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Composer and violinist, Clarence C White, dies, 1880
Composer and violinist, Clarence C White, born
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Aug
10
1880
St. Martin De Pories born
St. Martin De Pories, one of the most venerated Christian saints in the Philippines, is born in Lima, Peru.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
9
1579
Founder of Pro-Line
Comer Cottrell, founder and president of Pro-Line Corporation (1970), the largest African American owned business in the Southwest and the first African American to be part owner of a major league baseball team (1989), the Texas Rangers, born
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
7
1931
Lawrence Douglas Wilder assumes title as governor
In Richmond, Virginia former Lt. Governor Lawrence Douglas Wilder took office as the first popularly elected African American governor of an American state.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by New York University
Jan
14
1990
Ex-slave left millions in will
The Georgia State Supreme Court sustained the will of the late David Dickson, thus making Amanda Eubanks the wealthiest Negro in America. Dickson, a former slaveholder, willed more than half a million dollars to Eubanks. White relatives of Dickson, a bachelor, had contested the will on the grounds
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
12
1886
Adam Wade hosts the Nationally televised game show Musical Chairs. He is the fi
Adam Wade hosts the Nationally televised game show Musical Chairs. He is the first African American game show host.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
16
1975
The Flip Wilson Show premieres on NBC. It is the first prime time variety show
The Flip Wilson Show premieres on NBC. It is the first prime time variety show starring an African American male since the Nat King Cole Show.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by BARBinc
Sep
17
1970
Rafer Johnson won the Olympic Decathlon
On Sept. 6, 1960 Rafer Johnson won the Olympic Decathlon--the first for an African American
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
6
1960
COINTELPRO Memorandum
A memorandum sent to field offices of the FBI set goals for what was termed as a new counterintelligence program against African American Nationalist groups. The objective was to block attempts by targeted groups to coalesce, grow and exist. The agencey believed unity was the first step toward
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
3
1968
W Wilson Goode becomes the 1st African American mayor of Philadelphia
W Wilson Goode becomes the 1st African American mayor of Philadelphia
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Eastern Bank
Oct
9
1984
Doris A. Davis of Compton, California becom
Doris A. Davis of Compton, California becomes the first African American woman to govern a metropolitan city.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
5
1973
White Democrats attacked Republicans at Yazoo
White Democrats attacked Republicans at Yazoo City, Mississippi. One white and three Blacks were killed.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
1
1875
The Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical
The Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School (later Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science) is chartered in Los Angeles. It is the only African American focused medical school west of the Mississippi
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Aug
2
1966
War of 1812
War of 1812: Although the U.S. Army did not enlist African Americans after the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Navy continued to use African Americans as seamen because of the perennial shortage of white sailors. The African American presence in the navy placed them at the center of the naval incident
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
16
2002
Patricia Roberts Harris
Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African American U.S. Ambassador is named permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention. She will later be appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services and Secretary of Housing and Urban development
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
27
1972
Bill Russell named head coach of the Boston Celtic
Bill Russell named head coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the first African American to coach an NBA team.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by New York University
Mar
28
1966
Miss America
Vanessa Williams is the 1st African American Miss America to be crowned.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
Sep
17
1983
Baltimore Orioles manager Frank Robinson
Baltimore Orioles manager Frank Robinson is named assistant general manager of the club, the third African American to become as assistant GM.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Jun
4
1991
John Lee, becomes first black commissioned officer
John Lee, first black commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy is assigned to
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
13
1957
Mound Bayou
Mound Bayou, an all African American town in Mississippi is founded by Isaiah Montgomery
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
12
1887
Sissieretta Jones 1869-1933-Opera Singer
Sissieretta Jones born Matilda Joyner, enrolled in Providence Academy of Music at age fourteen and reported tohave completed training at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. With her rich soprano voice she was applauded as the first Negro prima donna. She was compared to Adelina Pattie an
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1869
Blanche Kelso Bruce sworn in as a U.S. Senator.
Blanche Kelso Bruce was a US Senator from Mississippi; the first black man to serve a full term in the senate, and the first person born into slavery to preside over the senate. While serving in the senate, he was an advocate for civil rights for blacks, native Americans, Chinese immigrants and
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
21
1881
Phyllis Mae Daley, first of four African American
Phyllis Mae Daley, first of four African American Navy nurses to serve active duty in WW II receives her commission as an ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
8
1945
The Cotton Bag Fort
A African American Designs The Cotton Bag Fort: When Andrew Jackson assembled his force at New Orleans, his soldiers, many of whom were African American slaves, were outnumbered by the British forces ten to one. Faced with this disadvantage, Jackson consulted with men as to what was the best
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Intellitech
Oct
2
2002
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African American general in the U.S. Air Force. His father was the first African American general in the U.S. Army
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
22
1959
Jewel Plummer Cobb, cancer research biologist
Jewel Plummer Cobb, cancer research biologist, President of California State University, Fullerton, the first African American to hold such as position in the CSU system, born.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA) Boston Professional Chapter
Jan
17
1924
Walter F. Craig
1986 Max Robinson
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1986
Meneeik II crowned
On November 2, 1889 Menelik II was crowned Negusa-Nagast (King of Kings) of Abysinnia, Ethiopia. By 1899 Abysinnia had extended as far as Kenya in the south, Somaliland in the East, and the Sudan in the West. During his reign, Menelik devoted much of his time to the building of
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
2
1889
In Tuskegee, Alabama, the Rosenwald Fund made grants to the Alabama State Board
In Tuskegee, Alabama, the Rosenwald Fund made grants to the Alabama State Board of Health to help meet the cost of a sutdy of syphilis in African American men living in rural Georgia and Alabama. Thus would begin a four decade long study of syphilis without treatment. Over 400 men were allowed to
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Feb
12
1930
Max Robinson, first African American news anchor for a major television network
Max Robinson, first African American news anchor for a major television network died today.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
20
1988
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