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Charles "Chuck" Cooper
Charles Chuck Cooper first African American ever drafted by an NBA team; picked by the Boston Celtics
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
25
1950
Redd Foxx
John Elroy Sanford, commonly known as Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, most active in the 1950s and 1960s. Born on December 9, 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri, Foxx has had a major impact on the current trajectories in stand-up comedy. Known most notably for his unconventionally explicit
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Source: Black History Resources
Bertram M. Lee and Peter C.B. Bynoe sign an agreement to purchase the National B
Bertram M. Lee and Peter C.B. Bynoe sign an agreement to purchase the National Basketball Associations Denver Nuggets for $54 million. They become the first African American owners of a professional basketball team.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
21
1989
Willie Mays, born
Baseball great Willie Howard Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama. Mays played with both the New York and San Francisco Giants. He was National League batting champion four times and twice the leagues Most Valuable Player.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Pride Academy
May
6
1931
The Harlem Renaissance in the American West
In the following article historians Bruce Glasrud and Cary Wintz discuss their new book, The Harlem Renaissance in the American West which argues that the literary and artistic outpouring by African Americans during the third decade of the 20th Century was a national phenomenon which included the
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Source: Black Past
Battle, Kathleen (1948- )
American soprano Kathleen Battle was born on August 13, 1948 in Portsmouth, Ohio. Battle’s father was a steelworker and her mother was an active participant in the gospel choir at the family’s local African Methodist Episcopal Church. Battle attended Portsmouth High School and upon graduation was
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Source: Black Past
Aug
13
1948
Agrippa Hull: Revolutionary Patriot
In the following article, University of California at Los Angeles historian Gary B. Nash describes little-known Revolutionary War soldier who was attached by General George Washington to serve with Polish military engineer Tadeuz Kosciuszko. This account is part of a larger history of three
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies
May
21
1848
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus was a 20th century jazz musician whose reputation as a great bassist is matched by his influence as a great composer of what has been called orchestral jazz. He was musically trained in public schools and Christian churches in Los Angeles, where he went from trombone to cello to
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Two surviving Soledad Brothers
Two surviving Soledad Brothers, Fleeta Dumgo and John Cluchette, acquitted by an all-white jury of charges that they killed a white guard at Soledad Prison in 1970. Third Soledad Brother, George Jackson, was killed in August, 1971, in alleged escape attempt.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
28
1972
Wilkens, Lenny (1937- )
Leonard Randolph Wilkens was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 28, 1937, son of an African American father and white mother. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section, one of the toughest sections in the city, where he endured many hardships, including the loss of his father at a young
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Source: Black Past
Queen Latifah
The word Latifah means “very kind” or “delicate” in Arabic. Queen Latifah is a New-Jersey born African-American whose real name is Dana Elaine Owens. Born on March 18, 1970, she witnessed her parents’ divorce at the tender age of ten and when she was twenty-two her elder
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Mar
18
1970
Jackie Robinson
Born: 1/31/1919 Cairo, GeorgiaDied: 10/24/1972 Stamford, ConnecticutJackie Robinson was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman who became the first African American to play in the major leagues in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
15
1947
Jackie Roosevelt Robinson's professional debut
Jackie Roosevelt Robinson made his professional debut as a member of the Montreal Royals in the
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
17
1946
(1896) Hugh M. Browne, “The Higher Education of the Colored People of the South”
Hugh M. Browne, educator, Presbyterian minister, and college professor in Liberia, positioned himself between the advocates of industrial and higher education for African Americans.  In the speech below he describes his educational philosophy and the forces and experiences that shaped
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Source: Black Past
Basketball star Moses "The Mailman" Malone born
National Basketball Association star, Moses The Mailman Malone is born in Petersburg, Virginia.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Prospanica Boston Professional Chapter
Mar
23
1954
Mel Franklin dies
Bass Singer Melvin Franklin of The Temptations died of complications following a brain seizure in Los Angeles. He was 53.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Boston Professional Chapter
Feb
23
1995
Belizean Kriols
By the 1500s, black slaves had been distributed through much of the Caribbean. Slavery, however, began much later in Central America. By 1724 the British were transporting slaves from Jamaica to Belize to cut logwood, particularly Mahogany. These slaves became known as
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Source: Black Past
Rev
Rev. Thomas Kilgore, a Los Angeles pastor, was elected president of the predominantly white American Baptist Convention.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
17
1969
Thomas Bradley
Thomas Bradley was born on this day in Calvert, Texas and went on to become mayor of Los Angeles by winning 56% of the vote.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Dec
29
1917
Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston was a notable twentieth century African-American boxer. He was known for his punching power and intimidating appearance in the boxing ring. Liston earned the World Heavyweight Championship in 1962 when he knocked out his opponent Floyd
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Source: Black History Resources
Gale Sayers
Gale Sayers was born on May 30, 1943, in Kansas to a family whose only bread winner was an auto mechanic. In 1951, Sayers and his family moved to Omaha where he grew up to an athletic child and showed natural ability in a number of sports, especially American
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Source: Black History Resources
May
30
1943
Death of artist Charles White (61), in Los Angeles
Death of artist Charles White (61), in Los Angeles.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
3
1979
Michael Jordan retires
Michael Jordan announce his retirement from the NBA and the most illustrious career of any professional sports figure to date.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
13
1999
Six-day insurrection started in L.A.
Six-day insurrection started in Watts section of Los Angeles. National Guard was mobilized on August 13, Rebellion toll: 34 killed, 1,032 injured, 3,952 arrested, $35 million in property damage.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Aug
11
1965
Warren Moon
Warren Moon is a retired football player, who played for the Canadian and American football leagues. He was born in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 1956 and was the only brother of 6 sisters. His father was a laborer who died of liver disease when Warren was a young child and his mother was
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Nov
18
1956
Smalls, Robert (1839-1915)
Robert Smalls was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 5, 1839 and worked as a house slave until the age of 12. At that point his owner, John K. McKee, sent him to Charleston to work as a waiter, ship rigger, and sailor, with all earnings going to McKee. This arrangement continued until
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Source: Black Past
May
13
1862
Dash, Julie (1952- )
Filmmaker Julie Dash was born on October 22, 1952 in Queens, New York. She received her B.A. in film production from City College of New York in 1974 and went on to earn a two-year fellowship to the Center for Advanced Film Studies at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles.  At AFI, Dash
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Source: Black Past
Oct
22
1952
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The leading scorer in the history of NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won 6 of the most prestigious NBA titles, five of which were with the Los Angeles Lakers over a period of 20 years. His list of achievements is one of the most extraordinary in league’s history. Not only was Kareem a member of six NBA
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
Apr
16
1947
The TransPacific Struggle over Citizenship: Seeking Welfare Rights in Kawasaki City, Japan and Los Angeles, California,1962-1982
Historians rarely compare the mostly working-class and poor Korean population in Japan and African Americans seeking economic justice in the United States. Japanese scholar Kazuyo Tsuchiya of Kanagawa University takes on that task in her new book, Reinventing Citizenship: Black Los Angeles, Korean
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Eastern Bank
Lou Brock/baseball
Lou Brock stole a record of 935th bases and became the all-time major league record holder.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by BARBinc
Sep
23
1979
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