Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames is one of the celebrated African American film artists. He is best known for his work in Pulp Fiction, Con Air, Dawn of the Dead, Mission: Impossible film series and Bringing Out the Dead. In 1998, he was awarded Golden Globe for his remarkable performance in a TV miniseries, Don
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by BARBinc
May
12
1959
Ella Fitzgerald Born
Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song, born. In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
25
1918
Fullilove v. Klutznick (1980)
November 27, 1979, Argued
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Source: Black Past
Mos Def
The renowned actor and rapper, Mos Def is widely known for his hip hop songs that depict a social themes and consciousness. Fans also identify his memorable performances in Hollywood flicks such as Guide to the Galaxy, The Italian Job and
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Source: Black History Resources
Dec
11
1973
Satcher, David (1941- )
David Satcher, physician, educator, and administrator, was born in Anniston, Alabama, on March 2, 1941 to Wilmer and Anne Satcher.   In 1963 Satcher graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta.  He earned a M.D. and Ph.D. in cytogenetics from Case Western Reserve University in
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Source: Black Past
Mar
2
1941
Shirley Chisholm
Name at birth: Shirley Anita St. Hill
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz musician who is widely credited as being one of the creators of modern day jazz. He was born on October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to Thelonious and Barbara Monk. He had an older sister named Marion and a younger brother named Thomas. When
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Source: Black History Resources
Oct
10
1917
Three organizations the Committee for Improving
Three organizations the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions of Negroes in New York, the Committee on Urban Conditions and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women merged, under the leadership of Dr. George E. Hayne and Eugene Kinckle Jones, to form the National Urban
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
23
1911
Chica da Silva (1731/5-1796)
Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, better known as Chica da Silva (or spelled Xica da Silva), was a Brazilian woman born into slavery, who went on to gain her freedom and become a powerful and well-known member of Brazilian
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Gibson, Althea (1927-2003)
Althea Gibson, a sharecropper’s daughter, entered the world of sports when segregation severely limited opportunities for African Americans. She eventually became the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis and
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Source: Black Past
Aug
25
1927
Ella Baker
Ella Baker is born in Norfolk, Virginia. A civil rights worker who will direct the New York branch of the NAACP, Baker will become executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s during student integration of lunch counters in the southern states. She also will play
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
13
1903
Ethiopia Invaded by Italy
Ethiopia, one of the only two independent African nations at the time, was invaded on October 3,1935 by Facist Italy under Benito Mussolini. The Italians, seeking revenge for their prior
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Oct
3
1935
Arthur Ashe, the first winner of the U.S.Open
Arthur Ashe became the first winner of the U.S. Open Tennis Championship, defeating Tom Okker of the Netherlands at Forest Hills Stadium, New York.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
9
1968
(1808) Rev. Peter Williams, “An Oration On The Abolition Of The Slave Trade”
On March 2, 1807 Congress enacted a law that banned the external slave trade beginning January 1, 1808. With that act enslaved persons could no longer be brought to the United States. Although the law would be frequently violated until the eve of the Civil War, many black and white anti-slavery
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Prospanica Boston Professional Chapter
J.Raymond Jones
J. Raymond Jones elected leader of New York Democratic organization (Tammany Hall).
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
3
1964
Poet Countee Cullen wins Phi Beta Kappa award.
Poet Countee Cullen wins Phi Beta Kappa honors at New York University.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
28
1925
Remembering Brown: Silence, Loss, Rage, and Hope
In the following article, James A. Banks, the Kerry and Linda Killinger Professor and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle, describes his Arkansas communitys reaction to the U.S. Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education decision when it was
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Source: Black Past
May
17
1954
Lady Bo birthday.
Lady Bo, Bo Diddleys original girl guitar player and the first female guitarist in history to be hired by a major rock & roll musician, is born Peggy Jones in New York, NY, USA.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
14
1940
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
Born: 5/7/1905 Seattle, WashingtonLavizzo-Mourey heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest healthcare foundation in the U.S. She became the CEO in 2003, a position which has her overseeing an estimated 800 grants, a $10 billion endowment and annual disbursements of more than $450
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
City College President
Dr. Bernard Harleston, former dean of arts and sciences at Tufts University, appointed president of New Yorks City College.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
6
1981
Top 10 Most Famous Black Actors of All Time
Hollywood is a giant industry which provides work to hundreds of actors. At the advent of this industry only white actors ruled the silver screen and the blacks were given only minor roles. As the time progressed, blacks were given the voice in the society and eventually allowed white collar
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Source: Black History Resources
Fax, Elton (1909-1993)
Elton Clay Fax, a prolific African-American cartoonist, author, and illustrator, was born on October 9, 1909, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Mark Oakland Fax, a clerk, and Willie Estelle Fax, a seamstress. Elton’s younger brother, Mark, was a music prodigy who worked as a composer later
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Source: Black Past
May
13
1993
Fuller, Margaret
Fuller, Margaret, 1810–50, American writer, lecturer, and public intellectual, b. Cambridgeport (now part of Cambridge), Mass. She was one of the most influential personalities in the American literary circles of her day. A precocious child, she was forced by her father, a Massachusetts
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
National Black convention
National Black convention met in Rochester, New York, with 140 delegates from nine states. James W.C. Pennington of New York was elected president of this meeting which is generally considered the largest and most representative of the early Black conventions.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Jul
6
1853
Dawson, William Levi (1898-1990)
William Levi Dawson was an African Americancomposer, choir director, and professor specializing in black religious folkmusic.  He was born on September 26,1899, in Anniston, Alabama to Eliza Starkey and George Dawson, thefirst of their seven children.  His father, a former slave, was an
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Source: Black Past
May
2
1990
McFerrin, Robert Keith, Sr. (1921–2006)
In 1953 baritone Robert McFerrin Sr. made history as the first African American to win the Metropolitan Opera House’s Auditions of the Air radio contest.  On January 27, 1955, in the role of Ethiopian King Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, McFerrin made history again by becoming the first African American
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Source: Black Past
Norma Merrick Sklarek
Norma Merrick Sklarek was the first black woman to become a licensed architectin the state of New York and California.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Eastern Bank
Jan
0
1966
NAACP Executive Director
Death of Roy Wilkins (80), longtime executive director of the NAACP, in New York.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
8
1981
On this day Andrew J. Beard, and African American inventor was awarded Patent #
On this day Andrew J. Beard, and African American inventor was awarded Patent # 594,059. Despite having no formal education in engineering or metalwork, Beard had invented an automtic railroad car coupling device called the Jenny Coupler. Prior to the Jenny Coupler train cars were joined together
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
23
1897
Nash, Charles Edmund (1844-1913)
Republican Charles Edmund Nash served in the 44th Congress as Louisiana’s only black representative. Nash was born in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, on May 23, 1844. Before his time in Congress Nash attended common schools, was a bricklayer in New Orleans, and had enlisted as a private
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Source: Black Past
May
23
1844

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