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Baker, Josephine (1906-1975)
In 1925 Josephine Baker took Paris, France by storm, appearing on stage in “La Revue Negre” wearing nothing but a skirt of artificial bananas in Danse Sauvage.  Born Josephine Freda MacDonald in St. Louis, Missouri on June 3, 1906, she was nicknamed “Tumpy” because she was
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by APEX Museum
The African American Experience in Italy, 1852 to 2013
In the following article longtime BlackPast.org contributor and San Diego State University Librarian Robert Fikes discusses African Americanemigrants to and visitors in
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Source: Black Past
African Blood Brotherhood (1919-1924)
The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB) was a militant black liberation group founded in 1919 by West Indian journalist Cyril Briggs. The ABB advocated armed defense against racist assaults and the creation of an independent black socialist commonwealth. It sought
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Source: Black Past
Nelson Mandela
Name at birth: Rolihlahla Mandela
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
(1918) Rev. Francis J. Grimke, “Victory for the Allies and the United States a Ground of Rejoicing, of Thanksgiving”
Francis J. Grimke was born a slave in Charleston, South Carolina on November 4, 1850.  After the war he and his older brother, Archibald, went north to Lincoln University.  Francis graduated from Lincoln in 1870.  After working briefly at Lincoln, Grimke attended Princeton Theological Seminary from
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Source: Black Past
Nov
4
1850
(1839) Andrew Harris, “Slavery Presses Down Upon the Free People of Color”
Andrew Harris, (1810-1841), graduated from the University of Vermont in 1838. One year later in an address delivered to nearly five thousand abolitionists at New York City’s Broadway Tabernacle on May 7, 1839, young Harris argued that slavery in the South influenced racism in the North. He was
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAP) Boston Chapter
May
7
1839
Zephaniah, Benjamin (1958 - )
Benjamin Zephaniah, poet, playwright, novelist and activist, was born on April 15, 1958, the first of eight children, in Birmingham, England. Zephaniah grew up in Wandsworth until the age of nine when his mother, a Jamaican nurse, fled his father, a postman from Barbados. Leaving behind his twin
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Source: Black Past
Apr
15
1958
Baldwin, James (1924-1987)
James Arthur Baldwin, fiction writer, essayist, dramatist, and poet, was born on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York during the Harlem Renaissance. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1942, he began his formal career as a writer.  Baldwin was inspired by Richard
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Source: Black Past
Aug
2
1924
William H. Wilson (? --- ?)
William H. Wilson established The Northwest Enterprise, a Seattle, Washington weekly newspaper for the African American community, in 1920 and continued to be its editor until 1935.  He also served as a board member of Seattles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
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Source: Black Past
Apr
4
1952
Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950.
Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas but grew up in Chicago. She is a witty poet who satirizes blacks and whites and attacks racial discrimination. She uses black language and rituals to proclaim black solidarity.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
1
1950
(1862) John S. Rock, “A Deep and Cruel Prejudice”
New Jersey-born John Sweat Rock was one of the first African American dentists in the United States.  He was also a medical doctor and in 1861, after studying law, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1861.  On January 23, 1862, Rock addressed the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in
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Source: Black Past
Jan
23
1862
(2015) President Barack Obama's Eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney
VIDEO OF SPEECH
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Source: Black Past
From Finland to “Not in My Neighborhood”: Antero Pietila's Journey To and Through Racially Divided America
In the article below Antero Pietila, longtime reporter for the Baltimore Sun, describes his arrival as a Finnish immigrant in the United States as the nation was being convulsed by the Civil Rights Movement.  Pietila describes his initial introduction into the nations racial dilemma through Harlem
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Source: Black Past
Dr. Cornelius Golightly (1917-1976): The Life of an Academic and Public Intellectual
In the following article Michigan State University professor John McClendon explores the remarkable life of  little know early 20th Century black intellectual Cornelius
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Source: Black Past
Caldwell, Elvin R., Sr. (1919-2004)
Politician Elvin R. Caldwell Sr. was born on April 11, 1919 in Denver, Colorado. Raised in Five Points, Denver’s predominantly black community, Caldwell was one of 12 children in his family. After graduating from Eastside High School in 1937, Caldwell earned a track scholarship to the University of
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Source: Black Past
Gentrification, Integration or Displacement?: The Seattle Story
In the following article, Henry W. McGee, Jr., a Seattle University Professor of Law and Central District resident, discusses the recent dramatic transformation of the area from a predominately working class African American community into an area of high income white, Asian American and African
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Jones, Bill T. (1952- )
Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Dancer/Choreographer of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company was born on February 15, 1952 in Bunnell, Florida. Jones’ prolific career as a choreographer has brought him international acclaim. Awards include: 2007 Tony Award for his choreography in
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Intellitech
Feb
15
1952
Ernie Davis
Ernest Davis commonly referred to as “Ernie” by friends and colleagues, was an American football halfback who passed away at the mere age of 23 due to complications from leukemia. Born in New Salem, Pennsylvania on December 14, 1939, Davis was a popular athlete in his school and college
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Source: Black History Resources
Hayes, Charles Arthur (1918-1997)
African American Congressman, Charles Arthur Hayes, will forever be remembered for his commitment to legislate equal rights for black labor workers.  After noticing racism aimed toward black workers in his hometown of Cairo, Illinois, Hayes moved to Chicago and started unionizing activities in
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Source: Black Past
Alabama Educational Television Commission
Alabama Educational Television Commission has its application for license renewal denied by the Federal Communications Commission because of racial discrimination against African Americans in employment and programming.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
8
1975
Whitney Young Jr., National Urban League director,
Whitney M. Young, Jr. was Executive Director of the National Urban League from 1961 until his tragic, untimely death in 1971. He worked tireless to bring the races together, and joined the tenets of social work, of which he was an outstanding practitioner, to the social activism that brought the
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by NSBE Boston
Feb
11
1971
Passing of Civil Rights Bill
U.S. Congress pass Civil Rights Bill banning racial discrimination in sale or rental of approximately 80 per cent of the nations housing.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Apr
10
1968
Ailey, Alvin (1931-1989)
Alvin Ailey was born in Rodgers, Texas during the Great Depression. He overcame racism, poverty, and homophobia to become one of the most celebrated choreographers in American history. His single teenage mother Lula Ailey washed clothes, picked cotton, and worked in domestic service in various
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Source: Black Past
Baraka, Amiri
Baraka, Amiri amērē bərä´kə [key], 1934–2014, American poet, playwright, and political activist, b. Newark, N.J., as Everett LeRoy Jones, studied at Rutgers Univ., Howard Univ. In college he adopted the name LeRoi Jones. In the 1950s he moved to Greenwich Village, where he associated with writers
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George “Sammy” Davis, Jr. simply known as Sammy Davis Jr., was an acclaimed American entertainer of the 20th century. Born in Harlem, New York on December 8, 1925, Davis spent the better half of his life enjoying the rare skill of making other people happy. While he was primarily
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies
Firefight: The Century-Long Battle to Integrate the New York City Fire Department
In the following article Ginger Adams Otis, a staff writer at the New York Daily News and a longtime city reporter, describes her more-than-decade-long research following the evolution of a landmark civil rights case brought by the Vulcan Society, a determined group of activist black New York City
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Source: Black Past
Bouchet, Edward Alexander (1852-1918)
Edward Alexander Bouchet was born on September 15, 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut to William Francis and Susan Cooley Bouchet. Edward attended the segregated primary school in New Haven and later finished his secondary education at Hopkins Grammar School in 1870. An outstanding
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Source: Black Past
Oct
28
1918
Arthur Allen Fletcher, “The Father of Affirmative Action”
Arthur Allen Fletcher is known to many as the father of affirmative action.  In the following account historian David Hamilton Golland describes the career of Fletcher, a Republican civil rights activist during the last half of the 20th
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts
"Yes We Can": Barack Obama's Road to the White House, 2008
Barack Obamas campaign for the Presidency in 2008 has been described by many political analysts as brilliant and virtually flawless.  Despite his inexperience in national politics and limited experience in state politics (Obama was first elected to political office in 1994), he assembled
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Source: Black Past
Wharton Sr., Clifton Reginald (1899-1990)
Clifton R. Wharton, one of the first African-Americans to hold a professional position in the U.S. State Department, was born in 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland. Described as a “scholastic marvel,” Wharton attended English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, skipped college and was
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Greater Boston Veterans Collaborative
May
30
2006
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