and the Caribbean. In addition, he promised to expand the membership of the NAACP to include other minorities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 9)
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Harold Ford—Tennessee’s first Black member of Congress—is acquitted of charges that he accepted over $1 million in bank loans he never intended to repay from people seeking political favors from him.
In Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. representative Harold Ford—the state's first Black member of Congress—was acquitted of charges that he accepted over $1 million in bank loans he never intended to repay from people seeking political favors from him. His first trial on the same charges ended in a mistrial in 1990.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 11)
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Janet Harmon Bragg, the first Black woman in the United States to earn a full commercial pilot’s license, dies at the age of eighty-six.
Janet Harmon Bragg, the first Black woman in the United States to earn a full commercial pilot's license, died at the age of eighty-six in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. A native of Georgia, Bragg graduated from Spelman College and did graduate work at Loyola University and the University of Chicago. She developed her interest in flying in 1930 while she was dating one of the country's first Black flight instructors. She then took flying lessons and in 1933 bought the first of three airplanes she eventually owned. Two years later, Bragg was one of the first nine Blacks admitted to the Curtiss Wright Aeronautical University to study aircraft mechanics. After being denied the opportunity to try out for her commercial pilot's license in Alabama because of her race, she headed north to Illinois, where she was able to take and pass the test. Bragg later formed the Black Challenger Air Pilots Association and helped train Ethiopian soldiers during World War II. She continued to fly as a hobby throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 12)
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Central Michigan University basketball coach Keith Dambrot is fired for using a racial slur in front of his team and when referring to his Black assistant coach.
Central Michigan University basketball coach Keith Dambrot, who is white, was fired for using a racial slur in front of his team and when referring to his Black assistant coach. At a team meeting during the season, Dambrot allegedly told his fifteen players—twelve of whom were Black—that he wished "we had more niggers on this team." He later explained that he hadn't meant he needed more Black players, just tougher team play in the midst of a losing season. Some of the Black members of the team defended their coach. They said they were not offended by what he had said and that he was not a racist. They insisted that his use of the word "nigger" had been misunderstood by outsiders. "If this were a Black coach saying that, nothing would have been made of it," declared one. "It's just one of those things that's getting blown out of proportion."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 14)
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Attorney General Janet Reno orders the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department to investigate of jail suicides in Mississippi.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Janet Reno confirmed that she had ordered the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department to look into a series of suspicious hanging deaths in Mississippi jails. For nearly a year, civil rights activists had been calling for an investigation into the deaths of twenty-four Black men over a six-year period. All had died by hanging while in police custody in various county jails. During the same period, twenty-three white prisoners had also been found hanged. Authorities ruled that all but one of the forty-seven deaths were suicides. Civil rights activists charged, however, that at least three Black prisoners were actually lynched.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Apr 17)
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A federal jury convicts white police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell of violating the civil rights of Black motorist Rodney King.
In Los Angeles, California, a federal jury convicted white police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell of violating the civil rights of Black motorist Rodney King. Two other officers—Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind—were acquitted. While the verdicts in the officers' criminal trial a year earlier had sparked several days of deadly rioting, the verdicts in their federal trial were met with joy and relief. Los Angeles remained calm, as did other cities across the nation. Police and National Guard troops had been on alert for days in anticipation of violence as jurors worked to reach a decision. On August 4, 1993, a judge handed down his sentences in the case. Both Koon and Powell received thirty months in prison, several years less than most observers had anticipated. The judge explained that he had chosen a lighter punishment because King's behavior had provoked police and because the two officers already had endured the loss of their jobs and a tremendous amount of notoriety. He also speculated that they faced the possibility of abuse in prison. Blacks reacted to the sentences with anger and disbelief. They felt justice still had not been served in the case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 18)
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Members of a white supremacist group called the White Aryan Religion are arrested for planning to blow up a predominantly Black public housing project in Toledo, Ohio.
In Toledo, Ohio, two members of a white supremacist group called the White Aryan Religion were arrested for planning to blow up a predominantly Black public housing project on July 4. Police said that Aaron Lee and Craig Lay, both twenty-two years old, had plotted to make several bombs and place them around a housing project on the city's cast side. During a raid on Lay's house, authorities seized explosives, guns, drugs, and hate literature. They said it appeared that the White Aryan Religion was a new group based in the Toledo area that may have also been responsible for some crimes in nearby Detroit, Michigan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 18)
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In New York City, a jury ruled that Leonard Jeffries had been wrongfully dismissed from his job as chairman of City College’s Black studies department for criticizing Jews and Whites.
In New York City, a jury ruled that Leonard Jeffries had been wrongfully dismissed from his job as chairman of City College's Black studies department for criticizing Jews and Whites. It then awarded him $400,000. Jeffries had sued the college for $25 million for replacing him as department chairman. (He remained a member of the faculty, however.) He claimed school officials were upset about a controversial speech he gave in 1991. In that speech, he declared that Jews and the Mafia had conspired to depict Blacks in a negative way in the movies and that Jews had financed the Black slave trade. While his remarks created an uproar, they were not the reason for his firing, insisted school officials. They maintained that Jeffries was simply a poor administrator. The jury sided with Jeffries, saying that his constitutional right to free speech had been violated. After the verdict, he vowed to continue his fight to regain his former job as department chairman.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 24)
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The University of Pennsylvania dropped racial harassment charges against a white student who called a group of Black women “water buffalo.”
The University of Pennsylvania dropped racial harassment charges against a white student who called a group of Black women "water buffalo." The incident occurred near midnight on January 13, 1993. A white student named Eden Jacobowitz was trying to study in his dorm room when he was disturbed by members of a Black sorority who were singing and making noises outside his window. He leaned out and shouted, "Shut up, you water buffalo!" The angry women, who said they also heard other racial and sexual slurs but could not tell where they came from, complained to campus police. They tracked down Jacobowitz, who readily admitted that he had made the "water buffalo" comment. (Born in Israel and educated at a Jewish school, Jacobowitz said the words "water buffalo" had come to his mind because a Hebrew word meaning "water oxen" is used to insult thoughtless and disorderly people.) But he denied saying anything else and insisted that his remark had referred to the funny noises the women were making, not to their race. University officials disagreed and ordered Jacobowitz to write a letter of apology to the women. They also told him he could be put on dormitory probation and that a note would be added to his student file indicating that he had violated the university's code of conduct on racial harassment. Jacobowitz refused to agree to these terms and instead demanded a hearing before a group of students and faculty. Before the hearing could be held, however, the charges against him were dismissed when the women withdrew their complaints. They said their case had been undermined because they had never had the chance to tell their side of the story. Jacobowitz, on the other hand, had attracted national media attention with his version of what had happened.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 24)
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Denny’s restaurant chain faces new discrimination allegations after six Black Secret Service agents file a lawsuit claiming that a Denny’s in Annapolis, Maryland, refused to serve them.
A little more than a month after announcing it had reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a racial discrimination complaint, the Denny's restaurant chain faced still more allegations or bias against Blacks. In Baltimore, Maryland, six Black Secret Service agents filed a lawsuit claiming that a Denny's in Annapolis, Maryland, had refused to serve them. They had been in town on April 1 with fifteen other agents preparing for a visit by the president. They stopped at a Denny's for breakfast and placed their orders. When no food was delivered, they ordered again several more times. After about an hour, they left the restaurant without having eaten. According to reports, a group of white agents at a nearby table was served promptly. Denny's officials insisted the problem was related to poor service, not racial discrimination. They said they had fired the manager of the Annapolis restaurant for failing to report the agents' complaints. The company later agreed to work with the NAACP to visit Denny's restaurants at random throughout the country to make sure Blacks were receiving fair treatment. The company also promised to hire more minorities, and the NAACP said it would help provide sensitivity training. According to newspaper reports, at least ten other complaints had surfaced in five different states since Denny's had promised to make changes in its operations back in April. In June, the company hired Black food executive Norman Hill to serve in the newly created job of vice president of human resources. His job was to help make sure Denny's anti-discrimination policies were followed at the chain's restaurants throughout the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 28)
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Officer William Lozano acquitted of murdering Black motorcyclist Clement Lloyd by a racially-mixed jury.
In Orlando, Florida, a racially-mixed jury acquitted a Miami police officer of manslaughter in the 1989 shooting death of a Black motorcyclist. On January 16, 1989, in the predominantly Black Overtown section of Miami, Officer William Lozano shot and killed Black motorcyclist Clement Lloyd. Lloyd then crashed, fatally injuring his passenger, Allan Blanchard. Lozano claimed the speeding motorcycle had tried to run him over and that he had fired his gun in self defense. The incident touched off three nights of racial violence in Overtown. In December 1989, Lozano was convicted of manslaughter in both deaths and sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1991, however, an appeals court ordered a new trial for the policeman on the grounds that the Miami jury had been pressured into finding him guilty because of the threat of more racial violence. Lozano's 1993 trial was held in Orlando, where authorities hoped it would be easier to find an impartial jury. They also hoped to avoid triggering another riot if he were acquitted. In the hours after the verdict was announced, Miami remained relatively calm. Police reported only scattered instances of looting and rock- and bottle-throwing in two mostly Black neighborhoods. However, outraged community leaders called on the U.S. Justice Department to file civil rights charges against Lozano, but experts considered that unlikely to happen.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 30)
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Sun Ra, an influential pianist and orchestra leader who experimented with jazz and many other forms of music, dies at the age of seventy-nine.
Sun Ra, an influential pianist and orchestra leader who experimented with jazz and many other forms of music, died at the age of seventy-nine. He had been ill since January 1993, after suffering a series of strokes. Ra was born Herman Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914, but he later liked to claim he was born on the planet Saturn about five thousand years ago. As Sonny Blount, he played in Fletcher Henderson's jazz orchestra during the mid-1940s and also was active in experimental music circles in Chicago, Illinois. Blount was already a well-known musician when he changed his name to Sun Ra during the 1950s. Along with the name change, he created a whole new identity for himself by drawing from the Bible, Black spiritualism, science fiction, and Egyptian mythology. (Ra, in fact was the name of the ancient Egyptian sun god.) Beginning in 1956, Sun Ra traveled with a multimedia group known as Arkestra that included musicians as well as exotically-costumed dancers. Ra's career spanned over sixty years. During that time, he recorded more than two hundred albums, including Saturn, Magic City, Savoy, and It's After the End of the World They encompassed a wide range of sounds and styles, including bop, gospel, blues, and electronic synthesizers. Ra considered himself to be a bridge between different generations, and in February 1993, Rolling Stone magazine seemed to confirm that judgment when it called him "the missing link between Duke Ellington and Public Enemy." Yet he was not especially well known in his native country (he spent most of his later years in Europe) and never had the recognition and success that many bigger stars Act enjoyed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (May 14)
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The NAACP begins organizing it’s first Hispanic chapter in an effort to broaden membership.
In Bronx, New York, the NAACP began organizing its first Hispanic chapter. The move was part of an effort by new executive director Ben Chavis to broaden the group's membership by reaching out to other minorities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun)
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Menace II Society, a film directed by twenty-one-year-old Black American twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, is a surprise hit at theaters with earnings of more than $10 million in less than a month.
Menace II Society, a film directed by twenty-one-year-old Black American twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, was a surprise hit at theaters with earnings of more than $10 million in less than a month. The Hughes brothers and their critically acclaimed drama about urban violence had been nominated for awards at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival in France.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun)
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Pop star Prince changes his name to a sign that combines the symbols for male and female.
The often mysterious pop star Prince created a stir when he announced that he had changed his name to a sign that combined the symbols for male and female. The sign had served as the title of his most recent album, and it also appeared in his videos, on his clothing and guitar, and various places on stage with him. But since no spoken word existed for the sign and Prince himself did not provide a pronunciation, no one was sure exactly what he wanted to be called. He eventually came to be called "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun)
Published
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Bill Cosby makes second attempt to buy the NBC television network.
Black actor-comedian Bill Cosby was reported to be working on a second deal to buy the NBC television network. According to some sources, the deal involved several other unnamed Hollywood insiders besides Cosby.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 3)
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President Bill Clinton withdraws the controversial nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.
Acknowledging that he did not have enough support in the Senate to win a major confirmation battle, President Bill Clinton withdrew the controversial nomination of Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department. Opposition to the forty-three-year-old law professor had been growing steadily since Clinton announced her nomination in late April. Many people—mainly conservative Republicans—charged that her extensive writings about race and politics were too radical and seemed to support the idea of racial separatism. They dubbed her the "Quota Queen" because of her call for racial quotas in electing and hiring public officials. By late May, the White House had begun to hint that perhaps she should pull out of the running. Guinier refused, however, and insisted that her views deserved a fair hearing in the Senate, not just in the media. As pressure mounted, the president himself announced that he was withdrawing her name from consideration. He explained that he had not closely read her writings before choosing her for the civil rights job. Afterwards, Guinier defended herself by saying that people had misinterpreted her writings. She insisted that she would have never pushed for quotas because of the racial discrimination her father suffered as the only Black student at Harvard College in 1929. Many others condemned Clinton's move, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, civil rights organizations, and women's groups. They agreed with Guinier that she had been unfairly judged.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jun 7)
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Pre-trial hearings begin for two men accused of kidnapping and setting on fire, Christopher Wilson, a Black tourist from New York City.
In Tampa, Florida, pre-trial hearings got under way for two men accused of kidnapping a Black tourist from New York City on New Year's Day and setting him on fire. Attorneys for Mark Kohut and Charles Rourk immediately asked for the trial to be moved out of town because of extensive local publicity about the case. A third man originally charged in the crime, Jeff Ray Pellett, was scheduled to testify against Kohut and Rourk as part of a plea bargain in which he admitted to helping with an armed carjacking and being an accomplice after a crime. At first, the judge refused to change venues, but later agreed to move it to West Palm Beach. Jury selection began there on August 23, 1993. At the time the trial was scheduled to begin, victim Christopher Wilson was still recovering from the burns he received during the attack.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Jul 29)
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Texas police officers fired for killing Black car passenger by asphyxiation after a traffic stop.
In Corsicana, Texas, a Black passenger of a car stopped for a traffic violation attempted to flee the police. He was captured and hogtied. Following his death from asphyxiation, two of the police officers were fired, though never charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Aug 9)
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Pope John Paul II apologizes for the Roman Catholic Church’s historical support of the Black slave trade.
Pope John Paul II formally apologized for the Roman Catholic Church's historical support of the Black slave trade. In his message, remarking on the millions of victims, he said, "The immensity of their suffering corresponds to the enormity of the crime committed against them."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Aug 26)
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Black men forced out of all-white Vidor, Texas after months of racial discrimination and bomb threats.
Following months of racial discrimination, including bomb threats, two Black men left the all-white town of Vidor, Texas. The men were the first Black Americans to move to Vidor after a U.S. court ruled that the east Texas town's public housing project be integrated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Aug 28)
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The 30th anniversary the of March on Washington is celebrated.
In Washington, D.C., more than 75,000 people celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the March on Washington. The organizers of the celebration sparked considerable controversy by failing to invite Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to speak at the event.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep)
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U.S. delegation led by former president Jimmy Carter and General Colin Powell helps the island nation return to democracy and prevents U.S. invasion of Haiti.
After issuing a strong warning to the ruling military junta of Haiti to leave the country peacefully or face a U.S. invasion, President Bill Clinton decided to send a delegation to help smooth the island nation's return to democracy. Former president Jimmy Carter led the high-level group; he was joined by General Colin Powell and Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn. At the same time, a twenty-threevessel armada was poised and ready for action off the coast of Haiti. A no-nonsense threat issued in military terms by Powell to General Raoul Cédras sealed the delegation's success.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep 7)
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Rap artist Snoop Dogg is charged with the shooting murder of a man in Los Angeles, California.
Rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg and two companions were charged with the shooting murder of a man in Los Angeles, California, on August 25, 1993. The three defendants claimed that the victim, Philip Woldemariam, had threatened the rapper, and that they acted in self-defense.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep 7)
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Joycelyn Elders becomes the first Black American surgeon general in U.S. history.
Joycelyn Elders won congressional confirmation, becoming the first Black American surgeon general in U.S. history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep 19)
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Kimberly Clarice Aiken is the first Black woman from the South to be crowned Miss America.
South Carolinian Kimberly Clarice Aiken became the first Black woman from the South and the fifth Black American to be crowned Miss America.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep 22)
Published
0 0
The Black Bible Chronicles, by journalist P. K. McCary, a streetwise translation of the Bible from Genesis through Deuteronomy is released.
The Black Bible Chronicles, by journalist P. K. McCary, was released. A streetwise translation of the Bible from Genesis through Deuteronomy, McCary's book was inspired by the need to spread the word of God to young Blacks in a new and down-to-earth manner.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Sep 30)
Published
0 0
General Colin Powell retires from his position as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ending his thirty-five year military career.
General Colin Powell retired from his position as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ending his thirty-five year military career. Upon his retirement he received his second Presidential Medal of Freedom; it was also revealed that he would receive some $6 million to write his autobiography. Following the junta's departure, twenty thousand U.S. troops, as part of Operation Restore Democracy, landed in Haiti to keep the peace while Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Haitian leader ousted by Cédras in 1991, returned to power. However, Aristide announced that his was to be only an interim presidency and that he would step down in February 1996.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1993 (Oct 6)
Published
0 0
Michael Jordan announces his retirement from professional basketball after nine seasons and three consecutive NBA titles.
Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan announced his retirement from professional basketball after nine seasons and three consecutive NBA titles. Jordan's announcement stunned virtually the entire sports world, as did his entry, only months later, into baseball with the Birmingham Barons, the Class AA farm team of the Chicago White Sox. When Jordan announced his early retirement, there was little he hadn't accomplished in basketball: he had led his team to an NBA championship, he had been voted league MVP several times, he had played continually to sellout crowds, and had dominated games and dazzled fans. But the luster of the sport had faded for him in 1993, a tragic year in which his father, James Jordan, became the victim of a random murder and the media alleged that the superstar was involved in heavy gambling. On October 6 he said, "There's nothing left for me to prove.... It's not worth it for me. It's not worth it for my teammates."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Apr 17)
Published
0 0
James Alan McPherson, Jr., Black American author, is awarded a Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his volume of short stories, Elbow Room. The book characterizes “various aspects of the Black experience.”
"James Alan McPherson, Jr., African American author, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his volume of short stories, Elbow Room. The book characterized ""various aspects of the black experience."" McPherson, a thirty-four year old native of Savannah, Georgia, received a bachelor's degree from Morris Brown College in 1965, and an LL.B. degree from the Harvard University Law School in 1968. A year later he earned a master's of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa. McPherson taught writing in the college of law at Iowa before joining the faculty at the University of California at Santa Cruz from 1969 until 1970. The new Pulitzer Prize winner had also been a contributing editor of Atlantic Monthly magazine and a contributor to Black Insights, Cutting Edges, and New Black Voices. He also wrote Hue and Cry, a collection of short stories and edited Railroad: Trains and Train People in American Culture in 1969 and 1976, respectively. In 1970, McPherson won the National Institute of Arts and Letters literature prize, and in 1972 and 1973 he was awarded Guggenheim fellowships. At the time of his receipt of the Pulitzer Prize, McPherson was an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia. The Pulitzer Prize, considered by many ""the most prestigious award that can be bestowed in the literary arts and journalism,"" carried a stipend of $1,000 and was administered by the trustees of Columbia University."
1989 (Sep 16)
Published
0 0
Debbye Turner is crowned Miss America.
Debbye Turner, a 23 year-old Black veterinary student at the University of Missouri, was crowned Miss America at the 68th Annual Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Turner, a born-again Christian, became the third Black American woman to hold the beauty and talent title. Of this achievement, Turner stated: "Being Black is the very least of who I am. I had nothing to do with it, and that's not a landmark. I just came that way."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
USA Today reports on America’s racism issue and asks prominent Black Americans to offer solutions to the nation’s racial problems.
After recent racial tensions and violence, including the killing of young Blacks in predominantly white neighborhoods in New York City, a USA Today poll found that 60 percent of America's Blacks encounter racism at least occasionally. Higher income Black Americans reported that they experienced racism more than poor Blacks. Blacks who reside in southern states reported less racism than Blacks in other regions of the country. Another finding was that 71 percent of the Blacks surveyed would like to live in integrated neighborhoods, although 53 percent live in largely Black areas. USA Today also asked a number of prominent Black Americans to offer solutions to the nation's racial problems. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a professor of law at Georgetown University and former chairperson of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), suggested that "there needs to be a continuing public, conciliatory dialogue between racial and cultural groups so that those who continue to harbor racial prejudice feel isolated. We need to talk these things out, not act them out.... Black-white relations between average Americans are not hostile - they simply are not close enough. The kind of integrated society that has been hypothesized simply has not yet been achieved." Tony Brown, executive producer and host of PBS's "Tony Brown's Journal," remarked: "It doesn't surprise me that southern Blacks find less racism. If Blacks had marched in Bensonhurst and Howard Beach 30 years ago instead of Selma (Alabama), then the whites in Bensonhurst and Howard Beach would be as sensitive today to racism as whites in Selma are.... What Blacks must do is through our achievements, through our own unity, through faith in ourselves, through sharing our resources, we must make these gains that will destroy the environmental supports [of racism]." Charles Moody, Sr., vice president for minority affairs at the University of Michigan and founder of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, suggested that the first thing that people have to do is come to grips with the fact that racism does exist and not be so quick to try to rationalize it away or justify it, but to accept the fact that it's there and begin to do something about it. ... I think people as individuals can do something about it by looking at themselves and trying to change that part of the institution or community that they have control over."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (May 9)
Published
0 0
Kenneth D. Kaunda, president of the Republic of Zambia, receives the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize, for leading his country’s transition from colonial rule under the British to self-determination in 1964 without resorting to violence.
The Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Non-Violent Social Change announced that Kenneth D. Kaunda, president of the Republic of Zambia, would receive the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize. The announcement was made in Atlanta by Coretta Scott King. Kaunda led his country's transition from colonial rule under the British to self-determination in 1964 without resorting to violence. Prior to achieving independence, Zambia had been known as Northern Rhodesia. Since independence, Kaunda, who was imprisoned several times by British authorities, was the only president to serve the country. Mrs. King said that Kaunda was chosen for the peace prize because he exemplified her husband's "ideals in searching for peaceful and meaningful methods of bringing about social and political justice.... Kenneth Kaunda's leadership in preparing his people for self-government and in resisting the forces of violence and hatred is truly a model for all countries to follow."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jun 9)
Published
0 0
Black American youth college and university enrollment is on the rise with a 275 percent between 1966 and 1976.
The Bureau of the Census reported that the number of Black youths attending colleges and universities in the United States rose from 282,000 in 1966 to 1,062,000 in 1976, an increase of 275 percent. The number of Black women in college rose more than four fold, while the number of Black men tripled. In 1976, the number of Black women college students exceeded the number of Black men by 84,000. Despite the increases, the proportion of Blacks aged eighteen to twenty-four years of age enrolled in colleges was only 20 percent in 1976, considerably less than the 27 percent of Whites in the same age group. At the time, 74 percent of Blacks completed high school by their mid-twenties, compared to 86 percent of Whites. In addition, of those Blacks who enrolled in college, only about 39 percent actually graduated as compared to 57 percent of Whites. The new enrollment statistics, however, raised the Black percentage of all college students to 10.7 percent, up from 4.6 percent in 1966. At the time, Blacks made up 11.6 percent of the population of the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
Abraham Lincoln Davis, a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the first Black city councilman in New Orleans, Louisiana, dies at age sixty-three.
Abraham Lincoln Davis, a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the first Black city councilman in New Orleans, Louisiana, died there at age sixty-three. Davis, pastor of the New Zion Baptist Church in New Orleans for forty-three years, met there with Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights activists in 1957 to organize the SCLC. King was chosen the group's first president and Davis vice president. Davis was elected to the New Orleans City Council in January 1975.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jun 28)
Published
0 0
U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, orders white student Allan P. Bakke be admitted to the Medical College of the University of California at Davis, indicating refusal to do so is reverse discrimination.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ordered that white student Allan P. Bakke be admitted to the Medical College of the University of California at Davis, indicating that the refusal to admit Bakke was tantamount to reverse discrimination and that the use of racial or ethnic quotas was an improper means of achieving racial balance. The Court held that the college's affirmative action program was invalid since it had the effect of discriminating against qualified white applicants, although the Court perceived the goal of attaining a diverse student body constitutional and permissible.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
A study by Beverly Howze, a University of Michigan psychologist, reports that suicides among Blacks increased by 97 percent since the mid-1950s.
The Atlanta Inquirer, quoting a study by Beverly Howze, a University of Michigan psychologist, reported that suicides among Blacks had increased by 97 percent since the mid-1950s. In Wayne County, Michigan (of which Detroit is the county seat), the focus of the Howze study, the increase was 187 percent, compared with less than 23 percent for Whites. The greater proportion of Black suicides, as for white ones, was among Black youth aged 15 to 34. The new statistics represented "a complete reversal for the Black race ... which has a history of rarely resorting to suicide," Howze claimed. As a result of her study among 300 Black and 41 White teenagers in the Detroit area, Howze found "an alarming pattern of alienation and self-destructiveness. ... While these traits were strongest among Black youths in the low income group, they were also evident among ... young people in general. ... Many showed feelings of very low self esteem and self confidence. They admit difficulty in dealing with day to day stress and frustration, yet they are extremely hesitant to ask for help—even from their own families. Blacks, particularly Black males, insist on handling their problems alone." The study also revealed "striking differences between Black and Whites and between males and females. White males were more capable of admitting varied feelings, like sadness and frustration. Females mentioned seeking consolation from a parent or close friend. But the Black males were the most likely to close themselves off. 'I wouldn't feel anything, only emptiness' they would claim."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jul 3)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a plan that uses race and sex quotas end job discrimination.
The United States Supreme Court upheld a plan that used race and sex quotas to end job discrimination. The Court denied, without comment, an appeal protesting a quota system adopted by the Bell Telephone System.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
Lydia Monice Jackson is crowned Miss Black America.
Lydia Monice Jackson, a nineteen year-old music student from Willingboro, New Jersey, was crowned Miss Black America for 1979 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The lyric soprano was selected over twenty-nine other young women from twenty-seven states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Aug 20)
Published
0 0
Reverend Clennon King, a Black Georgia minister, interrupted service at the church where President Jimmy Carter and his mother were worshipers in an effort to agitate the president on the question of desegregation of churches.
The Reverend Clennon King, a Black Albany, Georgia, minister, interrupted worship services at the Americus Fellowship Baptist Church, where President Jimmy Carter and his eighty-year-old mother Lillian were among the worshipers. The outburst was a continuation of King's efforts to agitate the president on the question of desegregation of churches. He had previously tried to join the all-white Plains Baptist Church, where the president and his mother previously attended services. Mrs. Carter had withdrawn from that church after its deacons reaffirmed a decision to continue prohibiting Black membership. In his outburst, King accused the president of preventing him from building a new church across from the all-white, Plains Maranatha Baptist Church that "was formed by a group which split from Plains Baptist." He asserted that he loved "the president and he loves me, but he is listening to the wrong Negroes." Although Secret Service agents surrounded King, he was not removed from the church. Of the incident, President Carter said "I hope he gets his church.... I didn't know anything about it."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
The National Urban League surveys Black men and women seeking solutions to racial discrimination.
The Atlanta University Center Digest reported that 74 percent of Blacks participating in a national survey favored integration, but only 29 percent of them felt that it was the best method for overcoming racial discrimination. A larger proportion, 45 percent, felt that although integration was "desirable, Blacks should have an equal voice in the control of schools and housing first." The poll, conducted by Lee Slurzberg Research, Inc., for the National Urban League, questioned more than two thousand Black men and women in the spring of 1978. Other results of the poll showed: 1) Employment/economic development were the principal Black concerns. Seventy-seven percent cited it “as a priority issue and 46 percent mentioned it as their first priority"; 2) Education/youth were cited second in importance. Sixty-four percent called it a priority issue and 20 percent mentioned it as their first priority; 3) Seventy-seven percent of Blacks felt that American society had "serious problems” and 36 percent called for “sweeping changes." Only 20 percent felt that "the American way of life was superior to that of any other country." This attitude was greatest among Blacks fifty-five and older, those living in the South, and those with less than a high school education.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Sep 9)
Published
0 0
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell refuses request to delay school desegregation busing plan in Los Angeles, California.
United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell refused a new request by opponents of busing to achieve school desegregation to delay a wide-spread busing plan scheduled to take effect the following week in Los Angeles, California. A similar request had been denied earlier the same day by Justice William H. Rehnquist. The desegregation plan had been previously upheld by the California State Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Oct 7)
Published
0 0
Congressman Charles Diggs of Michigan, founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, is convicted of mail and payroll fraud.
Democratic Congressman Charles Diggs of Michigan was convicted in a federal district court in Washington, D.C., of using the mail to defraud and file false payroll vouchers. The latter charge stemmed from “a scheme to require his staff members to give him money from their padded pay raises so he could pay off huge personal debts." Diggs, a veteran Black congressman and a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), had just been overwhelmingly re-elected by his Detroit, Michigan, constituents the prior week.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1979 (Aug 15)
Published
0 0
Andrew J. Young, the first Black U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations resigns after holding an unauthorized meeting with a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.
Andrew J. Young, the Black American United States Ambassador to the United Nations, resigned, asserting that he "could not promise to muzzle himself and stay out of controversies that might prove politically [embarrassing] to President [Jimmy] Carter." The president accepted the ambassador's resignation with regret. Young indicated that he didn't "feel a bit sorry for a thing I have done. I have tried to interpret to our country some of the mood of the rest of the world. Unfortunately, but by birth, I come from the ranks of those who had known and identified with some level of oppression in the world. ... By choice," Young said, “I continued to identify with what would be called in biblical terms the least of these my brethren.... I could not say that given the same situation, I wouldn't do it again, almost exactly the same way." Because of his unorthodox approaches to diplomacy, Young's brief career as the first Black UN ambassador was marked by continued controversy. He had made American relations with African nations a priority of his mission while at the same time condemning such leading Western democracies as Great Britain and Sweden as racist. His downfall occurred after he held an unauthorized meeting in July 1979 with a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a group that the United States government considered a terrorist organization. Young was also accused of first failing to inform the State Department about the talks and then of giving "only a partial and inaccurate version of events when he was asked." Following the disclosure of Young's unauthorized meeting with the PLO representative, many influential Americans, including Robert C. Byrd, majority leader of the United States Senate, called for his removal from office. Yet Black American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson defended the former ambassador and accused President Carter of sacrificing "Africa, the third world, and Black Americans," adding, "I think it's tragic."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
Isaiah Dorman, a Black army interpreter who had briefly lived with the Sioux, is killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Angered by the advancing whites, Sioux tribesmen led by Sitting Bull massacred 264 U.S. cavalrymen. One of the casualties was a Black army interpreter, Isaiah Dorman, who had briefly lived with the Sioux.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Apr 17)
Published
0 0
South Carolina statesman Beverly Nash uses a book character to help impeach the state treasurer.
A news article that appeared in Harper's Weekly described how Black South Carolina statesman Beverly Nash aided in the removal of the state treasurer from office. The treasurer's supporters had apparently been jeered by the investigators, calling them "Chadbands," a name derived from a character in a book. Nash reportedly read the description of Chadband from the book, then noted that the character more closely resembled the treasurer. The antic apparently won the popular support of the legislature and the treasurer was removed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892
Published
0 0
The Populist Party gains support in the South.
The Populist Party, which at first welcomed Black support, became a viable political organization in the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (May 23)
Published
0 0
National Congress of Parents and Teachers meet to discuss and vote on solutions to reduce racial isolation through tranportation.
The annual convention of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers adopted a resolution requesting governmental and educational authorities to search for "solutions that would by rational means reduce racial isolation through transportation.” The resolution passed by a vote of 303-296. The National Congress, now the National PTA, has millions of members.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Apr 2)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge rules that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare violated civil rights laws by failing to order racial desegregation of southern universities.
U.S. District Court Judge John Pratt ruled in Washington, D.C., that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) had violated civil rights laws by failing to order "adequate racial desegregation" in the higher educational institutions of six Southern states. The judge ordered HEW to solicit new desegregation plans from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia, but he warned that the plans "must preserve the status of their historically Black colleges." Under Pratt's order, HEW was given ninety days to set guidelines for which the states must comply. The states would then have sixty days to submit detailed plans on the "best way to balance the proportion of Black and white students in schools that receive federal aid." HEW would then have an additional 120 days to accept or reject the states' plans. In 1972, Pratt had found Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, in addition to the aforementioned states, guilty of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They were not included in the most recent order, however, because they were involved in civil rights suits elsewhere.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Jan 17)
Published
0 0
Ku Klux Klansmen and other white supremacists get arrested after throwing rocks and bottles at civil rights marchers in Georgia.
Ku Klux Klansmen and other white supremacists threw rocks and bottles at a group of ninety civil rights marchers in Forsyth County, Georgia. The four hundred counter-demonstrators also shouted racial slurs at the protestors, who had gathered on a state road about two miles outside the city of Cumming. There were no serious injuries, but eight of the supremacists were arrested on charges including disorderly conduct, trespassing, and carrying a concealed weapon. The aborted march was led by Dean Carter, a white martial arts instructor from Hall County, Georgia, and veteran civil rights leader Hosea Williams. Most of the marchers were Blacks from Atlanta, thirty miles south of Forysth County. Williams, an Atlanta city councilman, commented: “In thirty years in the civil rights movement, I've never seen it worse than this," as he responded to the violence. He also added, “in 1987, who would believe this kind of racial violence in America?” The march had been planned after the cancellation of a previous "brotherhood walk" that Carter had organized, partially to honor the memory of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The event was canceled after the organizers were threatened.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Jan 2)
Published
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Marion Barry, Jr., is inaugurated for a third term as mayor of Washington, D.C.
Marion Barry, Jr., was inaugurated for an unprecedented third term as mayor of Washington, D.C. In his inaugural address, the former Black civil rights activist asserted: “Nobody's going to turn us around from educating every person who wants to learn, employing every person who wants to work, housing every person who needs shelter, helping every person who needs new hope.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1987 (Jan 24)
Published
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More than twenty thousand people march for against racism in Georgia. It is the largest civil rights demonstration in two decades.
More than twenty thousand people marched for "brotherhood” and against racism in Forsyth County, Georgia. The biracial demonstrators were protected by three thousand state and local police officers and National Guardsmen. There were a few minor injuries and sixty people, mostly white counter-demonstrators, were arrested. It was the largest civil rights demonstration in two decades. The march was organized after a similar, smaller protest a week earlier had been broken up by white counter-demonstrators who threw rocks and bottles. That "brotherhood” march, also designed to honor the memory of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was led by veteran civil rights activist and Atlanta City Councilman Hosea Williams and Dean Carter, a white martial arts instructor. Coretta Scott King, widow of the assassinated civil rights leader, was among the leaders of the January 24th march, as was Williams, Carter, and civil rights leaders Benjamin Hooks of the NAACP and Joseph Lowery of the SCLC. All of the speakers during the demonstration denounced the racist attack on the earlier protesters and called for a renewal of the commitment to racial justice. Hosea Williams, a leader of the January 17th march, called the January 24th march “the greatest.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Mar 15 - 17)
Published
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The second National Black Political Convention met in Little Rock, Arkansas and approved several resolutions to support Black America.
The second National Black Political Convention met in Little Rock, Arkansas. The seventeen hundred delegates approved several resolutions, including (1) the creation of a Black united fund of about $10 million to further convention agenda items, local organization within the United States, and to develop projects to aid African nations; (2) the condemnation of Black congressmen who had voted for military aid to Israel while ignoring the plight of Palestinian refugees; and (3) support of African liberation movements. The delegates rejected a resolution calling Israel a major instrument of an American-supported “world strategy of monopoly," and another that sought to establish an all-Black political party. Opponents of the latter resolution argued that the convention had not done enough local organizational work to effectively build such a party. The convention was seriously split, as it had been in 1972, between those arguing for a Black separatist approach to political organization and those who favored a continuation of ties with existing political structures. Black elected officials, such as Mayor Richard B. Hatcher of Gary, Indiana, and Democrat Congressman Ronald V. Dellums of California, led those who urged the convention to remain an inclusive organization, embracing and tolerating different ideologies. Black separatist spokesmen, lead by Newark's Imamu Amiri Baraka, accused the more conservative delegates of espousing neocolonialism and opportunism. Baraka said Blacks should build an anti-capitalist revolutionary ideology and operate as a separate political force. NAACP leaders again boycotted the convention and drew the ire of the co-chairman Mayor Hatcher. Many Black elected officials, including veteran Congressman Charles C. Diggs of Michigan (co-chairman of the 1972 convention), were also criticized for being conspicuously absent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Mar 17)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge Luther L. Bohanon orders an end to racial segregation at the Oklahoma State Prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Luther L. Bohanon ordered an end to racial segregation at the Oklahoma State Prison at McAlester, Oklahoma. Observing that he had "no idea of the deep cruelty inmates were subject to," the judge also ordered prison officials to stop mistreating convicts. Bohanon found that since the riots that had occurred at the prison in the summer of 1973, inmates were not provided with proper food, bedding, or heat, and that they were subjected to arbitrary punishments with chemical mace and tear gas. The judge noted that Black inmates had received worse treatment than whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Mar 31)
Published
0 0
In Jackson, Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Justice agrees to increase the number of Blacks holding municipal jobs.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had reached an agreement with the city of Jackson, Mississippi, calling for an increase in the number of Blacks on municipal jobs and granting back pay up to $1,000 for Blacks currently employed who had been denied promotion opportunities. The five-year plan set a goal of a 40 percent Black work force, approximately the same percentage of Blacks as in the city's population. At the time of the agreement, about eight hundred of Jackson's three thousand municipal workers were Black, most of these serving in the lowest paying job classifications. Both the police and fire departments were affected by the accord.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Judge Albert Henderson rejects ACLU and NAACP appeals, ruling that Atlanta’s school system had done all it could to desegregate public education.
U.S. District Court Judge Albert Henderson in Atlanta ruled that the city's school system had done all it could to desegregate public education. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the NAACP had argued for increased desegregation in the system, which only had an 18 percent white enrollment. The ACLU argued for more desegregation through a merger of the Atlanta city schools with surrounding suburban systems. The NAACP wanted more desegregation within the bounds of the current Atlanta system. Judge Henderson rejected both appeals and allowed previous court decisions approving the Atlanta Compromise school desegregation plan to stand. That controversial program required a minimum of school integration. Attorneys for the ACLU and NAACP filed notices of appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 16)
Published
0 0
Four Black men get indicted in “Zebra” killings, after random whites are killed in San Francisco, CA.
Four young Black men were indicted in the random “Zebra” killings of whites which left the city of San Francisco tense for five months. Indicted on various charges of murder, robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon were Manuel Moore, J. C. Simon, Larry C. Green, and Jessie Cooks. All but Cooks were arrested during a massive manhunt by police on May 1, known as “Operation Zebra.” Cooks was already serving a prison term for murder. Twelve murders and six assaults were attributed by police to the Zebra killers. During “Operation Zebra,” San Francisco police blanketed the city stopping and searching young Black males. A federal judge subsequently ruled the searches unconstitutional.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 16)
Published
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The U.S. Senate approves a bill to limit court-ordered busing to achieve school desegregation.
The U.S. Senate approved a bill to limit court-ordered busing to achieve school desegregation but allowed judges to issue such orders as they saw fit. The principal new limitation provided that pupils should not be bused beyond the next nearest school to their homes. The legislation also required the consideration of alternatives to achieve desegregation before any busing could be required. These included such things as construction of new schools, revision of attendance zones, and permission for students to transfer to schools in which their race was a minority. The bill also stated that the new limitations were not intended to inhibit the courts from ordering busing if such measures were necessary to enforce the equal rights provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 17)
Published
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Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Black psychiatrist, speaks about the growing incidence of Black homicide.
In a speech at Emory University in Atlanta, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Black psychiatrist affiliated with the Harvard School of Medicine, gave a major assessment of the growing incidence of homicide among Blacks. Poussaint said that 23 percent of the deaths among Black males aged seventeen to twenty-five were the result of homicide, and that the matter should be treated as a health problem. Among the causes of homicide among Blacks, according to Poussaint, is "Black racism” or low self-esteem, which is evidenced by the use of racial epithets before a homicide is committed and by an inner battle by Black men to preserve their self-respect in a racist society. Another contributing factor is the devaluation of Black life. Because of this, Poussaint said, some police officers do not follow up on solving crimes in Black neighborhoods and the media fails to give much attention to homicide unless it involves whites. Poussaint contended that the American Black community was in a state of despair and demoralization, partly because of its failure to realize some of the dreams of the civil rights era and partly because of governmental corruption. When such corruption goes unpunished, he said, a “jungle mentality is created and people begin to believe that they can do whatever they can get away with.” Reduction of crime among Blacks, Poussaint suggested, required the development of new values and psychological as well as political approaches. He called for the regulation of violence depicted in the media, particularly as portrayed in Black exploitation films; the establishment of homicide prevention centers to help potential criminals before they commit murder; the control of handguns; increased Black employment, particularly among Black youths; and the promotion of Black pride or Black consciousness programs. Although the matter was defined by Poussaint as a Black health problem, he concluded that it would take interracial cooperation to solve it. Poussaint is the author of Why Blacks Kill Blacks (1972).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 17)
Published
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The 20-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education is observed as mostly a failure.
The twentieth anniversary of the historic Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed school segregation, was observed in the nation. In assessing the impact of the decision, the editors of the Atlanta Constitution, the South's leading daily newspaper, admitted that even after a generation, racial prejudice and discrimination had not been eliminated. This fact gave credence, in the editor's opinion, to the view that one cannot legislate morals. Yet, the Constitution said, “there is no denying that tremendous progress has been made in race relations in our country since 1954. ... The progress, the vast changes in education, in employment, in housing, in politics, was the result of a struggle for civil rights that was given a decisive impetus on the day the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954.” The noted Black syndicated columnist Carl Rowan, in his assessment of the Brown decision twenty years later, found that “we are still a racist society," and that the historic school decision did not deliver justice to the Black plaintiffs of 1954, or even to their children. “Some of the litigants in that 1954 decision,” he said, “never saw a day of desegregated education. They saw evasion, circumvention, massive resistance and a generation of litigation.” One of the plaintiffs, Linda Brown Smith (the “Brown” in the famous 1954 case) was now a grown woman with children of her own. In Atlanta, at an April 1974 meeting of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists (ASBS), a mostly Black professional group, she recalled her family's motivations for permitting her to become a plaintiff. The family was incensed by the fact that their children had to wait in often inclement weather to be taken to Black schools in Topeka, KS when a white school was within walking distance from their home. Ironically, Smith said she now opposed crosstown busing to achieve racial desegregation in the schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 18)
Published
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Benjamin L. Hooks, the only Black member of the FCC, urges more whites to participate in the NAACP.
Benjamin L. Hooks, the only Black member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for increased participation by whites in the NAACP. Although Hooks acknowledged that there was a difference between being born Black and being born white, in that those "born Black live in the valleys while those born white live on the mountain tops," he also said “We made a mistake when we close the doors on our white brothers.” Hooks also urged more Blacks to join the organization as he spoke to the 38th Annual NAACP Freedom Banquet held in Port Huron, Michigan. Hooks was appointed to the FCC by President Nixon in 1972. Other Blacks, including the late Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., had repeatedly asked the NAACP to purge itself of white influence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 22)
Published
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Montgomery judge, Frank M. Johnson, Jr., nixes crosstown busing and orders a new desegregation plan for Alabama schools.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., in Montgomery, Alabama, rejected crosstown busing as a remedy for the desegregation of some predominantly Black schools in Montgomery County and instead ordered a new desegregation plan, one which allowed, with some exceptions, elementary school children to attend neighborhood schools. He endorsed the creation of a biracial committee to help the school board carry out the program.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 24)
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Music legend Duke Ellington dies.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, one of America's greatest musician-composers, died in New York at age seventy-four. Described as a musical genius, Ellington began playing the piano at age seven, composed his first song at seventeen, and began playing professionally at eighteen. He wrote more than a thousand compositions, including: Take the A Train, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Satin Doll, and Caravan. In later years he composed several orchestral pieces, tone poems, jazz masses, film, television, and ballet scores, and several operas. His orchestra was one of the few big bands to thrive after the 1940s. Some of the members of his orchestra remained with him for more than forty years. Among Ellington's numerous awards were the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, the French Legion of Merit (France's highest honor), and America's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, bestowed upon him in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon. The president had told Ellington in February 1974 that “There'll never be another you.” The NAACP responded to Ellington's death by noting: “Few composers have attained the greatness of stature that was the Duke's at the time of his death. Prolific, versatile, and popular, the Duke claimed the hearts of a wide range of followers, Black and white, rich and poor. He was indomitable.” Although sometimes criticized for not taking on an active role in the civil rights movement, Ellington himself claimed that “protest and pride in the Negro have been the most significant themes in what we've done.” His composition of “My People” was a musical salute to Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 25)
Published
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A federal grand jury visits Southern University to inspect where two Black students were killed by police officers during a protest.
A federal grand jury paid a personal visit to Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to inspect the site where two students, Denver Smith and Leonard Brown, were shot to death on November 16, 1972. The jury was investigating the slaying of the youths by law enforcement officers during a student demonstration to determine whether or not their civil rights had been violated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 27)
Published
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Demonstrators protest the employment of Atlanta, GA’s police chief, John Inman.
About a thousand orderly demonstrators marched through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, demanding the ouster of the city's controversial police chief, John Inman. The marchers were led by veteran protester Hosea Williams, formerly a top aide to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Many Atlanta Blacks had labelled the white police chief a racist and had long sought his removal. Atlanta's Black mayor, Maynard Jackson, attempted to fire Inman on May 3, 1974, for administrative inefficiency and insubordination but was prohibited from doing so by a Dekalb County Superior Court judge. The marchers reaffirmed their support of the efforts to oust Inman.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (May 7 - 14)
Published
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Blacks celebrate numerous victories in primary election results.
In primary elections held in the spring, southern Blacks continued to increase their numbers in major posts in state governments and Blacks continued to hold the mayor's office in major American cities. Fourteen Blacks were assured election to the Alabama House of Representatives in the May 7 primary. Two Blacks were assured election to the Alabama State Senate, with the possibility of one other also being selected. In North Carolina, three Blacks won state house seats and one a post in the state senate in the May 7 primary. A Black was elected to a municipal judgeship in Nashville, Tennessee. Another was elected a constable in Cleveland, and still another won an alderman's seat in Ripley, Tennessee. Three Blacks led in contests for seats in the Texas legislature. Kenneth A. Gibson won an easy victory in his second bid for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, on May 24. Gibson, the first Black mayor of a major northeastern city, claimed that his victory showed that “Newark had come up from its past.” He noted that the racial issue which divided the city during the 1970 mayoral election was not a major factor in the current campaign. Gibson won the support of about 65 percent of the 118,000 registered voters in defeating State Senator Anthony Imperiale. Also, in the May 7 Alabama primary, Alabama Governor George Wallace made a direct appeal for Black votes for the first time. Estimates of the number he actually received ranged from about 10 percent to as much as 30 percent. Wallace won important backing from several Black Alabama politicians, including Mayor Johnny Ford of Tuskegee. Despite criticism from fellow Blacks throughout the nation, Ford stood by his support for Governor Wallace. The young mayor justified his actions on the fact that Wallace had been responsive to the economic problems of Tuskegee and had aided the city in receiving state and federal grants. In connection with the spring elections, a joint report issued by the Voter Education Project in Atlanta, the Joint Center for Political Studies, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, showed that implementation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act led to a 169 percent increase in the number of Black elected officials in the South between 1969 and 1974 alone. According to the report, there were 299 Black elected officials in the six southern states covered by the act-Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia—in 1969. By 1974, the number had risen to 815, a 169 percent increase.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Nov 15)
Published
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University of Georgia’s marching band decides to stop playing the Civil War melody Dixie at future football games.
Robert Dancz, associate professor of music and director of the marching band at the University of Georgia, announced that the University of Georgia Redcoat Band would not play “Dixie” at future university football games. In a campus referendum held several days before Dancz's statement, students had approved the playing of the song by a margin of 3,467 to 1,270. Despite this vote, however, Dancz said that his band would under no circumstances play the song. It “brought out the worst in some people,” he said, and "Black people feel like it is a slap in the face. This isn't the same school it was twenty years ago and not many southern schools play 'Dixie' anymore.” Dancz also said that playing the Civil War melody exposed his band members to physical danger.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Nov 5 - 6)
Published
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Civil rights activist Hosea Williams is acquitted of multiple charges.
Controversial Atlanta civil rights activist Hosea Williams, who has had numerous encounters with the law, was acquitted on charges of simple battery on a police officer and of carrying a concealed and unlicensed pistol by two separate Fulton County Criminal Court juries. Williams was accused of grabbing the genitals of Officer A.L. Bradfield during a demonstration at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Nursing Home on September 15, 1972, and of carrying a pistol into the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport on March 9, 1974. Williams's attorneys claimed that he was the victim of political harassment. Williams himself responded to the verdicts by declaring: “I carry only the love of God in my heart.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 12)
Published
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Owner and publisher of the Louisville Defender, Frank L. Stanley, dies.
Frank L. Stanley, Sr., owner and publisher of the Louisville Defender and veteran civil rights activist, died in Louisville, Kentucky, at age sixty-eight. Stanley, the son of a butcher, was born in Chicago. At the age of six, his family moved to Louisville. He attended Atlanta University, where he was an all-American quarterback and captain of the football and basketball teams, and the University of Cincinnati. He received honorary doctorate degrees from several universities, including the University of Kentucky. In 1933, Stanley went to work for the Louisville Defender as a reporter. Three years later he became editor, general manager, and a part owner. During the years that he published the Defender, it received more than thirty-five awards in journalism, including the President's Special Service Award of the National Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NNPA) in 1970 and the coveted Russwurm Award in 1974. He was a co-founder of the NNPA and was elected its president on five separate occasions. Stanley drafted the legislation which led to the desegregation of state universities in Kentucky by its General Assembly in 1950. Ten years later he wrote the bill that created the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, and was one of the original members of that body. His influence on race relations in Kentucky was noted by the Louisville Courier Journal on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Defender in 1950. “Much of the credit,” the newspaper said editorially, "for the even and amiable pace Kentucky has maintained in its working out of race relations problems must be given to the Defender.” Stanley was the force behind the Defender's role in that achievement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Nov 2)
Published
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Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, is sought for murder after being accused of shooting a young woman in the head during a dispute.
Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was being sought for murder. Newton was accused of shooting seventeen-year-old Kathleen Smith in the head during a dispute on an Oakland street on August 6, 1974. She never regained consciousness. The results of the police investigation as to the cause of the dispute were not released. Newton jumped a bail of $55,000 and disappeared on August 23, 1974. The accusation of murder was the latest in a long history of altercations between Newton and the law.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 16)
Published
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Dr. Berkeley G. Burrell, president of the National Business League (NBL), insists that Black businessmen must “develop hard strategies in this time of economic turmoil.”
Dr. Berkeley G. Burrell, president of the National Business League (NBL), told the 74th Annual Convention of the NBL in Atlanta that Black businessmen must develop hard strategies in this time of economic turmoil. "If we do not come out of this 74th convention with a sound assessment of the situation and a unified front of committed allies to guarantee the continued survival of the Black community and its economic resources,” Burrell said, "a severe blow will be dealt to the potential economic independence of our people.” The whole range of minority businesses, from the Black capitalists to the Nation of Islam, were represented at the convention.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 26)
Published
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Arson is suspected in Georgia fires that swept through three Black-owned businesses.
Fire swept through three Black-owned businesses in the heart of downtown Sparta, Georgia. Police suspected arson in the blazes, which destroyed a furniture store and damaged an adjacent warehouse and barbershop. Police also reported some attempted burglaries during the three-hour fight to bring the fires under control. On October 30, 1974, the Atlanta Constitution reported that the records of the furniture store burned on October 24 had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating the affairs of Hancock County's foremost Black political leader, John McCown. Local investigators, however, were unable to say whether the subpoenaed records were destroyed in the fire.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 26)
Published
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Black insurance companies show a trend of merging to prevent them from passing out of the hands of Blacks.
The Atlanta Inquirer quoted a report from the Department of Commerce that cited a trend of larger Black insurance companies purchasing or merging with smaller ones to keep them from passing out of the hands of Blacks. Overall, the number of Black insurance companies had declined to thirty-nine, but the assets of these firms had increased within the past five years by $73 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 29)
Published
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James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, tells the court that he did not kill King.
James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., insisted during a federal court hearing in Memphis, Tennessee, that he did not slay the Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights leader. Ray admitted that he had purchased the gun that killed King and that he rented the room in the building from which the shot was fired, but said he did not pull the trigger. Ray referred to a mysterious individual as the possible slayer in a conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader. Prosecuting attorneys faced difficulties in their efforts to elicit further details from Ray because of a ruling from presiding judge Robert McRae that only questions about what he told his previous lawyers and not about what he failed to tell them could be admitted. Ray was seeking his freedom or a new trial on the grounds that his original lawyers misled him into a guilty plea at the time of his 1968 trial. Those lawyers, Ray now contended, conspired with author William Bradford Huie for such a plea so that Huie could write a financially profitable book on King's assassination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 29)
Published
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Muhammad Ali regains the heavyweight boxing title by defeating George Foreman.
Muhammad Ali regained the heavyweight boxing championship by defeating George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali, a 32-year-old Black Muslim, knocked out the title holder, Foreman, in the eighth round of a scheduled 15-round match. Ali was stripped of his title in 1967 after being convicted of draft evasion. Four years later that conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Zaire title fight was the richest in contest history, with both Ali and Foreman earning $5 million each.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 3)
Published
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Frank Robinson becomes baseball’s first Black manager.
Frank Robinson, the only man in baseball history to be named Most Valuable Player in both the American and National Leagues, was named baseball's first Black manager by the Cleveland Indians. During a press conference held to announce the appointment, Robinson said: “To say that this is a proud day for me would be an understatement. . . . If I had one wish in the world today, that wish would be to have Jackie Robinson here to see this happen. . . . I don't think I could have stood the pressure or have gone through what Jackie had to.” Jackie Robinson (no relation to Frank) became the major league's first Black baseball player in 1947. He died in 1972. Frank Robinson, as a professional player, had accumulated nearly 3,000 hits, including 574 home runs, before breaking the 105-year-old managerial color-line.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 3)
Published
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The ASCAP honors ragtime composer Scott Joplin with a bronze plaque on his grave.
A bronze plaque was placed upon the then-unnoticed and unattended grave of ragtime composer Scott Joplin, who died in 1917. Joplin began composing ragtime in 1899 with “The Maple Leaf Rag.” Ragtime music, however, was largely ignored until it regained popularity through the soundtrack of a 1974 film, The Sting. The plaque on Joplin's grave, located in St. Michael's Cemetary in Queens, was purchased by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 30)
Published
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Widespread election abuses are reported in Hancock County, Georgia.
A biracial group of citizens in Sparta, Georgia, requested that the state elections board send officials to observe the conduct of the November general elections in Hancock County. A committee of three persons sent to Hancock County under court order for the August primary elections reported widespread election abuses. That report, however, was ignored by the Hancock County grand jury in its September presentments. In the report on the August elections, the committee had said that the balloting was conducted in a tense and undesirable atmosphere caused partially by the presence of armed men in the polling places. Hancock County was the only county in Georgia with a Black-run government. It has often been the scene of racial and political strife.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 2)
Published
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Joseph E. Lowery is named president of the SCLC.
Joseph E. Lowery, chairman of the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was named acting president of the civil rights organization. He succeeded the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, who resigned to run for a congressional seat in Georgia's fifth district. Lowery was appointed to serve until the SCLC convention in August, when he or some other person would be confirmed as permanent president.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 3)
Published
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Lester Kendel Jackson, minister and civil rights leader, dies.
Lester Kendel Jackson, minister and civil rights leader, died in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson, the son of tenant farmers, was born in Fort Gaines, Georgia, in 1895. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree at the Virginia Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Jackson pastored Baptist churches in Hollins, Lynchburg, and Danville, Virginia; Passaic and Long Branch, New Jersey; and Gary, Indiana. At the time of his death, he was the pastor of the St. Paul Baptist Church in Gary. All totaled, he spent fifty-five years of life in the Christian ministry. Jackson also served as executive secretary of the Hunter Branch YMCA in Lynchburg, Va., professor of religious education, educational secretary and general manager, and trustee of Virginia Theological Seminary. In addition, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Churches in the United States. Jackson was a leader of civil rights protests in both Long Branch, New Jersey, and Gary, Indiana. His activities in Long Branch resulted in a court decision that permitted Blacks to bathe on local beaches, and his work in Gary, Indiana led to the hiring of hundreds of Blacks by banks, savings and loan associations, and public utilities companies. In September 1973, more than 250 people, including the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., father of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., attended a tribute for Jackson in Indiana. Jackson called that occasion "the most joyful moment” in his life.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 31 - Apr 18)
Published
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Students dissatisfied with the leadership of Rust College president, W.A. McMillan, demonstrate.
On March 31, Rust College, a Black school in Holly Springs, Mississippi, was closed and all of its eight hundred students were ordered off campus following a demonstration and fire on campus. The fire, of unknown origins, caused an estimated $500,000 damage to the college's administration building. Students blamed the school's president W.A. McMillan for the disturbance. Some said that he exercised "strict discipline," had failed to communicate with them, had alienated them, and "forced them to action." George Dupont, a sophomore student, called the president “a stubborn dictator, deceitful, unreaching. We want him out. ... He runs this place like a penal institution." The damaged building, a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, was constructed on the small, church-related liberal arts campus in 1947. On April 18, Rust College reopened to students and faculty. In a statement, W.A. McMillan, who had been asked by twenty of his faculty members to resign, stated: “I am disappointed, but not discouraged. Rust has a heritage that a disruption or a fire cannot destroy. We will heal our wounds and get to the business of making Christian higher education better than ever at Rust College."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (May 5)
Published
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Students demand resignation of Prince Jackson, Jr., president of Savannah State College.
About 150 students continued their demands calling for the resignation of Prince Jackson, Jr., as president of predominantly Black Savannah State College in Georgia. The students' grievances included decreased alumni financial support because of "several scandals involving college staff members," alleged diversion of scholarship monies to other purposes, and alleged illegal diversion of student government association funds to "pay a deficit in the athletic program.” President Jackson did not make an immediate public response to the students' allegations. Savannah State was one of several historically black colleges that experienced student protests recently over questionable internal practices.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jul 7)
Published
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Time magazine recognizes Blacks as the new era of leadership.
In a special supplement to Time magazine, fifteen Blacks were among two hundred people named who seem destined to provide the country with a new generation of leadership. Time said the principal criterion for inclusion on its list was that the persons selected have the capability to achieve significant civic or social impact. Eligibility was restricted to individuals forty-five years old and younger. The Blacks named included: State Senator Julian Bond of Georgia; Congresswoman Yvonne Braithwaite Burke of California; Congressman Ronald V. Dellums of California; Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund; Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson of Newark, New Jersey; Earl G. Graves, founder of Black Enterprise magazine; Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary, Indiana; Mayor Maynard Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia; Congresswoman Barbara C. Jordan of Texas; Vernon E. Jordan of the Urban League; John Lewis of the Voter Education Project; Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chairman of the New York City Commission on Human Rights; Congressman Charles Rangel of New York; Bill Russell, coach of the Seattle Supersonics; and Congressman Andrew Young of Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 16)
Published
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The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church elects its first Black moderator, Reverend Lawrence Bottoms.
The Reverend Lawrence W. Bottoms, a Decatur, Georgia, minister, was elected as the first Black moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States at its 114th general meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Bottoms, a sixty-six-year-old native of Selma, Alabama, had long experience as a pastor and leader of Georgia's black Presbyterians. A strong supporter of racial integration and toleration, Bottoms's election placed him at the head of that portion of the Presbyterian Church that broke with its national body to defend slavery before the Civil War.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 17)
Published
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A Martin Luther King, Jr. portrait hanging in the Georgia State Capitol is defaced with a red ink pen by a Black woman.
A tour guide in the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta reported that the portrait of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was defaced with a red ink pen. Although the portrait was only slightly damaged, it was removed immediately and placed with the artist, Paul Mandus, for repairs. Two days later, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announced that a Black woman who had a history of mental illness had marred the King portrait. The woman told state officials that she scribbled on the painting to show her respect for King. The incident was reminiscent of the stabbing King had suffered at the hands of a knife-wielding Black woman in 1958. The King portrait was the first of a Black Georgian to hang at the state capitol.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 21)
Published
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The HEW accepts desegregation plans from nine university systems in an effort to assure compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) accepted university system desegregation plans from nine states, eight of them in the South. The HEW action stemmed from an order issued in February 1973, by U.S. District Court Judge John H. Pratt in Washington, D.C., which required the department to increase efforts to assure that the states were in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. States winning approval of their desegregation plans were Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The HEW rejected Mississippi's plan and announced that it would initiate a lawsuit against that state. Louisiana refused to submit a plan and was promptly sued by the HEW. Louisiana officials had protested attempts by federal authorities to force a merger of the state's Black and white universities. At the time, Black educators and civil rights leaders across the country had become increasingly divided over the question of desegregation in higher education. Many Blacks feared losses of jobs, social status, and aspects of their cultural heritage through desegregation plans that involved mergers. Black students, particularly those in state-supported institutions, formed a nationwide coalition called "Save Black Schools” to protest school mergers or other actions that might destroy the racial identification of their colleges. On the other hand, many civil rights leaders continued to clamor for desegregation at all costs. In approving the new desegregation plans, HEW Civil Rights Director Peter E. Holmes remarked, “We have seen the development of consciousness, a sensitivity and an awareness to the problems of predominantly Black institutions and minority students that was absent in these states in previous years.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 21)
Published
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A new trial of James Earl Ray, confessed assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gets reconsideration.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert McRae, Jr., began a preliminary hearing in Memphis, Tennessee, to determine whether or not James Earl Ray, the confessed assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., should receive a new trial. Ray was sentenced in 1969 to a term of ninety-nine years for the slaying of King on April 4, 1968. He was serving his time in the Tennessee State Prison at Nashville. Ray had sought a new trial on the grounds that he was pressured into pleading guilty by his original attorneys, Percy Foreman and Arthur Haynes, Sr., because of their alleged financial relationships with William Bradford Huie, author of one of the first books to be published about King's death. Ray's new attorney, Robert Livingston, had also charged that his client was innocent of King's murder and that two professional assassins hired by four wealthy, socially prominent Americans had killed the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 21)
Published
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Schools in Boston, MA are ordered to implement a desegregation plan.
U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., ruled in Boston, Massachusetts, that the Boston public school system was unconstitutionally segregated and ordered the implementation of a desegregation plan, including the busing of several thousand school children in the fall of 1974. The order prohibited enrollments of 50 percent or more non-whites in any school. There were 95,000 pupils attending Boston public schools at the time of the decision. The Boston edict stemmed from a suit filed on behalf of Black parents by the NAACP in the spring of 1972. The Blacks contended that Boston operated a dual school system and asked the court to dismantle it.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 22)
Published
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Humphrey introduces a bill to place portraits and statues of minorities who’ve made significant contributions to the nation’s history.
Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, a Minnesota Democrat, introduced a bill in Congress providing for the placing in the U.S. Capitol of the portraits and statues of individuals from minority groups who had made significant contributions to the nation's history. Humphrey said that the statues and paintings now existing in the Capitol building “do not properly reflect the ethnic, cultural, and racial diversity of the people of the United States who have made outstanding contributions to our country.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Jun 22)
Published
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The U.S. Navy denies accusations of racial discrimination made by a group of Black sailors. Although naval officials had announced policies to combat bias, they continued to experience racial problems.
The U.S. Navy reported that its investigation showed no basis for accusations of racial discrimination made by a group of Black sailors who refused to return to the aircraft carrier USS Midway when it left the Yokosuka Naval Base near Tokyo, Japan, the previous week. Eight of the fifty-five sailors involved called for the U.S. Congress to investigate conditions aboard the ship and demanded replacement of the ship's captain, Richard J. Schutte. They complained of torture in the brig, long duty hours, and dangerous work, which they said they were forced to perform. Naval officials reported that twenty-two of the absentees had returned to their base by June 22 and that the remaining thirty-three were listed as unauthorized absentees. The Navy reasoned that since the complaint of racial bias was found to be unsubstantiated, the men were being misled by private organizations trying to exploit them for their own purposes. There was no further elaboration. The Midway incident was one in a series of racially-related events involving black armed forces personnel. Although naval officials had announced new and far-reaching policies to combat bias as early as 1971, this branch of the service continued to experience racial problems.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar 3 - 5)
Published
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Rodney King is severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers. The event is recorded by a bystander, and it makes national headlines.
In Los Angeles, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by several white police officers after being stopped for a speeding violation. The beating was videotaped by George Holliday who witnessed the incident from his apartment balcony. The two-minute-long videotape revealed that the officers continued beating King with nightsticks even after he was put in restraints and appeared to be incapacitated. Police officers on the scene said that King had subjected them to a high speed chase and had resisted arrest. The incident immediately became an international issue after the videotape was shown on network news programs. Following the beating, King spent two days in a hospital recovering from his injuries before being booked on charges of evading police officers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar 7)
Published
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Negro Leagues Hall of Famer James “Cool Papa” Bell dies.
James "Cool Papa" Bell, a Hall of Fame baseball player who once dazzled spectators with his base-running exploits in the Negro Leagues, died at St. Louis University Hospital after a brief illness. He was eighty-seven years old. Considered to be the fastest player in the old Negro Leagues, Bell often played two and three games a day for twenty-nine summers and twenty-one winters. He is believed to have been the highest paid player, having earned $90 a month. Bell was sixteen years old when he began his career as a centerfielder who hit and threw left-handed. He played for the Homestead Grays, the St. Louis Stars, the Chicago American Giants, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the Kansas City Monarchs. He once hit twenty-one home runs in a single season, but Bell's specialty was punching the ball and running. He claimed that with a runner on first and the first baseman holding the bag, he could single through the hole nine times out of ten. He could circle the bases in thirteen seconds. Bell batted .407 in 1946, his final season, but he was denied access to the major leagues, retiring a year before Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's color line. After retirement, several major league teams called him with offers; one offered an $8,000 contract. Bell rejected it, however, realizing that his legs were no longer as good as they once were and wanting to keep his image intact. After retiring from baseball, Bell worked as a custodian at the St. Louis City Hall. He later worked as a night watchman.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Mar)
Published
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Bernette G. Ford is named head of Cartwheel Books, an imprint of Scholastic Books.
Bernette G. Ford was named head of Cartwheel Books, a new imprint of Scholastic Books. The imprint, which was designed to target very young readers, was scheduled to release 25 titles in its first fall season. Ford was the only Black American to head a children's book division at a major American trade publishing company.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (May 12)
Published
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Hampton University awards President George Bush an honorary degree. Students who disapproved of his civil rights policies protest it.
President George Bush received an honorary degree at Hampton University, a historically Black institution in Hampton, Virginia. He was greeted with silent protest by students who disapproved of his civil rights policies. Bush avoided discussion of civil rights in his commencement speech.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (May 5)
Published
0 0
Rosa Vernell becomes the first female candidate for priesthood.
Rosa Vernell, a former Roman Catholic nun who joined the African American Catholic congregation organized by Father George Augustus Stallings, Jr., became the first female candidate for priesthood.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Nov 11)
Published
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Former Washington, D.C. mayor, Marion Barry, begins serving his prison sentence for his 1990 conviction of perjury and cocaine possession.
Former Washington, D.C. mayor, Marion Barry, began serving his six month prison sentence for charges stemming from his 1990 conviction for perjury and cocaine possession. Barry, age fifty-five, served three terms as mayor of the District of Columbia. He faced a maximum penalty of $1.85 million in fines and twenty-six years in prison. Some Blacks believed investigators pursued Barry because of his race and contended that the FBI was guilty of entrapment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Nov 27)
Published
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Author Frank Yerby dies.
Frank Yerby, author of action romantic period fiction—a rare genre for Black writers in the 1940s and 1950s—died in Madrid, Spain. Yerby, who was born on September 5, 1916, lived the second half of his life in Europe, first living in France before settling permanently in Spain. He published numerous short stories and novels that were set in the antebellum South. His first published short story, "Health Card," won a special O. Henry Memorial Award in 1944. Two years later, Yerby published his first novel, The Foxes of Harrow, which took place on a southern plantation before the Civil War. Some of Yerby's best-known works are The Golden Hawk, A Woman Called Fancy, and The Saracen Blade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1991 (Nov 7)
Published
0 0
Earvin “Magic” Johnson shocks the nation by announcing his retirement from the NBA after he tested positive for the HIV virus.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, an all-star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, shocked the nation by announcing his retirement from the National Basketball Association after he tested positive for the HIV virus. Johnson's announcement spurred public astonishment and reinforced for many Americans the importance of AIDS awareness. Further, Johnson's announcement supported the fact that AIDS is a disease that can be transmitted through heterosexual sex. Some people believed that Johnson's announcement not only focused needed attention on the disease, but brought more sympathy to AIDS sufferers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (May 12)
Published
0 0
The top 100 Black businesses in America are named by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the results of Black Enterprise Magazine's annual survey of the Top 100 Black businesses. The top-rated firm was the TLC Beatrice International Company, a New York food processor and distributor which in 1993 reported sales of $1.7 billion. Johnson Publishing Company of Chicago ranked second, with sales of $294 million. Other businesses in the top ten were: 3) Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co., $290 million; 4) H.J. Russell Construction Company of Atlanta, $290 million; 5) RMS Technologies of Menton, New Hersey, $115 million; 6) Anderson-Dubose food distributors of Solon, Ohio, $115 million; 7) Gold Line Refining Company of Houston, Texas, $108 million; 8) Threads 4 Life apparel makers of Commerce, California, $97 million; 9) Soft Sheen hair products company of Chicago, $97 million; and 10) Garden State Cable TV of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, $96 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov 12)
Published
0 0
Track star Wilma G. Rudolph dies of a malignant brain tumor. She was the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field.
Track star Wilma G. Rudolph died in Brentwood, Tennessee, at the age of fifty-four of a malignant brain tumor. Born with polio that left her paralyzed in the left leg and unable to walk well until age ten, Rudolph took part in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and became the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field. She ran in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and relay races, becoming also the first Black woman winner of the 200-meter. Her autobiography, Wilma, was made into a television film in 1977. Rudolph was one of five athletes and the only track star honored in June 1993 at the first annual National Sports Awards held in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov 15)
Published
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Captain Donnie Cochran becomes the first Black American to command the Blue Angels.
Captain Donnie Cochran assumed command of the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. Cochran was the first Black American to hold this position. In June 1996, Cochran transferred from the Blue Angels to head the NROTC unit.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov 18)
Published
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Big-band leader and scat singer Cab Calloway dies.
Big-band leader and scat singer Cab Calloway died in Hosckessin, Delaware, at the age of 86. Calloway began his rise to stardom at the Cotton Club in Harlem, filling in for Duke Ellington. He was one of the first performers to make use of scat singing-random use of nonsense syllables when he forgot a song's lyrics. Audiences loved the sound, so he began to write songs with scat choruses. His legendary "Minnie the Moocher" song, which debuted at the Cotton Club, is one such composition. Its refrain-hi de hi de hi de ho—invites the audience to sing along in the old call-and-response style. A veteran performer who appeared in numerous films during the 1930s and 1940s, Calloway charmed a new generation of listeners much later in his career when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers to perform the classic song Minnie the Moocher.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov 6)
Published
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Heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman comes out of retired and wins his first match.
Retired heavyweight champ George Foreman re-entered the ring at age forty-five and proceeded to knock out twenty-six-year-old Michael Moorer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov 8)
Published
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Julius Caesar Watts, Jr., becomes the first Black Republican from a Southern state to win a seat in Congress since Reconstruction.
Julius Caesar Watts, Jr., defeated Oklahoma's Democratic incumbent in the race for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. This made him the first Black Republican from a Southern state to win a seat in Congress since Reconstruction. Originally a Democrat, Watts had changed parties in 1989 as his positions on welfare reform and a balanced budget were more closely aligned with those of the Republican party.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Nov)
Published
0 0
Sheila Jackson Lee is elected to Congress from the historic Eighteenth District of Texas.
Sheila Jackson Lee was elected to Congress from the historic Eighteenth District of Texas. The 1965 Voting Rights Act created the irregularly drawn district, which encompasses much of Houston. The renowned Barbara Jordan was the newly drawn district's first representative. In 1994 a federal court ruling declared that the district was racially drawn. Democratic representative Lee, a former Houston city council member, won her campaign despite the nationwide trend for electing conservative Republicans to Congress. Democratic leader Richard Gephardt appointed the New York native and freshman congresswoman to the powerful House Steering Committee. Lee, a 1972 Yale honors graduate and municipal judge, received her law degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1975. In Congress, Lee became an ardent spokesperson against the onslaught on affirmative action: "It is not time to close the door on affirmative action. It may be time to make it better, more efficient, to shore up the loose ends."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 1 - 8)
Published
0 0
South African President Nelson Mandela visits the U.S.
During the first week of October, South African President Nelson Mandela visited the U.S. The highlights of his itinerary included speeches given to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and, as only the third foreign leader ever to do so, to a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 14)
Published
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Actor Harry Belafonte is awarded the National Medal of Arts.
President Bill Clinton awarded the National Medal of Arts to actor and singer Harry Belafonte. A prominent civil rights crusader, Belafonte in 1959 became the first Black American to have an hour-long television special. Born in New York City, he lived in Jamaica from 1935 to 1940. He received a Tony Award in 1954 for a supporting role in John Murray Anderson's Almanac. In 1966 Belafonte was the first Black American to produce a major show for television. During President John F. Kennedy's administration, he became the first cultural adviser to the Peace Corps. In 1990 he was the first person to receive the Nelson Mandela Courage Award of TransAfrica Forum.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 21)
Published
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Reverend Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., reaches a settlement with the NAACP over allegations that he used funds to settle a possible sex-discrimination lawsuit brought against him by a former employee.
Reverend Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., reached a settlement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After serving the civil rights organization as executive director for fifteen months, Chavis was dismissed after allegations were made that he used NAACP funds to settle a possible sex-discrimination lawsuit brought against him by a former employee, Mary Stansel. His suit against the NAACP claimed that the organization did not use proper official procedures in his dismissal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 26)
Published
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Atlanta appoints its first Black female police chief, Beverly Harvard.
Beverly Harvard was appointed chief of police in Atlanta and became the first Black woman to head a major U.S. police department. During her first year she distinguished herself by cracking down hard on corruption within the department, arresting six police officers on graft and related charges.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy resigns amid an ongoing Justice Department investigation.
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy announced his resignation, effective December 31, 1994, amid an ongoing Justice Department investigation into charges that Espy received gifts from businesses regulated by his department.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Oct 31)
Published
0 0
The NAACP cuts staff and seeks financial aid.
In the wake of Benjamin Chavis's firing and a near $4 million deficit, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) laid off employees and sought financial assistance from numerous sources to sustain the organization.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 12)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules on a discrimination suit. Many call the ruling unfair, but no explanation was given by the higher court.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, ruled that "the three-hundred-day period that federal law allows for filing job discrimination lawsuits begins when ... seniority plans [are] adopted." In a dissent, justices Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, and William Brennan agreed with civil rights lawyers that such an interpretation was unfair because employees were often unaware of the discriminatory effect that a seniority system may have on them for months or years. Justice Sandra Dav O'Connor did not participate in the case and did not offer an explanation. The case came to the high Court from Aurora, Illinois, where three women filed suit in 1982 claiming that a change in the seniority system at the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. there caused them to lose seniority, However, federal courts in Chicago had held that the litigation (Lorance v. AT&T Technologies, Inc.) was filed too late. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 15)
Published
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In Patterson v. McClean Credit Union, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that an 1866 civil rights law may “no longer serve as the basis for lawsuits alleging racial harassment in the workplace.”
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed a 1976 decision "that interpreted an 1866 civil rights law to permit lawsuits to remedy some forms of private discrimination." But the Court also ruled 5-4 that the 1866 law may “no longer serve as the basis for lawsuits alleging racial harassment in the workplace." Civil rights attorneys said this latter ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, would make it almost impossible "to stop racial harassment by supervisors or co-workers." Barry Goldstein, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the decision left "no effective legal remedy for racial harassment in the workplace." The Supreme Court's ruling came in the case of a Black bank teller in North Carolina who had alleged that her supervisor at the McLean Credit Union had failed to promote her and then fired her on account of her race. A federal district court in North Carolina and a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, had said that she could not sue alleging harassment. While the Supreme Court's decision ended the harassment phase of the litigation, it sent the case back to the appeals court for another hearing on whether the woman could "prove that the company's reason for not promoting her was invalid."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 20)
Published
0 0
The Bureau of the Census reports on the Black population statistics.
The Bureau of the Census reported that New York State had the largest number of Black residents in 1985 while California had the fastest growing Black population. New York had a Black population of 2.7 million, followed by California with 2.1 million. Fourteen other states had Black populations of one million or more. These included Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The state with the largest proportion of Blacks in its population was Mississippi with 36 percent, followed by South Carolina, 31 percent, and Louisiana, 30 percent. During the period 1980–1985, only West Virginia and the District of Columbia had declines in their Black populations. The bureau's report also revealed that four out of every five Blacks lived in metropolitan areas in 1985. Four metropolitan areas had Black populations of one million or more. These included New York (metropolitan New York also includes Long Island and portions of Connecticut and New Jersey, 3.2 million), Chicago (1.6 million), Los Angeles (1.2 million) and Philadelphia (1.1 million). The fastest growing metropolitan area in Black residents was Atlanta, up 15.6 percent to 608,000 from 1980 to 1985, followed by Houston, up 13.6 percent to 641,000 in the same period. The new calculations of the Black population were the first detailed estimates of minorities by state since the 1980 census. They also showed that Blacks remained the nation's largest minority at 28.9 million, or 11.8 of the estimated U.S. population.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 26)
Published
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Atlanta University and Clark College merge as a result of financial and other resource problems.
Two of the nation's oldest Black institutions of higher education, Atlanta University and Clark College, merged. The new institution, Clark-Atlanta University, was created in response to severe financial problems at Atlanta University and a shortage of classroom space and research facilities at Clark College. Atlanta University was founded in 1867; Clark College was founded two years later. The new university was expected to focus its activities on science and technology, foreign service careers, and teachers for rural areas, according to Thomas W. Cole, Jr., Clark Atlanta University's new president. The university also hoped to offer six doctoral programs to "assist in curbing the shortage of Blacks" holding doctorate degrees. In 1989, Clark Atlanta University and Howard University in Washington, D.C., were the only two comprehensive historically Black institutions in the nation that offered academic studies from undergraduate through graduate levels.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 26)
Published
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Moreland Griffith Smith, a retired architect and civil rights activist, dies of heart failure.
Moreland Griffith Smith, a retired architect and civil rights activist, died of heart failure in Atlanta, Georgia. Smith was born December 15, 1906, to Charles M. and Jennie Moreland Smith in Adrian, Michigan. He received a bachelor's degree from Auburn University in Alabama, a master's degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France. In 1954, Smith went to the office of his friend, William "Tacky" Gayle, mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, to discuss what he termed "a simple matter of fairness"—the issue of seating for Blacks on city buses. The meeting occurred before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on one such bus and the launching of the famed Montgomery bus boycott. Two issues had already surfaced: Blacks were forced to stand on buses when "the white section" was nearly empty, and they had to pay their fares up front, exit, and re-enter through the back door (sometimes the bus driver would pull away before they could do so). Smith urged Mayor Gayle to end both of these practices. Because of his support for the demands of Blacks regarding seating on buses, Smith was berated numerous times by whites. Among his detractors was Governor George C. Wallace, who allegedly tried to keep Smith from getting architectural jobs in the area. One bank, in fact, declined to extend a line of credit to Smith's architectural firm. Yet he "stubbornly" served on local civil rights committees and was a trustee at Tuskegee Institute. Smith hired many Black architects and proposed some for membership in the American Institute of Architecture (AIA). These activities led to social ostracism among Montgomery's white community for Smith and his wife, Marjorie. In 1965, Smith lost the lucrative architectural business he had founded and built up over the years, and subsequently moved to Atlanta. In 1987, the Atlanta chapter of the AIA honored Moreland Smith "for his conviction and courage during the tumultuous early years of the Civil Rights Movement."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 5)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules that “when minorities allege that statistics show they are victims of bias, employers only have the burden of producing evidence that there is a legitimate reason for apparently neutral racial practices.”
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that “when minorities allege that statistics show they are victims of bias, employers only have the burden of producing evidence that there is a legitimate reason for apparently neutral racial practices." Justice Byron White wrote that "the plaintiff bears the burden of disproving an employer's assertion that the adverse employment action or practice was based solely on a legitimate neutral consideration." He also added that an absence of minorities in skilled jobs is not necessarily evidence of bias if the absence reflected "a dearth of qualified non-white applications for reasons that are not [the employer's] fault." In one of the dissenting opinions, Justice John Paul Stevens charged that the ruling retreated from eighteen years of court decisions "aimed at helping minorities victimized by discrimination that may be unintentional." The case came to the Supreme Court from Alaska where a lower court had ruled in favor of Filipinos, Alaska natives, and Asians who claimed that they had been discriminated against by the Wards Cove Packing Co. and Castle and Cooke, Inc., owners of Alaskan salmon canneries.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 5)
Published
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The U.S. Court of Appeals refuses to close the landmark desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, stating that the Supreme Court’s order had yet to be fully carried out.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit refused to close the landmark desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. The court said that the school board of Topeka, Kansas, had still failed to fully carry out the Supreme Court's order of May 17, 1954. The appeals court ruling reversed a decision by a lower court that could have closed the case "that paved the way for nationwide school desegregation." In its decision, the appellate court concluded that “Topeka has not sufficiently countered the effects of both the momentum of its pre-Brown segregation and its subsequent acts in the 1960s." The Brown case had been reopened in 1979 when a group of parents, including one of the original plaintiffs, Linda Brown Buckner, complained that the school system was not desegregated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Jun 7)
Published
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Joan Salmon Campbell is elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. She is the sixth female and the first Black woman to head the church.
Joan Salmon Campbell, a fifty-year-old Black American from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. She became the sixth female and the first Black woman to head the church. The moderator presides at assembly sessions and travels around the nation and the world promoting the programs of the 3 million member church. Campbell had campaigned for the position of moderator on a platform of liberality and diversity. She said, “We must be liberal enough to include the rich diversity of God's family within our membership in its varied cultures, races, lifestyles, theological perspectives and economic status without restraint due to age, sex, or physical capacity."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 10)
Published
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Louis Wade Sullivan, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, is confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) by the U.S. Senate months after controversy about his stance on abortion.
Louis Wade Sullivan, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) by the U.S. Senate. The confirmation came more than two months after President George Bush had nominated Sullivan for the position. Sullivan's nomination first ran into trouble on December 18, 1988, after the Black physician told an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter that while opposing federal funding for abortions, he supported a woman's right to have one. This view was incompatible with the president's outright opposition to abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the pregnant woman's life. The same position had been taken by several Republican senators and other leaders of the president's party. On December 21, 1988, Sullivan had begun to back away from his pro-choice position. In a letter to the editors of the Atlanta Constitution, he wrote that he was opposed to abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and where the life of the mother is threatened: "I am opposed to federal funding for abortions, except when the life of the mother is endangered. My position is entirely consistent with President-elect [George] Bush's position." Still, some pro-life activists were skeptical. While Sullivan attempted to convince influential Republican senators in Washington of his correct position on the abortion question, President Bush announced on January 25, 1989, that Sullivan would carry out his abortion policies if confirmed by the senate. On February 22, Sullivan confessed to the Senate Finance Committee that he had “misspoke" earlier when he said he supported a woman's right to an abortion. Sullivan's confirmation occurred the following month. Sullivan was born on November 3, 1933, in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Walter and Lubirda Elizabeth Priester Wade Sullivan. He graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College in 1954 and earned a doctor of medicine degree (cum laude), from the Boston University Medical School. A respected hematologist, Sullivan taught at the Harvard Medical School (1963-64), the New Jersey College of Medicine (1964-66), and the Boston University Medical School before he was named dean of the new Morehouse School of Medicine in 1974. The next year, he became both dean and president of this institution. During his fifteen-year tenure at Morehouse, the school emerged from being a two-year institution housed in two trailers, to a fully accredited, four-year institution comprised of three buildings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 10)
Published
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James A. Goodman is named president of Morehouse Medical School.
James A. Goodman, executive vice president of the Morehouse Medical School, was named president of the predominately Black institution. The school's board of trustees selected Goodman, age fifty-five, who had served as an administrator there since 1980, to succeed Louis W. Sullivan, the school's first president. On the same day, Sullivan was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Goodman, who earned an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and postgraduate degrees from the Atlanta University School of Social Work and the University of Minnesota, had previously served as a director of the Office of International Training for the Agency for International Development (AID) in the U.S. State Department. Goodman's teaching experience included tenures at the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota and at the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. At the time of Goodman's appointment, the Morehouse Medical School had an annual budget of $18 million and an enrollment of 144 students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 15)
Published
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The federal government issues a report showing that the life expectancy of the Black population was continuing to decline.
The federal government issued a report that showed that the life expectancy of Blacks was continuing to decline. Major causes of premature deaths among Blacks included homicide and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Blacks were also twice as likely to die in infancy as whites, because “pregnant Black women receive early prenatal care far less than whites," and Black children were disproportionately afflicted with influenza and pneumonia. The report also indicated that Black men, "frequently the victims of drug-related violence," died at a 50 percent higher rate than white men in 1986, the last year for which comprehensive statistics were available. Also, a white child born in 1986 had a life expectancy of 75.4 years, an increase from 75.3 the previous year, while a Black child, born at the same time, could expect to die at 69.4 years, down from 69.5 in 1985 and 69.7 in 1984. In the period from 1970 to 1986, the AIDS infection rate rose 51 percent among Blacks, with a 74 percent increase among Black women. In the same period, infant mortality among all groups was cut in half—from 20 deaths per 1,000 births in 1970 to 10.4 per 1,000 births in 1986, but in 1986 alone, the mortality rate for Black infants was 18 deaths per 1,000 births compared with 8.9 per 1,000 births for whites. Responding to the report, the Black secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Louis W. Sullivan, said that "there is a disparity between the health of our white and Black populations," and the nation needed to focus more attention "in such critical areas as prevention of AIDS, unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 16)
Published
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The U.S. Senate votes to begin impeachment proceedings against District Court Judge Alcee Hastings, the first Black person to be appointed to the federal bench in Florida.
The U.S. Senate voted to try U.S. District Court Judge Alcee Hastings, the first Black person to be appointed to the federal bench in Florida, on all seventeen articles of impeachment adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives. The senators voted 92-1 to try Hastings on fifteen articles, charging fraud, corruption, and perjury in a 1981 bribery conspiracy case for which he was acquitted in 1983. In voting against the articles, Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum from Ohio said that he felt they had placed Hastings in double jeopardy - the principle in American law that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense because of the previous acquittal. But Metzenbaum joined fellow senators in a unanimous vote for an article alleging "a pattern of misconduct and its harmful effect on the judiciary." The senate also created a special twelve-member committee to hear testimony and collect evidence before it debated and voted on whether to convict Hastings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 22)
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U.S. District Court declares that a law prohibiting shoeshine stands on the streets of Washington, D.C., was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge John Pratt declared that an 84-year-old law prohibiting shoeshine stands on the streets of Washington, D.C., was unconstitutional. The case was brought to court on behalf of Ego Brown, a thirty-six-year-old Black shoeshine vendor who had offered employment to homeless men until the city closed down his business in 1985. The suit was sponsored by the Landmark Legal Foundation Center for Civil Rights, which was based in Washington, D.C. The Landmark Center claimed that it provided an alternative to the NAACP. Its director, Clint Bolick, charged that "the other major civil rights organizations are more worried about imposing racial quotas than protecting individual rights." The Brown case was the center's first legal victory.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 18)
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that there are 37 Black-owned banks in the United States.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that there were 37 black-owned banks in the United States in 1989. Four of the institutions, including the number one ranked IndeCorp, were located in Chicago, Illinois. The other Chicago banks, Seeway National, Highland Community, and Community Bank of Lawndale, were among the top twenty in total assets as ranked by Black Enterprise magazine.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 3)
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The Georgia Supreme Court declares the Atlanta Minority Female Business Enterprise (MFBE) program unconstitutional.
The Georgia Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared the Atlanta Minority Female Business Enterprise (MFBE) program unconstitutional. The Atlanta plan, one of the nation's oldest affirmative action programs, had set a 35 percent minority participation goal in all city contracts. It had been applauded nationally as a model device for insuring fair representation of minority and female businesses in public works. However, the Georgia Supreme Court contended that the plan "was too broadly drawn and failed to consider alternatives to the yearly goal.” The Georgia decision was also based on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down an affirmative action program in the city of Richmond, Virginia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 6)
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules against affirmative action programs in Florida and Michigan.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action programs in Florida and Michigan. In the Florida case, the Court heard an appeal of a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit which had upheld a set-aside plan for minorities in Dade County, Florida. Under the plan, which was adopted in 1979, in order to qualify for federal funds for a mass transit project, the county had to set aside 5 percent of construction contracts for minorities. But after a low bid on a construction project by the H. K. Porter Co. was rejected because the county did not meet the 5 percent goal, Porter sued. In light of its recent ruling in an affirmative action case from Richmond, Virginia, however, the Supreme Court vacated the decision of the appeals court and ordered it to reexamine the case of Porter v. Metropolitan Dade County. In the Michigan case, the Court affirmed without a written opinion a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit which declared a Michigan law unconstitutional. That act, adopted in 1981, provided that 7 percent of state contracting expenditures should go to minority-owned businesses and an additional 5 percent to businesses owned by women. Although the state argued in its appeal of Milliken v. Michigan Road Builders that the set-aside percentages were carefully selected “to redress discriminatory practices by state agencies," the supreme court still ruled against it.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 6)
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Sculptor Richmond Barthe dies.
Richmond Barthe, a major twentieth century sculptor, died at his home in Pasadena, California. Born in 1901 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, Barthe was educated at the Art Institute of Chicago. A member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, his work was exhibited at several major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Some of his notable works include Singing Slave, Maurice Evans, and Henry O. Tanner.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 7)
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Republican party chairman Lee Atwater, a white man, resigns from predominantly Black Howard University’s board.
Lee Atwater, chairman of the Republican National Committee, resigned as a member of the board of trustees of predominantly Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. The resignation came as several hundred Black students continued a sit-in that began as a protest against Atwater's selection to the board. During the demonstrations, which began on March 3, 1989, students took over the school's administration building. Although city police stormed the captured building on March 7, they left without removing or arresting any protestors at the request of Howard president James A. Cheek. In announcing his resignation, Atwater remarked, "The opposition of some students to my service on the board appears to me to be counterproductive to Howard University and is a distraction to the work that I want to do in fulfilling George Bush's and my efforts to provide equal opportunity to all Americans ... I would never forgive myself if someone was hurt in one of these episodes." Although Atwater's appointment to the Howard University Board of Trustees had been seen by some political analysts ""as symbolic of his drive to broaden the Republican Party's appeal to Blacks," others, including Democratic party and civil rights leaders, had accused the Republican leader of orchestrating “subtly racist appeals” during the 1988 presidential campaign. One Republican television ad, for example, featured Willie Horton, a convicted Black rapist, in the party's attack on crime. Regina Davis, a twenty-year-old business management major at Howard, applauded Atwater's resignation, saying, "If you're going to appoint someone, they should have the same views as the people they're going to represent." But Atwater's resignation did not bring an immediate end to the protests, as students continued to press their demands for better housing and security, improvements in student services, and the appointment of more Blacks to Howard's board of trustees.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Mar 8)
Published
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The Bureau of the Census reports a drop in Black voter participation.
The Bureau of the Census reported that 52 percent of the 19.7 million voting-age Blacks went to the polls in the 1988 presidential election, as compared to 56 percent in 1984. White voter turnout also dropped from 61 percent to 59 percent, while the rate for Hispanics fell from 33 percent to 29 percent. Black voter participation was higher in the North and West (56 percent) than in the South (48 percent). Among whites, 60 percent voted in the North and West, and 56 percent in the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (May 22)
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Oprah Winfrey receives a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Morehouse College, and gifts the all-male college one million dollars, requesting it be used to as a scholarship fund to educate at least 100 Black men.
Oprah Winfrey, Black national talk-show television host, received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and gave the all-male college a gift of one million dollars. She requested that the money be used to establish a scholarship fund to educate at least one hundred Black men in the coming decades. Morehouse, one of the country's most prestigious Black colleges, was the alma mater of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Winfrey's gift represented a growing trend among Black entertainers and athletes to lend their support to America's financially impoverished Black colleges. Other recent donations included $800,000 to Meharry Medical College, $325,000 to Howard University, $1.3 million to Fisk University, and $20 million to Spelman College by comedian Bill Cosby; $500,000 to Tuskegee University by singer Lionel Richie; and $600,000 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) by singer Michael Jackson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (May 23)
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The Committee on Policy for Racial Justice, a group of prominent Black scholars, calls for education reform.
The Committee on Policy for Racial Justice, a group of prominent Black scholars, called for smaller, more personal schools, significant parental involvement, and other steps that they said would help Black children achieve greater academic success. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, professor of education at Harvard University and a member of the committee, said, “We believe it is the school's responsibility to overcome social barriers that limit academic progress." She added: "What we demand is this: that the schools shift their focus from the supposed deficiencies of the Black child and the alleged inadequacies of Black family life to the elimination of the barriers that stand in the way of academic success." The committee's report (much of which was contained in its publication, Vision of a Better Way: A Black Appraisal of Public Schooling) also called upon Black communities to make the improvement of public schools their main objective in the next decade. It further noted that the Black middle class and such Black institutions as churches and fraternal organizations had a special responsibility to set expectations and support academic development among Black children. The committee's recommendations and suggestions included expanded funding for Head Start and Chapter I, the federal government's "major programs for at-risk and disadvantaged students, closer ties between schools and social services, recruitment of more Black teachers, and an expanded curriculum that recognizes the realities of Black children's lives."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (May 24)
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The Congressional Black Caucus meets with President George Bush at the White House.
President George Bush met with seventeen members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). It was the first time since 1981 that the Caucus, which had been critical of the civil rights policies of former president Ronald Reagan, was invited to the White House. Representative Ronald V. Dellums from California, who led the delegation, said that President Bush indicated that he was "ready to open up" and meet regularly with the CBC. Representative John Lewis from Georgia remarked, "There certainly is a new level of sensitivity at the White House."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (May 31)
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Clarence (Cito) Gaston is named manager of Major League Baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
Clarence (Cito) Gaston was named manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of baseball's American League. Gaston became only the fifth Black manager. (Frank Robinson, Larry Doby, Maury Wills, and Hal McRae preceded him.) Gaston began his major league career in 1967 with the Atlanta Braves of the National League. In 1968 Gaston was traded to the San Diego Padres. He played six years with the Padres and was selected to the National League All-Star team in 1970. In that year, Gaston hit 29 home runs, batted in 93 runs, and had a batting average of 318. He returned to Atlanta in 1974 before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1977. After being dropped by the Pirates in 1979, Gaston played two years in the Dominican League and the Mexican League before retiring. He emerged from retirement in 1981 as a minor league hitting instructor for the Atlanta Braves. He took a similar position with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1982, and the team improved its over-all batting average 36 points to .262 Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giammati, who had been a champion of equal opportunity for Blacks in professional sports, applauded the choice of Gaston. Gaston said of his selection, "The organization doesn't see any colors... I don't see any colors. I'm Black, I'll always be Black. When I stand here and look at you, I just see you as a person."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 10)
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The Rhythm and Blues Foundation presents its first achievement awards.
The Rhythm and Blues Foundation presented its first career achievement awards at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The impetus for the awards came from Howell Begle, a Washington attorney, life-long soul music fan, and admirer of blues singer Ruth Brown. After Begle discovered that Brown and dozens of other rhythm and blues artists had fallen into financial difficulties in the mid-1960s, he established the Rhythm and Blues Foundation to assist them, and later appointed blues singer Ray Charles chairman of the organization. The group eventually amassed an endowment of one and one half million dollars, donated mostly by Atlantic Records Company. Several of the honorees performed for the audience, including Percy Sledge, whose "When a Man Loves a Woman," was the first soul recording to rise to the top of the pop music charts; Mary Wells, known for her recordings of "My Guy" and "You Beat Me to the Punch;" Charles Brown, who sang "Driftin' Blues" and "Black Night;" and Ruth Brown, often called "Miss Rhythm." In her remarks, Brown recalled the distressing segregated South: "Charles Brown nearly went to jail for me in Mississippi because they wouldn't let me use the bathroom at a gas station.... How many buses did we ride together? How many back doors did we go through together?" Each winner of the Rhythm and Blues Award received a check for $15,000 in order to "right some past wrongs" as well as recognize lifetime achievement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 15)
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A federal building in Houston, Texas is renamed to honor congressman George Thomas “Mickey” Leland III.
President George Bush signed into law a bill to redesignate the Federal building located at 1990 Smith Street in Houston, Texas, as the George Thomas "Mickey" Leland Federal Building in honor of the late African American congressman from Texas who died in a plane crash in Africa on August 7, 1989. The bill was introduced by Democratic representative Jack Brooks from Texas.
1989 (Nov 17)
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Gloria Naylor receives the Lillian Smith Award, for her novel Mama Day.
African American writer Gloria Naylor won a Lillian Smith Award for 1989. The award was presented for her third novel, Mama Day, which centers on cultural conflict in an all-Black sea island community off the coast of South Carolina. The Smith awards were named for the late Georgia civil rights activist, who was also the author of Strange Fruit. They "recognize and encourage outstanding writing about the South." In 1983, Naylor won an American Book Award for The Women of Bretester Place.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 17)
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The Black Leadership Forum meets with President George Bush, explaining that racism was rising in parts of the country, and urging him to make a plan to solve it.
President George Bush met at the White House with leaders of the national Black Leadership Forum (BLF). Blacks in attendance told Bush that racism was rising in some areas of the country, particularly on college campuses. They urged him to set "a goal of bringing Blacks to parity with the rest of the population" in education, housing, and employment by the year 2000. President Bush made no commitments to the group and expressed surprise "to hear that there was still overt racism and he hoped it wasn't true." One of the leaders present, Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), remarked, "I think the most significant thing was that [Bush] listened, that he showed a genuine interest." Other members of the BLF present at the meeting included Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the NAACP, Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Coretta Scott King.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 17)
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Ron Walters, a professor of political science at Howard University, analyzes the political victories of David Dinkins and L. Douglas Wilder.
Ron Walters, a professor of political science at Howard University, observed that "the key to victory for [David Dinkins and L. Douglas Wilder] was that, in terms of both style and substance, they ran mainstream campaigns tailored to the political realities of their respective jurisdictions.... But the new crossover Black politics creates an ultimate irony for the Black voter. Historically the Black voter has laid the basis for the emergence of Black politicians and has taken heart in their upward mobility. The danger is that the higher they go, the more restrained they will be in pursuing a Black political agenda." Hodding Carter III, a national political commentator, warned that "no one should minimize the distance yet to travel before the mountaintop is achieved. There is no excuse for complacency. But there is also no excuse for refusing to celebrate when, as with last week's election results, real cause for celebration is provided."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 30)
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Sparked by an incident involving the university’s Black homecoming queen, people protest racism at the University of Alabama.
About two hundred people gathered to protest racism at the Tuscaloosa campus of the University of Alabama and the school's financial investments in the Republic of South Africa. The protest was sparked by an incident that took place during a football game on October 14, when Kimberly Ashely, the university's Black homecoming queen, was subjected to jeers by spectators. The protestors also took offense at the prominent display of Confederate flags. University officials contended that less than one percent of its total investments were in South Africa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 5)
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Thousands attend the dedication of a monument to martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thousands attended the dedication of a monument to martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. Among those in the audience were civil rights activist Julian Bond, Mrs. Ethel Kennedy, widow of slain senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Carolyn Goodman, mother of Andrew Goodman, one of three young civil rights workers slain by Ku Klux Klansmen in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1964. Forty names of martyred civil rights activists were inscribed in a great curving circle of black granite built by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Among those honored, in addition to Goodman, were James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, who were killed with him; Medgar Evers, a Jackson, Mississippi, NAACP leader assassinated in 1966; Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old Black youth murdered in 1955 for speaking to a white woman in Money, Mississippi; Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young Black student slain in a civil rights demonstration in Marion, Alabama, in 1965; and Martin Luther King, Jr., the last name on the stone. Some of King's words spoken at the March on Washington in 1963 were inscribed at the back of the monument by sculpturess Maya Lin, with water flowing over them: "We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 7)
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David Dinkins is elected mayor of New York City.
David Dinkins, the sixty-two-year-old president of the borough of Manhattan, was elected mayor of New York City, becoming the first Black to occupy that office. Dinkins, a Democrat, won a narrow victory over the Republican challenger, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and two other candidates. Dinkins captured approximately 898,000 votes to Giuliani's 856,450. After defeating Democratic mayor Edward I. Koch in the primary election on September 12, Dinkins ran a moderate campaign designed to soothe, not excite. His campaign theme was an appeal to the city's ethnic diversity, which he termed a gorgeous mosaic. Some analysts, however, including the New York Times, claimed that Dinkins's solutions to New York's problems were often simple. For example, Dinkins's answer to the city's massive crime problem was to "double community patrol officers and put a cop on every subway train." Despite the city's recent racial troubles, sparked by the killings of Black men in predominately white neighborhoods, Dinkins was able to build a biracial coalition that carried him to victory. At the time of the election, only 25.2 percent of New York City's eight million people were Black. Dinkins's mayoral campaign was also threatened by accusations of personal financial laxity and his friendship with former Democratic presidential candidate Jesse L. Jackson. Voters apparently overlooked his fumbling on questions about his personal finances, while Jackson failed to return to New York after the primary election. Dinkins, a former marine, entered local politics in the 1950s as a Democratic precinct leader. In 1965, he was elected to the state senate. Dinkins also served as city clerk in New York City before running for president of the borough of Manhattan in 1977. In his first two campaigns for this office, Dinkins lost by wide margins, but finally secured the office in 1985.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 7)
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L. Douglas Wilder is elected Virginia’s first Black governor.
L. Douglas Wilder, lieutenant governor of Virginia, was elected the state's first Black governor. The fifty-eight-year-old Wilder, a Democrat, won a narrow victory over his Republican rival, J. Marshall Coleman. Of the more than 1.7 million votes cast, Wilder's margin of victory was only 7,000 votes. He garnered 888,475 ballots to 881,484 for Coleman (with all but two Virginia precincts counted). In addition to becoming Virginia's first Black governor, the victory made Wilder the first Black elected governor in American history. Following his victory, Wilder sought to downplay any expectations that he would seek to become a major spokesman for Blacks, stating, "I don't see a confrontation with anybody. I'm not an activist. I'm not running for president."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 17)
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Shirley Creenard Steele named Assistant Attorney General of Iowa and is the first Black woman to ever serve in such a position in Iowa’s history. Steele will represent the state in civil rights legislation and criminal appeals.
Shirley Creenard Steele, a Black attorney, was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the state of Iowa. Steele, a native of Salisbury, North Carolina, graduated from Livingstone College in North Carolina in 1974 and received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Drake University School of Law in Iowa. In her new position, Steele would be responsible for representing the state in civil rights legislation and criminal appeals. She is the first Black woman ever to serve in such a position in Iowa's history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 7)
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Several Blacks are elected mayors of major cities.
Several Black Americans were elected or re-elected mayors in major American cities during general elections. They included Michael White in Cleveland, Ohio; Coleman Young in Detroit, Michigan; Chester Jenkins in Durham, North Carolina; John Daniels in New Haven, Connecticut, and Norm Rice in Seattle, Washington. In Cleveland, White, a city councilman, became the city's second Black mayor. He defeated a fellow Black American, city council president George Forbes, 89,829 to 68,167. In Detroit, Young won an unprecedented fifth term, defeating business executive Tom Barrow (a nephew of boxing champion Joe Louis), 138,175 to 107,195. In Durham, Jenkins won the mayor's office over Nelson Strawbridge, 19,381 to 17,118, In New Haven, Daniels captured 19,302 votes (69 percent) in his win over two opponents to become the city's first Black mayor. In Seattle, Rice, a Democrat, defeated a Republican, Doug Jewett, by a margin of 93,901 to 67,575 to become the first Black mayor of a city with only a 9.5 percent Black population.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Mar 9)
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A group of armed Black Muslims slay one man and took hostages at multiple sites in Washington, D.C., demanding that the premiere of the film Mohammad, Messenger of God be cancelled because “it ridiculed the Prophet.”
A group of armed Black Muslims took hostages at three sites in Washington, D.C., slaying one man. The attacks occurred at the offices of the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith, an Islamic center, and the Washington City Hall. At city hall, Maurice Williams, a twenty-two year old radio reporter, was killed and at least eleven others were wounded. Washington's Mayor Walter Washington barricaded himself inside his office. The gunmen demanded that the premiere of the film Mohammad, Messenger of God be cancelled because they said it "ridiculed the Prophet." United Artists immediately cancelled showings of the film in New York City. Another gunman, however, said the attacks were a reprisal for the slaying in Washington four years ago of seven Hanafi Muslims. The Hanafis were allegedly killed by members of a rival Muslim sect.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Nov 8 - 20)
Published
0 0
Political leaders assess the victories of L. Douglas Wilder, Virginia’s first Black governor, and David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor, as it pertains to the current racial climate.
Political leaders, political analysts, journalists, and other commentators assessed the historic victories of L. Douglas Wilder as the nation's first elected Black governor in Virginia, and the election of David Dinkins as New York City's first Black mayor. After Dinkins won the Democratic primary in September 1989, syndicated columnist Carl Rowan suggested that Dinkins's victory was "desperately needed proof that resurgent racism in America can be stopped wherever political, business and other leaders ask the people to walk away from the dark side of man's animal impulses." In an editorial on November 9, the Wall Street Journal said, "There's irony in the failure of Republican candidates to learn the lessons of the Reagan presidency: David Dinkins ... and Virginia's Doug Wilder... ran as 'moderate Democrats, promising to hold the line on taxes and spending." The newspaper also reported that Wilder "kept civil rights leader Jesse Jackson at arm's length during a year-long campaign that stressed his mainstream appeal to white voters. Wilder appealed for economic development, not economic empowerment, and talked about racial issues only under duress." Cynthia Tucker, an Black columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, wrote that "Mr. Wilder has apparently overcome the color question with a strong pro-choice position.... And, [he] has now provided a guidebook to other candidates of color who wish to serve beyond their traditional constituencies."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1989 (Oct 10)
Published
0 0
The school board of White County, Georgia, votes unanimously to begin new desegregated bus routes.
The school board of White County, Georgia, voted unanimously to begin new desegregated bus routes, thus ending nine years of segregated busing in the area. The school board members claimed that they had only recently been made aware of the segregated routes. The board's chairman, Bob Owens, said in a public apology, "Our community has taken pride as a leader in public integration. For a Black bus route to be scheduled into two predominantly Black communities and to be operated for an extended period of time is... unacceptable." The dual busing system came to the board's attention after Jimmy Bolinger, the school system's new director of transportation, reported that nine of the twenty-three school routes were overcrowded with white students; meanwhile Andy Allen, the county's only Black school bus driver, complained that she crossed the county to pick up Black children, yet her bus was only half full.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
Television mini-series “Roots,” which was based on Alex Haley’s novel about his family in Africa and America, sweeps the nineteenth annual Emmy Awards.
The epic television mini-series "Roots," based on Alex Haley's novel about his family in Africa and America, swept the nineteenth annual Emmy Award presentations in Los Angeles, California. Among the top Emmys awarded were: Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series: Lou Gossett, Jr., who portrayed the smooth survivor "Fiddler;" Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series: Ernest Kinoy and William Blinn; Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series: David Greene; and Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama or Comedy Series: Edward Asner and Olivia Cole, respectively. The drama also garnered the Outstanding Limited Series award. "Roots," the most successful mini-series in television history, was broadcast over eight nights on the ABC television network in January and February 1977.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Nov 13)
Published
0 0
Since taking office in January 1997 President Jimmy Carter has appointed four Black Americans as U.S. attorneys.
The Associated Press reported that since taking office in January 1977, President Jimmy Carter had appointed four Blacks as United States attorneys (chief prosecutors). They were: G. William Hunter of San Francisco, California; Hubert H. Bryant of Tulsa, Oklahoma; James R. Burgess, Jr., of East St. Louis, Illinois; and Henry M. Michaux of Greensboro, North Carolina. During the administrations of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, there was only one Black U.S. attorney, Frederick Coleman in Cleveland, Ohio.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Riaz Hussain Shah pleads guilty in involuntary servitude case after buying a ten-year-old Black girl from her mother to work as a house servant in exchange for $200 and a promise to educate her.
Riaz Hussain Shah, a horticulturist who formerly taught at Miami-Dade Community College, pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami, Florida, to "holding a person in involuntary servitude." Shah admitted that he and his wife, Isharad Majed Shah, an anesthesiologist, bought a ten-year-old Black girl from her mother and employed the child "for at least two years as a house slave." During most of her enslavement, the girl, Rose Iftony, had only one dress to wear, ate rice from a tin plate, and drank from a broken glass. Iftony was ten years old in 1974 when she arrived in the United States from Sierra Leone, where the Shahs paid her mother $200 and promised to educate her. Both of the Shahs, at the time, were registered aliens from Pakistan. FBI agent Joseph Bell called the girl's bondage "the first classic case of slavery in this century [that] the FBI knows of.... That's what used to happen before the Civil War."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 5)
Published
0 0
Death row study conducted in Florida, Georgia and Texas finds that very few Blacks and no whites receive the death penalty for killing Black people.
A study of death row inmates financed by the Southern Poverty Law Center showed that very few Blacks and no whites received the death penalty for the killing of Blacks. In the three southern states surveyed, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, 45 percent of the death row inmates were Blacks who killed whites, while only 5 percent were Blacks who killed Blacks. 50 percent were whites who killed whites. There were no white inmates on death row who killed Blacks. Morris Dees, director of the Poverty Law Center (based in Montgomery, Alabama), claimed that the study "proved that Blacks still make up a far greater proportion of the death row population than are represented in the general population. ... But the real clincher is that death is reserved for those who kill whites." The death penalty study was conducted by William J. Bowers, a Northwestern University professor, who published Executions in America in 1974.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Walter Payton, running back for the Chicago Bears, is named the NFL’s MVP after receiving 57 of 87 votes cast by sportswriters and broadcasters from each league city.
Walter Payton, Black American running back for the Chicago Bears, was named the National Football League's Most Valuable Player for 1977. Payton received 57 of 87 votes cast by sportswriters and broadcasters, three from each league city. Quarterbacks Bob Griese of the Miami Dolphins and Craig Morton of the Denver Broncos were the runner ups with ten votes each. Payton, a graduate of Jackson State University in Mississippi, led the League in rushing with 1,852 yards during the 1977 season, his third year in the NFL (a League record). He ran for 275 yards in one game (November 20 against the Minnesota Vikings), which surpassed the record set by Black American O.J. Simpson. Payton also exceeded Simpson's record of 332 carries with 339 of his own. Finally, Payton's 1,852 yards rushing was third only to Simpson's 2,003 and the Black American Jim Brown's 1,863 during a season.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Sep 7)
Published
0 0
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference office in Jacksonville, FL receives twenty-two complaints in one week from Black soldiers of abusive treatment at Fort Stewart-Hunter near Savannah, GA.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) office in Jacksonville, Florida, reported that within the preceding week it had received twenty-two complaints from Black soldiers of abusive treatment at Fort Stewart-Hunter near Savannah, Georgia. The head of the Jacksonville SCLC office said white officers and non-commissioned officers were harassing Blacks, who were being "inflamed by harsh treatment and harsh words." Black soldiers said the whites used the derisive epithet "nigger” and other such inflammatory words. The Fort Stewart-Hunter incidents followed an announcement in August 1978 by Army Chief of Staff Bernard Rogers that a year-long study would be launched to find out why a greater percentage of Black soldiers were being punished and dishonorably discharged than white soldiers. In a letter sent to commanders of major army installations across the country, Rogers described the situation as a "disturbing trend” that was worsening. Rogers based his comments on a recent army equal opportunity report which showed that Blacks received 54 percent of all dishonorable discharges during the fiscal year 1976 and nearly 57 percent of such discharges during the 1977 fiscal year. Those figures were about twice the rate of dishonorable discharges for white soldiers. In addition, Blacks were charged with more serious offenses than white soldiers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Sep 12)
Published
0 0
Azie Taylor Morton is appointed as Treasurer of the U.S. by President Jimmy Carter making her the first Black American to hold that position.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Azie Taylor Morton treasurer of the U.S., making her the first Black American to hold that post. Morton was born in Dale, Texas. In 1956 she graduated cum laude from Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Texas. Morton, a Texas Democrat, worked on President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity from 1961 to 1963. Morton served as deputy convention manager of the 1976 Democratic National Convention in 1976. As treasurer, Morton also served as national director for the U.S. Savings Bonds Program.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1945 (Jun 15)
Published
0 0
The United Nations Charter gets approval in San Francisco. Several Blacks including W.E.B DuBois attended this convention of delegates from 50 allied nations.
The United Nations Charter was approved in San Francisco. Several Blacks, including Mary McLeod Bethune, W.E.B. Du Bois, Walter White, Ralph Bunche, and Mordecai Johnson attended the San Francisco conference.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Sep 18)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Postal Service issues stamps honoring jazz and blues greats.
The U.S. Postal Service issued stamps honoring such jazz and blues greats as Billie Holiday, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1994 (Sep 23)
Published
0 0
Leroy Keith, Jr., resigns as president of Morehouse College amid allegations regarding his salary and other benefits.
Leroy Keith, Jr., resigned as president of Morehouse College amid charges that he had received a part of his salary and other benefits without the approval of the college's board of trustees. In his letter of resignation, Keith said the audit reports on his compensation were "filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations." He had been president of the prestigious, all-male, Black institution since 1987.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upholds Boston University’s claim of ownership of a portion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s papers, after his wife, Coretta Scott King, contested it.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld the earlier 1993 jury decision that favored Boston University's claim of ownership of a portion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s papers. Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, had contested the 1993 ruling, arguing that a jury should not have decided the case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Apr 6)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Senate confirms Shirley Ann Jackson as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Shirley Ann Jackson as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A Rutgers University physicist, Jackson thus became the first Black and the first woman to assume the post. She scored another first in 1973 when she became the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
Mike Tyson returns to boxing after his prison sentence.
In Las Vegas, Mike Tyson, a recent convert to the Muslim religion, returned to the ring for the first time since his release from prison. His bout with Pete McNeeley lasted just eighty-nine seconds, ending after McNeeley's manager stepped into the ring following a second knockdown. Despite the short match, former heavyweight champ Tyson earned $25 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Aug 22)
Published
0 0
Representative Mel Reynolds of Illinois is convicted in a sex scandal and is forced to resign from his seat in Congress.
In Chicago, Representative Mel Reynolds of Illinois was convicted on charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse, child pornography, and obstruction of justice. The charges arose after Reynolds had sex with a teenage campaign volunteer. Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison, forcing him to resign from his seat in Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
Democrat Jesse Jackson, Jr., is elected to the House of Representatives.
Democrat Jesse Jackson, Jr., was elected to the House of Representatives by defeating Republican Thomas Somer in Illinois's 2nd congressional district. Jackson had no previous political experience, but had campaigned on the ideas of economic development in his district. The son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson captured 74 percent of the vote.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
Lee Brown resigns as “Drug Czar” without explanation. Many suspect he had grown frustrated with the government’s weak response to America’s drug crisis.
After more than two years as the nation's top-ranking fighter in the war on drugs, Lee Brown submitted his resignation to President Bill Clinton. Brown declined to offer specific reasons for his departure, but did disclose that he was accepting a position at Rice University to teach criminology. Anti-drug activists believed Brown had simply grown frustrated with the government's weak response to the increased drug use in the country. After Brown had taken office, President Clinton decided to cut Brown's staff by 75 percent, from 146 to 25. The budget of his office suffered a similar decrease.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
Willie Brown is elected the first Black mayor of San Francisco, CA.
Willie Brown, the former powerful California Assembly speaker, was elected by San Francisco residents to become that city's first Black mayor. Brown easily defeated incumbent Frank Jordan for the position.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 2)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that Blacks could not sue the federal government for damages or an apology for racial discrimination and slavery. The plaintiffs were seeking reparations similar to what Congress had previously awarded to Japanese Americans.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Blacks could not sue the federal government for damages or an apology for racial discrimination and slavery. The unanimous opinion of the three-judge panel upheld several lower court rulings that had considered similar claims. The suit, which had been filed by seven plaintiffs, sought more than $100 million in damages, along lines similar to the reparations the U.S. Congress had previously awarded to Japanese Americans interned during World War II. But the court ruled that the plaintiffs could not seek damages for the enslavement of their ancestors, could not require the judiciary to correct allegedly discriminatory acts by Congress, and failed to point to specific government actions that violated their rights. Judge Pamela Rymer, who wrote the majority opinion, also said that "individuals who complained about historic or current societal discrimination lacked the standing and legal authority to pursue claims in court arising out of the government's failure to do right as they see it." In response to the decision, Samuel Patterson, chairman of the Reparations Committee for African Americans, which sponsored the suit, declared that he was not surprised by it. He said: "You're not going to get anything from a pig but a grunt."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 22)
Published
0 0
Actress Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen dies after suffering critical burns caused by a fire in her home.
Eighty-four-year-old actress Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen died after suffering critical burns caused by a fire in her home near Augusta, Georgia. McQueen was perhaps best known for her role as the enslaved girl Prissy in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Unfortunately, like many Black actresses of the period, she became typecast as a maid, a role she rebelled against strongly by the mid-1940s. For the next two decades she abandoned the big screen for the stage, but then returned to play several small movie roles during the 1970s and 1980s.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec 9)
Published
0 0
Democratic congressman Kweisi Mfume is named the president of the NAACP.
Democratic congressman Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, feeling he could better serve the interests of Blacks and the nation as a whole outside of Congress, accepted the presidency of the NAACP (Myrlie Evers-Williams remained the organization's chair). The position had been vacant since Benjamin Chavis, Jr., was fired in August 1994. Mfume pledged to restore the fiscal integrity and financial structure of the NAACP, which was $3.2 million in debt when Mfume assumed command.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Dec)
Published
0 0
An 87-year-old Black woman, Osceola McCarty, donates her life’s savings to Mississippi University.
In one of the nation's heartwarming stories of 1995, an eighty-seven-year-old Mississippi woman named Osceola McCarty brought attention to the virtues of hard work, thrift, and charity by donating $150,000, much of her life's savings, to the University of Southern Mississippi. The monetary gift was the largest ever made by an Black American to a Mississippi university. McCarty was able to amass the large amount by saving the earnings from years of washing laundry by hand, all the while spending little on herself. "I want to give some child the opportunity I didn't have," she told Ebony. "I hope this money can help children, for years to come, make their dreams come true." Following the announcement of her gift, McCarty was invited to the University of Southern Mississippi, where she was made an honorary alumna, and to a Congressional Black Caucus dinner as the special guest of President Bill Clinton, who awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Robert Holland, Jr. becomes CEO of Ben & Jerry’s.
Fifty-four year old Robert J. Holland, Jr., was named chief executive officer by the owners of Ben & Jerry's ice cream following a well-publicized essay contest for the position. Although Holland submitted a poem, rather than an essay, he became the first Black American to be recruited for the position of CEO by a major mainstream company.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 17)
Published
0 0
Colin Ferguson is sentenced to life in prison for the murders of 6 people aboard a commuter train in New York on December 7, 1993.
Black American Colin Ferguson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murders of six people during a shooting spree on December 7, 1993. The shootings, in which nineteen others were wounded, took place on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train during rush hour. Serving as his own lawyer, Ferguson claimed that the gunman was white and had stolen his semi-automatic handgun while he was sleeping aboard the train.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 18)
Published
0 0
Myrlie Evers-Williams is elected to the NAACP chair.
The board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) elected Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, chair of the venerable civil rights organization. Ever-Williams succeeded William Gibson, a Greenville, South Carolina, dentist, who had been the NAACP's chairman for ten years. Gibson had also been accused of taking thousands of dollars from the civil rights group. Evers-Williams, age sixty-one, had served as an administrator with the Claremont College system in California and a vice-president of community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company in California. In 1970, she ran unsuccessfully for Congress from California, and in 1987 she was appointed a commissioner on the Board of Public Works in Los Angeles. At the time of her election as chair, Evers-Williams had been a member of the NAACP for more than forty years and was the board's vice president.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 2)
Published
0 0
President Bill Clinton nominates Dr. Henry W. Foster to be new U.S. surgeon general. His confirmation is rejected by the Senate.
In the wake of Joycelyn Elders's resignation, President Bill Clinton nominated Henry W. Foster, Jr., to serve as surgeon general. The professional record of Foster, former chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, was closely examined by Republican members of Congress. The Senate rejected his confirmation on June 22 due especially to perceived inconsistencies in the number of abortions the surgeon said he had performed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 3)
Published
0 0
Fort Mose, the first free Black community in the US, is designated a national historic site.
Fort Mose, the first free Black community in the United States, was designated a national historic site. Fort Mose, also known as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, was populated mostly by African slaves who had escaped bondage in Georgia and South Carolina. It was occupied from 1738 to 1740, when it was burned by the British. It was later reoccupied from 1752 to 1763. It is located about two miles south of St. Augustine, Florida
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Feb 9)
Published
0 0
Dr. Bernard Harris becomes the first Black American to walk in space.
Bernard Harris, a doctor and astronaut aboard the space shuttle Discovery, became the first Black American to walk in space.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jan 12)
Published
0 0
Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, is arrested for an alledged Louis Farrakhan assassination plot. The charges are dropped after Farrakhan and Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, accuse the U.S. government of entrapping her.
In Minneapolis, police arrested Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, for allegedly planning the assassination of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. The charges were dropped on May 1 after it was revealed that Shabazz may have been entrapped. Farrakhan and Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, accused the U.S. government of entrapping Qubilah. The federal court dropped the charges on May 1 after Qubilah agreed to seek psychiatric treatment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
The O.J. Simpson trial starts. It grabs national headlines, and many high-powered lawyers are in attendance.
The "Trial of the Century," The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, began with opening arguments before Judge Lance Ito. Lawyers for the prosecution included Marsha Clark and Black American Christopher Darden. The defense team included some of the most high-powered lawyers in the nation, among them Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, and Alan M. Dershowitz. Although Shapiro initially served as the lead attorney for the defense "dream team," flamboyant black American Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., a close friend of Simpson, assumed this role as part of an overall defense strategy as the trial got underway. The fifty-seven-year-old Cochran seemed tailor-made for the high-profile trial, having specialized in prosecuting police abuse cases as well as defending celebrities in trouble, including singer Michael Jackson, rapper Tupac Shakur, and former football player Jim Brown. And even before the trial was underway, Cochran demonstrated his confidence while hinting at a "race card" strategy—that of focusing attention away from Simpson and on L.A. detective Mark Fuhrman--that would become increasingly successful during the last months of the trial. In addition, Cochran proved instrumental in winning the first legal battle for Simpson when he met privately with District Attorney Gil Garcetti prior to the trial and then received a formal commitment that the D.A.'s office would not pursue the death penalty.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jan 25)
Published
0 0
Kenneth Chenault is named vice chairman of American Express, elevating him to the highest ranks of Blacks working for mainstream Fortune 500 companies in America.
Kenneth Chenault was named vice chairman of American Express, elevating him to the highest ranks of Blacks working for mainstream Fortune 500 companies in America. The position placed him "within one leap of the chairman's slot,” according to Black Enterprise. The forty-three-year-old Chenault was also appointed the new head of American Express's Travel Related Services unit.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jul 20)
Published
0 0
Led by Ward Connerly, a Black man, the University of California ends affirmative action hirings.
In San Francisco, Ward Connerly, a Black man, led his fellow University of California Board of Regents members to end affirmative action in university hirings by January 1996. The board also voted to end similar practices regarding the admittance of students by 1997. Connerly, author of the anti-affirmative action proposal that prompted the voting, maintained that such race-based policies threatened to undermine Black achievement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jul 24)
Published
0 0
With the consent of King’s family, district attorney Lewis Slaton announces that Marcus Wayne Chenault would not be executed for the slaying of Mrs. Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Lewis Slaton announced that Marcus Wayne Chenault would not be executed for the slaying of Mrs. Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr. Chenault had been sentenced to die, in Georgia's electric chair, on September 12, 1974, after having been convicted of the murder of Mrs. King and deacon Edward Boykin in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on June 3, 1974. The decision to rescind the death penalty for Chenault was apparently made with consent of the King family, who reportedly "never wanted Chenault to be put to death." Chenault was resentenced to life in prison without parole.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown came under investigation for accepting questionable gifts and falsifying documents.
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown came under investigation for allegedly accepting money and gifts from a business partner and for falsifying financial documents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Congress must obey the same standards as states with regard to minority aid. It led many to believe that the future of federal affirmative action programs was in danger.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Adarand Constructors v. Peña that Congress must obey the same tough standards as states with regard to minority aid. The decision led many to conclude that the future of federal affirmative action programs was in danger.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun 12)
Published
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Lonnie Bristow is elected the first Black president of American Medical Association.
Lonnie R. Bristow became the first Black president in the 148-year history of the American Medical Association. The sixty-five-year-old physician from San Pablo, California, told Jet, "I think my being elected shows it is possible to accomplish things through hard work and education.... It's possible to accomplish things our parents would not dream of. Nothing's impossible." In 1985 Bristow was the first Black elected to the AMA's Board of Trustees. During the annual meeting in which Bristow was named president, the AMA also elected its first Black female to the Board of Trustees, thirty-eight year old Regina Benjamin of Bayou La Batre, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun 17)
Published
0 0
A group of military veterans and Black businessmen launch a petition drive to support Colin Powell as a 1996 presidential candidate.
In Washington, D.C., a group of military veterans and Black businessmen launched a petition drive to support Colin Powell as a 1996 presidential candidate. Ever since his retirement in 1993 as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell had been mentioned favorably by political analysts and others as a potentially strong candidate for the presidency. In a September 1993 Baltimore Sun article, Republican political consultant Charles Black said, "I don't think he has any negatives, it's more a matter of question marks.... I don't know where he stands on a lot of issues. He has to talk about his vision for the country, and as soon as he does that people will criticize him."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun 20)
Published
0 0
The Southern Baptist Convention apologizes to Black Americans for the organization’s historical support of slavery.
During the annual conference of the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta, church members apologized to Black Americans for the organization's historical support of slavery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun 29)
Published
0 0
The U. S. Supreme court rules that the Georgia voting districts created to ensure minority representation were unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Johnson that Georgia voting districts created to ensure minority representation were unconstitutional. In another blow to affirmative action, the court stated that race could not be used as the main factor in the drawing of voting districts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Jun)
Published
0 0
Marcelite J. Harris becomes major general, the highest rank ever held by a Black woman in the history of the armed services.
Thirty-year veteran of the air force, Marcelite J. Harris, was elevated to the rank of major general, the highest rank ever held by a Black woman in the history of the armed services. Serving for four months as vice commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Harris was then promoted in October to director of maintenance for all air force bases, becoming the first woman ever to hold the position.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 16)
Published
0 0
Mississippi becomes the last state to adopt the thirteenth amendment (which abolished slavery).
By a unanimous decision, the Mississippi House of Representatives adopted the thirteenth amendment-which abolished slavery—to the state constitution. The state Senate voted to approve the amendment on February 16, 1995. It had been disclosed earlier that the amendment had never been formally enacted. With the symbolic vote, Mississippi became the last of the states that existed in 1865 to adopt the legislation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
Michael Jordan rejoins the Chicago Bulls after coming out of a 17-month retirement.
Following a seventeen-month retirement, newly unretired basketball star Michael Jordan faced a homecoming welcome as he rejoined his Chicago Bulls teammates against the Orlando Magic at United Center in Chicago. Rather than don his old jersey (No. 23), he chose No. 45, the same number he wore as a baseball player and as a junior high basketball player. Upon his much-celebrated return, which he announced on March 18, he stated: "I'm back for the love of the game. I tried to stay away but I couldn't." According to several sources, the financial impact of Jordan's return to the game, though enormous, was impossible to calculate. One thing was certain, though: Jordan would maintain his rank atop the Forbes sports world's Super 40 as the highest paid professional athlete for the fourth straight year. The basketball star's salary and winnings totaled just $3.9 million for 1995. However, his endorsements boosted that figure by an additional $40 million.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 25)
Published
0 0
Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson is released from prison and announces that he will resume his boxing career.
Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was released from the Indiana Youth Center in Plainfield on good behavior after serving more than half of his six-year sentence for a 1992 rape conviction. To the delight of his fans, he announced plans to resume his boxing career.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 26)
Published
0 0
Eazy-E, gangster rap pioneer, dies from complications with contracting AIDS.
Within two weeks after his revelation that he had contracted AIDS, rapper Eric "Eazy-E" Wright died from complications of the disease at the age of thirty-one. Considered the founder of the first "gangsta" rap group, N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude), Wright drew upon his experiences as a former L.A. drug dealer in his music. N.W.A.'s first album, Straight Outta Compton, sold more than two million copies and was followed up by Niggaz4Life, which became the first hardcore rap album to reach No.1 on the charts. Following the breakup of N.W.A., Wright launched a solo career and his own record label, Ruthless Records, responsible for such acts as Blood of Abraham, Above the Law, MC Ren, Things in Harmony, and Hoes with Attitude.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 26)
Published
0 0
Radio talk show host and author Alan Keyes announces that he would seek the Republican nomination for president.
Radio talk show host and author Alan Keyes announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president. A committed pro-life and pro-family spokesperson, Keyes served under President Ronald Reagan as an ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and also held the post of interim president at Alabama A&M University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthplace and tomb is reopened after a new agreement over funding is reached between the U. S. Park Service and King’s family.
An agreement between the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the U.S. Park Service was reached. In 1994, the King family barred the agency from conducting free tours of the birthplace and tomb in opposition to the Park Service's plans to establish a visitor center across from the historic site, which is owned by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The family had wanted to charge admission to the birthplace and tomb to contribute to the budget deficit for the museum. In the newly reached agreement, the Park Service would provide a federal fund to offset the deficit and would be allowed to continue to conduct free tours.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Mar)
Published
0 0
Attorney Eric Lee Clay is nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
President Bill Clinton nominated attorney Eric Lee Clay to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which hears cases from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Clay, a 1969 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina, earned his law degree from Yale University Law School in 1972. From June 1972 to June 1973, the prominent Detroit attorney served as the law clerk for exiting Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judge Damon Keith. Since 1973, Clay had been an attorney and member of the Board of Directors of Lewis, White, and Clay, where he chaired the litigation department. He also represented the Museum of African American History and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and was a member of the State Bar of Michigan, American Bar Association, Detroit Bar Association, and National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (May 6)
Published
0 0
Ron Kirk is elected the mayor of Dallas, Texas.
Forty-year-old Ron Kirk, an attorney and former secretary of state of Texas, was elected mayor of Dallas. Capturing 62 percent of the vote and drawing more support from whites than either of his two major white opponents, Kirk became the first Black mayor of any major city in the Lone Star State.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Nov 1)
Published
0 0
Ebony Magazine – the largest Black-owned magazine in the world at that time – celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Ebony, the largest Black-owned magazine in the world, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a commemorative issue and a statement by the company founder and chairman. "It is important to remember," wrote John H. Johnson, that when I founded Ebony, Black and White America were almost totally segregated, and nobody, or almost nobody, believed a Colin Powell could run the armed forces or the United States government or that a Michael Jordan could compete against White basketball players.... Today, as in 1945, I believe that the greater the obstacle, the greater the triumph and the greater the glory. It is in that spirit, and with that hope, that we rededicate ourselves to the spirit of the founding and the call of the future."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Nov 27)
Published
0 0
Three white Pittsburgh policemen are charged with the murder of Jonny Gammage, a local businessman and cousin of Pittsburgh Steelers player Ray Seals.
Following the October 12 death of Pittsburgh area businessman Jonny Gammage, two white police officers were charged with third-degree murder, while a third was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Gammage, a cousin of Pittsburgh Steelers player Ray Seals, suffocated after only seven minutes in police custody. He was arrested following a low-speed chase during which he ran three red lights and ignored signals by police to stop. Once stopped, Gammage allegedly charged the arresting officers and struggled violently before being subdued.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Nov 28)
Published
0 0
Savannah’s first Black mayor, Floyd Adams, Jr., is elected.
Floyd Adams, Jr., publisher of the Weekly Herald and veteran alderman, was elected the first Black mayor of Savannah, Georgia. Adams defeated incumbent mayor Susan Weiner by the slim margin of 15,912 to 15,660. Following his election, Adams promised to "move the city forward, to make progressive moves that will benefit everyone."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Nov 7)
Published
0 0
Stand-up comedian Melvin “Slappy” White dies.
Slappy White, one of the first successful Black stand-up comedians, died on this date. Born Melvin White in 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland, racial harmony was a theme often used in his routines. White emerged in the 1950s from the Black nightclubs and began appearing before largely white audiences. In addition to his stand-up routines, White also appeared in movies and on television.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Nov 8)
Published
0 0
Colin Powell decides not to pursue a presidential run after consulting with friends and family.
After completing a lengthy tour to promote his book An American Journey, Colin Powell announced he would not run for president or any other elected office. The retired general arrived at his decision after long consultations with friends and family. Powell did, however, affirm his commitment to work within the Republican party for the betterment of all Americans. According to numerous polls, if Powell had chosen to run, he would have posed a serious political threat to both Republican frontrunner Bob Dole and Democratic president Bill Clinton in the 1996 elections.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan hosts the Million Man March on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
In a movement that generated enormous publicity during October, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan hosted the Million Man March on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The March was conceived by Farrakhan and fellow organizer Benjamin Chavis, Jr., to ignite both a spiritual and social reawakening among Black men. Despite naysayers and the controversies that have surrounded both Farrakhan and Chavis, the march was considered a success by those in attendance, many of whom made the pilgrimage not only to hear the numerous speakers (Maya Angelou, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks, Kweisi Mfume, Marion Barry, and others), but to rejoice in Black unity and a shared commitment to make a positive difference upon their return home. Chavis later announced, during a sermon in Atlanta, that on the first anniversary of the Million Man March (October 16, 1996), a Million Family March would be held in the nation's capital and simultaneously across the country through satellite hookups.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Oprah Winfrey makes the Forbes’s list of richest Americans. She is the only Black and only entertainer to make the list.
In the October 16 issue of Forbes magazine, TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey was listed No. 399 on the list of "The 400 Richest People in America." The only Black and the only entertainer to make the list, forty-one-year-old Winfrey was estimated to be worth $340 million. In 1986 Winfrey became the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated weekday talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
In the infamous O. J. Simpson trial, the jury declares former NFL player O. J. Simpson not guilty of double murder. Reactions to the decision were mixed.
Following an overnight wait so that all the principals in the O.J. Simpson trial could be reassembled, the entire nation watched as the jury rendered its verdict. Despite a mountain of testimony and evidence, the Simpson jurors deliberated for only three hours before reaching their decision - a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Simpson's reaction was one of immediate relief and thanks. The prosecution team, on the other hand, appeared numb with disbelief. During the aftermath, virtually all legal analysts agreed that leading defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.'s genius had been to center the case on two points: 1) the assertion that Simpson - given the testimony of eyewitnesses - did not have enough time to commit the murders, return to his residence, and then take a limousine ride to the airport and 2) the assertion that the racist remarks of police detective Mark Fuhrman were the clue to a much larger conspiracy by the L.A. police department to frame Simpson. Prosecutor Marcia Clark, in her closing arguments, also labeled Fuhrman a racist and then attempted to redirect the jurors' attention to the overwhelming evidence, including DNA blood evidence, that linked Simpson, and no one else, to the murders. In the end, the jurors chose to believe the defense team's version of events and Simpson, imprisoned for 474 days, was declared a free man. According to a Washington Post survey, eight out of ten Blacks thought justice had been served while at least half of all whites thought that it had not. Once again, Los Angeles had become the stage to dramatize that a huge racial divide still separated many Americans. As of December 1995, the Simpson case was still generating enormous interest, including some 36 book deals. One of these, the autobiography of Cochran that a publisher planned to place on bookstands in 1997, was estimated to be worth $4.2 million. Although Simpson had been cleared in the criminal trial, in early 1996 he still faced a wrongful death civil suit filed on behalf of the family of Ronald Goldman and the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Oct)
Published
0 0
President Bill Clinton honors deceased Black West Point cadet John Whittaker.
In 1876 John Chestnut Whittaker entered the West Point Military Academy as one of the school's first Black cadets. Four years later, shortly before graduation, Whittaker was mutilated, beaten, and left for dead by three white classmates. Although the Black cadet survived the racially motivated attack, he was expelled from the academy after being accused of inflicting the injuries upon himself and then claiming the white cadets were responsible. Prevented from a military career, Whittaker began a law practice in Charleston, South Carolina, before becoming a principal in Oklahoma City and then a law professor at what is now South Carolina State University. Sixty-four years after his death in 1931, Whittaker was honored with a commission as second lieutenant by President Bill Clinton, who made the presentation to the cadet's granddaughter and great-grandson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Sep 12)
Published
0 0
Malvin R. Goode, the first Black television reporter, dies.
Malvin R. Goode, the first Black television reporter, died in Pittsburgh at the age of eighty-seven. Goode was hired in 1962 by ABC News following a comment made by Jackie Robinson to an ABC vice president regarding the lack of Blacks in prominent positions at the network. Among the major events Goode covered during his eleven-year career with ABC were the Poor People's March on Washington, the Cuban missile crisis, and the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1971 Goode became the first Black member of the National Association of Radio and Television News Directors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Sep 22)
Published
0 0
Colin Powell begins a publicity tour to promote his autobiography, My American Journey.
In what many were calling a brilliant campaign to gain widespread public support with minimal political risk, Colin Powell embarked on a thirty-five day publicity tour to promote his autobiography, My American Journey. Throughout the tour, Powell refrained from committing to a presidential run although he continually fueled hopes that he would do so. However, even before the tour was complete, he stated: "As I speak around the country, I am constantly questioned about my future: specifically, am I going to run for President? I am flattered by my standing in public-opinion polls. To be a successful politician, however, requires a calling that I do not yet hear. I believe that I can serve my country in other ways, through charities, educational work or appointive posts."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1995 (Sep 4 - 15)
Published
0 0
The United Nations sponsors a women’s conference in China. Three Black American women were part of the official forty-five member delegation from the United States.
In a conference sponsored by the United Nations, 45,000 women from around the world met in Beijing, China, to discuss and debate human rights issues affecting women worldwide. Three Black American women were part of the official forty-five member delegation from the United States, including J. Veronica Biggins, who served as vice chair of the U.S. delegation. Of the more than eight thousand Americans who attended the conference, an estimated one thousand were Black.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Apr 17)
Published
0 0
Federal judges rule that Florida’s Black-majority Third District was unconstitutional because it used race as the major factor in determining the district’s boundaries.
Federal judges ruled that Florida's Black-majority Third District was unconstitutional because it used race as the major factor in determining the district's boundaries. Three judges ordered the state legislature to redraw the district's boundaries by May 22. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the horse-shoe shaped district, which covered 250 miles and 14 counties, had been created primarily to intensify the representation of Blacks. The majority opinion held that the defendants had failed to show that the district had been "narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest" and, therefore, violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The judges included an admonition that the ruling "should not be interpreted as 'turning back the clock' on the gains made by Black voters and other racial and ethnic voting minorities." Representative Corrine Brown opposed the decision and stated that the Third District, located in northern Florida, was "the most integrated and diverse district" in the state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Apr 19)
Published
0 0
A federal appeals court defers a ruling that would have ended race-based admissions policies at Texas universities, stating that they had already stopped using that admissions policy.
A U.S. federal appeals court granted a stay that blocked the enforcement of a March 19 ruling that would have ended race-based admissions policies at Texas universities. On July 1, however, the Supreme Court let the March 19 ruling stand, not because it was endorsing the ruling but because the University of Texas School of Law had stopped using that admissions policy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Apr 3)
Published
0 0
Commerce secretary Ron Brown and 34 others were killed in a U.S. Air Force jet when it crashed into a mountainside near Dubrovnik, Croatia.
U.S. commerce secretary Ron Brown and 34 others were killed in a U.S. Air Force jet when it crashed into a mountainside near Dubrovnik, Croatia. Brown, government officials, and business executives were touring Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in attempts to obtain contracts for U.S. companies to help rebuild the infrastructures of both countries. The Air Force later blamed pilot error and the failure of Air Force commanders to properly make required safety evaluations before leaving the airport. Officials concluded that the bad weather that existed during the flight was not a significant factor in the crash. Brown was born on August 1, 1941, in Washington, D.C., before moving to New York City. He was a successful lawyer before rising to national politics as Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign manager. A year later, he became chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the first Black American to head a major national political party. He worked closely with then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, and was named commerce secretary following Clinton's victory.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Apr 3)
Published
0 0
Former Cleveland mayor, and first Black to be elected mayor of a major city, Carl Stokes dies.
Former politician/newsman Carl Stokes died in Cleveland at the age of 68. Stokes was the first Black to be elected mayor of a major city when he won the Cleveland mayoral election 1962. After serving two terms as mayor, Stokes left for New York and began a career as a news broadcaster for WNBC-TV. He also was the first Black elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, served eleven years as a municipal judge in Cleveland, and was named ambassador to the Seychelles in 1995. Stokes was born in Cleveland on June 21, 1927.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Apr 9)
Published
0 0
Musician George Walker and columnist E. R. Shipp win Pulitzer Prizes.
George Walker and E. R. Shipp were two of twenty-two Pulitzer Prize recipients for 1996. Walker, the first Black musician to receive this honor in music in its eighty-year existence, accepted the prestigious award for Lilacs, which was composed for both voice and orchestra. Shipp, a columnist for The Daily News in New York, won the prize for commentary on race and welfare.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 12)
Published
0 0
General Colin Powell addresses the Republican Convention, receiving mixed reactions for his views on abortion rights.
"Let us never step back from compassion," stated General Colin Powell, as he addressed the crowds at the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. The popular Black Republican had been considered as a possible vice-presidential running mate with Bob Dole, but Powell wasn't interested. While his speech gathered loud cheers, there was some vocal discontent when he declared his support for abortion rights. Powell quickly answered the crowd by stating, "I was invited here by my party to share my views with you because we are a big enough party-and big enough people - to disagree on individual issues and still work together for our common goal: restoring the American Dream." Other Blacks who spoke at the convention were House representatives J. C. Watts (Oklahoma) and Gary A. Franks (Connecticut) and anti-abortion activist Kay C. James, who led the roll call leading to Dole's nomination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 21)
Published
0 0
At the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan tells members that Black journalists are “slaves” to white newspaper owners. He receives standing ovations, though some object to his view.
At the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists in Nashville, Tennessee, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan told members that Black journalists were "slaves" to white newspaper owners. "White folk did not hire you to really represent what Black people are really thinking, and you don't really tell what you think because you are too afraid," said Farrakhan. Many in the audience gave him standing ovations, though some objected to his view of Black journalists.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 23)
Published
0 0
Dole speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, expressing his regret for turning down his NAACP invitation.
Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Nashville, Tennessee. This came only weeks after many Blacks criticized him for not accepting an invitation to speak at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention. Dole told journalists, however, he regretted turning down the invitation and felt the Republican party had "missed opportunities" to win support of Black Americans. He cited 1964 presidential nominee Barry Goldwater's opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act - as well as his own, as a House representative as an example.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 25)
Published
0 0
Tiger Woods wins the U.S. amateur golf tournament for the third consecutive year – the first player to do so, then announces he would turn professional two days later.
For the third consecutive year, Tiger Woods won the U.S. Amateur Golf Tournament–becoming the first player to do so. Two days later, Woods announced that he would turn professional and consequently signed a deal with Nike, Inc., to endorse its products. The deal was reportedly worth $40 million, the largest endorsement ever made for a rookie golfer. Woods became the first Black to win the U.S. Amateur title in 1994.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 27)
Published
0 0
Actor Greg Morris, one of the first Black actors to star in a TV show, dies.
Greg Morris, who played Barney Collier on the popular 1960s television show Mission Impossible, died of cancer. The Cleveland native was one of the first Black actors to star in a TV show.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 27)
Published
0 0
Indianapolis police go on a drunken spree and beat a Black motorist and the a white man who tried to help the Black victim. The incident attracted national attention as an example of police brutality.
Sixteen police officers in Indianapolis, Indiana, allegedly went on a drunken spree in which they used racial slurs and beat and arrested both a Black motorist and a white man who tried to help the Black victim. The incident attracted national attention, as, perhaps, another example of police assault on unoffending Black Americans. City authorities launched an investigation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 27)
Published
0 0
Jesse Jackson addresses Democratic conventioneers, urging them to accept diversity as the measure of the party’s strength and character.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson told attendees at the Democratic National Convention that Republicans were putting forward an image of a "big tent." "On the cover was General (Colin Powell and (Republican vice-presidential nominee) Jack Kemp. But clearly you cannot judge a book by its cover. For inside, the book was written by (speaker of the House) Newt Gingrich and (Moral Majority leader) Ralph Reed and (former presidential hopeful) Pat Buchanan." In endorsing President Bill Clinton for a second term, Jackson called on Democrats to accept diversity as "the measure of the party's strength ... (and) character. We must find the bridge to keep our tent intact."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 28)
Published
0 0
In an appeal for the Black vote, republican vice-presidential hopeful Jack Kemp promises that his agenda would include scholarships for inner-city kids.
Republican vice-presidential hopeful Jack Kemp addressed the Challengers Boys and Girls Club in south central Los Angeles - the scene of racial riots in 1992. In an appeal for the Black vote, Kemp promised that the Republican agenda would include scholarships for inner-city kids.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 28)
Published
0 0
Judge Louis Pollak rules that Philadelphia’s former commissioners involved in the bombing of a neighborhood that killed 11 MOVE members and destroyed 61 homes, did not have to pay damages to relatives or survivors – reversing the original ruling.
U.S. District Court judge Louis Pollak ruled that the city of Philadelphia's former fire and police commissioners would not have to pay damages to relatives or survivors of a 1985 fire involving members of the radical African American group MOVE. Two months earlier, a jury had ordered former fire commissioner William Richmond and former police commissioner George Sambor to pay one dollar per week for the next eleven years to Ramona Africa, the only adult member of MOVE to survive the fire, and to relatives of other MOVE members. The jury had also awarded the plantiffs $1.5 million in punitive damages, to be paid by the city of Philadelphia. Although the punitive damages against the city were not affected by Pollak's decision, Africa reacted angrily to his ruling. She said it "literally let [the former commissioners] get away with murder."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Aug 8)
Published
0 0
Thelma Collins becomes the first Black and first woman mayor of Ita Bena, Mississippi.
Thelma Collins, a former Greenwood, Mississippi, schoolteacher, became the first Black American and the first woman to serve as mayor of Ita Bena, Mississippi.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Dec 20)
Published
0 0
Black Americans Alexis Herman and Rodney Slater are nominated for Bill Clinton’s cabinet posts.
President Bill Clinton nominated two Black Americans for positions in his Cabinet. Alexis Herman, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, was selected as secretary of labor, and Rodney Slater, the federal highway administrator, was nominated for secretary of transportation. Herman, a native of Mobile, Alabama, was a graduate of Xavier University in Louisiana. In 1977, she became the director of the Women's Bureau of the Labor Department. Since 1993, in her White House liaison post, she had been the president's chief emissary to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other Black groups. She also aided the president in the publicity campaign that he waged to win congressional approval of the 1994 crime bill. Slater, who was born in Marianna, Arkansas, graduated from Eastern Michigan University. He was previously an assistant attorney general in Arkansas, executive assistant to then-Governor Clinton; and a member, then chairman, of the Arkansas State Highway Commission. He was once named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Arkansans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Dec 27)
Published
0 0
Hugh Brown is re-elected chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Hugh M. Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer of BAMSI, Inc., an engineering and technical services firm in Titusville, Florida, was re-elected chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Brown had formerly served as deputy chairman of the bank before being elected chairman in January 1996.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Feb 20)
Published
0 0
Kweisi Mfume becomes the head of the NAACP after resigning from his position as a U.S. House Representative.
In Washington, D.C., Kweisi Mfume was sworn in as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This came amidst serious financial and public relations troubles at the NAACP. Mfume's predecessor, Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., was fired in 1994 for misuse of the organization's funds in connection with a threatened sexual-discrimination suit. Mfume promised "a new NAACP, reinvented and reinvigorated, standing at the threshold of change." Mfume had resigned from his position as a U.S. House Representative from Maryland on February 18. Fellow Black Democrat Elijah E. Cummings defeated Kennth Dondner in special elections held to replace Mfume. Previously, Cummings was the pro tem speaker for the Maryland House of Delegates.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Feb 6)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1995 districting plan that reduced the number of Black-majority congressional districts in Georgia.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1995 redistricting plan constructed by three judges in Georgia that reduced the number of Black-majority congressional districts from three to one based on the grounds that race could not be used as a "predominant factor" in establishing district boundaries. Despite pleas from a group of Georgia voters, the Court refused a request for an appeal of the decision on June 8th.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Feb 8)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Department of Justice announce investigation into Black church fires. Seventeen churches had been destroyed in southern states over the past year.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that a civil rights investigation into the Black church fires in Alabama and Tennessee had begun the previous December. Attorney General Janet Reno made the probe public after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had written her in January asking for such a study. Seventeen churches had been destroyed in southern states over the past year. The most notable fire was at the Inner City Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Green Bay Packers football star Reggie White was an associate pastor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
Affirmative action programs end in Louisiana state agencies.
Republican governor Mike Foster of Louisiana announced that affirmative action programs in that state's government had ended.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
President Clinton shows his support for affirmative actions programs in a speech at an MLK Day celebration in Atlanta, GA.
The Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, was the site of a Martin Luther King, Jr., Day celebration. President Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of about 1,500 about his support for affirmative action programs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
The Revelation Corporation is formed by five Black churches to try to increase the buying power of Black consumers.
The Revelation Corporation was formed by the leaders of five major Black churches with the goal of increasing the buying power of Black consumers. E. Edward Jones of the National Baptist Convention of America Inc. was selected to head the organization, and John Lowery was named vice-president. The five churches involved in the program were the National Baptist Convention of America, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., and the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jan 17)
Published
0 0
Barbara Jordan, Texas’s first Black state senator, dies.
The first elected Black state senator from Texas, Barbara Charline Jordan, died of complications from leukemia. She had also suffered from multiple sclerosis for years. Born on February 21, 1936, in Houston, Texas, the well-known speaker gained national attention when she asked for the impeachment of then-President Richard Nixon. She was also the first Black woman to give the keynote address at the 1976 National Democratic Convention. President Bill Clinton awarded Jordan the highest civilian honor by presenting her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony on August 8, 1994.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jan 26)
Published
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The first Black conductor of a major American orchestra, Henry Lewis, dies of a heart attack.
Famed conductor Henry Jay Lewis died of a heart attack in New York City. Lewis was named conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in 1968, the first Black conductor of a major American orchestra. He was well known for attempting to make performances more available to the working class, often holding free outdoor concerts. Lewis was also the first Black American to conduct New York City's Metropolitan Opera in 1972. He was born on October 16, 1932, in Los Angeles, California.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jul 10)
Published
0 0
A statue is dedicated to tennis great Arthur Ashe, but there is controversy over its placement.
A statue of Arthur Ashe was dedicated in Richmond, Virginia, honoring the first Black man to win the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open tennis tournaments. Ashe died in 1993 of complications from AIDS. Controversy surrounded the placement of the statue. Ashe's widow, Jeanne Moutoussamy Ashe, protested that the statue should not reside on a street were Confederate soldiers were honored. Many felt it would be an insult to Ashe, who was known for his stand against racial segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jul 11)
Published
0 0
Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole declines a speaking invitation at NAACP’s convention believing it was “a set up”. He later said he regretted skipping the event.
Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole declined an invitation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) president Kweise Mfume to speak at its convention, citing scheduling conflicts. But Dole claimed "the very liberal Democrat" Mfume was "trying to set me up" by inviting him, "probably would not have been received warmly, and that in the future he would speak with audiences "I can relate to." The NAACP turned down the Dole camp's offer to have presumed vice-presidential nominee Jack Kemp stand in for him. Prominent Black leader and fellow Republican Colin Powell was disappointed with Dole's decision. "I think it would have been useful for him to present his views to the NAACP." Dole later said he regretted skipping the NAACP event.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jul 22)
Published
0 0
Jazz trumpeter Percy Humphrey dies.
Jazz trumpeter Percy Humphrey died in New Orleans, Louisiana, at age ninety. Humphrey was the grandson of Jim Humphrey, who taught many of the first generation of jazz musicians. The junior Humphrey, himself, began his musical career as a drummer, then changed to trumpet and became a member of the influential Eureka Brass band. In the 1950s he became the leader of this New Orleans group. In 1961, Humphrey began playing at the then recently opened Preservation Hall in New Orleans, and continued regular performances there until March 1995. In the 1970s he also performed with the New Orleans Joymakers. He toured with the famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band into the 1980s. Humphrey contributed much to the history of jazz. He excelled at group improvisations and was skilled at scatting and other Louis Armstrong-style solos.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jul 9)
Published
0 0
The Connecticut Supreme Court strikes down segregation.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools near Hartford violated the state constitution, The court allowed the state government the opportunity to integrate the schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jul 9)
Published
0 0
Representatives Cynthia McKinney and Sanford Bishop, Jr. wins primaries in two newly formed Georgia districts. The district redrawing diminished the Black voting population.
Georgia's two newly formed congressional districts, the second and fourth, produced victories for two Black representatives, Cynthia McKinney and Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. McKinney previously represented the state's Eleventh District, which was approximately 60% Black. Bishop's former district was 59% Black. In redrawing the congressional district boundaries, the Black voting population was diminished from 60% to 30% in McKinney's Fourth District and from 59% to 35% in Bishop's Second District.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jun 10)
Published
0 0
Black Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at a grade school awards ceremony, which causes controversy.
After much deliberation between members of the Landover (Maryland) School Board and officials at the Thomas G. Pullen Creative and Performing Arts School, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas addressed an eighth-grade awards ceremony at the school. Principal Kathy Kurtz had invited Thomas to speak, but on May 22nd school superintendent Jerome Clark ordered her to rescind the invitation on the basis that Thomas's many rulings against affirmative action programs did "not represent the interests of my constituents." The Parent Teacher Association asked that Clark's request be denied; the school board agreed and Thomas was issued a second invitation. Demonstrators for and against Justice Thomas held rallies in front of the school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
President Bill Clinton speaks out against Black church fires as racial tension builds in the South.
In Greeleyville, South Carolina, President Bill Clinton attended the dedication ceremony for the newly built sanctuary of the Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church. The previous sanctuary of the church had been destroyed by arson in 1995. Clinton, told the crowd, "We are not going back, we are not slipping back to those dark days (before the civil rights movement)." The southern United States had felt racial tension as arson claimed dozens of Black churches over the previous seven years. The Federal Bureau of Investigations, in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco, led investigations into the suspicious fires. The departments concluded that no national conspiracy could be linked to the church fires.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jun 13)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court ruled against congressional districts that alleged that racial bias was used in determining district boundaries.
The Supreme Court ruled against congressional districts in North Carolina and Texas in two separate cases that alleged that racial bias was used in determining district boundaries. Violation of the Fourteenth Amendment was stated as the reason for the unconstitutionality of the districts' formations. The Supreme Court considered Bush v. Vera and Shaw u. Hunt in handing down its rulings. Two months later, the Supreme Court refused to require North Carolina to redraw its Twelfth District boundaries.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jun 15)
Published
0 0
Singing great Ella Fitzgerald dies of undisclosed causes.
Popular jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, of undisclosed causes. In recent years, she had suffered from diabetes, which had resulted in the amputation of both her legs. Born in Newport News, Virginia, on April 25, 1917, "The First Lady of Song" started her career with Chick Webb's band and had her first hit in 1938 with a song she wrote, “ATisket, A-Tasket." After Webb died in 1939, Fitzgerald began to concentrate on a style of singing known as scat and became well-known for the songs "Flying Home" and "Oh, Lady Be Good!" which used the scat technique. Fitzgerald is credited with reviving the popularity of such composers as Ira and George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart, by composing albums using their works. She won thirteen Grammy Awards in her career.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Jun 24)
Published
0 0
The City of Philadelphia is found guilty of excessive force the 1985 police bombing of a neighborhood in an attempt to displace members of a radical Black group.
A federal jury found the City of Philadelphia guilty of using excessive force in 1985, when the police used a bomb in a attempt to evict members of MOVE (a radical African American group) from their headquarters. The bomb killed eleven people, and destroyed 61 houses in the neighborhood. Police had tried unsuccessfully to remove the MOVE members from their homes after neighbors complained about excessive noise and garbage. The jury ordered that $1.5 million in damages be paid to survivor Ramona Africa, and to families of the victims.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Mar 13)
Published
0 0
The Census Bureau reports a projected increase in the Black population.
The Census Bureau released its population projections through the year 2050. The black population was expected to make up 13.6 percent of the total population, marking an increase from the projected 1995 figure of 12 percent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Mar 19)
Published
0 0
A federal appeals court in Louisiana reverses an earlier decision and rules that a race-based admissions policy at the University of Texas School of Law should not be allowed.
A federal appeals court in Louisiana reversed an earlier decision and ruled that a race-based admissions policy at the University of Texas School of Law should not be allowed, even though the school's intention had been to enhance racial diversity. Four white students had sued the university in 1992 on the grounds of racial discrimination. Judge Jerry E. Smith ruled that the school had not appropriately shown a justification for its racial preference policy. He further recommended that universities in general broaden their definition of diversity among their student bodies—this, in part, because one of the plaintiffs, Cheryl Hopwood, had faced great adversity through her life as a result of the death of her father when she was a child, and the births to Hopwood of a handicapped child and another child who later died. Smith believed the experiences of someone like Hopwood should be included in a school's expanded definition of diversity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Mar 20)
Published
0 0
Civil Rights groups file suit against the U.S.’s undercounted census figures, stating that it threatens equal protection laws and federal funding. The Supreme Court strikes down the suit in favor of the census figures.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the 1990 census figures could stand, despite that between 1.6 percent and 2 percent of the population had not been counted. Minority groups had sought an adjustment to the figures because the erroneous numbers represented 4.8 percent of the Black population and 5.2 percent of the Hispanic population. The coalition of plaintiffs included such groups as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the national League of Cities, from such cities as Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York. After then-Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher refused to revise census figures in 1991, the groups filed suit, arguing that the miscount was an affront to minorities' constitutional right to equal protection, because census figures determined congressional seating and federal funding for social programs. Before the Supreme Court's ruling, Mosbacher's decision had been upheld in 1993 by a district court, then overturned in 1994 by a circuit court of appeals. Supreme Court chief justice William Rehnquist opined that Mosbacher's argument, which stated that determining congressional districts resulted more from a "distributive accuracy" and not a precise numerical count of the population, was reasonable.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Mar 25)
Published
0 0
Reverend Jesse Jackson leads a protest during the Academy Awards ceremony because of the lack of Black nominees.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson and 75 others marched outside the KABC-TV offices in Los Angeles during the Academy Awards ceremony to protest the lack of Black nominees. Of the total 166 nominees, only one was Black-Dianne Houston, who directed the film Tuesday Morning Ride.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (May 10)
Published
0 0
The U.S. House of Representatives pass legislation that provides families an adoption credit. The law also included a provision to make interracial adoption easier.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would provide families that adopted children with a $5,000 tax credit if their annual income was under $75,000. The law included a provision that would force adoption agencies to make interracial adoption easier by not allowing race or ethnicity to be such a determining factor when selecting possible adoptive families. When the interracial provision was first brought forward, many Republicans were against the consideration of race during the adoption process. Democrats, however, opposed this stance and compromises were reached. These included: race could be used as a criterion only if at least two qualified families sought adoption of a child, and agencies could not delay an adoption with the intent of locating a qualified same-race family.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (May 2)
Published
0 0
Janice Rogers Brown is confirmed as the first Black woman to be a California supreme court judge. Her nomination is met with criticism.
California governor Pete Wilson's appointment of appellate court judge Janice Rogers Brown to the California Supreme Court was confirmed. Brown, the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers, became the first Black woman to serve on the state's highest court. Although Justice Brown's nomination was unanimously confirmed, it was not without criticism. The State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation claimed that "Brown was unqualified because of limited experience as a lawyer and a judge." The Commission added she had a "tendency to inject her political and philosophical views into her court opinions." Wilson described his nomination as being "clearly the right choice at the right time...." Justice Brown had also been characterized as more conservative than the other California Supreme Court justices. Prior to her 1994 appellate court appointment, she served the state as Governor Wilson's legal affairs secretary, where she filed suit against the federal government seeking reimbursement of costs for providing public services to illegal immigrants. Previously, Brown served as California's deputy attorney general and deputy legislature counsel for the state Legislature Counsel Bureau. In 1974, she received her bachelor's degree from California State University and, in 1977, a law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (May 28)
Published
0 0
Commander Donnie Cochran, the first Black pilot to fly on the Navy’s Blue Angels flight team, resigns over his personal concerns of his ability to continue to fly safely.
Commander Donnie Cochran, the first Black pilot to fly on the Navy's Blue Angels flight team, resigned following his concerns over his ability to continue to fly safely. Eight months earlier, Cochran participated in a flying demonstration with the Blue Angels when he missed an agreed upon landmark. Cochran became the team leader of the Blue Angels in 1994.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (May 8)
Published
0 0
Federal judge Robert Krupansky ends court-ordered busing in Cleveland after education officials say integration had been successful, and $10 million in busing costs could be saved.
Federal judge Robert Krupansky lifted a seventeen-year desegregation order, which resulted in the end of court-ordered busing in Cleveland, Ohio. Student busing had been implemented in 1979 in an effort to integrate the city's public school system. Education officials asked to end busing because they felt integration had been successful and $10 million in busing costs could be saved. The original ruling stemmed from a 1973 case involving Black students who accused the school system of running segregated schools. The courts decided in favor of the students, and six years later Cleveland began busing students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Nov 12)
Published
0 0
Civil rights activist Cordell Hull Reagon is found murdered.
Civil rights activist Cordell Hull Reagon was found murdered in Berkeley, California. Hull, age fifty-three, joined the Civil Rights Movement at the age of sixteen in 1959. He became known as "the baby of the movement." Reagon was arrested more than thirty times throughout the South as he fought against racial segregation and discrimination. He also led training workshops in nonviolence for hundreds of volunteers who went into the South to work for civil and voting rights for Blacks. In 1962, Reagon became one of the founders of the Freedom Singers, a group of men and women who sang freedom songs in a gospel-style to rouse support for the Civil Rights Movement. The quartet included Bernice Johnson of Albany, Georgia, who became Reagon's first wife. In the 1970s, he was active in protests against the Vietnam war, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction. Before moving to Berkeley in 1988, he was an organizer for the Social Service Employees union and a member of Mobilization for Youth in New York. While in Berkeley, he founded the Urban Habitat and the Urban Justice organization to foster the protection of the environment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Sep 30)
Published
0 0
Moneta J. Sleet, the first Black American to win a Pulitzer Prize in photography, dies.
Moneta J. Sleet, the first Black American to win a Pulitzer Prize in photography, died in New York City, at age seventy. Sleet, a photographer for Ebony magazine, won the Pulitzer for feature photography in 1969 for his image of Coretta Scott King consoling her daughter, Bernice, in her lap, at the funeral of slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. Sleet studied photography at Kentucky State College. After serving in World War II, he helped establish the first photography department at Maryland State College. Then, he did further study at the School of Modern Photography in New York and earned a master's degree in journalism at New York University. Following his studies, Sleet worked as a sportswriter for the Amsterdam News and as a photographer for Our World magazine, before joining Ebony, where he still worked at the time of his death. Sleet's work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and several other facilities. His awards included a Citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club of America as well as the National Urban League. Sleet's notoriety stemmed principally from his photographic documentation of the marches, meetings, and rallies of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. His images were described as "powerful and sensitive," which "showed genuine respect for his subjects."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1996 (Sep 7)
Published
0 0
Former Civil Rights Commission chairman Aurther Flemming dies.
Arthur Flemming, former chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, died in Washington, D.C., at age ninety-one. After eight years on the job, he was fired by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 after the CRC issued a report that was harshly critical of the Reagan administration's record on desegregation and civil rights. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Flemming the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. At the time of his death, Clinton remarked: "He transcended party, generation, and race in search of consensus on some of the great issues of our day."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
c. 1889
Published
0 0
Old Add, the only Black range boss in the Southwest, earns fame as a cowboy.
Celebrated rider and bronco buster known variously as Nigger Add, Old Add, and Old Negro Add was the only Black range boss in the Southwest. He worked for the LFD brand owned by cattleman George Littlefield. Reportedly, Add could break any horse and was thrown only once in his life. His roping skills were also legendary. Add worked primarily in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico. By the end of the century, probably due to increasing racism, Add was no longer a range boss. Add died around 1906, a horseman all his life. The dates of his birth and death and his surname are still unknown.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (May 30)
Published
0 0
The Republic of Biafra is created as Sir Louis Mbanefo swears in Lt Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Less than seven years after the British government handed over power of its largest colony in West Africa to indigenous Nigerians, ethnic strife from the arbitrarily-formed country had plunged a very promising emerging nation into chaos. In Nigeria, tribal affiliation dictated political success. On this day, members of the Igbo tribe, a large ethnic group in Southeast Nigeria, seceded from the rest of the country to form the Republic of Biafra--a name that roughly translates to "Come live" in Igbo. The state was to be a model for the rest of Nigeria and Africa, carrying out decolonial progression and serving as a refuge for Igbo-related persecuted groups in Nigeria.
References:
  •  • “Biafra.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/place/Biafra.
  •  • Childs, Daly Samuel Fury. “Introduction.” A History of the Republic of Biafra: Law, Crime, and the Nigerian Civil War, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020.
  •  • Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia. “Remembering Nigeria's Biafra War That Many Prefer to Forget.” BBC News, BBC, 15 Jan. 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51094093.
1796
Published
0 0
The Boston African Society is established to care for its poor and sick Black members.
The Boston African Society is established. Starting with forty-four members, they were a group of Blacks that provided a form of health insurance and funeral benefits, as well as spiritual fellowship and brotherhood, to its members. The purpose of the society was to care for sick and impoverished members; particularly women and children.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
  •  • A discourse delivered before the African Society in Boston, 15th of July, 1822, on the anniversary celebration of the abolition of the slave trade. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/item/11025880/
1795
Published
0 0
Jamaica maroons rebel and try to incite a general slave insurrection.
Jamaica maroons rebelled and tried to incite a general slave insurrection. They gave the British a severe drubbing. Bloodhounds were used by the British against the maroons. The maroons offered to surrender on the express condition that none of their number would be deported from the island, as the legislature wished. General Walpole hesitated, but could obtain peace on no other terms so he agreed. The maroons surrendered their arms and the whites immediately seized 600 of the ringleaders and transported them to Nova Scotia. The legislature then voted a sword worth $2,500 to General Walpole, which he indignantly refused to accept. Eventually many of these exiled maroons found their way to Sierra Leone, West Africa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1975 (Feb 4)
Published
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The Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) holds its eleventh annual convention in Atlanta.
The Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) held its eleventh annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The OIC, a Black self-help organization, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan, the pastor of Philadelphia's Zion Baptist Church. Sullivan first received national attention in 1963 when, after increasing his church's membership from six hundred to five thousand, he established a day care center, a federal credit union, a community center, an employment agency, adult education reading classes, several athletic teams, choral groups, and a family counseling service. For these and other things, Sullivan was cited by Life magazine as one of one hundred outstanding young adults in the United States in 1963. During this same period he was named one of the ten outstanding young men of Philadelphia, won the city of Philadelphia Good Citizenship Award, the Silver Beaver Award of the Boy Scouts of America, the West Virginia State College Outstanding Alumnus Award, the Freedom Foundation Award, and the Russwurm Award. In 1964, at the age of forty-one, Sullivan established the first OIC in an abandoned jailhouse in Philadelphia. Starting with almost nothing, Sullivan built OIC into a $4.5 million per year enterprise that trained and found jobs for more than 200,000 people. A comparison of the OIC's expenditures with the number of people it had successfully trained over the previous ten years showed that the organization was able to put trainees through its programs at an average cost of only $1,500 each. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Caspar Weinberger stated that the OIC was more effective in training people and finding jobs for them than the vocational education programs in the nation's high schools. During the eleventh annual convention, President Gerald Ford addressed the delegates and praised the work and enthusiasm of Sullivan. The OIC head responded: “Mr. President, we are glad you came. It is time someone came to us to give the poor, and those who work with the poor, some encouragement and some hope. It is refreshing to know that now, at last somebody in the White House seems to care." Also on February 4, the OIC presented a State Government Award to Alabama Governor George Wallace. In presenting the honor, Connie Harper, the Black executive director of the Central Alabama OIC, kissed the handicapped former segregationist on the cheek. A week later, however, Tyrone Brooks, public information officer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, resigned from the Board of Directors of the Atlanta OIC in protest of the award to Wallace. Brooks called the presentation "an insult to all of Black Atlanta and Black America.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 16 - Feb 22)
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Demonstrations held in Dekalb County, Georgia in protest of racist school system.
Black Americans in DeKalb County, Georgia, staged a number of demonstrations protesting what they called “the racist” DeKalb school system. On January 15 (the anniversary of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), sixty Black parents and pupils picketed at the Columbia High School in Decatur. They accused the school system of, among other things, dishonoring the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., by refusing to declare a holiday on his birthday. However, Joe Renfroe, an assistant superintendent of schools, said that special programs, rather than a holiday, would “make all students more aware of [King's] contributions better than closing down which we do not do for the birthdays of other great men.” On February 20, about one hundred Black American students at Columbia High School were arrested after they refused to obey an order from school authorities to leave the campus. The arrested students were part of a group of 170 Black Americans who had been suspended the previous week for staging a sit down and walkout because the school failed to hold an assembly during Black History Week. On February 22, more than one hundred Black students and parents marched from Columbia High School to the DeKalb County Courthouse in the continuing protest. According to one parent: “Our children have been coming home all this time telling us how bad the situation is and some of the things that the school officials up there do to them. ... We see what they've been telling us is true." Also on February 22, Columbia High School readmitted nearly all of the Black students suspended during earlier demonstrations. DeKalb County, whose seat is the city of Decatur, is a part of the Metropolitan Atlanta area.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 12)
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Desegregation of Fort Valley State College.
United States District Court Judge Wilbur Owens, Jr., in Macon, Georgia, approved the Georgia State Board of Regents' plan for the desegregation of predominantly Black Fort Valley State College. The thrust of the plan called for upgrading academic programs, especially in agriculture, in order to attract more whites to Fort Valley State. Special education courses and a master's degree program in education were also parts of the plan. The suit against Fort Valley was filed in 1972 by a group of white citizens of the town who objected to a Black state school existing in their midst while their children attended other state schools. In his ruling, Judge Owens said: “there is no magic way whereby this college can be transformed overnight.” Yet, he continued, “the court feels the plan is real and it is designed to do what is necessary. The court believes the plan is evidence of an intention to attempt to do what the court says." Black faculty members and students at Fort Valley announced that they would probably appeal the judge's ruling. Some of them had joined the case with a contention that the desegregation suit was in reality an attempt by whites to take control of the school. Thomas M. Jackson, attorney for the Blacks, said some provisions of the plan were commendable, but that the "concept is most suspect that a college must be controlled or operated by whites in order to attract white students.” One of the attorneys for the Board of Regents told Judge Owens that there was no justification for Jackson's fears. In his ruling, Owens himself noted that "there are some who will say the plan will result in the demise of this college but the court feels that those fears are unfounded. . . . If the plan is carried out by everyone involved the end result will be that students who attend—be they Black, white or any other race—will get a good college education that they need, want, and ought to have!" Even before Judge Owens' ruling, some white faculty members were transferred to the school from other colleges and some white students had enrolled. About 25 percent of the faculty and student body were white at the time of the decision. The issues involved in the desegregation of Fort Valley State College were similar to those that have faced a number of predominantly Black colleges in the past decade. Federal law had dictated the dismantling of dual school systems. In most instances white-controlled state boards of regents or trustees had recommended the closing, merger, or transformation of predominantly Black colleges as a principal means of accomplishing these objectives. Blacks, while generally not opposed to the principle of desegregation, had often contended that the plans for achieving it would destroy essential elements of their cultural heritage and place them at an unfair disadvantage in competition for positions in the newly desegregated schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jan 17)
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Stanley Scott calls out Black-owned newspapers saying they should be kept instead of sold to wealthy whites.
Stanley Scott, President Ford's chief Black American White House aide, said during a seminar on mass communications at the John F. Kennedy Center in Atlanta, Georgia, that “fast buck operators” were threatening America's remaining Black newspapers. He said wealthy whites were "buying out Black-owned newspapers and franchising them like McDonald's hamburgers.” The “Black press should survive,” Scott added, because the “majority white press” did not cover adequately all aspects of life in Black communities. “I believe in integration,” Scott continued, “but I think we should maintain and save some of our old institutions too.” Scott estimated that of the 500 Black-oriented newspapers in the country, “only about 30 or 35 are still Black-owned.” One of those was the Atlanta Daily World, a pioneer Black daily, published by Scott's family.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 1)
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Philadelphia public schools study on learning in regards to race released.
The results of a study of the public schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, showed that whether the race of the pupil and teacher was the same appeared unrelated to learning. The report also concluded that counseling and remedial education-given current rates of expenditure—had no particular value in increasing learning. The report said that optimal learning growth at the elementary level occurred in classes that were about half Black and half white. In junior high schools, the achievement among Blacks increased as the percentage of Blacks increased. On the other hand, white junior high school students experienced a decline in learning in schools that were more than half Black. The study, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, was co-authored by Anita Summers and Barbara L. Wolfe.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1974 (Oct 31)
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Record number of Blacks running for major public office.
The Voter Education Project (VEP) in Atlanta reported the record number of 118 Blacks were seeking major public office in the November general elections in nine southern states. Seven Blacks were seeking congressional seats, fourteen were candidates for state senate seats, and the remaining ninety-seven Blacks were candidates for state houses. The VEP predicted that at least thirty-one of the candidates for state legislative seats would be successful. In 1962, when the VEP first began monitoring and promoting Black political participation in the South, there were no Black members in any southern legislature. The Black political progress continued despite “repulsive national political scandals and severe economic problems,” according to VEP executive director John Lewis. “The Black gains in state legislative posts in 1974, and the possible addition of at least one Black member of Congress from the South will be yet another milestone in a steady progression of Black political gains in the past few years,” Lewis concluded.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Jun 10)
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Harvard agrees to have 45 million dollars of group life insurance insured by Black-owned companies.
Harvard University announced that it had negotiated an agreement under which 20 percent of the university's $ 228 million in group life insurance was to be insured by the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, the two largest Black-owned insurance companies in the nation. The total amount involved in the deals was approximately $45 million, with one half going to each company. A spokesman for Harvard, Walter J. Leonard, said "the agreement is a mutually beneficial one.... Our joint venture will not only enhance North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company's and the Atlanta Life Insurance Company's images as growing and strong companies, but it will, simultaneously, radiate Harvard's concern for the development and growth of stable and strong Black business enterprises."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 16)
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Exhibit on Black history slated to tour country.
The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institute, announced that a traveling exhibit on Black history would tour the country as part of the bicentennial celebration. The exhibit would include forty-six illustrated panels, along with artifacts and a written text. Among the characters and events in the exhibit were York, William Clark's slave; Mary Fields, a colorful Western pioneer; Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, an early Black migrationist; Bill Pickett, a pioneer Black cowboy; and Mary Ellen Pleasant, a pioneer civil rights leader. York was a strapping, six-foot interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806. His fluency in French and Indian dialects as well as English made him indispensable to the exploration. He was, in fact, seen as the leader of the expedition by the Indians. Because of his services, York was granted his freedom in 1805. “Black Mary” Fields was born in slavery but migrated to Montana after emancipation. She became a friend and confidante of the nuns of Cascade, a restaurant owner, and a mail woman. She often walked through the snow when it was too deep for horses to ensure that the mail got through. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, one of the earliest “Black Moses,” led an exodus of Blacks from the South to the West in 1879. Between 1870 and 1890, a number of these Western migrations took place as Blacks sought to escape racial oppression in the Post-Reconstruction South. Men like Singleton organized “colonies” to help the Blacks move West, where they often faced legal and extra-legal moves to keep them out of the frontier territories. Once in the West, Blacks founded all-Black towns and worked on the railroads and in cattle drives. It is estimated that there were at least 8,000 Black cowboys during this pioneer era. Among the most famous of the Black cowboys was Bill Pickett, “the Dusky Demon” of the rodeo circuit. Pickett lost his life at age seventy-one, when he tried to make a comeback to the rodeo by roping and taming a wild horse. Mary Ellen Pleasant was born enslaved in Georgia but also became a migrant to the West. She was one of San Francisco's first civil rights leaders and allegedly helped to finance the raid of John Brown at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Feb 25)
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Georgia’s governor pushed affirmative action plan.
Georgia Governor George Busbee urged his state legislature to pass a bill dictating increased state employment for Blacks and women. Busbee told leaders of the House and Senate that an affirmative action plan was needed to prevent mandatory hiring quotas imposed by the federal government. In May 1974 the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission had accused eleven state departments and agencies of racial and sexual discriminatory hiring practices. The federal government had earlier imposed hiring quotas on the states of Alabama and Mississippi.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Mar 20)
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Kenneth Ivory selected as Boy of the Year by President Ford.
Kenneth Ivory, a seventeen-year-old Black youth from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was named national Boy of the Year in a White House ceremony attended by President Gerald R. Ford. Ivory, a senior at Lincoln High School in Milwaukee, was president of his student body and captain of the football, baseball, and basketball teams at the time of his selection as Boy of the Year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 23)
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Racial fighting erupts at Boca Raton High School.
Racial fighting erupted at the Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton, Florida. Three students and a police officer were injured. Two white students were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. Police said the melee began about seven a.m. when several buses carrying Black students from Delray Beach arrived at the school. The Blacks discovered a racial slur on the wall, became incensed, and the fight was on. The school, located in a resort area for millionaires, was first desegregated in 1971. At the time of the racial incident, it had 225 Black and 1,050 white students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 23)
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Black Panther Party leader and 12 others arrested during a demonstration outside Georgia Labor Commissioner’s office.
Thirteen people, including self-avowed Communist and Black Panther Party leader Ron Carter, were arrested during a demonstration outside the office of Georgia State Labor Commissioner Sam Caldwell. The protest centered on demands for an extension of unemployment benefits, a minimum $75 per week payment, and a reduction of red tape in connection with unemployment aids. The arrests came after the demonstrators refused to clear the halls outside of Caldwell's office. Labor department officials had told the protesters that they could picket on the sidewalk outside the building.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Apr 12)
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Josephine Baker, one of the most popular American singers in France during the 1920s and 1930s, dies in Paris at age sixty-nine.
Josephine Baker, one of the most popular American singers in France during the 1920s and 1930s, died in Paris at age sixty-nine. Baker began dancing and singing as a small child. She left her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, with a dance troupe at age fifteen and began regular performances at the Music Hall and the Plantation Club in Harlem. After Broadway rejected her as being "too ugly," she went to Paris, where in 1925 she became an instant success in the all-Black Blackbird Revue at the Champs-Elysees theater. In the 1920s and 1930s, Baker also starred in the Folies-Bergere and the Casino de Paris. She became a French citizen in 1937. During the Second World War, Baker won the Croix de guerre and Resistance Medal for her dangerous assignments with French intelligence units. Baker announced numerous retirements but kept coming out of them in order to raise money for the orphan home that she set up in the French countryside for children of all races and nationalities. Two days before her death, she celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of her first appearance in Paris with a gala performance of Josephine. Princess Grace of Monaco was one of the celebrities in the audience. French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing sent a congratulatory telegram. During this performance, Baker said, “I have two loves, Paris and my own country.” She collapsed two days later, prior to going on stage. Baker once said “the day I no longer go on stage will be the day I die."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1975 (Sep 1)
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Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr. becomes first Black american four-star general.
Lieutenant General Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr., became the first Black American to be promoted to the rank of four star general in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Pentagon announced that James, a veteran of nearly two hundred combat missions in Korea and Vietnam, was also appointed chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). James, age fifty-five, was born in Pensacola, Florida, and graduated from Tuskegee Institute. He was one of the original Black pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, predecessor to the present-day Air Force. He achieved a great deal of notoriety for his speeches on Americanism and patriotism. With the appointment of James, there were twenty-one Black generals and admirals in the army, air force, and navy out of a total of about twelve hundred in the U.S. Armed Services.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Mar 20)
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Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and John Artis released from prison after serving 9 years from wrongful conviction.
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis were released from prison in New Jersey after serving nine years for murder. Carter, a former middleweight boxer, and Artis, his "casual friend," had been convicted in 1967 for allegedly participating in the fatal shootings of three people in a Patterson, New Jersey, tavern on June 17, 1966. The shootings occurred at a time of heightened racial tensions in the city and the two Black men were convicted largely on the testimony of two ex-convicts who claimed "they had seen the defendants at the murder scene with guns." But the defendants maintained their innocence and many Blacks believed they were being prosecuted and persecuted because of their race. In September 1974, the New York Times reported that Alfred Bello and Arthur Bradley, the former convicts, had recanted their testimony and claimed that "they had been pressured to lie" by Passaic County (of which Patterson is the county seat) detectives. On March 17, the Supreme Court of New Jersey unanimously reversed the convictions of Carter and Artis because "evidence beneficial to the defense had been withheld" at the original trial. This evidence "included secret promises by detectives" to Bello and Bradley "that they would be aided in unrelated criminal cases if they testified for the prosecution." On March 20, pending new trials, Carter was released on $20,000 bail and Artis was set free on $15,000 bail. Some of the bail money was provided by heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a supporter of the campaign by the Carter-Artis Defense Committee to win a new trial for the men.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jan 30)
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John Leflore, Black legislator and civil rights activists dies from heart attack.
John L. LeFlore, Black legislator and civil rights activist, died of an apparent heart attack in Mobile, Alabama. He was serving his first term as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. Prior to being elected to the legislature, LeFlore had spent thirty-eight years as a civil rights activist, much of it as executive secretary of the Mobile Branch of the NAACP. He helped lead the successful challenge to Alabama's Democratic White Primary in 1944. LeFlore was also a member of the Alabama Advisory Council to the United States Civil Rights Commission.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Jun 25)
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US Supreme Court votes to prohibit private schools from excluding Blacks on the basis of race.
The United States Supreme Court voted 7-2 to prohibit private schools from excluding Blacks on the basis of their race. The private school case stemmed from a suit filed by the parents of two Black children who were turned away from the Fairfax-Brewster School and Bobbe's Private School, both in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. The two schools had denied that they discriminated and said they had not had previous Black applicants. They contended, however, that they had a right to discriminate if they so choose. The Council for American Private Education, which represented about 90 percent of the nation's private school enrollment, and the Department of Justice supported the Black children in their suit, but the Southern Independent Schools Association, which represented 395 schools, and President Gerald R. Ford opposed judicial relief for the Blacks. President Ford did say that he personally disapproved of discrimination against Blacks by such schools. According to the Court, racial discrimination by private schools was a "classic violation" of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that prohibited, among other things, discrimination in the enforcement of contracts. The Court continued: “It may be assumed that parents have a First Amendment right to send their children to educational institutions that promote the belief that racial segregation is desirable, and that the children have an equal right to attend such institutions. . . . But it does not follow that the practice of excluding racial minorities from such institutions is also protected by the same principle." In reacting to the ruling, Andrew Lipscombe, an attorney for the Fairfax-Brewster, Virginia, schools, said: “Parents are not going to be able to have the associations for their children that they wish, even in private situations which in small, private schools are intimate." The Court's majority opinion was written by Justice Potter Stewart. In their dissents, Justices Byron R. White and William H. Rehnquist said the Act of 1866 prohibited only discrimination imposed by state law; hence the majority had gone too far in outlawing bias in the private schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Aug 28)
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Death of former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie.
Haile Selassie, former emperor of Ethiopia and also known as "King of Kings," "The Conquering Lion of Judah," and "Elect of God," died of prostate gland problems in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the age of eighty-three. Selassie had been a hero for many Black Americans since 1936 when he made an impassioned plea and took a firm stance for Ethiopian self-determination before the League of Nations following the invasion of his country by fascist Italy. Selassie last visited the United States in 1969 and laid a wreath on the grave of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Five years later, the emperor was deposed in a military coup after ruling the African nation (one of human civilization's oldest countries) for fifty-seven years. Selassie was "the world's longest serving monarch."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Oct 4)
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US Secretary of Agriculture resigns after making uncomplimentary remarks about Black Americans.
President Gerald R. Ford accepted the resignation of Secretary of Agriculture Earl L. Butz, who had made uncomplimentary remarks about Black Americans. The President said it was one of the saddest decisions of his presidency. Butz, in a private conversation following the Republican National Convention in August 1976, had accused Blacks of laziness and shiftlessness. The "off-color” remarks were traced to the secretary in September 1976. Black American civil rights leaders and Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, among others, had roundly criticized Butz for his racial slurs and Ford for not immediately firing him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1976 (Dec 16)
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Andrew Jackson Young nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
President-elect Jimmy Carter announced the nomination of Georgia Congressman Andrew Jackson Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The nomination marked the first time a Black American had ever been asked to lead the American delegation at the world peace organization. The position also carries cabinet-level status in the United States government. Young, the first Black congressman from Georgia since 1871, was serving his second term in Washington at the time of the nomination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Jan 19)
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Clifford Alexander, Jr. is appointed as Secretary of the Army.
Clifford Alexander, Jr., a forty-three year-old black attorney, was named Secretary of the Army by President-elect Jimmy Carter. Alexander, who served one year as a private in the Army during 1958 and 1959, was Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) under President Richard M. Nixon but resigned in the middle of a five-year term because of policy disagreements with the Republican administration. He had also served as an assistant district attorney in New York City and a White House aide under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Alexander practiced law in Washington, D.C. for more than six years and ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in that city in 1975. Alexander's appointment marked the first time in United States history that a Black American had served as Secretary of the Army.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (May 16)
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Ali defeats Evangelista to retain world heavyweight boxing championship title.
Muhammad Ali retained his world heavyweight boxing championship with a unanimous decision over twenty-two year old Alfredo Evangelista after fifteen rounds in Landover, Maryland. Evangelista, a native of Uruguay who had been heralded as the Spanish Rocky, never caught Ali with a solid punch during the entire fight. He fought a mostly defensive contest. Ali received $2.75 million for the victory, $200,000 of which had been used to buy tickets for disadvantaged youths to attend the fight. It was the ninth time in his second reign as champion that Ali had defended his title. He had been beaten only twice, by Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, in 56 career bouts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 9)
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Claire Ford is named miss Black America.
Claire Ford, an eighteen-year-old student at Memphis State University, was crowned Miss Black America for 1977 in Santa Monica, California. Mary Denise Bentley, Miss Indiana, was the first runner-up. Ford, who entered the pageant as Miss Tennessee, won $10,000 in prize money, an acting role in the television miniseries "Roots: The Next Generation," and screen tests at both NBC and Universal Studios. Ford later revealed that she wanted to become a lawyer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (May 29 - Jun 3)
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FBI urged to release “all the facts” regarding MLK Jr by Southern Christian Leadership Conference president.
On May 29, Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) urged the FBI to release "all the facts" in the Bureau's attempt to discredit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the 1960s. At the same time, while refusing "to comment specifically on the alleged FBI excesses," King's widow, Coretta Scott King, said “J. Edgar Hoover's monstrous acts refuse to leave the stage. He is dead, but his despicable legacy lives on." Lowery's comments came in response to a recent report that "a prominent Black leader worked with the FBI in its undercover campaign to replace King as head of the civil rights movement." He said the new report was "another in a long line of FBI attempts to smear Black leadership. ... This is a terrible shadow to be holding over the head of Black leadership. ... I find it incredible [that] any prominent Black leader would cooperate to destroy the movement." Lowery added that civil rights leaders had always "had reason to believe that FBI informants were working within the movement." On June 3, the Atlanta Daily World published an article that reported "claims that Roy Wilkins, former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was the Black collaborator who sided with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to discredit the late Dr. M. L. King, Jr.” Lowery gave a "blistering" response to these new allegations. Excerpts from Lowery's statement follows: "Black folks in particular and the nation in general must see through this vicious effort to shift a portion of the blame for attacks on Dr. King to the Black community. ..." "We (SCLC) in no way condone nor place any credence in attempts to vilify Roy Wilkins, whose distinguished career in civil rights speaks for itself. We condemn the continued attempts of the FBI to discredit Black leaders and impede the civil rights movement. ..." "The fact that Wilkins had conversations with the FBI in no way indicates that he collaborated with them to discredit Dr. King and the movement. The failure of the FBI to substantiate the fantastic claim that a Black leader collaborated with them is evidence that the FBI's intent is to discredit, divide, and destroy.. [Referring to an FBI memo which described the so-called collaborator as 'young and ambitious,' and since the collaboration was alleged to have taken place in 1964] I hardly consider a man in his mid-60s [as Wilkins was in 1964) as 'young and ambitious'." "We're all aware ... that in the mid60's Mr. Hoover had a fierce determination to discredit Dr. King and thereby weaken the civil rights movement by establishing the Communist influence or by any other means." JUNE 3, 1978 Hurley Honored. Several hundred people gathered at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, to pay tribute to Ruby Hurley, southeastern regional director of the NAACP, on the occasion of her retirement after more than three decades of service to the nation's "oldest, largest, and most respected” civil rights organization. Hurley, a native of Washington, D.C., joined the NAACP after heading a committee "that sought to establish singer Marian Anderson's right to sing" at Constitution Hall in the capital in 1939. Because of white opposition, the famed opera star had to perform her concert at the Lincoln Memorial instead. In 1943, Hurley joined the NAACP as national youth director. In her eight years as youth director, the NAACP's membership tripled to 92 college chapters and 178 youth councils, enrolling 25,000 members. Following her success in the youth division, Hurley was sent into the Deep South to coordinate membership campaigns and reactivate dormant branches. Out of these activities, the southeastern regional office, embracing the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, was established. It became the largest region of the entire NAACP. Hurley began her work in the South in 1951, the same year that a Christmas night bomb killed Harry T. Moore, the NAACP's Florida coordinator, and his wife, Harriett. Hate and violence, then, became her constant companions for the next twenty-seven years. In an interview with the Atlanta Constitution on May 30, 1978, Hurley, who said she "never found time to sit down and worry about the obscene telephone calls, threats against her life, and 'never say die pro-segregation politicians," recalled her life's work and commented on present and future trends. For example, Hurley recalled her attempts to gather information about the murder of Black teenager Emmett Till in 1955 by posing as a field hand at several Mississippi plantations: "I must have been crazy. Young people talk about what they would have done if they were living during those times. ... But they wouldn't have done anything. They couldn't have done any more than their elders. ..." "I started worrying about Black young people when I heard them saying they're Black and they're proud. But just being Black is no reason to be proud.... My feeling is that if you're going to be proud, you ought to have some knowledge about the history of the Black race to build a basis to be proud. You won't have to go bragging that you're Black and proud...." "As long as there are Black people and white people, there will be conflicts...." "There is still a lot of work to be done, and I'm too old to do it. I can't keep up with the pace and maintain sanity anymore. I'll leave that to someone else."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Nov 17)
Published
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FBI agents testify before congressional Select Committee on Assassinations regarding MLK Jr.
Two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charles D. Brennan and George C. Moore, testified before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives that the Bureau's eleven-year surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was based solely on the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's "hatred of the civil rights leader.” The two agents added that “neither the surveillance ordered under the guise of communist influences on King nor that supposedly linking King's efforts with radical violent groups could be justified.” However, the two witnesses did not link the FBI directly to the murder of King. Another FBI agent, Arthur Murtaugh, had told the U.S. Senate Select Committee of Intelligence in 1975 that another agent, James J. Rose, who worked with him in the Bureau's Atlanta office, was "overjoyed" when he heard of King's murder. Murtaugh added, "I never heard anyone say anything favorable about Dr. King in ... 10 years. ... It just defies reason to say that the same people who have engaged in a 10-year vendetta against Dr. King should investigate his murder." But the Bureau did just that, and within twenty-four hours after King's assassination the FBI concluded that there was no conspiracy and its investigation was basically in search of the fugitive (James Earl) Ray, according to Murtaugh. In a syndicated column published in the Atlanta Constitution on September 11, 1978, Jesse L. Jackson, one of the civil rights leaders who was with King when the fatal bullet struck him on April 4, 1968, said “circumstantial evidence" suggested that the FBI was "deeply implicated” in King's assassination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 5)
Published
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Labor day church picnic in Charlotte turns deadly.
On September 5, Kenneth Wilson, a seventeen-year-old white youth wearing a Nazi armband, shot into a crowd of about two hundred Blacks attending a Labor Day church picnic in Charlotte, North Carolina, before killing himself. One Black man, Roosevelt Davis, aged twenty-nine, was killed in the attack. On September 7, a second victim, Jo Ann Terry, a twenty-eight-old widow, died of wounds received two days earlier. Two other Black victims survived the assault.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Sep 8)
Published
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New England Journal of Medicine lists homicides as the leading cause of death nationally among Black men aged 25-34.
A study by scholars at the Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, confirmed that homicide was "the leading cause of death nationally among Black men aged 25-34." Although the research team focused their study on Cleveland, they also used a federal government report entitled "Homicide Trends in the United States” to draw nationwide conclusions. In Cleveland, however, between 1958 and 1962, 20 Blacks died of homicide for every white, and from 1963 to 1974, 12 Blacks for every white. Nationwide, in 1975, 1,913 Blacks between the ages of 24 and 34 died of accidental causes; 3,256 from disease; 439 from suicide, and 2,506 from homicide. The study was published in the September 1977 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Feb 15)
Published
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Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight boxing championship and the biggest upset in world heavyweight title history since Ali dethroned Sonny Liston.
Leon Spinks, a Black former Marine, defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world. The championship was given to Spinks, age twenty-four, after fifteen rounds on a split decision by ring officials. The thirty-six-year-old Ali bled from the mouth during most of the fight. Both men were former Olympic light heavyweight champions-Spinks in 1976 at Montreal and Ali in 1960 in Rome. Spinks' victory represented one of the biggest upsets in world heavyweight title history since Ali, an 8-1 underdog himself at the time, dethroned the late Sonny Liston in 1964. It also ranked alongside Jim Braddock's upset over Max Baer in 1935, Jersey Joe Walcott's defeat of Ezzard Charles in 1951, and Ingemar Johansson's win over Floyd Patterson in 1959. Spinks received $350,000 for his victory; Ali made $3.5 million in defeat.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1977 (Oct 18)
Published
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Reggie Jackson makes single World Series game home run record.
Reggie Jackson, Black American outfielder for the New York Yankees of the American Baseball League, hit three home runs in a single World Series game, the first time in history that such a feat had been accomplished. The Yankees went on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National Baseball League 8-4 and to capture the 1977 World Series title. Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda called Jackson's achievement "the greatest performance that I've ever seen in a World Series." Jackson himself commented, "It's a nice feeling, but I'm beat. I know there's a God in heaven."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Mar 15)
Published
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President Carter awards Anthony Owens, a Black teen, “Boy of the Year.”
President Jimmy Carter presented Anthony Owens, a seventeen-year-old Black-American youth from Austin, Texas, with a plaque naming him Boy of the Year. Owens won the distinction in a competition sponsored by Boys' Clubs of America.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Apr 24)
Published
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Morehouse College’s medical school is given accreditation, becoming the first new predominantly Black medical school in the U.S. in 100 years.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the official accrediting agency for medical schools in the United States, announced provisional accreditation for the School of Medicine at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The decision paved the way for the opening of the first new predominantly Black medical school in the United States in one hundred years. The other two Black medical schools are Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, and Howard University in Washington, D.C. In September 1978, the new medical school planned to enroll a class of twenty-four students in a two-year program. By 1983, the institution planned to begin graduating four-year medical students. Until that time, under an arrangement with four other medical schools, Emory University (also in Atlanta), the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Meharry and Howard, Morehouse students would go elsewhere for their final two years of training. Discussions about a possible medical school at Morehouse College began in the 1960s, but it was not until February, 1973, when the institution received a federal grant of almost $100,000 to study the feasibility of such a school, that "intensive efforts” got under the way. Medical officials had consistently pointed out the "great need” for more Black doctors in the United States. Of the 370,000 physicians in the United States in 1976, only 6,600, or 1.8 percent, were Black. In response to the news of provisional accreditation, Dr. Louis Sullivan, dean of the medical school, remarked: “As we look to the future, we are confident that, with continued broad support from both public and private sources, we will train those primary-care physicians needed for our underserved rural areas and inner cities in Georgia, the Southeast and the nation."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Aug 20)
Published
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Detroit Free Press publishes proof that shows FBI gave a heads up to KKK leadership about Freedom Rider buses headed to Birmingham.
The Detroit Free Press published details of documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that showed that the FBI passed along information about two Freedom Rider buses to a Birmingham, Alabama, police sergeant who was a known Ku Klux Klan agent in 1961. The actual documents consisted of approximately three thousand pages of letters, memoranda, and teletype. The documents indicated that the FBI knew that Sgt. Thomas Cook of the Birmingham Police Department's intelligence unit was passing the information that the Bureau gave him to the "top leadership" of the Ku Klux Klan. The papers also showed that the chief of the FBI office in Birmingham called Cook to inform him of the progress the buses were "making through the racially tense" South and when they arrived at terminals in Birmingham. They further revealed a plan under which the Birmingham police agreed to get to the terminals fifteen or twenty minutes after the arrival of the buses in order to give Klansmen enough time to attack Freedom Riders. The documents were released to ACLU attorneys for Walter Bergman, aged seventy-eight, a former professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who had filed suit against the FBI alleging that he was partially paralyzed from a beating he suffered at the hands of Ku Klux Klansmen when they intercepted a Freedom Riders' bus in Anniston, Alabama (fifty miles east of Birmingham). On the same day, a similar Klan assault occurred in Birmingham. In commenting on the documents, Howard Simon, executive director of the Michigan ACLU, said that they showed that the FBI's "failure to provide protection provoked” the assaults on the Freedom Riders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1978 (Aug 20)
Published
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Lee Elder wins the Westchester Golf Classic in Harrison, NY.
Lee Elder, one of the few Black professional golfers in the United States, won the Westchester Golf Classic in Harrison, New York. The triumph resulted in a purse of $300,000. The forty-four-year-old Elder won with a 274, ten under par on the 6,603-yard Westchester County Club course. In the previous month, he had won the less prestigious Milwaukee Open. Elder called the Westchester victory "a little more significant to me personally" than his historic feat of four years ago, when he became the first Black to compete in the Masters Tournament held in Augusta, Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (May 31) - 1871 (Oct 17)
Published
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Congress passes The Enforcement Acts, intended to protect Black voters.
Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant made efforts to prevent intimidation of Black voters. The Enforcement Acts (Ku Klux Klan Acts) and a presidential proclamation were the most important measures.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1797 (Jan 5)
Published
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Polish General Tadeusz Kosciuszko establishes a school for Blacks.
Polish General Tadeusz Kosciuszko was awarded a land grant in Ohio for his services during the Revolutionary War. Kosciuszko directed the land be sold and the proceeds be used to found a school for Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1021 - 1026 AD
Published
0 0
Al-Zahir li-i’zaz Din Allah ruled Egypt. After his death, his son, Mustansir, took over and is regarded as one of the best rulers of his time.
Zahir ruled Egypt; his wife was a Black Sudanese woman. After the death of her husband, she largely influenced the rule of her son who came to the throne in 1036 and ruled until 1094, the longest reign in the dynasty. This son, M'add, took the name of Mustansir and is regarded as the best and ablest of the rulers of his time. He loved and encouraged learning and had a library of 120,000 books. The "Black Dowager," who had great influence over him, sailed the Nile in her silver barge and imported additional Black troops from the south, until Mustansir had in his escort 50,000 Black soldiers and swordsmen, 20,000 Berbers, 10,000 Turks, and 30,000 enslaved whites. For years all Upper Egypt was held by Black regiments.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1020 - 1158 AD
Published
0 0
Nedjeh, a Black slave, rules Arabia.
Nedjeh, a former enslaved Black man, and his descendants ruled Arabia.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1009 CE
Published
0 0
Za Kusay, the king of the Songhai, converts to Islam.
The sixteenth king of the Songhai, Za Kusay, was converted to Islam; since then all Songhai princes have been Muslim.
c. 1000 - 1100 CE
Published
0 0
The ancestors of the Yoruba people cross the Niger river and establish a village.
Ancestors of the Yoruba crossed the Niger river from the northeast and established the village of Ile Ife.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1000 CE
Published
0 0
The Shona people build Iron Age settlements in Southern Africa. They produce goods and engage in Indian Ocean trade.
Along the southern bank of the Limpopo, Shona peoples established themselves and built a series of Iron Age settlements which were further developed by new groups from north of the Limpopo in later centuries. They worked finely in cast and beaten gold, produced hand-turned pottery, and traded their products for Indian cottons and other Indian Ocean imports. They buried their kings with a wealth of gold ornament. Around the year 1600 they were displaced by another set of rulers from across the Limpopo, relatives of the Karanga called the Venda, who remained until the early nineteenth century.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1000 CE
Published
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Persian prince Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi goes to Africa’s east coast trading settlements and starts making treaties with African rulers.
The ruling Persian prince from Shiraz, Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, arrived and made numerous treaties with African rulers along the coast. There were many trading settlements on the East Coast. Central African ivory and gold trade with the East Coast was already in existence. There were also imports of Indian cottons, beads, and other goods.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
988 CE
Published
0 0
Ziri, the Berber, wages war against Muzaffar. Muzaffar wins the battle.
Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar, the son of the Caliph Almanzor, fought a battle near Ceuta, in North Africa, against Ziri, the Berber. The combat was waged from dawn to sunset and Muzaffar was on the verge of defeat. An African whose brother had been put to death by Ziri's command avenged himself by wounding Ziri three times and then retreated to the Spanish lines. At first the African's story was not believed because the banner of the Berbers still floated aloft. Finally, Muzaffar was convinced and ordered an attack that put the Berbers to flight. Three years later Ziri died when his wounds were reopened.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
980 CE
Published
0 0
The Kilwa Sultanate is founded by Persian prince Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi. The main purpose of this settlement is to recruit slaves from African chiefs, and it was their primary source of wealth.
A sultanate, with its seat of government at Kilwa between Cape Delgado and the Island of Mafia, was founded by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, a Persian prince. It had as vassals the sultans of Sofala, Angoshe, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Pemba, Mombaz or Mombasa, Melinde or Malindi, Kismayu, and Magadoo (Benadir). These diverse Arab and Persian sultans were not, properly speaking, governors of states. Their authority was exercised only over Mussulman colonies of Asiatic origin established around their respective residences and over the Africans living in the proximity of these residences. Their principal occupation was to recruit slaves from African chiefs, with whom they conspired. Slaves were procured by means of raids and sold to them. They in turn sent the slaves to the ports of the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf or resold them to Portuguese slave traders. Slave trading constituted almost the only commerce and the only excuse for the Mussulman settlements of East Africa and was the source of their prosperity.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
975 CE
Published
0 0
Kilwa is founded. It eventually becomes an important commercial port.
From the founding of Kilwa until its capture by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, forty sovereigns ruled there. Kilwa eventually became the most important commercial port on the East African coast.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
935 CE - 936 CE
Published
0 0
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid rules Egypt, then is succeeded by Abu-l-Misk, a Black Abyssinian, who rules Egypt for another 22 years.
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid ruled Egypt as governor. He was succeeded by a Black Abyssinian eunuch, Abu-l-Misk Kafur. Kafur ruled Egypt for twenty-two years from 946 to 968. He conquered Damascus and Aleppo and incorporated Syria under Egyptian rule. He died in 968.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
862 CE
Published
0 0
Enslaved Blacks from Viking raids on Spain and North Africa, land in Ireland. They later revolt and dominate the Euphrates delta for fourteen years.
The Annals of Ireland record the landing of enslaved Blacks ('blue men' they are called in both Irish and Norse) by Vikings returning from raids on Spain and North Africa. In 869 CE, the Persian adventurer, Al Kabith, summoned the enslaved Blacks to revolt, and they flocked to his side in the tens of thousands. In 871 they captured Basra (located in Iraq) and for fourteen years dominated the Euphrates delta.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
846 CE
Published
0 0
The Sefawa dynasty is founded, and they rule the Kingdom of Kanem, which emerges in central Africa.
The Sefawa (aka Sayfawa, Sefuwa, or Sefouwa) dynasty is founded. The Kingdom of Kanem emerges shortly after, near Lake Chad. The Sefawa dynasty are the Muslim kings of the Kanem-Bornu Empire.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
758 CE
Published
0 0
Abd al-Rahman I, the son of Umayyad Prince Mu’awiya ibn Hisham and his concubine Ra’ha, a Berber woman, arrives in Spain and eventually founds an independent government.
Abd al-Rahman I, a Prince of Umayyads, arrived in Spain and after thirty years of fighting, founded an independent government. In the tenth century, it became the Caliphate of Cordova. His power was passed to the Black Sarakolles with whom Semites had amalgamated. Abd al-Rahman I's full name is: Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
711 CE
Published
0 0
The Moors invade the Visigothic Kingdom in Spain at the Battle of Guadalete.
The Moorish conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in Spain under the leadership of Tarik at the battle of Guadalete. Arabs split their forces into two columns. One of them crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to invade Spain. The other traveled southward, following the caravan routes across the Sahara to seek the source of Sudanese gold.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 700 CE
Published
0 0
The Swahili culture begins to develop along the east coast of Africa.
Early origins along the East Coast of Swahili culture, and of the Swahili language, a Bantu language influenced by Arabic and other African languages. There is also a development of trade and more permanent settlements along the coast, including that of Unguja Ukuu in Zanzibar.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 700 CE
Published
0 0
Bantu speaking Africans move south, carrying the Iron Age into South Africa, and create an agricultural revolution.
Groups south of the Zambezi region began to move southwards across the Limpopo River. They carried the Iron Age into South Africa and initiated an agricultural revolution using their own iron implements for the systematic cultivation of crops. With this dispersal came the development of many different Bantu languages.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 700 CE
Published
0 0
The Indian Ocean trade begins to expand as Muslim Arabs start to establish trading stations in India, China, and East Africa.
There is an expansion of Indian Ocean trade as Muslim Arabs establish trading stations in Northwest India, Ceylon, Southeast Asia, Southern China, and East Africa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 700 CE
Published
0 0
The Iron Age Bantu speaking Africans begin to settle in East and Central Africa.
Early Iron Age peoples of the Bantu language family settled in small villages in many parts of East and Central Africa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
690 CE - 1335 CE
Published
0 0
The Za dynasty reigns in the Songhai Kingdom.
The African kingdom of the Songhay (Songhai), with its capital at Gao, had a dynasty called the Dia, or Za, which remained in power on the western Niger from 690 to 1335. The known history of Songhay covers 1,000 years and three dynasties, and centered in the great bend of the Niger.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
639 CE
Published
0 0
The Muslim conquest of Egypt begins.
The Arabs invaded African Egypt under commander Amr-ibn-el-Asr, taking it from the Eastern Roman Emperors and securing as allies the native Black Egyptians, now called Copts, and using Sudanese Blacks, Persians, and Turks in their armies. They came in partly as friends of Egyptians against the tyranny of the Eastern Roman Empire, partly even as defenders of the heretical Coptic Church. It must be remembered that they were related by blood and history to these Black people. Nubians from the Sudan took frequent part in these wars. The mediterranean port of Alexandria surrendered in 641.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
622 CE
Published
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Muhammad ibn Abdullah (Prophet Muhammad) journeys from Mecca to Medina, introducing Islam across North Africa.
Prophet Muhammad journeyed with three companions from Mecca to Medina. From this journey, or hegira, the world religion of Islam was introduced by its soldiers, teachers, and merchants all the way across North Africa, southwestern Europe, and in the east as far as Malaysia and China.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
492 CE
Published
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Gelasius I, whose parents were both African, is elected pope in the Roman Empire.
Gelasius I, born in Rome of African parents, was elected pope, then died four years after his election. A writer of letters, books, and hymns, he taught the presence of Christ in the sacrament, and the supremacy of the pope over all the churches.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
320 CE
Published
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The Kingdom of Axum completes the destruction of the Kingdom of Kush, and King Ezana accepts Christianity.
Axum completed the destruction of the Kingdom of Kush (Meroe). King Ezana of Axum accepted Christianity. The Axumite port of Adulis continued as an important center for the western trade of the Indian Ocean.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
311 CE
Published
0 0
Pope Melchiades, a North African, is elected pope in the Roman empire.
Melchiades, an African, was elected Pope, and remained so until his death in January, 314 CE.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 300 CE
Published
0 0
The Kingdom of Awkar emerges.
Kingdom of Awkar emerged under a chief named Gana.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 189 CE - 199 CE
Published
0 0
Pope Victor I, an African, unifies the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first of three African popes.
Pope Victor I, an African, unified the church by fixing the present date for Easter and making Latin the official language. Victor was the first of three African popes in the early Catholic Church.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 64 CE - 68 CE
Published
0 0
Roman Emperor Nero plans to invade Ethiopia so he sends scouts to report back.
The Roman Emperor Nero planned to invade Ethiopia and sent some scouts to report. They penetrated as far as the region of the Sadd.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1 CE
Published
0 0
Metal working develops in northern Zambia, and Africa’s east coast becomes a hot bed for trade.
The skills of metal-working began to be understood and practiced, perhaps beginning with copper in the regions of modern Katanga and northern Zambia. They soon began working in iron. Population was small. There is evidence of early farming and cultivation of millet. Sailors from Egypt and Arabia visited the East Coast of Africa for trade, buying African ivory, tortoise shell, and other products. There were African sultans in Bengal before the Portuguese arrived, at which time Africans were already living near Madras. Janjira, a state south of Bombay, is of African origin. Kush was still rich and powerful. Axum, in northern Ethiopia, became the center of a trading kingdom that developed rapidly. Its main port, Adulis, was visited by ships from Egypt and India.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
225 BC - 200 BC
Published
0 0
Nubian king Ergamenes unites the kingdoms of Ethiopia.
Ergamenes united the kingdoms of Ethiopia. He was strongly influenced by Greek culture which from the fifth to the second century BC penetrated Africa from the east. At the same time he began to employ Ethiopian speech in writing and used a new Ethiopian alphabet.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
328 BC - 308 BC
Published
0 0
Kushite king Nastasen moves the capital of Kush from Napata to Meroe.
Nastasen, successor of Horsiatef, moved the capital from Napata to Meroe although Napata continued to be the religious capital and the Ethiopian kings were still crowned on its gold throne.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1794 (Jun 10)
Published
0 0
The first American A.M.E. church is founded in Philadelphia, PA.
Richard Allen of Philadelphia founded the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first A.M.E. church in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1785
Published
0 0
Enslaved Black woman, Sally Hemings, and Thomas Jefferson begin an intimate relationship at Jefferson’s Monticello plantation. They eventually have multiple children together.
Sally Hemings was believed to have captured the heart of Thomas Jefferson, who at the time was a forty-five-year-old widower. Born in 1773, Hemings had arrived at Jefferson's Monticello plantation in 1775 as an enslaved woman. She accompanied his daughter to join him in France and was apparently educated and financially compensated during the three-year stay. Soon after she returned to Monticello, in 1789, Hemings gave birth to a son. Writings by Jefferson, Hemings's children, and Virginia's Richmond Recorder evidenced their intimate relationship and Jefferson's paternity to this and probably six other of Hemings's children. Hemings was discreetly freed by Jefferson's daughter after his death in 1826. Hemmings died in 1835.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
332 BC
Published
0 0
Alexander the Great conquers Egypt and makes one of his most illustrious Black soldiers, Clitus Niger, King of Bactria.
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. He had Blacks in his armies; one of the most illustrious was Clitus, whom he made King of Bactria and commander of his cavalry. Clitus's mother, Dropsica, was Alexander's nurse, and Clitus is mentioned by Plutarch and others as Clitus Niger, that is, Clitus the Negro.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1777 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
Early segregation in education begins in New Jersey.
New Jersey began educating whites and Blacks separately.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
Draft
0 0
First Ashanti war under King Osai Tutu Kwamina
1787
Published
0 0
The Manumission Society establishes the New York African Free School.
The Manumission Society established the New York African Free School, where enrollment averaged about 50 students. Another school for Black Americans was built in Philadelphia, and six more were established in the next ten years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787
Published
0 0
The Negro Masonic Order African Lodge was established.
Negro Masonic Order African Lodge was established through the efforts of Prince Hall, an active member of the Boston Free African Society. Prince Hall and others petitioned the Grand Lodge of England for permission to establish this Masonic Lodge.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
500 BC
Published
0 0
The Kushite kingdom of Meroe arises when Sabaeans from southern Arabia settle in northern Ethiopia and build a new culture centered around iron-working.
Rise of the Kushite kingdom of Meroe, a busy iron-working center on the Middle Nile in the northern part of the modern Republic of Sudan. Sabaeans from southern Arabia settled in northern Ethiopia and with the local peoples began to build a new culture that was to be the parent culture of Axum. The gradual replacement of stone by iron for essential weapons and tools began. By c. 200 BC the metal founders of Meroe had built a major industry in iron. But the actual setting up of iron-extractive and forging industries south of the Sahara seems not to have occurred until soon after 300 BC. The existence of an iron-using industry over a fairly wide area of the Niger and Benue rivers (in north central Nigeria) has been validated by archaeological evidence.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
688 BC - 663 BC
Published
0 0
Pharaoh Taharqa, widely regarded as the greatest Ethiopian king, reigns. It is an era of great prosperity and cultural advancement.
Reign of "the greatest of the Ethiopian kings," Taharqa (Taharka). His reign, with all its wars, was an era of prosperity and cultural advancement. It has been said that he, with four other kings, led expeditions as far as the Straits of Gibraltar. Famed British archaeologist Randall-MacIver stated "It seems amazing that an African Negro should have been able, with any sort of justification, to style himself Emperor of the World." Taharka died in 663 BC and was succeeded by his nephew Tanwetamani, during whose reign the Assyrians drove the Kushites out of Egypt.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
700 BC
Published
0 0
Pharaoh Necho of Egypt circumnavigates Africa.
Pharaoh Necho of Egypt sent out the Phoenician expedition that circumnavigated Africa.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 710 BC
Published
0 0
King Piye dies.
King Piankhy (Piye) died, having completed the conquest of Egypt, and ruled over a land that stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean to the borders of modern Ethiopia -- almost a quarter of the African continent.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
732 BC
Published
0 0
King Piye is informed that a Libyan prince and his army is invading. He skillfully attacks and defeats the Libyan army.
Piankhy (Piye) was informed by courier that a Libyan prince from the Delta was marching south. Piankhy waited for the Libyan to get as far as possible from his base. When he reached Hermophlis, 400 miles south of the Mediterranean, Piankhy started the attack, assembling an army at Napata, and ordered them to march northward to Thebes. Finally, he joined his armies, swept through Egypt, and received the submission of sixteen princes.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
744 BC - 710 BC
Published
0 0
Kushite king Piye reigns over Egypt.
Kushite king Piye (also known as Piankhi or Piankhy) reigned. He inherited from his father, Kashta, dominion over Egypt as far northward as Thebes, perhaps 200 or 300 miles farther, and he served as governor or viceroy over Egypt under the Ethiopian crown before the conquest.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
750 BC - 308 BC
Published
0 0
Under Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I, the Ethiopian kingdom expands and rules all of Egypt for a century.
When Black Egyptian pharaoh Shesheng (or Shoshenq) I, the Libyan, seized the throne of the pharaohs in the tenth century BC, the Egyptian legitimate dynasty went to Napata as king priests and established a theocratic monarchy. Gathering strength, the Ethiopian kingdom under this dynasty expanded north around 750 BC and for a century ruled all of Egypt. During the early Napata period there were twenty-six Black kings. The first king was Piankhy (Piankhi) and some of his successors were Kashta the Kushite, Shabaka, Tarharqa (Taharka), and Tanutamen. Napata was an administrative center and became the first capital of Kush.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1420 BC - 1412 BC
Published
0 0
Thutmose IV marries Mutemua, a Black woman.
King Tut's fraternal grandfather, Thutmose IV (1425 BC - 1412 BC), the successor of Amenhotep II, it is believed married a Black woman, Mutemua. Amenhotep III, whom King Tut stated was his father, was apparently Black.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 4777 BC
Published
0 0
The legendary first Black ruler of Egypt, King Menes, begins the first of three successive Egyptian empires, lasting two thousand years.
King Menes began the first of three successive Egyptian empires. This lasted two thousand years, with many Pharoahs, like Khafra of the Fourth Dynasty, of a strongly Black cast of countenance. At the end of the period the empire fell apart into Egyptian and Ethiopian halves and a silence of three centuries ensued. "The great Sphinx at Gizeh, so familiar to all the world, the Sphinxes of Tanis, the statue from the Fayum, the statue of the Esquiline at Rome, and the Colossi of Bubastis all represent Blacks, and are described by William Flinders Petrie, an expert in the field of Egyptology, as 'having high cheek bones, flat cheeks, both in one plane, a massive nose, firm projecting lips, and thick hair, with an austere and almost savage expression of power.'
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 2660 BC - 22 BC
Published
0 0
Black Pharaoh Usertesen III of Egypt drives back the Black tribes of the Upper Nile Valley and attempts to confine them to the edge of the Nubian Desert. There, they set up the state of Napata.
Usertesen III (also known as Senusrat III) drove back the Black tribes of the Upper Nile Valley and attempted to confine them to the edge of the Nubian Desert above the Second Cataract. Hemmed in here, they set up the state of Napata. Less than one hundred years later an African from the south, Ra Nehesi, was seated on the throne of the pharaohs and was called "the King's eldest son." This may mean that an incursion from the far south had placed a Black conqueror on the throne. The whole empire was in some way shaken, and two hundred years later the invasion of the Hyksos began. The domination of Hyksos kings, who may have been Blacks from Asia, lasted for 500 years.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1500 BC
Published
0 0
Black female pharaoh Hathshepsut rules Egypt and builds the temple of Deir el Bahari.
Hathshepsut reigned conjointly with her half-brother Thuthmosis II for two or three years. After the death of Thuthmosis II, Hathshepsut assumed full power as ruler of Egypt. She completed the temple of Deir el Bahari (Sublime of the Sublime) one of the most dramatically situated in the world. It was designated, some say, by Thuthmosis II, and others, her favorite architect, Senenmut. A tree-lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple and ramps led from terrace to terrace. Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen's expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt. Throughout the temple there are statues of the queen. The king and queen of Punt are represented as of the Khoikhoi people.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 1580 BC - 1350 BC
Published
0 0
Aahmes defeats the Hyksos and founds a new empire, the Eighteenth Dynasty, alongside his queen, Black Nefertari, which lasts about 1,500 years.
Aahmes defeated the Hyksos and founded a new empire, the Eighteenth Dynasty, which lasted about 1,500 years. Black Nefertari, cofounder of the Eighteenth Dynasty, was his queen; styled the wife of the god Ammon, many monuments were erected in her honor. Nefertari was known for her beauty, strong personality, and unusual administrative skills. For many years Nefertari was joint ruler with her son, Amenhotep I, who succeeded his father. Nearly 300 years later (c. 1420 BC) one of Nefertari's descendants, Thothmes IV, married Black Queen Mutemua, whose son was the celebrated Amenhotep III (reigned c. 1400 BC), the builder of the great temple of Ammon at Luxor and the Colossi at Memnon. According to some authorities, Nefertari was the grandmother of Thothmes I (Thutmose I, c. 1525 BC - 1508 BC) and the great-grandmother of Hathshepsut and Thothmes III (Thutmose III) -- two of the greatest sovereigns that ever sat on an Egyptian throne. Thutmose III fought seventeen campaigns in twenty years.
References:
  •  • Parfait, Claire. “Rewriting History: The Publication of W. E. B. Du Bois’s ‘Black Reconstruction in America’ (1935).” Book History, vol. 12, 2009, pp. 266–94. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40930547. Accessed 11 Oct. 2022.
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1050 BC
Published
0 0
Queen Maqueda visits Solomon establishing the beginning of the Auxmite kingdom.
Early legendary history declared that a queen, Maqueda, or Nikaula of Sheba, a state of Central Abyssinia, visited Solomon in 1050 BC and had her son, Menelik, educated in Jerusalem. This was the supposed beginning of the Auxmite kingdom, whose capital, Axume, was a flourishing center of trade.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
c. 3000 BC
Published
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Imhotep, history’s earliest known scientific genius, lives in Egypt.
Imhotep, a learned Black physician, the earliest known physician and history's earliest known scientific genius, lived in Egypt. In the course of time, he was deified and became, for later generations, the special god of medicine.
References:
  •  • Diggs, E. I. (1983). Black Chronology: From 4000 B.C. to the abolition of the Slave Trade. G.K. Hall. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/blackchronologyf0000digg/page/n5/mode/2up.
1973 (Nov 6)
Published
0 0
Coleman Young was elected mayor of Detroit, becoming its first Black mayor.
Michigan State Senator Coleman Young was elected mayor of Detroit, Michigan. With only about 10 percent of the white blue-collar votes going for him, Young won with an overwhelming vote in Black precincts and some support from white middle-income voters. He defeated white former police commissioner John F. Nichols, becoming the Motor City's first Black mayor. Young, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, would preside over the nation's fifth largest city, but one plagued with crime. Black political power in Detroit was also measurably increased by the election of state representative James Bradley as the first Black city clerk, the second highest elective position in the city, and by the fact that four of the nine city councilmen were Black. By the end of 1973, Blacks would hold mayoral positions in almost 100 of the nation's 18,000 local governments, including such major cities as Los Angeles, Newark, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Nov)
Published
0 0
George Washington Carver is elected to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans at New York University.
George Washington Carver, the famed Black scientist from Tuskegee Institute who won acclaim for developing hundreds of uses for the peanut, was elected to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans at New York University. Carver's bust was placed in the Hall of Fame along with one hundred other great Americans, including Tuskegee's founder Booker T. Washington, who was elected in 1945. Candidates for election to the Hall of Fame must have been deceased for at least twenty-five years and must have been American citizens who made significant contributions to the nation. Carver's selection was sponsored in the Hall of Fame by Black educator Benjamin E. Mays, an elector since 1958.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 26)
Published
0 0
Vernon Jordan of the National Urban League criticized the Nixon administration for “unfinished work.”
Vernon Jordan, Executive Director of the National Urban League, told an audience at Clark College in Atlanta that the Nixon Administration left unfinished the economic improvement of Black Americans after a decade of advancement in civil rights. Jordan said the steady flow of congressional action, executive orders, and federal court decisions in the 1960s did for Blacks what the New Deal had done for whites and organized labor, but the Nixon Administration allowed this “Second Reconstruction” to expire uncompleted. Jordan's remarks reiterated a continuing theme among Black leadership: criticism of President Nixon's failure to recognize the legitimate needs of Black citizens.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Maynard H. Jackson is elected as Atlanta’s first Black mayor.
Maynard H. Jackson, a thirty-five-year-old attorney and Vice Mayor of the city of Atlanta, was elected mayor of the Deep South's largest city. Jackson defeated incumbent Mayor Sam Massell in a campaign marred by Massell's injection of the race issue. Jackson ousted the city's first Jewish mayor to become the city's first Black mayor. Jackson, the son of a minister and a college professor, was educated at Morehouse College and North Carolina Central University Law School. He had run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1968 before being elected vice mayor in 1969. Jackson's election signaled a swing of political power from white to Black in Atlanta as Black Americans achieved equality on the eighteen-member city council and a slight majority on the nine-member school board. Slightly more than 50 percent of the population of Atlanta was Black at the time of Jackson's election, but whites held a slight edge in voter registration. Although opposed by many whites for his forthright opposition to alleged police brutality in Atlanta, Jackson appealed to voters of both races and captured at least 20 percent of the white vote cast in the election.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 14)
Published
0 0
Blues singer B.B. King is honored by Tougaloo College.
The famed Black American blues singer B. B. King was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Tougaloo College in Mississippi, making him the first blues musician ever to receive an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the music world. George A. Owens, president of the college, conferred the degree during the celebration of the 104th anniversary of the founding of Tougaloo, the state's most prestigious private Black college.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 10)
Published
0 0
Richmond Hill becomes Georgia’s first Black mayor.
Richmond Hill, a sixty-eight year old mortician and mayor pro tempore of Greenville, Georgia, was elected mayor of his city and became the first Black mayor in Georgia's history. Hill, who had previously worked as a farmer and then a businessman, defeated a white opponent in a town with a population of about fifteen hundred, 40 percent of whom were Black.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 18)
Published
0 0
Jesse W. Lewis, founder of Industrial Bank, dies.
Jesse W. Lewis, a founder and former director of Industrial Bank in Washington, D.C., died in Washington. Industrial Bank was one of the nation's first Black financial institutions, having been founded during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Lewis was born in 1902 in Richmond, Virginia, and was educated at Shaw University in North Carolina and New York University. He began his career as a teacher at Howard University, where he taught for nineteen years. In 1934, Lewis joined Jesse H. Mitchell and other Black financial leaders to form the Industrial Bank. He was also a lawyer, a real estate broker, and a trustee of Virginia Union University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 17)
Published
0 0
Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics wins the World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Reggie Jackson of the world champion Oakland Athletics was unanimously selected as the World Series's Most Valuable Player (MVP). Four other Black players had won the MVP award in previous years: Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971; Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles in 1970; Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and 1964; and Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Willie Mays retires from professional baseball.
As the 1973 professional baseball season closed, Black centerfielder Willie Mays ended his long, outstanding career. Mays won national acclaim for his fielding heroics and for his powerful bat during nearly twenty years of play with the New York and San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets of the National Baseball League. Upon his retirement, New York City honored Mays in special ceremonies at Shea Stadium on September 25. Mayor John Lindsay issued a proclamation of celebration as 55,000 fans cheered the star. Alabama-born Mays was also presented with an honorary Doctor of Law (LL. D) degree from his home state's Miles College during the ceremonies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 18)
Published
0 0
Robert Threatt assumes presidency at Morris Brown College.
Robert Threatt, President of the Georgia Association of Educators, assumed duties as President of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. Threatt succeeded John A. Middleton, a Black member of the Atlanta Board of Education, who resigned because of the school's deteriorating financial condition, a situation which appeared to worsen as the school withdrew from the Atlanta University Center complex of Black colleges. Threatt, a graduate of Morris Brown and the University of Oklahoma, was also a professor of education at Fort Valley State College in Georgia prior to becoming, at forty-six years of age, the youngest president in the history of Morris Brown.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Oct 20)
Published
0 0
Seven Republic of New Africa members are convicted on charges resulting from a shootout at RNA headquarters in 1971.
Seven members of the Republic of New Africa (RNA), including its president, Imari A. Obadele, were convicted in the U.S. District Court in Biloxi, Mississippi, on charges resulting from a shootout at RNA headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1971. Two women and five men were charged with illegal possession of weapons and assault on a federal officer. Two of the defendants, Wayne M. James and Thomas E. Norman, were already serving life sentences for convictions in state courts. In the federal trial Obadele received a twelve-year sentence; the other defendants received sentences ranging from three to twelve years. Attorneys for the RNA indicated they would file a motion for a rehearing of the cases.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1973 (Jan 29)
Published
0 0
Judge Jon O. Newman orders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a police force hiring quota to help correct the city’s racial imbalances.
U.S. District Court Judge Jon O. Newman ordered the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to hire Blacks and Puerto Ricans to fill 50 percent of the vacancies on the police force until the two minority groups constituted at least 15 percent of the force. The judge's order was designed to correct racial imbalances in Bridgeport's law enforcement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 21)
Published
0 0
Horace Mann Bond, former dean of the School of Education at Atlanta University, dies.
Horace Mann Bond, former dean of the School of Education at Atlanta University and former president of Georgia's Fort Valley State College and Pennsylvania's Lincoln University, died in Atlanta. The seventy-year-old educator was a pioneer in Black scholarship, publishing distinguished books and articles in the fields of Black education and history. He was the father of Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, whose name was placed before the 1968 Democratic National Convention as a vice-presidential candidate. The Atlanta constitution eulogized the Black scholar as one who had a full and fruitful life of achievement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 17)
Published
0 0
George Wiley, Black director of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) since its founding in 1965, announces his resignation.
George Wiley, Black director of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) since its founding in 1965, announced his resignation in Washington, D.C. Wiley said he was leaving the NWRO, the nation's leading group of welfare recipients, to form a broader-based organization to help the nation's poor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 15)
Published
0 0
Racial violence in a Pensacola, Florida, high school leaves several injured and 47 arrested.
Fifty special sheriff's deputies and police officers patrolled the Escambra High School in Pensacola, Florida, after a day of fighting between Black and white students that left several people injured and forty-seven arrested. The thirty-eight whites and nine Blacks were subsequently released when school officials dropped trespassing charges against them. The fighting apparently began in the school's cafeteria and spread to other parts of the large school. The deputies who broke up the melee said they seized bicycle chains, belts, and knives used as weapons by the students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 14)
Published
0 0
Black communist, Angela Davis announces her plan to form a national defense organization.
Black communist, Angela Davis announced plans to form a national defense organization to help “Black and Brown political prisoners of the government.” At a Harlem news conference, Davis said that the new group would provide legal aid to the oppressed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 14)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorized the residents of “white ghettos” to file lawsuits aimed at ending racial discrimination in their own apartment developments.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorized the residents of "white ghettos” to file lawsuits aimed at ending racial discrimination in their own apartment developments. The opinion, which was written by Justice William O. Douglas, said residents of both races who lived in discriminatory housing developments could sue because they may suffer specific individual injury when deprived of the social, professional, and business benefits available in integrated communities. The decision was rendered in a San Francisco case involving an apartment complex formerly owned by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) applauded the court's decision because it said it lacked the personnel and resources to fight widespread housing discrimination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 11)
Published
0 0
Soul singer James Brown is arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, sparking a heated controversy in which lawyers for the singer threatened to sue the city of Knoxville.
Soul singer James Brown was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arrest of Brown, an idol of rock and soul fans and a political supporter of President Nixon, sparked a heated controversy in which lawyers for the singer threatened to sue the city of Knoxville for one million dollars. Brown said he was talking with a group of children about drugs and the importance of school attendance when he was arrested by Knoxville police. The police charged Brown with disorderly conduct by creating a scene and failing to move on. On December 12, Knoxville Mayor Kyle Testerman said the arrest of Brown apparently resulted from a misunderstanding and promised to meet with Brown's attorney, Albert G. Ingram, in an effort to resolve differences brought about by the incident. Following his meeting with the mayor on December 18, Ingram announced that the matter still had not been satisfactorily resolved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 9)
Published
0 0
Lieutenant Edward Kerr, a Black police officer with fifteen years of service, is nominated director of the Newark Police Department, after the previous white police officer resigned over a Black housing controversy.
Lieutenant Edward Kerr, a Black police officer with fifteen years of service, was nominated director of the Newark Police Department, the largest in the state of New Jersey. Kerr, a native of Willacoochee, Georgia, and a student at Rutgers University, was slated to succeed John Redden, a white police officer who resigned after becoming embroiled in a controversy over whether a Black sponsored housing project ought to be built in a white community. The white members of Newark's biracial city council asked Black Mayor Kenneth Gibson not to accept Redden's resignation. Gibson refused to heed their plea.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 7)
Published
0 0
Reverend W. Sterling Cary is unanimously elected president of the National Council of Churches, becoming the first Black to head the group. He tells his fellow delegates that American churches preach, but do not practice integration.
The Reverend W. Sterling Cary, the administrative officer for approximately ninety United Church of Christ congregations in New York City, was unanimously elected president of the National Council of Churches at the group's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. Cary, the first Black American to head the group, was originally a Baptist minister before he began preaching at Presbyterian, Congregational, and interdenominational churches in a ministerial career spanning twenty-four years. The newly elected president of the liberal religious group told his fellow delegates at Dallas that American churches preach but do not practice integration. He said that as president of the National Council of Churches he would promote efforts to achieve decent housing for the poor, better employment opportunities for racial minorities, and an overhaul of the welfare system.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Dec 4)
Published
0 0
Black poet Imamu Amiri Baraka tells the representatives of the National Council of Churches that the nation’s major religious organizations must support the revolution of the poor or cease to exist. His appearance receives mixed reactions.
Black poet Imamu Amiri Baraka (born LeRoi Jones) told the representatives at the triennial general assembly of the National Council of Churches that the nation's major religious organizations must support the revolution of the poor or cease to exist. Baraka, an influential resident of Newark, New Jersey, called for the destruction of capitalism, claiming it was part of a cruelly primitive social system that subjected the poor to misery in this country and abroad. Observers of the American Jewish Committee, Rabbi A. James Ruden and the Reverend Gerald Strober, voiced their disappointment at Baraka's appearance and accused him of anti-white racism and anti-semitism. Many other delegates stood to applaud the Black poet.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 29)
Published
0 0
Many Blacks oppose the nomination of Peter Brennan to secretary of labor for the Nixon administration.
President Nixon nominated Peter J. Brennan, President of the Building and Construction Trades Councils of New York, to be his new secretary of labor. Many Blacks voiced opposition to the nomination, claiming that Brennan was a representative of a segment of organized labor which had been desegregated minimally and generally at government insistence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 27)
Published
0 0
H. Rap Brown, former secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), goes on trial on charges of robbery, attempted murder, and possession of an illegal weapon.
H. Rap Brown, former secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), went on trial on charges of robbery, attempted murder, and possession of an illegal weapon. There was speculation, however, that the trial might be further delayed by legal arguments over the effect of a magazine article dealing with one of the arresting officers. Brown was arrested after a New York robbery on October 16, 1971. The trial finally got under way after Brown's lawyers, William Kuntsler and Howard Moore, Jr., both famed civil liberties attorneys, failed in an effort to have the case transferred to the federal courts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 22)
Published
0 0
The Louis Harris Poll reveals that the 1972 presidential election was sharply divided according to race.
The Louis Harris Poll, a major survey of public opinion, announced that the sharpest division in the 1972 presidential election was according to race, with Blacks voting 79-21 percent for Senator George McGovern while whites voted 67-33 percent in favor of President Nixon. The survey went on to say that in terms of their political inclinations and in their outlook on American issues, Blacks and whites have rarely been so far apart. The survey cited such examples as the Blacks' overwhelming preference for racially desegregated schools (7812 percent) as against a plurality of 46-43 percent among whites. While roughly 50 percent of the Black population endorsed busing to achieve school desegregation, only 14 percent of the nation's whites approved of this method to dismantle separate schools. Also, nearly 80 percent of the nation's Blacks, versus 46 percent of whites, supported increased federal assistance for poverty-stricken Americans. The Harris Survey reflected racial attitudes as of Thanksgiving Day, 1972.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 18)
Published
0 0
Judge Edward T. Ginouz sets a limit on the contempt-of-court sentence ordered for the “Chicago 7” defendants and their lawyers, and orders contempt charges against Black Panther leader Bobby Seale entirely dropped.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward T. Ginouz set a limit on the contempt-of-court sentence that may be ordered for the “Chicago 7” defendants and their lawyers and ordered contempt charges against Black Panther leader Bobby Seale entirely dropped. The contempt charges arose from the actions of the defendants and the lawyers in the courtroom of Judge Julius J. Hoffman, who heard the case after disturbances during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The charges against Seale were dropped at the government's request. An appeals court had ruled earlier that if Seale were prosecuted, the government would have to reveal the contents of electronic surveillance logs. The prosecution refused, claiming such disclosures would endanger the national security.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 17)
Published
0 0
Judge John H. Pratt rules that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) had been largely unsuccessful at obtaining voluntary compliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and that they should withhold funds from school districts still practicing segregation.
U.S. District Court Judge John H. Pratt ruled in Washington, D.C. that efforts made by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to obtain voluntary compliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act had been largely unsuccessful and that HEW should withhold funds from school districts still practicing segregation. U.S. attorneys announced that they would appeal the ruling, claiming that there appeared to be serious errors in the judge's decision. They did not specify the errors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 16)
Published
0 0
Two Black students at Southern University are killed during a confrontation between Black students and law enforcement officers.
Two Black students at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were killed during a confrontation between Black students and law enforcement officers. High-ranking police officials had denied in their first statements following the shooting that their men had fired the fatal shots. Some suggested that there might have been accidental firings. Spokespersons for the students charged intentional shooting by law enforcement units. Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards immediately requested State Attorney General William J. Guste, Jr., to investigate the incidents. Guste subsequently appointed a biracial committee consisting of police officers, university administrators, students, elected officials, and private citizens. Some Blacks expressed distrust of the official committee and vowed to assemble a group of their own to look into the altercation. Southern University, one of the nation's largest all-Black colleges, had been the scene of student protests in recent years. The students had generally charged the school's administration, backed by the power of the state government, with being unresponsive to academic and social change.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 16)
Published
0 0
Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (USCCR) since 1969, resigns.
The Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (USCCR) since 1969 and a member since its inception in 1958, resigned. Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame University, had led the USCCR in a constant stream of criticism of the Nixon administration's commitment to civil rights progress. Maurice Mitchell, chancellor of the University of Denver, also announced his resignation. Mitchell had charged that President Nixon ignored the commission and its work.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 15)
Published
0 0
Black lawyers protest the Georgia Bar exam after none of the fifty-five Black applicants receive a passing grade, stating that “there is conscious and invidious discrimination.”
The Black National Bar Association (NBA) announced that it will co-sponsor a federal court suit protesting the failure of all Black applicants in the last semiannual Georgia Bar examination. Atlanta City Councilman Marvin S. Arrington, Deputy Regional Director of the NBA, said that none of the fifty-five Black applicants received a passing grade and charged that “there is conscious and invidious discrimination” on the part of the bar examiners in Georgia. He pledged to call on the U.S. Department of Justice and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter to conduct investigations into allegations of discrimination. Georgia Bar Examination Board Chairman Trammell Vickery denied that discrimination existed against Black applicants and cited the fact that applicants are not identified by race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 15)
Published
0 0
Private Billy Dean Smith, a Black soldier, is acquitted by a military court in the slaying of two South Vietnam officers. He later states that “the system of military justice is still riddled with injustice.”
Private Billy Dean Smith, a Black soldier, was acquitted by a military court in San Francisco of the “fragging" slaying of two officers in South Vietnam. Smith later stated at a news conference, which was attended by Black communist Angela Davis, that “the system of military justice is still riddled with injustice.” Smith said the only fair trial in his case would have been "no trial at all.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 14)
Published
0 0
Thirteen Black members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) are arrested after staging a sit-in demonstration with a list of demands, in the chambers of the Dallas City Council.
Thirteen Blacks, members of the Dallas, Texas, chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, were arrested on charges of disrupting a public meeting after they staged a sit-in demonstration in the chambers of the Dallas City Council. George Holland, spokesperson for the SCLC group, read a list of demands which included the resignation of Dallas Mayor Wes Wise, Police Chief Frank Dyson, and City Attorney Alex Bickley; the arrest of three officers who were recently cited but exonerated in the slaying of local Blacks; and a percentage of city jobs commensurate with that of the city's Black population. Police officers arrested the group before Holland could finish reading his demands.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 11)
Published
0 0
Carl T. Rowan becomes the first Black member of the Gridiron Club, a prestigious organization of Washington journalists.
Black syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan was elected to membership in the Gridiron Club, a prestigious organization of Washington journalists. Rowan became the first Black member of the club, which was established in 1885.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 7)
Published
0 0
Richard Nixon is reelected president of the United States. As in 1968, he failed to win substantial support from Black voters, with only about 30 percent of the Black vote.
Richard Nixon was reelected President of the United States by one of the largest majorities in the nation's history. As in 1968, the president failed to win substantial support from Black voters. Preliminary estimates gave Nixon only about 30 percent of the Black votes cast in the election. The fall elections also saw the selection of two additional Black women for seats in the U.S. Congress and the election of the first Black representative from the south since Reconstruction days. The new Black congresswomen were Yvonne Braithwaite Burke from California and Barbara Jordan from Texas. Andrew Young, formerly a top aide to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was elected congressman from Georgia's Fifth District (Atlanta).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Nov 2)
Published
0 0
Racial tensions flare in Lavonia, Georgia, after a Black man is killed in a gun battle with police.
Racial tensions flared in Lavonia, Georgia, after a Black man was killed in a gun battle with police. Police Chief Joe Foster said Ollis Hunter was killed after he opened fire on officers attempting to serve him with a peace warrant at his home. Lavonia patrol officer Freddie Smith was wounded in the exchange of gunfire. Blacks contended that the slaying of Hunter could have been avoided. Almost immediately, the town's Black population began a boycott of downtown merchants, demanding, among other things, better streets in their communities, more Black school bus drivers and police officers, and the firing of Chief Foster. Mayor Herman Ayers and the city council took the demands under advisement. On December 8, 1972, a gunman rode through the Black residential area of Lavonia, firing shotgun blasts into two homes, two restaurants, and a church. Police said one of the homes belonged to the head of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. There were no injuries in the incident and no immediate arrests.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
Black parents ask for federal protection for their children attending desegregated schools in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
A group of Black parents asked for federal protection for their children attending desegregated schools in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Blacks vowed not to return their children to the schools--experiencing continued outbursts of racial violence without protection. The parents presented their requests to the local school board and to the offices of the U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal. They suggested that federal officers board school buses and patrol the schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 30)
Published
0 0
Three Mississippi white men were freed from a federal prison early on charges of killing three civil rights activists in 1964.
Three Meridian, Mississippi whites were freed from a federal prison after serving slightly more than two years of their three-year sentences on charges of slaying three civil rights activists in Neshoba county, Mississippi, in 1964. Jimmy Arledge, Jimmie Snowden, and Horace Doyle Barnette were convicted in 1967 on conspiracy charges following the deaths of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James E. Chaney near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Charles T. Sutherland said the convicted trio were approved for release in the spring of 1972 after receiving time off of their sentences for good behavior.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
John LeFlore, a veteran civil rights leader, is certified as candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.
John LeFlore, a veteran civil rights leader and journalist in Mobile, Alabama, was officially certified as the first Black candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama since the Reconstruction Era. LeFlore was certified by Alabama Secretary of State Mabel Amos under the banner of the mostly Black National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA). Other candidates in the senate race were democratic incumbent John Sparkman and republican W. M. Blount, former postmaster general of the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
White superintendent Dr. Thomas A. Shaheen, an advocate of busing to achieve racial desegregation in the public schools, resigns under board pressure.
Dr. Thomas A. Shaheen, an advocate of busing to achieve racial desegregation in the public schools, resigned under board pressure as superintendent of schools of San Francisco. Shaheen directed the first massive busing plan to achieve desegregation in a major northern or western city in September 1971, when more than half of San Francisco's 40,000 elementary school children were ordered to be bused by the federal courts. Shaheen predicted that troubled times were ahead for proponents of desegregation in American education. He was succeeded by Dr. Stephen Morena, Assistant Chancellor of the San Francisco Community College District.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
Judge L. Clure Morton orders the Nashville, Tennessee, school board to obtain thirty additional school buses in order to meet the court’s desegregation requirements.
U.S. District Court Judge, L. Clure Morton orders the Nashville, Tennessee, school board to obtain thirty additional school buses in order to meet the court's desegregation requirements. Nashville's mayor and city council had hesitated to release the necessary funds for the new buses. Judge Morton, however, told city officials that they must acquire the additional buses immediately so that his year-old busing order could be made effective.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 25 - Oct 28)
Published
0 0
Black leaders campaign for presidential nominees of both parties.
Black civil rights and political leaders campaigned on behalf of the presidential nominees of both parties. On August 25, Georgia State Representative Julian Bond told an audience at Columbia University in New York that "Black Americans ought to come together to drive Richard Nixon from the White House." Bond predicted that Nixon's opponent, Senator George McGovern from South Dakota, would capture 90 percent of the nation's Black vote. On October 28, Floyd McKissick, former national director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and developer of the new town of Soul City in North Carolina, told an Atlanta audience that he supported the reelection of President Nixon because Blacks should belong to both political parties and because Nixon had done more for Blacks than Senator McGovern. Veteran Atlanta civil rights leader William Holmes Borders, another Nixon supporter, cited the administration's aid to Howard University in Washington, D.C., Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, sickle-cell anemia research, and job retraining programs as evidence of the President's concern for Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Aug 2)
Published
0 0
The Court of Appeals countermands the desegregation orders of lower courts for the school districts in Austin and Corpus Christi, Texas.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth District countermanded desegregation orders of lower courts for the school districts in Austin and Corpus Christi, Texas. In Austin, the lower court had rejected plans for crosstown busing of students, but the appellate court counseled against the total rejection of the busing tool and ordered new plans from all of the concerned parties. In the Corpus Christi case, the appeals court overturned a crosstown busing plan, instructing the lower court to examine all neighborhood-oriented tools before resorting to busing to achieve desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jul 12)
Published
0 0
Senator George S. McGovern wins the Democratic presidential nomination on the first ballot in Miami Beach, Florida.
South Dakota Senator, George S. McGovern, with widespread support from Black delegates, won the Democratic presidential nomination on the first ballot in Miami Beach, Florida. Representative Shirley Chisholm from New York, the first Black woman ever to seek a presidential nomination, received 151 of the more than 2,000 votes cast.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
James E. Baker becomes the first Black American diplomat to gain a permanent assignment in South African.
James E. Baker, a career foreign service officer, was appointed Economic and Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, becoming the first Black American diplomat to gain a permanent assignment in that nation. The Department of State expressed confidence that Baker would be accepted in South Africa without restrictions, despite that nation's racist apartheid policy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jul 3 - 7)
Published
0 0
The NAACP again criticizes the Nixon administration, condemning the administration for its school busing policies.
During its annual convention held in Detroit, Michigan, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) again criticized the Nixon administration for its attitude towards Black people. The 2,632 delegates passed an emergency resolution condemning the administration for its school busing policies. On July 6, NAACP Labor Director Herbert Hill reiterated his criticism of the administration's record on Black employment. Black officials in the Nixon administration, including Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Samuel Jackson, defended the Nixon program and claimed support for the president even among the NAACP Board of Directors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 29)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court rules the death penalty unconstitutional. Of the 600 men and women awaiting execution at the time of the ruling, 329 were Black, while 14 belonged to other minority groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the death penalty as it was usually enforced violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The high court order overturned the conviction of two Georgia Blacks, Henry Furman, a convicted murderer, and Lucius Jackson, a convicted rapist, and a Texas Black, Elmer Branch, also a convicted rapist. All of the victims in the crimes were white. Of the 600 men and women awaiting execution at the time of the ruling, 329 were Black, while 14 belonged to other minority groups. Justice William O. Douglas wrote that the disproportionate number of minority and poor felons sentenced to death were victims of unconstitutional discrimination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 26)
Published
0 0
Black delegates to the Democratic National Convention endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator George McGovern.
A bloc of Black delegates to the Democratic National Convention, led by representative Walter E. Fauntroy from Washington, D.C., endorsed the presidential candidacy of South Dakota Senator George McGovern. Fauntroy announced that ninety-six previously uncommitted Black delegates would now vote for McGovern. McGovern predicted that the Black bloc might be enough to give him the nomination on the first ballot. A later recount by all parties confirmed that the Black bloc really numbered only about sixty votes, not enough to assure McGovern a first ballot victory. Senator McGovern had won favor among Blacks for his support of parts of the programs of the Black Congressional Caucus, the Black National Convention, and his pledge to appoint Blacks to high-ranking positions in any administration which he should head.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 14)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Roth orders a massive busing program to desegregate the city and suburban schools in the Detroit, Michigan, area. President Nixon disagrees with the order.
U.S. District Court Judge, Stephen J. Roth ordered a massive busing program to desegregate the city and suburban schools in the Detroit, Michigan, area. It was the most extensive desegregation plan ever ordered by a federal court. Under the plan, 310,000 of 780,000 students in Detroit and fifty-three suburban school districts would be bused to achieve desegregation. The Detroit schools had, at the time, 290,000 students, 65 percent Black, while 29 of the 53 suburban districts had all-white enrollments and the rest were predominately white. On June 22, President Nixon voiced complete disagreement with the court's decision and reiterated his appeal for congressional action on a strong anti-busing law. The president called the Detroit order “perhaps the most flagrant example that we have of all the busing decisions, moving against all the principles that I, at least, believe should be applied in this area.” On July 21, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order delaying the implementation of judge Roth's order until it could hear the merits of the case on August 24, 1972.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a state could grant a liquor license to a private club that practiced racial discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that a state could grant a liquor license to a private club that practiced racial discrimination. The court ruled against the petition of K. Leroy Irvis, Black majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Irvis had been denied service in the restaurant of the Lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote that the authority to grant liquor licenses did not "sufficiently implicate the state in the discriminatory guest policies” of private clubs. Justices Douglas, Brennan, and Marshall dissented from the majority view.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals overrules a Richmond school district court order.
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, overruled a federal district court order that called for the merger of the school districts of Richmond and two suburban counties, which would have involved the busing of thousands of children to achieve desegregation. The court held that U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., had excessively interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment when he earlier ordered the “metropolitan desegregation” plan into effect. The Richmond Board of Education announced that it would appeal the court's 5-1 ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court where, along with a similar case from Denver, Colorado, it was expected to bring a new crucial ruling in the annals of school desegregation. The appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Education Association (NEA), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposed the appeal to the circuit court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
Senator James Eastland, known for supporting anti-Black policies, is nominated for sixth term.
U.S. Senator James O. Eastland, a democrat from Mississippi, was re-nominated for a sixth term with 70 percent of the vote over two challengers, including James H. Meredith, the first Black to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Eastland had earned a reputation for supporting anti-Black policies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 4)
Published
0 0
Black communist Angela Davis is acquitted on all charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy by a superior court jury for her role in the 1970 California courthouse shooting.
Black communist Angela Davis was acquitted on all charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy by a superior court jury in San Jose, California. An all-white jury deliberated for thirteen hours before announcing their verdict. Davis reacted to the acquittal by at first proclaiming that the “only fair trial would have been no trial,” but later added that the verdict was a victory for the people. Praise for the verdict was generally heard in the Black and white liberal communities of the nation and overseas, including Moscow.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 3)
Published
0 0
David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, is cleared of perjury charges after the Justice Department refuses to disclose wiretap evidence requested by the jury.
U.S. District Court Judge Alfonso J. Zirpoli of San Francisco ordered David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, cleared of perjury charges after the Justice Department refused to disclose wiretap evidence requested by the jury. Hilliard was accused of filing a false declaration of poverty in 1971. At the time of his latest trial he was serving a prison sentence for assaulting a police officer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jun 2)
Published
0 0
H. Rap Brown, former leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), is sentenced to five years in prison on a federal weapons charge.
H. Rap Brown, former leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $2,000 for a 1968 conviction on a federal weapons charge by U.S. District Court Judge Lansing L. Mitchell in New Orleans. Brown was flown to New Orleans from New York City, where he had been held since his capture by New York police during an alleged robbery attempt in October 1971. Brown was wounded by police in that altercation and his attorneys protested against the trip to New Orleans, claiming that it endangered their client's health.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (May 24)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Senate passes a higher education and desegregation aid bill with an anti-busing provision. The bill appropriated $2 billion over a two-year period to aid school districts in the process of desegregating. Although the Nixon administration criticized the bill as inadequate, President Nixon signs the bill into law.
The U.S. Senate passed and sent to the House of Representatives a final version of an omnibus higher education and desegregation aid bill with an anti-busing provision. The bill would delay all new court-ordered busing until appeals had been exhausted or until January 1974. Federal funds could not be used to finance busing to achieve desegregation unless specifically requested by local authorities. Federal officials would be prohibited from encouraging or ordering school districts to spend state or local funds for busing in cases where such busing endangered the health or education of students involved, unless constitutionally required. The bill further appropriated $2 billion over a two-year period to aid school districts in the process of desegregating. Although the Nixon administration had criticized the bill as inadequate, HEW Secretary Elliott Richardson announced that it embodied the heart of the president's higher education initiative. On June 8, 1972, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill and sent it to President Richard Nixon for his signature. Nixon signed the bill into law on June 23.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (May 21)
Published
0 0
A school desegregation study concludes that there had been no improvement in either academic achievement among Black students or racial cooperation.
Professor David J. Armor, a white Harvard University professor, released a study of school desegregation programs in six northern cities in which he concluded that there was no improvement in either academic achievement among Black students or racial cooperation. While no significant academic differences were found among Black students who had been bused for desegregation purposes and those who remained in Black ghetto schools, the desegregated students tended to reveal declines in educational and career aspirations and in self-esteem. Professor Armor did, however, recommend the continuation of voluntary programs of busing to achieve desegregation, because those bused students tended to get better opportunities for higher education. The study was conducted in Boston, Massachusetts; White Plains, New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Riverdale, California; and Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (May 19)
Published
0 0
The National Black Political Convention issues a 58-page “Black Agenda.” Parts of the report are criticized by Black organizations and individuals.
The National Black Political Convention issued a 58-page “Black Agenda” that had been adopted at its founding meeting in March in Gary, Indiana. Although a special committee had modified provisions on school busing and on Black attitudes toward Israel, these statements continued to arouse opposition. Partly because of these provisions, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as other Black organizations and individuals, criticized the part of the report that called for the dismantling of Israel and condemned that nation's expansionist policy. The school provision that provoked controversy called busing racist and suicidal. The Israeli statement embraced the condemnations of Israel contained in numerous resolutions of the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, while the school provision criticized the Nixon administration's busing policies and demanded that Blacks retain control of any busing program. Despite the modifications, however, the NAACP announced its continued opposition and withdrawal on May 16. NAACP Assistant Executive Director John A. Morsell called the Israeli and busing statements “particularly outrageous.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (May 19)
Published
0 0
The National Education Association (NEA) reports that over 30,000 Black teachers had lost their jobs as a result of segregation and discrimination since 1954.
The National Education Association (NEA) reported that over 30,000 Black teachers had lost their jobs in seventeen southern and border states because of segregation and discrimination since 1954. Twenty-one percent of teachers in these states were Black in 1954, but by 1970 that percentage had dropped to nineteen. The percentage of job losses among Blacks was lowest in Alabama and highest in Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Apr 4)
Published
0 0
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., U.S. representative from Harlem, dies.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., U.S. representative from Harlem for more than twenty years (1945–1969) and one-time chairman of the influential House Education and Labor Committee (1960–67), died at age sixty-three in Miami, Florida. Powell was surrounded with controversy in death, as in life, as two women fought over the disposition of his body and his estate. On April 10, Powell's body was cremated and the ashes scattered over the island of Bimini in the Bahamas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Mar 27)
Published
0 0
The Soledad Brothers are acquitted in the slaying of a Soledad prison guard in 1970.
An all-white jury in San Francisco, California acquitted Fleeta Drumgo and John Cluchette, the so-called Soledad Brothers in the slaying of a Soledad prison guard in 1970. Black communist Angela Davis was charged with plotting to free Drumgo, Cluchette, and the late George Jackson, her alleged lover, in the famous Marin County courthouse shootout on August 7, 1970. In the Soledad Brothers trial, the prosecution was unable to produce witnesses who actually saw any fatal blows delivered or who had seen the defendants toss a guard over a third floor tier. The defendants had denied that they were present at the scene of the slaying.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
Z. Alexander Looby, one of the first Blacks elected to the Nashville, Tennessee, City Council, dies.
Z. Alexander Looby, one of the first Blacks elected to the Nashville, Tennessee, City Council (1951-1971) and a veteran civil rights activist, died at age seventy-two in Nashville.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Feb 11)
Published
0 0
Members of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demand that Black opponents of busing to achieve school desegregation be given a voice in national Black meetings.
About fifty members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) went to the office of Black democratic congressman Augustus Hawkins of California demanding that Black opponents of busing to achieve school desegregation be given a voice in national Black meetings. Victor A. Solomon, leader of the CORE contingent, said his group advocated separate but “really equal” schools under community control. The NAACP and other Black organizations had supported busing as a necessary tool to achieve school desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jan 27)
Published
0 0
Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson dies.
Mahalia Jackson, one of the world's foremost gospel singers, died at age sixty in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Jackson was largely responsible for spreading gospel music from Black churches in the deep south to concert halls throughout the world. Her 1946 recording of “Move On Up a Little Higher” sold at least one million copies. President Nixon eulogized Jackson as "an artist without peers.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jan 25)
Published
0 0
Shirley Chisholm announces that she would seek Democratic presidential nomination.
Representative Shirley Chisholm from New York, the first Black woman ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, announced that she would seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Representative Chisholm said that her candidacy would help repudiate the notion that the American people would not vote for a qualified Black or female candidate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jan 10)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., ordered the merger of the predominately Black schools of Richmond, Virginia, with those of two suburban counties with nearly all-white enrollments to promote school desegregation.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., ordered the merger of the predominately Black schools of Richmond, Virginia, with those of two suburban counties with nearly all-white enrollments to promote school desegregation. Judge Merhige directed that the new metropolitan school district be formed as the only possible solution to end segregated education based upon separate housing patterns. The order required the merger of the 70-percent-Black Richmond city schools with the 90-percent-white schools of Henrico and Chesterfield counties.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1972 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
A U.S. district court in Montgomery, Alabama, orders a new reapportionment plan that would split up the Alabama legislature.
A U.S. district court in Montgomery, Alabama, ordered the implementation of a new reapportionment plan that would split the Alabama legislature into single-member districts. The decision could have put as many as twenty additional Blacks in the Alabama state legislature. There were, at the time, only two Black members of the Alabama legislature. The new districts would represent the decennial population count based upon the enumerated districts of the U.S. Census.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Dec 15)
Published
0 0
Huey P. Newton, Co-founder of the Black Panther Party, is declared free after manslaughter charges against him are dismissed.
Huey P. Newton, Co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was declared free after manslaughter charges against him were dismissed. Newton was imprisoned for nearly two years for the 1967 death of an Oakland, California, police officer, and was tried three times on the manslaughter charge. His latest trial ended in a hung jury when the jury reported that it was “utterly unable to reach a verdict.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Dec)
Published
0 0
Arthur B. Spingarn, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) president since 1940, and Ralph J. Bunche, Undersecretary General of the United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize winner, scholar, and civil rights activist, both die in the last month of the year.
Two veteran champions of civil rights died before the close of the year. Arthur B. Spingarn, the NAACP's president since 1940, succumbed at his home in New York at age ninety-three. Spingarn, a white civil rights lawyer, once headed the NAACP's National Legal Committee. The NAACP's annual meritorious award, the Spingarn Medal, was named in honor of the long-time civil rights leader. NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins eulogized Spingarn as one who had challenged the sanctioned institutions of Jim Crow and characterized his death as a great loss to the Blacks in particular and the liberal social movement in general. Ralph J. Bunche, Undersecretary General of the United Nations, Nobel peace prize winner, scholar, and civil rights activist, died at age sixty-seven in New York. Bunche, who was a familiar figure in international councils as well as on civil rights battlefields and was a key figure in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, was eulogized by United Nations Secretary General U Thant as an international institution in his own right.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Dec 5)
Published
0 0
Alabama’s anti-busing law is ruled unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Sam C. Pointer declared an Alabama anti-busing law unconstitutional. The judge ruled that the statute is but a freedom-of-choice option dressed in slightly different colors, and such options, he said, were illegal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Nov 2)
Published
0 0
Alonzo G. Moron, the first Black President of Hampton Institute in Virginia, dies.
Alonzo G. Moron, the first Black President of Hampton Institute in Virginia, died in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Moron had recently served as Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in San Juan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct 15)
Published
0 0
Elton Hayes, a seventeen-year-old Black youth, is killed by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. It sparks five days of racial violence in the city.
Elton Hayes, a seventeen-year-old Black youth, was killed by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. The slaying of Hayes was followed by five days of racial violence in Memphis. Nine local law enforcement officers, including a Black police lieutenant, were later charged with the brutal murder of the youth.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct 9)
Published
0 0
The Ford Foundation announces a $100-million program to aid private Black colleges in providing individual study awards to various minority students. Morris Brown College objects to the terms.
The Ford Foundation in New York announced a six-year, $100-million program to aid private Black colleges in providing individual study awards to various minority students. About twenty of the nation's better known private Black colleges, including Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, Benedict College, Fisk University, and the six schools comprising the Atlanta University Center Complex of Black Institutions, were chosen to receive awards averaging as much as $300,000 annually. In a closely related matter, Morris Brown College announced that it might withdraw from the famous Atlanta University Center and reject the Ford funds. Morris Brown officials objected to a proviso in the Atlanta grants which called for a reorganization of the Atlanta University Center, so as to effect closer cooperation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct 6)
Published
0 0
The first legal interracial marriage in North Carolina takes place.
A Black man and a White woman were married officially for the first time in North Carolina. Lorraine Mary Turner and John A. Wilkinson took their vows in Durham County, North Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct 5)
Published
0 0
Senator Edmund Muskie from Maine, states that a Black vice-presidential candidate, regrettably, would be a handicap to the Democratic ticket. The controversial statement sparks debate.
A lively controversy arose among Black and white politicians after Senator Edmund Muskie from Maine, a likely candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972, stated that a Black vice-presidential candidate, regrettably, would be a handicap to the Democratic ticket. (Muskie himself was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1968.) Vice President Spiro Agnew, former Assistant Secretary of Labor Arthur Fletcher, both Republicans, and Democratic National Committeeman Hobart Taylor, Jr., were among those disagreeing with Muskie. Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox claimed he would vote for a qualified Black vice-presidential candidate, but Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, himself a presidential candidate, said that Muskie's position was “probably right.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Oct 4)
Published
0 0
President Richard M. Nixon nominates William Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both nominations were opposed by many Blacks.
President Richard M. Nixon nominated William Rehnquist of Phoenix, Arizona, and Lewis F. Powell of Richmond, Virginia, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both nominations were opposed by many Blacks. Black judge, George W. Crockett of the Detroit Recorders Court, assailed the president for his refusal to consult Black lawyers on the appointments. The chief criticisms coming from Blacks were that Rehnquist was a "rational reactionary” and that Powell was associated with private clubs and law firms in Virginia which discriminated against Blacks. Both nominees denied anti-Black attitudes and practices. Rehnquist, at the time, employed a Black secretary in his office where he was an assistant U.S. attorney. The U.S. Senate subsequently confirmed both appointees with a minimum of difficulty.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 25)
Published
0 0
Justice Hugo Black dies twelve days after retiring from the Supreme Court after 34 years of service.
Associate Justice Hugo L. Black, who retired from the U.S. Supreme Court after thirty-four years of service on September 13, 1971, died on September 25. During his last years on the court, Justice Black was accused of inconsistency and turning his back on Blacks, yet the justice, a native Alabamian and onetime Ku Klux Klansman, replied: "I haven't changed a jot or a tittle.” Black was eulogized by the popular Black news magazine Jet as “a real American."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 22)
Published
0 0
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace signs a bill permitting parents to send their children to their neighborhood schools if they felt that busing to achieve desegregation would be harmful to their children.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace signed a bill passed by the Alabama legislature which permitted parents to send their children to their neighborhood schools if they felt that busing to achieve desegregation would be harmful to their children.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Sep 13)
Published
0 0
The most disastrous prison riot in U.S. history, the Attica State prison riot, ends after more than 1,000 law enforcement officers storm the facility. 43 people, mostly Black, are killed in the incident.
More than one thousand state troopers, prison guards, and sheriff's deputies stormed the Attica State prison in New York, ending a five-day strike by inmates. Forty-three people, including nine guards held as hostages, were killed in the most disastrous prison tragedy in U.S. history. Most of the slain prisoners were Black. The troubles at Attica were sparked by a misunderstanding between two inmates who were playing touch football and a guard who believed they were fighting. Rumors spread through the prison that the inmates, one Black and one white, were beaten by guards.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 31)
Published
0 0
Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, suggests that federal judges were misinterpreting the Supreme Court’s decision on busing to achieve desegregation.
Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, announced that he was afraid that federal judges were misinterpreting the high court's decision on busing that was delivered on April 20, 1971. Burger feared that judges were assuming that the order required racial balance in every school. In an unusually long ten-page opinion denying a stay of enforcement of a court-ordered busing plan for the schools in Winston-Salem (Forsyth County), North Carolina, Burger said the unanimous court ruling in April did not require a fixed racial balance or quota in order to legally desegregate schools. A school district's racial balance could be used as a point of beginning to determine “whether in fact any violation (of law] existed.” On the same day, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Elliott L. Richardson reported that he agreed with President Nixon's announced policy of limiting school busing to achieve racial desegregation. Richardson denied that he had considered resigning after the president repudiated a school desegregation plan that his department had drawn up for the Austin, Texas, school district, a plan which required extensive crosstown busing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 30 - Sep 8)
Published
0 0
States in the north and west violently resist desegregation in public schools.
As the nation's schools reopened for their fall terms, the stiffest resistance to court-ordered racial desegregation in public education was seen in the north and west. In Pontiac, Michigan, eight white students and one Black pupil were injured on September 8 as fights erupted during protests against a school busing plan. On August 30, 1971, arsonists in Pontiac had set firebombs that destroyed ten school buses to be used for implementing desegregation plans. The protests in Pontiac were among the most violent seen in the country. White parents carrying American flags marched in front of the school bus depot on September 8, daring bus drivers to run them down. In San Francisco, Chinese-American spokesmen announced that they intended to resist a court-ordered busing plan scheduled to be implemented on September 13, 1971. The Chinese Americans acted in response to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's rejection of their anti-busing appeal on August 29, 1971. Under the plan, upheld by the courts, approximately 6,500 Chinese Americans were to be included among 48,000 students to be bused in order to achieve further school desegregation. In Boston, Massachusetts, parents of about three hundred children who were assigned to a new racially desegregated school refused to enroll their children there on September 8. Instead, the children were returned to their previous neighborhood schools. A similar defiance of court-ordered desegregation occurred in Evansville, Indiana. By contrast, most newly desegregated schools reopened quietly in the South, although many were faced with new busing plans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
A federal court refuses the Nixon administration’s request to dismiss a suit pending against federal tax exemptions for private all-white academies in the South. They also deny a request by civil rights groups who urged that all such academies have their tax-exempt status revoked immediately.
A federal court in Washington, D.C., refused a request by the administration of President Nixon to dismiss a suit pending against federal tax exemptions for private all-white academies in the south. The court also denied a request by civil rights groups who brought the suit that urged all such academies have their tax-exempt status revoked immediately. The administration's lawyer told the court that the Internal Revenue Service would no longer grant tax-exempt status to private schools practicing a policy of racial discrimination in admissions, but that for now the government had relied on the word of the schools in determining whether they were willing to desegregate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
The HEW reports that Black student enrollment in the nation’s colleges and universities had increased substantially, with the largest increases in the deep south. Nevertheless, Blacks still represented only 6 percent of the undergraduates in the nation.
The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) reported that Black student enrollment in the nation's colleges and universities had increased at a rate five times greater than white student enrollment since 1968. Black enrollment grew from 303,397 in 1968 to 379,138 in the fall of 1970, a 24 percent increase. According to the HEW report, 44 percent of all Black undergraduates were enrolled in colleges with Black minorities. The largest increase in Black enrollment, 47 percent since 1968, came in the eleven states comprising the Deep South. Nevertheless, Blacks still represented only 6 percent of the undergraduates in the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 24)
Published
0 0
Fourteen law enforcement officials are indicted on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice by trying to suppress criminal prosecutions of eight police officers who participated in the raid of an apartment rented by a Black Panther Party member.
Fourteen law enforcement officials, including Illinois state Attorney Edward U. Hanraham, chief prosecutor for Chicago, were named in a long-suppressed indictment handed down in Chicago on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice by trying to suppress or thwart criminal prosecutions of eight police officers who participated in the December 4, 1969, raid of an apartment rented by a Black Panther Party member. The indictment was made public on orders issued by the Illinois Supreme Court. Judge Joseph A. Power of the Illinois criminal court had kept the indictment sealed since April 1971, when it was first prepared. Power had refused to accept the indictment, contending that the grand jury had not heard all the pertinent witnesses and that it was pressured into returning true bills. Among others named in the indictment were an assistant state attorney, the police superintendent of Chicago, eight police officers who took part in the controversial raid, and four other officers who later conducted departmental investigations into the affair.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 23)
Published
0 0
Government officials report that while the Black Panther Party posed a physical danger to the nation’s law enforcement officers, they were incapable of overthrowing the U.S. government.
The internal security committee of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a report declaring that while the Black Panther Party posed a physical danger to the nation's law enforcement officers, the group was totally incapable of overthrowing the U.S. government by violent means. The four Republican members of the committee, John M. Ashbrook of Ohio, John G. Schmitz of California, Fletcher Thompson of Georgia, and Roger H. Zion of Indiana, objected to the panel's findings, contending that the majority view did not give a clear understanding of the Black Panther Party as a subversive criminal group using the facade of politics as a cover for crimes of violence and extortion.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 20)
Published
0 0
U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell rejects a Louisiana re-apportioning plan.
U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell rejected a plan for re-apportioning the legislative districts of Louisiana, contending that the plan would discriminate against Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 18 - Sep 8)
Published
0 0
Desegregation problems continue in the south.
As the fall school term approached, additional legal skirmishes concerning desegregation took place across the South. On August 18, the Justice Department filed a brief with Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black which supported the Corpus Christi, Texas, school board's request for a stay of a federal court order to desegregate the school district. The court-approved plan had called for massive busing of students. On September 2, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart refused to stay a court order requiring extensive busing to achieve desegregation in the Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee, school system. On September 4, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger refused to halt the busing of students to achieve desegregation in Arlington, Virginia. And on September 8, the Mobile, Alabama, school board implemented a plan which called for the massive busing of students to desegregate schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 18)
Published
0 0
Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama refuses to desegregate schools, ordering two of his state’s school boards to ignore federal court-ordered desegregation plans.
Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama ordered two of his state's school boards to ignore federal court-ordered desegregation plans. Wallace directed the school boards in Calhoun County and the city of Oxford to disregard the orders of a federal judge that an all-Black school in Hobson City be paired with two predominantly white schools in Oxford. Governor Wallace contended that his actions were consistent with President Richard Nixon's anti-busing declaration of August 3. The governor's actions followed by only two days a declaration from Federal District Judge Sam C. Pointer, Jr., that such action was legally meaningless. Mississippi Governor John Bell Williams was one of those, however, who announced immediate support for Wallace's anti-desegregation tactics. Wallace, Williams said, had “drawn a line in the dust and I stand fully with him.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 18)
Published
0 0
A gun battle that breaks out when local police raid the headquarters of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) to serve three of its members with fugitive warrants.
A Jackson, Mississippi, police officer was killed in a gun battle that broke out when local police raided the headquarters of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) to serve three of its members with fugitive warrants. Another Jackson police officer and an FBI agent were wounded during a twenty-minute exchange of gunfire. On August 23, 1971, eleven members of the Black separatist group were accused of murdering Lieutenant W. L. Skinner. Previously, the eleven were charged with treason for allegedly engaging in armed insurrection against the state of Mississippi. Among those arrested was Imari A. Obadele, President of the RNA. Obadele expressed regret over Skinner's death but criticized the Jackson Police department and the FBI for raiding the office. He declared that his group would receive any warrant peacefully, provided one or two Black lawyers were present.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 16)
Published
0 0
The school board of Richmond, Virginia, expresses challenges of school integration to the federal government.
The school board of Richmond, Virginia, told Federal District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., that it was unable to reduce the large number of Black students attending its public schools without a merger with the Henrico and Chesterfield County school systems. The board asked the court to order such a merger. The Richmond officials reported to the judge that they were not able to fully comply with his previous desegregation orders which involved widespread crosstown busing. This feature of the desegregation plan had been offset because too many white families had moved to the suburbs. The plight of the Richmond school board was typical of many urban school districts trying to desegregate with large Black populations in the inner cities and predominantly white populations in the suburbs. Suburban residents expressed strong opposition to the school board's proposal and demonstrated outside the home of Judge Merhige, who was protected by U.S. marshals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 12)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals declines to grant a delay in a San Francisco, California, desegregation program.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District declined to grant a delay in the implementation of a city-wide elementary school desegregation program scheduled to take effect in San Francisco on September 8, 1971. The desegregation program involved the transfer of 48,000 children and had been ordered into effect on April 28, 1971, by U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Weigel.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 4)
Published
0 0
Black judges announce the formation of a judicial court created to seek legal reform.
The nation's Black federal, state, and municipal judges attending the 46th annual meeting of the Black National Bar Association (NBA) in Atlanta announced the formation of a judicial court through which they would work for legal reform. Judge Edward Bell of Detroit, President of the NBA, said the new council would seek to return to the idea that the courts belong to all of the people, poor as well as rich, Black as well as white. The judges also pointed out the absence of Black federal judges in the South. At the time of the meeting, there were 285 Black judges in the country, representing slightly more than 1 percent of 20,000 jurists in the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 3 - 12)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) accuses Air Force officials in Texas of illegally busing school children in a way that perpetuated segregation.
In an August 3 announcement, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) charged that Air Force officials in southwest Texas were seeking to continue the illegal busing of school children on a military base to a predominantly white school nearby. The busing permitted 850 children to bypass the closer San Felipe school district that was largely Mexican-American in order to attend the mostly white Del Rio schools. In July, the Texas Education Agency had advised the Del Rio district that it could no longer accept the Air Force children because of a federal court ruling that the transfers were illegally perpetuating segregation. The Air Force, denying that it was seeking to perpetuate segregation, contended that the San Felipe school district did not have sufficient educational facilities to handle the 850 children from Laughlin Air Force base and hence the plea for continued busing. On August 12, the USCCR maintained that president Nixon's directives to keep busing for racial desegregation to a minimum would undermine efforts to desegregate the nation's schools. The transportation of students, according to the commission's unanimous report, was essential to eliminating segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 3 - 11)
Published
0 0
President Nixon reaffirms his opposition to busing protocols to achieve racial balance in schools. He also warned administrative officials that they risked losing their jobs if they pushed for extensive busing as a means of desegregating the nation’s schools.
President Nixon disowned a school desegregation plan drawn up by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) which would have required extensive crosstown busing in Austin, Texas. The president also took the occasion to reaffirm his strong opposition to any busing designed to achieve a racial balance in the schools. The president further directed HEW Secretary Elliott L. Richardson to aid individual school districts as they attempted to hold busing to the minimum required by the law. The president, however, reasserted the duty of his administration to enforce orders of the federal courts, including those calling for busing to achieve desegregation. On August 11, the White House announced that President Nixon had warned administrative officials that they risked losing their jobs if they pushed for extensive busing as a means of desegregating the nation's schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Aug 2)
Published
0 0
Reverend Jesse Jackson accuses the U.S. Postal Service of discriminating against Blacks.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson of Chicago, leader of the Operation Breadbasket unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), accused the newly reorganized U.S. Postal Service of discriminating against Blacks. Jackson, speaking to postal workers in Washington, D.C., said the postal service had begun laying off a number of workers as part of its reorganization plan and that since the majority of the Black postal employees were in the lower job categories, they were the first to be fired. The Black civil rights leader also accused the postal service of discrimination for placing new offices in all-white suburban areas where Blacks could not obtain services or jobs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 28)
Published
0 0
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Executive Director designate of the National Urban League, criticizes the Nixon administration.
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Executive Director designate of the National Urban League, told the closing session of his group's annual convention in Detroit that the Nixon administration had compiled a “record of ambiguity" toward Black Americans. He accused the administration of allowing federal civil rights laws to "languish in dusty books.” The remarks were a part of Jordan's first major address to the Urban League since he was named its director, succeeding the late Whitney M. Young, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 27)
Published
0 0
The military cracks down on officers that failed to uphold racial equality guidelines in the armed forces.
Frank W. Render, Second Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, announced that almost a dozen military officers were relieved of command, transferred to new assignments, or reprimanded for failing to adequately enforce the defense department's guidelines for racial equality in the armed services. The unidentified officers were said to rank from general down to company grade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 26)
Published
0 0
The 1970 Census reveals that Black Americans remained far behind whites in terms of economic prosperity, social gains, and educational advancement.
Federal analysts studying the 1970 Census returns concluded that despite a decade of general progress, Black Americans remained far behind whites in terms of economic prosperity, social gains, and educational advancement. The study, compiled by the Bureau of the Census and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and entitled “The Social and Economic Status of Negroes in the United States, 1970,” found that 28.9 of every one hundred Black families were headed by women. Many analysts saw this proportion of female-headed households as an important indicator of Black social progress. (That view was disputed immediately by Dr. Robert B. Hill, a research analyst for the National Urban League, as he appeared before the League's annual convention.) The percentage of fatherless white families in the 1960s remained at about 9 percent. Other statistics showed that Blacks increased their median income by 50 percent during the 1960s, but that their incomes were still only three-fifths of that earned by whites, and that about half of the all-Black occupied housing units in rural areas were substandard in 1970 as compared with only 8 percent of white rural housing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 21)
Published
0 0
Blacks in Passaic, New Jersey, begin boycotting against downtown merchants in protest because of a series of incidents of police harassment and brutality.
Blacks in Passaic, New Jersey, began a long boycott against downtown merchants protesting alleged police brutality. The boycott grew out of a series of incidents of police harassment and brutality which culminated in an incident on the night of July 20 between police and eight Blacks. During the altercation a Black man was beaten and shots were fired. The Reverend Calvin McKinney, leader of the Black Urban Crisis Council, protested that the town's all-white city council ignored Black pleas for protection against police harassment. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) did, however, agree to investigate the charges.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 18 - 20)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Judge Jack Roberts refuses to accept a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) desegregation plan for Austin, Texas, and instead, accepts a desegregation plan filed by the local school board. It assigns Black junior high school students to schools that are not “identifiably Negro.”
U.S. District Judge Jack Roberts refused to accept a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) school desegregation plan for Austin, Texas, schools which would have required extensive cross-town busing. Instead, the judge accepted a desegregation plan filed by the local school board which established learning centers in fine arts, avocations, and social and natural sciences which would be open to elementary pupils of all races for a portion of the school day. Students could be bused, if necessary, to these learning centers. The plan also assigned Black junior high school students to schools which were not “identifiably Negro.” In a related matter, on July 20, HEW officials announced that they had told sixty states that they would have to alter their school desegregation plans for the fall of 1971 so as to achieve greater racial desegregation. A HEW representative said that most of the sixty-four districts were in small and rural areas and that each contained one or more all-Black schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 13)
Published
0 0
Civil rights groups criticize President Nixon’s housing policies as insufficient to the needs of minorities and the poor.
A coalition of 126 civil rights groups held a leadership conference on civil rights in Washington, D.C. The coalition attacked President Nixon's housing policies as insufficient to the needs of minorities and the poor. The president's policy, which was outlined on June 11, 1971, was “disastrous and chaotic,” according to the group's spokesperson, Bayard Rustin. The coalition urged the federal administration to require localities to provide for low-income housing needs or risk losing all federal aid. The civil rights groups also urged the Justice Department to take action against any local zoning laws erected to block housing for low and moderate income families.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 11)
Published
0 0
President Nixon signs a five-billion dollar education appropriation bill. It contains a provision for the use of funds for school districts already considered desegregated.
President Nixon signed a five-billion dollar education appropriation bill, the largest of its kind in history. Among the features of the bill was a provision which prohibited the use of any of the funds to force school districts considered already desegregated under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bus students, abolish schools, or to set attendance zones against parents' wishes or as a stipulation for receiving federal funds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 7)
Published
0 0
After criticism by baseball fans, professional baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces that veteran player Satchel Paige, who pitched for twenty-five years in the Negro Leagues and the major leagues, would be given full membership in the baseball Hall of Fame, rather than a separate division of the Hall of Fame.
Professional baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn announced that veteran player Satchel Paige, who pitched for twenty-five years in the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues, would be given full membership in the baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Originally, it was intended that Paige and other Black players be honored in a separate division of the Hall of Fame which was established for players in the old Negro Leagues. In response to criticism by baseball fans of the separate division of the shrine, the decision was made to give Paige full honors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
Legendary trumpeter Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong dies.
Louis Armstrong, the legendary jazz trumpeter, died in New York. Seventy-one year-old “Satchmo” Armstrong had reshaped the development of American music by introducing the Black folk music of New Orleans into mainstream American culture. His distinctive abrasive voice and innovative solos were trademarks of his long career which began in small Southern nightclubs at the close of the World War I. President Nixon eulogized Armstrong as “one of the architects of the American art form.”
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 5)
Published
0 0
Bishop Stephen G. Spottswood, Board Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), remarks that the Nixon administration had taken steps to dispel the image that it was anti-Black. Some NAACP leaders disagree.
Bishop Stephen G. Spottswood, Board Chairman of the NAACP, remarked during the group's 62nd annual convention in Minneapolis that the Nixon administration had taken steps during 1971 to dispel the image that it was anti-Black. Without being very specific, Spottswood said that the president had taken certain steps and announced certain policies which had “earned cautious and limited approval among Black Americans.” A year before, at the NAACP's convention, Spottswood portrayed the Nixon administration as anti-Black. Some NAACP leaders apparently disagreed with Bishop Spottswood's new assessment of the Nixon policies. NAACP Labor Director Herbert Hill characterized the administration's racial policy as criminal negligence, a posture even worse than Benign Neglect. Hill specifically accused the administration of failure to enforce laws forbidding discrimination by federal contractors which resulted, in his view, in a high unemployment rate among Blacks. Similarly, NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins told the delegates that president Nixon could increase his influence among Black voters in the 1972 elections if he made more jobs available to Black voters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
Black law associations accuse the American Bar Association of excluding Blacks from its major policymaking organs.
Members of the National Conference of Black Lawyers and the Black American Law Students Association distributed leaflets accusing the American Bar Association of excluding Blacks from its major policymaking organs and of emphasizing the “order” side of the law and order issue. The leaflets also called for an end to bar exams which allegedly excluded Blacks. Similarly, Judge Edward F. Bell, President of the Black National Bar Association (NBA), speaking before his group's annual convention, urged the abolition of bar exams, claiming that they did not reflect the potential for a successful practice and that they discriminated against minority applicants.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 30 - Aug 8)
Published
0 0
A jury, consisting of ten Blacks and two whites, acquit twelve Black Panther Party members of charges that they murdered a police officer, and of conspiracy to murder in a gun battle with police at the party’s local headquarters in October 1970. During the trial, nine of the Black defendants participate in a prison uprising.
Throughout the summer of 1971, members of the Black Panther Party were continuously engaged in legal disputes of various kinds. On June 30, a jury in Detroit acquitted twelve party members of charges that they murdered a police officer, and of conspiracy to murder in a gun battle with police at the party's local headquarters in October 1970. Three party members, however, were convicted of felonious assault in the case. This trio, Erone D. Desansser, Benjamin Fandrus, and David Johnson, faced a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment. The Detroit jury, consisting of ten Blacks and two Whites, returned its verdict after four and a half days of deliberations. On July 2, David Hilliard, the Black Panther Party's Chief of Staff, was sentenced to a one-to-ten year prison term by an Oakland, California, judge for assault in connection with a gun battle with police in April 1968. Hilliard, who was convicted on June 12, was denied a retrial and remanded to custody. On August 6, a biracial jury of ten Blacks and two whites acquitted twelve Black Panther Party members of the attempted murder of five New Orleans police officers in a gun battle at a local housing project in September 1970. The biracial jury, which received its instructions from a Black judge, Israel M. Augustine, reached its verdict after only thirty minutes of deliberation. If convicted, the Blacks could have faced terms of twenty years in prison on each of the five counts. During the trial, nine of the Black defendants participated in an uprising involving thirty-four inmates at the Orleans parish prison, where they were held. The uprising was staged to protest what the Blacks called the prison's "corrupt judicial system." The protest, which was held on July 26, ended after almost eight hours as the inmates released two Black guards they had been holding hostage. On August 8, Superior Court Judge Harold B. Hove declared a mistrial in the second manslaughter trial of Huey P. Newton, Co-founder of the Black Panther Party, in Oakland, California. A lone white housewife held out for the acquittal of Newton, who had been charged in connection with the killing of an Oakland police officer in October 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 28 - Jul 8)
Published
0 0
Federal District Judge L. C. Morton approves a cross-town busing plan designed to desegregate the Nashville-Davidson county public school system in Tennessee.
Court action and out-of-court settlements continued in an effort to desegregate the nation's schools. On June 28, a federal district judge in Nashville, Tennessee, approved a cross-town busing plan designed to desegregate the Nashville-Davidson County public school system. Judge L. C. Morton adopted, with modifications, a plan drawn up by the department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) which required the daily busing of about 47,000 students, an increase of approximately 13,500 over those bused in 1970-71. The number of Black children required to ride buses would almost double while the number of whites to be transported would increase by only one-third. The Nashville-Davidson county school system had an enrollment of about 95,000 pupils. Judge Morton ordered the plan implemented in September 1971. On July 8, the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund and the Mobile, Alabama, school board agreed upon a school desegregation plan that would allow at least ten of Mobile's public schools to retain virtually all-Black student bodies until the fall of 1972. Attorneys for the Blacks said they accepted the school board's suggested course of action only to avoid another year of litigation before a federal district judge they regarded as hostile to desegregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 28)
Published
0 0
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammed Ali’s military draft evasion conviction is overturned by the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1967 draft evasion conviction of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. In an unanimous 8-0 opinion (Justice Thurgood Marshall did not participate), the court ruled that the Justice Department had erred in contending that Ali's objection to military service was based on political rather than religious beliefs. The court said it was "indisputably clear that the department was simply wrong as a matter of law in advising that Ali's beliefs were not religiously based and were not sincerely held." Ali, who is a Black Muslim, exclaimed "Thanks to Allah!" when he learned of the court's decree. "I thank the Supreme Court for recognizing the sincerity of my belief in myself and my convictions," he said.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
Federal agents arrest three Black men in Columbus, Georgia, and charges them with possessing firebombs. White police officers urge Mayor J. R. Allen not to give in to Black demands, prompted by Black charges of racial discrimination in the city’s police department.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrested three Black men in Columbus, Georgia, and charged them with possessing firebombs in the racially tense city. The agents said they confiscated enough material at the People's Panther Party headquarters to make more than fifty firebombs. Two of the three arrested men were soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Benning, and the third was a former army private. The agents arrested William Craig Garr, Jesse Reed, Jr., and Anthony L. Brewer less than a week after the outburst of new racial disorders, which included fire bombings. Garr was identified as the President of the People's Panther Party, an organization described by a federal official as a training group for the Black Panther Party. Meanwhile, white police officers in Columbus presented a petition to Mayor J. R. Allen urging him not to give in to Black demands. The petition was prompted by Black charges of racial discrimination in the city's police department and a subsequent announcement by the mayor that the department would be investigated. Earlier, Black police officers had told the mayor, in response to his plea to them to help cool the Black community, that they would protect the Black community from the white police.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 23)
Published
0 0
School officials and civil rights leaders in Jackson, Mississippi, agree on a plan for desegregating the city’s elementary schools through busing and educational parks.
School officials and civil rights leaders in Jackson, Mississippi, the largest school district in the state, agreed on a plan for desegregating the city's elementary schools through busing and educational parks. Both parties, in the first such compromise they had ever reached, agreed that the plan would remain in effect for three years without a court challenge. Dr. Harry S. Kirshman, acting Superintendent of Schools, announced that the agreement would affect about 18,000 to 19,000 elementary school children, with approximately 8,000 to 9,000 being bused to classes. The educational park concept is built on clusters of modules around a common center. Each module is to accommodate the equivalent of four traditional classrooms with 30-1 pupil-teacher ratios. Black enrollments in the schools would range from 41 to 70 percent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 22)
Published
0 0
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) sends letters to thirty-nine school districts suggesting that they must further desegregate by the fall of 1971.
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) announced that letters were forwarded to thirty-nine school districts in eleven Southern and border states suggesting that they must further desegregate by the fall of 1971. HEW was attempting to bring all school districts in line with the Supreme Court's ruling in the Swann case in North Carolina. Recent action was taken in Nashville, Tennessee; Norfolk, Virginia; and Austin, Texas. The latest action included such diverse localities as Wilmington, Delaware; Paducah, Kentucky; Gulfport, Mississippi; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Amarillo, Texas; and Martinsville, Virginia. HEW told the districts that they must prove that the presence of heavily Black schools is not discriminatory.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 18)
Published
0 0
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) reports that the only significant gains in school desegregation in the nation’s largest school districts during the past two years have occurred in the south.
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) completed and released the most detailed study of school desegregation in the nation's history. According to the report, the only significant gains in school desegregation in the nation's largest school districts during the past two years have occurred in the south. The 38 southern school districts among the country's largest districts accounted for almost all of the desegregation gains in urban areas while 26 of the 63 districts in northern and western states showed a decrease in desegregation. The figures reflected the amount of desegregation based on the number of Black children in predominately white schools, the statistical yardstick favored by most civil rights groups. Of the 756,000 Black pupils who moved from largely Black into predominately white schools during the past two years, a total of 690,000 lived in the south. The national desegregation comparison was the result of an eight-month survey conducted by HEW. The preliminary results of the study were revealed on January 14, 1971.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 17)
Published
0 0
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins called the Nixon administration’s policy on housing discrimination a “timid tightrope walking act of the greatest kind.”
NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins called the Nixon administration's policy on housing discrimination a "timid tightrope walking act of the greatest kind." Wilkins challenged President Nixon to exert more positive federal power to help Blacks move to the suburbs in search of employment. "The issue of the 1970's now appears to be whether the Black population will be able to move into the suburbs in pursuit of jobs that are moving to the suburbs," Wilkins declared. "The fifteen-page statement issued last week by the White House had done nothing to solve that problem." President Nixon had announced on June 11, that he would enforce federal laws preventing racial discrimination in housing but would not force communities to accept low-cost housing for Blacks or Whites. According to an Atlanta Constitution report, Wilkins also said that "Mr. Nixon ought to stop going around saying he does not want to enforce integration of the suburbs, because he is using the language and nomenclature of those who simply do not want Negroes in the suburbs." Wilkins made his criticisms of the president at a panel discussion called "The Status of Civil Rights in 1971" at the annual meeting of the Black National Newspapers Publishers Association in Atlanta.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 17)
Published
0 0
The slaying of a young Black man by Jacksonville, Florida, police sparks a riot.
Jacksonville, Florida police officers armed with riot equipment dispersed a crowd of 400 Black youths in a second night of racial violence in the city. Three youths were arrested and charged with looting. Several police officers were slightly injured by rocks and bottles during the melee. Sheriff's Captain E. W. Hartley said police went into the Black neighborhood to protect its many elderly Black residents in the wake of the rock and bottle hurling. Deputies reported that two supermarkets in the Black business district were looted and set afire, but there was no gunfire. Black youths were angered by an earlier slaying of a young Black man by Jacksonville police.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 17)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals orders complete desegregation in eighty-one southern school districts, mostly in Georgia. They had originally exempted these districts from full desegregation compliance on the grounds that it would produce educationally unsound school systems.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered complete desegregation in eighty-one southern school districts. The court reversed a U.S. District Court decision of April 22, 1970, which exempted some districts (mostly in Georgia) from full desegregation compliance on the grounds that such compliance would produce educationally unsound school systems. The Court of Appeals said that the district court must apply the Singleton decree to the eighty-one school districts in the areas of faculty and staff desegregation, school construction, site selection, and school attendance outside the system. The decree, issued in 1970 by the Fifth Circuit Court in the case of Singleton v. Jackson, required that the faculty of each school have approximately the same racial ratio as the entire school system, and that decisions regarding school construction and selection of school sites be made without evidence of racial discrimination. The New Orleans-based court also said the eighty-one school systems must comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, which held that busing could be used as a tool to dismantle a dual school system. The eighty-one school districts had been under federal court jurisdiction since December 1969. The latest appellate ruling in the case stemmed from the intervention by Charley Ridley, Jr., a Black student from Gray, Georgia, in the blanket desegregation suit filed against Georgia and the state's board of education in 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 16)
Published
0 0
The Race Relations Information Center (RRIC), releases a report warning that predominantly Black public colleges were in “imminent danger of losing their identity through integration, merger, reduced status, or outright abolition.”
The Race Relations Information Center (RRIC) of Nashville, Tennessee, announced that predominantly Black public colleges were in "imminent danger of losing their identity through integration, merger, reduced status, or outright abolition." In a report entitled "The Black Public Colleges-Integration and Disintegration," the RRIC said "the prevailing pattern is one of racially separate and qualitatively unequal higher education." The 1970-71 academic year marked the first time in their history that the nation's thirty-three state supported Black colleges enrolled more than 100,000 students. During the past decade, enrollment at the institutions increased 75 percent. The report said the figures suggested thriving institutions, but that in reality, the death knell of the Black state-supported colleges had already been sounded. There were originally thirty-five public colleges created for Blacks, two of which had become predominantly white. Those two, Maryland State College and West Virginia's Bluefield State College, were joined by two more, West Virginia State and Missouri's Lincoln University. The RRIC said three other institutions-Delaware State, Maryland's Bowie State, and Kentucky State-could soon follow suit. Of the twenty-six remaining schools, fourteen were in direct competition with a predominantly white college. The RRIC speculated that most of these would eventually lose their identity, perhaps even be completely abolished.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 15)
Published
0 0
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., former Atlanta Attorney, is named Executive Director of the National Urban League.
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., former Atlanta Attorney and Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), was named Executive Director of the National Urban League (NUL). Jordan succeeded Whitney Young, Jr., who drowned on March 11, 1971, in Lagos, Nigeria. Jordan was Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP) of the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta until 1969. As head of the VEP, he helped organize massive voter registration campaigns across the South to help Blacks win political power. In January 1970, Jordan became head of the UNCF, which raises funds for more than thirty Black colleges across the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 14)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that officials may close swimming pools and other public facilities to avoid desegregating them.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that officials may close swimming pools and other public facilities to avoid desegregating them. The closings are not unconstitutional since Blacks and Whites are treated equally, Justice Hugo L. Black reasoned in the court's rare recent setback for Blacks. The ruling went against Blacks in Jackson, Mississippi, who tried to force the city to reopen public swimming pools. They were closed after a district court ruled they could not remain segregated. In announcing the majority opinion, Justice Black cautioned that the decision did not signal approval of any subterfuge for desegregation. "We want no one to get any hope that there has been any retreat," he said. In one of three dissenting opinions, Justice Thurgood Marshall reasoned that the city's actions were unconstitutional and that "the fact that the color of [a black's] skin is used to prevent others from swimming in public pools is irrelevant."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 14)
Published
0 0
The Justice Department charges Black Jack, Missouri, with illegally blocking a desegregated housing development.
The Justice Department announced the filing of a suit in St. Louis against Black Jack, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, charging the town with illegally blocking a desegregated housing development. The action came on the heels of President Nixon's policy statement on housing issued on June 11, 1971. The issue arose when a nonprofit corporation made detailed plans in late 1969 to build a housing development for people of limited income. It was widely known that the project would be desegregated. The federal suit charged that the residents of Black Jack incorporated their community to gain zoning power and then used that power to block construction of the project. This action, the suit said, violated federal civil rights laws and the U.S. Constitution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 14)
Published
0 0
A report by the National Association of Secondary School Principals reveals that more than twelve hundred Black school principals lost their jobs to whites after public school desegregation began in the south. They suggest that intervention of the federal government is required.
Owen B. Kiernan, Executive Secretary of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, told the U.S. Senate's Equal Educational Opportunity Committee that a survey of eleven Southern and two border states had revealed that more than twelve hundred Black school principals lost their jobs to whites after public school desegregation began in the south. Dr. Kiernan claimed that the problem of the elimination, displacement, and demotion of Black public school principals had reached such serious proportions that it required the intervention of the federal government.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 13)
Published
0 0
Race riots continue at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas when a midnight battle between White and Black airmen leaves twenty injured.
The latest in a series of race riots on military bases occurred at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. A midnight battle between White and Black airmen left twenty injured. According to a military spokesman, the two-and-one-half hour fight started when one Black airman and one White airman clashed in the base's club. The fight then escalated among young trainees and was eventually halted by base police. Major General Jerry Page, the Base Commander, said no arrests would be made until an investigation of the incident was completed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, is found guilty of assault but innocent of attempted murder in connection with a 1968 shootout with police.
David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, was found guilty of assault but innocent of attempted murder in connection with a 1968 shootout with police. Hilliard contended that he was not involved in the Panther-police altercation on April 6, 1968. That gun battle resulted in the death of Panther Party member Bobby Hutton, the wounding of two police officers, and criminal charges against Panther Minister of Information Eldridge Cleaver, who later jumped bail and fled to Algeria. Hilliard was charged with two counts of attempted murder and another dual count of assault on a police officer. The trial was held in the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, California, before Judge William J. Hayes. Frank Vukota prosecuted Hilliard, who was defended by Attorney Vincent Hallinan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
Charles Evers, the Black Mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, begins his campaign for Governor as an independent. He tells supporters that it is time for members of both races to work together for common goals.
Charles Evers, the Black Mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, began his campaign for Governor on the eighth anniversary of his brother Medgar's death. Surrounded by ten armed Black men acting as security guards, Evers returned to his hometown of Decatur, Mississippi, to campaign as an independent. Evers was the first Black to seek the governorship since Reconstruction. He told a crowd of three hundred supporters at the Newton County courthouse that it was time for members of both races to work together for common goals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 11)
Published
0 0
President Richard Nixon promises to enforce federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in housing but would not force low cost housing for Blacks or whites into suburban communities that did not want it.
President Richard Nixon promised to enforce federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in housing but said the government would not force introduction of low cost housing for Blacks or whites into suburban communities that did not want it. The president's fifteen-page report sharply distinguished between economic segregation and racial segregation, and the government's authority to deal with each situation. Nixon said that his administration would seek to carry out all requirements of federal law and judicial decisions involving housing but that it would take no action to go beyond them. "Racial discrimination in housing is illegal and will not be tolerated," the president affirmed, but the issue of public housing projects for the poor was another matter. Although predominantly white and affluent suburbs would be encouraged to accept them, the ultimate decision about the location of the housing projects would be made at the local level.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 7)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states are not required to carve out separate legislative districts for urban Blacks or any other racial or ethnic group.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states are not required to carve out separate legislative districts for urban Blacks or any other racial or ethnic group. The court held in an apportionment case from Indiana that core-city Blacks may be lumped with more populous suburban white voters into one large district that is represented by a number of legislators elected at large. The 5-3 ruling upset a federal district court's finding that Indianapolis Blacks were the victims of racial gerrymandering and were entitled to their own district with state legislators elected by and responsible to them. The five-man judicial majority, led by Justice Byron R. White, said there was no evidence that Indianapolis Blacks did not have an equal say in choosing legislative candidates or that they were not allowed to register or vote. The majority reasoned that "the mere fact that one interest group or another concerned with the outcome of Marion County elections have found themselves outvoted and without legislative seats of its own provides no basis for invoking constitutional remedies." No explanation was given of the different result that was reached on May 31 when the court ordered Hinds County, Mississippi, which included the capital city of Jackson, to be divided into single-member districts so that Black voters would have a chance to elect their own representatives. Had the Supreme Court established the Jackson principle consistently, Blacks and other inner-city residents would have been assured of larger representation in state legislatures.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 4)
Published
0 0
Racial tensions in Columbus, Georgia erupts into violence when seven members of the Black American Police League were fired from the police department for picketing police headquarters and removing the American flag shoulder patches from their uniforms.
Racial tensions in Columbus, Georgia, the state's second largest city, erupted into violence. The trouble began on May 31, 1971, when seven members of the Black American Police League, including its executive director, were fired from the police department for picketing police headquarters and removing the American flag shoulder patches from their uniforms. The Blacks were protesting alleged racial discrimination in the police department. Police department officials accused the Blacks of conduct unbecoming to an officer and said they ripped the flags from their uniforms. The officers said they gently removed the emblems. On June 3, the Muscogee County grand jury announced that complaints of discrimination against Black officers were unfounded. The jury said it found no basis for charges of the use of unnecessary force in the arrests of Blacks but instead criticized both the Black American Police League, which made the charges of discrimination and police brutality, and the Fraternal Order of Police, a union. On June 19, Hosea Williams, National Program Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Chairman of the Georgia statewide Black Leadership Coalition, led more than five hundred Blacks on a fifteen-block march in Columbus, then issued a five-point ultimatum to city and county officials. The coalition demanded the reinstatement of thirteen Black policemen, promotion of the thirty-eight Blacks still on the force, desegregation of jail facilities, a biracial citizens police review board, and increased hiring of Black police officers. On June 21, Columbus Mayor J. R. Allen declared a state of emergency following a weekend of racial strife. A total of twenty-six fires attributed to arsonists were set in the city, and a Black man was fatally wounded by police. The city council gave the mayor broad powers to order a curfew, shut down stores selling alcoholic beverages, stop the sale of firearms, and curtail gasoline sales. Meanwhile, the Black American Police League called for a city-wide boycott of white businesses.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jun 4)
Published
0 0
The Labor Department withdraws its support of Chicago’s voluntary equal hiring plan for federal construction projects and replaces it with the now-standard formula known as the Philadelphia Plan.
Arthur A. Fletcher, Assistant Secretary of Labor, announced that the Labor Department was withdrawing its support of Chicago's voluntary equal hiring plan for federal construction projects and would impose mandatory racial quotas on federally assisted projects throughout the city. Chicago's voluntary plan failed after being in operation for eighteen months. The plan called for the hiring and training of some 4,000 minority group members. But by June 4, 1971, only 885 Blacks and Hispanic-Americans were enrolled for training, and only a few had obtained membership in the city's construction unions. The Labor Department said it would replace the Chicago plan with the now-standard formula known as the Philadelphia Plan, under which a certain number of minority group members should be employed on federal projects exceeding $500,000.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 30)
Published
0 0
Three police officers are injured in a gun battle in Cairo, Illinois, one of America’s most racially tense cities. The mayor blames United Front. United Front declines to comment.
Three police officers were injured in a gun battle in Cairo, Illinois, one of the most racially tense cities in America. Cairo Mayor Albert B. Thomas blamed the shootings on the United Front, a predominantly Black organization that had led a boycott of the town's white merchants. The United Front declined to comment on the incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 25)
Published
0 0
Racial tensions renew in Mississippi when Jo Etha Collier, a Black 18-year-old girl, is shot dead. The three white men arrested and charged with the killing plead innocent.
Racial tension was sparked anew in Mississippi as Jo Etha Collier, an eighteen-year- old Black girl, was shot dead in Drew, Mississippi. Collier was felled by a bullet from a passing car as she stood with other young Blacks on a street corner in her hometown. The incident occurred less than an hour after the girl graduated from desegregated Drew High School and was designated the student with the best school spirit. Three white men were arrested and charged with the killing on May 26. On June 14, Wayne and Wesley Parks of Drew, Mississippi, and Allen Wilkerson of Memphis, Tennessee, were arraigned on charges of murder before Circuit Court Judge Arthur B. Clark in Indianola, Mississippi. The three pleaded innocent. The swift arrests, arraignments, and the sympathetic attitude of local white officials served to help calm tensions in the community.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 25)
Published
0 0
Judge Harold H. Mulvey dismisses all charges against Black Panther Party members Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins for the murder of former Black Panther member Alex Rackley.
Judge Harold H. Mulvey of the Connecticut state court in New Haven dismissed all charges against Black Panther Party members Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins. The two were on trial for six months for the murder of former Black Panther member Alex Rackley in May 1969. Judge Mulvey ordered the charges dropped after the jury in the case told him it was hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial and announced that the massive publicity about the case had made it too difficult to select an unbiased jury to try the pair again. Seale was Chairman and Co-founder of the Black Panther Party, and Huggins was a party member from Connecticut. Throughout the trial, the state, led by state Attorney Arnold Markle, sought to prove that Seale had ordered a group of party members to murder Rackley after he was accused of treason against the party. The state's principal witness, George Sams, Jr., testified that Seale had given him the orders. Seale's defense counsel, Charles R. Gary, countered consistently that Sams ordered Rackley's death. Sams, a member of the party, had already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case. The dismissal of charges brought to an end another chapter of violence and legal proceedings connected with the Black Panther Party.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 21 - 26)
Published
0 0
Racial violence erupts in Tennessee after a Black musician fails to perform at a rock concert and some of the Black youths were denied refunds for their admission fees. They began vandalizing the building, until the unrest spread into the streets.
Racial violence erupted in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after a Black musician failed to perform at a rock concert in the city auditorium. When some of the Black youths did not get refunds for their admission fees, they began vandalizing the building. The disorder later spread into the streets. On May 24, Governor Winfield Dunn ordered 2,000 national guardsmen into the city after local police were unable to contain the arson and sniping which was centered in the Black neighborhoods located on the outskirts of the downtown area. On May 25, a young Black man was killed by police who said they fired after the man hurled bricks at them. Black witnesses said the victim, Leon Anderson, was apparently drunk, and they charged that police shot him without provocation. The incident increased tensions but did not lead to heightened violence. On May 26, a rigid dusk-to-dawn curfew was lifted in the city and Governor Dunn announced that guardsmen would be gradually withdrawn.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 18)
Published
0 0
President Nixon responds to Black Caucus’s grievances assuring he is committed to his continued support. In almost all of the recommendations, the president differed with the caucus in amounts and scope of reform programs. The Black Caucus charged that the administration “lacked a sense of understanding, urgency and commitment in dealing with the critical problems facing Black Americans.”
In a 115-page report, President Richard Nixon told the Black Caucus of the House of Representatives that his administration would continue to support "jobs, income, and tangible benefits, the pledges that this society has made to the disadvantaged in the past decade." The President was responding to a list of sixty grievances the Black Congressmen had asked him to consider in a meeting on March 25, 1971. The President announced that he agreed with the caucus's welfare reform proposals but limited his guaranteed annual income figure to $2,400, compared to the $6,500 a year figure proposed by the Blacks. In almost all of the recommendations, the president differed with the caucus in amounts and scope of reform programs. For instance, the Black legislators suggested one million summer jobs for youths; the President promised 500,000 jobs, with some 300,000 more being made available through private sectors. The Black Caucus received the report through the office of its chairman, Representative Charles C. Diggs, Jr., from Michigan. After studying the report, the caucus issued a seventy-six-page reaction that expressed its disappointment. The legislators called the president's message "a mere codification of slim efforts" rather than “massive immediate aid for minorities and the poor." In the end, the Blacks charged, the administration "lacked a sense of understanding, urgency and commitment in dealing with the critical problems facing Black Americans." It was pointed out that only one of the sixty demands was fully agreed on by both sides the formation of a task force to study the problems of Black soldiers and veterans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 17)
Published
0 0
An all-white jury in Opelika, Alabama, acquits Black Macon County Sheriff Lucius D. Amerson and his deputy, of a federal charge of beating a prisoner.
An all-white jury in Opelika, Alabama, acquitted Black Macon County Sheriff Lucius D. Amerson and his deputy, Richard Coleman, Jr., of a federal charge that they had beaten a prisoner in their custody. Amerson commented that the verdict reaffirmed his belief that he could receive a fair trial at the hands of an all-white jury in the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 14)
Published
0 0
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) recommends extensive crosstown busing to help desegregate public schools in Austin, Texas.
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), complying with the Supreme Court's ruling upholding school busing to achieve greater desegregation, recommended extensive crosstown busing as part of a plan to desegregate the public schools in Austin, Texas. The desegregation proposal was the first made by the government since the Supreme Court in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (April 1971) rejected the administration's objections to busing and declared the method constitutional as a means of dismantling dual school systems. Austin, the sixth largest city in Texas, had about 56,000 students in fifty-six elementary schools, nineteen junior high schools and eight high schools. About 15 percent of the students were Black and about 20 percent Mexican-American. The city had two high schools and seven elementary schools with virtually all-Black enrollments.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 13)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Army nominates three Black Colonels for promotion to Brigadier General.
The U.S. Army announced that it had nominated three Black Colonels for promotion to the rank of Brigadier General. The three Black officers were among eighty Colonels approved by President Nixon for promotion to the one-star rank. The three officers promoted were Colonels Alvin W. Dillard, James F. Hamlet, and Roscoe C. Cartwright. Their nominations would bring the number of Black Army Generals to four. The Air Force also had one Black General, while the Navy nominated its first Black Admiral on April 28, 1971.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 10)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reports that the Nixon administration had shown some signs of progress in enforcing civil rights laws.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported that the Nixon administration had shown some signs of progress in enforcing civil rights laws but considerable strides needed to be made. The new commission report came seven months after a harsh indictment of the administration was issued, asserting that there had been a major breakdown in the enforcement of the civil rights laws. The commission singled out for praise George P. Shultz, Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Leonard Garment, a presidential counselor, for what it termed their efforts at "active intervention" in seeking compliance with civil rights laws. The report also cited other signs of progress: 1. President Nixon, in his fiscal 1972 budget recommendations, had sought more funds for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2. The Army, among other departments, had set up a program to establish goals for minority employment in its own offices. 3. The Justice Department had announced that it would add six lawyers to its office to coordinate efforts to enforce title VI of the 1964 civil rights law, which forbade discrimination in federally assisted programs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 5)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Labor Department announces that it will impose racial hiring quotas on some federally sponsored construction projects.
The U.S. Labor Department announced that it would impose mandatory racial hiring quotas on federally sponsored construction projects under way in San Francisco, St. Louis, and Atlanta. The established plans for the three cities varied slightly in their formats. Overall, however, they required contractors bidding on federal or federally-sponsored projects to agree to hire a fixed percentage of minority group members by a certain date. Washington and Philadelphia were the only other two cities to have such job plans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 5)
Published
0 0
A riot involving mostly Black youths occurs in the Brownsville (Brooklyn) section of New York City in response to state budget cuts.
A riot involving mostly Black youths occurred in the Brownsville section of New York City. Hundreds of youths set scores of fires and fought police. One police officer was shot and fourteen others were injured during the melee. Police arrested twenty-five people on charges of larceny or malicious mischief. At the height of the rioting, marauding bands of young people looted stores and battled police with rocks, bricks, and bottles. The rioting began after thousands of angry Brownsville (Brooklyn) residents closed off dozens of streets in their neighborhood with abandoned cars and trash piles to protest state budget cuts affecting welfare assistance, anti-narcotics programs, Medicaid, educational facilities, and the food stamp program. The legislation was signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller on April 15. Organizers of the peaceful protest disavowed. The actions of the rioting youths, and the disturbance was brought under control by late evening.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 4)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Judge William P. Gray ordered David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, released from federal custody after allegedly threatening the life of President Richard Nixon during an anti-war speech.
U.S. District Judge, William P. Gray ordered David Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, released from federal custody after the government refused to divulge wiretap logs of conversations involving Hilliard. Hilliard was charged with threatening the life of President Richard Nixon during an anti-war speech in November 1969. When U.S. Attorney James Browning told the court that he was not authorized to make the wiretap logs available to Hilliard's lawyers, judge Gray ordered the indictment dismissed and the case dropped.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (May 4)
Published
0 0
Richard B. Hatcher is renominated to a second four-year term as Mayor of Gary, Indiana.
In another spring primary election, Richard B. Hatcher was re-nominated to a second four-year term as Mayor of Gary, Indiana. Hatcher won 59 percent of the vote cast and was heavily favored to win the general election over the Republican nominee, Theodore Nering. In the primary Hatcher, who was first elected Mayor in 1967, defeated Dr. Alexander Williams, the Lake County Coroner, and John Armento, the President of the City Council.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 28)
Published
0 0
The Joint Center for Political Studies reports that the number of Black U.S. elected officials rose 22 percent during 1970.
The Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington reported that the number of Black elected officials in the U.S. rose 22 percent during 1970. Despite these gains, however, Black public officials still represented only about 3 percent of all officeholders in the nation. The center's director, Frank D. Reeves, commented that the 22 percent rise showed that Blacks are gaining clout more and more in the nation's electoral systems. The report also revealed that 1,860 Blacks held office as of April 1971. By comparison, in 1967, only 475 Blacks held elective offices. Nearly three-fifths of the Blacks in office were Southerners. According to the report, 711 Blacks held office in the eleven states of the old Confederacy, a 26 percent rise above the 1970 figure of 563.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 6 - 13)
Published
0 0
Blacks win in Berkeley, California, municipal elections. They were considered to be aligned with a so-called radical coalition, which sought to take political control of the town.
Warren Widener, a Berkeley, California, City Councilman, was elected Mayor of the city. Widener defeated Wilmount Sweeney, described as a moderate Black, by fifty-six votes. Widener was considered to be aligned with the so-called radical coalition, which sought to take political control of the town. Two Black lawyers, also called radical, D'Army Bailey and Ira T. Simmons, were elected to the city council. Bailey said a description of their politics as radical was misleading and suggested instead the term "progressive." The election results pointed to a radical-moderate control of the city council. In other spring municipal elections, James E. Williams, Sr., was elected the first Black Mayor of East St. Louis, Illinois, on April 6, and John Franklin, a Chattanooga, Tennessee, educator and businessman, was elected the first Black Commissioner in the city's history on April 13.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 31)
Published
0 0
Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., chief of naval operations, announces a five-year initiative to recruit more Black officers and enlisted men for the navy.
Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., Chief of Naval Operations, announced the formation of a six-man team (including three admirals) to oversee a five-year program to recruit more Black officers and enlisted men for the Navy. The aim of the recruiting drive was to bring the numbers of Black Navy personnel up to the level of the nearly twelve percent Black representation in the total U.S. population. Black recruiters were added to the staffs of the thirty-seven recruiting stations across the nation. New Navy Reserve officer training corps units were added at Savannah State College in Georgia and Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These were to supplement the sole existing Black Navy ROTC unit at Prairie View A&M College in Texas. The Navy said it would also increase the number of Black midshipmen at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. On June 2, 1971, Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., was named the first Black Admiral in the Navy. Vice Admiral Raymond Peet performed the ritual known as "frocking" which promoted Gravely from Captain to Admiral. Gravely became Director of Naval Communications in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 25)
Published
0 0
In response to being accused of disregarding the opinions of Blacks, President Richard Nixon meets with the Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives to hear about the grievances of Black America. He then appoints five White House staff members to work on a list of recommendations.
President Richard Nixon met with a group of Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives to receive a list of sixty grievances presented on behalf of Black Americans. The so-called Black Caucus asked for reforms in welfare, job discrimination and job placement, social justice, school desegregation, etc. The President appointed five White House staff members to work on the list of recommendations. The meeting, first proposed in 1969, was set up soon after the Black members of the House boycotted the President's State of the Union address in January. The group charged that the president's failure to meet with them up until that time constituted a flagrant disregard for the opinions of Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
The Southern Regional Council reports that for the first time desegregation in the South’s public schools was the rule rather than the exception.
The Southern Regional Council issued a report in Atlanta which said that for the first time desegregation in the south's public schools was the rule rather than the exception. This transformation had occurred, the Council said, despite the proliferation of all-white private academies in the region and the continued operation of some all-Black schools. At the same time, the council accused the Nixon administration of "playing a deceptive game of numbers" by using misleading figures about the extent of actual desegregation. Despite the recent gains, the council asserted that the south was "a far cry from the final dismantling of the dual [school] system." Desegregation in 1970 and in 1971, according to the council, was less successful than the administration asserted in its figures, but "more successful than policies of the government gave it any right to be." The council's report was titled "The South and Her Children: School Desegregation, 1970-71."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 24)
Published
0 0
The The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) files a suit challenging the legality of zoning laws in suburban communities.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a suit challenging the legality of zoning laws that prohibited the construction of apartment buildings in suburban communities. It was the first time the NAACP had gone to court against suburban zoning laws. The action was taken in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, against the town of Oyster Bay, New York. The NAACP charged that the town's zoning laws had "foreclosed Black and other non-white minorities from obtaining housing in the town," with results that "intensify and harden patterns of racial ghetto living" in the city of New York. Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, said Black workers employed in Oyster Bay often could not find suitable housing. He said forty-five new industries had located in Oyster Bay since 1965, but that workers earning less than $17,000 a year could not afford to buy houses in the town because of the minimum lot sizes prescribed by the zoning laws.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 23)
Published
0 0
The Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy is elected the District of Columbia’s Congressional Delegate.
The Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy, a Baptist minister and a Democrat, was elected the District of Columbia's first non-voting Congressional Delegate in this century. Fauntroy captured 58 percent of the vote to defeat Attorney John A. Nevins, a white Republican, Julius W. Hobson, a Black independent, and three minor independent candidates. Fauntroy's salary of $42,500 per year would equal that of other members of the House of Representatives and he would be permitted to sit on the House District Committee, vote in other committees, but could not vote on the House floor. The Black members of Congress immediately selected Fauntroy as the thirteenth member of the so-called Black Caucus.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 11)
Published
0 0
Whitney M. Young, Jr., Executive Director of the National Urban League, dies in Nigeria.
Whitney M. Young, Jr., Executive Director of the National Urban League, died in Nigeria. Young and a group of other Americans, white and Black, were in Lagos attending a Black American conference designed to bridge the gap between Africans and Americans. Young drowned while swimming with a party that included former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Young left his position as Dean of the School of Social Work at Atlanta University in 1961 to become head of the nation's leading Black economic and social reform agency. He made the organization more effective and increased its influence. During the height of the civil rights era, Young became, with Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, and James Farmer, one of the movement's "Big Four" leaders. President Nixon expressed personal sorrow at the news of Young's death, commenting, "I have lost a friend, Black America has lost a gifted and commanding champion of its just cause."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 8)
Published
0 0
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files stolen from a Bureau office in Media, Pennsylvania, and released to the public, reveal that the FBI is targeting Black student groups.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files stolen from a Bureau office in Media, Pennsylvania, and released to the public revealed several documents relating to Black activist groups. One of the FBI memoranda was a November 4, 1970, dispatch from Director J. Edgar Hoover ordering an investigation of all groups organized to project the demands of Black students. The dispatch said that increased campus disorders involving Black students posed a definite threat to the nation's stability and security and indicated a need for an increase in both the quality and quantity of intelligence information on Black student unions and similar groups. The memorandum went on to say that such groups were targets for influence and control by the Black Panther party and other extremist organizations. (Black student unions and other such groups had sprung up on mostly predominantly white campuses during the past five years. Their origins stemmed from the increased enrollment of Black students at such schools and the bias which they allegedly encountered on the campuses. Sometimes their organized protests bordered on violence.) The memoranda also contained a report of a 1970 convention of the National Association of Black Students at Wayne State University in Detroit, reports of surveillance of Black student activities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, of the Philadelphia Black Panthers, and the National Black Economic Conference held in Philadelphia during 1970. Muhammad Kenyatta, who headed the Philadelphia conference and was mentioned prominently in several of the FBI documents, stated on March 24 that he had received copies of the memoranda relating to him before they were published. He would not identify his sources. On March 23, Attorney General John Mitchell denounced the thefts and the publication of the records. He warned that the information could endanger the lives of people engaged in investigative activities on behalf of the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 8)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court condemns racially-biased job testing after thirteen Black workers at the Duke Power Company’s generating plant in Draper, North Carolina are denied promotions.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers could not use job tests that had the effect of screening out Blacks if the tests were not related to ability to do the work. According to the court, the employment bias section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act involved the consequences of employment practices, not simply whether the practices were motivated by racial bias. The court imposed limits on the use of general educational and aptitude tests and said that "any tests used must measure the person for the job and not the person in the abstract." The case stemmed from the application for promotion by thirteen Black workers at the Duke Power Company's generating plant in Draper, North Carolina. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Justice Department, and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had sought the ruling.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
The Bureau of the Census announces statistics regarding the distribution of the Black population in the U.S.
The Bureau of the Census announced that, contrary to earlier reports, the rate of Black migration from the South to the North during the 1960s had remained unchanged from the pace of the two previous decades. Earlier statistics had indicated that the number of Southern Blacks moving North had dropped sharply during the 1960s to about half the levels of the prior twenty years. The new figures from the 1970 census showed that the migration pace through the 1960s was nearly the same as the high levels of the 1940s and 1950s. According to the Bureau's analysts, more than three-fourths of the 1.4 million Blacks who left the South during the decade settled in five large industrial centers. New York had a Southern Black influx of 396,000; California, 272,000; New Jersey, Michigan, and Illinois each gained about 120,000. The analysts said there were indications that the migration rate would continue to be high and might increase in the 1970s. The Bureau also reported an increased movement of whites to the South. This dual movement of Blacks to the North and whites to the South was reportedly a continuation of a long-term trend toward distribution of the Black population throughout the United States. According to the Bureau's report, the South still contained 53 percent of the nation's Blacks, compared to 77 percent in 1940. Since 1940, the percentage of Blacks in the Northeast and North Central states had risen from about 11 percent to 20 percent. Bureau analysts said that each of the eleven states of the Confederacy had lost residents. Mississippi and Alabama led with 279,000 and 231,000 respectively. Secretary of Commerce Maurice H. Stans speculated that the continued Black Northern migration was due in part to the higher welfare benefits of the Northern states. He added, however, that he assumed that greater job opportunities in the North would be the primary motivating factor. The Bureau statistics showed that there were about 22,672,570 Blacks in the United States or about 11.2 percent of the population. In 1960, the figures were 18,871,831 or about 10.6 percent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 17)
Published
0 0
The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education calls for more federal aid to the nation’s 105 HBCU’s.
The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education called for a tripling of federal aid to the nation's 105 Black colleges and universities. In a report entitled "From Isolation to Mainstream: Problems of the Colleges Founded for Negroes," the Commission also urged increased funds from states, corporations, and foundations to allow Black colleges to double their current enrollment of 150,000. The Commission, headed by Dr. Clark Kerr, said that the Black colleges were faced with special difficulties at a time of major transition as they emerged from their historic isolation into the mainstream of U.S. education. The report pointed out that at a time when other institutions were enlarging Black enrollment and developing Black studies programs, the Black colleges had to compete for students, faculty, and financial resources. In addition, Black colleges had to meet the special expenses of remedial training for poorly prepared students and financial aid for the 70 percent of their students who required some type of scholarly assistance.
1971 (Feb 17)
Published
0 0
Lucius D. Amerson, Alabama’s first Black sheriff since Reconstruction, is charged with beating a Black prisoner.
Lucius D. Amerson, sheriff of Macon County, Alabama, and the state's first Black sheriff since Reconstruction, and one of his Black deputies were arrested on a federal indictment accusing them of beating a Black prisoner. Amerson and his deputy, Richard Coleman, Jr., posted bonds of $1,000 each on the charge of violating the civil rights of Wilbert D. Harris while acting under the cover of the law. Harris was arrested in Tuskegee, the county-seat of Macon County, in August 1970 and charged with driving while intoxicated. The prisoner reportedly used a pistol to disarm two deputies and was also accused of firing at Amerson. Harris was subdued and charged with assault with intent to murder. The alleged beating by Amerson and Coleman reportedly took place after Harris was subdued. Conviction on the federal charge carried a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 16)
Published
0 0
Twenty-two whites were indicted by a county grand jury in Darlington, South Carolina, on riot charges in which a mob of angry whites overturned two school buses transporting Black children to desegregated schools.
Twenty-two whites were indicted by a county grand jury in Darlington, South Carolina, on riot charges in connection with a March 1970 incident in which a mob of angry whites overturned two school buses transporting Black children to desegregated schools in the nearby town of Lamar. Charges against twenty-one other whites, including a state legislator, were dropped by the grand jury.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 11)
Published
0 0
White high school students walk out of their school near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to protest a court-ordered desegregation plan.
Scores of white high school students walked out of their school near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to protest a court-ordered desegregation plan. They were greeted by their parents and other adult supporters. The mostly peaceful demonstration was the only incident on the day the school district began operating under the desegregation order. Watson Chapel school district No. 24 reluctantly implemented the plan after a federal judge warned the school board members that they faced stiff jail terms and fines if they continued to defy his orders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 6 - 9)
Published
0 0
Black students protesting the desegregation plans in Wilmington, NC, spark four days of racial violence. Local officers, aided by the 600 national guardsmen, are sent to restore order.
National guardsmen patrolled the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina, in the wake of four days of racial violence in which two people were killed. The unrest was linked to a boycott of Wilmington's high school by Black students. Blacks were protesting the city's desegregation plans. The first of the two slayings took place on February 6 when a Black youth was killed by a police officer who said the boy pointed a shotgun at him. Blacks in Wilmington asserted the youth was shot as he helped move furniture from a home threatened by a nearby fire. The second victim was a white man who was shot later outside of a Black church which was being used as headquarters by the boycotting Blacks. The white man was armed with a pistol. Local officers, aided by the 600 national guardsmen, restored order on February 8 but remained on alert.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 5)
Published
0 0
Georgia’s Clayton County is sued for circumventing school integration.
The Justice Department filed a suit in the U.S. District Court of Atlanta charging Georgia's Clayton County school board with maintaining a dual public school system. The Clayton system was described by the department as one of fifty remaining recalcitrant school districts in the south. According to the suit, Clayton officials assigned the district's 1,479 Black and 25,220 white pupils and their teachers to different sets of schools. The department requested a court order demanding that the county submit a desegregation plan immediately. Judge Oren Harris of the U.S. District Court for the eastern district of Arkansas issued an ultimatum to the officials of the Watson Chapel, Arkansas, school district No. 24, warning them that they faced stiff jail terms if they continued to defy a court-ordered desegregation ruling. Harris said a fine of $350 a day would also be levied for each day they remained in contempt of court by ignoring the school order. Watson Chapel district, which included part of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as well as the town of Watson Chapel, had about 4,000 students, almost half of them Black. Judge Harris had ordered all children in grades one through four to attend three elementary schools, all of which would retain a substantial white majority. The Justice Department, also on February 5, charged the Henry County, Virginia, school district with failing to execute a desegregation arrangement that it had earlier agreed to implement. In a suit filed in the federal district court in Danville, Virginia, the department accused the Henry County system of continuing to assign its high school pupils on a freedom-of-choice plan in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Henry County, according to the suit, had used the freedom-of-choice scheme to assign nearly 800 Black pupils to an all-Black high school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 4 - 5)
Published
0 0
Eight Black federal employees charge in a suit, that the federal service entrance examination was culturally and racially discriminatory. Bar examinations are challenged for their racial bias also.
Eight Black federal employees charged in a suit filed in the U.S. court in Washington, D.C., that the federal service entrance examination, the principal test that must be passed by qualified college graduates for civil service posts, was culturally and racially discriminatory. The eight plaintiffs, employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Chicago regional office, alleged that the examination violated the equal opportunity guarantees of the Fifth Amendment. They also charged that it violated, among other things, the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The suit asked the court to prevent the use of the examination until its alleged discriminatory aspects were eliminated, and that the use of other testing procedures be stopped until a determination could be made of their relation to specific job requirements. According to the plaintiffs, about 49 percent of the 100,000 applicants who took the test in 1969 finished with scores above seventy (the passing percentile) with a disproportionately low percentage of Blacks and other minority group members passing. In another development involving Blacks and examinations, Edward F. Bell, President of the National Bar Association (NBA), a predominantly Black lawyers' group, asked other lawyers' organizations on February 5 to ascertain whether bar examinations should be abolished as racially discriminatory. Bell said recent studies seemed to indicate that bar examinations discriminated against Black law school graduates. The Detroit attorney cited lawsuits that were filed in several states by law students seeking to abolish the bar examinations because they did not test a graduate's legal knowledge.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that local governments must provide public services on a racially equal basis.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled that local governments must provide such public services as road paving and sewers on a racially equal basis. The suit was filed by Black residents of Shaw, Mississippi. According to the court, no compelling interests could possibly justify the gross disparities in services between Black and white areas of town.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Howard Jordan, Jr., the President of Savannah State College in Georgia, becomes the first Black Vice-Chancellor of the Georgia State Board of Regents.
Howard Jordan, Jr., the President of Savannah State College in Georgia, assumed duties as Vice-Chancellor of the Georgia State Board of Regents, becoming the first Black so named. Jordan had served as President of Savannah State College since 1963. His new duties involved handling administrative matters for all state-run colleges and universities in Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 20)
Published
0 0
The North Carolina Supreme Court sustains the state’s policy of providing school buses for urban children involved in desegregation programs. A lower court had prohibited the use of state funds for busing.
The North Carolina Supreme Court sustained the state's policy of providing school buses for urban children involved in desegregation programs. As long as state funds were used to transport children from rural areas to their schools, the court reasoned, city dwelling children must have the same rights. The ruling struck down a lower court's prohibition on the use of state funds for busing. In effect, the court's decision gave the state legislature the choice of continuing busing for all children who required it or discontinuing the practice altogether. An Assistant State Attorney General expressed the view that the court's decision could not be appealed because it did not involve any constitutional issue.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 17)
Published
0 0
A jury in Chicago acquits seven members of the Black P. Stone Nation of murder in the August 17, 1970, sniper slaying of a Chicago detective, James A. Alfonso, Jr.
A jury in Chicago acquitted seven members of the Black P. Stone nation, a confederation of sixty Black street gangs, of murder in the August 17, 1970, sniper slaying of a Chicago detective. All were acquitted of charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Detective James A. Alfonso, Jr. The acquittal came three days after the biracial jury had begun deliberations. Those freed were Edward Bey, Lamar Bell, Tony Carter, Dennis Griffin, Ronald Florence, William Throup, and Elton Wriks. The alleged involvement of the Black gangs in the murder had exacerbated tensions between the Black community and Chicago police. Concomitantly, Chicago's Black leaders, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, had criticized the Black gangs for terrorizing Black communities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 16)
Published
0 0
The Washington Post reports that the 1970 Bureau of the Census indicates that very little racial integration of American suburbs happened during the 1960s.
Preliminary studies of the 1970 Bureau of the Census indicated very little racial integration of American suburbs during the 1960s, according to a Washington Post report. Specialists at the Census Bureau predicted early trends showing little suburban integration would hold true even as more detailed analyses were completed. Meyer Zitter, Assistant Chief of the bureau's population division, estimated that about 15 percent of the nation's Blacks lived within metropolitan areas and outside the central cities. The figure for whites was nearly 40 percent. Census officials said that if the preliminary reports were sustained, it would again illustrate that whites were fleeing the inner cities to the suburbs. During the 1960s, there was a reported net loss of about 2.5 million whites from the inner city areas and an increase of about three million Blacks. Two-thirds of the rise in the number of Black inner-city dwellers was attributable to births. These preliminary reports came at a time when the Nixon administration was still shaping its policies regarding suburban integration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
The Oregon Court of Appeal rules out racial discrimination and that it could be compensated by a cash award after a Black woman is barred from renting an apartment due to race.
The Oregon Court of Appeal ruled that mental anguish was one of the effects of racial discrimination and could be compensated by a cash award. The court sustained the contention of Beverley A. Williams, a young Black woman, who said she was discriminated against when Margaret C. Joyce refused to rent her an apartment in Portland. Williams's charge was earlier upheld by the Oregon State Bureau of Labor, which assessed Joyce $200 for humiliating Williams and $140 to pay for her moving expenses, but the cash award for humiliation was overthrown by the state circuit court on appeal by Joyce. The Court of Appeal, in setting aside the circuit court's ruling, said that compensation for humiliation was proper.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Elliott L. Richardson announces that the Nixon administration is turning its attention to school desegregation in the North.
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Elliott L. Richardson announced in Washington that the Nixon administration would soon turn its attention to the task of increasing the rate of school desegregation in the North. The report cited a survey showing the percentage of Blacks attending desegregated schools in the North and West rose from 27.6 percent to 27.7 percent in the period since 1968. This compared with a two-year increase from 18.4 percent to 38.1 percent in the South. The administration concluded that a Northern drive was necessary because there were now more desegregated school systems in the South than in the North.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that southern states must obtain federal approval before making any changes in their election laws that might affect the rights of Black voters as provided by the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that southern states must obtain federal approval before making any changes in their election laws that might affect the rights of Black voters as provided by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The order came in a case brought by two Black voters and six defeated Black candidates in the 1969 municipal elections in Canton, Mississippi. The plaintiffs contended that the city, in shifting polling places, annexing neighborhoods with white majorities, and changing to at-large elections of aldermen, had discouraged and diluted the Black vote. The Supreme Court returned the case to the district court to decide if the election should be re-held.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the 1967 draft evasion conviction of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali who claimed that he should be exempted from the draft because of his religious status as a Black Muslim minister.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the 1967 draft evasion conviction of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. The action assured that Ali, who won the championship under the name Cassius Clay, would be free to fight the recognized title holder, Joe Frazier, in March. (Frazier defeated Ali on March 8 in New York). Ali was convicted when the courts rejected his contention that he should be exempted from the draft because of his religious status as a Black Muslim minister. The current appeal was based largely on the Supreme Court's ruling in 1969 that conscientious objectors could base their claims on philosophical or moral objections rather than strictly religious grounds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 6)
Published
0 0
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director J. Edgar Hoover issues his annual report, stating that attacks on police have increased, specifically identifying the Black Panthers.
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director J. Edgar Hoover issued his annual report in which he stated that the number of racial incidents in schools had declined during the year, but attacks on police by Blacks had increased. The FBI chief said racial disorders in secondary schools declined from 299 in the first months of the 1969-70 year to 160 in the corresponding period of the new term. Hoover warned, however, that "the number of incidents of racial disorder that did occur in our cities and in secondary schools, along with the many unwarranted attacks on police, strongly indicated that we are far from the realization of racial harmony in the nation." Hoover said there was a marked increase in attacks on police officers by persons identifying themselves as Black Panthers. He said such persons were responsible for the deaths of six police officers and the wounding of twenty-two others and that in the previous two years, five police officers were killed and forty-two wounded under such circumstances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the second largest steel producer in the United States, is charged with discriminating against Blacks.
A federal labor panel charged the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the second largest steel producer in the United States, with discriminating against Blacks through its seniority system. A report compiled by the panel was sent to Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson, who would decide what sanctions, if any, to impose on the firm. The three-member federal panel reached a unanimous decision against Bethlehem but disagreed on what corrective measures should be taken. In a statement that accompanied the report, Bethlehem denied the charge but agreed to set new hiring, promotion, and training quotas for Blacks while studying the government's report. The action against Bethlehem was the second taken against one of the nation's major steel corporations. On December 11, 1970, the Justice Department had filed a suit against the U.S. Steel Corporation, accusing it of bias against Blacks at its Fairfield, Alabama, steelworks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
Activist Angela Davis is charged for her alleged participation in a San Rafael courthouse incident which resulted in the deaths of four men. Davis declared her innocence.
Angela Davis was arraigned on charges of murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy in a Marin County, California, court for her alleged participation in the August 7, 1970 incident at the San Rafael courthouse which resulted in the deaths of four men. Flanked by her attorney, Howard Moore, a Black Atlantan, Davis declared her innocence and said she was the target of a political frame-up.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 4)
Published
0 0
Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan, a 48 year-old Philadelphia Black minister, was elected to the Board of Directors of the General Motors Corporation (GM). At GM’s annual stockholders meeting the year before, a reform group had criticized GM for not having a Black director on its board.
The Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan, a forty-eight-year-old Philadelphia Black minister, was elected to the Board of Directors of the General Motors corporation (GM). Sullivan, pastor of Zion Baptist, Philadelphia's largest Protestant church, was the founder of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, a job-training program for Blacks and other minorities, and a director of the Girard Trust Bank in Philadelphia. His election to the GM board was interpreted as a move to placate demands that the company, the world's largest industrial corporation, give the public and minority groups a voice in corporate decision-making. At GM's annual stockholders meeting in May 1970, a reform group, The Project on Corporate Responsibility, had criticized GM for not having a Black director on its board.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Jan 1)
Published
0 0
James A. Floyd was named mayor of Princeton township, the first Black mayor in the township’s history.
James A. Floyd was named mayor of Princeton township, an affluent, predominantly white suburban community in west central New Jersey. Floyd became the first Black mayor in the township's history. He was selected unanimously by the five-member township committee, Princeton's governing body. In December 1970, the same committee had named Frederick M. Porter, a Black police lieutenant, as chief of police.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 23)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the Philadelphia Plan after being asked by the Contractors Association of Eastern Pennsylvania to declare the plan illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the third circuit upheld the legality of the Nixon administration's pilot job plan for minorities, known as the Philadelphia Plan. The plan, devised by the Labor Department in 1969, required contractors bidding on federal or federally-assisted projects to hire a fixed number of minority group members by a certain date. A number of groups, foremost among them building and construction organizations, had sought in a number of courts to stop the plan on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. In this case, the Court of Appeals was asked by the Contractors Association of Eastern Pennsylvania to declare the plan illegal. They contended that the plan denied the group equal protection of the law and violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act because it required racial quotas. The court reasoned that the plan did not violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act because the contractors were not, in fact, required to hire a definite percentage of a minority group.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 20)
Published
0 0
In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, The U.S. Supreme Court decides that busing children as a means of dismantling a racially dual school system is constitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a series of unanimous decisions, told the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, joint school system and all the other school districts of the nation that busing children as a means of dismantling a racially dual school system was constitutional. The rulings ended the final legal efforts by southern school boards to prevent the busing of students to achieve more desegregation in schools. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinions of the court in the four cases on which it ruled. In addition to upholding the school desegregation plan, which included busing for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district, the court struck down an anti-busing law enacted by the North Carolina legislature, ordered school officials in Mobile, Alabama, to use all available techniques to correct segregation in their schools, and overruled a Georgia Supreme Court order that had said certain desegregation efforts in the city of Athens were unconstitutional. The high court reasoned that "desegregation plans cannot be limited to the walk-in school." The justices held that busing school children was proper unless "the time or distance is so great as to risk either the health of the children or significantly impinge on the educational process." The court added that at times busing was an indispensable method of eliminating the last vestiges of racial segregation. The court made it clear, however, that the rulings did not apply to de facto segregation caused by neighborhood housing patterns, as is found most often in the North. The landmark decision has become known to history as Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 19)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Bureau of the Census released a study which revealed that Black women were having fewer illegitimate births, while the white illegitimacy rate was climbing.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census released a study compiled from federal and private sources which revealed that Black women, on the average, had fewer illegitimate births in the late 1960s than they did in the earlier part of the decade. Meanwhile, the white illegitimacy rate was climbing. According to the report, the Black illegitimacy rate, which was ten times higher than the white rate in 1961, had dropped to about seven times in 1968, the last year considered in the study. The raw figures for 1968 alone were 184,000 Black and 155,000 white illegitimate births. The report, entitled "Fertility Indicators: 1970," was developed by Campbell Gibson of the Census Bureau.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 16)
Published
0 0
Carl B. Stokes, the first Black Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, announces his plans to step down and help develop a “people’s lobby.”
Carl B. Stokes, the first Black Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, announced that he was leaving office at the end of his current term in 1971. He said he would help develop a "people's lobby" to bring pressure on the two major political parties toward "responsive" presidential candidates in 1972 and toward a reordering of the nation's priorities. Stokes was first elected in 1967 as the first Black Mayor of a major American city, and was reelected in 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 15)
Published
0 0
Approximately 2,000 Black and White students protest the “racist” enrollment practices of University of Florida at Gainesville. The president of the university rejects their “racial quota” demands, calling it “racism in reverse.”
Approximately 2,000 Black and White students gathered at the home of the president of the University of Florida at Gainesville protesting what they called the school's "racist" policies and demanding the resignation of President Stephen C. O'Connell. Earlier the same day, sixty-seven Blacks, members of the school's Black student union, were arrested during a sit-in outside O'Connell's office. The Blacks and their white allies called for increased Black enrollment at the university by recruiting five hundred new students. There were at the time about three hundred Blacks out of a 22,000 total enrollment. In a television address to the students, President O'Connell said, "We have made remarkable racial progress," but he rejected the Black recruitment demands calling them "a racial quota" and "racism in reverse." Nearly one hundred Black students subsequently withdrew from the university in further protest of the school's policies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 13)
Published
0 0
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) suspends tax exemption from Fayette Academy in Somerville, Tennessee because it had failed to admit Black students. It was the first tax exemption suspension for an all-white private school outside of Mississippi.
The Internal Revenue Service announced that the Fayette Academy in Somerville, Tennessee, was notified that contributions for its operation were no longer tax deductible because it had failed to adopt non-discriminatory admissions policies. The action was the first time the IRS had suspended tax privileges for an all-white private school outside of Mississippi.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1971 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
A federal jury in New York City acquits David R. Poindexter of harboring and concealing the identity of Black militant Angela Davis while she was the target of a nationwide police search. Following the verdict, Poindexter commented that his trial “was a minor skirmish in a big war. The major battle is in California over Angela.”
A federal jury in New York City acquitted David R. Poindexter of harboring and concealing the identity of Black militant Angela Davis while she was the target of a nationwide police search. Poindexter was arrested in New York on October 13, 1970, along with Davis, who was at that time one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives. She was being sought in connection with the murder of a California judge during a courtroom shootout on August 7, 1970. During the trial, the prosecution presented more than forty witnesses in an effort to prove that Poindexter had moved through several cities with Davis under assumed names and must have known that she was being sought under federal warrant. The defense summoned no witnesses, relying on the argument that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Following the verdict, Poindexter commented that his trial "was a minor skirmish in a big war. The major battle is in California over Angela."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 9)
Published
0 0
School desegregation attempts bring mixed results in the South.
Another round of school desegregation in the South was marked by stiffening white resistance to federal court orders and confusion over new student assignments. More disruptions were recorded with this batch of school re-openings than had occurred when most of the South's schools desegregated peacefully on August 31. White parents in Mobile, Alabama, resisted desegregation efforts by boycotting their newly assigned schools and enrolling their children in their formerly segregated schools. The school superintendent in Bogalusa, Louisiana, closed the public schools on September 14 after police used tear gas to end a fight between Black and white students at a recently desegregated school. Police Chief Thomas Mixon, Jr., estimated six hundred high school students were involved in the two-hour altercation in which fourteen students were arrested. On September 10, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) charged that the Mobile School Board had discriminated against Black children in the inner city by its deployment of 225 school buses. The Board replied that it did not have the time or the funds to buy more buses to handle inner city children. On September 14, the Justice department accused the same school board of repeated violations of desegregation orders. Federal Judge Daniel H. Thomas commanded the Board to cease circumventing the school orders. There was little resistance in the large Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, school system as it reopened under a court-ordered desegregation plan that required extensive busing of children. The plan had aroused community opposition in Charlotte, yet school officials said 80 percent of the high school students reported to their classes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 5 - 7)
Published
0 0
The Black Panther Party and members of the women’s and gay liberation movements hold a convention to rewrite the U.S. Constitution, which, according to the group, did not go far enough in protecting the rights of the oppressed.
The Black Panther Party and members of the women's and gay liberation movements held the first session of their Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention, in Philadelphia. Despite tensions over the August 29 slaying of a Philadelphia police officer and the subsequent arrest of fourteen people at three Black Panther offices, the three-day conference was conducted in a peaceful manner. The Panther Party had organized the convention in order to rewrite the U.S. Constitution, which, according to the group, did not go far enough in protecting the rights of the oppressed. About 6,000 participated in the meeting. Among the Panther's delegation were co-founder Huey P. Newton and Panther Chief of Staff David Hilliard. The second session of the convention was slated for November 4, 1970, in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 30)
Published
0 0
Report shows that there are only three Black executives among the 3,182 senior officers of the top fifty American corporate firms.
The race relations information center in Nashville, Tennessee, reported that there were only three Black executives among the 3,182 senior officers of the top fifty American corporate firms. These were Robert C. Weaver of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and Thomas A. Wood of the Chase Manhattan Bank. All three held the position of corporate director.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 3)
Published
0 0
Representatives of nine Black colleges charge the Nixon administration with failure to support Black higher education.
Representatives of nine Black colleges charged the Nixon administration with failure to support Black higher education. The educators met in Detroit, Michigan, under the leadership of President Lucius H. Pitts of Miles College, and called for increased government and private funds to strengthen the more than one hundred Black colleges and universities. Vivian Henderson, President of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, accused the Nixon administration of an "utter lack of sensitivity" to the needs of Black colleges and said that this fed "the flames that already roar in the hearts of many Black students." About two billion dollars was cited by Vernon Jordan, Head of the United Negro College Fund, as the minimum amount necessary to maintain Black colleges. White House Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler, in a letter to Pitts, reminded the educators of a July 23 pledge by the administration to increase support for their colleges.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 28)
Published
0 0
A Ferndale, Michigan, school district illegally segregates its elementary schools.
For the first time, a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) hearing examiner ruled that a Northern school district was illegally segregating its pupils according to race. The Ferndale, Michigan, school district was deprived of $275,000 in federal aid because of its segregated elementary schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 28)
Published
0 0
Black activist Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr., is convicted by a biracial jury in Orangeburg, South Carolina, for participating in a South Carolina State College riot in 1968.
Black activist Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr., was convicted by a biracial jury in Orangeburg, South Carolina, for participating in a riot on the campus of South Carolina State College in 1968. Three Black students had been killed by state highway patrolmen in the incident. Sellers, a former national program secretary for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was sentenced the maximum one year in prison and a $250 fine. Sellers was released on a $5,000 appeal bond by State Circuit Court Judge John Grimball, who said he could leave the state to attend college. Two days earlier, Grimball had ordered a directed verdict of acquittal of two other riot charges against Sellers, citing that the prosecution had failed to prove Sellers incited the Orangeburg student riot in which twenty-seven Blacks were wounded, including Sellers, and three students were slain.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 2)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge Frank A. Kaufman rejects the appeal of Nation of Islam member William H. Murphy, Jr., who contends that he should be exempted from military service as a conscientious objector of war.
In Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. District Court Judge Frank A. Kaufman rejected the appeal of William H. Murphy, Jr., a member of the Nation of Islam. Murphy contended that he should be exempted from military service as a conscientious objector of war, but Kaufman ruled that the Nation of Islam represented a political, rather than a religious, objection to war.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 18)
Published
0 0
Lonnie McLucas, the first of eight Black Panther Party members to stand trial for the slaying of Alex Rackley, is sentenced 12 – 15 years in prison.
Lonnie McLucas, the first of eight Black Panther party members to stand trial for the slaying of Alex Rackley, was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years in prison by a New Haven, Connecticut, court. McLucas was convicted of conspiracy to murder in the Rackley case on August 31, 1970. Superior Court Judge Harold M. Mulvey assessed the maximum term allowed under Connecticut law for the crime of conspiracy to murder. McLucas immediately filed notice of appeal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 14 - 15)
Published
0 0
Black Panthers discover undercover police officers and beat them. A larger, violent fight erupts later.
One Black youth was killed and twenty-one others were injured during a day-long gun battle between police and Blacks in a New Orleans, Louisiana, housing project. The incident began when two Black policemen were discovered by the National Committee to Combat Cascism (NCCF), a branch of the Black Panther party. The undercover officers had successfully infiltrated the organization, but, on September 14, they were discovered and beaten. The officers escaped when the NCCF turned them over to a crowd of about one hundred Blacks for a "people's trial." Later, police returned to the project to investigate reports of a burning automobile. Officers and fire fighters were fired upon and the melee broke out in full force. Fourteen Blacks, most of them from the NCCF, were arrested during the disturbance and charged with attempted murder.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 13)
Published
0 0
The Black Panther Party expands internationally into Algeria.
Exiled Black Panther party leader Eldridge Cleaver presided over the opening of the party's first international section in Algiers. The Algerian government, which had broken diplomatic ties with the United States in 1967, had formally accorded the Panther Party the status of a liberation movement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 12)
Published
0 0
California Governor Ronald Reagan signs into law a bill prohibiting the busing of students “for any purpose or any reason without the written permission of the parent or guardian.”
California Governor Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill prohibiting the busing of students "for any purpose or any reason without the written permission of the parent or guardian." The law was to take effect in November. The California branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced it would test the constitutionality of the measure in court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
The IRS revokes the tax-exempt status of five all-white private academies in Mississippi for refusing to enroll Black children.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked the tax-exempt classification of five all-white private academies in Mississippi after the schools refused to enroll Black children. The cancellations brought the total to sixteen all-white academies in the South that lost their tax-exempt status since the IRS prohibited tax deductions for segregated schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
The Justice Department announces that a federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio, has issued a consent decree requiring Roadway Express Company, the nation’s third largest trucking concern, to implement an equal employment program.
The Justice Department announced that a federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio, had issued a consent decree requiring Roadway Express Company, the nation's third largest trucking concern, to implement an equal employment program. The order ended the department's first efforts to prohibit job discrimination throughout the company's nationwide operation. Judge Thomas D. Lambros had specifically prohibited Roadway from engaging in any act or practice that had the purpose of denying Blacks equal employment opportunities in hiring, upgrading, and promotions. The decree also ordered Roadway, which had freight terminals in twenty-eight states, to offer job opportunities on a first-available-vacancy basis to 105 individuals with seniority and other benefits for forty-five of them. The Justice Department had filed suit against Roadway in May 1968, charging that Blacks had been discriminated against in job placement and other opportunities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
A federal grand jury in Augusta, Georgia, indicted two white police officers on charges of violating the civil rights of two Black men who were shot during a night of racial rioting that left six Blacks dead. The bi-racial grand jury finds cause for indictment in only one of the six deaths. Georgia Governor Lester Maddox denounces the decision.
A federal grand jury in Augusta, Georgia, indicted two white police officers on charges of violating the civil rights of two Black men who were shot May 12 during a night of racial rioting that left six Blacks dead and sixty others injured. Officer William S. Dennis was charged with the fatal shooting of John W. Stokes, and Officer Louis C. Dinkins was accused of wounding Louis N. Williams. The grand jury had begun its inquiry into the shootings on August 24 and found cause for indictment in only one of the six deaths. After the biracial jury handed down the indictments, the decision was denounced by Georgia Governor Lester Maddox. The "national government, from the president on down," he said, "is only worrying about agitators."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 5)
Published
0 0
Desegregated private schools receive tax exemption by the IRS, while those still segregated are suspended from tax exemption.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that nine all-white private academies in Mississippi agreed to admit Black students. In the same announcement, the IRS said it had removed fourteen other all-white academies from its list of schools eligible for tax-exempt status. This brought the number of suspension to thirty-eight.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 28)
Published
0 0
NCCF leaders Edward A. Poindexter and David L. Rice, are ordered to stand trial on the murder of an Omaha police officer.
Edward A. Poindexter and David L. Rice, leaders of the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF), were ordered to stand trial in Omaha, Nebraska, on murder charges in connection with the August 17, 1970, slaying of an Omaha police officer. The two Blacks, who had been in custody since August, remained in jail without bond.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 24 - 25)
Published
0 0
Violent clashes between Blacks and police officers continue in Northern ghettoes.
Violent clashes between Blacks and police officers continued in Northern ghettoes. The attacks began the evening of October 24, shortly after a white-owned grocery store across from the all-Black Pyramid housing project was burned. Several carloads of armed Blacks riddled the police station in Cairo, Illinois, with hundreds of rounds of gunfire, three times in six hours. No officers were wounded, and the attackers were repelled after each assault. It was the first outbreak in racially tense Cairo since September of 1969. Cairo Mayor A.B. Thomas called the incident an "armed insurrection." In Detroit, on October 24, Black Police Officer Edward Smith was killed and another officer was wounded in an altercation with members of the National Committee to Combat Fascism(NCCF). The disturbance was triggered by an incident involving the sale of Black Panther Party literature on a Detroit street corner. The NCCF claimed that two policemen beat two youths distributing the literature, and that police fired the first shots in the melee. According to police accounts, the policemen were felled by shotgun blasts from the NCCF's headquarters. Fifteen Blacks were arrested after a day-long confrontation around the offices. Seven men and eight women were charged with murder and conspiracy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 19)
Published
0 0
Black Panther leader Bobby Seale’s conspiracy to riot charge is dropped.
U.S. District Court Judge Julius J. Hoffman dismissed the government's conspiracy charges against Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther Party. Attorney William J. Bauer had asserted that "it would be inappropriate to try Seale alone on a conspiracy charge." Seale was one of eight defendants charged with conspiracy to cross state lines with intent to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Hoffman severed Seale's case after the Black Panther leader had bitterly denounced the manner in which the jurist handled the trial. Seale's co-defendants (all whites) were subsequently acquitted on the conspiracy to riot charges. But Seale still faced a four-year prison term on contempt of court charges in Chicago and charges of kidnapping and murder in connection with the slaying of a New York Black Panther Party member.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 19)
Published
0 0
The NAACP and a Washington law firm file suit against the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, charging it with “general and calculated default” in its enforcement of federal school desegregation guidelines.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Washington law firm of Rauh and Silard filed suit against the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), charging it with "general and calculated default" in its enforcement of federal school desegregation guidelines. The suit accused the federal agency of laxity in applying the cut-off of federal school funds to force recalcitrant school districts to comply with the law. It was the second time in two weeks that the government's enforcement of civil rights had been questioned. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported on October 12, 1970, that there had been a "major breakdown" in the enforcement of the nation's laws that forbade racial discrimination. HEW Secretary Elliot L. Richardson replied that his department was "committed faithfully to carry out both the letter and the spirit of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 13)
Published
0 0
Activist Angela Davis is arrested by the FBI for her alleged role in the murder of a California judge.
Angela Davis, a twenty-six-year-old Black former professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, was apprehended by Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents in a New York city motel. Davis, who was the object of a two-month nationwide search for her alleged role in the murder of a California judge, was arraigned the next day. She was charged, in federal court, with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on the California charges. The federal charge was later suspended when the California warrants charging Davis with the capital offenses arrived in New York. Federal authorities announced that it was customary in such cases for the state warrants to take precedence. Davis's attorney, John J. Abt, refused to waive extradition to California. Since Davis was being held for capital offenses, no bail was permitted. Thirty-six-year-old David R. Poindexter, Jr., had been arrested with Davis and charged with harboring a fugitive. He was released on October 16 on a $100,000 bond.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 12)
Published
0 0
In regards to federal civil rights efforts, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reports that “unless we get serious about this, the country is on a collision course.”
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported a major breakdown in the enforcement of the nation's legal mandates prohibiting racial discrimination. The Commission urged President Richard Nixon to use "courageous moral leadership" and establish committees to oversee enforcement of court decrees, executive orders, and legislation relating to civil rights. Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, the chairman of the commission, said the findings were based on a six-month study of the executive departments and agencies charged with enforcing the nation's civil rights laws. The report, entitled "The Federal Civil Rights Enforcement Effort", asserted that the credibility of the government's total civil rights efforts had been "seriously undermined." Hesburgh warned that "unless we get serious about this, the country is on a collision course."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 12 - 14)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of student busing and racial balance in Southern schools.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on student busing and racial balance in Southern schools. The arguments were heard by the court as part of appeals filed by attorneys representing school districts in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Mobile, Alabama. Attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, argued on October 13 that each Black child possessed the constitutional right to be enrolled in a school that was not recognizably Black. The lawyers contended that any desegregation plan that did not eliminate every all-Black school should be deemed inadequate. NAACP lawyers further argued that the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 would be undermined if the court would permit some Southern school districts to maintain recognizably Black schools. Solicitor General Ervin N. Griswold, representing the Justice Department, rebutted the NAACP argument. He contended that the NAACP's petition amounted to a demand for racial balance in the schools, something that the constitution did not require. Lawyers for the school districts told the court, on October 13, that the Brown v. Board of Education decision was being violated by court-ordered desegregation plans that assigned children to schools by race. They asserted that the busing of school children to increase the incidence of desegregation was unconstitutional. The court promised a ruling during its present term.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 1)
Published
0 0
Funding to Black colleges increases 30 percent in response to appeals by Black educators for more aid.
Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, announced a 30 percent, or $30 million, increase in federal aid to predominantly Black colleges. This increased the total aid from Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) to $129 million a year. Richardson noted the increase was a response to recent appeals by Black educators for more aid. But Blacks complained that matching provisions of the fund grants, and early deadlines for applications, made it difficult for most Black institutions to qualify.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 1)
Published
0 0
A federal court in Buffalo, New York, rules unconstitutional a New York statute that required parental consent for appointed school boards to reshuffle pupils to achieve racial balance.
A federal court in Buffalo, New York, ruled unconstitutional a New York statute that made it illegal for appointed school boards to reshuffle pupil assignment plans to achieve racial balance without the consent of parents. The law, enacted in May of 1969, was challenged by a group of Black and white parents. School administrators in the South had hailed it as a means of forestalling school desegregation. But the court found the law in violation of the 14th Amendment in that it served to continue segregation and it involved discrimination by a state institution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 1)
Published
0 0
J. Stanley Pottinger, the Director of the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), reports that school desegregation had been circumvented by many school districts.
J. Stanley Pottinger, the Director of the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), reported that federal school monitors in the South found extensive school segregation. Pottinger said his office had investigated 120 desegregated school districts since the fall term began and found patterns of segregation in at least half of them. Throughout the summer of 1970, segregation by classrooms received much attention from the Senate Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity. Pottinger announced that the Nixon administration intended to move against the new form of segregation, but only after it solicited the advice of educators. He promised to develop guidelines by the spring semester of 1971.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Oct 5 - Nov 8)
Published
0 0
Violent racial clashes occur over school desegregation.
Violent racial clashes connected with school desegregation occurred in three cities in the North and South. Four white boys and one Black youth were shot and wounded in two apparently related incidents on October 5th and 7th outside a desegregated high school in Pontiac, Michigan. A second Black student was struck down by a car near Pontiac Central High School on October 7th as white and Black students continued in their two-day battle with rocks and bottles. Tensions had run high in Pontiac following a recent court decision ordering desegregation of Pontiac's public schools. Public schools in Trenton, New Jersey, were closed October 29th and 30th, due to racial disorders that were sparked by the school board's decision to implement a student busing plan that called for the cross-town busing of fifty-five Black and one hundred white students to achieve racial balance. The trouble started on October 29th when fighting began between one hundred Black and white students in a predominantly Italian section of the city. Fighting spread into the downtown area when bands of Black youths surged into the district hurling bottles at police officers and breaking windows. More than two hundred people were arrested during the three days of disorder. On November 1, the board voted to reopen the schools, and the dusk-to-dawn curfew that had been imposed on the city was relaxed. Blacks in Henderson, North Carolina, had been engaged in a long protest over a decision by school officials to reopen an all-Black school in the community. They charged that the board of education was trying to evade desegregation by reopening the school. Four days of sporadic sniper fire and burnings erupted in Henderson in the aftermath of the dispute. The National Guard was called to help restore order, and police jailed 101 people between November 5th and 8th. By November 9th, the school board agreed to close the school and bus its Black pupils to desegregated schools. The National Guard remained on duty.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Nov 20 - 22)
Published
0 0
More than 500 prison inmates riot over segregation after some inmates’ demand separate quarters for Blacks and whites.
More than five hundred inmates reportedly took part in a racial disturbance at the 16,000-acre Cummins prison farm, ninety miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. The fighting was sparked by inmates' demands for separate quarters for Blacks and whites. Commissioner of corrections, Robert Sawer, reported that state troopers were called in after the violence reached riot proportions; some of the prisoners had armed themselves with knives, pipes, and broomstick handles. Prison guards broke up the fighting with tear gas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (May 29)
Published
0 0
The conviction of Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton for manslaughter is reversed by a California Court of Appeal.
The conviction of Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton for manslaughter was reversed by a California Court of Appeal. Newton had been convicted on September 8, 1968, for the fatal shooting of an Oakland, California, police officer. Newton was also implicated in the wounding of another officer and the kidnapping of a Black motorist. In his 1968 trial, Newton was defended by Charles A. Garry. A major contention of the defense was that Newton laid unconscious from a gunshot wound at the time the Oakland police officer was shot. The California court found procedural errors in the original trial and ordered the reversal of his conviction.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Mar 5)
Published
0 0
Black leaders respond to Daniel Moynihan’s “Benign Neglect” memo to president Richard Nixon, calling it a calculated effort to wipe out civil rights progress.
Twenty Black civil rights leaders, authors, legislators, and educators issued a statement describing Daniel Moynihan's "Benign Neglect" memorandum to President Richard Nixon as "symptomatic of a calculated, aggressive, and systematic" effort by the Nixon administration to "wipe out" nearly two decades of civil rights progress. The signers included professor Nathan Hare, Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Jr., and civil rights leader Bayard Rustin.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
A mob of angry whites with axe handles and baseball bats stormed buses transporting Black children to a formerly all-white school in Lamar, South Carolina. Several children were injured. None were arrested, but state and federal officials later moved to apprehend the mob’s leaders.
A mob of angry whites with axe handles and baseball bats stormed buses transporting Black children to a formerly all-white school in Lamar, South Carolina. About one hundred South Carolina state police officers dispersed them with riot clubs and tear gas after the crowd of approximately two hundred whites had rushed the buses and smashed the windows at Lamar High School. Thirty-nine Black students were aboard the buses. Several children were injured by flying glass and the effects of tear gas. None were arrested, but state and federal officials later moved to apprehend the mob's leaders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Mar 14)
Published
0 0
Philadelphia’s District Court Judge, Charles R. Weiner, upholds the constitutionality of the Labor Department’s controversial Philadelphia Plan which sought to increase minority employment in the construction industry.
Philadelphia's District Court Judge Charles R. Weiner upheld the constitutionality of the Labor Department's controversial Philadelphia Plan which sought to increase minority employment in the construction industry. Judge Weiner rejected a request for an injunction against the plan that was requested in a suit filed by the Contractor's Association of Eastern Pennsylvania on January 6, 1970. Judge Weiner said the pilot job program did not in any way violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which forbade racial quotas in employment. The Philadelphia Plan did not violate the act, the judge said, because it "does not require the contractor to hire a definite percentage of a minority group." The contractors had only to make "good faith" efforts to hire a certain number of Blacks and other minorities. And, he reasoned that "it is fundamental that civil rights without economic rights are mere shadows."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Mar 13)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Senate votes to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for five additional years.
The U.S. Senate voted to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for five additional years, making 1975 its expiration. Among the provisions of the act were a ban on literacy tests as a voting qualification and permission to vote in presidential elections if residency had been established in a locality a month before election day.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jun 8)
Published
0 0
Eight Blacks serve in the House of Representatives with the defeat of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. by Black politician Charles Rangel.
Black American politician Charles Rangel, of Harlem, New York, defeated incumbent Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., for his long-held seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Eight Black Americans sat in the House during 1970, including William L. Dawson; Charles C. Diggs, Jr., of Michigan; Augustus F. Hawkins of California; Robert C. Nix of Pennsylvania; Shirley Chisholm of New York; Louis Stokes of Ohio; and John Conyers of Michigan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jun 29)
Published
0 0
In his keynote address at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Annual Convention, the Chairman of the NAACP’s Board of Directors, Bishop Stephen Gill Spottswood, charged the Nixon administration with being “anti-Negro” and accused it of implementing a “calculated policy to work against the needs and aspirations of the largest minority of its citizens.” The Nixon administration calls the charges “disheartening.”
The Chairman of the NAACP's Board of Directors, Bishop Stephen Gill Spottswood, charged the Nixon administration with being "anti-Negro" and accused it of implementing a "calculated policy to work against the needs and aspirations of the largest minority of its citizens." In his keynote address at the NAACP Annual Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Spottswood indicted the administration for retreating on school desegregation and nominating conservative Southerners Clement Haynsworth and G. Harold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court. Spottswood also condemned the exposed memo to the president that called for "benign neglect" of race issues. The statement marked a significant break between the largest and oldest Black civil rights organization and the national administration. Because of this, and the NAACP's reputation as a moderate organization, the administration quickly responded, calling the charges "unfair" and "disheartening," and pointing to positive contributions such as the administration's support of the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jul 7 - 31)
Published
0 0
Curfews are imposed in several northern cities to curb rioting.
Racial rioting broke out in several Northern cities. On July 7, a curfew was imposed in Asbury Park, New Jersey, following four days of violence; forty-three people were shot during the rioting. The curfew was lifted on July 10, and calm was restored in the New Jersey resort town after Mayor Joseph Mattice agreed to consider a list of demands presented to him by a coalition of Black organizations. William Hamm, a spokesperson for the Black community leaders, presented the list of twenty-two demands that included requests for better housing, more jobs, and increased efforts at halting narcotics traffic. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, a curfew was imposed on July 12, following four nights of racial disturbances. Hartford, Connecticut, following three days of rioting by Blacks and Puerto Ricans, imposed a curfew on July 31.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jul 29)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. orders seven Alabama state agencies to end discrimination against Blacks in their hiring practices.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., ordered seven Alabama state agencies to end discrimination against Blacks in their hiring practices and give immediate job consideration to sixty-two Black applicants who were denied positions earlier. The federal judge directed state authorities to take steps to eliminate future racial discrimination in hiring practices, and he ordered them to submit a report to the court within thirty days, detailing the steps taken to comply with his order. In reviewing the case, which was filed by the Justice Department in 1968, Johnson noted that Alabama was the only remaining state that refused to adopt a resolution that formally prohibited racial discrimination and provided for a system of redress in such cases. Johnson also directed the seven agencies to hire Blacks and to appoint them in positions other than custodial, domestic, or general labor, when such applicants were listed as qualified and eligible.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jul 10)
Published
0 0
In response to the growing number of all-white private schools in the South, the IRS announces that the tax-exempt status of private schools practicing racial discrimination in their admissions policies would be revoked.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that the tax-exempt status of private schools practicing racial discrimination in their admissions policies would be revoked. The action came as the government sought to respond to the growing number of all-white private schools in the South. Most of the schools had sprung up in the wake of desegregation of the public schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
Kenneth Gibson, a city engineer, became the mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
Kenneth Gibson, a city engineer, became the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. At the time, Gibson was the only Black mayor of a large eastern city. But there were more than five hundred Black officeholders in other elected positions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 1)
Published
0 0
Five Blacks are elected to office in Atlanta, Georgia.
Blacks gained a degree of political control over Atlanta, Georgia, as five Blacks were elected, or reelected, to the eighteen-member board of Aldermen, or city council. Also, three Blacks were elected, or reelected, to the ten-member board of education. And Attorney Maynard Jackson was elected Vice Mayor and President of the board of Aldermen. Black educator Benjamin E. Mays was named head of the school board.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
The Tennessee Supreme Court refused to consider a retrial for James Earl Ray, the man convicted for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Tennessee Supreme Court refused to consider a plea for a new trial for James Earl Ray, the white man serving a ninety-nine-year sentence for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. The court reasoned that there could be no legal basis for granting a new trial for the defendant who had pleaded guilty and fully understood what he was doing.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 6)
Published
0 0
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Robert Finch states that he would request that the treasury department reconsider the policy of granting tax-exempt status to private schools that had been established to avoid desegregation.
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Robert Finch expresses concern over the South's new private, all-white schools. He announced that there was a move within the Nixon administration to end the tax exemptions for private schools that had been established to avoid desegregation. Finch said he would request that the treasury department reconsider the policy of granting tax-exempt status to such private schools. He estimated that as many as four hundred private schools had opened in the South since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
The Bureau of the Census statistics confirm that both non-white and white families were fleeing the poverty-stricken areas of their cities.
Bureau of the Census statistics confirmed earlier reports that non-white and white families were fleeing the poverty-stricken areas of their cities. The Bureau said that whites had been leaving the urban poverty areas for years, but the non-white migration seemed to have occurred chiefly since 1966. As factors behind the exodus, the Bureau cited crime, educational problems, land clearance resulting from urban renewal, and the increased availability of low-income housing outside of poverty areas. Between 1960 and 1968, minority families living in urban poverty areas declined by 9 percent. In 1968, 2.5 million whites and 1.6 million Blacks lived in urban poverty areas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 5 - 7)
Published
0 0
Mississippi Blacks attend integrated schools under the watch of federal marshals. No violence took place. Many whites protest peacefully.
Black children enrolled in formerly all-white public schools in three Mississippi districts under the watch of federal marshals. The officers were sent to prevent violence and look for signs of non-compliance as the government moved to implement the November 6, 1969, decision of the U.S. fifth circuit Court of Appeal that ordered thirty Mississippi school districts to desegregate. Three of those districts reopened classes for the second semester on January 5, 1970. The others followed between January 7 and 12. The desegregation did not meet with violence, but many white parents picketed the newly desegregated schools while others boycotted the institutions. In Woodville, only 2 white children went to their school where 1,400 Black pupils had registered. But in Yazoo City, white business leaders had asked parents to accept the arrangements, and nearly 1,500 white students attended the desegregated schools. Four thousand whites and 1,000 Blacks in Petal went to classes together for the first time despite a peaceful sit-in by 300 white parents at an elementary school. The whites were protesting a desegregation plan that assigned their children to classrooms as far as thirteen miles away.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
Mississippi Governor John Bell Williams announces his plan to build a private school system as an alternative to public school desegregation, and urges white parents to peacefully accept integration.
Mississippi Governor John Bell Williams announced in a statewide telecast that he would help to build a private school system as a "workable alternative" to public school desegregation. Williams also urged white parents to peacefully accept the November 6, 1969, ruling of the fifth circuit Court of Appeal that ordered thirty Mississippi school districts to desegregate. The governor said it was "a time when reason must outweigh emotion, and calm must prevail over hysteria." Williams announced he would re-submit a proposal to the state legislature that authorized income-tax credits of up to $500 a year for those who donated to educational institutions. The legislature had previously rejected that request.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 29)
Published
0 0
President Richard Nixon expresses concern over his administration’s failure to gain the confidence of the nation’s Black citizens. Says he’s more concerned with deeds than words.
President Richard Nixon expressed concern over his administration's failure to gain the confidence of the nation's Black citizens. The president said he could improve his standing among Blacks by using phrases and slogans, but that he eschewed such tactics because it would only serve to widen the gap between the government and Black Americans. Nixon said he was more concerned with deeds than words, and that approval of his legislative proposals against crime and for increased job opportunities would serve to end the performance gap and inspire trust in his administration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 27)
Published
0 0
The Senate rejects Judge G. Harold Carswell’s nomination to the Supreme Court, partly in response to the Black community’s concerns about his racial views.
In the first day of confirmation hearings on his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge G. Harold Carswell of Florida told the U.S. Senate's judiciary committee: "I am not a racist. I have no notions, secretive or otherwise, of racial superiority." Carswell was responding to senators' questions about a white supremacy speech he made during a political campaign in Georgia in 1948. Carswell said that "the force of twenty-two years of history" had changed him as well as the South. On January 21, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had urged the Senate to reject Carswell because of his pro-segregation record. NAACP Board Chairman Bishop Stephen G. Spottswood noted that the NAACP and 124 other organizations had opposed Carswell's appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit in May of 1969. Two days later, Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Ralph David Abernathy announced that he had sent a telegram to Senate leaders opposing Carswell. Abernathy said the rejection of Carswell "would provide some reassurances to the Black community that there is still some understanding and support among government officials for our needs." The Senate later rejected the Carswell nomination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
A military report finds that there is an increase in racial tension on military bases throughout the world.
In a report released in Saigon, South Vietnam, army investigators found that "all indications point toward an increase in racial tension" on military bases throughout the world. The investigation was ordered by U.S. Army Chief of Staff General William C. Westmoreland, and it was presented to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1969. Congressmen and military commanders in the U.S. and abroad also received the report that said, "Black soldiers seem to have lost faith in the army system," and predicted increased racial problems unless "aggressive command action, firm but impartial discipline, and good leadership can prevent physical confrontation of racial groups." The study concluded that the army had "a race problem because our country has a race problem." Yet there were conditions within the army that possibly contributed to unrest among Black soldiers. For instance, according to the report, the number of Black junior officers was decreasing although there were more Black non-commissioned officers of lower rank. The report also found that on European bases, where one out of eight soldiers was Black, a disproportionate one out of four non-judicial punishments was imposed on a Black soldier.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 21)
Published
0 0
A coroner’s jury in Chicago, Illinois, concluded that the deaths of Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were justifiable.
A coroner's jury in Chicago, Illinois, concluded that the deaths of Black Panther party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were justifiable. The two were slain during a police raid on Hampton's apartment on December 4, 1969. Seven other panthers were arrested following the raid. A special inquest was assembled on January 6 after Panther leaders charged that Hampton was murdered in his bed. Chicago detectives who participated in the pre-dawn raid testified that one or more persons in Hampton's apartment opened fire on the police. The attorneys representing the families of the two slain Panthers did not call any witnesses during the hearing. They indicated that they did not want to reveal their plans for the defense of the seven Panthers who faced possible trial for attempted murder. The foreman of the six-man jury said the verdict was reached "solely on the evidence presented." A Cook County grand jury was also investigating the incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 20)
Published
0 0
Federal District Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles ordered the Pasadena, California, school district to submit a desegregation plan for its public schools. It is the first federal government suit against a non-southern school district to be acted upon.
Federal District Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles ordered the Pasadena, California, school district to submit a desegregation plan for its public schools by February 16. The plan, covering all schools in the suburban Los Angeles district, was to take effect in September. The Pasadena case was the first federal government suit against a non-southern school district to be acted upon. The judge ruled that the plan submitted by the school officials should not produce any school with a majority of non-white students. Judge Real also ordered that the plan should cover new teaching assignments, hiring and promotional practices, and the construction of new school buildings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 2)
Published
0 0
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s director, J. Edgar Hoover, reports on Black militant groups, calling them “extremist, all-Negro, hate-type organizations.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation's director, J. Edgar Hoover, stated that Black militant groups were "encouraged and inflamed from without" in violent attacks upon the government. In his report of FBI operations in 1969, Hoover also said that during the previous six months, there were more than one hundred attacks on police by "extremist, all-Negro, hate-type organizations, such as the Black Panther Party." He reported that 7 police officers were killed and 120 were injured in attacks by Black militants.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 19)
Published
0 0
Florida Governor Claude Kirk, Jr., personally tells the U.S. Supreme Court that his state was “financially and physically unable” to meet the court’s January 14, 1970, order for immediate school desegregation. The Supreme Court listens to this, and other similar arguments, then orders the desegregation to proceed as scheduled.
Florida Governor Claude Kirk, Jr., personally told the U.S. Supreme Court that his state was "financially and physically unable" to meet the court's January 14, 1970, order for immediate school desegregation. Kirk announced that he had instructed his school districts to change their school calendars during mid-term. The governor asked the court for a rehearing and requested a delay in the February 1 school desegregation deadline. Kirk said that Florida was ready to comply with the orders but was unable to do so under the time constraint. Attorneys for two Louisiana school districts also appeared before the court with similar pleas. The Supreme Court listened to the arguments, then ordered the desegregation to proceed as scheduled.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 41st birthday is celebrated across the nation, starting the path to making it a national holiday.
Blacks and whites across the nation celebrated the forty-first anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. The movement to make the day a national holiday was gaining momentum, and several governors declared "Martin Luther King, Jr., Day" in their states. Among those who declared the holiday were: Kenneth Curtis of Maine, Frank Licht of Rhode Island, and Nelson Rockefeller of New York. Public schools were closed in Baltimore, Maryland; Kansas City, Missouri; New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, among others. In King's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, four hundred people listened as the city's new mayor, Sam Massell, eulogized King at a memorial service. Following the service, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, dedicated Atlanta's new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center that comprised of King's birthplace, church, and crypt.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court hastens school desegregation.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a brief, unsigned order, overruled a decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal that set September 1970 as the deadline for desegregation in Southern public schools. The high court was acting on a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) appeal involving fourteen school districts in five southern states, and its request of February 1, 1970, as the deadline for desegregation. The high court's action affirmed this request, denying the Justice Department's request for approval of the September deadline.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Jan 13)
Published
0 0
The Internal Revenue Service stops granting tax-exempt privileges to segregated private schools in Mississippi unless the school could show it was enrolling Blacks.
A three-judge federal district court in Washington, D.C., ordered the Internal Revenue Service to stop granting tax-exempt privileges to segregated private schools in Mississippi. The order did not affect the all-white private schools that had already been granted tax-exemptions. But the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was to stop granting tax-exempt status to schools with pending applications, or applications yet to be filed, unless the school could show it was enrolling Blacks. The newly chartered, all-white private academies were being funded by white parents to avoid complying with the school desegregation taking place in Mississippi's public schools. Mississippi Governor John Bell Williams asked the state legislature to grant financial assistance, in the form of state tax deductions, to those who donated money to the all-white schools. He claimed his program would "strengthen the hands of Mississippians" in facing the government's desegregation orders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Feb 28)
Published
0 0
Daniel P. Moynihan’s confidential “Benign Neglect” memo to president Richard Nixon is made public.
A confidential memorandum to the president from Daniel P. Moynihan, domestic advisor to President Richard Nixon, was made public. The memo proposed that "the time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of benign neglect." Moynihan, a liberal Democrat, explained later that he had meant that Blacks could fare better if extremists on both sides of the political spectrum would lower their voices. He asserted that his memorandum had been written with a twofold purpose: to bring the president up to date on the progress of Blacks in the last decade, and to suggest ways in which these gains could be consolidated in the future.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Feb 26)
Published
0 0
New York Times reports that efforts to increase Black enlistments in the National Guard were largely unsuccessful.
According to a New York Times report, efforts to increase Black enlistments in the National Guard were largely unsuccessful. A survey conducted by the Guard revealed that there were 5,487 Blacks in the air and army units at the end of 1969, out of a total enlistment of nearly 500,000 men. This 1.15 percent of Black guardsmen was a drop from 1.18 percent in 1968. Congress refused a request in 1969 for $6.5 million to recruit Blacks into the Guard; the defense department did not renew the request in 1970.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
School officials in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi districts refuse to implement federally designed desegregation plans.
School officials in twenty Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi districts defied federal court orders that called for total school desegregation, refusing to implement federally designed desegregation plans. Some administrators closed their schools temporarily, while others supported boycotts by white parents and students. Others closed schools to await further appeals for delays. Two Alabama districts ignored the court's orders entirely. In Bessemer, Alabama, school officials flatly stated they would not comply with the desegregation orders. Black lawyers filed suit the same day, requesting that the Bessemer school board be found in contempt of court. In Burke county, Georgia, the schools reopened under a "freedom of choice" arrangement, even though the courts had previously invalidated such a scheme. Of the forty districts under the court's orders to desegregate, only a few obeyed, including three in Louisiana, two in Mississippi, and one in Florida. Panama City, Florida, was one of the few districts to fully comply; about 1,000 of its 17,500 students were transferred to new schools to achieve a more racially balanced system. The February 1 deadline for desegregation had been set by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 14, 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Dec 1)
Published
0 0
Captain Curtis R. Smothers and six other Black army officers petition Secretary of the Army Stanley R. Resar for a court of inquiry and an investigation of alleged racial bias against Black soldiers in west Germany.
Captain Curtis R. Smothers and six other Black army officers petitioned Secretary of the Army Stanley R. Resar for a court of inquiry and an investigation of alleged racial bias against Black soldiers in west Germany. The seven Black servicemen complained of widespread housing discrimination and charged that the bias was going unchallenged because the United States government failed to press the West Germans to enforce the laws against discrimination. According to the Blacks, "only an open court of inquiry convened by the Secretary of the Army could adequately determine the facts, assess the feasibility of alternative solutions, and inquire into factors motivating the long-standing noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations." Smothers, also a military circuit judge in West Germany, was joined in the petition by Major Washington C. Hill, Lieutenant Edwin Dorn, Sergeant Willie Payne and three specialists, 4th class: Gregory Jones, Bobby Metcalf, and James Wilder. Pentagon officials returned to Washington, D.C., on March 13, 1971, after having discussed the December petition with Smothers in West Germany. Smothers was then summoned to Washington for further discussions. This was seen by some as an attempt to persuade Smothers to withdraw his petition. But on June 3, 1971, the Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives announced they were sending a staff member to Germany, Greece, Italy, and Turkey to investigate complaints of racism and discrimination in the armed forces abroad. Representative Shirley Chisholm, Chairman of the Black Caucus's Military Affairs Committee, later reported that racial tension between Germans and Black enlisted men was critical.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Dec 30)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeal orders the Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote fair housing.
The U.S. Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development to "affirmatively promote fair housing" in considering applications for support of housing projects. The case involved HUD mortgage insurance and rent supplements in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The court ruled that HUD had to determine, through public hearings or by other means, whether its projects would increase or maintain segregation. According to the court, HUD could not support such housing unless it was determined that the need for urban renewal or increased minority housing clearly outweighed "the disadvantages of increasing or perpetuating racial concentration." The court reasoned that after the passage of the 1964 and 1968 civil rights acts, HUD could no longer "remain blind to the very real effect that racial concentration has had in the development of urban blight." Edwin D. Wolf, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Office of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, called the ruling a landmark decision that could have an impact comparable to the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation decision.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Dec 27)
Published
0 0
Fourteen scientists ask president Richard Nixon “to safeguard the life of Angela Davis and give her an opportunity of continuing her scientific work,” during her forthcoming trial.
The U.S. State Department invited fourteen leading Soviet scientists to attend the forthcoming murder trial of former University of California professor and avowed communist, Angela Davis, to ensure that she would receive a fair trial. The invitation was personally sanctioned by President Richard Nixon. The offer was an apparent response to a cablegram sent by the fourteen scientists to the president asking him "to safeguard the life of Angela Davis and give her an opportunity of continuing her scientific work." According to U.S. officials, the government's quick response was due to the high regard in which the scientists were held by professional colleagues in America. Among the fourteen scientists were: Igor P. Tamm, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and Pyotr L. Kapitsa, the Dean of Soviet Physicists. This was the first time Soviet personalities were invited to observe American judicial proceedings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Dec 11)
Published
0 0
A federal grand jury finds none guilty of Black students’ deaths at Jackson State College.
A federal grand jury concluded its deliberations without returning any indictments in the investigation into the killing of two Black youths at Jackson State College, on May 14, 1970. The jury also failed to submit a report.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Dec 11)
Published
0 0
The Justice Department filed suit in a federal district court in charging several Alabama organizations with violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Justice Department filed suit in a federal district court in Alabama, charging the United States Steel Corporation, the United Steelworkers of America, the AFL-CIO, and twelve union locals with violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination in employment. Three days later, the chairman of the board of U.S. Steel Corporation announced that the Justice Department had demanded that the company allocate fifty percent of its office and clerical jobs in its Fairfield, Alabama, plant to Blacks within the next five years. The company was also to ensure that Blacks make up forty percent of all promoted to management positions in the next five years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 10)
Published
0 0
Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton is released from jail after serving more than two years for the manslaughter of a California police officer.
Huey P. Newton, co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party, was released on a $50,000 bond after serving more than two years in a California prison. Newton was serving time for a manslaughter conviction in the death of an Oakland, California, police officer. The California Court of Appeal had reversed the conviction on the grounds that the trial judge erred in instructing the jury and opened the way for Newton's release pending a new trial. Newton's attorney, Charles Garry, charged that the bail was excessive, but acquiesced. Newton was greeted by a crowd of about three hundred upon his release. He shouted, "The people have the power! All power to the people!"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 7)
Published
0 0
California convicts are killed in a courthouse shootout while attempting to escape. Angela Davis, a former professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is implicated and flees the state in order to avoid arrest.
Four people died during a courthouse shootout in San Rafael, California, when three Black convicts attempted to escape. Two of the convicts, a judge, and another Black youth aiding the convicts were killed. Angela Davis, a Black American and former professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, was implicated in the incident and fled the state in order to avoid arrest.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jul 16)
Published
0 0
Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen challenges the Philadelphia Plan for minority hiring, believing it was in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Laurence H. Silberman, solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor, announced that the Philadelphia plan for minority hiring was legal under Executive Order No. 11246, which required equal employment clauses in all federal contracts. Silberman was responding to Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois who thought it imposed a quota system in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dirksen had asked President Richard Nixon, on July 8, to pause the plan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 31)
Published
0 0
John S. Martin, superintendent of public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, resigned because of the pressures of school desegregation by the federal courts. A mass resignation occurs during this two-year period.
John S. Martin, superintendent of public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, resigned, citing the federal courts and the pressure of school desegregation as reasons. According to the New York Times, Martin joined at least two hundred other school superintendents in the South who had resigned in the past two years because of the problems resulting from desegregation in their districts. William Dunn, superintendent of schools in Louisiana, predicted the federal government's latest attempt to desegregate schools in the South would lead to a wave of resignations from experienced educators. The rate of turnover among superintendents in Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia since 1968 was nearly forty percent - almost double the rate in any previous two-year period. Louisiana led the South in the rate of turnovers. In two years, there had been thirty-nine turnovers among the sixty-six district superintendents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 31)
Published
0 0
Black Panther Lonnie McLucas is convicted of conspiracy to murder in his trial for the 1969 slaying of New York party member Alex Rackley.
Black Panther Lonnie McLucas was convicted of conspiracy to murder in his trial for the 1969 slaying of a New York party member. Twenty-four-year-old McLucas was the first of eight Black Panthers, including National Chairman Bobby Seale, to stand trial for conspiracy to murder Alex Rackley, whose body was found near Middlefield, Connecticut, in May of 1969. The state had charged in the original indictments that Rackley was slain because he had been suspected by the party of being a police informant. McLucas's attorney, Theodore I. Kossoff, contended that the order for Rackley's murder originated from George Sams, Jr., the Panther member whom the defense alleged was responsible for the torture and murder of Rackley. McLucas was acquitted on three other charges: conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping resulting in death, and binding with intent to commit a crime. He faced a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison; the three charges on which McLucas was acquitted all carried heavier penalties
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 31)
Published
0 0
More than two hundred school districts across the South reopened peacefully with desegregated classrooms. Despite the massive compliance, 175 other districts continue to hold out.
More than two hundred school districts across the South that had resisted the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court order that mandated segregation finally reopened peacefully with desegregated classrooms. Nearly 300,000 Black children from Virginia to Louisiana began classes with whites as threats of school boycotts by white parents failed to materialize. Despite the massive compliance, 175 other districts continued to hold out, most of which were involved in litigation on the issue of student busing. Others were involved in negotiations with government officials aimed at ending segregated school systems. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren E. Burger, announced that the court would consider the remaining school desegregation problems when the new court term began on October 12. Many Blacks and whites had raised questions concerning the legality of busing, the concept of racial balance, and the definition of a unitary school system.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 29)
Published
0 0
Poindexter E. Williams, a Black soldier killed in Vietnam is buried in a formerly all-white cemetery in Florida after a federal judge orders the cemetery to accept Williams’s body amidst opposition from whites who threaten to remove their relatives’ remains in response to the order.
Poindexter E. Williams, a Black soldier killed in Vietnam during a mortar barrage, was buried in a formerly all-white cemetery in Fort Pierce, Florida. The cemetery had refused to bury the soldier since August 20, but a federal judge ordered the cemetery to accept Williams's body. Williams was buried in a grave site donated to his family by a white woman. Other whites, citing the caucasians-only clause in lot purchase contracts, opposed the burial, and some plot owners in the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens threatened to remove their relatives' remains.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 29 - 31)
Published
0 0
A police officer was killed and six others were wounded in a series of gun battles between police and Black militant organizations in Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, one police officer was killed and six others were wounded in a series of gun battles between police and Black militant organizations, including the Black Panthers. Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo blamed the incidents on the Black Panther Party and a group called The Revolutionaries that, he said, plotted to murder police officers. The altercation resulted from an early morning raid at the Panther Information Center on Philadelphia's north side. Police said they were searching for a suspect in connection with an earlier shooting.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 27)
Published
0 0
David Rice, a Black militant group member, surrenders to police in Omaha, Nebraska, in connection with the August 17th death of a local police officer who was killed via an explosive booby trap.
David L. Rice, minister of information for the National Committee to Combat Fascism, surrendered to police in Omaha, Nebraska, in connection with the August 17th death of local police officer Larry D. Minard. Twenty-nine-year-old Minard was one of eight officers who had been called to a vacant house in Omaha's predominantly Black north side district to investigate a report of a woman in distress. He was killed when he touched a satchel that was filled with an explosive and rigged as a booby trap; the seven other policemen were injured. Rice was charged with illegal possession of explosives.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 26)
Published
0 0
A federal court in Washington, D.C., refused the Nixon administration’s request to dismiss a pending suit against federal tax exemptions for private, all-white academies in the South. The Internal Revenue Service confirmed that they would no longer grant tax-exempt status to private schools practicing racial discrimination in admissions policies.
A federal court in Washington, D.C., refused the Nixon administration's request to dismiss a pending suit against federal tax exemptions for private, all-white academies in the South. The court also denied the request of the civil rights groups that brought the suit for all such academies to have their tax-exempt status revoked immediately. The administration's lawyer told the court that the Internal Revenue Service would no longer grant tax-exempt status to private schools practicing racial discrimination in admissions policies, but that the government had relied on the word of the schools in determining whether they were willing to desegregate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
The Nixon administration enforces the Philadelphia Plan when they announced they would terminate their contract with Edgeley Air Products, Inc., of Levittown, Pennsylvania, for failing to comply. The company’s president denies that they practiced discrimination and said they would appeal termination of the contract.
The Nixon administration announced its plans to terminate a contract with Edgeley Air Products, Inc., of Levittown, Pennsylvania, for failing to comply with the Philadelphia Plan which was designed to train and employ minority workers on construction jobs. This was the government's first enforcement action against a contractor charged with violation of a job agreement. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Elliott L. Richardson notified Edgeley Air Products, Inc., that his Office for Civil Rights intended to cancel the contract and bar the company from future federal contracts on grounds of noncompliance. Leonard Nucero, the president of Edgeley, denied that the company practiced discrimination and said they would appeal termination of the contract.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1970 (Aug 13)
Published
0 0
Chicago detective James A. Alfonso, a member of the city police’s gang intelligence unit, was shot while on the city’s south side in an unmarked police car. Some Chicago Blacks contended that the recent wave of violence grew out of a widespread pattern of police brutality.
Chicago detective James A. Alfonso, a member of the city police's gang intelligence unit, was shot while on the city's south side in an unmarked police car. The next day, Chicago police said that they had arrested four members of the "Main 21," the ruling body of the Black P. Stone Nation, a confederation of sixty Black street gangs based on the old Blackstone Rangers. One of those held, twenty-three-year-old Charles E. Bey, identified himself as vice president of the "nation" and a member of the "Main 21." Some Chicago Blacks contended that the recent wave of violence grew out of a widespread pattern of police brutality, including incidents in which police had slain Blacks, most notably, members of the Black Panther Party. Thirty-year-old Alfonso was the fourth Chicago police officer slain in the city's Black neighborhoods since mid-June; he died from his wounds four days later.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Sep)
Published
0 0
The African American Studies program is established at Harvard University.
Harvard University moved to establish an African American studies program. An eight-person faculty committee on African and African American studies concluded, in January, that one was needed in addition to the already-established African studies program. The committee's report said, "We are dealing with 25 million of our own people with a special history, culture, and range of problems. It can hardly be doubted that the study of Black men in America is a legitimate and urgent academic endeavor." Although the program was not the first of its kind, the prestigious university was viewed as lending impetus to the establishment of such programs at other universities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Oct 31)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Court of Appeals moves to implement the U.S. Supreme Court’s October 29th decision that mandated immediate school desegregation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit moved to implement the U.S. Supreme Court's October 29th decision that mandated immediate school desegregation. Mississippi school districts were directed to file desegregation plans by November 5, 1969. Meanwhile, NAACP attorneys said they would file motions in some one hundred other school segregation cases pending in federal courts to press for immediate integration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Oct 29)
Published
0 0
In Alexander v. Holmes, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that school districts must end racial segregation immediately and “operate now and hereafter only unitary schools.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that school districts must end racial segregation immediately and "operate now and hereafter only unitary schools." The Court rejected the Nixon administration's appeal for a delay in desegregating thirty Mississippi school districts. The new ruling indicated that the Court had abandoned its fourteen-year-old standard of allowing desegregation to proceed "with all deliberate speed." In the current decision, the high Court declared that "continued operations of segregated schools under a standard of all deliberate speed for desegregation is no longer constitutionally permissible." The case, known as Alexander v. Holmes, was the first major decision delivered by the Supreme Court under President Richard Nixon's appointee, Chief Justice Warren Burger.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Nov 4)
Published
0 0
Blacks continue to be elected into office.
Carl B. Stokes, the first Black Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, was reelected. In other elections, Howard Lee was elected Mayor of predominately white Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Veteran NAACP leader Charles Evers, brother of the slain Medgar Evers, was elected Mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, a mostly Black community. Blacks also took political control of the city of Tuskegee, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Mar 10)
Published
0 0
James Earl Ray is sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
James Earl Ray was sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jun 2)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Department of Labor requires contractors to hire specific numbers of minority workers onto federally assisted construction projects exceeding $500,000. Contractors who failed to meet the standards would not lose a federal contract if a “good faith effort” to recruit the required number of minority workers was demonstrated.
The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidelines that required contractors to hire specific numbers of minority workers onto federally assisted construction projects exceeding $500,000. The plan was first implemented in Philadelphia and thus, became known as the Philadelphia Plan. Secretary of Labor George P. Schultz called the Philadelphia Plan a "fair and realistic approach" toward eliminating racial discrimination in the construction industry. But he weakened the measure by adding that contractors who failed to meet the standards would not lose a federal contract if a "good faith effort" to recruit the required number of minority workers was demonstrated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
Sixty-five Black Brandeis University students barricade themselves in the school and present a list of racial equality demands.
Sixty-five Black students invaded Ford Hall at the predominantly white Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The students barricaded themselves in and presented a non-negotiable list of demands. On the list were: an African studies department; year-round recruitment of Black students by Blacks; Black directors for the Upward Bound and Transitional Year programs; the hiring of Black professors; the establishment of an African American student center; and ten full scholarships for Blacks. Morris B. Abram, the recently appointed president of the University, offered temporary amnesty to the Blacks and agreed to communicate with the barricaded students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jan 27)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities, like states, cannot enact ordinances or charter provisions that have the effect of establishing discrimination in housing.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities, like states, cannot enact ordinances or charter provisions that have the effect of establishing discrimination in housing. The Court's decision involved a case filed by Nellie Hunter, a Black housewife from Akron, Ohio. In 1965, Hunter had attempted to buy a home on Akron's all-white west side but was turned down by a real estate company because of her race. Hunter filed a complaint with Akron City Hall, requesting the protection of a 1964 ordinance that banned racial discrimination in housing. But city officials claimed that local real estate interests had successfully waged a drive to amend the charter. The amended charter now required a vote by the people in establishing fair-housing measures. But the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Akron charter amendment "is no more permissible than denying racial minorities the vote on an equal basis with others." The city had unconstitutionally placed, the Court said, a "special burden" on its Black residents by requiring that bans against housing discrimination be approved by the majority of the city's voters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Jan 25)
Published
0 0
Ku Klux Klan leader Samuel H. Bowers, Jr., indicted for the 1966 fire-bomb slaying of Black civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer, is freed on mistrial.
A mistrial was declared in the Mississippi murder trial of Ku Klux Klan leader Samuel H. Bowers, Jr., one of thirteen men indicted for the 1966 fire-bomb slaying of Black civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer. All were tried separately. Four defendants were convicted of murder, three of whom received life sentences, and the fourth was sentenced to serve ten years in prison. The Bowers trial was one of the five mistrials that resulted because juries were unable to reach verdicts. Bowers's May, 1968, trial for arson in connection with the Dahmer slaying had also resulted in a mistrial.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1969 (Dec 4 - 5)
Published
0 0
Black Panther Party leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were killed in a raid by Chicago police. No Panther members nor police officers were brought to trial. The incident heightened tensions between the Panthers and law enforcement.
Black Panther Party leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were killed in a raid by Chicago police; four others were wounded. According to police reports, the pre-dawn raid was based on information that Hampton's apartment was being used to stockpile weapons. Police claimed that their knock on the door was answered by gunfire from a woman, and they contended that about two hundred shots were fired during the ten-minute altercation. The next day, spokesmen for the Black Panthers dismissed the police accounts of the raid and claimed that Clark and Hampton were murdered in their beds by police. They purported to show that only police had fired shots in the apartment. State, federal, and congressional investigations were held, but neither Panther members nor police officers were brought to trial in the wake of the controversial encounter. The incident served to heighten tensions between the Panthers and law enforcement, and the Panthers gained some additional sympathy among Americans for their objectives. Hampton had been the state party chairman for the Panthers, and Clark led the Peoria, Illinois, chapter.
References:
  •  • Black Panther Party leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were killed in a raid by Chicago police; four others were wounded. According to police reports, the pre-dawn raid was based on information that Hampton's apartment was being used to stockpile weapons. Police claimed that their knock on the door was answered by gunfire from a woman, and they contended that about two hundred shots were fired during the ten-minute altercation. The next day, spokesmen for the Black Panthers dismissed the police accounts of the raid and claimed that Clark and Hampton were murdered in their beds by police. They purported to show that only police had fired shots in the apartment. State, federal, and congressional investigations were held, but neither Panther members nor police officers were brought to trial in the wake of the controversial encounter. The incident served to heighten tensions between the Panthers and law enforcement, and the Panthers gained some additional sympathy among Americans for their objectives. Hampton had been the state party chairman for the Panthers, and Clark led the Peoria, Illinois, chapter.
1969 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
Black Panther leader Bobby Seale is arrested for the torture-murder of Alex Rackley. Francis J. McTernan, Seale’s attorney, charged that the arrest was part of an organized campaign by the Justice Department to harass Black Panther leaders all over the country.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Black Panther leader Bobby Seale for the torture-murder of Alex Rackley. Rackley was allegedly disloyal to the Panther organization and was burned to death on May 19 in New Haven, Connecticut. Francis J. McTernan, Seale's attorney, charged that the arrest was part of an organized campaign by the Justice Department to harass the Black Panthers. McTernan said his staff had information that the Justice Department had prepared a special file in connection with a program "of harassment against leaders of the Black Panther Party all over the country." Seale was arrested in California and later extradited for trial in Connecticut.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Sep 8)
Published
0 0
Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton is convicted of manslaughter in California.
Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton was convicted of manslaughter in California. Militant Black self-defense groups such as the Black Panthers in the North and the West Coast region, and the Deacons in the South were strengthening as a result of the 1967 rioting in Black ghettoes. The Panthers, an avowedly revolutionary group, drew the ire of law enforcement officers and others; several of its leaders were arrested, exiled, or killed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Nov 5)
Published
0 0
Eighty Southern Blacks are elected into office, bringing the total number of Black elected officeholders in the eleven states that made up the Old Confederacy to nearly four hundred.
Eighty Blacks were elected to political offices in the South, bringing the total number of Black elected officeholders in the eleven states that made up the Old Confederacy to nearly four hundred. Three years earlier, only seventeen Blacks held political offices in these states. Most of the successful Black candidates ran in districts with predominately Black constituencies. In primaries as well as general elections, most Black candidates lost when they challenged whites in predominately white districts. To Black Southerners, the highlight of the November general elections was the election, for the first time in the century, of Blacks to the legislatures in North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. Greensboro lawyer Henry Frye won a seat in the North Carolina House, and Miami teacher Joe Lang Kershaw won a seat in the Florida House. James O. Patterson, Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee, and Avon Williams of Nashville, Tennessee, were elected to their state's senate. One hundred and twenty-six Blacks were serving the South as city councilmen, the most in any single type of office. Seventy-five Blacks were school board members. According to figures from the Voter Educational Project of the Southern Regional Council, Alabama led the South with seventy-two Black elected officials. Behind Alabama were: Arkansas with forty-five, Louisiana and Mississippi each with forty-three, Georgia with thirty-eight, Texas and North Carolina each with nineteen, and Florida with seventeen. More than three million southern Blacks were eligible to vote in these November elections.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Nov 5)
Published
0 0
Shirley Chisholm becomes the first Black woman to serve in Congress.
New York's Shirley Chisholm defeated James Farmer in the race for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman to serve in Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (May 11)
Published
0 0
Ralph David Abernathy leads the Poor People’s Campaign.
Ralph David Abernathy, successor to Martin Luther King, Jr., as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led a motley array of Blacks, poor whites, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans to Washington, D.C., for a "poor people's campaign." The drive, originally conceived by King, included lobbying and the erection of a campsite known as Resurrection City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Mar)
Published
0 0
The Kerner Commission reports that the United States was headed toward two communities, “one white, one black, separate and unequal.”
The Kerner Commission reported that "white racism" was the principal cause of the disturbance that rocked the nation in 1967. The report also stated that the United States was headed toward two communities, "one white, one black, separate and unequal."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
Resurrection City is disbanded due to many factors.
Resurrection City, sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, admitted failure and disbanded. Bad weather, insufficient discipline, and a preoccupied, unreceptive Congress limited the campaign's effectiveness.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Jul 23 - 24)
Published
0 0
A Cleveland race riot leaves three white police officers and eight Blacks dead.
A serious racial disturbance in Cleveland, Ohio, left eleven people dead. A small band of armed Black nationalists fought Cleveland police in the Glenville ghetto. This was followed by burning and looting, and resulted in an estimated $1.5 million in property damage. Three white police officers and eight Blacks died during the riot.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Jan 16)
Published
0 0
Lucius Amerson becomes Sheriff of Macon County, Alabama, and the first Black sheriff in the South since Reconstruction.
Lucius Amerson began his tenure as Sheriff of Macon County, Alabama, and the first Black sheriff in the South since Reconstruction. Three newly appointed deputies, one white and two Blacks, were sworn in with Amerson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Feb 8)
Published
0 0
Students protest discrimination at a South Carolina bowling alley. Law enforcement officers kill and wound several Black students. The bowling alley is later charged with violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The officers were not prosecuted.
Three Black students died and several others were wounded by South Carolina law enforcement officers during a disturbance on the campus of South Carolina State College at Orangeburg. Strong protesting had begun earlier in opposition of segregation at a local bowling alley. The National Guard was mobilized and the school was closed for two weeks after the protesting got out of control. Some of the students were jailed on charges of trespassing. The February 8 incident was preceded by an injury to a state trooper who was knocked down with a piece of wood. The Justice Department began an investigation two days later, and a suit was filed against the owners of the segregated bowling alley, charging them with violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the same time, action was filed against segregation and discrimination in Orangeburg hospital facilities. The courts upheld the anti-segregation complaints in both instances. But attempts to indict and prosecute the officers involved were unsuccessful.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Dec 31)
Published
0 0
President Lyndon Johnson appoints numerous Blacks before leaving office.
President Lyndon Johnson ended his last full year in office. Johnson had appointed more Blacks to high-level federal positions than any previous president. Before leaving office, he appointed five Black ambassadors, promoted Wade McCree from a district court to a court of appeals, appointed Hobart Taylor to the board of the Export-Import Bank, and named Andrew Brimmer a governor on the Federal Reserve Board.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Aug 29)
Published
0 0
Channing Phillips is nominated in the presidential primary but only receives a handful of votes.
Channing Phillips's name was submitted in the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. But the Black minister from Washington, D.C., received only a handful of votes. Black Georgia legislator Julian Bond's name was submitted in the Democratic nomination for vice president. He received several votes but withdrew his name as he was too young to occupy the office, according to the U.S. Constitution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Apr 4)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The assassination was followed by a week of racial rioting in at least 125 localities across the nation. Hundreds of thousands attended his funeral services on April 9, 1968, in Atlanta, Georgia. President Lyndon Johnson declared a day of national mourning.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1968 (Apr 11)
Published
0 0
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act which prohibits racial discrimination in the sale and rental of most housing units in the country.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The legislation prohibited racial discrimination in the sale and rental of most housing units in the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Sep 2)
Published
0 0
Walter Washington is appointed first mayor of Washington, D.C.
President Lyndon Johnson appointed Walter Washington as the first mayor of Washington, D.C. The fifty-five-year-old chairman of the New York City Housing Authority had officially been the commissioner of the newly reorganized municipal government of the District of Columbia, the nation's largest predominately Black metropolis. One opponent of Washington's confirmation by the Senate was Black militant Aketi Kimani, who stated, "any number of militant white men" could do a better job than "a house nigger" such as Washington.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Nov)
Published
0 0
More Black Americans hold public offices.
The steady growth of the black population in the larger cities of the nation was reflected in the number of Blacks holding public offices. While Blacks had substantial majorities in only a few cities, their numbers were large enough to, in conjunction with whites, elect Blacks in several localities. In 1967, Floyd McCree was elected mayor of Flint, Michigan; Carl B. Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio; and Richard B. Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, Indiana.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (May 12)
Published
0 0
H. Rap Brown is appointed head of the SNCC.
H. Rap Brown, a militant Black youth, was appointed the new Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Brown, who had numerous brushes with the law, disappeared in 1970 while awaiting trial on a charge of inciting a riot in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (May 1 - Oct 1)
Published
0 0
The worst summer of racial disturbances to date occurred, with more than forty riots recorded and at least one hundred smaller incidents. President Lyndon Johnson appointed a Commission to investigate, report findings, and make recommendations.
The worst summer of racial disturbances to date occurred. More than forty riots were recorded as well as at least one hundred other smaller incidents. The most serious violence broke out in Newark, New Jersey, where twenty-six people died between July 12th and 17th; and in Detroit, Michigan, where forty people died between July 23rd and 30th. New York City, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Atlanta were also scenes of trouble. President Lyndon Johnson appointed a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to investigate disturbances and make recommendations. The commission, commonly known as the Kerner Commission, conducted hearings and investigations and reported its findings to the president in March of 1968. The commission got its nickname as it was headed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Jul 17)
Published
0 0
Saxophonist John Coltrane dies of liver cancer.
John Coltrane died of liver cancer just months after cutting the album, Expression. Coltrane's music, which defied categorization and was a subject of controversy in its day, was instrumental in the development of modern jazz. The famed saxophonist was born on September 23, 1926, in North Carolina. By the late 1940s, he had joined Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra, which he played with for four years, already beginning to experiment with technical innovation and composition. In the 1950s, modern jazz became a tremendously virile idiom, and playing with the likes of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, Coltrane learned to deepen control of his instrument through tricks of phrasing and harmony. Exhausting every possibility for his horn in the course of a song, Coltrane's technique of exploring all the avenues relied on rapid runs in which individual notes were virtually indistinguishable, a stylistic element that became known as "sheets of sound." In 1960, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Garrison on bass, Coltrane formed his own quartet. His most celebrated theme-and-variations piece, My Favorite Things, was produced during this period that was marked by experimentation with triple meter, pentatonic scales, and modal foundations. Coltrane's ever-increasingly complex ametric and improvisational experimentation made him one of the most famous living jazz legends by the mid-1960s, and he enjoyed celebrity that extended to Europe and Japan.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
Benjamin E. Mays retires as president of Morehouse College.
Benjamin E. Mays retired as president of Morehouse College. Mays, the son of South Carolina tenant farmers, was educated at Bates College in Maine and at the University of Chicago. An ordained Baptist minister, Mays taught at Howard University and Morehouse College, among others, before becoming president of Morehouse in 1940. He expanded the programs begun by John Hope, and the college produced a number of Black businessmen, professionals, and civil rights leaders. Mays gained the reputation of a militant civil rights advocate, largely because of his membership on the NAACP board of directors and his forthright speeches and writings demanding racial equality. In April of 1968, Mays delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., blaming America's racist society for King's assassination. Mays was elected president of the Atlanta Board of Education in 1969. Mays was succeeded by Hugh M. Gloster, academic dean at the Hampton Institute and scholar of Black literature.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Jan 9)
Published
0 0
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., loses his House seat.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was ousted as Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and denied his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
Julian Bond regains his seat in the Georgia General Assembly.
Following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Julian Bond was seated in the Georgia General Assembly. Bond had been elected, but he was denied the ability to sit after expressing his views against United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Aug 30)
Published
0 0
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first Black person appointed to the Supreme Court.
Thurgood Marshall's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed by the Senate. He was the first Black to serve in the nation's highest judicial court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1967 (Apr 4)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. announces his opposition to America’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
Martin Luther King, Jr., announced his unalterable opposition to the Vietnam War. King first spoke at a press conference at the Overseas Press Club in New York, and later that day at the Riverdale Church in Harlem, New York, where he suggested avoidance of military service "to all those who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one." King compared the use of new weapons on Vietnamese peasants to the Nazis' testing of new medicines on Jews during World War II. He proposed that the United States take new initiatives to end the war "in order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam." Many of King's supporters disagreed with his strong anti-war stance.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Oct)
Published
0 0
The Black Panther Party is founded in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California. The two principal founders were Huey P. Newton, a native of Grove, Louisiana, and Bobby Seale of Dallas, Texas. Newton and Seale grew up in California and met in 1960 at Merritt Junior College in Oakland. Inspired by police brutality and other forms of racism, as well as the teachings of Malcolm X, the duo was active in the college's Black student association. They eventually withdrew and organized the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party adopted a ten-point program demanding: full employment, restitution for past exploitation and oppression, education relevant to Black needs and aspirations, release of all Black political prisoners, decent housing, exemptions from military service, trial of Blacks by all-Black juries, an end to police brutality, and Black political and economic power. The Panthers insisted on "power to the people." They advocated self-defense, called for a socialistic economy, provided food and educational programs for young children, and published their own newspaper. They drew wide admiration, if not a large following, from young Blacks in the northern and west coast ghettoes. As their numbers and influence increased, so did their clashes with law enforcement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Nov 8)
Published
0 0
Edward Brooke is elected to Senate.
Edward W. Brooke, the Massachusetts Attorney General, was elected U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. The Howard University graduate from Washington, D.C., thus became the first Black to sit in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (May 16)
Published
0 0
Stokely Carmichael is named Head of the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). He turns it into a more militant organization.
West Indian-born Stokely Carmichael was named Head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Carmichael transformed the SNCC into a more militant organization bent on achieving racial liberation, even if by employing a separatist route.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (May 10)
Published
0 0
The California Supreme Court ruled that the state constitutional amendment that nullified California fair-housing laws was in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The California Supreme Court ruled that the state constitutional amendment that nullified California fair-housing laws was in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The state amendment, known as Proposition 14, had been placed on the general election ballot in November of 1964 and was approved by a 2 to 1 margin. It provided that no state or local agency could interfere with a real estate owner's "absolute discretion" in the sale and rental of property. In effect, it nulled California open-housing ordinances and sanctioned discrimination in selling or renting property. But the state supreme court's 5 to 2 decision held that it was "beyond dispute" that the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause secured "the right to acquire and possess property of every kind" without racial or religious discrimination. The court overruled a lower court's rejection of a complaint by Lincoln W. Mulkey against apartment owners in Orange County. The lower court had ruled that the California open housing acts on which Mulkey's petition was based had been rendered "null and void" by the passage of Proposition 14. Six companion cases were also covered by the state court's order. Governor Edmund Brown, who had announced in March of 1966 that $200 million in federal urban-renewal funds had been withheld from California because of Proposition 14, promptly announced that the state court's decision would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and that until then he would continue to enforce Proposition 14. State Attorney General Thomas Lynch, however, said he would resume enforcement of the open-occupancy laws of 1959 and 1963 that had been invalidated by Proposition 14.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jun 9)
Published
0 0
A California fair housing decision is partially reversed, allowing an owner of a home not financed by federal funds the ability to refuse to sell or lease a home to Blacks.
The California Supreme Court partially reversed a May 10, 1966, decision that invalidated a state constitutional amendment that voided open-housing laws in the state. The new decision was based on a reconsideration of one of the seven cases covered by the earlier ruling. The court declared that the owner of a single-family home that was not financed by federal funds was not covered by state open-occupancy legislation and thus, the owner could refuse to sell or lease a home to Blacks. The new ruling did not in any other way affect the earlier invalidation of the controversial constitutional amendment known as Proposition 14.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jun 7 - 26)
Published
0 0
Civil rights leaders resume James Meredith’s pilgrimage “against fear,” after he is shot shortly after embarking.
Civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., and Stokely Carmichael resumed the march begun by James Meredith. Meredith had been shot shortly after embarking on his pilgrimage "against fear." The demonstration ended with a rally of fifteen thousand people at Jackson, Mississippi, where King, Carmichael, and Meredith addressed the crowd. It was during this march and rally that Carmichael and others began to freely employ the phrase "Black Power." The slogan was interpreted differently, but all agreed it denoted a more aggressive posture for its supporters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
James H. Meredith is shot by a white segregationist during his one-man pilgrimage “against fear.”
James H. Meredith, the Black student who broke the color barrier at the University of Mississippi in 1962, was shot during his self-proclaimed one-man pilgrimage "against fear" from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith was not seriously injured. A white segregationist was arrested for the attack.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jul 18 - 23)
Published
0 0
An incident at a Cleveland, Ohio Pub sparks a major race riot.
A serious racial disturbance occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, leaving 4 dead, 50 injured, 160 arrested, and widespread property damage. Shootings, fire bombings, and looting prevailed throughout Hough, a Black ghetto on Cleveland's east side. The incident that touched off the riot took place in a neighborhood bar. One version claimed that the bar's white management had refused to serve water to Blacks. Another held that a woman soliciting money for a friend's funeral had been ejected. Bands of Blacks began roaming in the area after the incident. At least ten buildings were destroyed by fire.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jul 12 - 15)
Published
0 0
A Chicago riot over fire hydrant use leaves two dead, 370 arrested. Days later, Chicago mayor Richard Daley and Martin Luther King, Jr., announce new plans.
A dispute between police and Black children over the use of a fire hydrant for recreation resulted in rioting in one of Chicago's Black ghettoes. Two Blacks were killed, many were injured, and 370 were arrested. Three days later Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Martin Luther King, Jr., announced new programs in recreation for Chicago Blacks, a committee to study police-citizen relations, and a plan for closer cooperation between community residents and police.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jul 10)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr., addresses a large Chicago crowd and launches a campaign there.
Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a predominately Black crowd of forty-five thousand in Chicago, Illinois, and launched a drive to rid the nation's third largest city of discrimination.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jul 1 - 9)
Published
0 0
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) endorses the “Black Power” concept. It is rejected by the SCLC and the NAACP.
The national convention of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) endorsed the "Black Power" concept. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee leaders had already begun to adopt the slogan, while the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP rejected the concept.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
Floyd McKissick becomes Director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
Floyd McKissick, a militant Black civil rights leader from North Carolina, succeeded James Farmer as Director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). McKissick eventually came to guide CORE toward becoming an aggressive, mostly Black group dedicated to Black liberation even if by separatist routes. The forty-three-year-old attorney had served as CORE's national chairman since 1963. McKissick announced plans including a program of community organization to help disadvantaged Blacks living under "feudalism."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jan 25)
Published
0 0
Constance Motley is appointed federal judge, becoming the second Black woman to hold this position.
Former NAACP attorney Constance Baker Motley was appointed as a federal judge. The appointment, by President Lyndon Johnson, made her the second Black woman to hold such a post. Marjorie Lawson had been appointed by President John F. Kennedy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jan 13)
Published
0 0
Robert Weaver is appointed HUD secretary by President Lyndon Johnson.
Robert C. Weaver, one of the nation's leading authorities on urban housing, was appointed the first secretary of the new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The appointment, by President Lyndon Johnson, made him the first Black to serve in a presidential cabinet and the highest ranking Black in the executive branch of the government. Weaver had previously served as housing director for New York, been a member of President Franklin Roosevelt's unofficial Black cabinet, and was the highest ranking Black in President John F. Kennedy's administration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Jan 10)
Published
0 0
Julian Bond is denied his seat in Georgia’s state legislature for openly opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Many white Georgia legislators interpreted his statements as reflecting an un-American attitude.
After having been duly elected, Julian Bond was denied his seat in Georgia's state legislature for openly opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The vote against Bond in Georgia's House of Representatives was 184 to 12. The Atlanta native had, on January 6, told journalists that he supported a Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee policy statement that advocated civil rights and social service alternatives to the draft. Many white Georgia legislators interpreted his statements as reflecting an un-American attitude. The seven other Black members of the House voted to seat Bond.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Aug 5 - 6)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is stoned during a protest in Chicago.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was stoned in Chicago while leading a demonstration against discrimination in the city. King was not seriously hurt, but he left the city shortly thereafter. The Chicago campaign had been only partially successful.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1966 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
Emmett Ashford becomes the first Black Major League Baseball umpire.
Emmett Ashford was hired by the American League and became the first Black major league baseball umpire.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (May 26)
Published
0 0
A new voting rights bill is passed by the U.S. Congress. It contains an anti-poll tax amendment designed to prevent states from using a tax to deny or abridge the right to vote.
A new voting rights bill was passed by the U.S. Congress. The bill contained an anti-poll tax amendment designed to prevent states from using a tax to deny or abridge the right to vote. The bill also extended voting rights to those unable to read or write English but able to prove accomplishment of an eighth grade education in a school conducted under the American flag. Federal registrars could enroll voters who had been denied the suffrage by local officials.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Jun 9 - 15)
Published
0 0
Civil rights groups protest the rehiring of Chicago school superintendent Benjamin C. Willis, whom Blacks viewed as a segregationist.
A united front of civil rights groups dissatisfied with the slow pace of school desegregation announced that a public school boycott would be held to protest the rehiring of Chicago school superintendent Benjamin C. Willis, whom Blacks viewed as a segregationist. Willis had been given a new one-year contract on May 27. A federally issued injunction against the boycott was ignored, and Blacks in Chicago staged a round of demonstrations on June 10. The arrests began the next day, with entertainer Dick Gregory, nine clergymen, and James Farmer, the Director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), among the 225 who were arrested. Protests continued through June 15, when Mayor Richard Daley sanctioned a downtown march and agreed to negotiate with civil rights leaders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Jun 4)
Published
0 0
President Lyndon Johnson pledges civil rights action during a speech at Howard University.
President Lyndon Johnson delivered a speech at Howard University's commencement, pledging an all-out effort to bring Blacks into the mainstream of American society. He quoted the title of the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" as a motto for action.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Jul 13)
Published
0 0
Thurgood Marshall is appointed Solicitor General of the United States, the highest law enforcement position yet held by a Black person.
Appeals court judge Thurgood Marshall was nominated as Solicitor General of the United States by President Lyndon Johnson. This was the highest law enforcement position yet to be held by a Black American.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Jan 2 - Mar 25)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is attacked as he registers to vote at a formerly all-white hotel as part of a civil rights voter registration drive. It begins a string of violence against Black voter hopefuls.
Civil rights forces led by Martin Luther King, Jr., opened a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. King was attacked as he registered at a formerly all-white hotel, but he was not seriously injured. After two weeks, on January 19, Dallas County law enforcement officers began arresting would-be Black voters and their supporters. A federal district court countered by issuing an order, on January 23, that prohibited interference with those seeking the right to vote. The drive to register Black voters in Alabama developed into a nationwide protest movement as local whites in Dallas County stiffened their resistance, and civil rights leaders intensified their efforts. More than seven hundred Blacks, including Martin Luther King, Jr., were arrested on February 1. On February 26, Black demonstrator Jimmie L. Jackson died from wounds inflicted by state troopers in Marion, Alabama. On March 7, several hundred protestors were routed by billy clubs, tear gas, whips, and cattle prods as they attempted to march across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama. President Lyndon Johnson, sympathizing with the demonstrators, denounced the incident. Reverend James Reeb, a white minister from Boston who assisted in the voting rights drive, died following an assault by three white men on March 11. On March 17, a federal judge ordered Alabama officials not to interfere with a proposed march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. The march was designed to dramatize the denial of voting rights and drum up national support. The fifty-mile march, occurring between March 21-25, was protected by federal troops, and about fifty thousand people appeared before the Alabama state capitol to hear Martin Luther King, Jr., and others denounced Alabama leaders for interfering with voting rights. Alabama governor George C. Wallace received a petition from the crowd. White civil rights supporter from Michigan, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, was murdered that night. Three Ku Klux Klansmen were later convicted of conspiracy to violate civil rights in Liuzzo's death.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Feb 21)
Published
0 0
Malcolm X is assassinated.
Black nationalist and former member of the Nation of Islam hierarchy, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City. Three Black Americans were convicted of the murder in March of 1966. Malcolm X, though a former convict, was largely self-educated and became known as a persuasive orator with a fiery tongue. His Autobiography of Malcolm X, written in conjunction with Alex Haley, was published posthumously. The book has become a classic of twentieth-century Black American literature. In 1992, filmmaker Spike Lee recounted the activist's life in a motion picture.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Dec 3 - 10)
Published
0 0
Voter registration violence is put on trial in Alabama.
On December 3, an Alabama federal court jury convicted KKK member Collie L. Wilkins of conspiracy to violate civil rights by killing, on March 25, voting rights activist Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white woman. On December 10, another Alabama jury acquitted the whites accused of the murder of Reverend James Reeb, a Boston minister who was slain at the same Selma, Alabama, demonstrations. The violence had erupted in Selma after voting rights activists pushed a major drive to register eligible Blacks as voters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1965 (Aug 11 - 21)
Published
0 0
The Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California erupts as the most serious racial disturbance in American history to date. In its wake, authorities sought ways to improve the area’s living conditions. President Lyndon Johnson denounced the Watts rioters and refused to accept “legitimate grievances” as an excuse for the massive riot.
The most serious racial disturbance in American history to date erupted in the Watts section of Los Angeles, California. As in the riots of the previous year, a clash between Blacks and white police officers triggered the disturbance. National Guardsmen assisted in quelling the disorder that left 34 dead and almost 900 injured. More than 3,500 people were arrested, and property losses neared $225 million. In the wake of the riot, federal, state, and local authorities sought ways to improve living conditions in the twenty-square-mile ghetto that housed 100,000 people. On August 20, President Lyndon Johnson denounced the Watts rioters and refused to accept "legitimate grievances" as an excuse for the disorder.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Mar 12)
Published
0 0
Malcolm X withdraws from the Nation of Islam.
Malcolm X, one of the most notable Black Muslim ministers, announced his withdrawal from Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, his father was a Baptist minister from Georgia who had supported Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement in the early 1900s. His mother was West Indian. By the time Malcolm was thirteen, three of his uncles had been slain by whites; his father was murdered; and his mother was committed to a mental institution. A school drop-out, Malcolm made his living principally by illegal means, at one point ending up in a detention home for stealing. In February of 1946, Malcolm was sentenced to ten years in prison for burglary in Boston, where he eventually converted to Islam. Upon his release from prison in August of 1952, Malcolm drew closer to the movement. In the summer of 1953 he became assistant minister of the Detroit temple, and in 1957 he founded Muhammad Speaks, a Muslim newspaper. By 1959, he had become one of the leading spokesmen for the Muslims. As Malcolm's charisma and media exposure brought him a larger following, Elijah Muhammad reportedly labeled him ambitious and dangerous. Following President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, Malcolm referred to the killing as an example of "chickens coming home to roost." Muhammad immediately suspended Malcolm from his Muslim duties for that intemperate statement. This was the beginning of the end for Malcolm X as he left the movement on March 12, 1964, carrying only a few defectors with him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Jul 2)
Published
0 0
U.S. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a sweeping civil rights act that includes provisions prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations and employment. It is the most important civil rights legislation since 1875.
The U.S. Congress passed a sweeping civil rights act, including provisions prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations and employment. The most important civil rights legislation since 1875, its passage was made certain after the Senate, for the first time in such a case, imposed cloture on June 10 to end a Southern sponsored filibuster. President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill in the presence of civil rights leaders, among them Martin Luther King, Jr.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Jul 18 - Aug 30)
Published
0 0
Race riots erupt in major cities.
Serious racial disturbances occurred in a number of American cities, beginning in the Harlem section of New York City. The Harlem riot followed the shooting of a Black teen by white police officers. Several other riots were also sparked by clashes between Blacks and white police officers. Other areas that witnessed riots include Brooklyn and Rochester, New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Injuries in the disturbances exceeded one hundred, property losses tallied up to millions of dollars, and National Guardsmen were needed to quell the unrest.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Jan 23)
Published
0 0
The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws poll taxes, which had been used by several Southern states as a means of discouraging Black voters.
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, prohibiting the denial or abridgement of the right to vote by "reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax." The poll tax had been used by several Southern states as a means of discouraging Black voters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Jan 21)
Published
0 0
Journalist Carl Rowan is appointed Director of the U.S. Information Agency by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Black journalist Carl T. Rowan of Minnesota was appointed Director of the U.S. Information Agency. Rowan was the first of several Blacks to receive high-ranking appointments by President Lyndon Johnson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Feb 4)
Published
0 0
Civil rights lawyer and political leader Austin T. Walden took the oath as a municipal judge in Atlanta, GA.
Veteran civil rights lawyer and political leader Austin T. Walden took the oath as a municipal judge in Atlanta, making him the first Black jurist in Georgia since Reconstruction.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Dec 10)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the youngest man in history to receive the honor.
Martin Luther King, Jr., the champion of non-violent resistance to racial oppression, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. King, at age thirty-five, became the youngest man in history and the second Black American to receive this prestigious honor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Aug 4)
Published
0 0
Civil rights workers James E. Cheney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were found dead in a shallow grave. The FBI accused white segregationists, including law enforcement officers, of the murders.
The bodies of civil rights workers James E. Cheney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were discovered in a shallow grave on a farm outside Philadelphia, Mississippi. The Federal Bureau of Investigation accused nearly two dozen white segregationists of complicity in the murders. Included among them were law enforcement officers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964 (Apr 13)
Published
0 0
Sidney Poitier wins an Academy Award for best actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. He is the first Black actor to receive the award.
Sidney Poitier won an Academy Award for best actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. Poitier was the first Black actor to receive the coveted award.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1964
Published
0 0
The U.S. Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act as part of the nation’s “war on poverty.” It is later heavily criticized. Many Blacks benefit from it.
The U.S. Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act as part of the nation's "war on poverty." The legislation was later severely criticized by proponents and antagonists for its inefficiency. But many Blacks benefited from it, especially through the Head Start program for preschoolers, the Upward Bound program for high school students, and the college work-study financial aid program.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Sep 15)
Published
0 0
Four Black girls die in the bombing of a Black church in Alabama.
Racial tensions were renewed in Birmingham, Alabama, when four Black girls died in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. No serious disturbances followed the incident.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Oct 22)
Published
0 0
Freedom Day is staged as nearly a quarter-million students protest de facto segregation in Chicago, IL.
A massive boycott involving nearly a quarter-million students was staged in Chicago, Illinois, to protest de facto school segregation, known as "Freedom Day".
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/1963-chicago-school-boycott/. Retrieved 8/16/2022
1963 (Jun - Aug)
Published
0 0
Discrimination is protested in almost every major urban area in the country.
Civil rights demonstrations, protests, and boycotts occurred in almost every major urban area in the country. Boston, Massachusetts, and Harlem, New York, were scenes of protests of discrimination in the construction industry and de facto segregation in schools. Limited martial law was declared in July in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after Black demonstrators and white segregationists clashed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
Medgar W. Evers, NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi and World War II hero, is assassinated by a sniper in Jackson, Mississippi.
Medgar W. Evers, NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi and World War II hero, became the latest victim of assassination resulting from civil rights activity. Evers was gunned down by a sniper in Jackson, Mississippi. His alleged assailant, a white segregationist, was initially acquitted by a hung jury.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Jun 11)
Published
0 0
The University of Alabama is forced to integrate after an unsuccessful attempt by Governor George C. Wallace to block it.
Two Black students were admitted to the University of Alabama after an unsuccessful attempt by Governor George C. Wallace to block their entrance. President John F. Kennedy ordered federalized National Guardsmen to ensure enrollment of Blacks to the University. In a televised address that night, the president made an impassioned plea for an end to discrimination through moral suasion and legislative action, but Congress continued to ignore Kennedy's civil rights proposals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Dec 7)
Published
0 0
Ralph J. Bunche and Marian Anderson receive Medals of Freedom, the highest civilian decoration, for their contributions to the ideals of freedom and democracy.
Ralph J. Bunche and Marian Anderson were awarded Medals of Freedom, the highest civilian decoration. President Lyndon Johnson awarded the medals for their outstanding contributions to the ideals of freedom and democracy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Aug 28)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
The largest single protest demonstration in U.S. history occurred at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where 250,000 Blacks and whites gathered to lobby for the passage of civil rights measures that had been presented to Congress. Martin Luther King, Jr., thrilled the crowd with his immortal "I Have a Dream" speech. President John F. Kennedy received a delegation of civil rights leaders at the White House and promised to push ahead for anti-discrimination legislation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1963 (Aug 17)
Published
0 0
NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois dies in Ghana.
NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana. Du Bois, born on February 23, 1868, in Barrington, Massachusetts, was the first Black to receive a Harvard University Ph.D. His dissertation, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to America, was published in 1896 as the first volume in the Harvard Historical Studies Series. This work, along with The Philadelphia Negro (1899), The Souls of Black Folk (1903), and The Atlanta University Publications (1898-1914), established Du Bois's scholarly reputation. Du Bois, who became disillusioned with American racial attitudes and the democratic-capitalist system, had emigrated to Ghana in 1961.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Sep 9)
Published
0 0
Two Black churches in Georgia are burned. This becomes common during the decade.
Two black churches were burned in Sasser, Georgia. Burnings and bombings of Black churches, especially those used for civil rights meetings, became common during the decade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Sep 30)
Published
0 0
The University of Mississippi is forced to integrate with the admission of Black student, James Meredith. The governor tries to block it and a riot ensues on campus.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black ordered the admission of a Black student, James H. Meredith, to the University of Mississippi. Governor Ross Barnett tried, unsuccessfully, to block Meredith's admission, and racial tension sparked a riot the day U.S. Marshals escorted Meredith onto the campus. Federalized National Guardsmen were used to restore order on the riot-torn campus. Meredith graduated from the school in 1963.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Nov 7 - 8)
Published
0 0
Three Black men are elected to office.
Edward W. Brooke, an African American lawyer from Boston, was elected attorney general for Massachusetts, becoming the highest-ranking Black official in New England. Black Atlanta lawyer Leroy R. Johnson was elected to Georgia's Senate, making him the state's only Black legislator since Reconstruction. And California's Augustus F. Hawkins became the first Black to represent his state in the U.S. Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Nov 20)
Published
0 0
President John F. Kennedy prohibits racial discrimination in federally financed housing.
Racial discrimination in federally financed housing was prohibited by President John F. Kennedy. The order was applied principally to housing projects and apartments, but had little effect on homes that were not in commercially developed neighborhoods. Insured loans for home improvements from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) were also excluded. In the event of violations, the government would first seek to obtain voluntary compliance. Administrative or court action leading to cancellation of loans or contracts would be taken in the event that voluntary compliance could not be obtained.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (May 17)
Published
0 0
Historian and sociologist E. Franklin Frazier dies.
Sociologist and historian E. Franklin Frazier died in Washington, D.C. Frazier was the author of Black Bourgeoisie, the controversial book that argued middle-class Blacks were isolating themselves from poverty-stricken Blacks. Frazier, born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 24, 1894, was a Howard University graduate. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1931 but returned to Howard three years later to begin a twenty- five-year affiliation with their sociology department. Eventually he was appointed chairman of the department. Before his retirement from Howard in 1959, he interrupted his tenure to teach at Columbia University and New York University, among others. He had traveled to Brazil and the West Indies as a Guggenheim Fellow in the early 1940s, and he was made president of the American Sociological Society in 1948. For the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Frazier served as chairman of The Committee of Experts on Race and chief of the organization's Applied Science Division in Paris. A recognized authority on the Black family, Frazier wrote The Negro Family in the United States, The Negro in the United States, The Negro Church in America, The Free Negro Family and Race, and Culture Contacts in the Modern World.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Jan 18 - 28)
Published
0 0
Louisiana’s Southern University closes in response to sit-ins, setting a precedent for handling student disturbances.
Louisiana's Southern University, the largest all-Black state college in the South, closed as a result of student protests in opposition to the expulsion of sit-in demonstrators. These expulsions were used by administrators at publicly supported Black colleges to meet the demands of state authorities to quell sit-in and related activities. The closing of the school became the precedent for handling student disturbances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962 (Apr 3)
Published
0 0
Civil rights forces launch a drive against bias in Birmingham, AL. The city’s police force violently harass the demonstrators. The protest continues until May 10th, when a new agreement is signed but it leads to more riots and violence.
Civil rights forces led by Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a drive against bias in Birmingham, Alabama. The city's police force, led by Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high powered water hoses and dogs against demonstrators. The forceful repression and legal harassment, including massive arrests, aroused public opinion, especially in the North. President John F. Kennedy hoped to use this new public awareness to garner support for the civil rights proposals he had presented to Congress in March. The Birmingham protests continued until May 10, when an agreement was signed providing gradual desegregation of public accommodations. But the agreement was followed by bombings of homes and businesses of Black leaders, causing further rioting.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1962
Published
0 0
Fannie Lou Hamer gets fired from her job for attempting to vote. She later becomes a leader the civil rights movement for Black women in Mississippi.
Fannie Lou Hamer was fired from her job on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1962 because she tried to vote. Upon violent threats that followed, Hamer moved from the state she had lived in for more than forty years and began her civil rights agenda, first by registering Blacks to vote through the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. In 1964, she helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in a move to challenge Mississippi's Democratic Party which refused to send Black delegates to the national presidential convention, though the state had a large Black population. Four years later Hamer was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1969, Hamer founded the Freedom Farms Corporation to help needy families raise food and fund their educational and business ventures.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Sep 23)
Published
0 0
Thurgood Marshall is appointed to Circuit Court.
The NAACP's Chief Counsel, Thurgood Marshall, was appointed judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President John F. Kennedy. The appellate court encompasses New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. Marshall, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, was fifty-three at the time, and had been with the NAACP for more than twenty years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
A peaceful school desegregation is achieved in Atlanta, GA and wins praise from President John F. Kennedy, who hoped it would set a new precedent.
Four high schools were peacefully desegregated by ten Black children in Atlanta, Georgia. The orderly desegregation in the Deep South's largest city won praise from President John F. Kennedy, who hoped it would set a new precedent. Previously, desegregation had been marked by violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (May 4)
Published
0 0
Youths test desegregation practices on a bus trip through the South. They are met with violence and harassment, and find that many southern states still practice segregation despite court rulings.
A contingent of White and Black youths sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set out on a bus trip through the South to test desegregation practices. Despite court rulings and decrees set by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), many southern states refused to sanction non-discriminatory transportation. The biracial group met with physical violence including beatings and arson, and legal harassment. In the fall, the ICC reaffirmed its order prohibiting discrimination in transportation. Such discrimination gradually disappeared on vehicles, but lingered in waiting rooms and other facilities, especially in the rural South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Jan 27)
Published
0 0
Leontyne Price makes her opera debut with New York’s Metropolitan Opera. She would go on to have a storied career, winning 13 Grammy Awards and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Leontyne Price debuted with New York's Metropolitan Opera in Il Trovatore, and an unprecedented forty-two-minute standing ovation followed her performance. Price soon established herself as "the Stradivarius of singers," and when the New York company moved to its new quarters at Lincoln Center, director Rudolf Bing honored Price with an invitation to open the new opera house in the world premier of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra. One season after her debut, she opened in the title role of Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West and launched a prolific recording career en route to becoming one of the world's leading sopranos and the first Black singer to gain international stardom in opera. By 1969, Price had appeared in more than one hundred Metropolitan Opera productions. Mary Violet Leontyne Price was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 10, 1927. At the age of nine she attended a concert by Black American vocalist Marian Anderson and decided to devote her life to singing. After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1949, Price was awarded a four-year, full-tuition scholarship at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where she studied voice with Florence Page Kimball. After a two-year jaunt in a revival of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, the diva made her concert debut at New York's Town Hall, where she impressed audiences with her facility with modern compositions. Numerous NBC telecasts followed. The first telecast, Puccini's Tosca, distinguished Price as the first Black singer to perform opera on television. In 1957, conductor Kurt Herbert Adler, who had seen Price perform in Tosca, invited her to sing the role of Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites with the San Francisco Opera. That same year, the San Francisco Opera's lead soprano in Aida had an emergency appendectomy, and Adler asked the Mississippi soprano if she knew the opera. Price, whose perfect Verdi voice eventually came to define the role of Aida, recounted: "That was being in the right place at the right time." Price has won thirteen Grammy Awards, and in 1965 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. In 1980, she was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and five years later she received the first National Medal of the Arts. Price performed at the White House in 1978 and 1982, and she opened the convention of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Constitution Hall with a concert honoring Marian Anderson, who, in 1939, had been barred from appearing in Constitution Hall by the DAR because of her race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
The suspension of two recently admitted Black students at the University of Georgia sparks a riot. They are later reinstated under court order.
A riot resulted from the suspension of two recently admitted Black students at the University of Georgia. The two were reinstated under court order on January 16.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Feb 11)
Published
0 0
Robert Weaver becomes administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the highest federal post held by a Black American at that time.
Black housing expert Robert C. Weaver became administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the highest federal post held by a Black American at that time. Weaver held a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Dec 12 - 16)
Published
0 0
The Albany Movement launches, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his forces launched an all-out attack against segregation and discrimination in Albany, Georgia. The effort was frustrated by mass arrests and political maneuverings, but the Albany debacle served to teach civil rights leaders lessons for future massive direct action assaults on segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1961 (Aug 9)
Published
0 0
Judge James Parsons is appointed to District Court.
James B. Parsons was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as judge of the District Court of Northern Illinois, the first such appointment for a Black American in the continental United States. Parsons, a fifty-year-old Chicago attorney, was serving as a judge on the Cook County Court at the time of his appointment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Sep 8)
Published
0 0
New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller calls the lunch counter sit-ins an “inspiring example” for the nation.
In his address to the annual meeting of the National Urban League, New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller called the lunch counter sit-ins an "inspiring example" for the nation. Rockefeller maintained that the sit-in demonstrators personified the moral force and made an "appeal to human conscience" that could solve civil rights problems.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Oct 19)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr., and about fifty other Black people are arrested for sitting-in at a department store restaurant.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and about fifty other Blacks were arrested for sitting-in at an Atlanta, Georgia, department store restaurant. The arrest caused a Decatur, Georgia judge to revoke King's previous parole for conviction on a traffic violation. King was then sentenced to serve four months in Georgia's maximum security prison. Robert F. Kennedy and his brother, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, assisted the King family in obtaining his release.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Nov 14)
Published
0 0
New Orleans schools are integrated and many white parents protest and boycott.
Desegregation crept into the major industrial centers of the South with the admission of Black children to schools in New Orleans. Amid the jeering of angry white parents, four Black children enrolled in two schools on November 14. White protests, accompanied by a boycott, continued for much of the school year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Nov 10)
Published
0 0
U.S. District Judge J. Skelley Wright prohibits Louisiana’s anti-school integration laws. Three days later, the state closes all the schools.
U.S. District Judge J. Skelley Wright prohibited implementation of Louisiana's anti-school integration laws. The same day, the New Orleans school board approved plans to admit five Black children into two previously all-white schools. Three days later the Louisiana state legislature took control of New Orleans schools, fired the school superintendent, and ordered all schools closed on November 14. At the same time, Judge Wright issued a new order prohibiting interference by the state with the schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Nov 10)
Published
0 0
Andrew Hatcher is named Presidential Press Secretary.
Andrew Hatcher was named Associate Press Secretary by President-elect John F. Kennedy. Hatcher was, for a time, the highest ranking Black appointee in the executive branch of the federal government.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (May 6)
Published
0 0
President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Voting Rights Act of 1960. The law was designed to bolster the Voting Rights Act of 1957 which granted protections to Blacks trying to obtain suffrage.
President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Voting Rights Act of 1960. The law was designed to bolster the Voting Rights Act of 1957 which granted protections to Blacks trying to obtain suffrage. Under the new law, federal courts would be authorized to appoint voting referees who would be empowered to register Blacks in areas where racial discrimination against voters had been proven. The referees could register all Blacks who could establish their qualifications under state law, but who had been previously denied registration. But referees were appointed only after two conditions were met. First, the Justice Department was required to file suit under the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to obtain an order requiring the registration of such persons who had been unjustly disqualified by local registrars because of their race. Second, the Justice Department, upon winning the suit, had to ask the judge to declare that a pattern or practice of discrimination had blocked Blacks from voting. The new law was invoked in the South for the first time on May 9.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Mar 6)
Published
0 0
Police stop a march of nearly 1,000 Blacks en route to a protest meeting at the Alabama state capitol. Two days later, another protest is broken up by police on the Alabama State University campus.
State, county, and local police stopped a march of nearly one thousand Blacks en route to a protest meeting at the Alabama state capitol. There were scattered fist fights between Blacks and Whites, but police prevented large-scale violence. Two days later, Montgomery police broke up another protest demonstration on the Alabama State University campus and arrested thirty-five students and at least one teacher. Thirty-three of the Blacks were subsequently found guilty of disorderly conduct and fined $200 each.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
Texas sit-in protestor Felton Turner is attacked by four masked white men.
Lunch counter sit-ins reached the Southwest as about one hundred students from Texas Southern University conducted nonviolent protests in Houston. Three days later, four masked white men, apparently in retaliation, kidnapped a Black man, Felton Turner, beat him, and carved the letters "KKK" on his chest and stomach.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Mar 16)
Published
0 0
President Dwight Eisenhower calls for biracial talks in order to settle racial problems.
President Dwight Eisenhower stated during a press conference that he was "deeply sympathetic" with the effort of any group to enjoy constitutionally guaranteed rights. He did not endorse the lunch counter sit-in movement that was sweeping the South, but he did call for biracial conferences in "every city and every community of the South" in order to settle racial problems.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Blacks march to the Old Confederate capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama during a nonviolent protest. The next day, nine of the participating students are expelled from Alabama State University.
Blacks marched to the Old Confederate capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, where they prayed and sang the Star Spangled Banner during a nonviolent demonstration against segregation. The next day, the State Board of Education expelled nine of the participating students from Alabama State University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Jul 31)
Published
0 0
Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad calls for an all-Black state.
Elijah Muhammad, leader of the religious-nationalist Black Muslims, called for the establishment of an all-Black state. Such a state, or group of states, later became a symbol and rallying cry for new supporters of Black nationalism.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Feb 29)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. urges continued passive resistance to a crowd of more than 1,000 students in Montgomery, AL.
Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to a crowd of more than one thousand students in Montgomery, Alabama, following three days of racial tension sparked by student sit-ins. King urged continued passive resistance to segregation. The Alabama State University students pledged to withdraw from their college en masse if any were expelled for previous or future sit-ins.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Feb 27)
Published
0 0
Black and white sit-in demonstrators are attacked in Nashville, Tennessee. Police arrest about 100 people, mostly Black. Most of them refuse to pay fines or bonds pending their trials.
Black and white demonstrators were attacked in Nashville, Tennessee. The violence occurred in two of the five stores where students had staged nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins. Police arrested about one hundred people, most of them Black demonstrators. Seventy-six of those arrested declined payment of fines or bonds pending their trials. Their attorneys stated that the jailed protestors refused to support "the injustice and immoral practices that have been performed in their arrest."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Feb 25)
Published
0 0
Black students from Alabama State University conducted a sit-in at the County Courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama.
Black students from Alabama State University conducted a sit-in at the County Courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama. This was the first protest of its type in the capital of the Old Confederacy. Sheriff Mac Sim Butler and his deputies kept close watch on the demonstrators in the Courthouse's lunchroom while groups of white men, some armed with baseball bats, patrolled outside. Two days later, a Black woman was injured by a white who struck her on the head with a club; no arrests were made in the incident. Alabama Governor John Patterson responded, warning that there were not enough police officers in the country to prevent disturbances and offer protection if Blacks "continued to provoke whites."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Black college students in Greensboro, NC stage a sit-in at segregated lunch counters in the city, sparking a wave of sit-ins that engulf the South.
A wave of sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, led principally by Black college students, began in Greensboro, North Carolina. Four students from North Carolina A&T College initiated the new movement. In less than two weeks the drive spread to fifteen cities in five southern states, and within two years it engulfed the South. Sit-in participants met with physical violence and legal harassment including massive jailings. Most restaurants eventually desegregated voluntarily, under court order, or by legislation. The success of the sit-in technique encouraged Blacks to use the method of nonviolent direct action in other areas where discrimination persisted. Martin Luther King, Jr., assumed leadership of the widened movement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Apr 19)
Published
0 0
The home of Nashville, Tennessee’s Black City Councilman Z. Alexander Looby is demolished by a dynamite bomb. He and his family escaped injury.
The home of Nashville, Tennessee's Black City Councilman Z. Alexander Looby was demolished by a dynamite bomb. The NAACP attorney and his family escaped injury. The bomb also damaged several homes in Looby's neighborhood and blew out hundreds of windows at the Black Meharry Medical College; several medical students were injured by the flying glass. Looby had been Chief Counsel for more than one hundred students arrested in Nashville, Tennessee sit-ins since demonstrations began there in February. After the bombing, more than two thousand Blacks marched on the Nashville City Hall in protest of police failure to halt the racial violence. Reverend C.T. Vivian accused Nashville Mayor Ben West of encouraging the violence by permitting police to use their authority with partiality. West denied the accusation and claimed that he favored the desegregation of lunch counters. But, he said, businessmen practicing segregation were acting within their rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960 (Apr 15 - 17)
Published
0 0
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded in Raleigh, NC.
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina. The group became the nationwide liaison for student sit-in activities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1960
Published
0 0
The Black Muslims reportedly reached 100,000 members, in part due to the work of dynamic ministers like Malcolm X and increased media publicity.
The Black Muslims reportedly reached 100,000 members. The previous year, the movement reported thirty temples and only about 12,000 members. (Because of the secrecy of the organization, membership can only be estimated.) The rapid rise in membership is partly attributed to the work of dynamic ministers like Malcolm X and increased media publicity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1959 (Apr 25)
Published
0 0
Mack Parker is lynched in Mississippi.
Another Mississippi lynching was recorded with the death of Mack Parker of Poplarville.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Nov 7)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court prohibits segregation in recreational facilities in a Baltimore, Maryland case.
The U.S. Supreme Court prohibited segregation in recreational facilities in a Baltimore, Maryland case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Dec)
Published
0 0
Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti is released, and it starts a string of hit records from the artist.
Little Richard's Tutti Frutti was released just before Christmas, and it reached number twenty-one on the charts by the end of the month. The pianist's frenetic style ignited the airwaves, and one hit followed another. Long Tall Sally, Slippin' and Slidin', Lucille, and Good Golly Miss Molly were all chart-toppers. Rolling Stone's Gerri Hirshey commented that "Little Richard bent gender, upset segregationist fault lines, and founded a tradition of rock dadaists devoted to the art of self-creation." Born in December of 1932 in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard Penniman cultivated a cross-racial following with his piano and pompadour. Little Richard was booted from his devout Seventh Day Adventist home at the age of thirteen because of his homosexuality. He then left his eleven siblings behind and moved into a white family's home, whose Macon nightclub served as a venue for the performer. The gospel and piano training he had received in the church had given Little Richard an edge, and by 1951 he cut his first recordings, including Every Hour, Why Did You Leave Me, and Get Rich Quick. At one point in his career, however, Little Richard foreswore rock and roll and devoted himself to Bible study at a Seventh Day Adventist seminary. He received a bachelor's degree from Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, and was ordained a minister. But by the mid-1960s he was touring again, this time in England with a little-known band called The Beatles. Continuing to perform old, and with less success, new songs, Little Richard continued with his campy brand of rock and roll for another twelve years. A regular panel member on the TV game show Hollywood Squares, Richard has also appeared on the Tonight Show and the Grammy Awards. He was also cast in a major role in the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Dec 5)
Published
0 0
A. Philip Randolph and Willard S. Townsend are appointed vice presidents of the AFL-CIO.
Two Black labor leaders, A. Philip Randolph and Willard S. Townsend, were elected vice presidents of the AFL-CIO.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Oct 1)
Published
0 0
The last all-Black regiment gets deactivated by Congress.
The last all-Black army unit, the 24th Infantry, was deactivated by Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (May 24)
Published
0 0
Restaurant segregation is outlawed in Washington D.C.
The municipal appeals court in Washington, D.C. outlawed segregation in District of Columbia restaurants. Black feminist leader Mary Church Terrell had been in the vanguard of the local anti-segregation movement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (May 10)
Published
0 0
Z. Alexander Looby is elected to City Council in Nashville, Tennessee.
Blacks continue to make political advances in the South with the election of attorney Z. Alexander Looby to the City Council in Nashville, Tennessee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Jun 21)
Published
0 0
Private First Class William H. Thompson posthumously receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in Korea.
Private First Class William H. Thompson of Brooklyn, New York, posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Korea, the first such award to a Black American since the Spanish-American War. Private Thompson died at his machine gun after having refused to withdraw in the face of overwhelming Communist forces.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Jul 12)
Published
0 0
More than three thousand whites were protesting the attempt of a Black family to occupy a home in an all-white neighborhood in Illinois. The Governor calls on the National Guard to suppress the riot.
Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois ordered the National Guard to suppress a riot in Cicero, Illinois. More than three thousand whites were protesting the attempt of a Black family to occupy a home in an all-white neighborhood.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Apr 24)
Published
0 0
The University of North Carolina (UNC) begins admitting Black students.
The University of North Carolina joined a growing list of major Southern and border-state universities in admitting Black students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1949 (Oct 3)
Published
0 0
Black radio station, WERD, airs in Atlanta, GA.
The pioneer Black-owned radio station, WERD, began operations in Atlanta, Georgia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1949 (Oct 15)
Published
0 0
William Hastie is appointed a judge in the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
William H. Hastie, former district court judge and governor of the Virgin Islands, was appointed a judge in the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Sep 13)
Published
0 0
Ralph Bunche is appointed the UN mediator in Palestine.
Black political scientist Ralph J. Bunche was confirmed by the United Nations Security Council as temporary UN mediator in Palestine. Bunche was born in a Detroit ghetto and reared by relatives in Los Angeles after his parents' deaths. He was educated at the University of California and at Harvard University. Bunche began a career as a teacher at Howard University. He began to identify with civil rights programs and became a staunch supporter of the NAACP. After receiving the 1951 Nobel Peace Prize, Bunche was elected president of the American Political Science Association and made a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Oct 24)
Published
0 0
NAACP president Kweisi Mfume is born.
Born Frizzell Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, Kweisi Mfume was a wayward youth and fathered five children out of wedlock. But by 1976, he had earned a bachelor's degree from Morgan State University. He later received his master's degree from Johns Hopkins University. Mfume entered politics in 1978 when he was elected to the Baltimore City Council, where he became particularly interested in health issues. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1987 and served on committees including the Congressional Black Caucus, in which he served as chairperson. Mfumi left Congress in 1995 to serve as president and CEO of the NAACP. He is a trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Morgan State University Board of Regents.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Oct 1)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court of California rules unconstitutional the state law that prohibited interracial marriages.
The Supreme Court of California ruled unconstitutional the state law that prohibited interracial marriages. Two decades later, the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned interracial marriage in all states.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (May 3)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, rule that the courts could not enforce restrictive housing covenants.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, ruled that the courts could not enforce restrictive housing covenants. The case was brought to the Court by J. D. Shelley and his wife Ethel, who bought a home in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1945. The house sat on a tract whose owner had signed an agreement that prohibited Black use or occupancy of the land. The agreement, made in 1911, provided that failure to comply with this restriction should result in the owner's loss of title to the property. Other property owners on this same tract of land, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kraemer among them, had filed suit against the Shelleys and won an order from the Missouri Supreme Court that forced the Blacks out of their home and forfeited their title because of their violation of the agreement. In 1947, the Shelleys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Mar 31)
Published
0 0
A. Philip Randolph protests military segregation.
Black labor leader A. Philip Randolph told a Senate committee that he would counsel Black youths to refuse military induction unless segregation and discrimination were prohibited in the selective service system. In June, Randolph formed the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Jun 9)
Published
0 0
Oliver Hill is elected to City Council in Richmond, Virginia.
A breakthrough in Black office-holding occurred in the South when Oliver W. Hill was elected to the City Council in Richmond, Virginia
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Jul 26)
Published
0 0
President Harry Truman issues an executive order that calls for equality of treatment and opportunity for all Americans in the armed forces.
President Harry Truman issued an executive order that called for equality of treatment and opportunity for all Americans in the armed forces. This order paved the way for the gradual elimination of discrimination in the armed services.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1948 (Jan 12)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. University of Oklahoma, ruled that a state must provide legal education for Blacks at the same time it is offered to whites.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. University of Oklahoma, ruled that a state must provide legal education for Blacks at the same time it is offered to whites. The case stemmed from the application that Ada Sipuel filed in 1946 to attend the University of Oklahoma Law School. Sipuel sought relief in state and then federal courts after the university denied her admission. Despite the Supreme Court's decision, Sipuel did not enter the school immediately because of further legal proceedings. Meanwhile, it failed to establish a law school for Blacks. Eventually, Sipuel did enter the university and became one of its first Black law graduates.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1947 (Sep 1)
Published
0 0
Charles Spurgeon Johnson began his administration as president of Fisk University, becoming the first Black man to head the University.
Charles Spurgeon Johnson began his administration as president of Fisk University, becoming the first Black man to head the Nashville institution. Johnson was born in Bristol, Virginia, in 1893 and was educated at Virginia Union University and the University of Chicago. From 1917 to 1919, he directed the Division of Research for the Chicago Urban League while also investigating black migration for the Carnegie Foundation. Johnson served on the Chicago Committee on Race Relations from 1923 to 1929. When Johnson assumed the presidency of Fisk University, he had already become a sociologist and writer. He founded and edited the National Urban League's house organ, Opportunity Magazine, in 1923 and sponsored literary contests for young Black writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson's major published works include Shadow of the Plantation (1934), The Collapse of Cotton Tenancy (1934), The Negro College Graduate (1938), and Growing Up in the Black Belt (1941). Johnson died in 1956.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1947 (Oct 29)
Published
0 0
The presidential Committee on Civil Rights formally condemned racial injustice in the United States in its report, To Secure These Rights.
The president's Committee on Civil Rights formally condemned racial injustice in the United States in its celebrated report titled, To Secure These Rights. The biracial group also called for a positive program to eliminate segregation from American life.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1947 (Jun 27)
Published
0 0
The NAACP honors chemist Percy Julian.
Percy Julian, a Black research chemist in the area of human reproduction, was honored in New York by the NAACP. Julian, the son of a Montgomery, Alabama, railway clerk, graduated from DePauw University and was a researcher at Harvard University and the University of Vienna. He taught at Howard and DePauw before becoming an industrial chemist in Chicago. He later established his own company, Julian Laboratories, which manufactured soya products, hormones, and pharmaceuticals.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1947 (Apr 9)
Published
0 0
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sends Freedom Riders into the South to test the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 3, 1946 ban against segregation in interstate bus travel.
Freedom Riders were sent into the South by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to test the U.S. Supreme Court's June 3, 1946 ban against segregation in interstate bus travel. CORE, organized in 1942, had pioneered the sit-in tactic at segregated restaurants, but gained national attention with the Freedom Rider demonstrations that began in May of 1961. These latter demonstrations eventually led to a firm anti-discrimination policy in interstate transportation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1947 (Apr 10)
Published
0 0
Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first Black baseball player in the Major Leagues.
Jackie Robinson, a Georgia-born athlete, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson, the first Black baseball player in the major leagues, became a hero in the eyes of many Black Americans. He was also the first Black player to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (May 1)
Published
0 0
William Hastie is appointed governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, becoming the only Black to govern a U.S. state or territory since Reconstruction.
Former federal judge William H. Hastie was confirmed as governor of the Virgin Islands. Hastie became the only Black to govern a U.S. state or territory since Reconstruction.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (Jun 3)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Morgan v. Virginia, prohibited segregation in interstate bus travel.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Morgan v. Virginia, prohibited segregation in interstate bus travel. The case originated when Irene Morgan, a Black woman, was arrested and fined ten dollars for refusing to move to the back of a bus running from Gloucester County, Virginia, to Baltimore. She appealed her conviction. But the high court's ruling in her favor had little immediate effect as buses in Southern states continued segregation practices.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (Jun 10)
Published
0 0
Boxer Jack Johnson dies in Raleigh, NC.
The first great Black American boxing hero, Jack Johnson, died in Raleigh, North Carolina. Johnson, a former stevedore from Galveston, Texas, gained pugilistic fame when, in 1908, he became the first nationally prominent Black boxing champion.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (Dec 5)
Published
0 0
President Harry Truman appoints a national Committee on Civil Rights to investigate racial injustices and make recommendations.
President Harry Truman appointed a national Committee on Civil Rights to investigate racial injustices and make recommendations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1946 (Aug 10 - Sep 29)
Published
0 0
Race riots injure nearly one hundred Blacks in Alabama and Pennsylvania.
Nearly one hundred Blacks were injured in the serious racial disturbances that broke out in Athens, Alabama, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1945 (Sep 18)
Published
0 0
One thousand white students in Gary, Indiana stage a massive walk-out in protest of school integration.
An anti-integration protest took place in the schools of Gary, Indiana; one thousand white students walked out of classes. This massive walk-out, unparalleled at the time, preceded the integration troubles of the next three decades.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1945 (Mar 12)
Published
0 0
New York establishes the first state Fair Employment Practices Commission to guard against discrimination in the workplace.
New York established the first state Fair Employment Practices Commission to guard against discrimination in the workplace.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1944 (Dec 13)
Published
0 0
The Women’s Naval Corp accepts Black women.
Black women were permitted to enter the Women's Naval Corp (WAVES).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1944 (Aug 1)
Published
0 0
Adam Powell, Jr., widely known for this Jobs-for-Negroes campaign, is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Harlem, New York, elected Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a controversial twentieth century politician, to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Powell was the son of a Harlem minister and political leader. After being expelled from City College of New York, Powell went to Colgate University. After graduating, he became a minister and publisher and led Harlem ministers in a Jobs-for-Negroes campaign in the 1930s. Powell had begun his political career in 1941 as the first Black member of the New York City Council. He chaired the House Education and Labor Committee from 1960 to 1967. He became famous for his Powell Amendments that aimed to deny federal funds for the construction of segregated schools. In 1967, however, he was temporarily denied his seat in the House due to Congressional ethics violations. Powell was reelected by Harlem in 1968, but he was defeated in 1970 by another Black, Charles Rangel.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1944 (Apr 3)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Smith v. Allwright, ruled that excluding Blacks from voting in the South was in violation of the Constitution. Many states found ways to circumvent the ruling to continue denying Blacks from voting.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Smith v. Allwright, ruled that the white primary that excluded Blacks from voting in the South was in violation of the Constitution. The decision paved the way for Blacks to participate in Southern politics for the first time since Reconstruction. But many states responded by enacting legal vices to circumvent the ruling and continue Black exclusion from voting.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1944 (Apr 24)
Published
0 0
United Negro College Fund is founded to help Black schools raise money — many of which were facing extinction due to inadequate funding.
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was founded to coordinate the fundraising efforts of the private all-Black institutions of higher learning in the nation. Many of these colleges were facing extinction due to inadequate finances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1943 (May 12 - Aug 2)
Published
0 0
A series of race riots occurr across the nation, killing about 40 people.
A series of serious race riots occurred across the nation in which about forty people were killed. U.S. troops were called out in Mobile, Alabama, and Detroit, Michigan, where the clashes threatened defense production. Other incidents occurred in Beaumont, Texas, and in Harlem, New York.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1943 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
George Washington Carver, esteemed inventor and agricultural scientist, dies.
George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Alabama. A museum and a foundation were established there in his honor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1942 (Sep 29)
Published
0 0
The steamship “SS Booker T. Washington” launches. It is the first Liberty Ship named after a Black person.
Black captain Hugh Mulzac commanded the SS Booker T. Washington after its launch from Wilmington, Delaware. Marian Anderson, celebrated contralto, christened the ship.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • Library Of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8b09587/. Retrieved 8/15/2022.
1942 (Nov 3)
Published
0 0
William Dawson is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by Chicago.
William L. Dawson, for two decades the "Dean" of Black congressmen, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by Chicago. Dawson was the son of an Alabama barber. He received his education at Fisk University and a Chicago law school. After serving in World War I, Dawson opened a law practice in Chicago and became interested in politics. He began as a precinct worker and soon won favor with the Thompson Republican machine. He won five terms (1933-1943) in the City Council as a Republican before switching to the Democrats with the New Deal tide. Dawson became an important member of the Kelly and Daley Democratic machines during World War II. He served as "ward boss" in five Chicago districts, precinct captain, committeeman, vice-chairman of the Cook County Democrats, and vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dawson won a reputation as a shrewd political strategist. Dawson did not run for reelection in 1970 and died a year later.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1942 (Jun)
Published
0 0
Blacks and whites found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago, committing to direct, non-violent action.
Blacks and whites organized the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago. They committed themselves to direct, non-violent action, their first major effort being a sit-in against discrimination at a Chicago restaurant. The national CORE was founded in June of 1943.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1942 (Jul 20)
Published
0 0
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC) is formed, allowing Black women to be accepted with whites.
With the formation of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC), Black women were accepted with whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
President Franklin Roosevelt forbids racial and religious discrimination in defense industries and government training programs.
President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which forbade racial and religious discrimination in defense industries and government training programs. A. Philip Randolph called off the march on Washington, D.C., that was planned in protest of the government's discriminatory policies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941 (Jul 19)
Published
0 0
President Franklin Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Committee to monitor discrimination against Blacks in defense industries. Blacks hail the committee but are soon disappointed when discrimination continued.
President Franklin Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Committee to monitor discrimination against Blacks in defense industries. Blacks hailed the committee and the preceding Executive Order 8802 of June 25 as revolutionary developments, perhaps the most significant executive action affecting them since the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. They were soon disappointed, however, when discrimination continued in spite of the committee. The committee became entangled in bureaucratic inefficiency and politics, and faced opposition in the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941 (Dec 7)
Published
0 0
The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and Doris Miller emerges as one of the American heroes.
President Franklin Roosevelt prepared to ask for a Declaration of War as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Doris "Dorie" Miller, a twenty-two-year-old Black messman aboard the USS Arizona, downed four Japanese planes with a machine gun after having moved his wounded captain from the bridge to a place of greater safety. The next year, Admiral Chester W. Nimetz presented the Navy Cross to Miller. In 1943, the Waco, Texas native was listed as Missing in Action and presumed dead.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941 (Aug 6)
Published
0 0
Racial conflicts occur aboard a bus in North Carolina.
The first in a series of serious racial disturbances involving white and Black soldiers and civilians occurred aboard a bus in North Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941 (Apr 28)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that separate railroad car facilities must be substantially equal.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate railroad car facilities must be substantially equal. The case was brought to the high court by Black Congressman Arthur L. Mitchell.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941
Published
0 0
President Franklin Roosevelt urges Black spokesmen to call off a march against employment discrimination and segregation in the national defense program, but they refuse.
President Franklin Roosevelt met with Black spokesmen and urged them to call off a march against employment discrimination and segregation in the national defense program. The march was scheduled for July 1. A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, refused and pledged that 100,000 Blacks would march.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1941
Published
0 0
The U.S. Army established a school for Black pilots at Tuskegee, Alabama.
The U.S. Army established a school for Black pilots at Tuskegee, Alabama. Some Blacks opposed the establishment of segregated Air Force facilities, but others seemed to view the move as a forward step since no training schools had hitherto existed. While the pilots began their work at Tuskegee, ground crews were prepared at Chanute Field in Illinois. By the end of the year, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was ready for action. About six hundred Black pilots received their wings during World War II.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1940 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., is appointed Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, becoming the highest ranking Black officer in the armed services.
Benjamin O.Davis, Sr., was appointed Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, becoming the highest ranking Black officer in the armed services. Davis was born in Washington, D.C., in 1877, and he studied at Howard University. He entered the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant in 1898 and served with the 8th Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Prior to World War II, Davis served in the Philippines, Liberia, and Wyoming. He also taught military science at Wilberforce University in Ohio and at Tuskegee Institute. In World War II, he served in the European Theater of Operations as an advisor on the problems of Black servicemen, and he helped implement the desegregation of armed forces facilities in Europe. When he retired in 1948, Davis was an assistant to the inspector general in Washington, D.C. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and an honorary doctorate from Atlanta University. Davis's son, Benjamin, Jr., also had a distinguished military career.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1940 (Mar)
Published
0 0
Hattie McDaniel becomes the first Black person to win an Oscar for her role in Gone with the Wind.
Black actress Hattie McDaniel won an Academy Award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, becoming the first Black person to win an Oscar. McDaniel also appeared in The Little Colonel and Showboat.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1940 (Jun 10)
Published
0 0
Civil rights leader and United Negro Improvement Association organizer Marcus Garvey dies in London.
Civil rights leader and United Negro Improvement Association organizer Marcus Garvey died in London.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1940 (Feb)
Published
0 0
Richard Wright publishes Native Son, a novel reciting the effects of racial oppression on Black Americans. It becomes a best-seller.
Richard Wright published Native Son, a novel reciting the effects of racial oppression on Black Americans. The work became a best-seller.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1940 (Apr)
Published
0 0
Virginia adopts Black composer James A. Bland’s song as its anthem.
The Virginia Legislature adopted Black composer James A. Bland's Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny as the state song.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1939 (Oct 11)
Published
0 0
The NAACP launches the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, pledging itself to an all-out war on discrimination.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, pledging itself to an all-out war on discrimination, was organized. Charles H. Houston, an Amherst and Harvard-trained lawyer, spearheaded the effort to consolidate some of the nation's best legal talents in the fight against bias sanctioned by law.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1939 (Mar)
Published
0 0
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Marian Anderson to sing in Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR in protest. The Secretary of Interior then provides the Lincoln Memorial for the Anderson concert, which draws 75,000 people.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Marian Anderson to sing in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall. Anderson, a Black contralto from Philadelphia, had just completed a successful European tour. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest. The Secretary of Interior then provided the Lincoln Memorial for the Anderson concert which drew an audience of 75,000 on Easter Sunday, 1939. Anderson was awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal later in the year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1938 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
In the Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada case, the Supreme Court rules that states must provide equal, even if separate, educational facilities for Blacks within their boundaries.
With the help of the NAACP, the Missouri ex rel Gaines case resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that states must provide equal, even if separate, educational facilities for Blacks within their boundaries. The plaintiff, Lloyd Gaines, mysteriously disappeared following the Court's decision.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1938 (Aug 15)
Published
0 0
Congresswoman Maxine Waters is born in Missouri.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maxine Waters moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school. She worked at a garment factory and the phone company and eventually attended California State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in sociology. In 1976, Waters won a seat in the California State Assembly. In 1990, she went on to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she actively promoted legislation to aid poor and minority neighborhoods. Waters served on the board of directors of Essence magazine and got involved in the National Women's Political Caucus. In 1996, she was the recipient of an Essence Award.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937 (May 25)
Published
0 0
Artist Henry Ossawa Tanner dies.
Black American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner died. Thirty-two years later, the Frederick Douglass Institute and the National Collection of Fine Arts co-sponsored the first American exhibition of Tanner's work. Opening in Washington, D.C., at the National Collection of Fine Arts, the ninety-piece exhibit traveled to seven American museums. Only a handful of Black artists preceded Tanner, and this exhibit was the first one-man show by a Black artist to tour the country's major museums. The first of seven children born to Sarah Miller Tanner and Benjamin Tucker Tanner, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he was raised in Philadelphia. At about the age of twelve Tanner saw a landscape painter at work in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia; he later wrote, “It set me on fire." Borrowing fifteen cents from his mother to buy supplies, he assiduously applied himself until the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia accepted him in 1880, when he was twenty-one. There, he studied with Thomas Eakins, the celebrated realist who taught him to manipulate light and shadow to express mood. An artist who depicted Black Americans as individuals, not caricatures, Eakins proved to be an important role model for Tanner. However, Tanner had trouble establishing his career in the states. In 1891, he set off for Paris to enroll in the Academie Julien, where he felt his success would not be inhibited by his race. However, his first entry in the Parisian Salon, The Bagpipe Lesson, was unsuccessful. After contracting typhoid fever during his second year in France, Tanner returned to Philadelphia to convalesce, and he entered into what is generally called his Black genre period. Influenced by a French tradition established by Jean-Francois Millet, Tanner addressed Black American themes, often incorporating teaching themes. The Banjo Lesson, The Knitting Lesson, The Reading Lesson, and The Sewing Lesson were all produced during this period. In the summer of 1893 Tanner delivered a paper titled The American Negro in Art, before the World's Congress on Africa in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Although the text has been lost, Tanner's later autobiography, The World at Work (1909), expressed his views on Black genre painting. His genre period concluded the following year with The Thankful Poor. The work was lost for years but was rediscovered in 1970 and then exhibited for eleven years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Actor Bill Cosby and his wife purchased the piece in 1981 for $250,000. Biblical themes dominated the rest of Tanner's professional life, which he spent primarily in his adoptive French home. His Daniel In The Lion's Den piece received an honorable mention from the Salon in 1896, and The Raising of Lazarus was awarded a medal at the 1897 exhibition. Purchased by the French government for the Luxembourg Gallery, the painting joined the tableaux of John Singer Sargent and James A. McNeil Whistler, the only other American artists whose works had been purchased by the French government. In 1923, the French government further honored the artist, electing him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Tanner, whose Pittsburgh homesite was designated a historical landmark by the Department of Interior in 1976, was the first Black to be elected to the National Academy of Design. In 1991, the Philadelphia Museum of Art sponsored a major retrospective containing more than one hundred Tanner paintings, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937 (May 17)
Published
0 0
Hazel O’Leary is born. She would go on to become Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton.
Hazel O'Leary was born in Newport News, Virginia. She received her bachelor's degree from Fisk College in 1959 and graduated from Rutgers University School of Law in 1966. She served as a utilities regulator under Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and as executive vice president of the Northern States Power Co., where she functioned as a Washington lobbyist. A proponent of energy conservation and alternative energy sources, O'Leary was appointed Secretary of Energy by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She came under heavy scrutiny in the mid-1990s for using government money to pay a consulting firm to rank reporters by how favorably they treated her in their news coverage. She was also criticized for lavish spending on overseas travel. Though Vice President Al Gore came to her defense, noting that her trips had helped create new job opportunities in the United States, O'Leary resigned at the end of President Clinton's first term late in 1996.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937 (Mar 26)
Published
0 0
William Hastie becomes the first Black federal judge in the U.S.
William H. Hastie was confirmed as the first Black federal judge. Hastie had entered government service as an assistant solicitor in the Department of the Interior in the early part of the New Deal era. His judicial appointment was supported by the NAACP and influential whites at Harvard Law School. His nomination was approved over the vigorous opposition of Southern senators who labeled him a leftist, primarily because of his support of civil rights activities. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to his unofficial Black cabinet as an aide to the Secretary of War. But in 1941, Hastie resigned in protest of the War Department's failure to act against segregation in the armed services.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937 (Jun 22)
Published
0 0
Joe Louis wins the heavyweight boxing championship.
Black Americans rejoiced as boxer Joe Louis defeated James J. Braddock for the heavyweight championship of the world.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937 (Jul 2)
Published
0 0
The NAACP honors civil rights leader Walter Francis White.
Atlanta-born writer and civil rights leader Walter F. White was honored by the NAACP for his work as the organization's executive secretary, his investigations into lynchings, and his lobbying for a federal anti-lynching law. White was successful in getting anti-lynching measures introduced in 1935 and 1940, but both attempts died in the Senate. Although White had blond hair and blue eyes, he was of African descent and identified with the Black race, especially after the 1906 Atlanta race riot.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the disenfranchisement of indigents in its ruling of Breedlove v. Suttles by upholding the constitutionality of poll taxes.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the disenfranchisement of indigents in its ruling of Breedlove v. Suttles by upholding the constitutionality of poll taxes. The case was heard after Georgia's poll tax was challenged on grounds that it offended the rule of equality because it required a yearly payment of one dollar to vote, but only from people between twenty-one and sixty years old. The Southern Conference for Human Welfare also opposed the tax, calling it "patently a device for disenfranchising Negroes." The high court, however, supported the lower courts' decision that the poll tax did not violate any protection or privilege guaranteed by the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, or Nineteenth Amendment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1937
Published
0 0
Bishop Isaac Lane, founder of Lane College, dies.
Isaac Lane, Bishop and patriarch of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church and founder of Lane College in Tennessee, died. Lane was born enslaved on a Tennessee plantation in 1834. While enslaved, he was licensed to preach, but even after emancipation he had to supplement his income by raising cotton and selling firewood. He founded Lane College in 1882.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1936 (Jul 3)
Published
0 0
The NAACP honors John Hope, founder of the Atlanta University Center, for his achievements as an educational and civil rights leader.
John Hope was honored in New York City by the NAACP for his achievements as an educational and civil rights leader. Hope was a founder of the Atlanta University Center which is comprised of Morehouse College, an undergraduate school for men; Spelman College, an undergraduate school for women; and Atlanta University, a co-educational graduate school founded in 1929. In later years, Clark College, Morris Brown, and a theological seminary joined the complex, making it the largest educational center in the world for Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1936 (Dec 8)
Published
0 0
The NAACP files suit in Gibbs v. Board of Education in an attempt to equalize the salaries of Black and White school teachers.
The NAACP filed suit against the Board of Education of Montgomery County, Maryland. The Gibbs v. Board of Education decision set the precedent for equalizing the salaries of Black and White school teachers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1936 (Aug 9)
Published
0 0
Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The Associated Press designated Owens “the outstanding track athlete of the first 50 years of the 20th century.”
Black Americans reacted warmly to the news that Black track star Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics held in Berlin. Owens' first-place victories embarrassed Adolph Hitler, who championed the theory of Aryan racial superiority. Owens had been born in Ohio in 1913. He started competing in track and field at Fairmount Junior High School in Cleveland, and he continued to compete throughout his years at Ohio State University. Owens was a student at Ohio State when he won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump, and anchored the victorious 400-meter relay at the 1936 Olympics. The Associated Press designated Owens "the outstanding track athlete of the first 50 years of the 20th century."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1936
Published
0 0
Mary Bethune is appointed to the Black cabinet by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
President Franklin Roosevelt, in continuing to organize his unofficial Black cabinet, appointed Mary McLeod Bethune as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1936
Published
0 0
In Brown v. Mississippi, the Supreme Court increases federal supervision over civil rights. Ed Brown and two other Black men had confessions of murder tortured out of them.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Mississippi, increased federal supervision over civil rights. The defendants, Ed Brown and two other Black men, had been convicted of murder after confessions were tortured out of them. The deputy sheriff admitted to hanging Brown from a tree and whipping the two others to get their confessions. The high court reversed the convictions on grounds that confessions obtained through force violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1935 (Jun 25)
Published
0 0
Joe Louis begins his fighting career after defeating Primo Camera. He becomes the Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1937, and holds the title for twelve years.
Blacks received an emotional boost when Black boxer Joe Louis defeated Primo Camera at Yankee Stadium in New York. Louis then began his great boxing career in earnest. Louis was born Joe Louis Barrow in Lafayette, Alabama, in 1914. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Louis attended Duffield Elementary School for a short time. After leaving school, he worked in an automobile plant and, in his leisure time, boxed. Louis became the Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1937 and held the title until 1949, interrupting his career to serve in World War II. But a series of unsuccessful marriages and business ventures left Louis nearly penniless after his retirement from the ring.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1935 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Grovey v. Townsend, ruled that the Democratic Party is a private organization and therefore, not subject to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as they pertain to discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Grovey v. Townsend, ruled that the Democratic party is a private organization and therefore, not subject to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as they pertain to discrimination. R.R. Grovey had filed suit against Albert Townsend, a white official for the Democratic Party who refused Grovey's vote in the Democratic primary. Grovey was unsuccessful in the Texas district and appellate courts before losing his case at the Supreme Court level.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1935
Published
0 0
In University of Maryland v. Murray, Amherst College graduate Donald Murray’s admission to the law school is granted because the state failed to provide a separate law school for Blacks, which was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In University of Maryland v. Murray, the University of Maryland failed to convince the Maryland Court of Appeals that Baltimore resident and Amherst College graduate Donald Gaines Murray should not be admitted to the college. The NAACP's Charles H. Houston and Thurgood Marshall represented Murray in front of the appellate court that maintained the lower court's decision to admit him. The decision was based on the state's failure to provide a separate law school for Blacks, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1934 (Nov 7)
Published
0 0
Arthur Mitchell is elected to Congress and goes on to serve four terms.
Democrat Arthur L. Mitchell defeated Republican Congressman Oscar De Priest of Chicago, becoming the pioneer Black member of his party in Congress. Mitchell, like his predecessor De Priest, was born in Alabama to former enslaved Blacks. He received his education at Tuskegee Institute, where he was Booker T. Washington's office boy, and at Talladega College in Alabama. Mitchell taught in rural Alabama and served as an assistant law clerk in Washington D.C. When he moved to Chicago, he became involved in Republican ward politics but joined the Democrats with the shifting Black party preference in the Depression years. In Congress, Mitchell professed to be a moderate, thus drawing the ire of the Black press and the NAACP. He did, however, sponsor the long and costly suit that led to the end of Jim Crowism in Pullman railroad cars. Mitchell served four terms in Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1934
Published
0 0
Elijah Muhammad heads the Black Muslim movement in the U.S. after his mentor W. D. Fard mysteriously disappears.
Elijah Muhammad succeeded W. D. Fard as the leader of the Black Muslim movement in the United States. Muhammad was born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, in 1897. His father was a Baptist preacher, sawmill worker, and tenant farmer. Muhammad was a deeply religious and race conscious youth. While employed as a laborer in Georgia in 1923, a white employer cursed him and he decided to move to the North. While living on relief in Detroit, Michigan, during the Great Depression, Muhammad came under the influence of Wallace Fard Muhammad (W. D. Fard), a mysterious silk peddler who had been teaching Blacks that they were members of a superior race, descendants of Muslims from Afro-Asia. Fard claimed to be a messenger from Allah sent to reclaim his lost people and save them from the inferior race of "white devils" who had made their lives so miserable. Christianity, he asserted, was a false religion used by whites to keep Blacks in subjection. Elijah Poole soon became Fard's closest associate and when Fard mysteriously disappeared in 1934, Poole, now known as Elijah Muhammad, took control of the group as "The Messenger of Allah to the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in the Wilderness of North America." Muhammad and his followers refused to bear arms for the United States during World War II, and Muhammad was convicted for encouraging resistance to the draft. He served three and a half years of a five-year sentence in a federal prison before he was released in 1946. Meanwhile, Muslim membership had dropped from a high of about 8,000 under Fard's leadership to 1,000.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1932 - 1940
Published
0 0
Oppression in the south causes the resurgence of Black migration to the North in search of economic and social opportunities.
Faced with agricultural distress and racial oppression in the South, Blacks began a new wave of migration into the major industrial centers of the North. Most moved in search of economic and social opportunities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1931 (Aug 4)
Published
0 0
Surgeon Daniel Williams, founder of the predominantly Black Provident Hospital, dies in Chicago.
Pioneer heart surgeon and founder of the predominantly Black Provident Hospital, Daniel Hale Williams, died in Chicago. Williams, of mixed blood, was born in Philadelphia. He received a medical education at the Chicago Medical College through the generosity of a former surgeon on General Ulysses S. Grant's staff. In 1913, Williams became the first Black member of the American College of Surgeons. After withdrawing from Provident Hospital because of internal bickering, Williams became the only Black doctor on the staff of Chicago's St. Luke Hospital. His withdrawal from Provident Hospital and his marriage to a white woman subjected him to bitter attacks from fellow Blacks in the latter years of his life.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1931 (Apr 6)
Published
0 0
Nine black youths known as “The Scottsboro Boys” are charged with raping two white women on a freight train. Many organizations come to their defense and all nine are later freed on parole, appeal, or by escape.
Nine Black youths went on trial for their lives in Scottsboro, Alabama, after being accused of raping two white women on a freight train. The case became a cause celebre with Black American organizations, liberal whites, and the Communist Party all vying to defend the Scottsboro Boys. The defendants were hastily convicted, but by 1950, all were free on parole, appeal, or by escape.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1931
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Aldridge v. United States, reverses a lower courts’ conviction of a Black man, largely because the trial court refused to allow the defense to question the jurors on their racial biases.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Aldridge v. United States, reversed the lower courts' decision in which a Black American man was convicted for murdering a white police officer. The high court's decision was largely based on the trial court's refusal to allow the defense to question the jurors on their racial biases. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes emphasized the necessity of determining a prospective juror's disqualifying state of mind in any type of case, stating that if prejudice would stand in the way of a juror's ability to render a fair verdict, "a gross injustice would be perpetrated in allowing him to sit."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1930 (Mar 31)
Published
0 0
The NAACP launches a successful campaign against the nomination of known racist Judge John J. Parker to the U.S. Supreme Court.
President Herbert Hoover nominated known racist Judge John J. Parker of North Carolina to the U.S. Supreme Court. The NAACP launched a successful campaign against Parker's confirmation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1930 (Jun 7)
Published
0 0
The New York Times Magazine announces that the “N” in “negro” will capitalized in its publication going forward.
Responding to Black demands, the New York Times announced that the "N" in the word "Negro" would be henceforth capitalized in its pages.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1930 (Jun 22)
Published
0 0
Mary Mcleod Bethune is named one of America’s fifty leading women.
Black educator, feminist leader, and civil rights spokesperson Mary McLeod Bethune was named one of America's fifty leading women by historian Ida Tarbell. Bethune was born in Maysville, South Carolina, in 1875. She studied at Scotia Seminary in North Carolina and at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. In 1904, Bethune founded the Bethune-Cookman College at Daytona Beach, Florida. A recipient of the Medal of Merit from the Republic of Haiti and the NAACP Spingarn Award, Bethune was president of the National Council of Negro Women and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. She was a principal advisor as well as a friend to President and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1930
Published
0 0
In City of Richmond v. Deans, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its 1917 Buchanan v. Warley decision that laws resting on racial distinctions are unconstitutional.
In City of Richmond v. Deans, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its 1917 Buchanan v. Warley decision that laws resting on racial distinctions are unconstitutional. Virginia's City of Richmond had taken J. B. Deans to the high court after district and appeals courts protected Deans's right to own a home in a white neighborhood. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower courts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1930
Published
0 0
Luther “Bojangles” Robinson makes his film debut in Dixiana. He became famous for his complex rhythmic tap dancing sequences.
Luther Robinson, also known as Bojangles, made his first film appearance in Dixiana. Previously, Robinson had made a name for himself dancing in traveling minstrel and vaudeville shows. By the time he started appearing in films, Robinson had developed complicated and rhythmic dances including his staircase dance that became famous when he taught Shirley Temple how to do it on the screen in The Little Colonel. He also appeared with Temple in The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and Just Around the Corner. Robinson's roles in these films, however, have been criticized as he played a happy-go-lucky childlike servant. Robinson was born the son of Maxwell Robinson and his wife Maria in Richmond, Virginia, in 1878. Robinson and his siblings were raised by their grandmother after the death of their parents. He studied the "clog" and the "buck and wing," African American variation of the Irish gig. Robinson's first marriage was to Fannie Clay. After Clay and Robinson divorced, he married Elaine Plaines. On November 25, 1949, Robinson died of chronic heart condition at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He was eulogized at the Abyssinian Baptist Church and buried at Cemetery of the Evergreens in New York City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1929 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is born.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia. King's parents were members of the city's Black establishment, his father being one of the city's leading Black ministers and his mother the daughter of a prominent preacher. King was educated at Morehouse College, Crozier Theological Seminary, and Boston University. He began his ministerial career as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1929
Published
0 0
The New York City Board of Education issues a directive that the word “Negro” should be spelled with a capital “N.”
The New York City Board of Education issued a directive that the word "Negro" should be spelled with a capital "N."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1929
Published
0 0
Albon Holsey organizes the Colored Merchants Association in New York to help support jobs for Black people.
Albon Holsey of the National Negro Business League organized the Colored Merchants Association in New York. The group planned to establish stores and buy their merchandise cooperatively. Blacks were urged to make their purchases from these merchants as a means for providing jobs for Blacks, but the Depression forced the stores out of business within two years. By 1931, the "Jobs-for-Negroes" movement began in earnest in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis chapter of the National Urban League (NUL) launched a boycott against a white chain store whose trade was almost exclusively Black but employed very few Blacks. This movement spread to Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Pittsburgh, and others. New York became the center of an intensive, sometimes bitter campaign. The Citizens League for Fair Play launched a drive in 1933 to persuade white merchants to employ Black sales clerks. They adopted as their motto: "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work." The campaign led to the employment of hundreds of Blacks in Harlem stores and with public utility companies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1928 (Nov 6)
Published
0 0
Oscar De Priest is elected to Congress in Illinois.
Illinois elected Oscar De Priest to serve in Congress. De Priest, the son of formerly enslaved parents, was born in Alabama shortly after the Civil War. He was reared in Kansas, where he worked as a painter, but after moving to Chicago he became involved in real estate and politics, becoming Chicago's first Black alderman. De Priest's activities with Republican ward politics was soon rewarded by local politicians with his nomination for Congress in 1928. When he first assumed office, some Blacks considered him an unscrupulous politician and an accommodationist on racial matters. But by the end of three terms in office he had won a reputation for outspoken militancy. De Priest was the first Black from a non-Southern state to sit in Congress and the only Black person to serve in that body since George White's departure in 1901.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1927 (Mar 7)
Published
0 0
In Nixon v. Herndon, the Supreme Court strikes down a Texas law that excludes Blacks from the Democratic primaries.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Nixon v. Herndon, struck down a Texas law that excluded Blacks from the Democratic primaries in the state. Texas managed, however, to erect new defenses against Black voting.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1927 (Dec)
Published
0 0
Marcus Garvey is released from jail after having been convicted of mail fraud. His Black nationalist movement died while he was in prison.
Marcus Garvey, after having been convicted in 1925 for mail fraud, was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary and deported as an undesirable alien. Garvey was unsuccessful in keeping his Black nationalist movement alive while in prison.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1927 (Nov 21)
Published
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In Gong Lum v. Rice, the Supreme Court allows Chinese people to be classified as “colored”, securing segregation of the Chinese.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Gong Lum v. Rice, upheld a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that Chinese peoples could be classified as "colored" in the state, in effect, securing segregation of the Chinese. The case was heard by the high court after Martha Gong Lum won a circuit-court suit against school trustees who were denying Lum's admittance to a white school because of her Asian background. The trustees had appealed to the state's supreme court which reversed the decision.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1926 (Jun 30)
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The NAACP honors James Weldon Johnson for his storied career.
James Weldon Johnson was honored by the NAACP in New York City for his careers as executive secretary of the NAACP, member of the U.S. Consul, editor, and poet. Johnson was born in Florida in 1871 and was educated there. He continued his education at Atlanta University, New York City College, and Columbia University. Johnson began his professional life in Florida where he was a teacher, journalist, and lawyer before joining his brother, Rosamond Johnson, in New York to write musical comedies. Johnson is best known as a writer of prose and verse. His most notable works include God's Trombones (1927), The Book of American Negro Poetry (1925), Black Manhattan (1930), The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), and his autobiography, Along This Way (1933). Johnson's poem Lift Every Voice and Sing, when set to music by his brother, became known as the Black National Anthem. The song still retains that characterization among Blacks today. In New York, Johnson moved widely in interracial circles. These affiliations, with his success as a writer and diplomat and his moderate opposition to racial discrimination, made him a likely choice as the NAACP's first executive secretary. In this capacity, Johnson led the campaign to outlaw lynching in the United States, culminating in the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill of 1921 (which passed the House but died in the Senate). Before his death in 1938, Johnson also taught at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1926 (May 24)
Published
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In Corrigan v. Buckley, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that racially restrictive covenants in housing did not violate the 5th or 14th amendments in relation to equal protection because they were private agreements, rather than government sponsored agreements. After this ruling, racially restrictive covenants flourish around the nation.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Corrigan v. Buckley, held that racially restrictive covenants were not in violation of the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments in relation to equal protection under the law. The case was heard by the high court when Irene Corrigan attempted to sell property to a Black American after having entered into a neighborhood agreement that excluded Blacks from ever owning the property. Her neighbors sued to stop her and the Supreme Court ruled that it held no jurisdiction in the case. The decision was based on the fact that the amendments in question pertained to governmental actions, not to private actions or private contracts. Discriminatory contracts were, in effect, declared constitutional as long as no governmental actions were involved. After this ruling, racially restrictive covenants flourished around the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • Asch, Chris Myers; Musgrove, George Derek (2017). Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469635866.
1925 (May 8)
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A. Philip Randolph organizes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a Black labor union.
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the trailblazing Black labor union, was organized by A. Philip Randolph. Often called the "Dean" of Black leaders, Randolph had been reared in Florida. He was the son of a minister and a seamstress, both of whom were formerly enslaved. Randolph attended Cookman Institute in Florida and City College in New York. His intellectual interests and his practical experiences in Harlem evoked an intense hatred of racial bias and a zeal for economic and social justice. He joined the Socialist Party and attempted to organize Black students and workers. Randolph founded The Messenger, the socialist periodical that became one of the leading magazines in the history of Black journalism. In later years, he was prominent as an opponent of American intervention in foreign wars and of military segregation. Randolph was a presidential consultant in matters of civil rights, and he was a central figure in the 1941 March on Washington.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1925 (Jan 10)
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Adelbert Roberts is elected to Illinois legislature.
Adelbert Roberts was elected to the Illinois state legislature. He becomes the first Black to serve in a state assembly in at least twenty-five years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1924 (Jul 1)
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Music composer Roland Hayes is named soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Roland Hayes, born in a Georgia cabin in 1887, was named a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Earlier, he had received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Spingarn Medal for his interpretations of Black folk songs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1923 (Sep 4)
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George Washington Carver is awarded the Spingarn Medal, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s highest honor.
Tuskegee Institute's George Washington Carver received the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest award, for his distinguished research in agricultural chemistry. In 1939, Carver had been awarded the Roosevelt Medal for distinguished achievement in science. Carver was born enslaved in Diamond Grove, Missouri, in 1864. He attended an undergraduate school in Iowa and earned a Master of Science degree from Iowa State College. In 1896, Carver was appointed to the faculty of Tuskegee Institute, where he began a program of research in soil conservation and crop diversification. Carver's scientific fame rests largely in the four hundred different products he produced from the peanut, potato, and pecan. Carver was a fellow of the Royal Academy of England, and a foundation and museum have been established in his honor at Tuskegee Institute, where he died in 1943.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1923 (Oct 24)
Published
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Blacks continue to migrate north in large numbers.
Black migration to the north continued as the department of labor estimated that some half-million Blacks left the south within the last year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1923 (Nov 20)
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Black inventor Garrett A. Morgan receives a patent for developing a three-way automatic traffic light. He later sells the patent rights to General Electric.
Garrett A. Morgan, a Black inventor, was awarded U.S. Patent no. 1,475,024 for developing a three-way, automatic traffic light. Earlier, Morgan had invented the gas mask used by American troops during World War I. Morgan was awarded a patent in 1914 for this "breathing device." The Black inventor was one of eleven children born to Sidney and Elizabeth Morgan. He was born in Paris, Tennessee, in 1875. This inhalator was used in a successful rescue of workers trapped in a tunnel under Lake Erie in 1916. The City of Cleveland awarded Morgan a gold medal following the rescue. The patent rights to the traffic light were sold by Morgan to the General Electric Company for $140,000. Morgan died in 1963.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1922 (Jan 5)
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The emergence of The Harlem Renaissance progresses Black art and literature.
The Harlem renaissance emerged as a period of great achievement in Black American art and literature. The movement embraced poets such as Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and James Weldon Johnson; novelists Walter F. White, Wallace Thurman, Nella Larsen, and Zora Neale Hurston; sculptors Richmond Barthe and Augusta Savage; and painters Aaron Douglas, Alice Gafford, and Archibald Motley. The Harlem Renaissance artists were known for drawing critical attention and popular sentiments from both Blacks and Whites. During this period, James Weldon Johnson and Alain Locke edited The Book of American Negro Poetry (1925), and The New Negro (1925), respectively. Both were anthologies of the works of Black writers. Claude McKay, the first important figure in the Harlem Renaissance, was noted for his Harlem Shadows (1922), a collection of bitter but eloquent poems on the condition of Blacks in post-war America. Among Countee Cullen's better-known works was his volume of poems titled Color. Its appearance in 1925 pushed the Harlem renaissance to a new high. Other notable works published during this period were poet Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues (1926), Walter White's The Fire in the Flint (1926), Nella Larsen's Quicksand (1928), and Passing (1929), and Wallace Thurman's The Blacker the Berry (1929).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1922 (Nov 9)
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Dorothy Dandridge is born. She would go on to become a famed actress and singer.
Dorothy Dandridge entered show business at a very young age, entertaining on road tours with her older sister Vivian. Dandridge performed at the Cotton Club when she was sixteen years old. She built a successful career as a nightclub singer while attempting to establish herself as a dramatic film actress. In 1954, Dandridge won the coveted title role in Otto Preminger's Black production, Carmen Jones. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination, the first for a Black woman in a leading role. Despite this success, Dandridge's film career came to a standstill in the conservative 1950s. Three years passed before her next film, Island in the Sun, was released. The film's theme of interracial romance was repeated in her next projects: The Decks Ran Red (1958), Tamango (1959), and Malaga (1962). Her last great role was Bess in Porgy and Bess, another Black musical from Otto Preminger. Mainstream roles continued to elude Dandridge, whose race posed a dilemma to producers reluctant to cast her opposite white leading men. In the early 1960s, Dandridge's life began to unravel personally and professionally. Her stormy marriage to restaurant owner Jack Denison ended in divorce, and she later filed for bankruptcy and had to forfeit her Hollywood mansion. Dorothy Dandridge died in her apartment on September 8, 1965, apparently the result of an antidepressant drug overdose.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1922 (Jan 8)
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Colonel Charles Young, one of the highest ranking Black soldiers, dies in Nigeria.
Colonel Charles R. Young, one of the highest ranking Blacks in the U.S. Army, died in Nigeria. Young, the son of a formerly enslaved soldier in the Union Army, was born in Kentucky. He had entered West Point Academy in 1884 and served with distinction in Cuba, Haiti, and Mexico, but he always labored under the burdens of racial discrimination. During World War I, Young was called for a physical examination and made to retire because of poor health. This action was an apparent subterfuge to prevent Young's promotion to General. After protests by Blacks, Young was recalled, but he was assigned to relatively obscure duty in Illinois and Liberia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1921 (Jan 15)
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Eubie Blake produces Shuffle Along.
Eubie Blake, with Noble Sissle, produced the historic musical, Shuffle Along. Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1883. He started practicing music at age six, and during his adolescent years he played music in department stores and sporting houses. In 1899, Blake composed his first ragtime piece, The Charleston Rag. Among his other compositions are: Chevy Chase (1914), Fitz Water (1914), and Bugle Call Rag (1926). As late as 1970, Blake was still composing rags. He is often called "the leading exponent of the eastern school" of ragtime music.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1920 (Aug 1 - 2)
Published
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The Marcus Garvey-founded Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) meets at Madison Square Garden in New York City. About 25,000 Blacks attend.
The national convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) met in New York City. Marcus Garvey, the founder, spoke to about 25,000 Blacks during the rally at Madison Square Garden. Garvey-type Black nationalism was reaching its zenith at the time. Garvey had begun his organization in his native Jamaica in 1914. In 1916 he arrived in the United States to organize a New York chapter of UNIA. By the middle of 1919, thirty branches existed in the United States, principally in the northern ghettoes. Garvey founded the newspaper, Negro World to disseminate his ideas of race pride and to promote his back-to-Africa stance. His other organizations included the Universal Black Cross Nurses, the Universal African Motor Corps, the Black Star Steamship Line, and the Black Eagle Flying Corps. In 1921, Garvey formally organized the Empire of Africa and appointed himself provisional president. He appealed, unsuccessfully, to the League of Nations for permission to settle a colony in Africa and negotiated towards that end with Liberia. After these failures, he began planning a military expedition to drive the white imperialists out of Africa. This campaign, however, was never launched. In 1923, Garvey was arrested for mail fraud in his attempts to raise money for his steamship line.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1920 (Jan 15)
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Robert Nathaniel Dett is awarded the Bowdoin Prize by Harvard University for his essay, The Emancipation of Negro Music.
Robert Nathaniel Dett, a Black composer, arranger, and conductor, was awarded the Bowdoin Prize by Harvard University for an essay titled, The Emancipation of Negro Music. Dett was born in 1882, in the community of Drummondville, Quebec, which had been established by enslaved fugitives before the Civil War. Inspired as a child by Black spirituals, Dett studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory in Lockport, New York, and at the University of Pennsylvania. During his early career, Dett performed as a concert pianist while teaching and engaging in further study. Dett taught at Lane College in Texas (1908-1911), Lincoln University in Missouri (1911-1913), Hampton Institute in Virginia (1913-1931), Sam Houston College in Texas (1935-1937), and at Bennett College in North Carolina (1937). Under the leadership of Dett, the Hampton Institute choir became internationally known, performing at the Library of Congress, New York's Carnegie Hall, and Boston's Symphony Hall. In 1930, the choir toured seven European nations. Meanwhile, Dett took some time off to study with Arthur Foote in Boston and Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau. Among Dett's notable compositions are "Magnolia" (1912), "Music in the Mine" (1916), "The Chariot Jubilee" (1921), "Enchantment" (1922), and "The Ordering of Moses" (1937). In addition to the Bowdoin Prize, Dett received the Francis Boot Prize for composition, the Palm and Ribbon Award of the Royal Belgian Band, the Harmon Foundation Award, and honorary degrees from Oberlin's Eastman School of Music and Harvard University. Dett died in 1943.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1919 (Oct 12)
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Doris Miller is born. He would later become the first Black Navy Cross recipient.
Doris (aka Dorie) Miller was born on a small farm near Waco, Texas, to sharecropper parents. He enlisted in the Navy when he was nineteen and was assigned to sea duty. On December 7, 1941, Miller was aboard the battleship Arizona when it was anchored at Pearl Harbor. This ship suffered tremendous damage when the Japanese attacked; Miller was knocked down by the blast. Unlike many crew members, however, Miller stayed aboard the ship and figured out how to fire a gun, a skill he had never been taught. After moving the mortally wounded captain to safety, Miller successfully fired at four Japanese planes. Three months later, he was awarded the Navy Cross and advanced to Mess Attendant First Class. Miller died while serving aboard the Liscome Bay when it was sunk by a Japanese submarine on November 24, 1943.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1919 (Jul 18)
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Race riot erupts in Washington D.C. when two Black men jostle a white woman.
Racial tension in the capital had been building since June as a result of widespread rumors that Black men were attacking white women. The violence erupted when two Black men jostled a white woman on July 18. The woman's husband was a sailor and soon, sailors and marines were joined by other whites in an attack on the Black population of Washington, D.C. Federal troops were used to tame the rioting, but President Woodrow Wilson was forced to call in more troops after an even more terrifying night of race-based violence on July 21.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1919 (Mar 1)
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In State v. Young, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Black Americans should be admitted to juries.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Black Americans should be admitted to juries.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1919 (Feb 1)
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Archibald Grimke receives the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s prestigious Spingarn award for his service to Santo Domingo.
Founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Archibald Grimke, received the Spingarn Award for his service as the U.S. consul to Santo Domingo. Grimke was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1849. He studied at Lincoln University, and in 1874, he graduated from the Harvard University Law School. Five years later Grimke married Sarah Stanley, and the couple had one child in 1880. Beginning in 1883, Grimke edited "The Hub", a Boston weekly. Grimke was president of the American Negro Academy before becoming the consul to Santo Domingo in 1894. Grimke died February 25, 1930.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1918 (Jul 29)
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Lynching is addressed to Congress.
The National Liberty Congress of Colored Americans asked Congress to make lynching a federal crime.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1918 (Jul 13)
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Many race riots occur across the nation during the “Red Summer” of violence.
Major race riots occurred across the nation in what James Weldon Johnson called the "Red Summer." More than twenty-five riots left over one hundred people dead and more than one thousand wounded. Federal troops had to suppress the disorder in some areas. Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Longview, Texas; and Chester and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were among the scenes of the disturbances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1918 (Feb 19)
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The first Pan-African Congress, led by W.E.B. Du Bois, convenes in Paris during the Paris Peace Conference.
W. E. B. Du Bois led the first Pan-African Congress which was held in Paris while the Paris Peace Conference was convening. About sixty delegates, including West Indians, Africans, and Black Americans, attended the meeting to determine how Blacks of the world might benefit from the Paris Peace Conference. The democracy for which many of them fought in World War I, they said, should become a reality. While this congress accomplished very little, it stimulated subsequent and more fruitful assemblages of Blacks in later years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Nov 5)
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Emmett J. Scott, former secretary to Booker T. Washington, was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of War.
Emmett J. Scott, former secretary to Booker T. Washington, was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Specifically, Scott was to work for nondiscriminatory application of the Selective Service Act; to formulate plans to build up morale among Blacks, soldiers, and civilians; and to investigate complaints of unfair treatment of Blacks. He also disseminated news concerning Black soldiers on the home front. In June of 1918, Scott called a conference of about thirty Black newspaper publishers who pledged their support of the American war effort but denounced anti-Black violence and discrimination at home. The coalition called for the recruitment of Black Red Cross nurses and asked for the appointment of a Black war correspondent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Jul 28)
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A silent march takes place in New York in protest of racial oppression. It was in response to the East St. Louis, Illinois riot.
About 10,000 Blacks silently marched down New York City's fifth Avenue in protest of racial oppression. The march, organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was a response to the East St. Louis, Illinois, riot. The protestors asked the president, "Why not make America safe for Democracy?"
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Jul 1)
Published
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A race riot breaks out in East St. Louis, Illinois over the employment of Blacks in a factory that held a contract with the federal government.
A serious race riot broke out in East St. Louis, Illinois. At least forty Blacks were killed, and a small Black child was reportedly shot down and then thrown into a burning building. Martial law was declared. The riot had apparently resulted from the employment of Blacks in a factory that held a contract with the federal government. The Germans seized upon the incident in their campaign to attract Black sentiment in the world war.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Aug 23)
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Conflict between Black soldiers and white civilians break out in Houston, Texas.
A disturbance between Black soldiers and white civilians erupted in Houston, Texas. Two Blacks and seventeen whites were killed; thirteen Blacks were later executed for participating in the violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Apr 16)
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Blacks Americans serve in World War I.
The United States entered World War I. About 370,000 Black Americans served during this conflict, 1,400 of which were commissioned as officers. Three Black regiments received the Croix de Guerre for valor, and several individual Blacks were decorated for bravery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Mar 1)
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The U.S. Supreme Court, in Buchanan v. Warley, unanimously decided that residential racial zoning laws were in violation of the 14th Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Buchanan v. Warley, unanimously decided that residential racial zoning laws were in violation of the 14th Amendment. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped William Warley take the case to the high court after a lower Kentucky court found him guilty of breach of contract because he refused to pay for a land lot he had purchased. Warley had refused to pay after finding that a local ordinance prohibited him from living on his own land.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1917 (Feb 1)
Published
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Harty Burleigh receives the Spingarn Medal, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s highest honor for his excellence of creative music.
For excellence of creative music, Harry T. Burleigh was awarded the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest honor. Burleigh was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1866. Although he demonstrated an aptitude for music as a child, he did not receive formal training until 1892, when he began his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in New York. Burleigh majored in orchestral and vocal music. During his sophomore year, Burleigh studied under the famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, who took the young Black student as a protégé. Two years after entering the conservatory, Burleigh was on his way to a career of singing. He became the first Black soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in New York and at the Temple Emanu-El. His European tours included a performance before King Edward WI in England. In his senior year, Burleigh became a voice instructor at The Conservatory, a position he held for two years after his graduation. Around 1900, Burleigh began to shift his attention from singing to composing. His first compositions were sentimental ballads, then he branched out into choral pieces, spirituals, and miscellaneous works. Among his better-known compositions are: Six Plantation Melodies for Violin and Piano (1901), Southland Sketches (1916), The Prayer (1915), Little Mother of Mine (1917), Deep River (1916), and The Lovely Dark and Lonely One (1935). "Contemporary critics" lauded Burleigh's imagination and his masterly musicianship. Of his spiritual compositions Burleigh wrote, "My desire was to preserve them in harmonies that belong to modern methods of tonal progression without robbing the melodies of their racial flavor." In addition to the Spingarn Medal, Burleigh was the recipient of honorary degrees from Atlanta University and Howard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1916 (Feb 15)
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The Lincoln Company, a Black film production company, is formed to produce all-Black films.
Between 1916 and 1922, a California group called the Lincoln Company formed to produce all-Black films. Led by George and Noble Johnson, the company produced an average of one film per year with titles such as, The Realization of a Negro's Ambition, and The Trooper of Troop K. Inadequate distribution and a nationwide influenza epidemic stifled the company's success. Another all-Black production company, led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), met a similar fate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Sep 9)
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Professor Carter G. Woodson founds the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH).
Professor Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). The group stood virtually alone for a time in attempting to properly portray the role of the Black American in U.S. history. Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved parents, held a doctorate from Harvard University. He is sometimes called "the father of modern black historiography," having edited for many years "The Journal of Negro History," other publications of the ASNLH, and having published a number of his own works on Black Americans. The association is now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Nov 14)
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Booker T. Washington dies at Tuskegee Institute and his presidency is succeeded by Robert Russa Moton.
Booker T. Washington, the most noted Black American between Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr., died at Tuskegee Institute. He was succeeded in the presidency by Robert Russa Moton of Hampton Institute. Moton was born in Virginia shortly after the Civil War. He was reared as a houseboy on a Virginia plantation, receiving secret instruction from his literate mother. Moton taught at Hampton Institute, his alma mater, before assuming the presidency at Tuskegee. He was one of the members of the Committee on the Welfare of Negro Troops sponsored by the Federal Council of Churches during World War I. While continuing Washington's policies and practices at Tuskegee, Moton expanded the academic-classical curriculum at the institution. He also fought the efforts of racists who were attempting to prevent Black control of the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Nov 14)
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) led the Black outcry against the showing of D. W. Griffith’s controversial film, Birth of a Nation, which the NAACP claimed, told a distorted story of emancipation, reconstruction, Black immorality, and glorified anti-Black organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) led the Black outcry against the showing of D. W. Griffith's controversial film, Birth of a Nation. The film, based on the writings of Thomas Dixon, was the most technologically advanced motion picture produced at that time. The NAACP claimed that the film told a distorted story of emancipation, reconstruction, and Black immorality, and glorified anti-Black organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. The film portrayed Black Americans as either docile servants or insolent monsters and sympathized with its Southern white protagonists. The film sparked the first national Black social protest that combined legislative lobbying in the Massachusetts state House, picketing in Boston streets, and protests. The movement was later joined by several Black West Coast businessmen who financed all-Black movies to counter racist, mainstream cinema.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (May 8)
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Civil Rights activist Bishop Henry Turner dies in Windsor, Ontario.
Black Pan-African leader and African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Church Bishop Henry McNeal Turner died in Windsor, Ontario. Turner was born free in Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1833. At an early age he was hired out to work in the field with the enslaved. Turner's first teachings came from a white playmate. Making his way to Baltimore at age fifteen, Turner worked as a messenger and a handyman at a medical school, where he had access to books and magazines. He educated himself there until an Episcopal bishop consented to teach him. This was one of the influences that led Turner into the church, where he became an A.M.E minister. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Turner as chaplain of the 54th Massachusetts Negro regiment. After the war, he worked with the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgia and became actively involved in republican politics. Turner served in the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1868 and was elected to the state legislature. Turner vehemently opposed the successful attempt of white Georgia lawmakers to expel the Black Reconstruction legislators. These and other experiences convinced him that the Black man had no future in the United States. Turner became a colonizationist and Pan-Africanist. He was one of the sponsors of an ill-fated expedition of approximately two hundred Blacks to Liberia in 1878. In spite of the failure of this venture, Turner continued his support of colonization. Prior to his death in 1915, Turner also served as director of the A.M.E. publishing house, editor of denominational periodicals, and chancellor of Morris Brown College, an A.M.E. school in Atlanta.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Jun 21)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court, in Guinn v. United States, outlawed the grandfather clauses used by southern states to disenfranchise Blacks.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Guinn v. United States, outlawed the grandfather clauses used by southern states to disenfranchise Blacks. The clauses, originally found in Louisiana, restricted the ballot to descendants of voters that were qualified to vote as of January 1, 1867, before Reconstruction.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Apr 7)
Published
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Singer Billie Holiday (born Eleanor Fagan) is born.
Born Eleanor Fagan in Baltimore, Massachusetts, she got the nickname Billie for her tomboyish nature. Holiday's parents separated when she was an infant, and her mother left her with relatives in Boston. When she was ten years old, Holiday was raped by a forty-year-old neighbor; the man was imprisoned and Holiday was sent to a Catholic correctional home. At thirteen she joined her mother in New York City, where her lifestyle worsened. She started smoking marijuana and was in and out of jail for prostitution. Meanwhile, her interest in music was beginning to blossom. When Holiday was eighteen she began singing professionally in Lower Manhattan for ten dollars a week. She was encouraged and promoted by the famed jazz-man John Hammond, who arranged for her to make her recording debut with Benny Goodman in November of 1933. Her fame grew when she made a series of recordings, most of them with pianist Teddy Wilson. She worked as a vocalist with Count Basie and Artie Shaw and toured during the 1940s and 1950s as a solo performer. Unfortunately, Holiday's personal life was beginning to unravel. She developed a serious addiction to heroin which landed her in prison for one year. Upon release, her performances were restricted as she was denied a cabaret performer's license. And although she enjoyed several successful tours in Europe, her voice began to fail. Her final appearance was at the Phoenix Theater in New York City in early 1959. On July 17 of that year, Holiday died, a result of serious heart, lung, and liver diseases.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1915 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Millions of Blacks migrate North in search of economic and social security.
The wartime migration of southern Blacks to northern industrial centers began. Millions of Blacks left the south in search of economic and social security.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1914 (Feb 1)
Published
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Eugene Jacques Bullard joins the Foreign Legion.
Eugene Jacques Bullard joined the Foreign Legion. Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1894. He had attempted to become a pilot in the states but failed. For France, however, he flew his way into the Lafayette Escadrille and gained notoriety as one of the Lafayette Flying Four. Bullard died in 1961.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1913 (Mar 10)
Published
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Harriet Tubman, famous for her role in the Underground Railroad, dies.
Harriet Tubman, often referred to as "the Moses of her people," died in Auburn, New York. A leading Black female abolitionist, Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1823 and had escaped from slavery in July of 1849. She returned to Maryland and Virginia at least twenty times and is credited with freeing between 80-350 enslaved Blacks. While working as a field hand as a young girl, Tubman was injured when, an overseer threw a weight at another enslaved Black but hit Tubman in the head. The blow caused Tubman to suffer from "sleeping seizures" for the rest of her life. In 1844, she married a free Black, John Tubman, but she remained enslaved. In 1849, her master died and rumors emerged that his enslaved people were to be sold in the deep south. With two of her brothers, Tubman escaped. Fearing punishment or death, the brothers returned to the plantation, but Tubman, using the North Star for direction, marched on until she reached Philadelphia. In 1850, Tubman returned to Maryland for a sister and a brother, and in the following year she led a party of eleven Blacks from the South into Canada. She left her husband, who had married another woman, behind. In 1857, Tubman made one of her last trips into Maryland to rescue her parents and three additional brothers and sisters. The family then settled in Auburn, New York. The family home, purchased from the abolitionist Senator William H. Seward, was later turned into a home for elderly and indigent Blacks. After serving in the Civil War as a nurse and a spy, Tubman devoted her energy and earnings to this home.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1911 (Jan 15)
Published
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In Bailey v. Alabama, the Supreme Court weakens state statutes that supported peonage, finding them in violation of the 13th Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Bailey v. Alabama, weakened state statutes that supported peonage, a contractual form of involuntary servitude incurred by debt. After Reconstruction, many Blacks in the South were desperate for money and fell into such contracts to work. The defendant, Alonzo Bailey, had been convicted by an Alabama state court for violating his contract because he left his job before his contract was up, still owing money to his employer. In such cases, Alabama law presumed an intent to defraud, and the defendant was prohibited from testifying otherwise. The high court, however, found that the law breached the U.S. constitution's presumption of innocence by disallowing a defendant to testify and make a case. State statutes that supported peonage were also found in violation of the 13th Amendment and federal anti-peonage laws.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1910 (Jan 15)
Published
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President William Taft nominates Robert Herberton Terrell to be a judge of the District of Columbia municipal court despite protest to appoint a Black person by the Senate.
President William Taft nominated Robert Herberton Terrell to be a judge of the municipal court of the District of Columbia. With the help of Booker T. Washington, Terrell was able to secure the position even though the Senate protested the appointment of a Black to the post. Nine years earlier, Washington had been instrumental in Terrell's appointment as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia. But Terrell was not a wholehearted follower of Washington. He openly criticized Washington's condonation of the dishonorable discharge, in 1906, of the 25th Black infantry after the Brownsville, Texas, riot. Terrell pushed for the civil rights that he believed in through the Grand United Order of Old Fellows of the District of Columbia, of which he was the Grand Master. Terrell and others established a chapter of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity in the District of Columbia. Terrell was born to Harris and Louisa Ann Terrell in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 27, 1957. He had attended a District of Columbia school and the Groton Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, for his early education. In June of 1884, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, and Howard University Law School granted him an LL.B. degree in 1889. Terrell married Mary E. Church on October 28, 1891; they had two daughters. On December 20, 1925, Terrell died at his home in Washington, D.C. He was buried in Harmony Cemetery in Washington.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1990 (Feb 5)
Published
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Abjuda Abi Naantaanbuu, a Memphis, Tennessee, woman who Ralph David Abernathy implied had an extramarital affair with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., filed a $10 million suit against Abernathy and Harper and Row, the publisher of his autobiography, “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down”.
Abjuda Abi Naantaanbuu, a Memphis, Tennessee, woman who Ralph David Abernathy implied had an extramarital affair with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., filed a $10 million suit against Abernathy and Harper and Row, the publisher of his autobiography, "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down". The suit, which Naantaanbuu brought to the U.S. district court in New York City, charged that the defendants "falsely and maliciously this caused the readers of [the] book to believe that she had engaged in adulterous behavior and sexual relations with Dr. Martin Luther King on the last night of his life." King, Abernathy, and other civil rights activists had dinner at Naantaanbuu's home the night before he was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1910 (Apr 1)
Published
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The National Urban League is established in New York City to assist Southern Blacks who emigrated to the North.
The National Urban League (NUL) was established in New York City to assist Southern Blacks who emigrated to the North. It soon became a social relief organization for Black urban dwellers in the North, West, and South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1910 (Jun 1)
Published
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The first edition of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s official organ, The Crisis, is published.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began the publishing of its official organ, The Crisis. W. E. B. Du Bois was its first editor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1909 (Feb 12)
Published
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded in New York City by a group of White progressives and Black intellectuals.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in New York City. White progressives and Black intellectuals were the group's first leaders, among them were Jane Addams, John Dewey, W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, and Oswald Garrison Villard. Boston's Moorfield Storey was named president.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1909 (Dec 1)
Published
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James H. Anderson establishes The Amsterdam News. It later becomes the nation’s largest Black newspaper by readership.
James H. Anderson established The Amsterdam News as an information outlet with a Black perspective. In 1936, the paper changed hands, and the former crusading format was replaced by a milder, less progressive voice. By the 1960s, it had the largest readership of any Black paper in the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1909 (Apr 6)
Published
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Matthew H. Henson, a Black servant, accompanied Commodore Robert E. Peary to the North Pole. A bronze plaque recognizing Henson as co-discoverer of the North Pole hangs in the Maryland State House.
Matthew H. Henson, a Black servant, accompanied Commodore Robert E. Peary to the North Pole. Henson was the son of free born parents in Charles County, Maryland. He had received a modest education, worked as a cabin boy, then later as a stock boy in a Washington, D.C., clothing store. There he met Peary and was hired as his servant. After sharing with Peary, the feat of discovering the North Pole, Henson worked as a messenger in the New York Customs House. In 1912, he wrote his autobiography, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. In 1945, he received a medal for outstanding service to the government of the United States in the field of science, and the Geographical Society of Chicago awarded him with a gold medal in 1948. Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower also honored him. Henson died in March of 1955; a bronze plaque recognizing Henson as co-discoverer of the North Pole hangs in the Maryland State House.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1908 (Aug 14)
Published
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An Illinois race riot shocks many.
A racial disturbance occurred in Springfield, Illinois. The shock of the riot prompted concerned whites to call the conference that led to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1908 (Jan 15)
Published
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Berea College is forced to segregate after Kentucky passes a law making teaching Black and white students in the same institution illegal.
The Kentucky legislature passed a law that made illegal the teaching of Black and White students in the same institution. Berea College had been an integrated institution for more than fifty-five years but was required, by this new law, to segregate. Berea sued on grounds that it was a private institution and therefore, not required by the law to comply. But the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which mandated separate but equal facilities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1907 (Feb 1)
Published
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Miles College is founded by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
Miles College was an outgrowth of a high school that was founded in Booker City, Alabama, in 1902 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Miles became a college and moved to its present site in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1907. The college is named after Bishop William H. Miles, a formerly enslaved man who was active in the missions of the African Methodist denominations. Miles College was one of the first four-year colleges open to Black students. The school's first bachelor's degree was awarded in 1911.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1907 (Jan 15)
Published
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Alain Locke, prominent Black intellectual, becomes the first Black person to receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
Alain Locke, a prominent Black intellectual, received a Rhodes Scholarship; no other Black American won this academic honor for more than half a century. Locke was born in Philadelphia in 1886. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1918. As a Rhodes Scholar, Locke studied at England's Oxford University from 1907 to 1910. He continued his studies at the University of Berlin from 1910 to 1911, and he became a professor of philosophy at Howard University in 1912, a position he held until his retirement in 1953. Locke published "Race Contacts" and "Interracial Relations" in 1916. His fame as a literary and art critic and interpreter of Black culture rests largely on his anthology, "The New Negro" (1925), a seminal work about the Harlem Renaissance. Locke died in 1954, prior to completing "The Negro in American Culture". This work was completed by Margaret Just Butcher and published in 1956.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1906 (Sep 22)
Published
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An Atlanta race riot leaves twelve dead.
A major race riot in Atlanta, Georgia, left twelve dead. The practically all-white media and attempts to disfranchise Blacks had coupled to build racial tensions in the city. On September 22, newspapers reported four successive assaults on white women by Black men. Many of the city's whites, joined by ruralites who were in town for Saturday shopping, formed mobs bent on retaliation. Blacks who sought to arm themselves in defense were quickly arrested. The state of panic existed for several days. The Atlanta Civic League, an interracial organization dedicated to racial harmony, was formed in the wake of the riot.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1906 (Jun 1)
Published
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John Hope becomes the first Black president of Morehouse College. He is instrumental to many of the programs that resulted in the institution’s reputation.
John Hope assumed the presidency of Morehouse College. Hope, one of the most militant of early Black educators, was the school's first Black president and was the catalyst behind many of the programs that resulted in the institution's reputation. Hope was born on June 2, 1868, in Augusta, Georgia, to prosperous parents, a white father, James Hope, and mixed-race mother, Maly Frances (Fanny). His relatively secure childhood was shaken by his father's death in 1876 and the subsequent loss of much of the family's wealth. That same year, Hope witnessed a violent racial clash in Atlanta. This incident, with the Atlanta riot of 1906, probably influenced his militancy. Hope denounced Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" address, and he was the only Black college president to join the militant Niagara Movement. Likewise, Hope was the only college administrator to attend the founding meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. Ten years later Hope became a founder of the South's first biracial reform group, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation; this group was the forerunner of the Southern Regional Council. Hope assumed leadership of the commission in 1932. He also served as president of Atlanta University from 1929 until his death in 1936.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1906 (Feb 9)
Published
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Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Black poet who was instrumental in making Black dialect an accepted literary form, dies in Dayton, Ohio.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Black poet who was instrumental in making Black dialect an accepted literary form, died of tuberculosis in Dayton, Ohio, at thirty-four years of age. Dunbar had been born in Dayton on June 27, 1872, to the formerly enslaved Joshua and Matilda Dunbar. His father had escaped slavery and fled to Canada but he returned during the Civil War to fight with the Massachusetts 55th regiment. Although Paul Dunbar was senior class poet at Dayton's Central High School and the editor of the school newspaper and yearbook, his first career was operating an elevator for four dollars a week. By 1893, he had compiled a book of his verse and was selling it to passengers on his elevator. Two years later he published "Majors and Minors," which received a favorable review by William Dean Howells in Harper's Weekly. That review brought Dunbar national recognition. The following year, his "Lyrics of Lowly Life" appeared. Many of these earlier works were published by Orville and Wilbur Wright, who were experimenting with printing newspapers on a homemade press. In the last ten years of his life, Dunbar produced eleven volumes of verse, three novels, and five collections of short stories. Critics generally agree that Dunbar's best works are his poems, particularly those written in dialect. Despite his Midwestern origins, Dunbar's poems deal nostalgically with the pathos and humor of the old South. William Dean Howells considered Dunbar the first Black to ably express an aesthetic appreciation of Black life through verse. Dunbar's biographer, Benjamin Brawley, observed that "Dunbar soared above race and touched the heart universally. In a world of discord, he dared to sing his song about nights bright with stars, about the secret of the wind and the sea, and the answer one finds beyond the years. Above the dross and strife of the day, he asserted the right to live and love and be happy. That is why he was so greatly beloved and why he will never grow old."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1906 (Dec 4)
Published
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Alpha Phi Alpha, the first Black fraternity, is established at Cornell University.
The first Black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, was established by Henry Calls, Charles Chapman, Eugene Jones, George Kelley, Nathaniel Murray, Robert Ogle, and Vertner Tandy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The purpose of the organization was education and the "mutual uplift of its members." Kelley was the first president of the organization. Its first general convention was held on December 28, 1908, in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1906 (Apr 13)
Published
0 0
Race riots take place in Brownsville, Texas when Black soldiers retaliate to racial slurs by white civilians. As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt dishonorably discharges the soldiers without any investigation or trial. After pushback, some of the soldiers are reenlisted.
White civilians and Black soldiers clashed at Brownsville, Texas, apparently after Black soldiers had retaliated to racial slurs and taunting by whites. The violence that erupted resulted in the deaths of at least three white men, and the soldiers were consequently dishonorably discharged by President Theodore Roosevelt. The president's handling of the matter convinced many Blacks that they could not look to him for help in the wake of increasing anti-Black assaults. When Congress met in December of 1906, a group of Northerners, led by Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio, argued that a full investigation and trial should have preceded the president's action. An investigation was launched by the Senate in January of 1907, but the Senate committee's majority report upheld the soldiers' dishonorable discharges. In 1909, however, Senator Foraker won approval to allow the reenlistment of some of the soldiers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1905 (Jul 11)
Published
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The Niagara Movement starts with a meeting of Black intellectuals.
A group of Black intellectuals from across the nation met near Niagara Falls and adopted resolutions demanding full equality for Black Americans. The meeting has become known as the beginning of the Niagara Movement. W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter spearheaded the movement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1905 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
Robert S. Abbott publishes the first issue of the Chicago Defender, which becomes one of the most widely read Black newspapers in the country.
Robert S. Abbott began publication of the militant Chicago Defender. It became one of the most widely read, influential Black newspapers in the country. Abbott was the son of an enslaved butler and a field woman who purchased their son's freedom. After his father's death, Abbott's mother married John Sengstacke, an editor, educator, and clergyman. Young Abbott worked on his stepfather's news sheet. He received his education at Hampton Institute, where he came under the influence of General Samuel C. Armstrong, the man who had also molded Booker T. Washington. In Chicago, Abbott began his newspaper with a staff composed of former barbers and servants as well as a few recently educated Blacks. He attracted journalists, Willard Motley among them, and he published the early poems of Gwendolyn Brooks. Abbott's scathing attacks on Southern racism coupled with his appeals for Northern migration enhanced the Chicago Defender's prestige.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1905 (May 1)
Published
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Alonzo F. Herndon founds The Atlanta Life Insurance Company. It becomes the largest Black-owned business in the United States, until it is later surpassed by the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company.
Alonzo F. Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company as the largest Black-owned business in the United States. The company later lost that distinction to the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company of Durham, founded in 1898 by John Merrick, C. C. Spaulding, and others.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1905 (Apr 1)
Published
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Politician Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr. is born. He would later become the first Black to represent Pennsylvanians in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr., was born to Nelson Nix, Dean of South Carolina State College. Nix attended Townsend Harris High School in New York City prior to entering Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1912. Nix received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1924, and he later became the first Black to represent Pennsylvanians in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served in the eighty-fifth to the ninety-fifth Congress. Nix died in Philadelphia on June 22, 1987.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1905 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
In Clyatt v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court remands the case back to the lower court for retrial when two Black men, Will Gordon and Mose Ridley, argue that their 13th Amendment rights had been violated.
The U.S. Supreme Court remanded Clyatt v. United States back to the lower court. The case was brought to the high court when Samuel Clyatt appealed his conviction for peonage after he had forced two Blacks to return to Georgia to repay a debt. The two Blacks, Will Gordon and Mose Ridley, argued that their 13th Amendment rights had been violated in that the amendment prohibited slavery or involuntary servitude. The specific charge upon Clyatt, however, was "returning" two men to peonage. The high court ruled that an initial state of peonage was not evidenced, and the case was sent back to Georgia courts for retrial.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1904 (Feb 15)
Published
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The U.S. Supreme Court, in Rogers v. Alabama, decides that the exclusion of Black Americans from juries was a violation of the equal protection clause.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Rogers v. Alabama decided that the exclusion of Black Americans from juries was a violation of the equal protection clause. The case was brought to the high court by Dan Rogers, a Black man who had been convicted of murder. His attorney argued that Blacks had been systematically excluded from his grand jury, and that the exclusion was a violation of the fourteenth amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed and overturned Rogers's conviction by the Alabama Supreme Court. Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for the court that prior Supreme Court decisions had already set a precedent that barred racial discrimination in grand jury selections.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1904 (Feb 1)
Published
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The Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls is founded by educator Mary McLeod Bethune.
The Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls was founded in 1904 by educator Mary McLeod Bethune. In 1923, the school merged with the Cookman-Collegiate Institute, forming Bethune-Cookman College. The school became a four-year college in 1942.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1904 (Jan 15)
Published
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The Supreme Court denies Jackson Giles for a second time in Giles v. Teasley, after Giles tries to sue voting registrars. The Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, stating that it had no lower court decision concerning the constitutionality of Alabama’s laws to review.
In Giles v. Teasley, the U.S. Supreme Court turned Jackson W. Giles away for the second time. A year earlier, the Supreme Court had refused Giles's request for an order for Alabama to register him as a voter. With that, Giles tried to sue voting registrars in Alabama state courts, still contending that the state's voting requirements violated the fifteenth amendment. When the state court dismissed his case, Giles took it to the Alabama supreme court, which refused to make a decision on the constitutionality of the state's laws. The Alabama court also double denied Giles relief by ruling that if the state's voting requirements violated the national constitution, then the registrars were invalid as registrars and could not register anyone at all. But if the state constitution was not in violation of the national one, then the registrars had acted within their authority and within the law, the court ruled. When this tangled decision was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, it ruled, in 1904, that it could not hear the case because it had no lower court decision concerning the constitutionality of Alabama's laws to review.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1903 (May 30)
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Poet Countee Cullen is born.
Born Countee Porter, he was orphaned at an early age and adopted by Black Reverend Frederick Cullen, pastor of the Salem Methodist Church of New York. Cullen earned his bachelor's degree from New York University, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. In 1925, while still a student at New York University, he published his first volume of poetry, "Color," which earned him the Harmon Foundation's first gold medal for literature in 1927. Cullen also received the Witter Bynner poetry prize. And in 1926, he received an M.A. degree from Harvard University and began a two-year sojourn in France, sponsored by a Guggenheim Fellowship. When he returned to New York City, Cullen commenced his teaching career in the public school system. He continued to publish poetry and completed the novel, One Way to Heaven, in 1932. In 1947, one year after his death, a collection of works chosen by Cullen himself was published under the title, On These I Stand. Cullen died in New York City on January 10, 1946.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1898 (Dec 16)
Published
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President William McKinley visits the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Upon visiting Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, President William McKinley paid tribute to the institution's successes and to its founder, Booker T. Washington. The students and faculty welcomed the presidential party with a display of floats that illustrated the phases of the school and its teachings throughout its seventeen years of existence. In his speech, McKinley said, "An evidence of the soundness of the purposes of this institution is that those in charge of its management evidently don't believe in attempting the unattainable, and their instruction in self-reliance and practical industry is most valuable."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1898 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
A monument is dedicated to Frederick Douglass.
A monument was dedicated to Black Civil Rights leader Frederick Douglass. The tone of the ceremony was set by T. Thomas Fortune, president of the Afro-American League: "The management of the colored race in the South has been a conspicuous failure," he said. "I see other Black and yellow peoples about to come under the care of this government. If you rule [them] as the South has been and is being ruled, you will have revolution upon revolution, and you ought to have it."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1898 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Will Marion Cook opens the sensational musical-comedy sketch “Clorindy: the Origin of the Cakewalk” on Broadway.
Will Marion Cook directed the sensational musical-comedy sketch "Clorindy: the Origin of the Cakewalk" on Broadway. Disregarding warnings that Broadway audiences would not listen to Blacks singing Black opera, Cook composed music to lyrics written by famed Black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and assembled a company of twenty-six Black performers. The performances of the first Black musical-comedy sketch in New York were held at the Casino Roof Garden. Cook was born in Washington, D.C., in 1869. The son of a Howard University law professor, he was sent at age thirteen to the Oberlin Conservatory to study the violin. Cook later studied with violinist Joseph Joachim in Berlin and with John White and Antonin Dvorak at the National Conservatory of Music. Cook made additional theatrical history when In Dahomey (1902), his satire on the American Colonization Movement's efforts to promote Black emigration to Africa, opened on Times Square on Broadway. Other Cook successes were In Abyssinia (1906) and In Bandana Land (1907). Cook's lively shows left his audiences whistling and tapping their feet and helped popularize the "cakewalk" both in the United States and Europe. Cook died in 1944.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1897 (May 31)
Published
0 0
A memorial of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his regiment is unveiled at Boston Commons.
A ten-foot tall, eighteen-foot long relief depicting Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his 54th Massachusetts regiment was unveiled at Boston Commons. The regiment, which was the first Black regiment from a free state to be called to federal service, lost its leader in heavy battle while leading the charge against the confederate line at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Augustus St. Gaudens sculpted the life-size memorial.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1903 (Jan 7)
Published
0 0
Writer Zora Neale Hurston is born. She makes a name for herself as one of the emerging writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Lora Neale Hurston was born to John and Lucy Ann Hurston in Eatonville, Florida. While attending Howard University, Hurston made a name for herself as one of the emerging writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Lorenzo Turner and Alain Locke served as mentors for Hurston. Her short stories appeared in Opportunity, and her other works include: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Mules and Men (1935), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Tell My Horse (1938), Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939), and Seraph on the Suwanee (1948). Her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, was published in 1942. Hurston died in Fort Pierce, Florida, on January 28, 1960.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1903 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
W. E. B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk. It challenges Booker T. Washington’s policies, which are viewed by many as too accommodating.
W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk, was published. The book crystallized Black opposition to the policies of Booker T. Washington which were viewed by many civil rights activists as too flexible.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1903 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
In Giles v. Harris, the Supreme Court rules in favor of Alabama’s literacy and character requirement in order to vote, denying Jackson W. Giles the ability to register as a voter.
The case of Giles v. Harris made it to the U.S. Supreme Court after an Alabama district court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to decide if the state's constitution was in violation of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment for requiring good character, understanding, and literacy in order to vote. The High Court held that a federal district court could, in fact, hear the case, and it refused to order the registration of the plaintiff, Jackson W. Giles, as a voter.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1901 (Oct 15)
Published
0 0
Civil Rights activist William Monroe Trotter founds the Black newspaper, The Boston Guardian, to advocate for equal justice.
William Monroe Trotter, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University, founded The Boston Guardian, a Black newspaper that demanded full equality for Blacks and spoke out against Booker T. Washington's policies on grounds that they were too accommodating. Trotter opened the Guardian offices in the same building where William Lloyd Garrison had published The Liberator, and where Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was printed. In editing The Guardian, Trotter abandoned a career as an insurance executive because, he said, "the conviction grew upon me that pursuit of business, money, civic, or literary position was like building a house upon sands; if race prejudice and persecution and public discrimination for mere color was to spread up from the South and result in a fixed caste of color, every colored American would be really a civil outcast, forever an alien, in the public life." Trotter confronted Booker T. Washington to voice his differing views on July 30, 1903, at the Columbus Avenue African Zion Church in Boston. Trotter and his followers were arrested for heckling Washington; Trotter was sentenced to thirty days in jail. He explained that he had resorted to a public confrontation with Washington because the "Tuskegee Kingpin" held a monopoly on the American media and opposing views could not be heard. The treatment of Trotter in Boston inspired W.E.B. Du Bois to become more active in the opposition to Washington. Trotter collaborated with Du Bois in the organization of the Niagara Movement but declined a position of leadership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) because of his distrust of whites. Yet Trotter continued his career as a Civil Rights activist. In 1906, he protested President Theodore Roosevelt's discharge of the Black soldiers involved in the Brownsville, Texas, riot. In 1910, Trotter led a demonstration against a Boston performance of The Clansman, an anti-Black play. In 1913, he accused President Woodrow Wilson of lying after Wilson had denied responsibility for segregation in the government cafeterias of Washington, D.C. Two years later, Trotter landed in jail for picketing the showing of the anti-Black film Birth of a Nation. In 1919, when the Paris Peace Conference convened, Trotter applied for a passport. He wanted to attend this world forum to present the grievances of American Blacks. When the United States government denied his visa, Trotter obtained a job as a cook on a transatlantic ship and managed to reach Europe anyway. As a representative for the National Equal Rights League and for the Race Petitioners, Trotter supported the Japanese motion to include a prohibition against discrimination in the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Western Allies, which included the United States, opposed such a provision. Trotter had been born in Boston in 1872. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, he returned for his master's, which he received in 1895. In his final years, his money and energy dwindling, Trotter continued to agitate for equal rights. He died in 1934.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1901 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
Booker T. Washington dines at the White House. It is met with criticism.
Booker T. Washington dined with President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House. But the meeting was bitterly criticized by many whites, especially Southerners, as a departure from racial etiquette. The previous year, Washington's autobiography, "Up from Slavery," had been hailed by Southern and Northern whites for its non-vindictive attitude toward the South and its previous slave system. The book has become a classic in American letters, primarily because of Washington's prominence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1901 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
George White leaves Congress.
Representative George H. White left Congress. White had begun his work in the House of Representatives on March 15, 1897, after North Carolina had elected him in 1896. His state reelected him in 1898. In a moving valedictory address, White attacked Jim Crowism and predicted that the Black American would return to the United States Congress. But more than twenty years passed before another Black person served in Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1901 (Jan 16)
Published
0 0
Senator Hiram Revels, once the only Black person in Congress, dies.
Hiram R. Revels, former United States Senator from Mississippi, died at Holly Springs. In 1870, he replaced Jefferson Davis and became the only Black person in the United States Congress. A former barber and preacher, he was a reluctant politician. Revels had also served as president of Alcorn College for Negroes in Mississippi.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1901 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Grambling State University is opened in Louisiana to teach Black students how to farm and build houses.
A request for assistance from the Farmers' Relief Association of Ruston, Louisiana, prompted Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute to send Charles P. Adams to Louisiana to open the school that later became Grambling State University. The school's original mission was to teach all students willing to work how to farm and build houses. In 1905, when the school received a large donation, it moved to a two-hundred-acre campus. The school achieved university status and adopted its present name of Grambling State University in 1974.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1900 (Jul 24)
Published
0 0
A race riot breaks out in New Orleans, destroying homes and schools.
A race riot broke out in New Orleans. Black schools and homes were destroyed during the disturbance.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1900 (Aug 23)
Published
0 0
Booker T. Washington founds the National Negro Business League in Boston. It becomes the largest Black trade association.
The National Negro Business League, sponsored by Booker T. Washington, formed in Boston. More than four hundred delegates from thirty-four states had answered Washington's call to stimulate Black businesses. Washington himself was elected the first president of the organization, and after only one year of the league's existence, he reported a large number of new Black businesses. By 1907, the national organization had 320 branches. Though service-oriented businesses were the most numerous, Blacks engaged in various types and sizes of business enterprises. The North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, founded in 1898, became the largest Black-owned firm.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1900 (Apr 30)
Published
0 0
Wallace Saunders creates the song, Casey Jones, as a tribute to death of John “Casey” Jones, who died in a train collision.
The famed steam locomotive driven by John "Casey" Jones collided with another train. Two Black men, Wallace Saunders and Sim Webb, were members of the crew. At the time of the collision, Jones ordered Webb to jump to safety while he remained with his train. When Jones's body was recovered, it was discovered that he had kept one hand on the airbrake and the other on the whistle. The incident inspired Saunders to write "Casey Jones," the song that immortalized the noted engineer and his train.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1899 (May 20)
Published
0 0
Boston women protest lynchings in the South.
Boston women met to protest the lynching of Blacks in the South. It was reported that the women's main concerns were the indifference of Northerners concerning the rights of Southern Blacks, the refusal to count the votes of Blacks, and the false pretense that lynchings were necessary for the protection of Southern women when, in fact, a majority of the lynchings were for reasons not concerning women.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1899 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
In the case of Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of equal treatment of White and Black school facilities, but Richmond County reportedly defies the ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education, upheld the "equal" of the separate but equal policy. The case came out of Richmond County, Georgia, where sixty Black high school students' facility was taken away to alleviate the Black elementary schools that were overcrowded. The trial court had granted parental requests to suspend operations of the white high school until a Black facility was reinstated. The order, however, was suspended until the case could be heard by the state Supreme Court which, upon review, reversed the decision. The U.S. Supreme Court restored the trial court's decision, but Richmond County reportedly defied it and continued to provide secondary schooling for whites but not Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1899 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Charles Waddell Chesnutt publishes The Conjure Woman, which establishes him as the foremost Black novelist of his time.
Charles Waddell Chesnutt published a volume of tales called "The Conjure Woman," which helped establish him as the foremost Black novelist of his time. "The Conjure Woman," based upon the superstitions of North Carolina Blacks, was probably his best work. Chesnutt was born in North Carolina in 1858, but spent much of his adult life in Ohio. After the Civil War, he taught in the public schools of North Carolina, then was principal of the Fayetteville State Teachers College. As segregation and discrimination intensified in the South in the 1880s, Chesnutt returned to the North, first to New York, where he worked as a journalist, then Cleveland, where he was a clerk and an attorney. Prior to the publication of The Conjure Woman, Chesnutt had contributed several short stories to American periodicals, including the Atlantic Monthly. Following the highly successful Conjure Woman, Chesnutt published, The Wife of His Youth, and The House Behind the Cedars, both in 1900; The Marrow of Tradition (1901); and The Colonel's Dream (1905). In recognition of his literary and other achievements, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded him its prestigious Spingarn Medal in 1928. He died in 1932.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1899 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
In Carter v. Texas, the Supreme Court rules that Seth Caner is entitled to a new trial because the state purposefully excluded Blacks from the jury that convicted him for murder.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Texas resident Seth Caner was entitled to a new trial because the state had purposefully excluded Blacks from the jury that convicted him for murder.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1898 (Mar 17)
Published
0 0
Blanche K. Bruce dies in Washington D.C.
Former U.S. Senator Blanche K. Bruce died in Washington, D.C. After leaving the Senate, Bruce had served as register of the U.S. Treasury and had been a successful banker.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1898 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
Black regiments get involved in the Spanish-American War and impress.
Four Black regiments participated in fighting around Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War, including the 9th and 10th Cavalry Squadrons. Approximately twenty Black regiments served in the conflict. Most of the Black outfits had been activated shortly after the end of the Civil War for action against the Indians in the West. In the present conflict, Blacks, like many of their white counterparts, were ill prepared in terms of experience, equipment, and training for combat in a tropical zone. Yet in the end, the Blacks won the praises of almost all their officers. At the beginning of the Spanish-American War, there was only one Black commissioned officer, Captain Charles Young. At the close of the war there were more than one hundred Black officers, including Young, now a Brevet Major and Commander of the Ninth Ohio regiment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1897 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Voorhees College opens as The Denmark Industrial School in South Carolina, affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Denmark Industrial School, later Voorhees College, opened in Denmark, South Carolina, with one teacher for its 14 students. The school was founded by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright and was affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church. The school's singing group toured the country in the 1920s to raise money for the financially strapped institution. In 1935, the school's St. Phillips Episcopal Chapel was built entirely by Voorhees students. Voorhees became a four-year college in 1962.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1897 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court upholds Mississippi’s literacy test requirement to vote in Williams v. Mississippi, which was meant to disfranchise Black voters, stating that it does not violate the constitution.
The Supreme Court, in Williams v. Mississippi, upheld voting requirements established by the Mississippi state constitution. Voters were to have paid a poll tax for at least the previous two years, and they had to prove either literacy or the ability to comprehend a section of the state constitution when read aloud. The literacy and comprehension tests were usually evaluated by white registration officials. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the requirements because the constitution did not mention race, and the requirements, as written, were to be applied to Blacks and whites equally. The court's interpretation found no violation of the fifteenth amendment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1897 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Langston University opens as The Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma.
The Colored Agricultural and Normal University, later Langston University, opened in Langston, Oklahoma, as a school for Blacks to learn agricultural, mechanical, and industrial arts. Within a year of the passage of the Territorial Act that established the college, Black settlers determined to provide higher education for their children had raised enough money through auctions, bake sales, and donations to purchase the land on which the school was built. The first bachelor's degree was awarded in 1901. The school adopted its present name in 1941.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (Oct 31)
Published
0 0
The Phyllis Wheatley Training School for Nurses opens. It is funded and organized wholly by Black Americans.
The Phyllis Wheatley Training School for Nurses opened its doors. The school, primarily for Black women, was wholly funded and organized by Black Americans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (May 18)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld separate but equal public facilities for Blacks in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld separate but equal public facilities for Blacks in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. A case that stemmed from a dispute over transportation facilities in Louisiana. The plaintiff, Homer Adolph Plessy, contended that the 1890 Louisiana statute that required separate accommodations be used by Blacks and Whites violated the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. Plessy, who was seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African, also argued that, because the "colored blood" in him was not detectable, he should have the same rights and privileges as white citizens. The Comit des Citoyens, an organization of Blacks in New Orleans, aided Plessy and his lawyers. The Court majority, however, ruled that the Louisiana statute did not, in fact, violate either amendment. The segregation of the races thus won the sanction of the highest national tribunal. Justice John Harlan, in a prophetic dissent, asserted that segregation laws fostered ideas of racial inferiority and would increase attacks against the rights of Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
Booker T. Washington is awarded an Honorary Master’s Degree from Harvard University.
Booker T. Washington received an Honorary Master of Arts Degree from Harvard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (Jul 21)
Published
0 0
National Association of Colored Women is organized by Mary Church Terrell.
The National Association of Colored Women, led by Mary Church Terrell, was organized in Washington, D.C. Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, at the close of the Civil War, to wealthy and well-educated parents. Terrell inherited a substantial fortune and received an Oberlin education. She probably would have become a teacher, but her father considered the occupation beneath her. As Mary Church, she married Robert Terrell, a prominent Washington, D.C., educator, attorney, and judge. Terrell did become a feminist leader and a close associate of a number of white feminist leaders. She remained wedded to the goal of racial integration despite numerous disappointments.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Oakwood College, affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is opened.
Oakwood Industrial School, later Oakwood College, opened in 1896. The school, affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and became a member of the United Negro College Fund in 1964.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1896 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Harvard dissertation “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to America” is published.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois's "The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to America," his Harvard dissertation, was published as the first volume in the Harvard historical studies series. This work, along with "The Philadelphia Negro" (1899), "The Souls of Black Folk" (1903), and "The Atlanta University Publications" (1898-1914), helped to establish Du Bois's scholarly reputation.
1895 (Sep 18)
Published
0 0
Booker T. Washington delivers his controversial “Atlanta Compromise” speech.
Booker T. Washington, the principal of Tuskegee Institute, delivered his controversial "Atlanta Compromise" speech to the Cotton States International Exposition in Atlanta. Washington asked for economic and educational progress for Blacks, aided by whites, while playing down political power and social equality.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1895 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
Famed activist William Edward Burghardt, famously known as W.E.B. Du Bois, becomes the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard.
W. E. B. Du Bois became the first Black American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He immediately embarked upon a successful career of teaching and research, principally at Atlanta University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1895 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
The National Steamboat Company is organized by Blacks in Washington D.C.
Blacks organized the National Steamboat Company in Washington, D.C. The company sailed a steamboat, the George Leary, between Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, Virginia. The luxury boat held a capacity of 1,500 passengers and included three decks, sixty-four state rooms, one hundred berths, and a dining room.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1895 (Feb 20)
Published
0 0
Activist Frederick Douglass dies.
Frederick Douglass died in Anacostia Heights, in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1895 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
Fort Valley State College is established by Black and White citizens of Fort Valley, Georgia.
Fort Valley High and Industrial School was established by leading Black and White citizens of Fort Valley, Georgia, for the education of Blacks in the South. During the 1920s and 1930s students at the school helped construct several of its buildings. In 1939, Fort Valley merged with the State Teachers and Agricultural College, and the two schools became Fort Valley State College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1894 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Texas College is founded by a group of ministers.
Ministers of the Colored Methodist Church (now the Christian Methodist Church) founded Texas College in Tyler, Texas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1894 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
“The Banjo Lesson”, painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner, was accepted by the Societe des Artistes for exhibition. He begins to gain recognition for his artwork.
"The Banjo Lesson", painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was accepted by the Societe des Artistes for exhibition. Tanner, originally from Pennsylvania, had moved to Paris in 1891 to escape racism and study art after several failed attempts to make a name for himself in the states. In 1896, Tanner turned to painting Biblical themes. His "Daniel in the Lion's Den" was the first, followed by "The Raising of Lazarus," which was purchased by the French government after winning a medal at the Paris exhibition of 1897. His other Biblical works included "Christ and Nicodemus," which won a Lippincott Prize, "Wise and Foolish Virgins," and "The Two Disciples at the Tomb," which won a Harris Prize. Tanner was awarded a gold medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition (1915); silver medals at the Exposition Universe in Paris (1900), the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901), and the St. Louis Exposition (1904); and a bronze medal at the National Arts Club Exhibition (1927). In 1905, Tanner became the first Black artist to have work included in the Carnegie Institute's Exhibition. The French government named Tanner the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1923. Tanner was born the eldest of seven children of Benjamin Tucker and Sarah Elizabeth Tanner on June 21, 1859, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He married a white singer, Jessie Maculey Olssen, on December 14, 1899. The couple had one son, Jesse. Tanner died on May 25, 1937.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1894 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Clinton Junior College is founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to teach South Carolina’s freedmen how to read.
In an attempt to eradicate illiteracy among the freedmen of South Carolina, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church established Clinton Junior College in Rock Hill.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1893 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Lomax-Hannon Junior College is founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Greenville, Alabama.
The historically Black Lomax-Hannon Junior College was founded in Greenville, Alabama. The idea for the school had been conceived four years earlier at the annual conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Montgomery, Alabama. At the time of its founding, Lomax-Hannon was both a high school and a junior college, but the high school department closed in 1975. The church continued to run the school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892 (Nov 1)
Published
0 0
About 700 Blacks leave Chattanooga, Tennessee in one month.
Seven hundred Blacks left Chattanooga, Tennessee in one month. Possible causes were an overcrowded labor market due to the city's declining economy and the prospect of fairer treatment in northern and western states.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892 (Jun 7)
Published
0 0
Homer Adolf Plessy, who was seven-eighths White and one-eighth African, is arrested for refusing to move to the designated Black section of a train. This incident leads to the Plessy v. Ferguson trial.
Homer Adolf Plessy purchased a first-class ticket from New Orleans to Covington on the East Louisiana railway. Plessy, who is believed to have been a carpenter born in New Orleans, was seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African. He boarded the train and took a seat in the coach reserved for Whites. When the conductor ordered him to move to the coach reserved for Blacks, Plessy refused. An officer removed Plessy from the train and took him to the parish jail of New Orleans where he was charged with criminally violating an 1890 Louisiana statute that required separate accommodations for Blacks and whites. In Plessy v. Ferguson, Plessy petitioned the Louisiana state Supreme Court for a writ of prohibition and certiorari against John H. Ferguson, judge of the criminal district court for the Parish of Orleans, and he asked the higher courts to prohibit Ferguson from holding the trial. The Louisiana Supreme Court denied Plessy's requests on grounds that the law was constitutional, but his writ of error was passed on to the U.S. Supreme Court.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
Winston-Salem State University opens as Slater Industrial Academy to train teachers. It becomes the first Black institution in the U.S. to grant elementary education degrees.
Winston-Salem's Slater Industrial Academy opened in 1892 in a one-room building for 25 students. The school was known for its quality training of elementary school teachers and was rewarded by the general assembly of North Carolina in 1925 with a new charter and the authority to confer degrees, making it the first Black institution in the United States to grant elementary education degrees. In 1969, the school adopted its present name, Winston-Salem State University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Soprano Sissieretta”Black Patti” Jones performs at the White House.
Sissieretta Jones, the "Black Patti," performed for President Benjamin Harrison at the White House. Jones, a soprano, was born in Virginia, spent her childhood in Providence, Rhode Island, and studied at the New England Conservatory. She first attracted the attention of critics in 1892 when she appeared at the Jubilee Spectacle and Cakewalk at Madison Square Garden in New York. One critic called her the "Black Patti," a comparison with the Italian prima donna Adelina Patti. According to some authorities, "Black Patti Jones" was sought for roles in Aida and L'Africaine by the Metropolitan Opera, but the project was dropped, reportedly because the "musical world was not ready to accept Black prima donnas." Jones toured Europe in 1893. Upon her return to the United States, she organized an all-Black company, "Black Patti's Troubadours," in which she was the featured soloist. Jones died in 1933.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1892 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Mary Holmes College is established to educate Black women.
Mary Holmes Seminary, named for a woman who devoted her life to helping the formerly enslaved, opened in Jackson, Mississippi. The board of Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church had founded the school to provide Black females with a Christian education and instruction in the domestic arts. The school moved to West Point in 1897 and eventually changed its name to Mary Holmes College. Men were first admitted in 1932.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Jul 10)
Published
0 0
Black jockey “Monk” Overton wins six straight horse races.
Black jockey "Monk" Overton wins six straight horse races at the Washington Park racetrack in Chicago. In 1907, another Black jockey, Jimmy Lee, also won six straight races at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Prior to 1907, only two other jockeys had equaled the achievements of Overton and Lee on top of Englishmen Fred Archer and George Fordham.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Jan 22)
Published
0 0
The Lodge Bill, aiming to protect the Black vote dies in the U.S. Senate.
The Lodge Bill, aiming to prevent infringements on Blacks' right to vote, failed in the U.S. Senate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (May 1)
Published
0 0
West Virginia State College is created as a school for Blacks by West Virginia legislature so they could continue to receive federal funds.
The second Morrill Act of 1890 stipulated that no land-grant institution may receive federal funds unless provisions are made for the education of Black youth. To assure continued federal funds for the state's land-grant university, the West Virginia legislature created another school for Blacks called the West Virginia Colored Institute. Today the school is known as West Virginia State College. It is located in West Virginia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is founded as Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race. It becomes a land-grant institution.
Historically Black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University got its start in 1891 as Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, one of two land-grant institutions in North Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Elizabeth City State University opens in North Carolina as Elizabeth State Colored Normal School.
The Elizabeth State Colored Normal School opened in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in 1891. It awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1939 and changed its name to Elizabeth City State University in 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Delaware State University opens as the State College for Colored Students.
The State College for Colored Students opened in Dover, Delaware. The school is now known as Delaware State University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1891 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
Black jockey Isaac Murphy becomes the first man to win three Kentucky derbies.
Isaac Murphy, a Black jockey riding "Kingman," became the first man to win three Kentucky derbies. Murphy won his first derby in 1884 on "Buchanan" and his second in 1890 on "Riley."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Sep 15)
Published
0 0
Writer Claude McKay, author of Harlem Shadows, is born in Jamaica.
Writer Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, the son of a farmer. He began writing early in life and published two volumes of poetry shortly after his twentieth birthday. In 1913, he came to the United States to study agriculture, but his desire to write poetry prevailed, and he moved to New York City. He began publishing his work in small literary magazines, traveled abroad, and returned to New York to serve under Max Eastman as associate editor of the Liberator. In 1922, he completed Harlem Shadows, a landmark work of the Harlem Renaissance. McKay continued to write, producing novels, poetry, and an autobiography. He died in 1948.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Sep 14)
Published
0 0
The Maryland Law School refuses to admit Blacks after being petitioned by the White students. The two Black students enrolled there at the time were told not to return.
Blacks were refused admittance into the Maryland Law School after most of the white students of the law, medical, and dental departments petitioned to the school's faculty to implement the measure. Two Black students had already graduated from the program with honors; the two who were enrolled at the time of the decision were told not to return.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court upholds railway segregation in Mississippi.
In the case of Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railway Company v. Mississippi, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that required separate accommodations for Blacks and whites. The railway that challenged the law had argued that separate accommodations placed a burden on interstate carriers, not that it violated civil rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Jul 1)
Published
0 0
Wealthy Whites in Kirkwood, Missouri try to block Blacks from purchasing land in their community to start a school. The Black group is still able to purchase the land and start the school.
Black Americans looking to begin a vocational school for Blacks bought the Kirkwood, Missouri, property on which Anna Sneed Cairns had been operating a female seminary. The wealthy, white community offered Cairns $27,000 for the land in an attempt to keep it from being sold to Blacks. But Cairns had little reason to appease the Kirkwood community as her decision to relocate her school stemmed from a quarrel with the town board. Upon settling on a price of $32,000, she accepted a partial payment for the land from Henry Bridgewater, the proprietor of two large saloons for Blacks that were reportedly raided frequently. Bridgewater, with his $10,000 donation, became the founder of the first manual training school for Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Aug 12 - Nov 1)
Published
0 0
Mississippi adopts literacy and “understanding” tests to disfranchise Black voters.
A constitutional convention in Mississippi adopted the literacy and "understanding" tests as devices to disfranchise Black voters. A poll tax of two dollars and a provision excluding voters convicted of bribery, burglary, theft, arson, murder, bigamy, and perjury were also included in the amendment. Before the convention, Black delegates from forty counties had met and protested to President Benjamin Harrison their impending disfranchisement. Harrison chose not to interfere. To avoid a fight over ratification, the white proponents of the disfranchising measures declared the amendment to be in effect after passage by the convention.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Harris-Stowe State College opens as Sumner Normal School, by the St. Louis, Missouri public school system to train Black elementary school teachers.
The St. Louis, Missouri, public school system opened Sumner Normal School in 1890 to train Black elementary school teachers. In 1924, Sumner became a four-year degree-granting college and five years later changed its name to Stowe Teachers College, in honor of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. The St. Louis Board of Education created the current Harris-Stowe State College in 1954 by merging Stowe with another teaching college. This merger was one of the first steps taken by the Board of Education to integrate the St. Louis school system.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1890 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
The Colored Farmers’ Alliance, an organization dedicated to improving the lot of the Black farmer, reached one million members.
The Colored Farmers' Alliance, a socioeconomic political organization dedicated to improving the lot of the Black farmer, reached a membership of one million. The Alliance, founded in 1886, included twelve state organizations and many local chapters formed wherever Black farmers were sufficiently numerous. There was, for a time, cooperation between the Black group and the white farmers alliance, but this was ruptured when the Black group called for a strike by Black cotton pickers. Leonidas L. Polk, president of the National Farmers' Alliance, accused the Black farmers of attempting to better their condition at the expense of whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1889 (Mar 23)
Published
0 0
H. P. Cheatham joins Congress and is the only Black person in Congress at the time.
H. P. Cheatham took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, following his election the previous November. At the time, he was the only Black person in Congress. Cheatham was born in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1857. He graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Cheatham served as superintendent for the Colored State Normal School in Plymouth, North Carolina, until 1885.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1889 (Jan 19)
Published
0 0
Activist Samuel Sewall dies.
Harvard graduate Samuel E. Sewall died at the age of ninety. Sewall had counseled enslaved fugitives and played a role in the cases of John Brown and Dred Scott. Harper's Weekly called him the oldest Free-Soiler in the country.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1888 (Nov 12)
Published
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Boston unveals a monument in commemoration of Crispus Attucks.
Boston presented a monument in commemoration of Crispus Attucks, the leader of the 1770 Boston Massacre in which five Americans were slain by British soldiers. Attucks is believed to have been of African and native American descent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1888 (Nov 17)
Published
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White businessman Daniel Hand donates over one million dollars to the American Missionary Association to help fund Black education. It was, at the time, the largest philanthropic gift to a benevolent association in the history of the nation.
Businessman Daniel Hand donated over one million dollars to the American Missionary Association for the purpose of educating Blacks in the seven southern states that had formerly permitted the enslavement of African people and their descendants. Hand’s trust fund was, at the time, the largest philanthropic gift to a benevolent association in the history of the nation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • The Madison Historical Society. https://www.madisonhistory.org/daniel-hand/. Retrieved 7/29/2022.
1888 (Apr 10)
Published
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St. Paul’s College is founded by the Episcopal Church as St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School.
Located in Lawrenceville, Virginia, St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School was founded by the Episcopal Church. This historically Black school changed its name in 1957 to St. Paul's College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1887 (Mar 9)
Published
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Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University opened as the State Normal College for Colored Students, with two teachers and fifteen students.
When Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University opened as the State Normal College for Colored Students in 1887, it had only two teachers and 15 students. The Tallahassee school became a land-grant institution in 1890, and in 1905 offered post-secondary education for the first time. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1910, and achieved university status in 1953 when it adopted its present name.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1887 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Central State University is founded by Wilberforce University.
The Normal and Industrial Department, later Central State University, was founded by Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Central State is Ohio's only predominantly Black public institution of higher education and is also one of only a few Black institutions located in the North.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1886 (Jun 12)
Published
0 0
White enslaver, David Dickson, willed more than half a million dollars to his Black daughter, Amanda Eubanks, upon his death, making her the wealthiest Black person of her day.
The Georgia state Supreme Court sustained the will of the late David Dickson, thus making Amanda Eubanks the wealthiest Black American of her day. Dickson, a former enslaver, willed more than a half million dollars to Eubanks. White relatives of Dickson, a bachelor, had contested the will on the grounds that it was illegal for a white man to leave property to his Black illegitimate children. The court disagreed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1886 (May 7)
Published
0 0
University of Maryland Eastern Shore opens as Princess Anne College, despite opposition. It later becomes a land-grant institution.
Despite opposition, Princess Anne College opened in Princess Anne, Maryland, as a school for Blacks. The school was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church and classes were held in the historic Onley House. The school, now part of the University of Maryland system and known as University of Maryland Eastern Shore, became a land-grant institution in 1890.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1886 (May 5)
Published
0 0
Shorter College is founded as Bethel University in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Historically Black Shorter College was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1886 as Bethel University. The name changed to Shorter College in 1903. Shorter was affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1886 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Kentucky State University opens as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. It later becomes a land grant institution.
The State Normal School for Colored Persons, later Kentucky State University, opened as a teacher-training college. In 1890, the school became a land-grant college.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1885 (Jun 24)
Published
0 0
Reverend Samuel David Ferguson becomes the first Black bishop in the American House of Bishops.
Reverend Samuel David Ferguson was named the first Black bishop within the American House of Bishops. The Charleston, South Carolina, native had been teaching and ministering in the states for more than twenty years and decided to spread his word in Cape Palmas, Africa, as the fourth bishop to work there as a missionary.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1885 (Mar 12)
Published
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The birth of Blues legend Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter.
Famous bluesman Huddie Ledbetter was born near Mooringsport, Louisiana, the son of farmers. Taught music by his mother and uncles, Ledbetter earned a reputation as the best guitar player and singer in Louisiana by the time he was sixteen. Nicknamed "Leadbelly" because of his strong base voice, he was deeply influenced by the talented blues singers who played in the red-light district of nearby Shreveport. He switched to a twelve-string guitar immediately after hearing one played. Between 1918 and 1934 Ledbetter's womanizing and volatility landed him in prison several times, and three times he escaped. After serving four years of a ten-year sentence, he was reprieved, thanks to a heartfelt plea for mercy and a recording of his song, "Irene, Good Night." Ledbetter continued to sing and record until his death from Lou Gehrig's disease in New York City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1885 (Mar 5)
Published
0 0
Reverend Moses A. Hopkins is appointed U.S. Minister to Liberia.
Reverend Moses A. Hopkins was appointed U.S. Minister to Liberia. Hopkins had escaped slavery during the Civil War and joined the Union Army as a cook. He had attended Avery College, Lincoln University, and the Theological Seminary at Auburn, New York, before attaining his position as minister. He had also reportedly organized the Albion Academy in North Carolina with six students under him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1884 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
Inventor Granville T. Woods receives his first patent for a steam boiler furnace. He would go on to receive over 30 patents in his lifetime.
Granville T. Woods received his first patent for a steam boiler furnace. The invention, which used a more efficient method of combustion and therefore economized fuel, was the first of about thirty-five that he patented throughout his life. Though Woods dealt mainly with electricity as it pertained to telephone communications and telegraphy, he invented other items such as the incubator and an apparatus consisting of a series of tracks for amusement park rides. Woods retained about one-third of his patents for himself and sold or assigned the others to companies such as General Electric, American Engineering, and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing. Woods gained experience with machines at the age of ten when he worked in a machine shop and received instruction in the evenings. At 16, he worked as a fireman and engineer on a Missouri railroad.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1884 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
The birth of fiction writer Oscar Micheaux, considered by many to be the first Black Indie filmmaker.
Fiction writer Oscar Micheaux was born in 1884. Although his semi-autobiographical stories were considered poor writing by some, Micheaux ensured their success with extensive promotional tours. His third book, The Homesteader (1917), attracted the interest of the Black, independent Lincoln Motion Picture Company. When Micheaux stubbornly insisted on directing the film version, the company backed out, and Micheaux himself set about financing the film. He found support from the Oklahoma farmers who had funded his novels and thus organized the Oscar Micheaux Corporation in New York City. The Homesteader was its first product, released in 1919. Micheaux went on to produce about thirty more pictures from 1919 to 1937, most suffering from quick production and low budgets. The plots were standard melodramas featuring light-skinned Blacks who were often touted as Black versions of Hollywood stars. Micheaux was responsible for the screen debut of Paul Robeson in Body and Soul (1924). On April 1, 1951, Micheaux died in Charlotte, North Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1884 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Black journalist T. Thomas Fortune founded the New York Age.
T. Thomas Fortune founded the New York Age. Fortune, born in Florida in 1856 to mixed-race parents, was the leading Black journalist until World War I. After the Civil War, he attended a Freedmen's Bureau school. Fortune's father, a tanner and shoe merchant, served several terms in the Florida legislature during Reconstruction and secured for his son an appointment as a page boy in the state Senate. The family's political activities and close social contacts with some whites created racial animosity among other whites that eventually forced the family to move from the capital to Jacksonville, where Fortune's father became town marshal. Fortune himself went to Washington, where he attended Howard University, partly from earnings secured as a special customs agent in Delaware. After leaving Howard, he taught briefly in Florida but soon left for New York. In 1879, Fortune began his long newspaper career in New York City. He first worked at the New York Sun, one of the city's leading newspapers. He published three books, the well-known, Black and White (1884); A Historical Essay on Land, Labor, and Politics in the South; The Negro in Politics (1885), and Dreams of Lye (1905). He was active in republican politics after the Civil War and advocated civil rights for Blacks. Fortune closely identified with Booker T. Washington and his ideas, but in later years edited some of Marcus Garvey's Black nationalist publications. During World War I, Fortune helped establish the famous 369th Black regiment. He died in 1928.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1884 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Arkansas Baptist College is founded.
The Arkansas Baptist Consolidated Convention opened the Minister's Institute in 1884. The school became Arkansas Baptist College the next year.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1883 (Sep 27)
Published
0 0
The National Colored Convention meets to outline the needs for Black Americans.
The National Colored Convention met in Louisville, Kentucky, and presented an outline of societal changes desired by Black Americans. The proclamation focused on the discrepancy between the rights that all citizens have by law and the rights that Blacks, particularly in the South, felt did not exist for them. The address called for an end to the plantation, credit, and mortgage systems and segregation of schools and the armed forces. Conventioneers also called for reforms in the voting and justice systems.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1883 (Oct 15)
Published
0 0
The Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional. The reconstruction amendments, the court reasoned, did not extend into the area of public accommodations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1883 (Nov 26)
Published
0 0
Activist Sojourner Truth dies in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan. Truth was born enslaved in 1797, with the name Isabella, in Hurley, New York. The mother of five children, she was separated from her husband prior to gaining her freedom in 1827. After her statutory emancipation in New York in 1827, Truth went to work for a "religious fanatic" named Pierson in New York City. By 1843, she had become disillusioned with Pierson and left, proclaiming that her name was no longer Isabella, but Sojourner. She said that "the Lord gave [her] Truth, because [she] was to declare the truth to the people." She became a legendary "sojourner," as she traveled about espousing abolition, women's rights, and other reforms. She held steadfastly to the belief that she was a chosen messenger of God. Though illiterate, Truth made a substantial impression upon her audiences. On one occasion, when Frederick Douglass was speaking at Faneuil Hall in Boston, he said that Blacks could not hope to find justice in America. Truth countered this pessimism by asking "Frederick, is God dead?" Truth also played a prominent role in the Second National Women's Suffrage Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1852. During the Civil War, she supported the arming of enslaved Blacks and helped care for wounded soldiers and freedmen. During the Reconstruction Era and until the end of her life, she urged property ownership and education as keys to Black advancement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1883 (Mar 20)
Published
0 0
Black shoemaker Jan E. Matzeliger patents a complicated machine that manufacturers an entire shoe after working on it for a decade. The invention is sold to United Shoe Company and revolutionizes the industry.
Jan E. Matzeliger, a Massachusetts shoemaker, invented a complicated machine that manufactured an entire shoe. The invention, which was sold to the United Shoe Company, revolutionized the industry. By 1880, machines were able to cut and stitch the leather, but not to shape and attach the upper portion of the shoe to the sole. This had to be done by hand, a slow and tedious process. Working in secret, Matzeliger tackled the "lasting" problem for ten years. In 1883, he received the patent for his perfected product, a "lasting machine," which could hold the shoe on the last, grip and pull the leather down around the heel, set and drive the nails, and discharge the completed shot.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1883 (Jun 20)
Published
0 0
In Pace v. Alabama, the Supreme Court upheld an Alabama law that gave harsher sentences to interracial adulterers than for same-race offenders, claiming the law was not discriminatory.
The Supreme Court, in Pace v. Alabama, unanimously upheld an Alabama law that provided a harsher sentence for interracial adulterers than for same-race offenders. The law was not discriminatory, the court ruled, because the same punishment was mandated for both offenders.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1882 (Jun 23)
Published
0 0
In United States v. Harris, the Supreme Court strikes down the Enforcement Act of 1871, claiming it oversteps the boundaries of the 13th and 14th Amendments. This, in effect, made private acts of discrimination legal.
The Supreme Court struck down the third Enforcement Act (Ku Klux Act) of 1871, which made it illegal to block a state's execution of equal protection of the laws. Twenty Whites, R. G. Harris among them, had been charged with violating this portion of the law when they attacked four Black suspects in police custody. But the Enforcement Act was nulled because, the court said, it went beyond the boundaries of the 13th and 14th Amendments, which made punishable acts of discrimination by the state, not by private persons. The men were acquitted and private acts of discrimination were, in effect, legalized.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1882 (Jun 20)
Published
0 0
Walden Seminary receives a large donation, then changes its name to Philander Smith College.
Adeline Smith donated $10,500 to Walden Seminary in 1882, five years after the seminary was founded, to provide educational opportunities to freedmen west of the Mississippi River. In appreciation, the school changed its name to Philander Smith College, after Smith's husband. Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, the college was chartered as a four-year institution in 1883 and awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1888.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1882 (Jun 13)
Published
0 0
Virginia State University is founded as Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute in Petersburg, Virginia.
Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute was founded in 1882, though a hostile lawsuit prevented it from opening until 1883. The historically Black college awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1889. Now known as Virginia State University, the school is located in Petersburg, Virginia, and is one of Virginia's two land grant institutions.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1882 (May 10)
Published
0 0
Lane College is founded as Colored Methodist Episcopal High School.
The historically Black Lane College was founded in 1882 as the Colored Methodist Episcopal High School. It became Lane College in 1896 and awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1899.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1882 (Apr 9)
Published
0 0
The Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church is founded by Black Methodists. They later establish what is now Paine College.
After the Civil War, Black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the south established the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church. Recognizing the need to train Black ministers and teachers, the church created the Paine Institute in Augusta, Georgia, within the year. Paine Institute was chartered in 1883 and adopted the name Paine College in 1903.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (May 19)
Published
0 0
Blanche K. Bruce appointed Register of the Treasury.
President James A. Garfield appointed former Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi Register of the Treasury.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (May 17)
Published
0 0
Frederick Douglass named Recorder of Deeds for Washington D.C.
President James A. Garfield appointed Frederick Douglass the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Aug 6)
Published
0 0
Reverend Henry Garnett is appointed minister to Liberia.
Reverend Henry Highland Garnett was appointed minister to Liberia. In 1816, at the age of eight, Garnett freed himself from slavery after his enslaver died. In 1839, he graduated from Oneida Collegiate Institute and, in 1842, from Troy Theological College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Apr 11)
Published
0 0
Spelman College is founded in a damp church basement in Atlanta, Georgia with the goal of educating newly freed Black women.
Originally, the Atlanta Baptist female academy, Spelman College, was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, to provide education for newly freed Black women. Classes were first held in a damp church basement with eleven pupils who were determined to learn to read the Bible and write well enough to send letters to their families in the North. John D. Rockefeller, impressed by the school on a visit, became an early benefactor by paying off a $16,700 debt on buildings purchased for the school. It became the "Radcliffe and the Sarah Lawrence of Negro education."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Apr 14)
Published
0 0
Tuskegee University is founded in Alabama as a school for rural Black children. Booker T. Washington was the school’s first principal. It was also the first training ground for Black military pilots.
Tuskegee University was founded in Tuskegee, Alabama, as a school for rural Black children. Booker T. Washington was the new school's first principal. Though it started in a one-room shack, the school expanded into an abandoned plantation that remains the heart of the present-day campus. Tuskegee established the first degree-granting nursing program in Alabama and was the first training ground for Black military pilots. Tuskegee achieved university status in 1967.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
Tennessee segregates railroad cars.
Tennessee took the lead in requiring segregation in railroad cars. By 1907, all of the Southern states required segregation in public accommodations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Apr 5)
Published
0 0
Morris Brown College opens with two teachers and 107 students.
Morris Brown College opened with two teachers and 107 students. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the school was founded for the Christian education of Black boys and girls in Manta. Morris Brown operated as a primary, secondary, and normal school until 1894, when its college department was established.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1881 (Apr 2)
Published
0 0
Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, the only Black officer in the U.S. Army at the time, is dismissed for allegedly embezzling funds. Flipper denies the claim and blames the dismissal on racism.
The U.S. Army dismissed Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper for allegedly having embezzled funds. Flipper, the first Black American to graduate from West Point Military Academy, was the only Black officer in the U.S. army. He denied the charges to his dying day, blaming the dismissal on racism. Although a Congressman and a Senator attempted to clear Flipper's name through legislation, their bills died in committees. He was not exonerated until 1976, some thirty-six years after his death.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1880 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
In Virginia v. Rives, the Supreme Court upholds states’ rights to appoint state officials who would not choose Blacks for jury panels as long as they are legally able to participate.
A challenge of jury selection practices failed in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with the Virginia v. Rives case. Two Virginia Blacks accused of murdering a white man had petitioned for a new jury pool when the original one turned up all-white. The state refused on grounds that the pool was selected in accordance with Virginia law, which did not exclude Blacks. The high court upheld that decision, leaving states free to appoint state officials who would not choose Blacks for the jury panels though they were legally able to participate.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1880 (Apr 6)
Published
0 0
Johnson Chesnutt Whittaker, the only Black person at West Point that year, was assaulted, then unfavorably found guilty in military court.
Twenty-one-year-old Johnson Chesnutt Whittaker, the only Black American at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1880, was found unconscious in his room by a guard. Whittaker's hands were bound, his legs were tied to the bedposts, and his earlobes and hair were cut. Upon investigation, Whittaker said he had been assaulted by three masked attackers. However, he was found guilty of self-mutilation by a military court of inquiry. When another military court of inquiry sustained that decision, an unfavorable public reaction led President Rutherford B. Hayes to appoint a new superintendent to West Point. Whittaker was then granted a leave of absence and a court martial. According to news accounts in Harper's weekly at the time, the facts demonstrated the Administration was not satisfied that Whittaker had received a fair opportunity at West Point. In 1881, a court martial found him guilty of self-mutilation. March 22, 1882, President Chester Arthur invalidated the trial on the recommendations of the judge-advocate of the army and the secretary of war. Later that day, Whittaker was dismissed from the academy for failing an exam in June of 1880. Whittaker was born enslaved August 23, 1858, to James Whitaker, a free Black and Maria Whitaker, who was enslaved. Later he added the second "t" to his name. He attended the University of South Carolina and received a congressman's appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After leaving the academy he taught at Avery Institute, in Charleston, South Carolina. He later practiced law in Sumpter. Page E. Harrison married him in 1890 and they had two sons. Whittaker died January 14, 1931, of a gastric ulcer. In October 1995, Whittaker was honored with a commission as second lieutenant by President Bill Clinton, who made the presentation to the cadet's granddaughter and great-grandson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1880 (Sep 16)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court declares, in the Strauder v. West Virginia case, that excluding Blacks from jury duty is unconstitutional after a Black man has issues with being tried by an all-white jury.
A West Virginia law that excluded Blacks from jury duty was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Strauder v. West Virginia. The case was heard by the court after Taylor Strauder, a Black man found guilty of murder, petitioned to have his case heard by a federal court because, he claimed, he could not be tried fairly by West Virginia's all-white jury system.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1880 (Sep 15)
Published
0 0
In Neal v. Delaware, the Supreme Court reverses a Black man’s death sentence because Blacks had been purposefully excluded from the trial jury.
The Supreme Court, in Neal v. Delaware, reversed a Black man's death sentence because of the admission, by the state attorney general, that Blacks had purposefully been excluded from the trial jury.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1880 (Sep 11)
Published
0 0
Southern University is established after Louisiana passes legislation for a school for Blacks. It later becomes a land-grant institution.
With support from the nation's first Black governor, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, Louisiana legislators passed provisions for a school for Blacks. Southern University was established as a result of this legislation, opening its doors to 12 students in 1881. Five years later the state appropriated $14,000 for new facilities for the school. An agricultural and mechanical department was added in 1890 and within a year Southern University became a land-grant institution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1879 (Apr 26)
Published
0 0
The exodus of thousands of Blacks from the South is addressed in a Harper’s Weekly article refuting claims that Southern Blacks were almost equal to whites in regard to education, wages, and civil rights.
An article in Harper's Weekly attempted to explain the migration of thousands of Blacks from the South - Mississippi, and Louisiana in particular - to Kansas. The article refuted other claims that Southern Blacks were not far behind whites with regard to education, wages, and civil rights: "If the colored people felt sure of fair wages and fair play at the polls in Mississippi, they would certainly not go by hundreds to Kansas. Agents and knaves and demagogues may have promised mules and forty acres and a charming climate, but they would have been vain allurements against fair play at home."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1879 (Apr 15)
Published
0 0
Livingstone College is founded in North Carolina as Zion Wesley Institute by a group of ministers.
African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) Zion ministers founded Zion Wesley Institute, now Livingstone College, in Salisbury, North Carolina. The college started in the parsonage of Bishop C. R. Harris and moved to a one-building, 40-acre site in 1882. Livingstone awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1887.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1879 (Apr 2)
Published
0 0
In the Exodus of 1879, as many as 40,000 Blacks flee the South in search of a better life, but are met with White and Indian hostility in the West.
Large numbers of southern Blacks, frustrated with discrimination and poverty in the south, emigrated to the west. Most were disappointed in the "Exodus of 1879" as they met white and Indian hostility in the west. The most prominent leader of the exodus, which led principally to Kansas, was Benjamin "Pap" Singleton. He was a mixed-race formerly enslaved man who, after a number of unsuccessful attempts, made his way to freedom in Canada. Singleton favored racial separatism and encouraged industriousness among Blacks. Many of the better educated Blacks were hostile to Singleton's movement, especially to his concept of a Black community apart from white influence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1878 (Nov 16)
Published
0 0
An article asserts that the Klu Klux Klan has been revived under the name Red Shirts.
A Harper Weekly article denounced the practices of the Red Shirts, an organization of Southern democrats who were violently interrupting Black-inclusive republican meetings and, the article claimed, stifling the party. The writer asserted, "The Ku-Klux has been revived under the name of Red Shirts and this new form of the Ku-Klux has done more to justify the estimate of 'the South' as a nest of hopeless barbarism than any recent event."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1878 (May 11)
Published
0 0
What is now Prairie View A&M University, is opened with eight Black men becoming the first to enroll in the Texas state-supported school.
Eight Black men became the first Blacks to enroll at a state-supported school in Texas when they enrolled at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas for Colored Youths. The school, now known as Prairie View A&M University, is the second oldest institution of higher education in the state of Texas.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1878 (Apr 9)
Published
0 0
Selma University is founded in Selma, Alabama to train Black teachers and ministers.
Selma University was founded in Selma, Alabama, to train Blacks for careers as teachers and ministers. In 1881, the school was incorporated; the first class of 11 coeds graduated in 1884. The name Selma University was adopted in 1908 when the school was granted the right to confer degrees and grant diplomas. Selma is affiliated with the Alabama State Baptist Convention.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1878 (Mar 13)
Published
0 0
Journalist and activist Jesse Max Barber is born.
Jesse Barber was born in Blackstock, South Carolina, to Jesse Max and Susan Barber, both formerly enslaved. Barber worked his way through school, earning a bachelor's degree from Virginia Union University in Richmond. Following graduation, he moved to Atlanta to help start a new publication, "The Voice of the Negro". Barber worked his way up from managing editor to principal editor of the publication, which became a respected and popular magazine. As editor, Barber was an outspoken advocate of the early Civil Rights Movement. In 1905, he was one of twenty-nine who answered William Edward Burghardt Du Bois's call to form the Niagara Movement, a radical group that was the predecessor of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People(NAACP). When The Voice folded in 1907, Barber returned to school, earning a degree in dentistry. He began a professional practice in Philadelphia in 1912. Barber worked with the newly formed NAACP, serving as president of its Philadelphia branch and as a member of its national board of directors for several years. Barber's final public activity was the founding of the John Brown Memorial Association, a group formed to raise funds for a statue honoring the famed abolitionist. The statue was erected in 1935 in North Elba, New York. Barber continued his dental practice until his death in Philadelphia in September 1949.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1878 (Feb 14)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Hall v. Decuir, ruled that state anti-discrimination laws were not applicable to interstate carriers.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Hall v. Decuir, ruled that state anti-discrimination laws were not applicable to interstate carriers. The court heard the case of a steamboat operator who had appealed a Louisiana state court judgment against him for refusing transportation to a woman because of her race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1877 (Mar 18)
Published
0 0
President Rutherford Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal for the district of Columbia despite opposition.
Despite southern opposition from within his own party, president Rutherford Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal for the district of Columbia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1877 (Feb 26)
Published
0 0
The New York Times praises the progress of Black education. They state that most work done by white churches occurred from northerners, while white southerners pleaded poverty as their excuse for not doing more.
The network of benevolent institutions pulling together human and monetary resources for the purpose of educating Blacks gained recognition from the mainstream press that typically ignored Black topics. The New York Times praised the significant contributions to Black education of the African Methodist Episcopal church, the American Missionary Association, and the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Times article asserted that most of the work by white churches was done by those in the north while those in the south plead poverty as their excuse for not doing more. If their work was not stopped by the White leaguers, they would affect a great improvement in the intellectual and moral condition of the next generation of the Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1877 (Feb 26)
Published
0 0
Presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes meets with southern representatives at the Black-owned Wormely hotel in Washington D.C. The Wormely agreement takes place and leads to the Compromise of 1877.
Representatives of presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes met with representatives from the South at the Black-operated Wormely hotel in Washington, D.C. The complicated 'Wormely Agreement' was reached that led to the election of Hayes as president and the removal of the last federal troops supporting Black Reconstruction in the South via the Compromise of 1877.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1877 (Feb 15)
Published
0 0
Jackson State University opens as the Natchez Seminary in Mississippi by the American Baptist Home Mission Society.
The school that would become Jackson State University in 1974 opened in 1877 as the Natchez Seminary in Natchez, Mississippi. Established by the American Baptist Home Mission Society for the Moral, Religious, and Intellectual Improvement of the Black leaders of Mississippi, the Natchez Seminary moved to Jackson in 1882. The school operated as a private church school until 1940 when it became a state institution for training rural and elementary school teachers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1877 (Feb 5)
Published
0 0
Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first Black West Point graduate.
Henry Ossian Flipper finished 50th in a class of 76, becoming West Point's first Black graduate. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the all-Black 10th cavalry regiment in Texas. In 1878, he penned an autobiography, "The Colored Cadet at West Point." Flipper served in Texas until 1881 when he was dismissed for allegedly embezzling funds, a charge he vehemently denied for the rest of his life. After his dismissal, Flipper worked as an engineer and a miner. He continued to write, publishing at least three books. He contributed articles to the Old Santa Fe and several newspapers. His knowledge of law was impressive and made him a valuable commodity to employers. Between 1892 and 1903 he worked in the court of private land claims of the Department of Justice as a special agent. Flipper volunteered his services at the start of the Spanish-American War, and two legislators initiated bills to reinstitute Flipper's military rank. Both bills failed to garner support. In 1919, Flipper moved to Washington to work as a subcommittee translator and interpreter of Spanish. In 1923, he left the government in the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal (he was not implicated) and worked for an oil company in Venezuela. In 1930, he moved to Atlanta and lived with his brother, Joseph. Flipper died of a heart attack in 1940. He was exonerated posthumously by the military in 1976.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Sep 26)
Published
0 0
Educator William Jasper Hale is born.
William Jasper Hale began his administrative work at a small Black elementary school and worked his way up to the role of principal of the Black St. Elmo secondary school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1911, Hale was appointed principal of the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School, Tennessee's first and only Black state college. He later became its president. His administrative talents helped land the school a fully accredited four-year status in the 1920s. During Hale's thirty-one-year-tenure, enrollment grew from 200 to 3,000. Hale was president of the Conference of the Negro Land Grant Colleges, and he founded and was president of the Tennessee Interracial League. He received the Harmon foundation medal in 1930 for advancing Black education in the south and was a member of the Nashville Board of Trade and of President Herbert Hoover's Negro Housing Committee. Hale died on October 5, 1944, in New York City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Mar 8)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Senate refuses Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback his congressional seat after many oppose his election.
The U.S. Senate, following three years of debate and controversy, refused to seat Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback of Louisiana. In the fall of 1872, Pinchback was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and later to the U.S. Senate in the winter of 1873. During the long debate over Pinchback's case, including nearly an entire extra session of Congress, the affable Pinchback became a national political figure as well as a prominent name in Washington society. Opponents of Pinchback argued that he had not been properly elected and was not qualified; others insisted that the opposition to Pinchback supposedly stemmed from senators' wives being against social intercourse with Pinchback's wife, thereby resulting in their husbands' negative votes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Mar 27)
Published
0 0
In United States v. Reese, the Supreme Court declares that control over suffrage is the states’ responsibility, deeming the Enforcement Act unlawful. The case came about when a Kentucky voting official refused to count a Black person’s vote.
In its United States v. Reese ruling, the Supreme Court reversed a federal Civil Rights Enforcement Act that made illegal the obstruction of any person's vote. The issue went before the court when federal prosecutors charged a Kentucky voting official with violating the law when he refused to count a Black American's vote. The Supreme Court, however, declared that control over suffrage rested in states' hands, and so, the federal Enforcement Act was unlawful as Congress had overextended its authority in enacting it.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Mar 27)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court reverses the indictments of Whites involved in the slaughter of 280 Blacks in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873 in the United States v. Cruikshank case. All charges are dropped.
In United States v. Cruikhank, the Supreme Court reversed the indictments and convictions of whites involved in the 1873 killings of 280 Blacks in Colfax, Louisiana. The defendants had been convicted for violating the Civil Rights Enforcement Act of 1870 which prohibited the interference of civil rights due to race. The high court, however, ruled that the racial motivations behind the attack had not been specified, so the intent to deprive Blacks of civil rights had not been proven. The charges were dropped.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Jul 8 - Oct 26)
Published
0 0
Racial unrest in South Carolina prompts President Ulysses S. Grant to call in federal troops to restore order.
Racial disturbances in South Carolina resulted in President Ulysses S. Grant's ordering federal troops in to restore order. In Hamburg, five Blacks were killed in July.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Apr 4)
Published
0 0
Tuscalossa Institute, later named Stillman College, is founded as a theological training school for Black men.
Tuscaloosa Institute, which later came to be called Stillman College, was founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as a theological training school for Black men. The school's general assembly approved the enrollment of women in 1899. Stillman College became a four-year liberal arts institution in 1948. It is a private school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Meharry Medical College is established in Nashville, Tennessee and becomes the first all-Black medical school.
Meharry Medical College, the first all-Black medical school in the United States (and still one of only three), was established in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1876, as the medical department of Central Tennessee College. Dentistry and pharmacy were added to the school's curriculum over the next few years. In 1915, it became its own institution. At one point, about 40 percent of all Black physicians and dentists in the United States were graduates of Meharry.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1876 (Feb 12)
Published
0 0
Edward A. Bouchet becomes the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. by a major university.
Reportedly, the first doctor of philosophy degree to be awarded to a Black person by a major university was bestowed upon Edward A. Bouchet, a physicist, by Yale University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Mar 15)
Published
0 0
Blanche K. Bruce serves as Mississippi’s second Black senator. He was the only Black American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate until the mid-twentieth century.
Mississippi's second Black senator, thirty-five-year-old Blanche K. Bruce, took his seat in Congress. He was the only Black American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate until the mid-twentieth century. The native Virginian was born enslaved and worked as a body servant for the son of a wealthy planter. When his young enslaver took him to the Confederate Army as a valet, Bruce escaped in Missouri. There he established a school for Blacks. Bruce later attended Oberlin College, where he studied for two years. After the Civil War, he became a modestly wealthy Mississippi planter, taught school occasionally, and held minor political offices as a republican before being elected to the Senate. Bruce's good reputation even won him a few votes from white democrats in the Mississippi legislature. However, when Bruce's fellow (white) senator from Mississippi refused to escort him to be sworn in, as was the custom, Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York took Bruce's hand and led him to the front of the chamber. It was a well-publicized event and an historic moment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875 that prohibits discrimination in accommodations. The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the law 8 years later.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed by Congress. It prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation. Inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement were included among those accommodations to which all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States were entitled to enjoy, regardless of any previous condition of servitude. Because of economic deprivation and prickly legal arrangements, few Blacks were able to take advantage of the law's provisions. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law in 1883.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Classes began for seven Black students at Branch Normal School. It later changed its name to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The first classes at the historically Black University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff were taught to seven students in a rented building. In 1882, the state built the university a two-story brick building. From 1894 to 1929 the school, then known as Branch Normal College, operated as a junior college. University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff adopted its current name when it joined the University of Arkansas System in 1972.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
Knoxville College is founded in Tennessee to teach first-generation college students.
The McKee School for Negro Youth, founded in 1863 in Knoxville, Tennessee, became Knoxville College. Knoxville, founded by Presbyterian missionaries, was dedicated to the development of first-generation college students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Houston-Tillotson College is established in Austin, Texas.
Historically Black Tillotson College was established in 1875 in Austin, Texas. In 1952, it merged with another historically Black college, Samuel Houston College, which was founded in 1876, to form Houston-Tillotson College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1875 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University is founded as Huntsville Normal School and later becomes a land-grant institution.
Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University was founded as Huntsville Normal School in 1875. The first president was William Hooper Councill, who was formerly enslaved. It became a land-grant institution with the passage of the Morrill Act in 1890 and moved to its present location in Normal, Alabama, a suburb of Huntsville. The university achieved the status of junior college in 1919 and awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1941. In 1969, the school adopted its present name.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1874 (Jul 31)
Published
0 0
Black priest, Father Patrick Francis Healy, presides over Georgetown University.
Father Patrick Francis Healy became president of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic college in the United States. Healy, the brother of James Augustine Healy, the first Black American to become a Roman Catholic bishop, headed the institution until 1883.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1874 (Jan 24)
Published
0 0
Historian Arturo Schomburg is born. He would go on to receive the William E. Harmon Award for his outstanding work.
Bibliophile, curator, writer, and mason Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born to Carlos and Maria Schomburg in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He attended public schools in San Juan and graduated from the Instituto de Instruccion and the Institute de Ensenanza Popular. Schomburg attended St. Thomas College in the Virgin Islands and began to collect books and photographs about Puerto Ricans of African descent. (The passion for collecting material sprang from an incident in grade school—a teacher asked him to write an essay on his heritage and he was unable to find any material.) Schomburg expanded his collection to include all people of African descent. By 1926, his collection included over 5,000 books, 3,000 manuscripts, 2,000 etchings, and several thousand pamphlets. In April 1891, he went to New York City and became a member of the Puerto Rico Revolutionary Party. He became a mason a year later. Schomburg wrote "Racial Integrity: A plea for the establishment of a chair of Negro history in our schools, colleges, etc.," and magazine articles and brochures on masonry. In 1927, he received the William E. Harmon award for his outstanding work. He served as curator in 1932 for the division of Negro literature, history, and prints at the New York Public Library. Schomburg died June 10, 1938.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1874 (Apr 4)
Published
0 0
The birth of sculptor Isaac Scott Hathaway.
Isaac Scott Hathaway was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Hathaway, a Black sculptor, ceramist, and educator, studied at Chandler College, Pittsburgh College, and the New England Conservatory of Music. The U.S. Mint commissioned the noted ceramist to design the Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver memorial coins. Hathaway's most famous works were portrait busts of Washington, Frederick Douglass, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1873 (Nov 6)
Published
0 0
The University of South Carolina appoints its first Black faculty member, Richard T. Greener.
The first Black graduate of Harvard University, Richard T. Greener, was appointed to the faculty of the University of South Carolina. Some of the university's white students and faculty left the college when it was integrated.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1873 (July 29)
Published
0 0
Wiley College opens in Texas by the Methodist Church.
Wiley College opened in two frame buildings just south of Marshall, Texas. The school, affiliated with the Methodist Church, was chartered in 1882 by the Freedmen's Aid Society to provide educational opportunities for newly freed men.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1873 (July 19)
Published
0 0
In what is known as the Slaughterhouse Cases, the Supreme Court rejects claims from a Black firm that a Louisiana statute giving a white-owned slaughterhouse a 25-year monopoly in New Orleans violates the 14th Amendment and defies their equal protection of laws.
The Supreme Court's first interpretation of the 14th Amendment was revealed in its ruling on the Slaughterhouse Cases. With only a five-to-four majority, the court came forth with a conservative precedent that defined the way the equal protection and due process clauses would be applied for the next decade. The court heard the case after a butchering company mainly comprised of Blacks challenged a Louisiana statute that gave another slaughtering operation a twenty-five-year monopoly in New Orleans. The Black firm argued that the law violated the 14th Amendment in that it defied their equal protection of laws and their rights to the privileges and immunities of citizenship. The court rejected all of their claims.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1873 (July 4)
Published
0 0
Bennett College is founded in Greensboro, North Carolina by the United Methodist Church as a liberal arts college for women. Today, it is one of only two historically Black colleges for women.
Bennett Seminary was founded in Greensboro, North Carolina, by the United Methodist Church in 1873. It adopted the name Bennett College in 1889. Bennett is one of the few remaining four-year liberal arts colleges for women and one of only two historically Black colleges for women.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1872 (Dec 11)
Published
0 0
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback becomes the first Black governor in the U.S. when he serves as temporary governor of Louisiana for 43 days.
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback , a former Union officer and lieutenant governor of Louisiana, was named temporary governor of the state, becoming the first Black to serve as a state governor. He served for forty-three days as incumbent Henry C. Warmoth was impeached. Pinchback was the son of a white Mississippi planter and army officer, and a mixed-race Black woman who bore nine other children. His father moved his children north for manumission. Young Pinchback was tutored at home and then formal schooled in Cincinnati, Ohio. After his father's death, he worked on Mississippi river boats. During the Civil War, Pinchback organized a company of Union volunteers in New Orleans and became their captain. He held many political offices during the Reconstruction of Louisiana, including U.S. Senator. Pinchback earned a reputation as a shrewd, aggressive politician.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1872 (May 5)
Published
0 0
South Carolina State University is founded. It later becomes a land grant institution.
South Carolina State University was founded as South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Institute in 1872 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. From 1872 to 1895 the school existed as part of Claflin College; it opened independently in 1896 as a land grant institution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1872 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Paul Quinn College is founded by a group of Black ministers.
A group of Black circuit-riding African Methodist Episcopal church ministers founded Paul Quinn College in Austin, Texas. The school moved to Waco in 1887 and Dallas in 1990.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1871 (Oct 12)
Published
0 0
Educator and Civil Rights activist, Octavius Catto, is murdered on the night of a city election.
Octavius Catto, the headmaster of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was shot and killed on the night of a city election.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1871 (Feb 15)
Published
0 0
Claflin College is founded.
In 1871, Baker Biblical Institute, which was founded in 1866, merged with Claflin University, founded in 1869. The Orangeburg, South Carolina, school granted its first diploma in 1882. Claflin College is a traditionally Black institution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1871 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Alcorn University is established as a school for Black men and later becomes a land grant institution.
The state of Mississippi purchased the defunct Oakland College in 1871 as a school for Black men. Located in Lorman, Alcorn University, as it was then known, became a land grant institution in 1878. Alcorn State's first president, Hiram Revels, was the first Black elected to the U.S. Senate.
1870 (Mar 30)
Published
0 0
The 15th Amendment is ratified.
The fifteenth amendment, forbidding the denial of the right to vote to American citizens, was ratified.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (Feb 25)
Published
0 0
Hiram Revels, a former barber and preacher, becomes the only Black person in Congress.
Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi took Jefferson Davis's former seat in the U.S. Senate, becoming the only Black American in Congress. Revels, a former barber and preacher, was a reluctant politician. It is said that his fervent prayer before the Mississippi legislature in 1870 persuaded many to vote for him. Many democrats opposed his selection to the senate and argued vainly that he could not legally be seated, not having been a citizen before the Civil War. (Constitutionally, senators must be U.S. citizens for at least nine years). After retiring from politics, leaving an undistinguished legislative record behind him, Revels became president of Alcorn College for Negroes in Mississippi.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (Feb 2)
Published
0 0
Jonathan Wright becomes associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. He served as the highest Black judicial officer in the nation for seven years.
Jonathan Jasper Wright, a well-educated Pennsylvanian, became associate Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. Wright served for seven years as the highest Black judicial officer in the nation. Although Wright was one of only three members of the court, he exercised no influence on behalf of Black American rights. Yet white democratic leaders sought constantly to have him removed on charges of corruption. Wright left the bench in 1877 as Black Reconstruction toppled in the state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
Joseph H. Rainey is elected to U.S. House of Representatives. He was the House’s first Black member.
Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina was seated in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rainey was born to enslaved parents in George town, South Carolina, in 1832. His own freedom was purchased before the Civil War by his father, a barber. A well educated person of mixed-race, Rainey himself became a barber in Charleston. Even though he was a respected member of the Charleston Black community, he was called to work on fortifications by the Confederates during the Civil War. Rainey refused and exiled himself in the West Indies, where he remained until the end of the Civil War. During Reconstruction, he returned to South Carolina and served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1868. In 1870, he was elected to the State Senate, but soon resigned to accept the House seat vacated by B. Franklin Whittimore. Rainey was then elected to the four succeeding congresses. As a House member, he frequently spoke in favor of education and other social advances for Blacks. The House's first Black member was also a consultant to President Rutherford B. Hayes and once received the president's personal commendation for sobriety and attention to duty. After returning from Congress in 1879, Rainey served as an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent in South Carolina, then entered business in Washington, D.C. He returned to Georgetown in 1886 and died there a year later.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Benedict College is founded as Benedict Institute in Columbia, South Carolina.
Benedict College was founded as Benedict Institute in 1870 in Columbia, South Carolina. The school awarded its first degree and adopted its present name in 1984.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1870 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Allen University opens in South Carolina as Payne Institute. It is later renamed to honor African Methodist Episcopal Church. founder Richard Allen.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church opened the Payne Institute in 1870 in Columbia, South Carolina. The school reopened in 1880 under the name Allen University in honor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founder Richard Allen. Allen University is the oldest traditionally Black college in South Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1869 (Mar 16)
Published
0 0
Tougaloo College is established by the American Missionary Association of New York.
In 1869 the American Missionary Association of New York bought 500 acres of a former plantation in Tougaloo, Mississippi, to train young people irrespective of their religious tenets, and to educate with the most liberal principles for the benefit of the citizens in general. Tougaloo College offered college courses starting in 1897.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1869 (Mar 15)
Published
0 0
Dillard University is founded as Union Normal School by the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Union Normal School was founded in 1869 by the Methodist Episcopal Church. By the end of the century Union was renamed New Orleans University. On June 6, 1930, New Orleans University merged with another historically Black school, Straight College, to become Dillard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1869 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
Clark College is founded by the Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In order to provide formal education to Blacks in the South, Atlanta's Clark College was founded by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1869 as Clark University. In 1877, Clark was chartered by the state of Georgia. Clark College merged with the historically Black Atlanta University in 1988.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Sep 22 - Oct 26)
Published
0 0
Racism sparks a series of race riots in Louisiana.
A series of race riots developed in Louisiana. Such disturbances occurred in New Orleans on September 22; in Opelousas on September 28; and in St. Bernard Parish on October 26.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Jan 8)
Published
0 0
Suffrage is extended to Blacks in the district of Columbia.
Congress enacts a law giving suffrage to Blacks in the district of Columbia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Jun 13)
Published
0 0
Oscar J. Dunn becomes the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. It is the highest elective office held by a Black person up to that time.
Oscar J. Dunn, a freedman, became Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, the highest elective office held by a Black American up to that time. Dunn was an apprentice to a plasterer and house painter until age fifteen, when he escaped. Born in New Orleans in 1826, Dunn took a job with the Freedman's Bureau there at the close of the Civil War. (He had served as a captain in the union army during the war). As a Bureau agent, Dunn checked the employment practices of planters who hired Black laborers. He found that the freedmen were often cheated of their minimum $15-a-month earnings and thus reported these and other abuses of the Freedman's Bureau wage-contract system. Dunn was one of the forty-nine Blacks who attended the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1867-68. As lieutenant governor, Dunn presided over the state senate and signed some of the laws emanating from the new state constitution. In 1871, he was named chairman of the Republican State Convention. Since Dunn was a skillful politician, some considered nominating him for governor or U.S. Senator before his untimely death in 1871.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Jul 6)
Published
0 0
South Carolina legislature had a Black majority.
The South Carolina legislature met in Columbia, the state's capital. More than half of the lawmakers were Black (87 Blacks and 40 whites), making South Carolina the only state legislature in American history to have a Black majority. Whites, however, controlled the state senate, and by 1874 there was a white majority in the lower house. At all times there was a white governor. There were two Black lieutenant-governors, Alonzo J. Ransier in 1870 and Richard H. Gleaves in 1872. Two Blacks, Samuel J. Lee and Robert B. Elliott, served as speaker of the house between 1872 and 1874. One of the most accomplished Black South Carolina officeholders was Francis L. Cardozo, who served as secretary of state (1868-72) and treasurer (1872-76).
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Jul 28)
Published
0 0
The 14th Amendment is adopted to protect Blacks’ status as American citizens.
The 14th Amendment, which provided Black Americans with the protection and privileges of natural citizenship and gave them constitutional guarantees, was adopted. All persons born or naturalized in the United States were defined as American citizens as well as citizens of the states in which they resided. No state could make or enforce laws denying such persons the rights and privileges of citizens or fail to give them the equal protection of the laws.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Jan 14)
Published
0 0
Black delegates promote cooperation in creating state constitutions.
The new state constitutional conventions met in Charleston, South Carolina. Black delegates were in a decided majority. Louisiana had an equal number of Blacks and whites in its convention, while all other southern states had white majorities. The magnanimity of the Black delegates at Charleston was reflected in the words of Black representative Beverly Nash: "I believe, my friends and fellow-citizens, we are not prepared for this suffrage. But we can learn, we recognize the southern white man as the true friend of the Black man. In these public affairs we must unite with our white fellow-citizens. They tell us that they have been disfranchised, yet we tell the north that we shall never let the halls of Congress be silent until we remove that disability." The state constitutions drawn up by southern constitutional conventions with Black members in 1867 and 1868 sought to abolish property qualifications for voting and holding office, imprisonment for debt, and slavery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) opens in Virginia. It remains one of America’s most prestigious Black colleges.
The Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institute opened in Hampton, Virginia, in 1868. Later renamed the Hampton Institute, this agricultural-industrial college for Blacks sought to educate selected formerly enslaved Blacks who would then teach and lead other newly freed Blacks. Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a former union officer and an advocate of agricultural-industrial training for freed Blacks, was a founder and first leader of the institution. Hampton University remains one of the most prestigious Black colleges in the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1868 (Jan 12)
Published
0 0
John W. Menard is elected to Congress. The House Committee on Elections refuses to seat him.
John W. Menard was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana. However, the House Committee on Elections refused to seat him. On February 27, 1869, Menard became the first Black American to speak on the House floor as he fought for his right to serve.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Howard University is established to train Black teachers and ministers.
The Howard Normal and Theological Institute was established as a training institution for Black teachers and ministers in 1867. Named for General Oliver Otis Howard, one of the founding members and commissioners of the Freedmen's Bureau, it became Howard University the same year. Howard awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1872 and became the only truly comprehensive, predominantly Black institution of higher education in the world.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 2)
Published
0 0
Congress begins passing Reconstruction Acts that lay the foundation for Black political participation in the south.
Congress began passing a series of Reconstruction Acts that laid the foundation for Black political participation in the south. The former confederate states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed Civil Rights to Blacks, before being readmitted to The Union.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Feb 7)
Published
0 0
Frederick Douglass and a delegation of Blacks urge President Andrew Johnson for suffrage.
A delegation of Blacks, led by Frederick Douglass, visited President Andrew Johnson and urged that suffrage be given to all qualified Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Feb 18)
Published
0 0
Morehouse College is founded in Augusta, Georgia to train formerly enslaved Blacks to read and write.
Morehouse College first opened in Augusta, Georgia, as the Augusta Institute. It was established to train formerly enslaved Blacks to read and write. The school moved to Atlanta in 1879, and adopted the name Morehouse College in 1913. Its mission was to train men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership, service, and self-realization.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
The Ku Klux Klan, famously known as the KKK, held their first national convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
The first national convention of the Ku Klux Klan, a violent anti-Black group, was held in Nashville, Tennessee.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 8)
Published
0 0
Talladega College is founded in Alabama. It is the first college open to Blacks in Alabama.
Talladega College was founded by a group of formerly enslaved Blacks in Talladega, Alabama. It was the first college open to Blacks in Alabama, and until 1916, it was the only college there to award degrees without regard to race. The first Talladega bachelor's degree was awarded in 1895. The school is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Three of the buildings on the school's 50-acre campus have been declared historic landmarks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 7)
Published
0 0
Scotia Seminary is founded in North Carolina to train Black women as social workers and teachers.
Established by the Presbyterian Church, Scotia seminary trained Black women as social workers and teachers. Mary McLeod Bethune graduated from the school in 1894 and went on to found Bethune-Cookman College. In 1930, Scotia merged with Barber Memorial College; the name Barber-Scotia College was adopted in 1932. Barber-Scotia allowed men to enroll in 1954. The school is located in Concord, North Carolina.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 6)
Published
0 0
Saint Augustine’s College is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Together, the Protestant Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina founded Saint Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina. This historically Black college is a member school of the United Negro College Fund.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 5)
Published
0 0
Morgan State University opens in Baltimore, Maryland to prepare Black men for ministry.
Founded as Centenary Biblical institute, Morgan State University opened in 1867 in Baltimore, Maryland, for the purpose of preparing Black men for the ministry.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
Johnson C. Smith University opens as Biddle Memorial Institute, a school of higher learning for Black men.
Biddle Memorial Institute opened as a school of higher learning for Black men in 1867, and in 1872 the school awarded its first bachelor's degrees. Known since 1923 as Johnson C. Smith University, the school is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Fayetteville State University opens as the Howard School with the help of seven Black men.
The school that would become Fayetteville State University began in 1867, when seven Black men contributed $136 to buy land for a school for Black children. Originally called the Howard School, Fayetteville took its present name in 1969.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 2)
Published
0 0
Atlanta University, the first all-Black American graduate school, receives its charter.
Atlanta University, the first all-Black American graduate school, received its charter. The university began as an undergraduate institution but switched to post-baccalaureate studies in 1929.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1867 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
The National Association of Baseball excludes Blacks from playing professional baseball.
The National Association of Baseball denied admission to any club with Black players. In a statement, the association said: "It is not presumed by your committee that any clubs who have applied are composed of persons of color, or any portion of them; and the recommendations of your committee in this report are based upon this view, and they unanimously report against the admission of any club which may be composed of one or more colored persons. If colored clubs were admitted, there would be in all probability some division of feeling—whereas by excluding them, no injury could result to anybody."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (May 1 - 3)
Published
0 0
A Memphis race riot kills 48, mostly Black people.
A race riot took place in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-eight people, mostly Black, were killed. Black veterans were special targets, and at least five Black women were raped during the disturbances. Schools and churches were burned.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
A New Orleans, Louisiana race riot prompted by the police, kills 35.
A race riot occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. At least thirty-five people were killed; more than 100 were wounded. Anti-Black attitudes and actions on the part of police allegedly prompted the violence.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Jan 9)
Published
0 0
Fisk University, famous for its Jubilee Singers, opened in Nashville Tennessee as Fisk College.
Fisk University, which became famous for its fundraising Jubilee Singers, was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, as Fisk College. Fisk offered its first bachelor's degree in 1875 and in 1967 became the first Black institution to be awarded University status. In 1976, Fisk's Jubilee Hall, the first permanent building of higher education for southern Blacks, was designated a national landmark.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Apr 9)
Published
0 0
Congress overrides the veto of President Andrew Johnson and passes the Civil Rights Bill. It grants Blacks the rights of American citizenship.
The Civil Rights Bill of 1866, granting Black Americans the rights and privileges of American citizenship, was passed by congress. The law formed the basis for the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution and was passed over the veto of President Andrew Johnson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Feb 5)
Published
0 0
Black soldiers donate money to open a school for the newly freed Blacks of Missouri.
After the Civil War, the soldiers and officers of the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry donated $5,000 to create a school to educate the freed Blacks of Missouri. The 69th Colored Infantry contributed another $1,325. Now known as Lincoln University, the Lincoln Institute opened in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1866.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Jan 4)
Published
0 0
Rust College is founded in Mississippi.
The Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church founded what is now Rust College as Shaw School. It is the oldest historically Black college in Mississippi. The school, located in Holly Springs, originally provided elementary education; later, high school and college courses were added. The elementary and secondary programs were discontinued in 1930 and 1953, respectively. Rust's first president, Rev. A. C. McDonald, gave the school its motto, "By their fruits ye shall know them."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Feb 3)
Published
0 0
Edward G. Walker and Charles L. Mitchell become the first Blacks elected to legislature.
The first Blacks to sit in an American legislative assembly, Edward G. Walker and Charles L. Mitchell, were elected to the Massachusetts house of representatives.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Feb 2)
Published
0 0
Edward Waters College is founded in Jacksonville, Florida.
Edward Waters College was founded in Jacksonville, Florida, as Brown Theological Institution. The school's mission was to train Black clergy for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Edward Waters College succeeded despite many hardships, including a fire in 1904. The college is Florida's oldest independent institution of higher learning and its first institution established for the education of Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1866 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Alabama State University is founded as a private school for Blacks in Marion, Alabama. They later move to Montgomery as a result of racial tensions in Marion.
Alabama State University was founded under the name Lincoln Normal School as a private school for Blacks in Marion, Alabama. William Burns Paterson became president of the school in 1878, and through his efforts it became the first state-supported institution for the training of Black teachers in the United States. Paterson headed the school for 37 years, keeping it open despite great difficulties. The school moved to its present location in Montgomery in 1887 as a result of racial tensions in Marion. Alabama State University's name changed several times over the years. The school adopted its current name in 1969 when it earned university status.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Oct 10)
Published
0 0
Philanthropist Charles Avery opens the Avery Institute to help educate newly freed Blacks.
Philanthropist Charles Avery founded the Avery Institute in Charleston, South Carolina. The first class numbered about 1,000 students, four-fifths of whom were freed enslaved Blacks who had not received any prior education. The American Missionary Association of New York eventually took over the school's finances.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (May 29)
Published
0 0
President Andrew Johnson introduces the Reconstruction program.
President Andrew Johnson announced his program of Reconstruction. It required ratification of the thirteenth amendment but did not guarantee Black suffrage.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
The Freedmen’s Bureau is established to help freed Blacks survive.
Congress established, within the war department, a Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands. The Freedmen's Bureau sought to help freed Blacks survive, as well as aiding them in their contractual relationships and education. In its five years of existence, the bureau issued more than twenty million rations; established approximately fifty hospitals; resettled more than 30,000 people; set up 4,330 schools, enrolling 247,000 students; and aided in the establishment of such Black colleges as Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton Institute, and Howard University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Mar 3)
Published
0 0
Freedman’s Bank is chartered by the U.S. government to provide financial help to newly freed Blacks. The bank is plagued with incompetencies and fails. Many Blacks lose their savings.
The U.S. government chartered the Freedmen's Bank in Washington, D.C., to encourage financial responsibility among the formerly enslaved Blacks. On April 4, 1865, the headquarters of the Freedmen's Bank opened in New York. Shortly thereafter, branches were established in Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Washington. By 1872, there were thirty-four branches, all but two of which were located in the south. Incompetency and inefficiency in the bank's operation appeared almost immediately. By the time Frederick Douglass became president in March 1874, the bank was already a failure. It closed on June 28, 1874.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Mar 13)
Published
0 0
Confederate president Jefferson Davis authorizes the use of Black soldiers. Many southerners opposed it. The war ended before any Blacks faced combat.
Confederate president Jefferson Davis signed a bill authorizing the employment of Blacks as soldiers in the confederate army. The law culminated a long period of dispute in the south over the use of Blacks as soldiers. While southerners willingly used Blacks for fatigue duties and personal service, the idea of Black combat soldiers was generally repugnant to them. It seemed to invite slave violence and make a mockery of the concept of Black inferiority. The war ended before any Blacks faced combat.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Jan 11)
Published
0 0
Robert E. Lee recommends drafting Blacks to aid Confederate forces.
Robert E. Lee, with his armies depleted, recommended the employment of Blacks in confederate forces because it was not only expedient, but necessary.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Dec 18)
Published
0 0
The thirteenth amendment is adopted.
The 13th Amendment, which prohibited slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, was adopted.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Apr 11)
Published
0 0
President Abraham Lincoln recommends Black suffrage, with provisions.
President Abraham Lincoln again conceded that some Black Americans might be given the right to vote. He had suggested in a letter to Governor Michael Hahn of Louisiana in 1864 that the very intelligent and those who had fought gallantly in their ranks should be considered for the franchise. At the time of Lincoln's death, no serious efforts had been made to grant suffrage to freed Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Aug 8)
Published
0 0
The Richmond Theological Institute is founded in Richmond, Virginia.
Richmond Theological Institute was founded on a site that was once a slave jail in Richmond, Virginia. The name was changed to Virginia Union University in 1899 when the institute merged with Wayland Seminary. The school later merged with Hartshorn Memorial College of Richmond and Storer College of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The university's mission was to free the mind of the newly emancipated through education in a humanistic environment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Jul 7)
Published
0 0
Bowie State University is founded.
Originally known as Baltimore Normal School, Bowie State University was founded under the auspices of the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People. With money bequeathed by Black philanthropist Nelson Wells for the education of freed Black children, the school moved to a 237-acre tract in Prince George's County, Maryland. The school's name changed several times between 1865 and 1988.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Jun 6)
Published
0 0
The Bluefield Colored Institute is founded to train Black teachers.
Bluefield Colored Institute was founded in Bluefield, West Virginia, to train Black teachers. Bluefield offered its first bachelor's degree in 1932 and changed its name to Bluefield State College in 1943. The school is one of two historically Black colleges in West Virginia, although the school's Black population is now a small fraction of the total population.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Oct 5)
Published
0 0
The Black Laws of Illinois get repealed.
These laws, like similar ones in other northern states, restricted the freedom of movement and limited the civil and political rights of free Blacks. John Jones, one of the wealthiest Blacks in America, led the fight for the Illinois repeal.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Sep 4)
Published
0 0
The Black Codes are introduced to severely restrict the movement of newly freed Blacks.
All-White legislatures, under the Johnson Reconstruction Program, began enacting Black Codes that restricted the rights and freedom of movement of Blacks. These codes were patterned after the antebellum slave codes. Newer aspects of the laws imposed heavy penalties for vagrancy, "seditious speeches," "insulting gestures," and curfew violations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1865 (Jan 3)
Published
0 0
Atlanta University is founded by the American Missionary Association, a racially mixed abolitionist group.
Atlanta university was founded by the American Missionary Association in 1865 in Atlanta, Georgia. The school's undergraduate courses were discontinued in 1930 when it became a graduate and professional school. In 1988, Atlanta university merged with another historically Black school, Clark College, becoming Clark Atlanta University.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1864 (Jun 19)
Published
0 0
Black sailor Joachim Pease is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Black sailor, Joachim Pease, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his role in the famous naval battle between the USS Kearsarge and the USS Alabama off the coast of France.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1864 (Jun 15)
Published
0 0
Congress legislates equal pay for Black troops.
Congress passes a bill equalizing salaries and supplies for Black troops.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1864 (Jul 21)
Published
0 0
The first Black daily paper in the United States, La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orleans, publishes its first edition.
La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orleans, the first tri-weekly published in English and French and eventually the first Black daily in the United States, published its first edition. The paper was headed by Louis Charles Roudanez (1823-90) and his brothers, who took over the financially failing L'Union, the first Black paper published in Louisiana. The tribune pushed for economic equality, abolition, and Black suffrage. With emancipation, the paper supported the Freedman's Aid Association, an organization that attempted to establish cooperatives among, and secure suffrage and weekly wages for formerly enslaved Blacks. While Roudanez pushed for political rights for Blacks, he did not support social equality. This may be partly because Roudanez himself was half French and probably of very light skin since his baptismal records registered him as white. When the tribune folded in 1869, he, too, faded from the spotlight of the equal rights movement.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1864 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
Confederates capture Fort Pillow and massacre the union’s Black troops.
Confederate forces under general Nathan Bedford Forrest captured Fort Pillow, Tennessee. Following the surrender, the union's Black American troops were massacred.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1864 (Jan 9)
Published
0 0
Black Sergeant William Walker is convicted of mutiny and is shot and killed under the order of a court martial.
Black sergeant William Walker of the third South Carolina regiment was shot under order of a court martial for leading a protest against discriminatory pay for Black American soldiers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/sgt-william-walker-guilty-mutiny/. Retrieved 07/25/2022.
1863 (May 1)
Published
0 0
The Confederate congress calls Black troops and their officers, criminals. This permit captured Black soldiers to be murdered or enslaved.
The Confederate congress passed a resolution calling Black troops and their officers criminals, thus permitting captured Black soldiers and their officers to be murdered or enslaved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1863 (Jul 30)
Published
0 0
President Abraham Lincoln issues a warning to confederates that murder or enslave captured Black soldiers.
President Abraham Lincoln warned of retaliatory action if the confederates continued to murder or enslave captured Black soldiers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1863 (Jul 13 - 16)
Published
0 0
The Union’s military draft law prompts riots in New York City. Angry, poor whites kill or wound hundreds of Black Americans.
Four days of rioting ensued in New York City in protest of the union's draft law. The disturbance left more than one thousand people, mostly Black Americans, dead or wounded and resulted in approximately two million dollars in property damage. The riot grew out of the Civil War draft law's provision that allowed men to pay $300 for a substitute draftee. Since poor white laborers, many of them Irish and German immigrants, could not afford substitutes, they bore the brunt of the draft. Black Americans were ineligible (at the time) for the draft. In venting their frustrations over the draft law, the poorer laborers turned on Black Americans especially, who they regarded as the principal inheritors of the jobs they would have to leave behind to enter the army. During this period of racial tension, similar riots occurred in Boston, where twenty people were killed or wounded, and in Troy, New York, where a ship with Black servants aboard had to be diverted to avoid an attack.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1863 (Mar 15)
Published
0 0
A Black American regiment protests unfair wages.
The 54th Massachusetts Black regiment served a year without pay rather than accept discriminatory wages.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Sep 22)
Published
0 0
Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary emancipation proclamation.
President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, giving rebellious states and territories until January 1, 1863, to abandon their hostilities or lose their enslaved Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (May 9)
Published
0 0
General David Hunter names enslaved Blacks “contrabands of war.” Abraham Lincoln overrules it.
General David Hunter issued a proclamation emancipating enslaved Blacks in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina as "contrabands of war." President Abraham Lincoln overruled Hunter's order.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (May 13)
Published
0 0
Robert Smalls, a Black pilot, captures a Confederate ship.
Robert Smalls, a Black American pilot, sailed the Confederate steamer planter out of Charleston, South Carolina, and turned the ship over to the United States. Smalls, who was formerly enslaved, had received some education through the indulgence of his enslaver. He was a member of a crew in the Confederate navy when he performed his Civil War heroics. Smalls' war deeds aided his rise in South Carolina politics and business endeavors during reconstruction. He later served five terms in the U.S. house of representatives.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Mar 6)
Published
0 0
Lincoln proposes the gradual, compensated emancipation of enslaved Blacks but northern states and abolitionists oppose it.
President Abraham Lincoln proposed to Congress a plan for gradual, compensated emancipation of enslaved Blacks. Lincoln urged the congressional delegations from Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia to support his proposal. They opposed it, as did northern abolitionists who felt enslavers should not be paid for property that they could not rightfully own. Congress, however, passed a joint resolution on April 10, 1862, endorsing the concept of gradual, compensated emancipation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Jun 19)
Published
0 0
Slavery is abolished in federal territories.
President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill abolishing slavery in the federal territories.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Jul 17)
Published
0 0
Congress allows Black Americans to serve in the union army.
Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln to accept Black Americans for service in the union army. They were to receive less pay than white soldiers. A white soldier was paid $13 a month and $3.50 for clothing, while Black Americans of the same rank received $7 and $3, respectively. Eventually, more than 186,000 Black Americans served in the union army; approximately 38,000 lost their lives. Many of the deaths were non-combat related, due principally to overwork and poor medical care.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Aug 14)
Published
0 0
Abraham Lincoln tries to encourage Blacks to emigrate to Africa or Latin America.
President Abraham Lincoln called in a group of Black Americans for the first discussion by an American president with Blacks on public policy. He urged them to emigrate to Africa or to Latin America. Many Black Americans denounced the president's suggestion.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Apr 16)
Published
0 0
Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia and the formerly enslaved are encouraged to emigrate to Haiti or Liberia.
The U.S. senate passed a bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. Enslavers were to be compensated at the rate of $300 per enslaved Black. One hundred thousand dollars was also allocated for the voluntary emigration of these freedmen to Haiti or Liberia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1862 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Lemoyne-Owen College opened, originally as an elementary school for Blacks called the Lincoln School for Negroes.
Memphis, Tennessee's LeMoyne-Owen College started as an elementary school for Blacks, with the name Lincoln School for Negroes. The chapel that housed the school was destroyed by fire in the 1866 race riots, but it was soon rebuilt and reopened in 1867. In 1871, the school's name was changed to LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School, in honor of donor Dr. Francis J. LeMoyne. In 1868, LeMoyne College merged with Owen College and became LeMoyne-Owen College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1861 (Sep 25)
Published
0 0
The Navy authorizes enlistment of Black Americans.
The secretary of the Navy authorized the enlistment of Black Americans in this branch of the armed forces.
1861 (Aug 6)
Published
0 0
Congress passes the Confiscation Act.
Congress passes the Confiscation Act, which states that any property used by the owner's consent and with his knowledge in aiding or abetting insurrection against the United States could be captured wherever found. When the property consisted of enslaved persons, they were to be forever free. President Abraham Lincoln refused to order vigorous enforcement of the law.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1861 (Aug 23)
Published
0 0
James Stone enlists in the first fight artillery of Ohio, becoming the first Black American to fight for the union during the Civil War.
James Stone, a very light complexioned enslaved fugitive who was often mistaken for White, enlisted in the first fight artillery of Ohio. Having fought for the Union in Kentucky, where he had been enslaved, Stone died from a service-related illness in 1862. After his death his true racial identity was revealed. Thus, Stone was actually the first Black American to fight for the Union during the Civil War, almost one full year before Black Americans were authorized to join Union forces.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1861 (Apr 12)
Published
0 0
The Civil War begins with the attack of Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
The Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina. President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to defend the Union; thus, the Civil War began. Many Black Americans viewed the conflict as a war for freedom. Some rushed to join the Union forces but were refused because of their race.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1861 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
General John C. Fremont proclaimed military emancipation in Missouri.
General John C. Fremont proclaimed military emancipation in Missouri. President Abraham Lincoln countermanded the order.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1860 (Dec 17)
Published
0 0
South Carolina secedes from the Union.
South Carolina seceded from the Union, partly because of Lincoln's election as president. Lincoln was viewed as a threat to the southern economy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1860 (Nov 6)
Published
0 0
Abraham Lincoln, unfavorably viewed by southerners as an abolitionist, is elected president.
Abraham Lincoln, viewed by southerners as an abolitionist, was elected president of the United States on a platform opposed to the further expansion of slavery into the territories.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1860 (Jan 1)
Published
0 0
Arkansas passes a law that denies free Blacks employment on boats along its rivers.
A law went into effect in Arkansas that prohibited the employment of free Blacks on boats and ships navigating the rivers of that state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1860 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Pony express began operations in the west, with Black riders George Monroe and William Robinson being two of the earliest.
Eastern mails went by railroad to St. Joseph, Missouri, then were picked up by professional riders who, working in relays, delivered letters as far west as San Francisco. Two of the earliest Black pony express riders were George Monroe and William Robinson. Pony express began operations in the west.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1859 (Oct 16)
Published
0 0
White abolitionist John Brown leads the raid at Harpers Ferry as a prelude to a larger uprising, but the plan is foiled.
John Brown, a white abolitionist from Kansas, attacked the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown, who had unsuccessfully sought the aid of leading abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, was accompanied by a dozen white men and five Blacks. The raid, which was to be a prelude to a general enslaved Black uprising, was foiled by local, state, and federal forces. Two Blacks were killed for their part in the affair. Brown was executed on December 2.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1859 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court overrules an act by Wisconsin declaring the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Ableman v. Booth, overruled an act by a Wisconsin state court that declared the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 unconstitutional. The Fugitive Slave Act and its methods of enforcement were increasingly opposed by northern residents. Many northern cities and states passed personal liberty laws, denying the use of northern jails for the housing of fugitive slaves and prohibiting local law enforcement officers from assisting in their capture, in an attempt to offset the Fugitive Slave Act. The Wisconsin case arose when a journalist was arrested for rousing a mob to free a captured runaway. The state court ordered the runaway released on a writ of habeas corpus and declared the federal statute unconstitutional.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1859 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
The Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on American soil, lands in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
The Clotilda, the last slave ship to stop at an American port, landed at Mobile Bay, Alabama. It carried 110 kidnapped African men, women, and children, and was burned on arrival to hide evidence of the crime, which allowed the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • Raines, Ben (2022). The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 69.
1858 (Apr 14)
Published
0 0
Archy Lee wins a California fugitive slave case, prompting a mass exodus of Blacks from California to British Columbia.
Archy Lee is remembered as the victor in California's most important fugitive slave case. He was born enslaved in Carroll County, Mississippi, where he remained until he was eighteen, when he was taken to Sacramento, California. Fearing that Lee would try to escape, his enslaver made plans to return Lee to Mississippi. When Lee learned this, he fled, but soon was apprehended and jailed. Leaders of the Sacramento Black American community became interested in his cause. After a series of contradictory court decisions, Lee was finally granted freedom and moved to Victoria, British Columbia. The court decision prompted a mass exodus of Blacks from California to Victoria to escape further persecution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1858 (Mar 1)
Published
0 0
The birth of Judson Lyons. He is one of only five Black Americans whose signatures have appeared on U.S. currency.
The Black American man whose name would come to be printed on U.S. paper currency, Judson W. Lyons, was born in Georgia. He began his political career at the age of twenty when he became an elected delegate to a congressional convention. Two years later he served in Georgia's internal revenue service and at the Republican National Convention as a delegate. The Augusta Bar Association admitted Lyons after he graduated from Howard University in 1884. American currency came to bear his name when he was appointed the register of the treasury in 1898. To this day, he has the distinction of being one of only five Black Americans whose signatures have appeared on U.S. currency.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • https://www.judsonlyonssociety.com/. Retrieved 7/24/2022.
1857 (Jun 1)
Published
0 0
California legislature narrowly defeats an attempt to prevent the immigration of Blacks into the state. Blacks, however, still express discontent with discrimination in the state.
The California legislature defeated by a narrow margin of thirty-two to thirty an attempt to prevent the immigration of Blacks into the state. The opposition to the measure was led by representative of the general assembly hall. Despite the defeat, California Blacks continued to protest instances of racial discrimination against them. An excerpt from a protest of two Black businessmen in 1857 follows: "During a residence of seven years in California, we, with hundreds of other colored men, have cheerfully paid city, state and county taxes on real estate and merchandise, as well as licenses to carry on business, and every other species of tax that has been levied from time to time for the support of the government, save only the 'poll tax' that we have persistently refused. On the day before yesterday, the tax collector called on us, and seized and lugged off twenty or thirty dollars' worth of goods, in payment, as he said. Now, while we cannot understand how a 'white' man can refuse to pay each and every tax for the support of government, under which he enjoys every privilege from the right to rob a Black up to that of being governor of the State, we can perceive and feel the flagrant injustices of compelling 'colored men' to pay a special tax for the enjoyment of a special privilege, and then break their heads if they attempt to exercise it. We believe that every voter should pay poll-tax, or every male resident who has the privilege of becoming a voter; but regard it as low and despicable, the very quintessence of meanness, to compel colored men to pay it, situated as they are politically. However, if there is no redress, the great state of California may come around annually, and rob us of twenty or thirty dollars' worth of goods, as we will never willingly pay three dollars as poll tax as long as we remain disfranchised, oath-denied, outlawed colored Americans."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1856 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
Wilberforce University founded.
Amidst a cry for the end of slavery, Wilberforce was founded in 1856 as Wilberforce university of the Methodist Episcopal church and named after British abolitionist and philanthropist William Wilberforce. The school was part of a plan to establish education for Blacks in Ohio. Wilberforce was sold to the A.M.E. Church in 1863 and awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1867. Wilberforce was distinguished as the first Black college and the first college with a Black president.
1855 (Jan 15)
Published
0 0
John Mercer Langston becomes the first Black American to win an elective office in the U.S.
John Mercer Langston was elected clerk of Brownhelm township in Lorain County, Ohio, making him the first Black American to win an elective political office in the United States. Langston was born to a white man and a Black enslaved woman on a Virginia plantation in 1829. After his father's death, Langston was sent to Ohio, where he was reared by one of his father's friends. By 1854, Langston was engaged in an active law practice in Chillicothe, Ohio, and in 1855, as the only Black American attorney in Brownhelm, he was elected clerk. Langston won a seat on the Brownhelm City Council the following year, a post he held until 1860. In 1865, he was named president of the national equal rights league and in 1867 he became a member of the board of education in Oberlin, Ohio. After his return to the south during reconstruction, Langston served as inspector general to the Freedman's bureau schools (1868-69); teacher, law school dean, and acting vice-president of Howard University (1869-76); minister to Haiti (1877-85); president of the Virginia normal and collegiate institute (1885-88); and congressman from Virginia (1889-91). Langston, who died in 1897, was one of the last Black Americans elected to the U.S. congress in the nineteenth century and was the great-uncle of Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1854 (May 30)
Published
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The Missouri Compromise is repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which further escalates issues between the north and south.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was approved by congress and President Franklin Pierce. In addition to providing formal organization for the two territories of Kansas and Nebraska, the act repealed the Missouri compromise of 1820, thus removing anti-slavery restrictions north and west of the 36-30 parallel line in the Louisiana territory. According to the bill's author, senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, congress, in the Compromise of 1850, had abandoned all efforts to protect or to prohibit slavery in the territories. Therefore, it was only consistent, Douglas reasoned, that the new principle be applied in the Louisiana territory as elsewhere. Southerners viewed Kansas as ripe for slavery. Northern anti-slavery men opposed the prospects of a slave Kansas and the repeal of the Compromise of 1820. The contest for control of Kansas between the pro- and anti-slavery forces led to several years of bitter, often bloody strife in the territory and in congress. In fact, Kansas came to be known as "Bleeding Kansas." The most significant acts of violence were the sacking of the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas, in May 1856 and the subsequent retaliation by John Brown (who, with his followers, slaughtered five pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie Creek), and the beating of anti-slavery senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts by congressman Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina on the floor of the U.S. Senate, also in the spring of 1856. Sumner had denounced the South and some of its representatives for the "crime against Kansas," the rape of a virgin territory by slaveholders. His remarks against Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina led to the attack by Brooks, Butler's nephew. The acrimony and political confusion in Kansas prevented the territory from being admitted into the union by congress until just before the Civil War. On January 29, 1861, Kansas joined the union as a free state, representing the will of the majority of the bona fide residents there.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1854 (Jun 3)
Published
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Enslaved fugitive Anthony Burns is arrested in Boston and returned to his enslaver in the south.
Anthony Burns, an enslaved fugitive, was arrested in Boston. His enslaver refused an offer of $1,200 made by Boston citizens for his freedom. Burns was escorted through the streets of Boston by U.S. troops as he returned to the south. The incident was indicative of a growing anti-slavery sentiment in the north, especially following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1854 (Feb 1)
Published
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The birth of Nat “Deadwood Dick” Love, title-winning cowboy and author.
Nat Love, later known as Deadwood Dick, was born enslaved in Davidson County, Tennessee, where he learned to break horses as a teenager. A winning raffle ticket brought him enough money to travel west, where he found work as a cowboy. He excelled at roping, shooting, and the other skills of his trade, winning the championship title in 1876 in Deadwood, South Dakota. He used his meager writing abilities to pen an autobiography, "The Lift and Adventures of Nat Love: Better known in the cattle country as "Deadwood Dick." After being captured by Indians and sustaining two bullet wounds, Love escaped and quit his work as a cowboy. He worked for the Pullman Service until his death in Los Angeles in 1921.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1854 (Jan 15)
Published
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Ashmun Institute is founded. It is later renamed to Lincoln University in honor of Abraham Lincoln.
The Ashmun Institute was founded in Pennsylvania in 1854. In 1866, it was renamed Lincoln University in honor of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln graduated its first class of four Black men and two White women in 1868. In 1873, ten students from Liberia came to study at Lincoln, making the university one of the first, if not the first, U.S. institutions of higher learning to accept African students. Lincoln claims to be the oldest college in the United States to have as its original purpose the higher education of youths of African descent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1853 (Jul 6 - 8)
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The National Council of Colored People is founded in New York.
The National Council of Colored People was founded in Rochester, New York. An outgrowth of the antebellum Negro Convention Movement, the new organization was formed as a permanent body to advance the cause of Black Americans. A notable feature of the Rochester convention was a proposal to erect a national industrial school for the race. The institution was to be financed by the issuance of $50,000 worth of stock in shares of ten dollars each, through the sale of scholarships "at judicious rates," and by the raising of a $100,000 endowment. The school was to be co-educational and was to be governed by a board of trustees, consisting of residents of the state wherein the institution was located. The sponsors of the measure, which was never implemented, hoped that the education of Black American youths would give them "means of success adapted to their struggling condition; and ere long, following the enterprise of the age to see them filling everywhere positions of responsibility and trust, and gliding on the triple tide of wealth, intelligence, and virtue, reach eventually to a sure resting place of distinction and happiness."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1853 (Apr 1)
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William Wells Brown becomes the first Black American author to publish a novel.
William Wells Brown, formerly enslaved, and also an abolitionist, historian, and physician, published Clotel, the first novel written by a Black American, in London. The work, an account of the life of a Black woman whose father was an American president, draws on the legend that Thomas Jefferson had fathered many children by his enslaved mistresses. Brown was born to an enslaved woman and a white enslaver in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1816. He was educated in St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as an apprentice to the martyred abolitionist editor, Elijah P. Lovejoy. Brown also published "Three Years in Europe; or: Places I Have Seen, and People I Have Met" (1852), in which he gave his impressions of such notables as Richard Cobden, Victor Hugo, and Alexis de Tocqueville. Brown was also a regular contributor to William Lloyd Garrison's "Liberator," the "London Daily News," and the "National Anti-Slavery Standard." His reputation as an historian rest largely upon such works as "The Black Man" (1863) and "The Negro in the American Rebellions" (1867). Brown's principal anti-slavery work was as a conductor on the underground railroad and as an anti-slavery lecturer. He died in 1884.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1852 (Sep 15)
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Jan Eamst Matzeliger, shoe machinist and inventor, is born.
Jan Earnst Matzeliger was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, to a Holland-born engineer and a native Black American mother. He began to apprentice at his father's machine shops when he was ten, an experience that would shape his future in machinery and mechanics. In 1871, he boarded an East Indian vessel to work as a sailor. He settled in Philadelphia two years later and by 1876 had made his home in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he found work in a shoe factory. After years of observing the production of shoes, Matzeliger began working on his own machine, a mechanical Laster for the manufacture of shoes. On March 20, 1883, he was granted a patent for the "lasting machine." It proved to be a great success, turning out 100 to 600 more pairs of shoes a day than could be produced using the manual method. Unfortunately, Matzeliger did not live to enjoy the financial rewards nor to see his invention's impact on shoe manufacture. He died of tuberculosis less than a month before his thirty-seventh birthday in 1889.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1852 (Mar 20)
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Harriet Beecher Stowe, a white woman, publishes the famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, detailing the cruelties of slavery.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel by a Northern white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published in Boston. The book, which exaggerated the cruelties of slavery, evoked sympathy for Blacks in the North, and greatly angered the South.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1851 (Feb 1)
Published
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Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, aka “Black Swan,” makes her singing debut. She was quoted as being the best-known Black concert artist of her time.
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, the "Black Swan," made her debut at a concert sponsored by the Buffalo Musical Association. Greenfield, a soprano, was born enslaved in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1809. As an infant, she was taken to Philadelphia and adopted by a Quaker woman named Greenfield who arranged for her to study music and to sing at private parties. After her debut in Buffalo, Greenfield, she toured the Northern states between 1851 and 1853. She toured England in 1854 and gave a command performance before Queen Victoria in Buckingham Palace. A contemporary critic described her voice as one of "amazing power," "flexibility," and "ease of execution." Renowned historian, Eileen Southern, called Greenfield "the best known Black concert artist of her time."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1850 (Sep 18)
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Congress enacts the Compromise of 1850 partially to address the issues of slavery.
Congress enacted the famous Compromise of 1850. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and other moderate statesmen from both sections drew up this omnibus solution to the problem of slavery in the Mexican cession as well as other outstanding differences between North and South. The provisions of the compromise relating to slavery included the outlawing of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., but the retention of slavery itself; the passage of a new, tougher fugitive slave law to replace the poorly enforced act of 1793; and the admission of California as a free state.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1849 (May 25)
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Musical prodigy Thomas Greene Bethune (Blind Tom) is born.
By the time Thomas Greene Bethune was four, the blind child, who was born into slavery, was being exhibited as the "musical marvel" of the Bethune plantation in Georgia. The exhibition of Tom, however, soon turned into exploitation as his enslavers made several fortunes on his talent, including an estimated $100,000 from an 1866 European tour showcasing his talents as a pianist and composer. Colonel James Bethune even used Tom's talent to benefit the confederacy throughout the Civil War. When Tom was 15, colonel Bethune gained guardianship of the boy, supposedly with his parents' consent. In 1865 with the end of the war, an attempt was made to liberate Tom from the guardianship that was akin to slavery. That, however, failed and Tom's "guardianship" was eventually passed on to the colonel's son, and later, the son's widow and her second husband who profited off the last fifteen years of Tom's life. Tom reportedly died penniless on June 13, 1908, in Hoboken, New Jersey. His accomplishments included performances before foreign dignitaries and President James Buchanan, the composition of over 100 piano and vocal pieces, and the mastery of over 700 pieces by European greats such as Beethoven and Bach.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1849 (Jul 1)
Published
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Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland.
Harriet Tubman, the best-known Black female abolitionist, returned to Maryland and Virginia at least twenty times and is credited with freeing anywhere from about 100-300 enslaved Blacks. The daring abolitionist was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1823. While working as a field hand as a young girl, she suffered a severe head injury by a weight that an enraged overseer had thrown at another enslaved Black. The damage from that blow caused Tubman to suffer from "sleeping seizures" for the rest of her life. In 1844, she married a free Black, John Tubman, but remained enslaved. In 1849, her enslaver died, and rumors emerged that those he enslaved were to be sold into the deep South. Tubman, along with two of her brothers, escaped. Fearing capture and punishment or death, the brothers returned to the plantation, but Tubman, using the North Star for directions, marched on until she reached Philadelphia. In 1850, Tubman returned to Maryland for a sister and a brother, and in the following year she led a party of eleven Blacks from the South into Canada, leaving behind her husband, who had married another woman. In 1857, Tubman made one of her last trips into Maryland, rescuing her parents and three additional brothers and sisters. The family then settled in Auburn, New York. The family home, purchased from anti-slavery senator William H. Seward, was later turned into a home for elderly and indigent Black Americans. After serving in the Civil War as a nurse and a spy, Tubman devoted all of her energy and earnings to this home during the twilight of her life. Tubman, often called "the Moses of her people," died in Auburn in 1913.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1857 (Mar 6)
Published
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In the Dred Scott v. Sanford case, the U.S. Supreme Court decides that Black Americans are not U.S. citizens, therefore having no rights. Though eventually freed, Dred Scott remained enslaved. The decision fueled the path to the Civil War.
The U.S. Supreme Court rendered its decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, declaring that Black Americans were not citizens of the United States and denying the congress the power to prohibit slavery in any federal territory. Scott was eventually freed by new enslavers. Meanwhile, he remained enslaved, albeit a famous one, in St. Louis where he worked as a porter. The Dred Scott decision, a clear-cut victory for the south, alarmed abolitionists in the north and fueled the fires leading to the Civil War.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1849 (Mar 1)
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Elder Peter Lowery becomes Tennessee’s first Black American pastor.
Elder Peter Lowery became pastor of a Black church in Nashville, Tennessee, making him probably the first Black American pastor of a church in Tennessee. Lowery, who was born enslaved, had managed to purchase his freedom and that of other members of his family, including his mother, brothers, and sisters, over a period of more than forty years. In his endeavor, he was substantially aided by his wife, Ruth, a free woman of color.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1849 (Feb 1)
Published
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The autobiography of James William Charles Pennington is published in London.
The autobiography of James William Charles Pennington, who had escaped slavery when he was twenty-one, was written in 1849. Upon escape, he devoted himself to Christianity and abolition, using his story to gain support and expose the horrors of slavery. His work took him to London as Connecticut's representative at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention and to Paris, Brussels, Scotland, and Frankfurt as a lecturer. Though Pennington did not support emigration by Black Americans to Africa, he did support the evangelization of Africa's indigenous peoples. In 1855, Pennington helped organize the New York Legal Rights Association, which worked to bring equality to the city's transportation system.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1849 (Apr 1)
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Mary Ellen Pleasant, businesswoman and abolitionist, moves to California and prospers. She becomes one of the first self-made wealthy Black women in the U.S.
Mary Ellen Pleasant, also referred to as Mammy Pleasant, moved to San Francisco from Boston where she had met William Lloyd Garrison. In California, Pleasant opened a restaurant and boarding house, managed estates, and made loans. She is believed to have rescued enslaved Blacks who were being held illegally and to have worked to secure Blacks' rights to testify in court and ride street cars. Pleasant was also said to have given money to John Brown to help his attack on Harpers ferry. But Pleasant, believed to be of Black and Indian blood, holds a more prominent name as the planner and operator of the House of Mystery, a brothel. She also admitted to helping one of her women forge a marriage contract in order to gain wealth through divorce. She was arguably the first self-made millionaire of Black American heritage, preceding Madam C. J. Walker by decades.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  •  • Huddleston, Tom Jr (February 15, 2020). "Mary Ellen Pleasant, one of the first black self-made millionaires, used an ingenious trick to build her fortune". CNBC. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
1849 (May 1)
Published
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The “separate but equal” doctrine is established when Benjamin Roberts, a Black parent, sues the city of Boston for denying his daughter admission to a white public school.
Benjamin Roberts, a Black parent in Boston, sued the city for denying his daughter admission to a white public school. The Massachusetts Supreme Court rejected the suit, Roberts v. The City of Boston, establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine instead. Charles Sumner unsuccessfully represented the plaintiff's side.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1848 (Feb 1)
Published
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo concludes, but escalates the debate between the North and the South over slavery in the U.S.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was concluded between the United States and Mexico, ending two years of combat between the countries. Under the terms of the treaty, the present states of New Mexico and California were ceded to the United States. Many pro-slavery Southerners had supported the war, anticipating that new lands would be opened to slavery. Many anti-slavery Northerners had opposed the war, fearing that it was the result of a pro-slavery conspiracy designed to open new territory to slavery. Shortly after the war began in 1846, democratic representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced an amendment to a pending bill in Congress—to become known as the "Wilmot Proviso"—which sought to prohibit slavery in any territory acquired as a result of the Mexican war. The proviso passed in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Senate. The Mexican cession and the status of slavery there precipitated bitter debate between North and South from 1848 to 1850. One proposed solution was offered by President Zachary Taylor, who suggested that California and New Mexico bypass the territorial stage of government and apply directly for statehood, thus nullifying the question of slavery in the Mexican Cession territories. This proposal was unacceptable to the South, for both New Mexico and California would enter the Union as free states, thus upsetting the precarious sectional balance in the U.S. Senate that now stood at fifteen states each. The grounds were laid for the famous Compromise of 1850.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1847 (Jun 30)
Published
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Dred Scott files a lawsuit in what would become the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford case. Scott, an enslaved Black man, declares that his temporary residence in a free territory makes him a free man.
Dred Scott, an enslaved Black man, filed suit in the St. Louis circuit Court claiming that his temporary residence in a free territory should have made him a free man. Scott was a semi-literate man who travel throughout the country, specifically into the free portions of the Louisiana territory, where slavery had been excluded by the Missouri compromise of 1820, and into free Illinois which formed the basis for the case.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1847 (Dec 3)
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Frederick Douglass begins publication of the anti-slavery newspaper, North Star.
Black American abolitionist Frederick Douglass began publication of his own newspaper, the North Star. Douglass, who was formally enslaved, became the era's most well-known Black anti-slavery speaker and writer. Born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, in 1817, Douglass was separated in infancy from his mother and had harsh enslavers as a child. While still very young, Douglass became a house servant in Baltimore, where white playmates taught him to read. His first attempt at escape was thwarted, but in 1838, while working as a ship calker, he managed a successful break from slavery. Further education by anti-slavery groups in the North made Douglass a very lucid speaker and writer. The publication of the North Star was one of the factors that led to Douglass's break with William Lloyd Garrison, the noted white abolitionist and publisher of the Liberator. Garrison saw no need for two major rival anti-slavery publications, but Douglass and other Blacks had become convinced that they must play a more leading role in the abolitionist movement, and that included the printing of a newspaper. In later years, Douglass was appointed to several political and diplomatic posts, including unofficial advisor to presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, marshal of the district of Columbia, recorder of deeds of the district of Columbia, and minister to Haiti. He also served as president of the Freedmen's Bank in 1874.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1846 (Aug 1)
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Black American inventor Norbert Rillieux patented a sugar-refining machine.
Norbert Rillieux (1806-94) obtained his first patent for the revolutionary multiple-effect vacuum evaporation process, which made the refined sugar whiter and grainier. The technique became the basic manufacturing process in the sugar industry. Rillieux, born in New Orleans in 1806, was the son of a white engineer and a free mixed-race woman. His father invented the steam-operated cotton-baling press.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1845 (Mar 1)
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The first anthology of Black American verse is published.
The 215-page La Cenelles was published as the first anthology of Black American verse. Fourteen of the poems were written by Camille Thierry (1814-75), a New Orleans Creole who lived most of his life in France trying to escape racism. Thierry was asked to contribute to the compilation after he had published his first poem, Les Idees, which appeared in L'Album Littdraire, a collection of writings intended to promote racial equality.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1844 (Jun 24)
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Boston Blacks urged school integration but were denied. Schools in Massachusetts remained segregated until 1855.
At a mass meeting in Boston, Black Americans adopted a resolution declaring that the city's segregated public schools violated the state constitution. They urged the city's school committee to abolish separate schools and to extend to Black American citizens the right to send their children to the schools established in the respective district in which they resided. Their request was denied and the schools in Massachusetts remained segregated until 1855.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1844 (Feb 1)
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The birth of Henry Vinton Plummer, minister and activist.
Henry Vinton Plummer was born as an enslaved African in Prince George's County, Maryland. At eighteen, Plummer escaped from slavery after having been sold at least twice. In 1864, he enlisted in the navy and taught himself to read during his year and a half of service. In 1867, Plummer married Julia Lomax; together they had six sons and two daughters. Plummer began ministering in Maryland congregations while preparing to attend Wayland seminary in Washington D.C., from which he graduated in 1879. Upon the recommendation of Frederick Douglass, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Plummer chaplain of the 9th Cavalry in 1884. Championing temperance, Plummer formed the Loyal Temperance Legion for the children of the Black troops at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Although he was popular among the soldiers, his influence may have been viewed as a threat to the white-run army. In the months following Plummer's proposed plan for the colonization of central Africa by Black American volunteer soldiers, he was accused and convicted of drunkenness. Upon his dismissal, Plummer moved to Kansas where his attempts to return to the service were unsuccessful. He spent the remainder of his life serving his churches. Plummer died in Wichita, Kansas, on February 8, 1905.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1843 (Dec 27)
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The weekly Columbus, Ohio newspaper, Palladium of Liberty, is founded by Black abolitionist and businessman David Jenkins.
Abolitionist and businessman David Jenkins founded the Palladium of Liberty, a weekly Columbus, Ohio newspaper that advocated the abolition of slavery. Although the paper ran for little more than a year, it influenced future Black-operated newspapers in the midwest.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1841 (Feb 1)
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Mixed-race abolitionist Jeremiah Burke Sanderson makes his first public address in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Jeremiah Burke Sanderson (1821-1875) made his first public address at an abolitionists meeting in Nantucket, Massachusetts. (Frederick Douglass also gave his first public speech there.) Throughout the 1840s, the Scottish and African-blooded Sanderson, born and educated in New Bedford, Massachusetts, spoke out against slavery in his state as well as in New York, where, in 1853, he joined the National Council of the National Colored Convention. Although Sanderson did not promote immigration of Blacks abroad, he did support the massive migration of Blacks to California in 1854 by going there himself. There, he helped many Black religious, social, political, and educational organizations increase their status in American society. Sanderson was elected to the African Methodist Episcopal church positions of secretary of the California conference and state delegate to the church's national conference, but died in a train accident on August 19, 1875, before he was able to serve.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1839 (Jul 1)
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A group of enslaved Africans capture the Spanish ship Amistad. Former president John Quincy Adams defends them, and the Supreme Court grants their freedom.
The most famous enslaved African mutiny in U.S. history took place on the Spanish ship Amistad. The Amistad, a Spanish schooner, had illegally kidnapped free Africans in Sierra Leone (West Africa) in 1839. Their goal was to transport them to Cuba for sale. A group of Africans, led by Joseph Cinque, brought the captured vessel into Montauk, Long Island, where they were arrested. Former president John Quincy Adams defended the rebels before the Supreme Court, which granted their freedom. The U.S. had banned the importation of enslaved Africans in 1808.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1838 (Mar 14)
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Black Americans protest Pennsylvania voting reform that denies them the right to vote, arguing that they are citizens per the Articles of Confederation. Pennsylvania still moves forward with voting reform.
Black Americans held a mass meeting in Philadelphia to protest the action of the Pennsylvania Reform Convention of 1837, which denied them the right to vote. The convention, acting on the basis of an 1837 state supreme court decision (Fogg v. Hobbs), held that Blacks were not freemen and restricted suffrage to white males. Attendees, claiming to represent 40,000 Blacks threatened with disfranchisement, said the denial of suffrage would make political rights dependent upon the "skin in which a man is born" and divide "what our fathers bled to unite, to wit, taxation and representation." They further argued that they were indeed citizens, having been recognized as such by article four of the Articles of Confederation, which stated: "The free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states." The Constitution of the United States, according to the Black petition, made no changes as to their rights of citizenship. The petitioners asked the state court to reverse its decision in Fogg v. Hobbs and/or the people of Pennsylvania to reject the new Constitution. The court's action stood, however, and the new constitution's disfranchising clauses won popular approval.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1838 (Jan 1)
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Frank Johnson, Black American bandleader, performs for Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.
Frank Johnson, one of America's first Black American bandleaders, gave a command performance before Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. He was presented with a silver bugle. Johnson was born in 1792 and by 1820 had established himself as a versatile musician, playing with white bands in Philadelphia. When he organized his own band, principally a woodwind ensemble, it won national acclaim for its excellent performances at parades and dances. Frank Johnson's Colored Band, as it was called, even performed on plantations as far as south Virginia. Johnson became noted for his ability to distort a song into a reel, jig, or country dance. He also composed music, including the recognition March on the Independence of Haiti in 1825. Johnson died in 1844.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1837 (Mar 1)
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Cheyney University is founded by Quaker Richard Humphreys.
Cheyney University, originally known as the Institute for Colored Youth, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1837, by Quaker Richard Humphreys. The school moved to Cheyney, Pennsylvania, in 1902, and began offering post-secondary education in 1931.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1836 (Feb 1)
Published
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The “gag rule” is adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives as a means to completely ignore anti-slavery petitions.
The infamous "gag rule" was adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under the act, anti-slavery petitions were simply laid on the table without any further action. This denial of the right of petition angered former president John Quincy Adams, then a congressman from Massachusetts. Adams fought vigorously against the rule, helping to rouse public opinion in the North. Anti-slavery petitions began to pour into Washington; more than 200,000 of them in a single session. In 1844, the gag rule was rescinded. Its opponents saw it as an effort to deny White men their right of freedom of petition in an attempt to keep Black men enslaved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1835 (Jun 1 - 5)
Published
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The fifth National Negro Convention met and urged Blacks to stop using the terms “African” and “colored.”
The fifth National Negro Convention met in Philadelphia and urged Blacks to abandon the use of the terms "African" and "colored" when referring to Black institutions, organizations, and themselves.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1835 (Dec 15)
Published
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John Caesar, a military leader, organized an enslaved Black rebellion that led to the Treaty of Fort Dade.
John Caesar led hundreds of enslaved Blacks and Indians in the attack of the St. Johns River plantations on the eve of the second Seminole War. Near the end of the war, he organized a guerrilla campaign against plantations in the St. Augustine vicinity, recruiting enslaved Blacks and Indians. On the night of January 17, 1837, Caesar was killed in a surprise attack. Nevertheless, his efforts at the beginning and end of the war led to the Treaty of Fort Dade, resulting in freedom for many enslaved runaways who might otherwise have been re-enslaved.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1834 (Feb 1)
Published
0 0
The New York Common Council took control of the African Free Schools.
The New York Common Council took control of the African Free Schools.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1831 (Jan 1)
Published
0 0
William Lloyd Garrison, a White man, debuts the first issue of “The Liberator,” an anti-slavery newspaper.
William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of the militant anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator, with financial aid and moral support from such prominent Black Americans as James Forten of Philadelphia.
1818 (Apr 1)
Published
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Elizabeth Keckley, assistant to first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, is born. She would go on to release a controversial memoir that ends her relationship with Lincoln.
Elizabeth Keckley was born enslaved in Dinwiddie, Virginia, and was taken to St. Louis, Missouri, in her teens. She helped support her enslaver's family and her own son through her dressmaking and seam stressing skills. Through loans from her customers, Keckley bought her freedom and that of her son on November 15, 1855 and moved to Washington. She became the dressmaker, personal maid, and confidante of first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in early 1861 and continued until 1868, when the publication of Keckley's memoirs ended their friendship. The book, "Behind the Scenes, or "Thirty Years a Slave," and "Four Years in the White House", was highly controversial, as it relayed Mrs. Lincoln's personal opinions of government officials and her own family life. Keckley's dressmaking business declined after the public furor over the book, and she pursued a brief career as a schoolteacher. She died of a paralytic stroke in Washington on May 26, 1907.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1817 (Jan 15)
Published
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Blacks protest the American Colonization Society’s efforts to deport Blacks to Africa.
Philadelphia Blacks, meeting at the Bethel the African Methodist Episcopal church, formally protested against the American Colonization Society's efforts to deport Blacks from the United States to Africa.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1817 (Apr 1)
Published
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Paul Cuffe, activist, and one of the wealthiest Black Americans in early American history, dies from health issues.
Paul Cuffe was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1758 as a free man. In 1797, he purchased a farm and built a school for the children in his hometown. An activist in the cause of civil rights, Cuffe and his brother John unsuccessfully sued the state of Massachusetts for the right to vote. Disillusioned over the future of free Blacks in America, Cuffe transported a group of thirty-eight Blacks to Sierra Leone, a British colony on the West Coast of Africa, in 1811. Failing health and uncertainty about the colonization scheme caused him to withdraw from the venture shortly before his death. At his death, Cuffe left an estate valued at more than $20,000, making him one of the wealthiest Black Americans in early American history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1817 (Mar 1)
Published
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George De Baptiste is born. He would go on to become an abolitionist and one of Detroit’s wealthiest Black Americans.
George De Baptiste was born free in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and worked as a barber in Madison, Wisconsin, for many years until 1866, when tensions between Blacks and Whites prompted him to move to Detroit, a more tolerant area. He became a member of a secret abolition society and a leader in the underground railroad. De Baptiste was instrumental in recruiting Michigan's Black regiment during the Civil War. In 1870 he served on Detroit's first all-Black jury. De Baptiste was elected a delegate to the local republican senatorial convention and actively promoted integration of Detroit's public schools. One of Detroit's wealthiest Black Americans, he died of stomach cancer on February 25, 1875, survived by his second wife and two of his ten children.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1816 (Jan 3)
Published
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Stephen Smith, an enslaved Black man, purchased his freedom. He would then go on to become a successful businessman and civil rights activist.
Stephen Smith purchased his freedom from slavery for fifty dollars in January 1816 and, later that year, his release from indentured servitude. Smith had previous experience in the lumber business and soon established his own firm. Smith was born to an enslaved mother, Nancy Smith, in Paxtang, Pennsylvania. At the age of five he was indentured to a patriot of the Revolutionary War, Thomas Boude. Great success allowed Smith to dabble in coal, railroading, stocks, and real estate, and eventually brought him into ownership of more than fifty houses and $18,000 worth of stock in New York's Columbia bank. But Smith still faced challenges because he was Black. In 1834, envious Whites attacked his office, and later that year, Smith was warned that he should leave his Columbia community. He remained in Columbia until 1842 when he moved to Philadelphia. Smith attended a national convention for free people of color in New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was also an activist who participated in the operations of the underground railroad, the American Moral Reform Society, and the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, among many other abolitionist groups. Smith was a benefactor to the Institute For Colored Youth, The Home For Destitute Colored Children, The House of Refuge, and the Olive Cemetery. The House For Age and Infirm Colored Persons was renamed the Stephen Smith Home For The Aged, in recognition of Smith, who had donated $28,000 and the ground to build on and made the home the principal beneficiary of his estate. Smith died in 1873.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1816 (Dec 28)
Published
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The American Colonization Society is formed to ease America’s race problems by transporting free Blacks to Africa.
The American Colonization Society, formed to ease American race problems by transporting free Blacks to Africa, was organized in Washington, D.C. Representatives John C. Calhoun of South Carolina and Henry Clay of Kentucky were among its sponsors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1816 (Apr 9)
Published
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The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church is formally organized in Philadelphia. Richard Allen is the first Bishop of the church.
The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church, the first all-Black religious denomination in the United States, was formally organized in Philadelphia. Richard Allen was named the first bishop of the church. Allen was born enslaved in Philadelphia and was sold as a youth to a white man in Delaware. He became a preacher shortly thereafter and received permission to hold services in his enslaver's home. Allen preached to both Blacks and Whites and was allowed, at the same time, to hire himself out. He bought his freedom by hauling salt, wood, and other products, and by laboring in a brickyard. After leading the A.M.E. church for fifteen years, Allen died in 1831. He was succeeded by Morris Brown, an exile from South Carolina who had resided in Philadelphia since 1823.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1815
Published
0 0
James Nickens enlists and serves in the navy in Virginia. After his death the state government awards his son 200 acres of land in Ohio.
James Nickens enlisted in the navy at the start of the American Revolution. Nickens served on several vessels, including the Norfolk Revenge for over two years. Nickens performed land service at the Lancaster Courthouse for the remainder of the war. He was prevented from fighting at the battle of Eutaw Springs and instead was responsible for the baggage. Nickens returned to Virginia in 1818 where he received the standard veterans' pension of $96 per year. After Nickens's death in 1838, the state government awarded his son, James, Jr., a grant of 200 acres of land in Ohio for his father's service in the revolution.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1708
Published
0 0
Connecticut passes a law harshly punishing enslaved persons if they strike a white person.
According to colonial Connecticut law, an enslaved person striking a White person was to be whipped thirty times.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1693
Published
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A group of Quakers release a publication opposing owning Blacks.
George Keith and a group of Quakers published "An Exhortation & Caution to Friends Concerning Buying or Keeping of Negroes".
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1643
Published
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New England passes a law that makes it easy to convict enslaved Black runaways.
The New England Confederation declared that certification by a magistrate was sufficient evidence to convict enslaved Black runaways.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1793 (Feb 12)
Published
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Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.
Congress passes the first fugitive slave act, making it a crime to harbor an escaped enslaved Black or to interfere with his or her arrest. Congress would later pass a second fugitive slave act in 1850.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1816
Published
0 0
The birth of John Jones, successful businessman and abolitionist.
John Jones was born free in Green City, North Carolina. He was self-educated and became a tailor's apprentice in Memphis, Tennessee, before moving to Chicago in 1845. Jones opened a tailoring business there, from which he amassed a fortune. Using his wealth and influence, Jones led the successful fight against the prohibition of the immigration of free Blacks into Illinois in 1853, the "Black Laws," and school segregation in Chicago. He was elected a Cook County, Illinois, commissioner in 1875 and served for two terms. Jones was also the first Black American elected to the Chicago Board of Education. Prior to the Civil War, he was also active in the abolitionist movement; his home being used as a station on the underground railroad. Jones died in 1879, leaving an estate valued at more than $100,000.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1815
Published
0 0
A Black Vermont missionary, Prince Saunders, promotes efforts in Africa and Haiti.
Vermont's Prince Saunders arrived in England seeking backers for education and missionary efforts in Africa. Saunders also supported emigration of Black Americans to Africa. In England, however, Saunders' interest turned to Haiti when he met up with English reformers with the long-term goal, supported by Haitian king Henri Christophe, of changing the island's language and religion. Saunders joined them and taught in Haiti from 1816 to 1818. He then returned to Philadelphia to rekindle his colonization efforts, this time with Haiti in mind. He arrived again on the island in 1820, supposedly representing colonists-in-waiting. But when Christophe arranged passage to Haiti for them, his army rebelled and his regime collapsed, taking Saunders's plans down with it. Saunders published Haitian papers while in London. The work was a translation of Haitian laws, and the Code Henri laws which were regulating agriculture, commerce, police, and social-political organizations in the kingdom. Saunders had been born to Cuff and Phyllis Saunders. He was baptized on July 25, 1784. Saunders received his early education at Thetford, Connecticut. Later he taught at a school for Blacks in Colchester. During 1807 and 1808, Saunders studied at Moor's Charity School at Dartmouth College. In 1811, he sewed as secretary of the African masonic lodge and organized the Belles Lettres Society, a group of literary white men. Saunders died in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1839.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1815
Published
0 0
Insurrectionist Dangerfield Newby is born.
Dangerfield Newby was born in Virginia to an enslaved mother and a Scotsman. His father granted all his children freedom upon his death. Newby married and had seven children. Desperate to free his enslaved family, Newby joined John Brown's group. He was killed in the Harpers Ferry raid the night of October 17, 1859; afterward, his body was beaten and mutilated by the town's citizens. His remains were buried in a shallow grave in Harpers Ferry and later moved to North Elba, New York, where they were laid to rest near the grave of John Brown.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1814
Published
0 0
The first Sunday school is established by Catherine Ferguson.
Catherine Ferguson established the first modern Sunday school in the basement of a Manhattan, New York church. She educated and found homes for street children both the Black and White, and the unwed mothers. Ferguson was born enslaved during a trip that her mother was taking to New York City from Virginia around 1779. At the age of sixteen a benefactress purchased her freedom for two hundred dollars. She died of Cholera in New York City on July 11, 1854.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1813 (Feb 5)
Published
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Civil Rights activist Jermain Wesley Loguen is born.
Jermain Wesley Loguen was born in Davidson County, Tennessee. His mother, Cherry, was born free in Ohio, kidnapped, and sold to David Logue, who fathered Jermain. Logue sold Jermain and his mother to a brutal enslaver. After witnessing the constant whipping of his mother, the murder of an enslaved Black, and the sale of his sister, Loguen sought his freedom. With the help of quakers, Loguen escaped on the underground railroad to Hamilton, Ontario, where he learned to read and worked as a lumberjack and farmer. He later settled in central New York. After opening a school for Black children in Utica, Loguen and his wife moved to Syracuse, where he opened another school and managed the underground railroad station there. In 1842, he was ordained a minister of the New York Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and went on to establish several churches between 1840 and 1850. He worked closely with Frederick Douglass on the underground railroad, and he wrote for Douglass's North Star and Frederick Douglass' paper. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 threatened the freedom of Loguen and other runaways, so in 1851 he escaped to Canada. Upon returning to Syracuse, he continued his work with the underground railroad, helping some 1,500 of the enslaved escape, including Harriet Tubman, who stayed at his home. He was twice elected bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and was about to begin mission work on the west coast when he died in 1872.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1812 (May 6)
Published
0 0
The birth of physician, colonizationist, and union army officer Martin R. Delany.
Born in Virginia, Martin R. Delany was educated in the African Free School of New York City, the Canaan Academy in New Hampshire, the Oneida Institute in upper New York, and the Harvard University Medical School, where he received his medical degree in 1852. Delany attempted to practice medicine in Pittsburgh, but prejudice and poor profits drove him into other areas. He became a member of the British Association for the promotion of social science and published two books: "The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of The Colored People of the United States" (1852), and "Principle of Ethnology" (1879). In 1843, Delany published the newspaper, Mystery, and joined Frederick Douglass in the publication of The North Star in 1847. He was also a leader of the National Convention Movement of Black Americans. Following the passage of the Compromise of 1850, with its new Fugitive Slave Act, Delany became convinced that the United States was too inhospitable for people of African descent and turned his attention to colonization. He helped organize an expedition to Nigeria in 1858, negotiated treaties with eight African chiefs who granted lands for prospective Black American settlers, and began plans for the expanded production and exportation of cotton in the region. During the Civil War, Delany was a medical officer with the rank of major in the 104th union regiment in South Carolina. He settled in Charleston after the war, working with the Freedmen's Bureau, and later served as a justice of the peace there. He was defeated in a bid for lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 1874. Delany died in 1885.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1810
Published
0 0
Hotelier William Leidesdorff is born.
William Leidesdorff was born in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands, to an African mother and a Danish father. Leidesdorff moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1834. After becoming a ship captain he piloted a voyage from New York to California around the southern tip of South America aboard the schooner Julia Ann in 1841. Leidesdorff settled in California and built a hotel, school, and steamboat. He served as U.S. vice-counsel for the port of San Francisco from 1845 to 1846. He died in 1848.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1808 (Jan 1)
Published
0 0
U.S. federal law prohibits the importation of enslaved Africans. Some ignore the law.
A federal law prohibiting the importation of enslaved Africans into the United States went into effect. The law was passed in March 1807 and stipulated that persons convicted of violating it were to be fined anywhere from $800 (for knowingly buying illegally imported enslaved Africans) to $820,000 (for equipping a slave vessel) or imprisoned. Illegally imported enslaved Africans were to come under the jurisdiction of the state legislatures, which would decide their disposition. The coast-wide trade of enslaved Africans was also prohibited if it was carried in on vessels of less than forty tons. The responsibility for the law's enforcement shifted among the treasury department, the secretary of the Navy, and the secretary of state. Some Southern states passed laws against the illegal importation of enslaved Africans, while other states took no action at all. Some of the newly imported enslaved Africans were sold in these states with the proceeds going into the state treasury. Both Northern commercial interests and Southern planters ignored the law with impunity.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1807
Published
0 0
Edward Rose, an escaped enslaved mixed-race man, helps guide multiple expeditions.
Edward Rose accompanied the Manuel Lisa trapping expedition as a guide, hunter, and interpreter. Rose, an escaped enslaved man of Black, White, and Cherokee blood, was also part of the 1809 escort that took Mandan chief Big White back to his home after traveling with the Louis and Clark party. Rose's knowledge of the topography of the Upper Missouri region and of the languages and customs of Indian tribes made him invaluable to these and other exploration and trading ventures. In 1823, as part of William H. Ashley's second trapping venture, Rose distinguished himself by negotiating peace after a battle with the Arikara Indians; this secured a safe Missouri River passage to the Rockies. Rose was apparently also instrumental in taming a tribe of 600 Crow Indians during an 1825 treaty-making expedition into the Upper Missouri.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1806
Published
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Abolitionist and school founder Sarah Mapps Douglass is born in Philadelphia.
Sarah Mapps Douglass was born into a prominent quaker family in Philadelphia. Her maternal grandfather, Cyril Bustin, owned a bakery, was a schoolmaster, and was an early member of the Free African Society. Her mother ran a quaker millinery store adjacent to the family bakery, and her father was a founding member of the First African Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. Douglass was privately tutored, and in the 1820s she opened a school for Black American children that would later receive support from the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. It was through her involvement as corresponding secretary of this society that Douglass became acquainted with Sarah and Angelina Grimke, daughters of a prominent white judge. Their association spurred condemnation from whites, resulting in riots and mob violence in the 1830s and 1840s. Realizing the futility of her struggle against segregation, Douglass in 1853 took charge of the girl's primary department of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, a job she held until her retirement in 1877. After the Civil War she served as vice-chairperson of the Women's Pennsylvania Branch of the American Freedmen's Aid Commission. Douglass died on September 8, 1882, in Philadelphia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1807
Published
0 0
George Bell opens the first Black school in Washington, D.C. It is shut down due to financial difficulties, but later reopens with an average attendance of 65 students.
The first school for Black American children was built in Washington, D.C., by George Bell with the help of Nicholas Franklin and Moses Liverpool. This effort, by the formerly enslaved who still could not read or write, preceded Congressional establishment of public schools for Blacks in the capital by 57 years. (Public education for whites was authorized in 1804, and two schools opened for them in 1806.) Though financial difficulties soon forced the closing of the school, Bell, with the help of his Resolute Beneficial Society, was able to reopen the facility in 1818. John Adams, the first Black male teacher in the district of Columbia, was part of this second school, which had an average attendance of sixty-five students. By the time the Civil War began, an estimated 1,200 of the 3,172 school-age Blacks were enrolled in some type of privately run school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1806
Published
0 0
Cato Gardiner raises funds and builds a Black church in Boston.
The freed enslaved Black, Cato Gardner, raised funds to build a Black American church in Boston. William Lloyd Garrison started his New England Abolitionist Society in it, and a school operated out of its basement. The structure is the oldest extant Black church building in the United States today.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1804 (Jan 5)
Published
0 0
Ohio passes “Black Laws” designed to suppress the freedom of free Blacks in the North, reflecting the deteriorating social status of free Blacks.
The Ohio legislature took the lead in passing "Black Laws" designed to restrict the rights and freedom of movement of free Blacks in the North. The laws reflected the steady deterioration of the legal and social status of free Blacks since the Revolutionary War. Although Northern Blacks had endured severe restrictions in the colonial period, in some areas of New England they faced curfews at night, could not visit another town without permission, and could not own certain types of property; these were somewhat relieved by the atmosphere of freedom that prevailed in the North after 1776. By 1835, however, several Northern states prohibited free Black immigration and severely restricted or completely disfranchised Black voters. By 1860, according to Professor John Hope Franklin, it was difficult to distinguish, in terms of legal status, between enslaved Blacks and free Blacks.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1800 (May 1)
Published
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A proposal to send Blacks back to Africa is proposed following Gabriel Prosser’s planned rebellion.
Plans to send Blacks to Africa were proposed when a conspiracy organized by enslaved Black "General Gabriel" was reported. Gabriel's insurrection was suppressed by Virginia governor James Monroe, who ordered in the federal militia. The ringleaders of the insurrection were executed.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1800
Published
0 0
Blacks in Boston start their own school after being denied education for their children.
Boston Blacks requested a school for the education of their children. Upon refusal, they started one on their own with two Harvard alumni as instructors.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1769
Published
0 0
California is occupied by Spanish African residents.
When the Spanish empire expanded into coastal California in 1769, the large population of Spanish-speaking residents of African descent was influential to the occupation. The Portola expedition in particular was known to have at least one mixed-race Black soldier, Juan Antonio Coronel, and several mule drivers of Spanish African heritage.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1767 (Jul 19)
Published
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Clock maker Peter Hill is born.
Peter Hill was born into an enslaved family in a New Jersey Quaker household where he learned the craft of clock making from his enslaver. He worked in his enslaver's clock shop until age 27, when he was manumitted. Hill received his manumission document May 1, 1795. On September 9, 1795, Hill married Tina Lewis, a free woman of color. Hill went on to open clock shops of his own in Burlington Township and Mount Holly, New Jersey. Two of Hill's tall case clocks are known to still be in existence: one in Westtown elementary school, the other in the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Hill died in 1820.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1766
Published
0 0
George Washington trades an unruly enslaved Black for liquor.
Virginia farmer and future president George Washington sent an unruly slave to the West Indies in exchange for rum and other commodities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1764 (Sep 15)
Published
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Brown University is founded and named after wealthy slave trade shippers.
Brown University was founded in Providence, Rhode Island. The university was named for the wealthy New England shippers, the Brown Brothers, who made substantial profits from the African slave trade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1761 (Dec 15)
Published
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Jupiter Hammon publishes “Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries,” the first known poetical work of a Black American.
Jupiter Hammon, born enslaved October 17, 1711, published Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries, the first known poetical work by a Black American. Hammon's enslavers had given him a rudimentary education, including religious instruction, and helped to publish his verse. Scholars do not accord much literary merit to Hammon's work, but he is an important figure because of his place in the chronology of Black literature. Hammon is also known for his "Address to the Negroes of the State of New York" (1787), in which he called upon Blacks to be faithful and obedient to their enslavers. Hammon believed that the race should endure its bondage humbly and patiently until it earned its freedom by honest and good conduct.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1760
Published
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Soldier Austin Dabney is born. Decades after his participation in the Revolutionary War, the Georgia legislature grants him 112 acres of farmland. He is considered by some to be Georgia’s only genuine Black hero of the Revolutionary War.
Austin Dabney is believed to have been born to a Virginia white woman and a Black father in North Carolina. Dabney was enlisted in the Georgia Militia by Richard Aycock. In February 1779, Dabney fought along with white men in the name of colonial independence. He was wounded in battle, ending his military career. Dabney was emancipated in 1786 by the Georgia legislature, and in 1821 he was granted 112 acres of choice farmland in Walton County. His prosperity grew from owning horses during the later years of his life. Dabney was, according to some, Georgia's only genuine Black hero of the American Revolutionary War. Dabney died in Zebulon, GA in 1834.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1760
Published
0 0
Spy James Lafayette Armistead is born. His intelligent assistance during the Revolutionary War granted him his freedom.
James Lafayette Armistead was born enslaved to William Armistead of New Kent County, Virginia. In March 1781, Armistead was granted permission to serve with General Lafayette during the Revolutionary War and infiltrated the headquarters of British general Charles Cornwallis. Armistead was noted for his written intelligence reports concerning the Yorktown campaign that ended the Revolutionary War. Lafayette gave Armistead a certificate stating: "This is to certify that the bearer by the name of James had done essential services to me while I had the honor to command in this State. His intelligences from the enemy's camp were industriously collected and more faithfully delivered. He properly acquitted himself with some important communications I gave him and appears to be entitled to every reward his situation can admit of. Done under my hand, Richmond, November 21st, 1784. LaFayette." As a reward for his services, Armistead was granted his freedom by the Virginia legislature in 1786. Thirty years later, he purchased forty acres of land near New Kent County and raised a family. He was granted an annual pension of $40 in 1819, and in 1824 was personally greeted by General Lafayette upon the General's return to America. Armistead died in 1832.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1760
Published
0 0
Seaman Joseph Ranger is born. He reportedly receives an annual pension and 100 acres of land for his service.
Joseph Ranger was born in Northumberland County, Virginia. Ranger was aboard the Jefferson when the British blew it up. He also served on the Hero, the Dragon, and the Patriot during the American Revolution. Ranger was part of the captured patriot crew that was held by the British until the surrender at Yorktown. He served on the Patriot and the Liberator in the years following the revolution. He reportedly received the benefits of the Federal Pension Act of 1832, an annual payment of $96 and 100 acres of land.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1759
Published
0 0
Soldier Agrippa Hull is born in Massachusetts.
Agrippa Hull was born free in Northampton, Massachusetts. Hull enlisted as a private in the brigade of the Massachusetts line on May 1, 1777, where he served for the duration of the revolutionary war. He served his first two years as a private and the next four years as an orderly for General Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the Polish patriot. Hull received his discharge (signed by General George Washington) in July 1783 at West Point. Kosciuszko later met with Hull in New York when the General visited the United States in 1797. Hull married a fugitive enslaved woman, adopted another enslaved fugitive, and farmed a plot of land in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He died in 1848.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1755
Published
0 0
Author and Chaplain John Marrant is born. He was described by one historian as undoubtedly one of the first Black ministers of the gospel in North America.
John Marrant was born in New York. He lived in St. Augustine, Florida, for a time before being captured by Cherokee Indians. Marrant was influenced by the reverend George Whitefield, an English preacher who co-founded, with John Wesley, the Methodist Movement. He served with the British Royal Navy and was a Methodist missionary in Nova Scotia before becoming an author. His writings detailed the events of his own life that led him to his religious convictions. His most popular work, "A Narrative of The Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant," describes Marrant's "dealings" with God. Historian Arthur Schomburg reprinted Marrant's masonic sermon in 1789 and described him as undoubtedly one of the first, if not the first, Black minister of the gospel in North America. Marrant rarely referred to racial matters in his works and thus was never cited in early collected works of African American biographies. He died in 1791.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1752
Published
0 0
The birth of soldier Oliver Cromwell, who accompanied George Washington in crossing the Delaware in 1776.
Oliver Cromwell was reportedly born free in Columbus, Burlington County, New Jersey in 1752. He worked as a farmer before joining the 2nd New Jersey regiment under the command of Colonel Israel Shreve. Cromwell recalled that he accompanied General George Washington when he crossed the Delaware in 1776 and also claimed to have fought in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Monmouth, and Yorktown. He received an honorable discharge from the Jersey Battalion which was signed by General Washington at his headquarters on June 5, 1783. Cromwell received a federal pension of ninety-six dollars a year. He died in January 1853.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1750
Published
0 0
Georgia authorizes the importation of enslaved persons, and requires Blacks be tried according to the laws of England.
The colony of Georgia authorized the importation of enslaved persons. The law required a ratio of four enslaved males for each white servant. It also required that Blacks be tried according to the laws of England and that the enslaved be taught the sanctity of marriage. The law also prohibited intermarriage of Blacks and Whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1750
Published
0 0
Minister George Liele is born in Virginia.
George Liele was born to enslaved parents in Virginia. He was introduced to the Baptist faith by a white minister in Burke County, Georgia, who preached to the enslaved. During Britain's occupation of Savannah, Liele began preaching to Black Baptists, and when the British sailed from Savannah to Jamaica, Liele accompanied them as an indentured servant. In Jamaica, Liele began preaching in a private home but eventually was permitted to expand his ministry to rural areas, much to the dismay of the Anglican church. Liele built a church and a public school and worked as a farmer and hauler of goods. In 1820 he died in Jamaica and was buried there; he left a wife and four children.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1749
Published
0 0
Lucy Terry Prince, an enslaved Black girl, writes the poem “The Bar’s Fight” about an Indian attack in Deerfield, Massachusetts. She is considered by some to be the first Black American female poet.
At age sixteen, Lucy Terry Prince wrote "The Bar's Fight," a poem about an Indian attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, where she was enslaved. The poem wasn't published until 1855, in Josiah Gilbert Holland's history of western Massachusetts. Prince is considered by some to be the first Black American female poet, though Phillis Wheatley published work in 1776. Born in Africa, Prince was kidnapped as a child and brought to Deerfield, where she became enslaved to Ebenezer Wells. Prince was married in 1756 to Abijah Prince, a free man who bought his wife's freedom. Prince's past probably inspired her civil rights efforts. She succeeded in convincing the governor's council of Guilford, Vermont, where she was living, to order the protection of her family after their fence had been torn down by white neighbors. She also tried, but failed, to get one of her sons enrolled in Williams College. In 1821, Prince died on the family farm in Sunderland.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1745
Published
0 0
The birth of abolitionist and writer Gustavus Vassa, author of his autobiography, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.”
Gustavus Vassa was born and name as Olaudah Equiano in Nigeria. Vassa enjoyed a childhood filled with tribal unity. At the age of ten, he was kidnapped by nearby tribesmen and sold into slavery. He was brought to Virginia where he was purchased by a British sailor, Michael Pacal, who took him to England. There he began his formal education and was given the name Gustavus Vassa, after the sixteenth-century Swedish king. He traveled with his enslaver across the seas, witnessing fighting between the French and the British. He was further educated in London and was baptized in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, in February 1759. When Vassa requested freedom, his enslaver angrily sent him to the West Indies to be sold. Vassa's new enslaver was a Philadelphia Quaker who taught him commercial arts. Vassa bought his freedom in 1766 and earned his living trading goods from the Caribbean. His interest in abolition was aroused by his exposure to the slave trade and inspired his autobiography, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano." Vassa died in 1794.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1742 (Apr 15)
Published
0 0
An enslaved Black man petitions the courts of Massachusetts for a divorce from his wife, and it is granted.
An enslaved Black man named Boston petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a divorce from his wife, Hagar. She was charged with "not having the fear of God before her eyes...being instigated by a White...and is found guilty of the detestable sin of adultery...and during the time of intermarriage, she delivered of a Mulatto bastard." The court granted Boston a divorce.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1741 (Mar)
Published
0 0
Blacks get blamed and executed for a series of New York fires.
A Negro conspiracy was charged with a series of fires in New York. New Yorkers blamed Roman Catholic priests for inciting the enslaved to burn the town on orders from Spain. Eighteen Blacks and four Whites were hanged December 31, 1741, and thirteen Blacks were burned at the stake.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1735
Published
0 0
The colony of Georgia prohibits the importation of Blacks, but later drops the ban after the people protest.
The Georgia colony board, a governing entity, passed an act for rendering the colony of Georgia more defensible by prohibiting the importation and use of enslaved Blacks into the same region. At the time, it was believed that Georgia would serve as a barrier against the Spanish. In an effort to circumvent the ban, many Georgia residents hired enslaved Blacks from South Carolina. On January 1, 1750, after many of the settlers demonstrated through petitions, the ban against the importation of enslaved Blacks was lifted.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1732
Published
0 0
The British Parliament sends a message to the colonial governors prohibiting them from imposing taxes on the enslaved.
The British parliament sent all of the colonial governors, including Jonathan Belcher, governor of Massachusetts, a directive stating: "Whereas Acts have been passed in some of our plantations in America for laying duties on the importation and exportation of Blacks to the discouragement of the Merchants trading thither from the Coast of Africa, it is our will and pleasure that you do not give your assent to or pass any law imposing duties upon Blacks imported into our province of the Massachusetts Bay payable by the importer or upon any enslaved Blacks exported that have not been sold in our said province, and continued there for the space of twelve months."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1730
Published
0 0
Connecticut passes a law forbidding any enslaved Black from slandering a white person.
The Connecticut colony passes a law forbidding any enslaved Black, Indian, or mixed-race from slandering or libeling a white person. If convicted by a justice of the peace, the accused was whipped with forty lashes.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1729
Published
0 0
Rhode Island requires enslavers to post a bond for each freed enslaved person.
The colony of Rhode Island required every enslaver to post a bond of one hundred pounds to guarantee that each freed enslaved person would not become a public charge "through sickness, lameness" or other cause.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1728 (Jul)
Published
0 0
Massachusetts forbids the enslaved from buying anything for themselves. They require their enslaver or mistress to buy all things for them.
Colonial Massachusetts forbade enslaved Black, Indian, and mixed-raced people or servants from buying provisions directly from country people. It was permissible for the enslaved to request their mistress or master to make the sale. Violators were fined five shillings.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1718 - 1727
Published
0 0
England imports thousands of enslaved Africans to the Virginia colony.
Between 1718 and 1727 slightly over 11,000 Africans were imported to Virginia in 76 vessels. Only six of those vessels were originally from Virginia; they carried a total of 649 enslaved Africans. The remaining 70 ships, carrying 10,442 Africans, were from Bristol, Liverpool, and London.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1717
Published
0 0
England authorizes the importation of 144,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas.
The South Sea Company of England was authorized to import 144,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas (4,800 per year) for the next thirty years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1714
Published
0 0
Rhode Island forbids ferrymen from transporting enslaved Blacks out of the colony without permission.
Colonial Rhode Island passed a law forbidding ferrymen from transporting or conveying any enslaved Blacks out of the colony without a certificate from their master or mistress or official person. Violators paid all costs and charges were sustained by the enslaver. The law did not prevent Blacks from being carried away by privateersmen and other vessels. The law was amended in 1757, imposing a 500-pound fine upon any man-of-war commander or merchant ship master who knowingly carried any abducted enslaved persons out of the colony.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1713
Published
0 0
Britain increases their participation in the colonial slave trade.
Britain heightened its participation in the colonial slave trade with The South Sea Company, which imported 4,800 enslaved Africans annually into Spain's New World colonies for the next 30 years. This began Britain's most active period of participation in the slave trade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1712 (Apr 7)
Published
0 0
Enslaved Blacks in the New York City revolt and kill nine whites before being stopped by state militia. In response, New York strengthens their slave codes.
Nine Whites were slain, and twenty-one Blacks were executed as participants of a Black revolt in New York City. Six other alleged participants committed suicide. The insurrection was spearheaded by twenty-seven armed enslaved Blacks who met in an orchard near the center of the city. A fire was set to an outhouse of a white man, and as other whites attempted to extinguish the blaze, they were shot by the Blacks. The state militia was called to pursue and capture the Black rebels, and New Yorkers responded to the uprising by strengthening their slave codes. The number of slave crimes punishable by death was increased to include willful burning of property. Conspiracy to murder was also made a capital offense.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1712
Published
0 0
South Carolina enacts laws barring whites from being punished for injuring or killing an enslaved person.
South Carolina slave regulations provided that no white person would be punished for injuring or killing an enslaved person if that enslaved person was resisting lawful punishment and that a fine was required of a White person who murdered an enslaved person.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1710
Published
0 0
The birth of Amos Fortune. After purchasing his family’s freedom opens a tannery that employs both Blacks and Whites.
Amos Fortune was born enslaved and purchased his freedom at age sixty. In 1779, Fortune purchased the freedom of his wife, Violet Baldwin, and his adopted daughter, Celyndia. After moving to Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Fortune opened a tannery that employed Blacks and Whites. He helped establish the Jaffrey Social Library in 1796. He bequeathed his estate, valued at nearly $800, to his wife, stipulating those funds remaining after his death be given to the local church and school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1708
Published
0 0
Enslaved Blacks outnumbered whites in the Carolina colony.
The Carolina colony had 2,900 enslaved Blacks and 1,100 enslaved Indians, while adult Whites numbered 2,400.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1707
Published
0 0
Massachusetts passes a law prohibiting free Blacks from allowing non-whites in their homes.
Colonial Massachusetts passes a law prohibiting free Blacks from harboring or entertaining non-white servants in their homes without the approval of the masters. Penalties for the crime included repairing highways and cleaning streets.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1706
Published
0 0
New York passes a law prohibiting enslaved Blacks from testifying for or against a freeman in court.
New York colonial law prohibited any enslaved Black from testifying for or against a freeman in either civil or criminal cases.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1705
Published
0 0
Massachusetts passes an act that prohibits interracial marriage.
An 'Act for the better preventing of a spurious and mixed issue' was passed in the colony of Massachusetts. The act prohibited both the marriage of a Black or mixed-race Black to any person of a Christian nation, and illicit intercourse between Blacks and Whites. Prior to this law interracial marriages were not illegal. The law also imposed a four-pound duty on Blacks imported into the colony. A later section of the law stated that any Black or mixed-race Black who struck a White man would be "severely" whipped.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1704
Published
0 0
Elias Nau opens one of the first schools for enslaved Blacks in the colonies.
One of the first schools in the colonies to enroll enslaved Blacks was opened by Elias Nau, a Frenchman, in New York City.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1704
Published
0 0
Abda, a mixed-race enslaved Black male, runs away from his enslaver, then files suit claiming he could not be enslaved due to his “white” blood. The court agrees, then later reverses their decision.
Abda, a mixed-race enslaved Black male, ran away from his enslaver, Thomas Richards of Hartford, Connecticut. After Richards went to court to recover his "property," Abda filed a countersuit against Richards for illegally detaining him in bondage. Abda claimed that because of his "white" blood, there were no legal grounds to enslave him. A court declared Abda free. The general assembly reversed the decision upon appeal and he was returned to Richards.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1703
Published
0 0
Massachusetts requires every enslaver to post a bond for each freed Black.
The colony of Massachusetts required every enslaver to post a bond as security to support each freed African to decrease the financial cost of indigents on a town. Connecticut and Massachusetts made it illegal for any Indian, Black, or Mulatto servant or enslaved Black to be on the streets after nine in the evening without their enslaver's consent.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1700
Published
0 0
Massachusetts jurist Samuel Sewall condemns slavery in his pamphlet.
Boston, Massachusetts, jurist Samuel Sewall condemned the business of slavery in his pamphlet, "The Selling of Joseph." Sewall is also remembered for his public confession of error and guilt in the condemnation to death of nineteen alleged witches during the Salem witch trials.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1700
Published
0 0
Pennsylvania enacts two new laws to regulate Blacks.
The Pennsylvania colonial assembly enacted two laws regarding the Black American: one for regulating "Negroes in their Morals, and Marriages," and the other regarding "Negroes and their trials."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1698
Published
0 0
Massachusetts revises tax laws to classify enslaved Blacks and Indians as property, instead of people.
The colony of Massachusetts changed the tax laws by declaring that "All Indian, Mulatto and Negro servants be estimated as other personal estate." Prior to this change the enslaved were listed as persons on the tax lists.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1696
Published
0 0
South Carolina creates statutes to heavily control the lives of enslaved Africans.
Statutes in the colony of South Carolina stated that enslaved persons needed written permission to leave their enslavers' residences. In addition, enslavers were required to make regular searches of slave quarters for weapons, and enslaved persons who ran away or struck their enslavers faced severe penalties, including whipping, branding, slitting of the nose, and emasculation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1693
Published
0 0
Black gatherings cause concern in Pennsylvania.
A Pennsylvania provincial council expressed concern regarding the "tumultuous gatherings of the negroes in the towne of Philadelphia, of the first days of the week."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1691
Published
0 0
Virginia outlaws manumission of Blacks unless they leave the colony within six months.
The colony of Virginia outlawed the practice of freeing Blacks unless those freed were to leave the colony within six months.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1690
Published
0 0
South Carolina establishes enslaved Africans as freehold property.
According to South Carolina law, enslaved Africans were a freehold property (meaning to have full legal, indefinite ownership) except in payment of the enslaver's debts. The statute provided that enslaved Africans, "as to the payment of debts, shall be deemed and taken as all other goods and chattels and that Negroes shall be accounted as freehold in all other cases, whatsoever, and descent accordingly."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1690
Published
0 0
Connecticut passes a law that forbids Black and Indian servants from crossing town limits without permission.
Colonial Connecticut passed a law that forbade Black and Indian servants from wandering beyond town limits without a ticket or pass from a master or other person in position of authority. Violators were deemed runaways and would be returned to their masters. Ferrymen were fined twenty shillings for providing passage on their ferries for such persons.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1688 (Feb 18)
Published
0 0
Pennsylvania Quakers adopt an anti-slavery resolution.
Quakers at Germantown, Pennsylvania, adopted the first formal anti-slavery resolution in American history. The Society of Friends declared that slavery was in opposition to Christianity and the rights of man. The Quakers continued their anti-slavery protests throughout the seventeenth century.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1681
Published
0 0
Maria, an enslaved Black woman, is burned alive after being convicted of arson.
Maria, an enslaved Black was burned alive after having been convicted of burning her enslaver's home and causing the death of a baby in the colony of Massachusetts.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1680 (Oct 31)
Published
0 0
Massachusetts places port restrictions on enslaved Blacks.
The General Court of Massachusetts ordered that no ship was to sail from any port or harbor or to entertain on board "any servant or Negro" without a permit from the governor. Violators were charged twenty pounds.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1672
Published
0 0
Virginia issues bounties for Maroons in response to their attacks on local communities.
The colony of Virginia passed a law providing a bounty on the heads of Maroons. The Maroons were Black runaways who formed communities in the mountains, swamps, and forests of Southern colonies. The law was passed in response to Maroon attacks on local communities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1671
Published
0 0
The Virginia colony’s 2,000 Blacks make up less than 5% of the colony’s population.
In 1671 the Virginia colony's 2,000 Blacks made up less than five percent of the colony's population, according to the colony's governor. Virginia's Black population tripled by 1700.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1670
Published
0 0
Massachusetts revises their 1641 slavery laws and adopts Virginia’s “partus sequitur ventrem” mandate.
The colony of Massachusetts revised slavery laws established in 1641 to permit the enslavement of a slave's offspring. The law gave children the same status as their mothers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1667
Published
0 0
Black physician Lucas Santomee receives a land grant from New Amsterdam as a reward for his services.
Lucas Santomee was the first trained Black physician in New Amsterdam to be rewarded for his services. He received a land grant from the colony.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1664 (Sep 20)
Published
0 0
Maryland bans interracial marriage to prevent White women from continuing to marry the enslaved Black men.
Maryland took the lead in passing laws against the marriage of English women to Black men. The preamble of the statute justified the prohibition of intermarriage because "diverse freeborn English women, forgetful of their free condition, and to the disgrace of our nation, do intermarry with Negro slaves," causing, among other things, questions over the status of such Blacks. The law was passed to remove this problem and to deter "such free-born women from such shameful matches."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1663 (Sep 13)
Published
0 0
The first major conspiracy in colonial America is foiled by a servant in Virginia.
The first major conspiracy of people in servitude in colonial America was documented. But the plot of white servants and enslaved Blacks failed as it was betrayed by a servant in Gloucester County, Virginia.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1663
Published
0 0
The Royal African Company begins its slave trade monopoly to the British-American colonies.
The Royal African Company began its monopoly on the slave trade to the British-American colonies. The monopoly held strong until 1698 when the trade was opened to all English subjects.
1661
Published
0 0
Virginia recognizes slavery and establishes “partus sequitur ventrem,” mandating that all children born there inherits the legal status of their mother.
A Virginia statute recognized slavery and established the status of mixed-blood offspring as enslaved or free in accordance with the status of the mother. Known as "partus sequitur ventrem", this legal doctrine was derived from Roman civil law and translates to "offspring follows belly" (referring to the belly of the mother). The Slave Codes of Virginia, and those that followed them, were motivated by the growth of the Black population and the fears of uprisings of the enslaved Africans. They were also specifically designed to protect the property in enslaved Blacks. Generally, enslaved Africans were not allowed to leave the plantation, to wander, or to assemble without permission from their enslaver. They could not own weapons and could not testify against Whites in court. Enslaved Blacks found guilty of murder or rape were to be executed. For petty offenses, they were whipped, maimed, or branded. The codes of the enslaved Africans grew out of the laws regulating indentured servitude, but the enslaved, unlike the indentured servants, had practically no rights.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1655
Published
0 0
Anthony Johnson, a Black man, starts an African community in North Hampton, Virginia.
Anthony Johnson, a Black man, qualified for a 200-acre land grant after importing five servants to North Hampton, Virginia. Other Blacks joined Johnson and began an African community. The settlement had twelve African homesteads at its height.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1641
Published
0 0
Massachusetts is the first North American colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution.
Massachusetts recognized slavery as a legal institution, the first of the North American colonies to do so. Section ninety-one of the Body of Liberties of 1641 read: "There shall never be any bond slaverie, villinage or Captivities amongst us, unless it be lawful Captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us. And these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages which the law of God established in Israel. .. This exempts none from servitude who shall be Judged thereto by Authoritie."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1639
Published
0 0
Virginia passes a law prohibiting Blacks from bearing firearms.
The colony of Virginia passed a regulation prohibiting Blacks from bearing firearms.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1638 (Dec 12)
Published
0 0
Enslaved Blacks arrive in New England aboard the ship Desire at Boston.
Prior to this date, Blacks had been sold in Boston, but it is not definitely known when the first enslaved Blacks were directly brought to the region. Authorities who claim that enslaved Africans were first brought to New England in 1638 base their contention on an entry in John Winthrop's Journal. Winthrop recorded on December 12, 1638, the arrival of the ship Desire at Boston. The cargo of the vessel, according to Winthrop, included salt, cotton, tobacco, and enslaved Blacks. The statement of Governor Winthrop is the first recorded account of Black slavery in New England.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1626
Published
0 0
Eleven enslaved Blacks are brought to New York. They are later freed and develop a free Black community.
Eleven enslaved Blacks were brought to New York in 1626 as indentured or bonded servants. They first lived in lower Manhattan in the area of Fort Amsterdam and Wall Street. They were later freed of their bonds and eventually developed into a free Black community in Manhattan and nearby Brooklyn. However, slavery was legal in New York for another two hundred years.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1622
Published
0 0
Anthony Johnson and his wife, Mary, become the first Black indentured servants to earn their freedom in the United States.
Anthony Johnson and his wife, Mary, were the first free Blacks in the United States, according to court records in Accomack, later Northampton County, in the colony of Virginia. The Johnsons had two sons, John and Richard, whose names appeared in 1654 Northampton County land transaction records.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1619 (Aug 20)
Published
0 0
The first 20 involuntary Black settlers, arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
Twenty Blacks who had been captured in Africa were sold to the highest bidders at Jamestown, Virginia. However, these were not the first of their race to arrive in North America. Blacks had traveled with Spanish, Portuguese, and French explorers in the Americas throughout the sixteenth century. The most noted Black explorer, Estevanico, had arrived in Florida in 1528 with Andres de Dorantes on a conquering expedition. Diego el Negro was a crew member on the Capitana as part of Christopher Columbus's last voyage to the New World. There were as many as thirty Blacks, including Nuflo de Olano, who were with Vasco Nunez de Balboa when the explorer discovered the Pacific Ocean. The twenty Blacks sold at Jamestown in 1619 were, nonetheless, the first permanent involuntary settlers of their race, hence the history of African Americans in what is now the United States began with their arrival. Scholars debate whether or not they were enslaved or indentured servants.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1595
Published
0 0
King Philip II of Spain grants Gomez Reynal a monopoly over importation of enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Philip II, the King of Spain, granted Gomez Reynal the most comprehensive slave trading agreement of the time. Reynal was to ship 38,250 enslaved Africans over a nine-year span. Of the 4,250 he was to take to the Americas each year, he had to ensure that 3,500 survived the trip. He agreed to bring the enslaved Blacks directly from Africa who were not mulattoes, mestizos, Turks, or Moors. Reynal paid 900,000 ducats for the deal, ten of which he had to forfeit for each slave short of the quota he fell.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1581
Published
0 0
The first enslaved Blacks arrive in North America.
The first enslaved Blacks arrive in North America when Philip II of Spain sends some of his enslaved Blacks to St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest permanent city founded by Europeans in America.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1562
Published
0 0
England joins the slave trade when English navigator John Hawkins hijacks a Portuguese ship and trades the acquired enslaved Africans at Hispaniola.
English navigator John Hawkins hijacked a Portuguese ship carrying enslaved Africans to Brazil and, thus, English participation in the slave trade began. He traded the enslaved Blacks at Hispaniola for a sizable profit. Queen Elizabeth also profited from Hawkins's slave trade despite having expressed outrage at the institution of slavery.
1550
Published
0 0
The Spanish king, Charles V, enforces the ban of Wolof Blacks into the West Indies because they are perceived to be too independent and rebellious.
Charles V issued another royal decree prohibiting the importation of Wolof Blacks from the Senegal River area to the West Indian islands. According to the decree, "in as much as the Black uprising in the island of San Juan and others were the result of the independence, disobedience, rebelliousness and incorrigibility of the Wolof slaves, they must not be transported to any part of the Indies without special license." These Blacks were also undesirable in that they were descendants of the Moorish race and could pose a danger to the recently-planted Christianity in the colonies.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1531
Published
0 0
Enslaved North Africans get banned from being imported into the New World.
A second royal decree was issued reiterating the ban on the importation of North African enslaved Blacks into the New World.
1530 (Oct 23)
Published
0 0
Garifuna people emerge from the union of enslaved Blacks and Carib Indian warriors.
Carib Indian warriors raided some of the Windward Islands and looted the islands' Spanish plantations. Many of the enslaved Blacks were carried off the plantations by the Caribs. The Blacks later married some of the Caribs and the children of these unions were known as Garifuna, or Black Caribs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1530
Published
0 0
In response to the Puerto Rican revolt of 1527, King Charles of Spain issues a royal edict to prevent North African Blacks from entering Spanish colonies.
Spain's Charles V issued a royal edict to the Casa de Contratacion, the Spanish House of Commerce which controlled the purchase and supply of the enslaved Blacks. The edict intended to prevent the introduction of North African Blacks, such as the Berbers and Wolofs, into Spanish colonies because they were thought to have created the 1527 uprising in Puerto Rico. Those found guilty of the offense were fined 100,000 maravedis.
1527
Published
0 0
Enslaved Puerto Ricans revolt, causing great economic losses.
Enslaved Blacks and Indians in Puerto Rico revolted and caused such great economic losses that many Whites left the island.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1527
Published
0 0
A courageous enslaved Moroccan, Estevanico the Moor, fights for the Spanish in the New World but is ultimately defeated.
Estevanico, an enslaved African from Morocco, accompanied his enslaver, Andres de Dorantes, on an expedition to conquer Florida. Estevanico, born around 1503 in Azemmour, Morocco, had probably been sold into slavery by the Portuguese, who had captured Morocco in 1513 and started selling its people after a drought in 1520. When Estevanico and the explorers arrived in Florida on April 12, 1528, they fought with the native population and lost. The survivors, Estevanico among them, served as the enslaved and medicine men until 1535 when Estevanico, Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes de Carranza, and Alonso del Castillo Maldonado escaped and headed up the Rio Grande toward the Northwest. In March of 1536, the five-man party met up with a Spanish patrol on the Rio Sinaloa and followed it back to a Spanish outpost. Later that year the group made its way to Mexico where the Viceroy of Mexico asked if they would lead an expedition into Arizona and New Mexico. Estevanico was the only one to accept and, in February of 1539, he led a party to northwest New Mexico. Later that year, however, he was captured by the Zuni tribe and killed as a spy.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1525
Published
0 0
Spanish explorers leave behind rebellious enslaved Africans along the Carolina coast, making them the first permanent non-Indian residents of the USA.
Some rebellious enslaved Africans were left behind by Spanish explorers during the Lucas-Vasques de Ayllon expeditions of 1525-1527. The Spaniards had attempted to find a colony along the Carolina coast, but the expeditions were plagued by fever and Indian hostility. The enslaved Africans were left behind in the wake of the fleeing Europeans. Nearly a century before Jamestown was founded, these Blacks became the first permanent, non-Indian residents of what is now the United States.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1518 - 1526
Published
0 0
King Charles V grants governor Lorenzo de Gomenot a virtual monopoly on slave trade to the Spanish colonies and thousands of enslaved Blacks get shipped.
Charles V, the king of Spain, granted the governor of Brese, Lorenzo de Gomenot, permission to ship 4,000 Blacks to Spanish colonies on Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. As a favor to Charles V, Gomenot was also able to secure a virtual monopoly on slave trade to the Spanish colonies. Other licenses were granted, but primarily only to those who were importing domestic enslaved Blacks in small numbers and were not trafficking them.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1518
Published
0 0
England undercuts Spain’s enslaved African imports to its colonies.
As Spain's profits from the slave trade grew, England entered into competition by granting asientos. These were commercial licenses to ship enslaved Africans to the Spanish colonies free of customs duties, thereby making the English-shipped enslaved Africans cheaper.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1517
Published
0 0
Spain’s Bishop persuades King Charles V to allow Spanish colonists to import twelve enslaved Africans each.
Spanish Bishop Bartolomeo de las Casas persuaded Charles V, the king of Spain, to grant Spanish colonists permission to import twelve enslaved Africans each. The Bishop also requested that these Africans be Spanish or Christian Blacks. Charles V agreed as a means of encouraging emigration to the New World colonies in this time when European countries were in heavy competition for land claims and the rights to the riches that were being discovered.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1516
Published
0 0
Hispaniola’s enslaved African import is suspended when Spain’s king dies.
Spain's Ferdinand II died and the importation of the enslaved Africans he had been licensing was suspended by Cardinal Ximenes. It is unclear whether the Cardinal opposed slavery itself, or it was because of the loose method of import licensing that was causing the colonies' Black populations to grow almost out of control. The suspension had little effect, though, as the new Spanish king, Charles V, immediately resumed the issuance of licenses.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1514
Published
0 0
The enslaved Black population in Hispaniola increases drastically, and is regulated.
The importation of enslaved Blacks to Hispaniola was regulated as their numbers were increasing at an alarming rate. The population of Blacks on the island increased drastically after their importation came to be licensed only one year earlier.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1513
Published
0 0
Spain requires licenses to import enslaved Africans into its colonies.
Slave trade became a source of profit for Spain as it began to require licenses to import enslaved Africans into its colonies. King Ferdinand II granted permission to import Africans for two ducats a head. Colonists in Hispaniola, Cuba, and Santo Domingo were requesting the enslaved Africans.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1510
Published
0 0
Spain orders the transportation of enslaved Africans to Hispaniola.
Spain's Ferdinand II ordered the transport of 250 enslaved Africans to Hispaniola to work the gold mines. These enslaved Africans were purchased in Lisbon, Portugal, where they had been converted to Christianity. This became a system of shipping enslaved Africans directly to the New World colonies from Africa where they were supposed to work as laborers.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1501 (Sep 3)
Published
0 0
Spain authorizes the importation of enslaved Blacks.
Spain's Queen Isabella authorizes the transport of enslaved Blacks from southern Spain to the New World. Spanish colonists in Hispaniola had appealed to the Crown, asking for laborers to help work the mines. Gold-hungry Spain was inclined to approve, however only a handful of enslaved Blacks were actually shipped to the New World in this decade.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1492
Published
0 0
Black sailor Pedro Alonzo Niño arrived to the New World with Christopher Columbus.
Pedro Alonzo Niño, a Black sailor, arrived in the New World on Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria.
1950 (Sep 22)
Published
0 0
Ralph Bunche is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Political scientist, diplomat, and civil rights leader Ralph J. Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Palestinian dispute.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1959 (Mar 11)
Published
0 0
Playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun becomes a broadway hit.
Black American playwright Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun became a Broadway hit. The play depicted Black life in the ghetto. Lloyd Richard, a Black man, directed the play.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1958 (Sep 20)
Published
0 0
Martin Luther King, Jr. is stabbed by a Black woman.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was stabbed by a Black woman while in Harlem, New York, autographing copies of Stride Toward Freedom, his story of the Montgomery bus boycott. King recovered from the serious wound.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1958 (Aug 19)
Published
0 0
Restaurant segregation is protested in Oklahoma.
Members of the NAACP Youth Council began a new series of sit-ins at segregated restaurants. Lunch counters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, were the latest targets.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1958 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
Alabama attempts to financially ruin the NAACP. The Supreme Court sides with the NAACP in the NAACP v. Alabama case.
Alabama's attempt to cripple the NAACP by imposing a $100,000 contempt fine against it was stymied by the U.S. Supreme Court. The fine had been imposed because of the NAACP's failure to produce its membership lists for an Alabama judge. In NAACP v. Alabama, the Court declared that it would not tolerate denial of constitutional rights through evasive application of obscure procedural rules.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Dec 5)
Published
0 0
Fair Housing measure passed in New York City.
New York City took the lead in local efforts against housing discrimination by passing a Fair Housing Practice ordinance.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Sep 24 - 25)
Published
0 0
President Dwight Einsenhower orders federal troops to help nine Black students attend a desegregated high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
After unsuccessfully trying to persuade Arkansas governor Orval Faubus to give up his efforts to block desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered federal troops into the city to halt interference with federal court orders to integrate. Faubus and a mob of whites gave way to the military power and permitted nine Black children to attend a desegregated high school on September 25.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Sep 9)
Published
0 0
Violence over school desegregation continues in the South.
Violence aimed at preventing school desegregation continues in the South when one Nashville, Tennessee, school was bombed, and Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth was attacked in Birmingham, Alabama, while trying to enroll his children in school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Aug 29)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1957.
The U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1957, the first major civil rights legislation since 1875.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Jun)
Published
0 0
Black Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama boycott white merchants in protest to gerrymandering by state legislature.
Blacks in Tuskegee, Alabama, began a boycott of white merchants in protest of the state legislature that had thwarted their quest for political power by gerrymandering, redividing the electoral districts of Tuskegee to make the Black districts smaller. Charles G. Gomillion, a Tuskegee Institute sociologist, led the movement through the Tuskegee Civic Association.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (May 17)
Published
0 0
More than 15,000 Americans gather in Washington D.C. in a demonstration of support of the proposed Voting Rights Act.
More than fifteen thousand Americans, most of them Black, gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to support the proposed Voting Rights Act. Martin Luther King, Jr., led the speakers in shouting "Give us the ballot!" The demonstration was the first large-scale Black protest in Washington since World War II.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1957 (Feb 14)
Published
0 0
The First Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was organized in New Orleans, Louisiana. Atlanta, Georgia, was chosen as the SCLC's national headquarters, and Martin Luther King, Jr., was elected its first president.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Dec 27)
Published
0 0
Tallahassee, FL buses become desegregated.
Segregation was outlawed on buses in Tallahassee, Florida, after Blacks had boycotted the vehicles for more than six months.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Dec 25 - 26)
Published
0 0
The home of Alabama Minister Fred Shuttlesworth is bombed.
The home of Black minister and civil rights activist Fred L. Shuttlesworth was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama. The city's Blacks responded with a massive defiance of bus segregation regulations. At least forty people were arrested.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Dec 20 - 21)
Published
0 0
The Montgomery bus boycott ended.
The Montgomery bus boycott ended with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that outlawed the segregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Nov 13)
Published
0 0
Montgomery, Alabama buses become desegregated.
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the decision of a lower court, outlawing the segregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Jun 30)
Published
0 0
Mordecai Johnson, President of Howard University, retires after a successful presidency.
Mordecai Johnson retired as president of Howard University. Johnson was born in Paris, Tennessee, in 1890. He was educated at Morehouse College, the University of Chicago, the Rochester Theological Seminary, and Harvard University. Upon receipt of a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Harvard in 1923, Johnson attracted national attention for a speech titled The Faith of the American Negro. After teaching at Morehouse and Howard, he took his post as the first Black president of Howard. When Johnson assumed the presidency, in 1926, Howard consisted of a cluster of unaccredited departments, a situation that Johnson sought to improve. In 1928, Johnson secured a congressional allocation of annual appropriations for the support and development of Howard University. When Johnson retired, Howard had ten schools and colleges, was a fully accredited institution, had an enrollment of more than six thousand students, and its School of Medicine was producing about half of the Black doctors in the United States. Johnson was succeeded by law professor and civil rights attorney James M. Nabrit,
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Apr 11)
Published
0 0
Singer Nat King Cole is attacked.
Racial tensions in the South continue with the attack on popular Black singer Nat King Cole in Birmingham, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Feb 3)
Published
0 0
Autherine Lucy is the first Black American student to attend the University of Alabama, but is expelled several days later after an anti-Black riot breaks out.
The desegregation of major southern universities continued with the admission, under court order, of Black coed Authurine Lucy into the University of Alabama -- making her the first Black American student to attend the university. Lucy was suspended after a February 7 anti-Black riot at the school, and she was expelled on February 29 for making "false and outrageous" statements about university officials.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1956 (Jan 30)
Published
0 0
Home of Martin Luther King, Jr., bombed.
The home of Martin Luther King, Jr., was bombed in Montgomery, Alabama.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Dec 1)
Published
0 0
Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person after being ordered by the bus driver, sparking a bus boycott that would last over a year.
Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to surrender her seat as ordered by the bus's driver. She was arrested for violating Jim Crow ordinances, and the city's Blacks began a city-wide bus boycott on December 5. Despite terrorist attacks on boycott leaders, legal harassment, massive arrests, and civil suits, the boycott continued until December 13, 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses in Montgomery was illegal. Another significant result of the boycott movement was the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr., as a national leader.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Nov 25)
Published
0 0
The ICC prohibits segregation in public interstate travel.
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) prohibited segregation in public vehicles operating in interstate travel. The order also extended to waiting rooms.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Aug 28)
Published
0 0
Chicago teenager Emmitt Till is brutally slayed in Mississippi.
Lynching was renewed in the South with the brutal slaying of fourteen-year-old Chicago youth Emmitt Till. He was killed in Money, Mississippi, after allegedly having made indecent advances toward a white woman.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (May 31)
Published
0 0
Public school desegregation is loosely enforced by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court decreed that its May 17, 1954, school desegregation decision should be implemented "with all deliberate speed." The vagueness of the phrase allowed school segregation to continue in the nation for several more decades.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (May 21)
Published
0 0
Chuck Berry’s Maybellene is recorded and reaches number one on the R&B charts several months later.
Chuck Berry records Maybellene, and the song reaches number one on the R&B charts by mid-September. Ten more top-ten Berry hits followed in the next six years, including Roll Over Beethoven, Too Much Monkey Business, School Days, Rock and Roll Music, and Johnny B. Good. Chuck Berry influenced the generation's musicians and listeners with his unique brand of guitar playing and showmanship. David Marsh of Rolling Stone magazine claimed, "Chuck Berry is to rock what Louis Armstrong was to jazz." Among other awards, Berry received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984; he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986; and he received Guitar Player magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (May 18)
Published
0 0
Educator Mary McLeod Bethune, co-founder of Bethune-Cookman College dies.
Noted black female educator and political leader, Mary McLeod Bethune, died in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was one of the founders of the Bethune-Cookman College.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Apr 11)
Published
0 0
Roy Wilkins assumes NAACP leadership.
Roy Wilkins became the third executive secretary of the NAACP. Wilkins, a journalist, had been the editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine and assistant executive secretary of the organization. Wilkins, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, was born in 1901. He studied at the University of Minnesota at Duluth and was editor of the school's University Daily. Racial violence during his college career influenced his decision to work actively against discrimination. Similar experiences in Kansas City, where Wilkins was managing editor of the Kansas City Call, further inspired him to seek a career fighting for equality. Wilkins joined the NAACP staff in 1931. He came to play a leading role in the organization, representing the interests of Blacks in the Philadelphia transit strike of 1943. Wilkins also presided over the NAACP's efforts to bring about school integration in the Brown v. Board of Education case which was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Mar 21)
Published
0 0
NAACP’s Walter White dies.
Walter F. White, the second Black American to serve as executive secretary of the NAACP and the leader of the organization through many of its judicial triumphs, dies in New York.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1955 (Jan 7)
Published
0 0
Marian Anderson makes her opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
Black contralto Marian Anderson made her debut as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball), at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. She was the first Black singer in the company's history.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Nov 2)
Published
0 0
Charles Diggs, Jr. is elected to Congress, and becomes the first Black congressman from Michigan.
Charles C. Diggs, Jr., was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Thirty-three-year-old Diggs was the first Black congressman from Michigan. He joined congressmen William Dawson of Chicago, who was reelected in 1954 for a seventh term; and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of Harlem, who won his sixth term in 1954. Diggs's election marked the first time in the twentieth century in which three Blacks were serving Congress. All three were Democrats.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Oct 30)
Published
0 0
The Defense Department announces the final abolition of all-Black units.
Desegregation of the U.S. armed forces was completed as the Defense Department announced the final abolition of all-Black units.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Oct 27)
Published
0 0
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first Black General in the U.S. Air Force.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., commander of the 15th Air Force bombers in their attacks on Romanian oil fields during World War II, became the first Black General in the U.S. Air Force. Davis, son of the Army's General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., was born in Washington, D.C., in 1912. He was educated at Western Reserve University, the University of Chicago, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1936, Davis became the fourth Black to graduate from West Point. He received his wings from the Tuskegee Advanced Flying School in 1942 and became commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron at the Army Air Field at Tuskegee. He was ordered to North Africa in 1943. During and after World War II, Davis served in Italy, Japan, Formosa, Germany, and Korea, where he served as commander of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing. Davis's awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Sep 7 - 8)
Published
0 0
Public schools begin widespread desegregation.
Massive school desegregation begins in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. This was the first widespread school desegregation since the U.S. Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Jul 24)
Published
0 0
Activist Mary Church Terrell dies.
Longtime leader of Black-club women and civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell died in Washington, D.C. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, at the close of the Civil War, Terrell inherited a substantial fortune and received an Oberlin College education. Her husband, Robert Terrell, was a prominent educator, attorney, and judge. In 1896, she spearheaded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). A feminist leader and close associate of a number of white feminist leaders, she worked toward racial integration.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (May 17)
Published
0 0
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Declaring that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal, this historic decision overruled the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had codified the concept of separate but equal public facilities. The NAACP legal team, headed by Chief Council Thurgood Marshall, represented the plaintiffs in this case, marking its greatest victory in a series of recent judicial triumphs.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1954 (Mar 4)
Published
0 0
President Dwight Eisenhower names J. Ernest Wilkins the Assistant Secretary of Labor.
President Dwight Eisenhower named J. Ernest Wilkins the Assistant Secretary of Labor. Wilkins, a Phi Beta Kappa member who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago at age twenty, had the distinction of being the top-ranking Black person in the executive branch of the federal government.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Dec 31)
Published
0 0
Hulan Jack elected Manhattan president.
Hulan Jack, a native West Indian, was inaugurated as president of the Borough of Manhattan, the highest municipal executive post to be held by a Black American up until that time.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Dec 2)
Published
0 0
Rufus Clement is elected to the Board of Education.
Black progress in Southern politics advanced with the election of Rufus E. Clement, president of Atlanta University, to the Atlanta Board of Education.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Aug 4)
Published
0 0
Integrated housing sparks a large riot in Illinois.
A riot erupts in Illinois in protest of integrated housing. One thousand law enforcement officers were called into the Trumbull Park apartments in Chicago.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Jun 19)
Published
0 0
The bus boycott begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Blacks protesting discriminatory treatment began a bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Jun 8)
Published
0 0
In District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc., the Supreme Court rules that restaurants cannot refuse to serve Black Americans.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc., affirmed the opinions of lower courts that Washington, D.C., restaurants could not refuse to serve Blacks. The court ruled that well-behaved Blacks must be served and upheld an 1873 law that made it a criminal act for proprietors of public eating places to refuse to serve any person solely because of race or color.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1953 (Apr 5)
Published
0 0
Fisk University receives a chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Fisk University received a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the prestigious scholastic honor society. In later years, Howard University and Morehouse College were awarded chapters.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1952 (Dec 30)
Published
0 0
Lynchings reportedly reduced to zero during the year for the first time in 71 years.
Tuskegee Institute reported that no lynchings occurred during 1952, the first in the seventy-one years that the Institute had kept tabulations.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1952 (Dec 7)
Published
0 0
The Southern Regional Council announces that racist bombings were increasing in the U.S.
The Southern Regional Council, an interracial civil rights reporting agency, announced that racist bombings were increasing in the nation. About forty had been reported since January of 1951.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1952 (Jan 12)
Published
0 0
University of Tennessee is desegregated.
The University of Tennessee became the latest major Southern University to admit Black students.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Dec 25)
Published
0 0
NAACP leader Harry T. Moore is assassinated.
A new era of racist assassinations began with the bombing death, in Mims, Florida, of Florida NAACP leader Harry T. Moore.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951
Published
0 0
Ralph Bunche is appointed United Nations Under-Secretary.
Ralph J. Bunche, educator, diplomat, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was appointed Under-Secretary of the United Nations, the highest ranking American in the UN Secretariat.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1951 (Feb 14)
Published
0 0
The NAACP took school segregation to court.
The NAACP argued cases in Kansas and South Carolina against the discriminatory effects of public school segregation.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1950 (Jun 5)
Published
0 0
In Sweatt v. Painter, the Supreme Court ruled that equality in education involved more than just identical physical facilities.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Sweatt v. Painter, ruled that equality in education involved more than identical physical facilities. The Law School of the University of Texas, the largest university in the South, was ordered to admit Heman Sweatt of Houston, but he never attended the school.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1950 (Jun 5)
Published
0 0
In McLaurin v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court rules that no other race-based distinctions can be made once a Black student has been admitted to an all-white school.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma, rules that once a Black student has been admitted to a previously all-white school, no further distinctions can be made on the basis of race. McLaurin had been segregated within the University of Oklahoma.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1950 (May 1)
Published
0 0
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is awarded a Pulitzer.
Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, becoming the first Black American to receive the honor. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917, but was raised in Chicago, where she attended Wilson Junior College. Some of her earliest works appeared in the Chicago Defender. Brooks's later works appeared in Harper's, Common Ground, Mademoiselle, Poetry, and the Yale Review. Her first volume of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), won the Merit Award from Mademoiselle. Brooks's second volume of verse, Annie Allen (1949), captured the Pulitzer Prize.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1950 (Apr 3)
Published
0 0
Historian Carter G. Woodson dies.
Pioneer Black historian and founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Carter G. Woodson, dies in Washington, D.C.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1783
Published
0 0
Freed enslaved Black man, James Derham, opens a medical practice.
James C. Derham bought his freedom from Dr. Robert Dove, who had educated Derham in pharmacy and therapeutics. Derham went to New Orleans and set up his own successful practice treating Blacks and Whites.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1777 (Jul)
Published
0 0
Black soldier, Jack Sisson, captures British general Richard Prescott.
British Major-General Richard Prescott was captured at his Rhode Island headquarters by American revolutionary forces. Jack Sisson was the leader of the troop that captured Prescott. Newspaper reports noted Sisson's pivotal role in the event.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787 (Jul 13)
Published
0 0
The Ordinance of 1787 outlaws slavery in the Northwest.
The Continental Congress prohibited slavery in the Northwest territory under the famous Ordinance of 1787. Specifically, there could be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the region Northwest of the Ohio River except as punishment for a crime.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787 (Jan 20)
Published
0 0
Moses Sash is indicted for taking up arms against the Commonwealth and encouraging others to do the same in Shays’ Rebellion.
Moses Sash was indicted for taking up arms against the Commonwealth and encouraging others to do the same, according to a Suffolk County, Massachusetts, courthouse document. A second document showed he was indicted for stealing two guns. Reportedly Sash's indictments indicated he played a major role in the rebellion, as the members of Shays's Council of War and directors of the rebel strategy were excluded from the indemnity that was granted to less serious offenders. Governor John Hancock pardoned all participants. Sash had been born to Sarah Sash and Samson Dunbar in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1755. During the revolutionary war, Sash enlisted as a private in Colonel Ruggles Woodbridge's regiment in August 1777. In May 1781 he reenlisted as a private in the seventh regiment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1950 (Apr 1)
Published
0 0
Hematologist Charles Drew dies.
Charles R. Drew, the pioneer Black American hematologist, who was often called the "Father of the Blood Bank", died in Burlington, North Carolina. Drew was born in Washington, D.C., in 1904. A football and track star at Amherst College, he studied medicine at McGill University in Canada. Drew began his research into the properties of blood plasma while holding a General Education Board Fellowship at Columbia University Medical School. During World War II, after discovering the method of preserving blood plasma for emergencies, he organized a blood-collection system for the British and American governments. Drew served as a faculty member at Howard University Medical School and was Chief Surgeon and Chief of Staff at Howard's Freedman's Hospital at the time of his death. Previously, Drew was the recipient of the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for outstanding contributions to human welfare.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1798 (Apr 6)
Published
0 0
Trader James Pierson Beckwourth is born.
James Pierson Beckwourth was born to a White father and an enslaved Black mother in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the third of thirteen children. Beckwourth signed up as a scout for general William Henry Ashley's Rock's Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1823 and 1824. He worked as a mountain man for the next thirteen years. Beckwourth established his own trading post in St. Fernandez (now Taos, New Mexico) and later in Pueblo de Angles (now Los Angeles, California). In 1846 Beckwourth fought in the California Revolution against Mexico and in 1846 in the war with Mexico. He served as chief scout for general John Charles Fremont on his exploring expedition in 1848. Beckwourth discovered a path in the Sierra Nevada mountains between the California Feather and Truckee Rivers. This path became a major emigrant route to California. It was later named the Beckwourth pass. Beckwourth died in 1866.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1798
Published
0 0
An enslaved African narrative is published, detailing the life of a Connecticut enslaved African known as Venture.
A compilation of stories called "A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture" detailed the life of the former Connecticut enslaved African known as Venture (1729-1805). A son of the prince of the Dukandarra tribe, Venture was born into slavery in Guinea, West Africa. His birth name, Broteer, was changed to Venture by his enslaver who brought him to America. Nicknamed "Black Bunyan," Venture worked to purchase his own freedom at the age of thirty-six, and the freedom of his wife, daughter, two sons, and three other enslaved Africans. The narrative described, and possibly exaggerated, the great feats of work that Venture performed, such as carrying a barrel of molasses on his shoulders for two miles. The depiction of the lives of enslaved and free Blacks in eighteenth-century Connecticut was a key element in the narrative.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1797 (Jan 30)
Published
0 0
Blacks in North Carolina present an anti-slavery petition, but it is rejected by Congress.
Blacks in North Carolina presented a petition to Congress protesting a state law that required enslaved Blacks, although freed by their quaker enslavers, to be returned to the state and to the status of slavery. This first recorded anti-slavery petition by Blacks was rejected by the Congress.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1797
Published
0 0
Poet George Horton is born in North Carolina.
George Horton was born enslaved on a plantation in Northampton County, North Carolina. He bargained with his enslavers for the privilege of earning money by selling love poems to students at the University of North Carolina. Not able to write himself; Horton dictated his poems to the students. As a result, his earliest works have been forgotten or attributed to others. Horton was taught to write by Carolina Hentz, a writer, abolitionist, and wife of a professor. His first volume of poetry, The Hope of Liberty (1829), was not successful enough to pay for Horton's freedom, but it earned him some local fame and later promoted the cause of abolition with two reprintings under the title, Poems by a Slave (1837, 1838). Horton published two more volumes of poetry in his lifetime: The Poetical works of George M. Horton, the Colored Bard of North Carolina (1845) and Naked Genius (1865). It is believed Horton died in 1883 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1796
Published
0 0
Activist and community leader James Barbadoes is born.
Little documentation of James Barbadoes's life remains, despite his activism and leadership among free Blacks in Boston. In 1930 Barbados's name appeared on a list of freed Black heads of families in Boston. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association and a delegate to the Convention of The People of Color in Philadelphia in 1831. Barbadoes was also a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. At a May 1934 meeting of the New England anti-Slavery Society, Barbadoes urged support for William Lloyd Garrison and his abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator. Barbadoes and three others extended an invitation to Garrison to attend a meeting of Black American citizens; after that he returned from England. In the 1830s, Barbadoes ran a barbershop and rented rooms in Boston. He died on June 22, 1841, of West India Fever after a doomed mission to settle a group of Blacks in Jamaica.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1795
Published
0 0
Abolitionist and community leader John Malvin is born.
John Malvin was born free to a free mother, Dalcus Malvin, and an enslaved father in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia. He was taught reading and spelling by an old enslaved Black person who used the Bible as a teaching guide, and he learned carpentry from his father. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1827 to remain free, and he became a community leader and helped with the underground railroad. Malvin married Harriet Dorsey in Cincinnati on March 8, 1829. After his arrests and brief imprisonment as a fugitive slave in 1831, Malvin became interested in emigration and migration. In 1832 he founded the School Education Society in Cleveland to provide a school for Black children. Malvin purchased his father-in-law's freedom in 1833. He was a delegate to the National Convention of Colored Freemen in Cleveland in 1848. During the 1850s, Malvin attended meetings of the influential Ohio state Convention of Colored Citizens and was elected vice president of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society in 1858. Malvin worked to end the Black laws of Ohio, which prohibited Blacks from attending schools and imposed a five-hundred-dollar security bond on Blacks entering the state. At the start of the Civil War, Malvin urged Black Americans in Cleveland to organize troops, although it would be several years before Blacks would be allowed to serve. One year before his death, Malvin's autobiography was published in the Cleveland leader as a forty-two-page booklet entitled "Autobiography". Malvin died on July 30, 1880, in Cleveland and was buried in Erie Cemetery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1731 (Nov 9)
Published
0 0
Birth of Inventor and mathematician Benjamin Banneker.
Benjamin Banneker was born in Ellicott, Maryland, the grandson of a white woman. He secured a modest education from a school for free Blacks near Joppa, Maryland, but received assistance in his study of science from George Ellicott, a Maryland Quaker, planter, and philanthropist. As a youth, Banneker made a wooden clock which is said to have remained accurate throughout his lifetime. Between 1791 and 1802, Banneker published a yearly almanac, which was widely read, and was also the first Black man to publish astronomical materials in the United States. His other publications included a treatise on bees. Banneker is also credited with computing the cycle of the seventeen-year locust. In 1791, Banneker was appointed upon the recommendation of Thomas Jefferson to serve as a member of a commission to survey plans for Washington, D.C. That August, he wrote a famous letter to Jefferson appealing for a more liberal attitude toward Black Americans, using his own work as evidence of Black American intellectual equality. Banneker said in part, "I apprehend you will embrace every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions which so generally prevail with respect to Blacks; and that your sentiments are concurrent with mine which are: that one universal Father hath given being to us all; that He not only made us all of one flesh, but that He had also without partiality afforded us all with these same faculties and that, however diversified in situation or color, we are all the same family and stand in the same relation to Him." Jefferson accepted, then later rejected, the notion of Black American mental equality and even entertained doubts about Banneker's intellectual capabilities.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1791
Published
0 0
Newport Gardner opens a music school for Black Americans.
Newport Gardner, one of the first Black music teachers in America, opened a music school in Newport, Massachusetts. Gardner, born in 1746, was enslaved to Caleb Gardner, one of Newport's leading merchants. He taught himself to read, sing, and write music. One of his compositions, "Crooked Shanks", was included in the collection "A Number of Original Airs, Dumas and Tiros", published in 1803. He was also active in religious affairs. He was a founder of the Newport Colored Union Church and Society and became a missionary in Africa in 1826, the estimated year of his death.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1790
Published
0 0
Seminole interpreter, Abraham, is born. He became an important leader during the Seminole Wars.
Abraham was born into slavery in Pensacola, Florida. His Seminole name was "Sohanac" or "Souanakkc Tustenukle." By the early 1820s he was living in Florida with the slave-holding Seminole Indians, among whom runaway enslaved Blacks often sought refuge. In 1825 Abraham accompanied Seminole chief Micanopy on an official visit to Washington, D.C., and was granted his freedom. Over the next several years, Abraham witnessed many Seminole treaties as an interpreter. During this period, the Seminoles were being pressured by the U.S. government to move from Florida; Abraham secretly advised Micanopy to resist this pressure and encouraged the enslaved plantation Blacks of the area to support the Seminoles and the Blacks associated with the Seminole. During the Third Seminole War, which began in 1835, Abraham negotiated for peace, eventually persuading Micanopy to surrender. Abraham's settlement provided that the Black allies of the Seminoles be allowed to leave Florida with them. On February 25, 1839, Abraham was sent west, where he raised cattle near the Little River in Arkansas. Abraham had two sons, Renty and Washington, and one daughter by his wife, Hagar.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1800 (Aug 30)
Published
0 0
Gabriel Prosser’s rebellion is thwarted when two enslaved Blacks inform their enslaver of the plot.
A Black uprising planned by Gabriel Prosser and Jack Bowler near Richmond, Virginia, was suspended because of bad weather and betrayal. Prosser was born in Virginia in 1776. In 1800, the young insurrectionist planned to seize an arsenal at Richmond, attack Whites in the area, and free the enslaved. It was hoped that the revolt would spread throughout the state. Perhaps as many as 1,000 enslaved Blacks were prepared to participate in what would have been one of the largest Black revolts in U.S. history. Prosser had won such a large following by telling fellow Blacks that he was their chosen leader, quoting scripture to bolster his claim. The rebels had made or obtained swords, bayonets, and bullets in preparation for the uprising when a storm hit the area. Two enslaved Blacks belonging to Mosby Sheppard betrayed Prosser's plot. Governor James Monroe declared martial law in Richmond and called up 600 members of the state militia. Prosser fled but was captured in Norfolk on September 25th. He was later convicted and, with fifteen others, sentenced to hang on October 7th. Another thirty-five Blacks were later executed. Although interviewed by Governor Monroe himself, Prosser refused to implicate others. The demeanor of the captured rebels led John Randolph of Virginia to declare that the accused had "exhibited a spirit, which if it becomes general, must deluge the southern country in blood. They manifested a sense of their rights, and a contempt of danger."
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1791 (Jan)
Published
0 0
Free Blacks protest South Carolina laws restricting their freedom, reminding legislators that they, too, were taxpayers.
Free Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, presented a petition to the state legislature protesting laws restricting their freedoms. They pointed specifically to the Act of 1740, which deprived enslaved Blacks and free Blacks of the right to testify under oath in court and the right to trial by jury. They also reminded the legislators that they were taxpaying citizens of South Carolina and were considered free citizens of the state, and thus hoped to be treated as such. At the same time, they acknowledged that they did not presume to hope that they shall be put on an equal footing with the free white citizens of the state in general. The petitioners were seeking the repeal of the objectionable clauses of the Act of 1740.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1789
Published
0 0
Black soldier, Caesar Tarrant, gains his freedom for his service during the American revolution.
Caesar Tarrant was freed by the Virginia legislature for having served with distinction in the American Revolution. Tarrant was instructed by his enslaver, Carter Tarrant, on piloting ships. Tarrant was piloting the Schooner Patriot when it captured a British brig headed for Boston with supplies. After his service, Tarrant acquired property which was willed to his family upon his death in 1798.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787 (Sep 12)
Published
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Prince Hall receives a charter for a masonic lodge for Blacks.
Prince Hall, a veteran of the War for Independence, received a charter for a masonic lodge for Blacks. This group was chartered in England as African lodge no. 459. Hall, the first master of the organization, set up additional African lodges in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island during 1797. Hall was born in Barbados, British West Indies, in 1735, the son of an Englishman and a free Black woman. He was apprenticed as a leather worker but abandoned that training to emigrate to Boston. During the Revolutionary War, Hall and twelve other free Blacks were inducted into a masonic lodge by a group of British soldiers stationed in Boston. When the British evacuated the area, Hall organized a masonic lodge for Blacks. Hall, a self-educated clergyman, also championed the establishment of schools for Black children in Boston, urged Massachusetts to legislatively oppose slavery, and proposed measures to protect free Blacks from kidnapping and enslavement. Following his death in Boston on December 4, 1807, the African Grand Lodge became the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, which has become a major social institution in Black America.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1787 (Apr 12)
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Richard Allen and Absalom Jones establish the Free African Society, a Black self-help group in Philadelphia, after being ordered to move to a designated worship area for Blacks at a local Church.
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organized the Free African society, a Black self-help group, in Philadelphia. Allen was perhaps the most conspicuous Black leader in the country before the rise of Frederick Douglass. His stature rested upon his leadership in the establishment of such organizations as the Free African Society and the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. Jones was an associate of Allen for many years, but the two parted when Jones, who was attracted by Anglicanism, became rector of the first Protestant Episcopal congregation for Blacks. Jones was born enslaved in Sussex, Delaware. His enslaver took him to Philadelphia to work as a handyman in a store where he was taught to write by one of the clerks. He later attended night school and completed his education. Saving money that visitors to his enslaver's house had given him, together with his earnings, Jones purchased both his own freedom and that of his wife. He became a member of the St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia. While attending services there one Sunday in 1786, Jones, Allen, and other worshippers, were pulled from their knees and ordered to move to the reserved worship area for Blacks in the church's balcony. Out of this incident grew the Free African society, a quasi-religious organization whose programs included a fund for mutual aid, burial assistance, relief for widows and orphans, strengthening of marriage ties and personal morality, cooperation with abolition societies, and correspondence with free Blacks in other areas. It was probably the first stable, independent Black social organization in the United States. Among the other joint efforts of Allen and Jones were the organization of relief measures for the Black population in Philadelphia during the yellow-fever epidemic in 1793, and the raising of a company of Black militia during the War of 1812.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1784 (Mar 27)
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The Birth of Elleanor Eldridge. She would go on to become an astute businesswoman.
Elleanor Eldridge was born in Warwick, Rhode Island. She began working for the Baker family at an early age, washing clothes for twenty-five cents a week. During her six years with the family, she became skilled at spinning, weaving, and arithmetic. In 1812, she and her sister began a business of weaving, washing, and soap boiling that enabled Elleanor to buy a lot and build a house, which she would later rent out. By 1822, she had saved enough from her various business ventures to build a large house. Over a period of years she added to the house and began making payments toward a second house. When Eldridge made a trip to visit relatives, it was mistakenly reported that she had died. Upon her return, all her property, valued at $4,000, had been sold. On the advice of friends, she entered a "trespass and ejectment" suit, which she won. However, she could recover her property only after payment of $2,700, which likely went unpaid. In 1838, Eldridge's memoirs were written by Frances Harriet Whipple Greene McDougall.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1784 (Mar 23)
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The birth of boxer Tom Molineaux, the first American to fight with distinction abroad.
Tom Molineaux was one of four boys born enslaved, in Georgetown, district of Columbia. As a boy, Molineaux began to box, following in the footsteps of his father. His abilities as a boxer won him his freedom and a hundred-dollar prize when Molineaux defeated another enslaved Black from a nearby plantation on the bet of their enslavers. He used his prize money to go to London, where boxing was a popular and profitable sport, and he became the first American to fight with distinction abroad. Unfortunately, his success was short-lived; he lost two highly publicized matches against Tom Cribbs, the British champion. Molineaux then entered a downward spiral into poverty and alcoholism. He died penniless in Ireland on August 4, 1818.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1783
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Enslaved Black woman, Elizabeth Freeman, sues her enslaver and gains her freedom.
Elizabeth (Mumbet) Freeman, born enslaved around 1742, escaped a physically abusive enslaver and appealed to a young lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick, to prevent re-enslavement. Freeman told the lawyer that she had overheard conversations about the Bill of Rights and the new constitution of Massachusetts, which claimed that all men were born free and equal. Sedgwick argued the case before the county court of Great Barrington, which freed Freeman and ordered her former enslaver to pay her thirty shillings in damages. Freeman died on December 28, 1829.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1781 (May 8)
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A convicted enslaved Black man is reprieved by Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson, for his role in a Virginia attack because the Court ruled that his actions were not of his own free will.
Known as Billy, Will, or William, the mixed-race enslaved Black man of John Tayloe of Virginia was sentenced to death by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Prince William County, for "aiding in the seizure of an armed vessel and feloniously and traitorously waging war against Virginia." Billy argued that his part in the attack was not of his own free will. Two Justices, Henry Lee and William Carr, dissented with the court on grounds that, because Billy was enslaved, he owed no allegiance and, therefore, could not be guilty of treason. Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson moved to pass a reprieve to June 30 through the state legislature. The reprieve was apparently granted, a move that may have evidenced a sense of justice in a slave-holding state, as well as Jefferson's hypothesized anti-slavery views.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1781
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James Armistead, an enslaved Black man, spies on the British, which leads to General Cornwallis’s surrender. Because of his efforts, he is granted freedom.
James Armistead (1760 - 1832), in the service of General Lafayette, infiltrated British general Cornwallis's camp and sent vital written reports back to the Americans and French. Acting on Armistead's information, the revolutionary commanders sent a French fleet to Chesapeake Bay and forced Cornwallis's surrender. Armistead, an enslaved Black man, was given leave by his enslaver in 1781 to serve General Lafayette. For his contribution to the success of the war effort, the Virginia legislature granted him his freedom in 1786.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1776 (Dec 25)
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Prince Whipple, born free but sold into slavery, accompanies George Washington across the Delaware River.
Prince Whipple, a native of Amabou, Africa, accompanies George Washington across the Delaware River. Though Whipple was born free, he was sold into slavery on the way to the colonies where he was sent by his parents to be educated. An 1819 painting by Thomas Sully and a later work by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze depicted a Black man as part of Washington's party. Whipple, whose surname was taken from his enslaver, regained his freedom after serving in the Revolutionary War by petitioning to the council and House of New Hampshire in 1779.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Dec 31)
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Reversing course due to military need, George Washington allows Blacks to enlist in the American army.
General George Washington, revising an earlier decision, ordered recruiting officers to accept free Blacks in the American army. More than 5,000 Blacks, mostly from the North, fought against the British. Georgia and South Carolina steadfastly opposed the enlistment of Black soldiers. In 1770, the Continental Congress agreed to pay owners of enslaved Blacks in Georgia and South Carolina $1,000 for each enslaved Black allowed to serve in the American army, but at the end of the war they were to be freed and given fifty dollars. The two Southern states rejected the offer.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Nov 7)
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Two weeks after George Washington prohibits Blacks from enlisting in the American army, the British promise Blacks freedom if they join them in the Revolutionary War.
Lord Dunmore, British royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation promising freedom to enslaved Africans who joined the British forces in the Revolutionary War. Southerners, especially Virginians, were alarmed and angered. Virginia responded by attempting to convince Blacks that the British motives were purely selfish and promised them good treatment if they remained loyal to the Patriot cause. On December 13, 1775, a Virginia Convention promised to pardon all enslaved Blacks who returned to their enslavers within ten days. It is not clear how many enslaved Blacks served with the British, but the war did have an unsettling effect on the institution of slavery. At least 100,000 Blacks ran away from their enslavers during the conflict. The Dunmore proclamation helped to bolster Southern support for the patriots as the British threatened slavery.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Oct 23)
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Blacks are prohibited from enlisting in the American army.
Following the announcement of general George Washington on July 9, 1775, that there would be no further enlistments of Blacks in the American army, the Continental Congress prohibits Black enlistment.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Jun 17)
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Black soldiers Peter Salem and Salem Poor are honored for their patriotic participation at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Two Black men, Peter Salem and Salem Poor, were commended for their participation on the side of the patriots at the battle of Bunker Hill. Salem had been enslaved in Framington, Massachusetts, but was manumitted so that he could serve in the Revolutionary War. The Committee on safety of the continental congress had decreed in May 1775 that only free Blacks could serve in the American army. During the battle of Bunker Hill, Salem killed the British commander, Major John Pitcairn. Although the Americans did not achieve victory at Bunker Hill, Pitcarn's death raised the rebels' morale at the time. The Massachusetts general Court later commended Salem for the act. Poor also won commendation from the Massachusetts Court and from his officers. He was described by his officers as an excellent soldier. On July 9, 1775, however, general George Washington announced that there would be no further enlistments of Blacks. The Continental Congress sanctioned Washington's decree in October.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Apr 14)
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The first Abolitionist society is organized in Pennsylvania.
Known originally as the Pennsylvania Society for The Abolition of Slavery, this group included many active Quakers. The Society first worked toward obtaining an abolition law in Pennsylvania and protecting free Blacks from being kidnapped and sold into slavery. After a successful campaign for adequate protective legislation, the Society helped enforce the new laws through committees of correspondence and by employing lawyers to secure the conviction of offenders. The Society suspended its operations during the revolutionary war, although individual members continued active work. The group was reorganized in 1787 as "The Pennsylvania Society for "Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Blacks Unlawfully Held in Bondage, and Improving the Condition of the African Race".
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Mar 6)
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Prince Hall and 14 other Blacks were inducted into the British army masonic lodge.
Prince Hall and 14 other Blacks were inducted into the British army masonic lodge near Boston. This was the first formal fraternal organization of Blacks. Hall, who ministered the gospel to his group, was refuted when he asked the Massachusetts grand lodge for permission to establish a separate African lodge.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1775 (Dec)
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Isaac Jefferson, narrator, and enslaved African of Thomas Jefferson, is born.
Isaac Jefferson was born to Usler and George, a couple enslaved to Thomas Jefferson, at Monticello in December 1775. He accompanied Thomas Jefferson to Philadelphia in 1790, where he learned the trade of tinning. After Thomas Jefferson's death in 1826, it is believed that Isaac Jefferson was a blacksmith in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1847. In the 1840 census he was recorded as Isaac Granger. In 1951, his memories as an enslaved Black man were published in "Memoirs of a Monticello Slave, as dictated to Charles Campbell in the 1840s by Isaac, one of Thomas Jefferson's enslaved Blacks". The book is valued mainly for its information about Thomas Jefferson.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1774 (Dec 1)
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George Washington signs the Fairfax Resolves which prohibits the importation of enslaved Africans.
George Washington signed the Fairfax Resolves, barring the importation of enslaved Africans and threatening to halt all colonial exports to England.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1773
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Jean Baptiste Point du Sable becomes the first permanent settler in Chicago.
Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, the first permanent settler of Chicago, purchased the property of Jean Baptiste Millet at Old Peoria Fort. Du Sable was born in St. Marc, Haiti, in 1745, the son of a Frenchman who had emigrated to Haiti from Marseilles, France, and a Black enslaved woman. Du Sable was educated in France and later worked in his father's business in New Orleans in 1765. When the Spanish occupied Louisiana that same year, Du Sable and an associate, Jacques Clemorgan of Martinique, left for the French-settled areas of the upper Mississippi River. They stopped in St. Louis, where they carried on a successful fur trade with the Indians for two years. Later, Du Sable and Clemorgan moved farther north into Indian territory and lived with the Peoria and Potawatomie tribes. At the same time, Du Sable participated in fur trapping expeditions, which carried him to the present sites of Chicago, Detroit, and Ontario, Canada. In 1772, Du Sable decided to build a fur trading post on the Chicago River near Lake Michigan. A successful trading center grew around the post and the Chicago settlement developed. After Illinois came under the jurisdiction of the United States, Du Sable sold his property and returned to Missouri, where he died in 1818.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1773
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Phillis Wheatley, an African-born poet, publishes her book.
Phillis Wheatley, an African-born poet, published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, becoming the second American woman to publish a book. Wheatley was born in Senegal, circa 1753, and was sold as an enslaved Black girl in 1761 to Boston tailor John Wheatley, whose wife tutored young Phillis, enabling her to become literate. Wheatley began writing verses in her early teens. Manumitted in 1773, she traveled to London and was received by the Lord Mayor and other influential Londoners. On February 28, 1776, Wheatley had an audience with General George Washington at his Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters, so that he could express his appreciation for her poem in his honor.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1770 (Mar 5)
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Crispus Attucks is the first to die in the Boston Massacre.
Crispus Attucks of Framingham, Massachusetts, an escaped enslaved Black man, died with four other Americans in the Boston Massacre. He was in the forefront of the group that taunted British soldiers during the altercation and reportedly was the first to fall from their fire. Massachusetts later honored Attucks with a statue in Boston. Attucks was born enslaved to Deacon William Brown in Framingham. In November 1750, he escaped slavery, at the age of 27. In Boston, Black Americans held an annual Crispus Attucks Day from 1858 to 1870.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1770
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Quaker Anthony Benezet establishes a free school for Blacks in Philadelphia.
Quaker philanthropist Anthony Benezet establishes a free school for Blacks in Philadelphia. In 1784, when Benezet died, he left his fortune to the school known as the Binoxide House.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1739 (Sept 9)
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The Stono Rebellion begins but is stopped a week later by South Carolina troops. In response, the General Assembly establishes the Negro Act of 1740.
The Stono Rebellion, often referred to as Cato's Conspiracy or Cato's Rebellion was a Black uprising that had its start in South Carolina's colony on September 9, 1739. The Southern Colonial empires' biggest Black uprising resulted in the deaths of 25 colonists and 35 to 50 Africans. As the rebels were Catholic and several spoke Portuguese, it is likely that they were from the Central African Kingdom of Kongo. Jemmy, the insurrection's commander, was an educated enslaved African. However, he is sometimes known as "Cato" and was probably enslaved by the Cato (or Cater) family, who resided north of the Stono River and close to the Ashley River. They were headed for Spanish Florida, where numerous declarations had offered fleeing Blacks from British North America. Before being stopped and routed by the South Carolina troops close to the Edisto River, Jemmy and his band recruited approximately 60 additional enslaved Africans and killed over 20 white people. After another 30 miles (50 km) of travel, the militia was finally routed a week later. The few remaining Blacks were sold into marketplaces in the West Indies; the majority of the captured enslaved Africans were put to death. The General Assembly established the Negro Act of 1740 in response to the uprising, which limited slaves' freedoms while enhancing working conditions and putting a stop to the importation of additional slaves.
References:
  •  • Stanley, W. (2020). Fear and rebellion in South Carolina: The 1739 Stono Rebellion and Colonial Slave Society.
1687 (Oct)
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The first ever recorded escaped enslaved Africans arrive in St. Augustine, Florida. An English official comes to collect them but the Governor refuses, leading to the Edict of 1693.
The first known escaped enslaved Africans from Carolina came to St. Augustine in October 1687. Governor Diego de Quiroga diligently informed the Spanish government that eight men, two women, and a breastfeeding three-year-old had successfully escaped aboard through a boat. Six of the men were assigned to work towards building the new Castillo de San Marcos, while two others were tasked with helping the blacksmith, which may have indicated that they had prior experience in that field. In the governor's home, the ladies were hired as domestics. All allegedly received payment for their labor. The following fall, an English official came to collect them, but Governor Quiroga refused to free them because they had converted to Catholicism, been married in the community, and had important jobs. As a result, the Florida colony started to implement a fugitive slave rule. The first formal stance on runaways was taken by King Charles II in 1693, who stated that he was "offering liberty to everyone, men as well as the ladies, that by their examples and by my generosity others will do the same."
References:
  •  • Runyon, S. A. (1999). Fort Mose: the free African community and militia of Spanish St. Augustine (Doctoral dissertation, Montana State University-Bozeman, College of Letters & Science).
1312 AD
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Black king Mansa Musa, known for being the wealthiest person of all time, takes over the great Mali empire.
From 1312 CE to 1337 CE, Mansa Musa (also known as Musa I of Mali) presided over the Mali kingdom. Mansa Musa was among the wealthiest people in the world and Mali was one of the wealthiest countries in Africa during his rule. A portion of what is now Mali, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso once belonged to the ancient Mali kingdom. Mansa Musa transformed towns like Gao and Timbuktu into significant cultural hubs. In order to create new structures for his settlements, he also imported architects from the Middle East and other parts of Africa. Mali's kingdom was transformed by Mansa Musa into an advanced Islamic hub of study. Following the disappearance of the previous monarch, Abu Bakr II, at sea in 1312 CE, Mansa Musa assumed the throne. In order to explore the Atlantic Ocean, Mansa Abu Bakr II had left on a big fleet of ships, but he never came back. Mali became the richest kingdom in Africa during Mansa Musa's leadership despite inheriting an already prosperous kingdom. His wealth stemmed from the Mali kingdom's large salt and gold reserves. Another significant source of wealth was ivory from elephants.
References:
  •  • MALI, F. O. (2015). Mansa Musa (Kankan Musa). Lifelines in World History: The Ancient World, The Medieval World, The Early Modern World, The Modern World, 182.
1441
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Transportation of the first enslaved Africans to Portugal. A few years later, a sizable quantity of enslaved Africans are imported, which is considered to be the official start of the Atlantic slave trade.
When the European colonial powers of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands forcefully abducted families in Africa to perform the arduous labor required to fuel the New World's economic engine in the 15th century, the slave trade in the Americas officially began. Slavery has existed in Portugal since before the nation's founding. Residents of the current Portuguese territory were frequently forced into slavery before independence and also forced others into slavery. Portugal was a major player in the Atlantic slave trade, which involved the vast trafficking and shipping of the enslaved from Africa and other areas of the world to the American continent, throughout the Kingdom of Portugal's period of rule after its independence. The Marquis de Pombal forbade the import of the enslaved into European Portugal in 1761. However, slavery was only outlawed in the African Portuguese possessions in 1869. When Portuguese traders delivered the first sizable quantity of enslaved Africans to Europe in 1444 A.D., the Atlantic slave trade officially got underway.
References:
  •  • Rawley, J. A., & Behrendt, S. D. (2005). The transatlantic slave trade: a history. U of Nebraska Press.
c. 1230 AD
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Small kingdoms in Ghana unite to form the Mali Empire, led by Black king Sundiata Keita.
A number of tiny Malinke Kingdoms in Ghana that were located around the upper Niger River were united to become the Mali Empire. In the 1300s and 1400s, Arab historians compiled the majority of the information that exists on the early history of the Empire of Mali. The Susu Kingdom, which had subdued the Malinké populace in the early 13th century, was controlled by a monarch by the name of Sumanguru Kanté. Many historians, like Conrad David and Innes Gordon, believe Sundiata to have formed Mali when he overcame Sumanguru Kanté in 1235. Sundiata, also known as Sunjata, organized the Malinké rebellion against the Susu Kingdom. The empire's growth started in Niani, which also happened to be the city where King Sundiata, the empire's monarch, was born. From the Atlantic Coast south of the Senegal River to Goa on the eastern side of the Middle Niger bend, Sundiata established a large kingdom.
References:
  •  • Conrad, D. C. (2010). Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. Infobase Publishing.
1821 (Aug 1)
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Denmark Vesey, co-founder of the second largest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the nation, begins to plan a revolt with a few of his followers in Charleston, SC.
Denmark Vesey, a popular local Black pastor recruits a few of his followers to devise a plan to revolt against Charleston slaveholders, liberate the enslaved, and sail to the Black republic of Haiti for refuge. Vesey held meetings at his home during religious classes to review the plans, often connecting their potential freedom to Biblical stories. The planned attempt would eventually be stopped before it even began the following year.
References:

by Dr. Lindsey YatesWonderful!

1863 (Jan 1)
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Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved Blacks in rebellious territories free.
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, went into effect on January 1, 1863. This proclamation declared that "all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of the state, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." With this proclamation more than three-quarters of all enslaved Blacks were set to be free. And, while certainly a move towards the ending of slavery, the proclamation only applied to those enslaved Africans in states that had seceded from the Union, and not to enslaved Blacks living in the four slave states that remained a part of the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation was, in part, a military tactic by the President. The document notes that emancipation was "an act of justice, warranted by the constitution upon military necessity." The issuing of the proclamation helped to rally support among abolitionists. Enslaved Blacks set to be free by the proclamation could join the union army. Moreover, it gave the union the moral high ground, helping the union to gain support from other nations. It took time for the message of emancipation to spread. It would not be until June 19, 1865, after the end of the Civil War, that word of emancipation would reach the slaves of Galveston, Texas. Ultimately, the Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the abolition of slavery at the end of the Civil War. And it earned Abraham Lincoln the nickname of The Great Emancipator.
References:
  •  • United States. President (1861-1865 : Lincoln). The Emancipation Proclamation. Bedford, Mass. :Applewood Books, 1998.
  •  • Franklin, John Hope and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans New York: McGraw Hill, 2011.

by Dr. Lorenzo HattonVery well explained!

1773
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George Liele and Andrew Bryan organize the American colonies’ first Black Baptist Church.
In Savannah, Georgia, George Liele and Andrew Bryan organized the American colonies' first Black Baptist Church. Liele and Bryan were both former enslaved Blacks with modest education. When they first began preaching (at very young ages) there were no Black denominations. Liele and Bryan preached without compensation. Liele supported himself as a laborer-for-hire after being freed by his pious master. Opposition to Black worship eventually forced Liele to flee to Jamaica. Bryan's enslaver defended him against other whites who were alarmed over the growth of the Black church, and although Bryan bought his wife's freedom, he did not purchase his own until after his enslaver's death because of the sense of gratitude Bryan had for his enslaver's support of him.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
c. 10,000 BC - 6,000 BC
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Due to a tilt in the Earth’s axis, the Sahara transforms from a humid region rich with grasslands and water, to an arid desert, prompting Saharan Africans to migrate to the Nile Valley.
The earliest Egyptians were indigenous Africans who were drawn to the Sahara when it was a humid region rich in grasslands and with plentiful water. There was a widespread Saharan Neolithic culture. However, during this same period (c. 10,000 - c. 6,000 BC), the Earth's axis tilted, causing the Saharan climate to slowly transform from humid to arid, prompting Saharan Africans to migrate to the Nile Valley to take advantage of its fertile floodplains.
250,000 Years Ago
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Modern humans begin to disperse and migrate out of Africa.
Early modern humans expanded to Western Eurasia and Central, Western and Southern Africa from the time of their emergence. Evidence of migration out of Africa, via a partial skull, was discovered in the Apidima Cave in southern Greece and is dated more than 210,000 years old. There were several waves of migrations, many via northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula about 130,000 YA (Years Ago), though most of these early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 YA.
c. 200,000 - 130,000 Years Ago
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Mitochondrial Eve, the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend, lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mitochondrial Eve (the name alludes to the biblical Eve) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor of all living humans. In other words, she is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an unbroken line purely through their mothers and through the mothers of those mothers, back until all lines converge on one woman. In 1987, geneticists compared the mitochondrial DNA (genetic information passed from mothers to their offspring) of people from different populations around the world and find that they all link in an unbroken line to Mitochondrial Eve. This does not mean that she was the first woman, nor the only living female of her time, nor the first member of a "new species." It only means that she is the most recent female ancestor to which all living humans are linked. She was believed to have lived in either East Africa or Botswana.
2600 BC
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The great pyramid of Giza is built as a tomb for the fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu and becomes the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years.
Using an estimated 2.3 million large stone blocks weighing an average of 2.5 tons each, the Great Pyramid of Giza is built by the Egyptian labor force over the course of roughly 27 years (Khufu's entire reign). Initially standing at 481 ft tall, it took an estimated 5.5 million tons of limestone, 8,000 tons of granite, and 500,000 tons of mortar to build. This showcase of ancient Egypt's advanced mathematics and engineering skills have made this structure one of the most famous in the world, and the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient World to remain largely intact.
2014 (Jan 1)
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— END —
No events can be added beyond this date. New information and discoveries can be uncovered over time regarding historical events. At this time, we are allowing a 10-year window prior to adding new events to the Black American History timeline.
315,000 Years Ago
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The earliest known humans emerge and live on the African continent.
All human beings today belong to the Homo sapiens species, and it is widely accepted amongst researchers, historians, and scientists, that all of human history began on the continent of Africa. The exact location in Africa is a topic of constant debate as remains have been found in various locations throughout the continent, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco, though researchers suggest it was most likely in the Horn of Africa. The oldest known remains of our species to date has been found in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and dated about 315,000 years ago.
1831 (Aug 21 - 23)
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Nat Turner’s rebellion kills roughly 60 people but is suppressed and spreads fear among the South American Whites.
In Southampton County, Nat Turner, a devout enslaved preacher, led a revolt that killed 60 people before being defeated by state militia at the Belmont Plantation. Known to be intelligent and called “The Prophet” by his followers, Nat believed he saw signs from God to defend God’s kingdom by fighting the serpent. Starting with a few trusted followers, he eventually gathered 70 enslaved and free Blacks who traveled from house to house, freeing enslaved people and killing many of the white people whom they encountered. The state militia eventually defeated the insurrection on Aug 23. Turner believed the revolutionary violence would serve to awaken the attitudes of whites to the reality of the inherent brutality in slaveholding. He later said that he wanted to spread "terror and alarm" among whites. Following the insurrection, the state executed 56 Blacks, and militias killed at least 100 more, many of whom were not involved with the rebellion. News of the revolt spread quickly, creating fear among the whites who began attacking Blacks at random for up to 2 weeks after the revolt had been suppressed. Blacks suspected of participating in the rebellion were beheaded by the militia and their severed heads were mounted on poles at crossroads as a form of intimidation (a section of Virginia State Route 658 was labeled as "Blackhead Signpost Road" in reference to these events until 2021, when it was renamed "Signpost Road"). Turner himself eluded capture for about six weeks before being discovered by a white farmer in Southampton County. Showing no remorse (believing it was God’s work), he was tried and hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia. They then dissected his body and used his skin to make purses as souvenirs. Of the five free Blacks tried for participation in the insurrection, one was hanged while the others were acquitted. In retaliation to the revolt, the general assembly passed legislation making it unlawful to teach reading and writing to either enslaved or free Blacks and restricting all Blacks from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed white minister. Other slave-holding states in the South enacted similar laws. Across Virginia and other Southern states, legislators made criminal the possession of abolitionist publications by either whites or blacks.
1831 (Dec 25)
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The great Black Jamaican Revolt led by Baptist preacher Samuel Sharpe becomes the largest enslaved Black revolt in the West Indies.
Also known as the Baptist war, the Christmas Rebellion, and the Sam Sharpe Rebellion. This eleven-day rebellion led by Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe, involved up to 60,000 enslaved Blacks (one fifth of the total enslaved Black population) in the colony of Jamaica. The rebels had been paying close attention to the abolitionist movement in London. Thomas Burchell, a white Baptist missionary in Montego Bay working to help liberate the enslaved, went to London for Christmas vacation. The enslaved Africans expected he would return with papers for emancipation from the king, William IV. The Jamaican governor announced however, that no emancipation had been granted. Demanding more freedom and higher wages, they decided to peacefully boycott working the plantations until their demands were met. The rebellion exploded on Dec 27th when the rebels set fire to Kensington Estate, causing the colonial authorities to institute martial law and summon Jamaican maroons to help suppress the revolt and they succeeded. About 500 enslaved Blacks were killed in total, with about 200 killed during the revolt and over 300 killed in various forms of judicial execution by the Jamaican government in many times for minor offenses (one recorded execution was for the theft of a pig; another a cow). Suspecting many white missionaries of encouraging the rebellion, some were arrested, tarred, feathered, and later released. Groups of white colonials destroyed Black churches. Historians argue that the brutality of the Jamaican plantocracy during the revolt accelerated the British political process of emancipating the enslaved Blacks. When a few white missionaries described how badly they were treated by the colonial militias, the House of Commons expressed their outrage that white planters could have tarred and feathered white missionaries. Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 for initial measures to begin in 1834, followed by partial emancipation (outright for children six or under, six years apprenticeship for the rest) in 1834 and then unconditional emancipation of chattel slavery in 1838.
1817 (Jul 10)
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New York state frees all enslaved Blacks born before July 4, 1799 (the date of the gradual abolition law), to be effective in 1827.
It continued with the indenture of children born to enslaved Black mothers until their 20s. Because of the gradual abolition laws, there were children still bound in apprenticeships when their parents were free.
1822 (Jun 5)
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Denmark Vesey’s planned revolt in Charleston, SC is foiled when two enslaved Blacks inform Charleston officials of the plot.
Denmark Vesey, likely born into slavery in St. Thomas before being brought to Charleston, purchased his freedom after winning a lottery around the age of 32. He became a co-founder of the second largest African Methodist Episcopal church in the nation, attracting over 1,800 members (more than 10% of Blacks in the city, mostly enslaved Blacks). In 1821, Vesey and a few of his followers began to plan a revolt, kill slaveholders in Charleston, liberate the enslaved, and sail to the Black republic of Haiti for refuge. Vesey would review plans of the revolt with his followers at his home during religious classes, inspiring them by connecting their potential freedom to the Biblical story of Exodus, and God's delivery of the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery. By some accounts, the revolt would have involved thousands of enslaved Blacks in the city as well as others who lived on plantations which were located miles away. Two enslaved Blacks, however, who were deeply loyal to their enslavers, informed the city officials of the plot, who then sent a militia to arrest the plot's leaders and many suspected followers on June 22, before the rising could begin, which was believed to be planned for July 14. No white people were killed or injured. Vesey, about 55 years old at the time, and five enslaved Blacks were among the first group of men to be rapidly judged guilty by the secret proceedings of a city-appointed court and condemned to death. The suspects were allowed visits by ministers; Dr. Benjamin Palmer visited Vesey after he was sentenced to death, and Vesey told the minister that he would die for a "glorious cause". They were executed by hanging on July 2, 1822. In later proceedings, some 30 additional followers were executed. His son Sandy was also found guilty of conspiracy and deported from the United States, along with many others. City authorities ordered that the church should be razed and its minister was expelled from the city.
1815 (Mar 6)
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George Boxley, a White abolitionist and former slaveholder, tries to coordinate an enslaved Black rebellion on March 6th, but the plot is foiled when a local enslaved Black woman informs her owner of the plan.
While living in Spotsylvania, Virginia, George Boxley plans his "heaven-sent orders” to free the enslaved. He tried to recruit enslaved Blacks from Orange, Spotsylvania, and Louisa counties to meet at his home with horses, guns, swords and clubs. He planned to attack and take over Fredericksburg and Richmond, Virginia. Lucy, a local enslaved Black woman, informed her owner, and the plot was foiled. Six enslaved Blacks involved were imprisoned or executed. With his wife's help, Boxley escaped from the Spotsylvania County jail, and despite a reward, he was never caught. He fled to Ohio and Indiana, where he was joined by his family. He helped runaway enslaved Blacks, taught school, and supported abolitionism. The George Boxley cabin has been listed on the national register of historic places.
1816 (Apr 14)
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Bussa’s Rebellion, the largest enslaved Black rebellion in Barbadian history, is defeated by the colonial militia’s superior firepower.
Led by an enslaved man named Bussa (born free in West Africa, captured by African merchants, sold to European slave traders, and transported to Barbados), this revolt took place shortly after the British parliament rejected the Imperial Registry Bill in November 1815 which would have registered West Indian enslaved Africans to prevent them being sold to other territories and prevent smuggling. Historians believe that enslaved Africans interpreted some of the parliamentary proposals as preparatory to emancipation and took action when emancipation did not take place. In collaboration with other enslaved Blacks of other plantations (Bussa was a driver, giving him access), they decided to revolt on Easter Sunday, April 14th. Bussa, and his collaborators led 400 men and women rebels into battle at Bailey's plantation on Tuesday, April 16th. He was killed in battle; his forces continued the fight until they were defeated by the colonial militia’s superior firepower. The rebellion failed but its influence was significant to the future of Barbados.
1811 (Jan 8 - 10)
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The German Coast Uprising, America’s largest enslaved Black insurgency in history, happens in present day Louisiana, but is suppressed by the local militia.
Occurring on the east bank of the Mississippi River, 64 to 125 enslaved Black men marched from sugar plantations on what was the German Coast (present-day Acadiana) of Louisiana, collecting more men along the way; an estimated 200 - 500. During their 2-day 20-mile march, the men, carrying mostly hand tools, burned crops and houses in their path until an armed militia of white men killed 40 - 45 of them in a battle on January 10, while suffering no fatalities themselves. They then hunted down and killed a few others without trial. Over the next two weeks, white planters and officials interrogated, tried, executed and decapitated an additional 44 escaped enslaved Blacks who had been captured. Executions were generally by hanging or firing squad. Heads were displayed on pikes to intimidate other enslaved Blacks.
1805 (Jan)
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Enslaved Blacks at Chatham Manor in Stafford County, Virginia rebelled, overpowered, and whipped their overseer and assistant.
Chatham Manor, a symbol of the country’s racial tensions, was a 6,000-acre plantation with 60-90 enslaved Blacks depending on the season. In January of 1805 some enslaved Blacks rebelled after an overseer ordered them back to work at what they considered was too soon after the Christmas holidays. They overpowered and whipped their overseer and four others who tried to force them back to work. An armed posse of white men quickly gathered and killed one enslaved Black person. Two more died trying to escape capture. Two other enslaved Blacks were deported, likely to the Caribbean or Louisiana, and plantation owner William Fitzhugh, a planter and delegate to the second continental Congress of Virginia, soon sold the property.
1807 (Jul 10)
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The birth of Solomon Northup, who was born free, then tricked into slavery. He eventually regains his freedom.
Northup was a born-free Black American man from New York who was tricked, drugged, and kidnapped by 2 men, then sold into slavery in Louisiana for 12 years, before regaining his freedom, thanks to the help of Samuel Bass, a Canadian carpenter and abolitionist. Solomon sued the men involved in his kidnapping and enslavement, but none received punishment, due to a Washington D.C. law prohibiting Black men from testifying against white people. He is well known for his co-written bestselling memoir, "12 Years A Slave", which was adapted and produced as a feature film in 2013, receiving 3 Academy Awards.
1803
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The Igbo Landing Revolt and mass suicide by Igbo people who rebelled and drowned their captors.
Known by the American South to be fiercely independent and resistant to chattel slavery, a boatload of roughly 75 captive Igbo people survived the middle passage to be sold at local slave auctions. Chained and packed under the small vessel (named either “The Schooner York” or “The Monrovia”), they rose up in rebellion, took control of the ship, and drowned their captors in what is now known as Igbo landing in Georgia. Though what happened next is unclear, various accounts site they died by suicide by walking into Dunbar Creek. A letter written by Savannah slave dealer William Mein states that the Igbo people walked into the marsh where 10 to 12 drowned and some were "salvaged" by bounty hunters who received $10 a head from the captives’ intended plantation owners (One of which was Thomas Spalding, a Georgia politician). According to some sources, survivors of the Igbo rebellion were taken to Cannon's Point on St. Simons Island and Sapelo Island. This has been referred to as the first freedom march in America and has spawned myths and Gullah folklore.
1783 (Sep 3)
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The treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the American Revolutionary War that began 8 years earlier. The US had reversed their promise of freeing enslaved Black militia men at war’s end, but the British kept their promise.
Signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, the treaty of Paris officially ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire in North America and the United States of America. By this time, the US reversed their promise of enslaved militia men gaining freedom at war’s end just 2 years earlier. They now require that all property, including enslaved persons, be left in place. British military General Guy Carleton, however, kept his promise and shipped 3,000 Black Loyalist to Novia Scotia (modern day Maritime Canada), many of which left Nova Scotia to create an independent colony in Sierra Leone.
1799
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New York State passes the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, which freed no living enslaved Black person.
Although there was movement towards the abolition of slavery, the legislature took steps to characterize indentured servitude for Blacks in a way that redefined slavery in the state. Slavery was important economically, both in New York City and in agricultural areas, such as Brooklyn. Based on a model in Pennsylvania, in 1799, the legislature passed the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. It freed no living enslaved Black person, in part to allow owners at the time to recoup the most profit from their enslaved Blacks before losing them. It declared children of enslaved Blacks born after July 4, 1799, to be legally free, but the children had to serve an extended period of indentured servitude: to the age of 28 for males and to 25 for females. Enslaved Blacks born before that date were redefined as indentured servants and could not be sold, but they had to continue their unpaid labor.
1733 (Nov 23) - 1734 (Aug)
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The St. John Revolt is one of the earliest and longest enslaved Black revolts but is ultimately defeated by better-armed troops.
In the Danish West Indies (now St. John, United States Virgin Islands) this revolt started when 150 enslaved Africans from present-day Ghana, revolted against the owners and managers of the island's plantations. This rebellion was one of the earliest and longest enslaved Black revolts in the Americas. Enslaved Akwamu people captured the fort in Coral Bay and took control of most of the island. They intended to resume crop production under their own control and use Africans of other tribes as slave labor. Planters regained control by the end of May 1734, after the Akwamu were defeated by several hundred better-armed French and Swiss troops sent in April from Martinique, a French colony. Colony militia continued to hunt down maroons and finally declared the rebellion at an end in late August 1734.
References:
  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
1740
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In response to the Stono Rebellion of 1739, South Carolina passes the Negro Act of 1740, which severely restricts the movements of enslaved Africans.
In response to the Stono Rebellion, the largest Black uprising in the British mainland colonies, South Carolina passes the Negro Act of 1740, which made it illegal for enslaved Blacks to move abroad, assemble in groups, raise food, earn money and learn to write English, similar to New York’s 1708 Act for Preventing the Conspiracy of Slaves law. It also enacted a 10-year moratorium against importing enslaved Africans, because they were considered more rebellious, and established penalties against slaveholders' harsh treatment of enslaved Africans. It required legislative approval for each act of manumission, which slaveholders had previously been able to arrange privately. This sharply reduced the rate of manumissions in the state.
1644 (Feb)
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The eleven enslaved Africans brought to New Amsterdam via the Dutch West India Company ship petition the director general of the colony, William Kieft, for their freedom and are granted partial freedom.
During this time there were skirmishes with Native American people and the Dutch wanted the enslaved Blacks to help protect their settlements rather than join the Native Americans. They were granted partial freedom, where they could buy land and a home and earn a wage from their enslaver, and then full freedom. Their children remained in slavery. During such times, intermarriage with working class whites became common.
1522 (Jan 6)
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Diego Colon, governor of the Spanish colony Santo Domingo, introduces strict laws designed to prevent future enslaved Black rebellions in response to the rebellion that had taken place just days earlier.
In response to a well-planned and well-coordinated enslaved African rebellion that had taken place on his sugar plantation, the Nueva Isabela, Diego Colon (a descendant of Christopher Columbus) introduces strict laws designed to prevent future rebellions. These laws restricted the physical movements of the enslaved Africans, prohibited them from bearing arms and accessing weapons, required enslavers to keep strict slave registers, and introduced harsh punishment in the form of physical torture and execution. This would be the model that is eventually passed on during chattel slavery in the US.
1521 (Dec 25 or 26)
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The Santo Domingo revolt becomes the earliest enslaved Black rebellion recorded in the Americas.
This revolt happened in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola. On the first or second day of Christmas, enslaved Blacks on the Nueva Isabela sugar plantation owned by the colony's governor Diego Colón (a descendant of Chistopher Columbus) rebelled. Local oral tradition says that the rebellion was led by Maria Olofa (Wolofa) and Gonzalo Mandinga, a romantic couple, from the nation of Wolof and Muslim. Just days after the uprising, on Jan 6th, 1522, Diego introduced strict laws designed to prevent the enslaved Africans from uprising again.

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