One of the nation’s best sprinters, Terrell Robinson chooses HBCU

Ernie Davis is born

Ernie Davis was a star running back at Syracuse University; first black player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961; drafted by the Washington Redskins and traded to Cleveland but died the following year of leukemia before playing a pro game.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

14

1939

Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor was a popular American stand-up comedian and one of the most influential entertainers of his time. He was born on December 1, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. He had a troubled childhood; his mother worked as a prostitute and his father was a bartender, boxer and World War veteran. His

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

1

1940

Venus Williams

Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American tennis star with 22 Grand Slam titles (7 Singles, 13 Doubles, 2 Mixed Doubles) and 4 Olympic Gold Medals and is known as one of the best players of her generation. She is the elder sister of Serena Williams who holds 33 Grand Slam titles to her

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Source: Black History Resources

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte was shown with actress Janet Leigh and film star Tony Curtis on the cover of Ebony magazine. It was the first time a black person and two Caucasians were seen together on a U.S. magazine cover.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

3

1953

Ashley, Maurice (1966- )

Maurice Ashley, the first African American chess grandmaster, was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica on March 6, 1966. At age 12, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Ashley began to develop an interest in chess. Although he spent several hours a day playing and studying the game, he did not play

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Source: Black Past

Mar

6

1966

O’Ree, Willie (1935- )

Willie O’Ree, the National Hockey League’s (NHL) first black player, is an African-Canadian, born on October 15, 1935, in Fredricton, New Brunswick. He began skating at an early age and quickly developed into one of the best players in eastern Canada. O’Ree joined the Quebec Frontenacs, a junior

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Source: Black Past

Jan

18

1958

Whitney Houston, singer born

Whitney Houston

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

9

1963

Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt was a singer and actress who recorded the hit holiday song “Santa Baby”. She was born on January 17, 1927 in South Carolina to an African American mother and a white father. She was raised by Anna Mae Riley, as her biological mother had abandoned her. It wasn’t until later

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

17

1927

Huey P. Newton

Huey Percy Newton was an African American leader and co-founder of the Black Panther Party. He was the youngest of seven children born to Armelia Johnson and Walter Newton on February 17, 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana and named after the former Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long. His family was not very

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

22

1989

Mason, Bridget "Biddy" (1818 - 1891)

Bridget “Biddy” Mason, born a slave in Mississippi in 1818, achieved financial success that enabled her to support her extended family for generations despite the fact that she was illiterate. In a landmark case she sued her master for their freedom, saved her earnings, invested in real

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Source: Black Past

Jan

19

1856

Herndon, Wanda J. (1952- )

In 1978, Wanda J. Herndon launched her successful career in corporate America when she became the first African American exempt professional and external hire in the Communicator Development Program of The Dow Chemical Company. Later, she made significant contributions at other major

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Source: Black Past

Jul

31

1952

Ailey, Alvin (1931-1989)

Alvin Ailey was born in Rodgers, Texas during the Great Depression. He overcame racism, poverty, and homophobia to become one of the most celebrated choreographers in American history. His single teenage mother Lula Ailey washed clothes, picked cotton, and worked in domestic service in various

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Source: Black Past

Flip Wilson Honored

Comedian and television star Flip Wilson received the International Broadcasting Man of the Year Award. Flip Wilson was the first Afro-American to be a television superstar.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

11

1959

Child, Julia

Child, Julia, 1912–2004, American cooking teacher, author, and television personality, b. Pasadena, Calif., as Julia Carolyn McWilliams. In the early 1940s both she and her husband-to-be, Paul Child, served in the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C., Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Townsend, Willard S. (1895-1957)

African American labor leader Willard S. Townsend was born on December 4, 1895, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Willard and Cora Elizabeth Townsend. In 1938 he organized railway workers of several Chicago, Illinois stations to form the International Brotherhood of Redcaps and remained the union’s president

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Source: Black Past

Feb

3

1957

Walker, Darren (1959– )

Philanthropist Darren Walker is the tenth president of the seventy-seven-year-old Ford Foundation, the second largest philanthropy in the world. Walker was born August 28, 1959, at a charity hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana, to a single mother and was raised in East Texas. He received two degrees

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Source: Black Past

Aug

28

1959

Sonny Liston

Sonny Liston was a notable twentieth century African-American boxer. He was known for his punching power and intimidating appearance in the boxing ring. Liston earned the World Heavyweight Championship in 1962 when he knocked out his opponent Floyd

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Source: Black History Resources

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

SWEATT v. PAINTER, 339 U.S. 629

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Source: Black Past

Baca, Susana (1944- )

Susana Baca, recording artist and the first Afro-Peruvian to sit as a Cabinet Minister, was born in 1944 in Chorrillos, a seaside district of Lima, Peru, to a working class family. Her father was a chauffeur and her mother worked as cook and laundress for upper class families. Baca began singing at

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Source: Black Past

Black students are banned from a Little Rock high school, by Arkansas governor O

Black students are banned from a Little Rock high school, by Arkansas governor Oval Faubus who calls out the National Guard, 1957

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

4

1957

Coachman, Alice Marie (1923-2014)

Alice Coachman became the first African American woman from any country to win an Olympic Gold Medal when she competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, UK. Born November 9, 1923, in Albany, Georgia, to Evelyn and Fred Coachman, Alice was the fifth of ten children. As an athletic child of the

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Source: Black Past

Lionel Hampton

Best Known

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Chris Rock Born

Comedian, author, recording artist, actor, and talk show host Chris Rock was born in South Carolina. He will become a critically comedian, hosting his self titled show on HBO. He will also bring to the forefront a boycott of the flag of his birthplace. He will star in and make a few movies of his

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

7

1967

(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

Saint Augustine

St. Augustine, (Aurelius Augustinus, A.B. 354-430 bishop of Hippo,(now Souk-Ahras in modern Algeria),wrote the City of God, setting forth the Christian view of the world and humanity, in A.D. 410.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

410

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is a 1985 graduate of Princeton University. Her brother, Craig Robinson, class of 1983, was a basketball star there and has been head coach at Brown University and Oregon State University… Although she’s younger than Barack Obama, Michelle graduated from Harvard Law School first, in

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Gratz et al v. Bollinger et al (2003)

No. 02-516. Argued April 1, 2003--Decided June 23, 2003

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Source: Black Past

Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton is a religious leader and political activist. He was born on October 3, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. His father left the family and Sharpton was raised by his mother. They had to move to the public housing projects, where his mother worked as a maid and supported the family on her

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Source: Black History Resources

Oct

3

1954

Segregation Movements

Tennessee started modern segregation movement with Jim Crow railroad car and was followed by Florida (1887), Mississippi (1888), Texas (1889), Louisiana (1890), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia (1891), South Carolina (1898), North Carolina (1899), Virginia (1900), Maryland (1904), Oklahoma

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

24

1881

Ernie Davis dies

Ernie Davis, star running back at Syracuse University; first black player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961. Died on May 18, 1962 of leukemia before playing a pro game.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

May

18

1962

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