1st 1955 - Rosa Parks defies the segregation ordinance in
Montgomery, Alabama by riding in the front of the bus
igniting a 382 day bus boycott and launching the Civil
Rights movement in America.
2nd 1859 - Abolitionist John Brown is hanged for treason in
Charles Town, West Virginia.
1912 - Henry Armstrong, the 1st boxer to hold 3 boxing titles
simultaneously, is born in Columbus, Ohio.
1968 - Dial Press publishes, Judus, My Brother.
3rd 1847 - Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney establish
North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper, in
Rochester, N.Y.
1961 - U.S. Bureau of Census reported African-Americans
comprise 12% of the U.S. population in cities of over
1,000,000.
4th 1833 - 1st convention of the National Anti-Slavery Society is
founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1906 - Alpha Phi Alpha, the 1st African-American fraternity is
organised at Cornell University in New York State.
1909 - The African-American newspaper, The Amsterdam
News, is founded in NYC.
5th 1784 - Poet Phyllis Wheatly, dies.
1870 - Alesandre Dumas(the father), Novelist and Dramatist,
dies.
1931 - Reverand James Cleveland, "the King of Gospel", is
born in Chicago, Ill.
1946 - President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order
#9808 establishing the 1st President,s Committee on
Civil Rights.
1957 - NYC becomes 1st to pass Fair Housing Practice Law.
6th 1855 - African-American Pioneer of the American West,
Thomas Barber, is murdered in Lawrence, Kansas.
1878 - William S. Braithwaite, poet, editor and anthologist, is
born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1949 - Blues legend Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, dies.
7th 1895 - Sir Milton Margai, 1st Prime Minister of Sierra Leone,
is born.
1941 - Dorrie Miller, a mess attendant, downs 3 Japanese
planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1952 - Southern Regional Council reported 40 bombings
during 1951 and 1952.
8th 1925 - Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, actor, entertainer, is born.(d.5/16/1990)
1967 - Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., 1st African-American
astronaut, is killed when his F-104 Starfighter crashed
at Edwards Air Force Base, in California's Mojave
Desert.
1987 - Kurt Schmoke becomes the 1st African-American
Mayor of Baltimore, MD.
9th 1872 - Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was sworn in as
the 1st African-American Governor of Louisiana.
1879 - Roy deCarava, 1st African-American photographer to
be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, is born.
1965 - Robert Q. Lowery is named the 1st African-American
Fire Chief of New York City becoming the 1st to serve
in this capacity in a Major U.S. City.
10th 1950 - Ralph J. Bunche becomes the 1st African-American
to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1960 - Albert Lithulu, South African diplomat is awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
1967 - The "Lost Genius of Soul", Otis Redding, is killed in a
plane crash, in Madison, Wisconson.
11th 1917 - Five members of the 24th U.S. Infantry are executed
for their part in an August 23rd riot in Houston, Texas.
1926 - Blues singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, is born
in Montgomery, Alabama.
1964 - Dr. Martin Luther King accepts the Nobel Peace Prize
as "Trustee", for the Civil Rights Movement.
12th 1899 - George F. Grant, dentist and golfer, recieves a
patent for a wooden golf tee.
1995 - Willie Brown defeats incumbent mayor Frank Jordan
to become the 1st African-American mayor of San
Francisco.
13th 1944 - 1st group of African-American women complete
training for the WAVEs.
1963 - Dinah Washington, the "Queen of the Blues", dies in
Detroit, MI.
1964 - J. Raymond Jones is elected leader of Tammany Hall
(New York County Democratic Committee).
14th 1915 - Jack Johnson becomes the 1st African-American
world heavy weight champion.
1964 - The Supreme Court rules in the case of Heart of
Atlanta Motel v. United States.
15th 1761 - The 1st single poem published by an African-
American, Evening thought: Salvation by Christ with
Penitential Cries, by Jupiter Hamilton.
1885 - William A. Hinton developes the Hinton Test for
diagnosing Syphillis, is born.
1965 - Frank Williams appointed U.S. Ambassador to
Ghana.