May 23, 1900 – Sgt. William H. Carney became the first African American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor at Fort Wagner, SC, in 1863.
May 24, 1854 – Lincoln University (PA), the first black college, was founded.
May 25, 1926 – Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis was born.
May 26, 1961 – Marvin Cook was named ambassador to Niger Republic, the first black envoy named by the Kennedy administration to an African nation.
May 27, 1919 – Madame C.J. Walker, cosmetics manufacturer and first black female millionaire, died.
May 28, 1948 – National Party wons whites-only election in South Africa and began to institute policy of apartheid.
May 29, 1901 – Granville T. Woods patented overhead conducting system for the electric railway.
