March 30, 1870 – Fifteenth Amendment ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to African Americans.
March 31, 1988 – Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved.
April 1, 1950 – Charles R. Drew, who developed techniques for processing and preserving blood, died.
April 2, 1984 – Georgetown coach John Thompson becomes first black coach to win NCAA basketball tournament.
April 3, 1826 – Poet-orator James Madison Bell, author of the Emancipation Day poem “The Day and the War”, born.
April 4, 1968 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated.
April 5, 1951 – Washington, D.C. Municipal Court of Appeals outlawed segregation in restaurants.
