Meghan Markle admits it's 'liberating' to speak out in upcoming interview

Tennessee State University (1912- )

Tennessee State University (TSU) is a historically black, comprehensive, four-year co-educational university located on a 500 acre campus in Nashville, Tennessee. With over 10,000 students, including nearly 1,900 graduate students, it is one of the largest historically black colleges and

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Source: Black Past

Somalia

Africas worst drought of the century occurred in 1992, and, coupled with the devastation of civil war, Somalia was plunged into a severe famine that killed 300,000. U.S. troops were sent in to protect the delivery of food in Dec. 1992, and in May 1993 the UN took control of the relief efforts from

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Basie, Count (William Allen “Count” Basie) (1904-1984)

A jazz pianist and bandleader, Count Basie was one of the leading musicians of the Big Band “Swing” era. His Count Basie Orchestra was formed in 1936, and featured singers such as Billie Holliday, and notable musicians including Lester Young, Jo Jones, and Walter Page. The band lasted

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Source: Black Past

Educator Joseph Charles Price was born

Few Individuals have made the impact on their times or left the legacy to their beneficiaries as did Joseph Charles Price, founder and first president of Livingstone

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

10

1854

(1997) The Idea of an African Renaissance, Myth or Reality?

I come to you from a liberated South Africa, a nation that many of you helped to set free. I come from a continent about which more is written but less is understood; so I come with a message that is straight-forward and simple. Like the Apostle Paul on his return from the provinces, I come to

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Source: Black Past

Mar

13

1997

Otis Boykin

Otis F. Boykin was born on August 29, 1920 in Dallas, Texas. After graduating high school, he attended Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated in 1941 and took a job as a laboratory assistant with the Majestic Radio and TV Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. He undertook various tasks but

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Source: Black History Resources

Dash, Julie (1952- )

Filmmaker Julie Dash was born on October 22, 1952 in Queens, New York. She received her B.A. in film production from City College of New York in 1974 and went on to earn a two-year fellowship to the Center for Advanced Film Studies at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles. At AFI, Dash

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Source: Black Past

Oct

22

1952

Sommersett, James (c1741-c1772)

James Sommersett was the subject of a landmark legal case in Great Britain, which was the first major step in imposing limits on Trans-Atlantic African slavery. Sommersett entered the pages of history when in 1771, he fled his North American owner, Charles Stewart, while both were living in

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Source: Black Past

Jun

22

1772

Alice Coachman

Alice Coachman, becomes the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the high jump during the Summer Games in London

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

7

1948

Padmore, George (1901-1959)

A journalist, radical activist, and theoretician, George Padmore did more than perhaps any other single individual to shape the theory and discourse of Pan-African anti-imperialism in the first half of the twentieth

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Source: Black Past

Perkins, John [aka "Jack Punch"] ( -1812)

Captain John Perkins, nicknamed Jack Punch, was the first black commissioned officer in the Royal Navy. His date of birth and origins are unknown but Perkins first appeared in Navy records in 1775 when he joined as a ship’s pilot aboard HMS Antelope, the flagship of the Jamaica station. In 1778 he

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Source: Black Past

Jan

27

1812

Paul Robeson and Japanese Americans, 1942-1949

One hero and friend of Japanese Americans, both individuals and the community generally, was Paul Robeson. Robeson was (after Joe Louis) the most popular and visible African American of the 1930s and 1940s. He was a celebrated stage actor and movie star, an internationally famous folk

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Source: Black Past

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (The Kerner Report), 1967

REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS

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Source: Black Past

Jul

28

1967

Dawson, Horace G. (1926- )

Horace G. Dawson, Jr. was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Botswana by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. After his confirmation by the U.S. Senate he served in that post until 1983. Dawson was born in Augusta, Georgia on January 30, 1926. He attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he earned

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Source: Black Past

Jan

14

2004

Garvey, Marcus

Garvey, Marcus, 1887–1940, American proponent of black nationalism, b. Jamaica. At the age of 14, Garvey went to work as a printers apprentice. After leading (1907) an unsuccessful printers strike in Jamaica, he edited several newspapers in Costa Rica and Panama. During a period in London he took

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Oakwood University [Huntsville] (1896- )

Oakwood College is a private, four-year coeducational historically black liberal arts university located in Huntsville, Alabama; the small urban campus is five minutes from downtown. Sitting on 1,185 acres, Oakwood University is one of the historical landmarks of Huntsville. It is the only

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Source: Black Past

The World's Anti-Slavery Convention

The Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention convenes in London, England.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jun

12

1840

(1976) Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, “Who, Then, Will Speak for the Common Good?”

In 1972 Barbara Charline Jordan became the first black member of Congress elected from Texas. Two years later this freshman Representative became a national figure because of her prominent role as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment hearings of President Richard

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Source: Black Past

Oprah Winfrey

Born: 1/29/1954 Kosciusko, MississippiOprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Folorunsho Alakija

Born: 5/4/1905 Ikorodu, NigeriaFolorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian businesswoman who is the second richest African woman after Isabel Dos Santos and also the third richest woman of African descent in the world. She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries.She is the

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Executive Order 9808

In the aftermath of World War II, mob violence and lynching of Black Americans, in conjunction with the continuing controversy about segregation in American society, led President Harry S. Truman to issue Executive Order 9808 on this day which set up a committee to study the protection of civil

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

5

1946

(1949) Nnamdi Azikiwe Addresses Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at its 35th Annual Convention in Washington, D.C.

Here Nnamdi Azikiwe, future first President of Nigeria, delivers an address to his fellow fraternity members at the Banneker High School Auditorium, Washington, D.C., on December 27, 1949, at the 35th Anniversary of the Phi Beta Sigma

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Source: Black Past

Dec

27

1949

Jonathan A. Rodgers becomes president of CBS's television stations division, the

Jonathan A. Rodgers becomes president of CBSs television stations division, the highest ranking African American in network television. Rodgers had been general manager of WBBM-TV, CBSs Chicago Station

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

3

1990

The First Black Psychic!

Shirley Ajayi was the first African American given a part on a television show as a psychic! The show lasted for about one year[actually six months] in Chicago, Illinois since the show was seasonal! Shirley started her career the minute her predictions came true! She was renamed Aura and hired to

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

28

1986

1st & 2nd session of Third Pan-African Congress

First session of Third Pan-African Congress convened in London. Second session was held in Lisbon.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

17

1923

(1959) Nnamdi Azikiwe Addresses the NAACP Convention on the Organization's 50th Anniversary

Nnamdi Azikiwe, by now the best know nationalist leader in Nigeria, addressed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at its 50th anniversary celebration at the Polo Grounds, New York City, July 19, 1959. His speech appears

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Source: Black Past

Jul

19

1959

Archibald Alphonso Alexander

Born: 5/14/1888 Ottumwa, IowaDied: 1/4/1958 Des Moines, IowaArchie Alphonso Alexander was an African-American mathematician and engineer. He was an early African-American graduate of the University of Iowa and the first to graduate from the University of Iowas College of EngineeringBusiness

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Knight, Gladys (1944– )

Gladys Maria Knight is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28, 1944, to Sarah and Merald Knight Sr. and began singing in church as a child. At age seven, she gained minor fame after winning a performance contest on

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Source: Black Past

May

28

1944

From Slave to Litigant: African Americans in Court in the Post-Civil War South

In the following article Melissa Milewski, a graduate student in history at New York University, describes her research which has uncovered the surprising success of African American litigants in court cases in the post-Civil War

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Source: Black Past

Jan

1

1854

Henry Highland Garnet, first Black to speak in the

Henry Highland Garnet, first Black to speak in the Capitol, delivered memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery at services in the House of Representatives. Henry Highland Garnet was born a slave in New Market, Maryland, in 1815. He escaped in 1824 and made his way to New York where he studied at

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

12

1865

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