Confederate congress passed resolution which

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Oct

6

1868

Knights of Pythias established. Confederate troops defeated three Black and six white regiments at Battle of Olustee, about fifty miles from Jacksonville, Florida.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

19

1864

Air Force Captain Edward J. Dwight Jr.

Air Force Captain Edward J. Dwight Jr. named to fourth class of aerospace research pilots at Edwards Air Base and became the first Black astronaut candidate. He was dropped from the program in 1965.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

1

1963

U.W. Clemon

U.W. Clemon became the first black state senator to serve in Alabama since reconstruction.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1974

John H. Ricard

John H. Ricard was named in 1996 as the head of the Catholic Relief Services. He was the first black to lead the aid agency.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1996

Second national Black convention met in

Second national Black convention met in Philadelphia. There were fifteen delegates from five states.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jun

6

1831

Baseball team

The first black professional baseball team, the Cuban Giants, was organized in 1895 by a group of New York waiters.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1895

Mass Murder or was it Suicide?

More than nine hundred persons, most of them Black Americans, died in mass murder and suicide pact in Jonestown, Guyana.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

18

1978

USBA Welterweight Title

Thomas Hit Man Hearns wins the vacant USBA Welterweight title. This is one of five weight classes that he has won a boxing title making him the first Black to win boxing titles in five different weight classes.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

2

1980

Casket Lowering Device Invented

A. C. Richardson, a black inventor, invented the casket lowering device, patent#529,311

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

13

1894

Death of Elijah Muhammad

Death of Elijah Muhammad (77), leader of the Nation of Islam, in Chicago. He was succeeded by his son, Wallace D. Muhammad.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

25

1975

African National Congress founded

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

8

1912

Compensation For States

President Lincoln, in message to Congress, recommended the use of federal bonds to provide compensation for states that abolished slavery before 1900.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

1

1862

Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr.

Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. named first Black astronaut. He was killed during a training flight on December 8, 1967.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

8

1967

Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950.

Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas but grew up in Chicago. She is a witty poet who satirizes blacks and whites and attacks racial discrimination. She uses black language and rituals to proclaim black solidarity.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

May

1

1950

Craig Washington wins a special congressional election in Texas' 18 th District

Craig Washington wins a special congressional election in Texas 18 th District to fill the seat vacated by the death of Mickey Leland.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

9

1989

Crystal Bird Fauset becomes the 1st black woman electedto a state legislatur

Crystal Bird Fauset becomes the 1st black woman elected to a state legislature in the U.S. acquiring this distinction by being named to the Pennsylvania House of Represenatives.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

8

1938

John Mercer Langston (1829-97).

In October, 1868, John Mercer Langston founded and organized the Law Department of Howard University, the first in a black school. He headed the department when classes formally began on January 6, 1869, and was its dean from 1870 to 1873. From 1873 to 1875 he was vice-president and acting

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

6

1869

First Black American woman aviator

First Black American woman aviator, Bessie Coleman was born, 1893

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

26

1893

Riot, Mobile, Ala., after a Black mass meeting

Riot, Mobile, Ala., after a Black mass meeting. One Black and one white were killed. Knights of White Camelia, a paramilitary white supremacist organization, founded in Louisiana.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

May

14

1867

First 24-Hour Black Movie Channel

BET Holdings and Encore Media Corp. launch BET Movie/Starz the first 24 hour Black Movie channel.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

1

1997

William King

The first black college basketball official was William dolly King.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

2000

Xavier University, the first Black Catholic college in the US, opens in New Orle

Xavier University, the first Black Catholic college in the US, opens in New Orleans

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

27

1915

Delegates and observers a convention

Two thousand delegates and observers attended Congress of African Peoples convention in Atlanta. (8/3-7).

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

3

1970

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker writes letter to then secretary of state Thomas Jefferson. The letter showed the hypocrisy of slavery. Banneker challenged the idea of freedom for whites as the ascribed it to be the same freedom that should be granted to Africans.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

19

1791

Amanda Berry Smith, born into slavery

Amanda Berry Smith, born into slavery, becomes an independent missionary and travels the U.S. and three other continents.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

23

1837

Anna Julia Cooper passes

Anna Julia Cooper, champion for the rights of black women, dies at the age of 105.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

27

1964

Eighteen students suspended by Southern University

Eighteen students suspended by Southern University. Southern Univerisity students rebelled March 31, boycotted classes and requested withdrawal slips. Rebellion collapsed after death of professor from heart attack.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

31

1960

Eva Jessye

Eva Jessye was the first black woman to win international distinction as the director of a professional choral group, The Eva Jessye Singers.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1999

Mae Jemison: Astronaut, Physician

Born: October 17, 1956

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Oct

17

1956

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