Samuel Ringgold Ward, minister, abolitionist,

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Nov

20

1938

Saint Paul’s College of Virginia (1888-- )

Saint Paul’s College of Virginia is a private college located in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The college was founded on September 24, 1888, by James Solomon Russell, a newly-ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He became the first principal of the institution, which in 1890 was

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Source: Black Past

Sep

24

1888

Reggie White

Reggie White was a famous African American sportsman. He was known for his professional football career and remarkable performance in 15 seasons of the National Football League. He represented University of Tennessee while playing college football. He was declared NFL Defensive Player of the Year

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

26

2004

Tyson, Mike

Tyson, Mike (Michael Gerald Tyson), 1966–, American boxer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. At the age of 12, Tyson was sent to reform school, where he began to box. In a whirlwind career begun in 1985 when he turned pro, his spare, brutal style (36 knockouts in his first 41 wins) rescued him from the ghetto and

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the nation, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1794 by Richard Allen, a former slave. Allen founded Mother Bethel AME after the church he had been attending, St. George’s Methodist

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Source: Black Past

Jul

29

1794

Black History Month Special Feature, 2012 - Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project

Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project

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Source: Black Past

(1865) Henry Highland Garnet, “Let The Monster Perish”

On February 12, 1865, Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave and now pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., became the first African American to speak in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. His sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 12, 1865 within days

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Source: Black Past

Feb

12

1865

Thurgood Marshall

Born: 7/2/908 Baltimore, MarylandDied: /24/993 Bethesda, MarylandThurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 967 until October 99. Marshall was the Courts 96th justice and its first African-American justice.Business

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Death of mathematician Benjamin Banneker (74), in

Death of mathematician Benjamin Banneker (74), in Ellicotts Mills, Maryland.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Oct

9

1806

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a slave. His grandfather had been a member of a royal family in Africa and was wise in agricultural endeavors.His father, Robert, was an African slave who purchased his freedom and his mother, Mary, was the daughter

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Source: Black History Resources

America’s Black Ambassadors: A Historical Snapshot

America’s Black Ambassadors: A HistoricalSnapshot

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Source: Black Past

Oct

29

1845

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Following the Union Army victory at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation. This document gave the states of the Confederacy until January 1, 1863 to lay down their arms and peaceably reenter the Union; if these states

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Source: Black Past

Mfume, Kweisi (Frizzel Gray) (1948 - )

Kweisi Mfume was born as Frizzel Gray in Baltimore, Maryland on October 24, 1948, the eldest of four children. Gray experienced a troubled childhood with the abandonment of his father and death of his mother as well as economic instability, but made a successful return to his academic studies in

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Source: Black Past

Feb

15

1996

(1993) Clarence Thomas, “The New Intolerance - Law Day Address”

Thank you all so much. Thank you, Judge Bell for your kind words, and I also thank you for all the kind things youve done for me in my life, especially over the last three or four years. I -- This is a real pleasure to be here. I didnt thing so many people would be interested in what I had to

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Source: Black Past

Saint Peter Claver Church, San Antonio, Texas (1888- )

Saint Peter Claver (Mission) Church was the first AfricanAmerican Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas. The church was built by Irish-born Margaret Mary Healy Murphy, the widowof John Bernard Murphy, who was the mayor of Corpus Christi from 1889 to1884. Margaret Mary Healy Murphy movedfrom Corpus

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Source: Black Past

Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe was a twentieth century famous African American tennis player. He is considered the world’s number one tennis player after he won three Grand Slam titles. He was the first black man to be selected for the United States Davis Cup team and won the singles title at

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Source: Black History Resources

Jul

10

1943

Leslie M. Alexander (1948- )

Ambassador Leslie M. Alexander was a Career Foreign Service Officer. He was appointed by President William J. Clinton to serve as U.S. Ambassador to three nations: Mauritius and the Comoros where he served from 1993 to 1996, Ecuador where he served from 1996 to 1999, and Haiti where he served from

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Source: Black Past

Nov

9

1948

Charles Mitchell, Slavery, and Washington Territory in 1860

Few people connect Washington Territory with slavery. However one incident in 1860 was a reminder that the peculiar institution reached the pre-Civil War Pacific Northwest. In the account below, historian Lorraine McConaghy describes the saga of Charles Mitchell whose attempted escape from

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Source: Black Past

Sep

24

1860

Hicks, Irvin (1938- )

Irvin Hicks was a career Foreign Service Officer who rose from a communications clerk position to serve three times as a U.S. ambassador. Hicks served in the Department of State during the nascent years of African Independence from European colonial rule. Hicks was appointed Ambassador

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Source: Black Past

Jul

11

1985

Henrietta Lacks and the Debate Over the Ethics of Bio-Medical Research

In the article below Clarence Spigner, DrPH., Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, briefly describes the saga of Henrietta Lacks whose cells have been used without her family’s permission for over sixty years of bio-medical

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Source: Black Past

Oct

4

1951

Jessye, Eva (1895-1992)

Eva Jessye was a pioneer in the world of African American music and is recognized as the first black woman to receive international distinction as a choral director. She was born in Coffeyville, Kansas on January 20, 1895 to Albert and Julia Jessye, but was raised by various relatives after her

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Source: Black Past

Oct

1

1978

Bluford, Guion Stewart, Jr. ["Guy"] (1942- )

Guy Bluford, a member of the SDS-8 space shuttle Challenger crew in 1983, was the first African American in space. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bluford was interested in math and science and knew he wanted to work in aerospace engineering before graduating high school. His high school

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Source: Black Past

Aug

30

1983

Missouri Ex Rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938)

November 9, 1938, Argued

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Source: Black Past

Douglass, Frederick (1817-1895)

Frederick Douglass was born into Maryland slavery in 1817 to a slave mother and a slave master father. Young Douglass toiled on a rural plantation and later in Baltimore’s shipyards as a caulker. Douglass, however, learned to read and soon sought out abolitionist literature that alleviated what he

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Source: Black Past

Jul

5

1852

Faith Congregational Church [Hartford] (1819- )

The Faith Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut began in 1819 as a place for African Americans to worship on their own since they were previously only able to worship in the backs of churches and in church galleries in that city. A group of African Americans began worshipping in the

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Source: Black Past

Gittens, Charles LeRoy (1928–2011)

Charles L. Gittens was an American Secret Service agent. He joined the Secret Service in 1956, becoming the agencys first African American agent. An Army veteran, Gittens began his career at the agencys office in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, he was soon posted to its New York field

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Source: Black Past

Aug

10

2011

Norton, Eleanor Holmes (1937- )

Eleanor Holmes Norton was born on June 13, 1937 in Washington, D.C. to parents Coleman and Vela Holmes. Both her parents were government employees. Growing up in a well educated and politically conscious household caused Eleanor Holmes to be very aware of the surrounding struggles for African

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Source: Black Past

Jun

13

1937

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

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, was a child of the slave quarters on the Bro

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, was a child of the slave quarters on the Broadas Plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland) was born sometime around 1820.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1820

Caver, Vivian Leona (1928 - )

Vivian Leona Caver is a civil rights activist in Seattle, Washington. She directed the Seattle Human Rights Commission between 1975 and 1981, and served briefly in the Washington State Legislature in 1994. Caver was born Vivian Leona Mead in 1928, in Jackson, Tennessee. Her mother Christine was

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Source: Black Past

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