Adam Wade hosts the Nationally televised game show Musical Chairs. He is the fi
Adam Wade hosts the Nationally televised game show Musical Chairs. He is the first African American game show host.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
16
1975
First Free School
First free school in New York City, the African Free School opened.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
1
1787
Jefferson F. Long born
Jefferson F. Long, a merchant and tailor, was born in Knoxville, Georgia. He became the first African American from Georgia elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving two months and 9 days.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
3
1836
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
Sponsored by Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA) Boston Professional Chapter
Jan
6
1869
Lee Elder becomes the first African American professional golfer to qualify for
Lee Elder becomes the first African American professional golfer to qualify for the Masters Tournament.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Apr
21
1974
Scott Joplin, the King of Ragtime, was born on this day in 1868 in Texarkana, Te
Scott Joplin, the King of Ragtime, was born on this day in 1868 in Texarkana, Texas. A skilled pianist and composer, Joplin started a 20-year ragtime craze with the release of his composition Maple Leaf Rag in 1897, during the Gay Nineties. Ragtime-scored piano music-at the time was considered
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
1
1917
Founder of Pro-Line
Comer Cottrell, founder and president of Pro-Line Corporation (1970), the largest African American owned business in the Southwest and the first African American to be part owner of a major league baseball team (1989), the Texas Rangers, born
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
7
1931
Norma Merrick Sklarek, the first licensed woman
Norma Merrick Sklarek, the first licensed woman architect in the U.S. and the first African American woman to become a fellow in the American Institute of Architects, born.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Boston Professional Chapter
Apr
15
1928
Eleanor Holmes
Eleanor Holmes (later Eleanor Norton) is born in Washington, DC. A graduate of the Yale University School of Law, Norton will become chairperson of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and a Georgetown University law professor before being elected a non-voting delegate to Congress
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
13
1937
Arthur Ashe
22 year old Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to make the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
14
1963
Oscar DePriest elected to Seventy-first Congress
Oscar DePriest elected to Seventy-first Congress from Illinois First Congressional District (Chicago). He was the first congressman from the North and the first Black in Congress since the departure of George H. White in 1901.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
6
1928
World renowed opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her debut in New York City, 1
World renowed opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her debut in New York City, 1958
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Nov
4
1958
1st Black Interstate organization
Boston Masons, led by Prince Hall, established first Black interstate organization, creating lodges in Philadelphia and Providence, Rhode Island.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
30
1797
Betty Shabazz dies at 61, in NeW York City 3 weeks aftwerreceiving burns ovet
Betty Shabazz dies at 61, in NeW York City 3 weeks aftwer receiving burns ovet 80% of her body.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
23
1997
W.E.B. Du Bois died
W.E.B. Du Bois (95), scholar, protest leader and a founder of the NAACP, died in
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Aug
27
1963
Naval Frigate named after African American
The Navy frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was commissioned. The ship was named for Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator killed in combat over Korea.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Feb
17
1973
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Ashe makes history by becoming the first African American male to win the mens single title at Wimbledon, defeating Jimmy Connors.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
5
1975
First African American Intercollegiate football
Livingstone and Biddle College (now Johnson C. Smith) play the first African American intercollegiate football game
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
27
1892
U.S. Navy 1st Black Officer
In 1942, the U.S. Navy commissions its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Jun
18
1999
Debbye Turner is crowned Miss America. She is the third African American to win
Debbye Turner is crowned Miss America. She is the third African American to win the crown since the inception of the pageant in 1921.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
16
1989
Civil Rights
April 4, 1967. Speaking before the Overseas Press Club in New York City, Revered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, announced his opposition to the Vietnam War.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
4
1967
Absalom Jones and his followers dedicated African
Absalom Jones and his followers dedicated African Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia. On August 12, 1794, the St. Thomas parishioners affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Aug
12
1794
Anti-lynching Bill Proposed
African American Congressman George H. White,R-North Carolina, introduced a bill to make lynching of Americans a federal offense. The bill died in committee. In 1900, 105 African Americans were lynched in the United States.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Greater Boston Veterans Collaborative
Jan
20
1900
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson appears on the cover of Life magazine; first time an African American is featured on the cover in the magazines 13 year history
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
10
1950
Abolitionist Society Organized
First abolitionist society in United States organized in Philadelphia.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Apr
14
1775
New York Manumission Society opens a school forblacks in New York City, the Af
New York Manumission Society opens a school for blacks in New York City, the African Free School (schools are eventually transferred to city authorities).
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Jan
0
1787
Guion S. Bluford, Jr---Astronaut (birthday)
Guion S. Bluford, Jr., Ph.D. (Colonel, U.S. Air Force - Retired): First African-American in Space
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
22
1942
First Black minister to serve for a White congregation, Lemuel Haynes was born,
First Black minister to serve for a White congregation, Lemuel Haynes was born, 1753
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
18
1753
Quakers organize the Society for the Free Instruction ofOrderly Blacks and Peo
Quakers organize the Society for the Free Instruction of Orderly Blacks and People of Color, Philadelphia PA.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1789
William Levi Dawson
William Levi Dawson is born, first African American representative to chair a committee in Congress.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Christo Rey New York High School
Apr
26
1883

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