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Following the dwindling supply of indentured servants,the Virginia legislature
Following the dwindling supply of indentured servants, the Virginia legislature legally recognizes the institution of slavery in order to maintain needed labor on tobacco plantations.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1661
Adams, Victoria Jackson Gray (1926-2006)
Born in Hattiesburg, Virginia on November 5, 1926, Victoria Jackson Gray Adams became one of the most important Mississipians in the Civil Rights Movement.  Her activities included teaching voter registration courses to domestics and sharecroppers, opening of the Freedom Schools during
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Source: Black Past
Nov
5
1926
Alexander, Archer (ca. 1810-1879)
Archer Alexander was born into slavery on a Virginia plantation around the year 1810.  His likeness, in face and figure, immortalizes all American slaves on a monument to emancipation that stands in Lincoln Park in Washington, D. C. The bronze monument Emancipation, also known as the Freedmens
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Source: Black Past
A virginia law authorizes branding both white andblack runaway servants.
A virginia law authorizes branding both white and black runaway servants.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1641
(1963) Malcolm X, “Racial Separation”
On October 11, 1963, Malcolm X gave a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, in which he outlined the philosophy of black nationalism as promoted by the Nation of Islam and declared racial separatism as the best approach to the problems facing black America.  Most of that speech appears
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Oct
11
1963
Jacobs, Harriet (c.1815-1897)
Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina, Harriet Ann Jacobs was the daughter of slaves, Delilah and Daniel Jacobs.  Harriet Jacobs is best known for her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, edited by white abolitionist Lydia Maria Child, and published in 1852.   Using the
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Christo Rey New York High School
Virginia's ethics are challenged
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Virginia law banning inter-racial marriage was unconstitutional.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
12
1967
Trotter, William Monroe (1872-1934)
WilliamMonroe Trotter was a major early twentieth century civil rights activist knownprimarily for launching the first major challenge to the political dominance ofTuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington and as an inspiration for the formation of theNational Association for the Advancement
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Source: Black Past
Apr
7
1934
(1797) Abraham Johnstone, “Address To The People Of Color”
Home
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Source: Black Past
Mason-Dixon Line
Mason-Dixon Line, boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland (running between lat. 39°43′26.3″N and lat. 39°43′17.6″N), surveyed by the English team of Charles Mason, a mathematician and astronomer, and Jeremiah Dixon, a mathematician and land surveyor, between 1763 and 1767. The ambiguous
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Washington, Hercules (Enslaved Cook of George Washington) (1755?- ?)
Hercules Washington was the enslaved head cook at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation home where he prepared meals for decades for the Washington family and the guests who visit the mansion. Hercules was most likely born in 1755 somewhere in Virginia although the exact place of birth and
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Source: Black Past
The General Virginia Court decides the "Emmanuel" case, which involves a black
The General Virginia Court decides the Emmanuel case, which involves a black man who, along with sixwhite servants participates in a conspiracy to escape;when captured, the whites are all sentenced to extrayears of service while Emmanuel is whipped, brandedwith an R, and required to wear shackles
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1640
Sommersett, James (c1741-c1772)
James Sommersett was the subject of a landmark legal case in Great Britain, which was the first major step in imposing limits on Trans-Atlantic African slavery. Sommersett entered the pages of history when in 1771, he fled his North American owner, Charles Stewart, while both were living in
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Source: Black Past
Jun
22
1772
LeBron James
LeBron James is an American basketball superstar who currently plays for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team “Cleveland Cavaliers”. He is six feet, eight inches tall and weighs 250 pounds. He was born to a 16 year old single mother named Gloria Marie James on December
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Source: Black History Resources
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
Taylor, Francis Xavier (1948 – )
Francis Xavier Taylor is a senior military leader, intelligence and security expert, and American diplomat.  Born in Washington, D.C., on October 22, 1948, Taylor was raised by his mother Virginia Taylor, who worked as an administrator in the Department of the Army. When he later enrolled at the
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Source: Black Past
White, V. Ethel Willis (1920-2003)
Theendowment named in honor of V Ethel Willis White is unusual in that the person honoredwas not a wealthy woman in the usual sense of the word.  Instead V Ethel Willis White’s wealth derivedfrom her inspiration to
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Source: Black Past
Buckroe Beach, Hampton, Virginia (1890- )
Buckroe Beach is one of the oldest recreational regions in Virginia. In 1619, the “Buck Roe” plantation was designated for public use for the newly arrived English settlers sent by the Virginia Company of London. By 1637, however, the plantation was converted into a commercial tobacco
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Source: Black Past
May
30
2009
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
SWEATT v. PAINTER, 339 U.S. 629
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Source: Black Past
Elders, Joycelyn Minnie (1933- )
Joycelyn Elders, the former U.S. Surgeon General, was born Minnie Lee Jones in Schaal, Arkansas on August 13, 1933 to Curtis and Hailer Jones; she added the name Joycelyn when she was in college. As the eldest of eight children of sharecroppers, Joycelyn Elders experienced extreme poverty in
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Source: Black Past
Sep
8
1993
African-American Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement began decades before 19th century that resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation. Initially, abolition of slavery was not on Abraham Lincoln’s agenda list. However, his ever increasing reliance on black soldiers to punish the rebellious states rendered him to issue the
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Source: Black History Resources
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young was a famous jazz saxophonist born in Woodville, Mississippi on August 27, 1909. He belonged to a musically accomplished family. His father was a teacher who taught Young to play the trumpet, violin, drums and the saxophone, and his brother was a drummer. The family relocated to
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Source: Black History Resources
Dec
13
1940
(1953) Thurgood Marshall, “Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education”
Many historians and legal scholars consider the U.S. Supreme Courts 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education to be one of the most important and far reaching pronouncements in the history of the Court.  On December 8, 1953 Thurgood Marshall, the chief legal counsel of the National Association
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Source: Black Past
Dec
8
1953
(1857) Frances Ellen Watkins, “Liberty For Slaves”
Frances Ellen Watkins was born of free parents in Baltimore in 1825. After teaching in New York and Pennsylvania Watkins became a full-time abolitionist speaker for the Maine Anti-Slavery Society. By the 1850s she was one of the most noted speakers on that subject as well as a highly acclaimed
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Boston Metropolitan Chapter
May
23
1857
Henderson v. United States Et. Al. (1950)
April 3, 1950, Argued
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by NSBE Boston
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz icon of the 20th century. She was born on April 25, 1917 in Virginia to William and Temperance Fitzgerald. The couple separated soon after Ella’s birth, and Temperance moved to New York with her boyfriend, Joseph De Silva. She had a half sister named
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Source: Black History Resources
Jun
15
1996
Langston, John Mercer (1829-1897)
John Mercer Langston, the youngest of four children, was born a free black in Louisa County, Virginia in 1829. Langston gained distinction as an abolitionist, politician, and attorney.  Despite the prominence of his slaveowner father, Ralph Quarles, Langston took his surname from his mother, Lucy
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Source: Black Past
Nov
15
1897
(1867) The Reconstruction Acts
Chap. CLIII - An Act to provide for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States [Passed over President Johnsons veto March
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Source: Black Past
Freedom To Male Slaves
Lord Dunmore, deposed royal governor of Virginia, issued proclamation which promised freedom to male slaves who joined the British army.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
7
1775
Black History Month on BlackPast.org
Every month is Black History Month here at BlackPast.org.  Nonetheless we recognize that hundreds of thousands of our visitors specifically seek out the website for information on African American history during the month of February.   We have gathered much of that data that may be helpful for
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Source: Black Past
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