WNBA Champion Maya Moore Marries Jonathan Irons, Man She Helped Gain Freedom After He Was Wrongfully Convicted

Revels, Hiram Rhoades (1827?–1901)

Hiram Rhoades Revels was the first African American United States Senator, filling the seat left vacant by Jefferson Davis in 1861 when Mississippi seceded from the

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Source: Black Past

(1875) Congressman James T. Rapier, “Half Free, Half Slave”

On February 4, 1875, Congressman James T. Rapier of Alabama, rose on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to support the Civil Right bill then before Congress which when enacted later that year became the Civil Rights Act of 1875. His speech appears

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Source: Black Past

Feb

4

1875

Prologue: Selected Articles | National Archives

Prologue: Selected Articles

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Source: Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

Bassett, Ebenezer D. (1833-1908)

Ebenezer D. Bassett was appointed U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti in 1869, making him the first African American diplomat. For eight years, the educator, abolitionist, and black rights activist oversaw bilateral relations through bloody civil warfare and coups détat on the island of

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Source: Black Past

Oct

16

1833

Malcolm X

Malcolm X, 1925–65, militant black leader in the United States, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, b. Malcolm Little in Omaha, Neb. A petty criminal in Boston and Harlem, he was convicted of burglary (1946) and sent to prison, where he read widely and was introduced to the Black Muslims

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Charles Edward Anderson--Meteorologist

Born: August 13, 1919

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

13

1919

A Marxist Scholar Analyzes the American Legal System

In the following article Professor Malik Simba, an historian at California State University, Fresno describes his professional and personal odyssey that led to the writing of his book, Black Marxism and American Constitutionalism: From the Colonial Background through the Ascendancy of Barack

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Source: Black Past

First Kansas Colored Volunteers repulsed and drove

First Kansas Colored Volunteers repulsed and drove off superior force of rebels at Island Mound, Missouri. This was the first engagement for Black troops.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Oct

28

1862

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is a renowned personality, currently serving as a Conservative Associate Justice in the American Supreme Court. Born in Pin Point, Georgia on June 23, 1948, Thomas served as a law-abiding judicial nominee under the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. What

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Source: Black History Resources

Josephine Baker dies

Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, she later took the name Baker from her stepfather. Surviving the 1917 riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, where the family was living, she ran away a few years alter at age thirteen and began dancing in vaudeville and on Broadway. In 1925, she

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

12

1975

Cleaver, Emanuel (1944- )

Reverend Emanuel Cleaver II, born in Waxahachie, Texas in 1944, is best known as the first African American mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. Cleaver, who grew up in a public housing project in Wichita Falls, Texas, graduated from Prairie View A & M University in Texas with a B.S. in Sociology

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Source: Black Past

(1884) William H. Crogman, “Negro Education: Its Helps and Hindrances”

? William Henry Crogman, a native of the West Indian island of St. Martin, was educated at Pierce Academy in Massachusetts immediately after the Civil War. In 1868 he was named to the English faculty of newly organized Claflin College in South Carolina. By 1870 Crogman returned to college, ente

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Source: Black Past

Jul

16

1884

Slavery Abolishment

Vermont became the first American colony to abolish slavery. By 1783 slavery was prohibited in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Pennsylvania passed a gradual emancipation law in 1780. Connecticut and Rhode Island barred slavery in 1784 and were followed by New York (gradual emancipation) and New

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

2

1777

Roy Wilkins

Born: 8/30/1901 St. Louis, MissouriDied: 9/8/1981 New York City, New YorkRoy Wilkins was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.Business

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Tucker, Walter R., III (1957- )

Walter Rayford Tucker III is best known for his brief periodas a Southern California Congressman. Tucker was born in Compton,California on May 28, 1957 to awell established political family. Hisfather, Walter Tucker II, worked as a dentist and then entered politics in Compton in 1967 when hewas

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Source: Black Past

Williams v. Mississippi (1898)

? Submitted March 18, 1898. Decided April 25, 1898. At June term 1896 of the Circuit Court of Washington County, Mississippi, the plaintiff in error was indicted by a grand jury composed entirely of white men for the crime of murder. On the 15th day of June he made a motion to quash the indic

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Source: Black Past

Akon

Akon is an American Hip Hop artist who has produced several platinum albums, appeared in television and film roles, received several Grammy nominations and owns two record labels. He was born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam in St. Louis, Missouri on April

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

16

1973

Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)

Blanche Kelso Bruce was born a slave in 1841 in Prince Edward County, Virginia but was raised in Missouri. Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, Bruce fled to Kansas, becoming a free man before Lincoln’s Emancipation

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Source: Black Past

Highland Beach, Maryland (1893- )

Highland Beach, Maryland, the oldest of the major black resort towns, was founded along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in 1893 by Charles and Laura Douglass. Charles Douglass was the son of prominent abolitionist and 19th century civil rights activist Frederick Douglass. Major Charles

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Source: Black Past

The 1928 Bunion Derby: America’s Brush with Integrated Sports

In the following account sports historian Charles Kastner describes the Bunion Derby, the 1928 cross country footrace that captured the nation’s attention in the spring of 1928 and the remarkable group of black runners who participated in that event. For a detailed discussion of the race, see

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Source: Black Past

May

26

1928

Seattle Civic Unity Committee

The Seattle Civic Unity Committee was formed by Seattle Mayor William F. Devin in 1944 in response to rising racial tension in the city. During World War II Seattle, like other west coast cities, received an influx of African Americans raising its black population from 3,789 in 1940 to over 10,000

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Source: Black Past

Born on this day: Robin Givens

Model/actress Robin Givens first gained national prominence as a regular on the TV series Head of the Class. From 1986 through 1991, Robin played Darlene Merriman, a prep-school type attending a high school honors program. She was married to boxing champ Mike Tyson; the marriage ended in divorce.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

27

1964

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Dred Scott v. Sandford, United States Supreme Court, 1857

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Source: Black Past

Connecticut legally recognizes the legal institutionof slavery.

Connecticut legally recognizes the legal institution of slavery.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1650

Douglas, H. Ford (1831-1865)

Captain H. Ford Douglas was born in Virginia in 1831 to a white man named William Douglas, and an enslaved mother named Mary. He escaped from slavery sometime after his fifteenth birthday, and moved to

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Source: Black Past

Jul

26

1862

Silver Bluff Baptist Church [South Carolina] (1773- )

The first black Baptist congregation in South Carolina was formed in 1773 on the Galphin Plantation near Silver Bluff, 14 miles northwest of Savannah, Georgia. The church was founded jointly by Rev. Wait Palmer, a white Connecticut minister, and African American pastor, George Liele. The first

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Source: Black Past

Lisa Leslie, basketball star born

Lisa Leslie

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

7

1972

Smith, Barbara (1946- )

Beginning in the 1970s, Barbara Smith broke new ground as a black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, and book publisher of women of color. She and her twin sister, Beverly Smith, were born on December 16, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio. Their mother, Hilda Smith, maternal grandmother, and a great aunt

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Source: Black Past

Dec

16

1946

Count Basie

William James Basie was one of the most notable jazz musicians of the 20th century. He was born on August 21, 1904 to Harvey Lee and Lillian Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey. Both his parents were musicians, which influenced Basie from an early age. His father played the mellophone, and his mother

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

21

1904

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who later became a Civil Rights activist. Her birth name was Freda Josephine McDonald and she was born on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother used to be a dancer as well, but she gave up her aspirations in order to raise her children. Her father

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Source: Black History Resources

Jun

3

1906

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