Slavery

54th Massachusetts Infantry (1863-1865)

The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry was the first Northern black volunteer regiment enlisted to fight in the Civil War. Its accomplished combat record led to the general recruitment of African-Americans as soldiers. They ultimately comprised ten percent of Union Army and Navy. The

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Source: Black Past

Macon B. Allen

Macon B. Allen, first African American admitted to the bar in Massachusetts ; the previous year he was admitted to the bar in Maine making him the first licensed African American attorney in the U.S.A.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

May

2

1845

Massachusetts slaves petitioned the legislature

Massachusetts slaves petitioned the legislature for freedom. There is a record of eight freedom petitions during the Revolutionary War period.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

6

1773

Gerrymandering - Congressional Districts on Census Data

Every decade, following the decennial census, the state legislatures of the United States are told how many representatives their state will send to the United States House of Representatives. Representation in the House is based on state population and there are a total of 435 representatives, so

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Source: ThoughtCo

Apr

1

2011

Elam-Thomas, Harriet (1941 – )

Born on September 15, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts, Harriet Elam attended Simmons College in Boston where she received a B.S. degree in International Business. She also received an M.A. degree in Public Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She speaks fluent

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Source: Black Past

Sep

15

1941

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He was born on July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to Hattie Bell and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr. His parents divorced when he was very young and he moved to Brooklyn, New York with his mother while visiting his father once

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Source: Black History Resources

Jul

30

1961

(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

A Massachusetts statue taxes black slaves as individuals(their masters have to

A Massachusetts statue taxes black slaves as individuals (their masters have to pay).

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1646

Spelman College

Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts womens college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta.[2] Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the fourth historically black female

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Source: BlackHistory.com

Nov

1

2012

In "Re Franck Negro," a Massachusetts court finds a black man not guilty of co

In Re Franck Negro, a Massachusetts court finds a black man not guilty of conspiring to assist someone in escaping from prison; this case marks one of the first times that blacks successfully participate in the legal system.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1669

The Massachusetts Body of Liberties outlaws bondslavery (a term used interchan

The Massachusetts Body of Liberties outlaws bond

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1641

Activist William Trotter born

Wiliam Monroe Trotter, crusader for full equality, publisher of The Boston Guardian, co-founder of the Niagra Movement and close friend of W.E.B. Dubois, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Trotter led a protest against the showing of the racist film Birth of a Nation and was in opposition to Booker

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

17

1872

Attucks, Crispus (1723-1770)

Crispus Attucks, the first martyr of the Boston Massacre in 1770, was probably born near Framingham, Massachusetts, a Christianized and multitribal town of Indians, whites, and blacks, in 1723. Unusually tall for the era at six feet, two inches, Attucks was of mixed ancestry,the son of an African

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Source: Black Past

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

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey; c. February 1818 [4] – February 20, 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in

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Source: AA Studies Research Guide

Feb

20

1895

Metropolitan AME Church, Washington D.C. (1821- )

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) is the oldest continuously operating black church in the District of Columbia. Metropolitan AME is also designated by the AME Church (the black denomination founded in 1787 by Richard Allen) as the National Cathedral of African

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Source: Black Past

Jan

9

1894

(1864) Arnold Bertonneau, “Every Man Should Stand Equal Before the Law”

Reconstruction began in Federally-occupied Louisiana in the midst of the Civil War. In 1863 African American men in New Orleans called for the right to vote in the new loyal government being organized under Union Army protection. However when President Lincoln announced his new reconstruction

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Source: Black Past

Uhuru Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta , in full Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born October 26, 1961, Nairobi, Kenya), Kenyan businessman and politician who held several government posts before being elected president of Kenya in

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Source: Brittanica

Prince Hall and fourteen other Blacks were

Prince Hall and fourteen other Blacks were initiated into British Military Lodge No. 441 of the Masons at Fort Independence, Massachusetts. Hall was a leather-dresser and caterer. On July 3, 1775, African Lodge No.1 was organized in Boston by a group of Black Masons.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

3

1775

David Walker's Appeal

On this day, David Walker of Massachusetts wrote his fiery tract The Appeal. Its eloquence and uncompromising defiance was a source of great inspiration to African people, free and slave, as well as cause for alarm for Southern slave owners and many Northern abolitionists who favored more gradual

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

28

1829

Malcolm X born in Omaha, Nebraska

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louis Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the familys eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Earls civil

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Source: Blackfacts.com

May

19

1925

Prologue: Selected Articles | National Archives

Prologue: Selected Articles

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Source: Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

African Americans in Georgia (U.S. state)

African-American Georgians are residents of the U.S. state of Georgia who are of African American ancestry. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, African Americans were 31.2% of the states population.[1] This page was last edited on 1 December 2016, at 15:48.

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Source: ThoughtCo

(1858) John S. Rock, “I Will Sink or Swim with My Race”

Schoolteacher, dentist, physician, lawyer, graduate of the American Medical College in Philadelphia, member of the Massachusetts bar, proficient in Greek and Latin, Dr. John S. Rock was unequivocally one of the most distinguished African American leaders to emerge in the United States during the

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Source: Black Past

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

Fango, Gobo (1855-1886)

Gobo Fango was born in the Eastern Cape Colony in what is now South Africa around 1855, just before the beginning of the eighth of the nine Xhosa Wars (Cape Frontier Wars) against British and Boer settlers. Fango was a member of the Gcaleka tribe, a sub-group of the Xhosa peoples. These frontier

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Source: Black Past

Abbott, Anderson Ruffin (1837-1913)

Anderson Ruffin Abbott, Canada’s first black doctor, was born April 7, 1837 in Toronto, Ontario. He was the son of free black property owners William Ruffin Abbott and his wife Ellen (Toyer) Abbott who left Alabama after their store had been destroyed. They settled briefly in New York until

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Source: Black Past

Dec

29

1913

Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, dies.

Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, dies. Born into slavery, she ran away form her owners after mistreatment by her masters wife. She petitioned successfully for her freedom, citing her knowledge of the Bill of Rights and the new constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in her argument that all men

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

28

1829

Nell, William C. (1816-1874)

William C. Nell was an African American civic activist, abolitionist, and historian. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Nell was the son of William Guion Nell, a prominent tailor and black activist. William C. Nell was introduced to racial inequality and black activism from birth. In the

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Source: Black Past

First Black Woman to receive an M.D.

2/24/1864: Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in 1833. She worked from 1852-1860 as a nurse in Massachusetts.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

24

1864

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