Anthony Burns, celebrated fugitive slave, arrested

From the Slave Quarters to the Courtroom: The Story of the First African American Attorney in the United States

Since J. Clay Smith’s publication of Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, it has been taken as gospel that Boston resident Macon Allen in 1844 became was the first African-American admitted to the bar to practice law in the United States. Recently, as part of the celebration of the 150th

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Source: Black Past

(1849) Charles Sumner, “Equality Before the Law: Unconstitutionality of Separate Colored Schools in Massachusetts”

In 1848 Benjamin Roberts filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston on behalf of his five year old daughter, Sarah, who was denied admission to schools in her neighborhood and instead assigned to the lone all-black school in the city. Two attorneys, Robert Morris, one of the first black lawyers in

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Source: Black Past

Feb

15

1793

Black and white abolitionists smashed into a

Black and white abolitionists smashed into a courtroom at Syracuse, N.Y., and rescued a fugitive slave. Abolitionist William C. Nell published Services of Colored Americans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812, the first extended work on the history of American Blacks. Revised edition of the book was

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Oct

1

1851

al-Sadat, Muhammad Anwar (1918-1981)

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, third President of post-independence Egypt (governing from 1970 to 1981), was born of peasant background in the Nile Delta village of Mit Abu al-Kum on December 25, 1918. The son an Egyptian army clerk and a Sudanese housewife, Sadat was educated in Cairo, where his family

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Source: Black Past

Jul

23

1952

Patricia Bath

When Patricia Era Bath was born on November 4, 1942, she could have succumbed to the pressures and stresses associated with growing up in Harlem, New York. With the uncertainty present because of World War II and the challenges for members of Black communities in the 1940′s, one might little expect

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

26

2012

St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church, New York City (1809- )

St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church was the first African American Episcopal parish in New York City, New York. It was also one of the largest Christian congregations in the United States at one

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Source: Black Past

Angolan Civil War (1975-2002)

The Angolan Civil War, beginning at the time of the countrys independence from Portugal in 1975, was a 27-year struggle involving the deaths of over 500,000 soldiers and civilians. Initiated at the height of the Cold War, pro- and anti-communist forces in Angola set the stage for a proxy fight

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Source: Black Past

Apr

25

1974

Telling Secrets, Spying Freedom: A Novel Account of Mary Bowser's Civil War Espionage

In the following account historian and novelist Lois Leveen describes how she came to write her critically acclaimed novel, The Secrets of Mary Bowser, the account of a black woman who served as a Union spy in the Confederate White House during the American Civil

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Source: Black Past

Executive Order 8802 (1941)

WHEREAS it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully

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Source: Black Past

Dred Scott

Dred Scott was a slave who lived during the early 19th century and was the first slave who sued his master for freedom in a court of law. He was born into slavery in Virginia and was the property of the Peter Blow family. His birth name was Sam, but he changed it to Dred after his dead brother. The

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Source: Black History Resources

The First Fugitive Slave Case

Capture of George Latimer in Boston led to first of the fugitive slave cases which embittered North and South. Boston abolitionists raised money to purchase Latimer from his slaveholder.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

17

1842

Harriet Tubman | Underground Railroad Heroine

Harriet Tubman was born a slave, managed to escape to freedom in the North, and devoted herself to helping other slaves escape via the Underground

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Source: ThoughtCo

Mar

10

1913

Suez Canal

Suez Canal, Arab. Qanat as Suways, waterway of Egypt extending from Port Said to Port Tawfiq (near Suez) and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez and thence with the Red Sea. The canal is somewhat more than 100 mi (160 km) long. Proceeding S from Port Said, it runs in an almost

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

(1857) Charles Lenox Remond, “An Anti-Slavery Discourse”

By 1857 “Bleeding Kansas’ and the Dred Scott Decision had intensified sectional tensions over slavery and moved the nation closer to civil war. Against that backdrop, Charles Lenox Remond, on July 10, 1857, addressed the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society where he joined a growing chorus of

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Source: Black Past

Jul

10

1857

Slavery and Freedom on a Canadian Shore: Africa's Children in Nova Scotia, 1750-2009

In the account below Nova Scotian historian Sharon Robart-Johnson describes the research and writing that culminated in her book, Africans Children: A History of Blacks in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Her book, the first history of Afro-Canadians in Nova Scotia, focuses on her community of

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Source: Black Past

Dec

27

1800

Hackley, Emma Azalia (1867-1922)

Emma Azalia Smith Hackley was an African American singer and Denver political activist born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1867. Her parents, business owners Henry and Corilla Smith, moved to Detroit where she attended Washington Normal School, graduating in 1886. Smith, a child prodigy learned to

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Source: Black Past

Dec

13

1922

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist who is best known for using non-violent civil disobedience tactics to secure equal rights for African Americans. He was named Michael King Jr. at birth but later changed his name to Martin Luther King Jr. He was born on January

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Source: Black History Resources

Jan

15

1929

Hunter, Alberta (1895-1984)

Alberta Hunter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but left for Chicago, Illinois at age 11 after her father died. She peeled potatoes in a boarding house until she could find a job singing blues, the first opportunity was at a Chicago brothel, as entertainment for the prostitutes and their

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Source: Black Past

Azikiwe, Benjamin Nnamdi "Zik" (1904-1996)

Nnamdi Azikiwe was the first President of Nigeria and wasinstrumental in founding a string of newspapers across

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Source: Black Past

Oct

1

1963

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt Chamberlain (born Wilton Norman Chamberlain) was an American basketball star who played for several NBA teams. Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at Overbrook High School where he played on his school’s team for three years, scoring more than

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

21

1936

The Tuskegee Airmen on BlackPast.org

The film Red Tails which depicts the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, opened on the weekend of January 20-21 in theaters across the nation. BlackPast.org in support of the Seattle, Washington youth violence prevention program of THE SILENT WAR and other organizations which have vowed to use this

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Source: Black Past

Howard University (1867– )

Howard University has been labeled “the capstone of Negro education,” because of its central role in the African American educational experience. Among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) Howard has produced the greatest number of graduates with advanced

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Source: Black Past

Congressman Denny Heck, Olympia, Washington

On November 6th, 2012, the residents of Washington’s new 10th Congressional District elected Denny Heck to be the district’s first member of the United States House of Representatives. Since taking office, Congressman Hecks top priorities have been creating jobs, growing our economy and keeping the

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Source: Black Past

Thomas, Debi (1967- )

Debi Thomas is a figure skater and physician, and the first African American woman to win a medal in the Winter Olympics. Thomas was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1967 and first started skating around the age of five. However she did not get serious and begin taking lessons until she was nine

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Source: Black Past

The Southern Negro Youth Congress: A Participant Recalls Its Past

In the article below historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall recounts her role as a founder of the New Orleans Youth Congress and the early years of the Southern Negro Youth Congress. This account is part of her soon to be published

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Source: Black Past

Nov

15

1974

Ethiopian-Somali War Over the Ogaden Region (1977–1978)

In 1977 Ethiopia and Somalia engaged in a brief territory conflict over the Ogaden region situated between and claimed by both nations. This conflict however held significance greater than most territorial disputes because Ethiopia was backed by the Soviet Union and Somalia was supported by the

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Source: Black Past

Reed, Judy W. (c. 1826- ? )

Little is known about Judy W. Reed, considered to be the first African American woman to receive a United States

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Source: Black Past

Sep

23

1884

Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World (1920)

Preamble

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Source: Black Past

Xavier University [New Orleans] (1915- )

Xavier University is a private, four-year coeducational historically black university located in New Orleans, Louisiana; the campus is located one mile from downtown New Orleans. Xavier University is the only historically black college or university (HBCU) affiliated with the Roman Catholic

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Source: Black Past

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

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