May 20, 1961 – U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy dispatches U.S. Marshals to Montgomery, Ala., to restore order in the “Freedom Rider” disturbance.
May 21, 1833 – African Americans enroll for the first time at Oberlin College, Ohio.
May 22, 1921 – Shuffle Along, a musical featuring a score by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, opens on Broadway.
May 23, 1900 – Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor at Fort Wagner, S.C., 1863.
May 24, 1854 – Lincoln University (Pa.), the first black college, is founded.
May 25, 1926 – Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis born.
May 26, 1961 – Marvin Cook named ambassador to Niger Republic; first Black envoy named by Kennedy Administration to an African nation.
