Black History Archives

November 24, 1868 – Pianist Scott Joplin, the “Father of Ragtime”, born. November 25, 1975 – Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands. November 26, 1970 – Charles Gordone becomes the first Black playwright to receive the Pulitzer Prize (for No Place to Be Somebody). November 27, 1990 – Charles Johnson awarded National Book Award for… [Read More]

November 17, 1980 – WHHM, the first African American operated radio station, goes on the air at Howard University. November 18, 1787 – Abolitionist and women’s right activist Sojourner Truth born. November 19, 1953 – Roy Campanella named Most Valuable Player in National League Baseball for the second time. November 20, 1865 – Howard Seminary… [Read More]

November 3, 1981 – Thirman L. Milner elected mayor of Hartford, CT, becoming first black mayor in New England. November 4, 1879 – Thomas Elkins patents refrigeration apparatus. November 5, 1968 – Shirley Chisolm of Brooklyn, NY, becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress. November 6, 1901 – James Weldon Johnson and J…. [Read More]

October 13, 1579 – Martin de Porres, the first black saint in the Roman Catholic Church, born. October 14, 1964 – At age 35, Martin Luther King, Jr., becomes youngest man ever to win Nobel Peace Prize. October 15, 1991 – Clarence Thomas confirmed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the second… [Read More]

October 6, 1917 – Political activist Fannie Lou Hamer born. October 7, 1934 – Playwright-poet Amiri Baraka (Le- Roi Jones), author of Blues People: Negro Music in White America and The Motion of History, born. October 8, 1941 – Rev. Jesse Jackson born in Greenville, South Carolina. October 9, 1888 – O.B. Clare patents Trestle…. [Read More]

September 29, 1910 – The National Urban League founded in New York City. September 30, 1962 – Under the protection of federal marshals, James Meredith enrolls as the first African American student at University of Mississippi. October 1, 1940 – Charles Drew named supervisor of the “Plasma for Great Britain” project. October 2, 1986 –… [Read More]

September 22, 1862 – Emancipation Proclamation announced. September 23, 1863 – Civil and women’s rights advocate Mary Church Terrell born. September 24, 1957 – Federal troops enforce court-ordered integration as nine children integrate Central High School in Little Rock, AR. September 25, 1974 – Barbara Hancock becomes first African American woman named a White House… [Read More]

September 15, 1963 – Four African American girls killed in Birmingham church bombing. September 16, 1923 – First Catholic seminary for black priests dedicated in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. September 17, 1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes first African American woman named Miss America. September 18, 1895 – Booker T. Washington delivers famous Atlanta Exposition speech…. [Read More]

September 8, 1907 – Negro Leagues baseball star Buck Leonard born. September 9, 1968 – Arthur Ashe Jr. wins the first U.S. Open Tennis Championship. September 10, 1855 – John Mercer Langston elected township clerk of Brownhelm, OH, becoming first black to hold elective office in the U.S. September 11, 1959 – Edward Kennedy “Duke”… [Read More]