Did You Know That In...

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

26

1847

Virginia passes a fugitive slave order penalizing those who assistrunaway slav

Virginia passes a fugitive slave order penalizing those who assist runaway slaves.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1642

Fifth and Sixth Colored Cavalry Regiments

Mixed cavalry force, including Fifth and Sixth Colored Cavalry regiments, invaded southwest Virginia and destroyed salt mines at Saltville. Sixth Cavalry was especially brilliant in an engagement near Marion, Virginia.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

10

1864

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

(1948) Henry A. Wallace, “Radio Address”

Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Jr., in 1948 became the Presidential nominee of the Progressive Party. Wallace ran a spirited campaign which unlike almost any before, took on the question of racial discrimination and segregation against African Americans in the South. What follows is his

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Source: Black Past

Sep

13

1948

Arthur W. Mitchell

Born: 12/22/1883 Lafayette, AlabamaDied: 5/9/1968 Petersburg, VirginiaArthur W. Mitchell was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Mitchell was the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat.Mitchell was elected to the House of Representatives in 1934, defeating

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Source: Blackfacts.com

In "Re Sweat", the Virginia court rules that a blackservant woman and Robert S

In Re Sweat, the Virginia court rules that a black servant woman and Robert Sweat be whipped publicly because Sweat impregnated her.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1639

A. Philip Randolph

Asa Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889 in Crescent City, Florida, to a Methodist Minister, James Randolph. In 1891, the Randolph family, strong supporters of equal rights for African Americans, moved to

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Source: Black History Resources

May

16

1979

(1923) James Weldon Johnson, “Our Democracy and the Ballot”

Poet, novelist and U.S. diplomat, James Weldon Johnson is probably best known to millions as the author of the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the black national anthem. Johnson was also a civil rights activist and was Executive Secretary of the National Association of Colored

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Source: Black Past

Mar

10

1923

(1880) P.B.S. Pinchback, “Campaign Speech for GOP Presidential Candidate James G. Garfield."

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, the son of a white Mississippi planter and a former slave, was the first African American to serve as governor of a state when after the governor of Louisiana was impeached, he as Lt. Governor completed the 34 days left in his term (December 9, 1872 to January

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Source: Black Past

(1865) Abraham Lincoln, “Abraham Lincoln’s Last Public Address”

? On April 11, 1865, two days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Abraham Lincoln addressed a jubilant crowd that had gathered outside the White House in Washington, D.C. While the crowd expected an address celebrating the Union

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Source: Black Past

Anderson, Samuel "Sambo" (? -1845)

Samuel “Sambo” Anderson was one of the enslaved people on George Washington’s Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. The early history of Anderson is unclear but what is known is Anderson was from what is now the west African nation of Guinea. Anderson claimed to have been part of a royal

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Source: Black Past

Feb

20

1845

Knights of St. Peter Claver (1909- )

The Knights of Peter Claver organization was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama. It is the largest African American Catholic lay organization in the United States. The organization was founded by the Josephites, a Catholic order whose mission was to serve Catholic African Americans. Josephite

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Source: Black Past

The French And Indian War

Black Troops in the French and Indian War: Even before the Revolutionary War, a pattern had been established in British colonies whereby African Americans were enlisted to defend the colonies when they were attacked, but were excluded from military service in times of peace. When Major General

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

9

2002

Brisby, William H. (1831-1916)

William Henry Brisby was born free in New Kent County, Virginia in 1831 and lived on 32 acres of land that he inherited from his father. He later bought additional land and eventually had a 179 acre farm. Brisby worked mostly as a blacksmith and wheelwright but raised sheep, and engaged in

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Source: Black Past

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed | An Online Reference Guide to African American History by Professor Quintard Taylor, University of Washington

1603 Mathieu Da Costa, a free black explorer, guides the French through parts of Canada and the Lake Champlain region of what is now New York state. 1603

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Source: Black Past

Singer Pearl Bailey born

Singer Pearl Bailey was born in Newport News, Virginia.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

29

1918

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

Lawrence Douglas Wilder assumes title as governor

In Richmond, Virginia former Lt. Governor Lawrence Douglas Wilder took office as the first popularly elected African American governor of an American state.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

14

1990

Aubrey F. Lowe, Financial AnalystSuffolk, VA born

Aubrey F. Lowe, Financial Analyst Suffolk, VA born

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

7

1940

Obama, Barack, Jr. (1961- )

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to occupy the White House. Obama was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Kenyan graduate student studying in the United States and his mother, Stanley Ann

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Source: Black Past

More than one hundred delegates from six states

More than one hundred delegates from six states held a Black convention in Philadelphia. John Mercer Langston, one of the first Blacks to win public office, elected clerk of Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, Ohio. In 1856 he was elected clerk of the township of Russia, near Oberlin. In 1857 he was

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Oct

16

1855

Mississippi Constitutional Convention began

Mississippi Constitutional Convention began systematic exclusion of Blacks from political life of South, August 12-November 1. The Mississippi Plan (Literacy and understanding tests) was later adopted with embellishments by other states: South Carolina (1895), Louisiana (1898), North Carolina

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

12

1890

First Slave revolt in America

The first slave revolt in America actually occurred 93 years

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1526

Blanche Kelso Bruce

Blanche Kelso Bruce, first Black to serve a full term in the United States Senate was born a slave in Prince Edward County, Virginia.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

1

1841

Jamestown, Virginia.

On August 20, 1619, twenty Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, aboard a Dutch ship. They are the first blacks to be forcibly settled as involuntary laborers in the North American British Colonies.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Aug

20

1619

Did You Know That In...

1724 - Virginia offera a tax break to slave holders if they instruct and baptize their slaves.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1724

Miss. Plan disenfranchises Blacks

African-Americans are

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

1

1890

Henderson, George Washington (c. 1850-1936)

Born a slave in Clark County, Virginia, George Washington Henderson graduated from the University of Vermont in 1877 and became the first African American to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), the highest academic honor society. He later received a bachelor’s degree in divinity from Yale

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Source: Black Past

Feb

3

1936

Danville, VA coup and massacre

A political coup and a race riot. On November 3, white conservatives in Danville, Virginia, seized control of the local government, racially integrated and popularly elected, killing four African-Americans in the process.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

3

1883

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