Our Kuchitahidi Archive  -- December
16th      1976 - Andrew Young appointed ambassador to the U.N.
17th     1843 - Macon B. Allen becomes the 1st African-American
                       attorney in the U.S. to be admitted to practice law, in
                       Maine.
            1879 - Maria W. Stewart, the 1st American Born woman to give
                      public lectures in the U.S. is buried.
            1975 - Lyricist and bandleader, Noble Sissle, dies.
18th     1865 - The United States Congress ratifies the 13th
                       Amendment, officially abolishing slavery.
19th     1875 - The recognised Father of African Ameican History,
                       Carter G. Woodson, is born in New Canton, Virginia.
            1933 - Cicely Tyson, actor and activist, is born.
20th     1860 - South Carolina seceeded from the Union, giving rise to 
                        the Civil War.
            1988 - Max Robinson, 1st African-American news anchor for a
                       major television network, dies.
21st    1911  - Josh Gibson, Negro Leagues home run king, is born.
           1959 - Citizens of Deerfield, Illinois authorize plan which 
                       blocked the building of interracial housing development.
22th    1883 - Author Wertgs Michell, 1st African American to be
                      elected to Congress, is born in Lafayette, Alabama.
           1898 - Dr. Chancellor Williams historian and author4  of the 
                       Destruction of Black Civilization, is born in 
                       Bennettsville, S.C.
           1939 - Gertrude Malissa Nix "Ma Rainey" Pridgett, recognized
                      Mother of the Blues, dies of heart desease at the age of
                      53 in Columbus, GA.
23rd    1867 - Madame C.J. Walker, 1st female African-American
                      millionaire is born, in Delta, MS.
            
24th    1881 - Rev. H. H. Garnett, 1st African-American to preach a 
                       sermon before the House of Representatives, dies.
           1898 - Irvin C. Mollison, 1st African-American judge of the
                      Customs court, is born in Chicago, Ill.
25th    1745 - Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, French musician and
                      soldier, is born.
           1835 - Bishop B. T. Tanner, AME, is born in Pittsburgh, PA.
           1907 - Cab Calloway, bandleader and 1st jazz singer to sell a 
                      million records, is born in Rochester, N.Y.  
26th   1956 - Birmingham, Alabama African-Americans begin defiance 
                      of Jim Crow bus laws.
          1966 - Kwanzaa, originated by Dr. Maulana Karenga, is 1st 
                     celebrated.
27th   1919 - 12 African-American men were condemned to die for
                      killings of whites during riots on Elaine, Arkansas.
          1951 - Harry T. Moore, NAACP Florida co-ordinator, is killed
                      by a bomb blast that ripped his home.
          1956 - Segregation on buses is outlawed in Tallahassee, Fla.
28th   1977 - Karen Farmer becomes the 1st African-American
                      member of the DAR.
29th   1939 - Kelly Miller, 1st African-American graduate of John
                      Hopkins University, dies.
30th   1928 - Blues Composer and singer Bo Diddley, is born in
                      Magnolia, MS.
31st   1984 - The 1st National Broadcast telethon for the United Negro
                      College Fund raises 14.1 million dollars.

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.
  

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