1st 1868 - The Hampton Institute (now university) is founded in
Virginia..
1930 - Zawditu, the 1st female monarch of Ethiopia, dies.
1950 - Dr. Charles R. Drew, world famous in the field of
medicine, discover of the the method of storing blood
plasma, is killed, in an automobile accident.
2nd 1796 - Toussaint L'Ouverture appointed Commander-in-Chief
of French forces in St. Domingo.
1918 - Renowned artist Charles White is born in Chicago,
Illinois.
1941 - Singer, Marvin Gaye, is born in Washington, D.C.
3rd 1950 - Attorney General MacGrath and Solicitor General
Perlman argue before the United States Supreme Court
for the reversal of the 1896 ruling (plessey vs
Ferguson) which upheld segregation.
1963 - The Birmingham Manifesto.
1984 - John Thompson of Georgetown University becomes
the 1st African-American coach to win the NCAA
basketball tournament.
1996 - United States Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, is
killed in plane crash in Bosnia.
1996 - Carl Stokes, the 1st African-American mayor of a major
U.S. city(Cleveland, Ohio), dies.
4th 1915 - Blues singer and guitarist, McKinley Morganfield aka
Muddy Waters is born(d.1980)
1928 - Author Maya Angelou is born in St. Louis, MS.
1939 - Jazz trumpet player, Hugh Masekela, is born.
1968 - The Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated at
the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN.
5th 1856 - Educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute is born.
1937 - Colin Powell, 1st African-American to serve as Chief of
Staff of the Military, is born in New York City.
6th 1905 - W. Warrick Cardozo, physician and pioneering
researcher on sickle cell anemia, is born in Washington,
D.C.
1909 - Matthew Henson leads a party of six explorers to the
place " where the only direction one can go is south ",
the north pole, becoming the 1st to reach 90 degrees
north.
7th 1743 - Toussaint L'Ouverture, let the slaves revolt on the
French half of the Island of Hispaniola in 1789.
1915 - Jazz legend-Blues singer and composer, Billie Holiday,
is born.
1927 - Percussionist, Mongo Santamaria, is born in Cuba.
8th 1922 - Song stylist, Carmen McRae, is born(d.1994)
1974 - Baseball Hall of Famer, Henry"Hank"Aaron, sets new
homerun record with # 715, ending his career with 755.
9th 1866 - The 1st Civil Rights Act passes over presidential veto.
1891 - Lawyer, actor, singer and civil rights activist, Paul
Robeson is born(d.1974)
1939 - Marian Anderson sings before a crowd of 75,000 at a
concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
1943 - Tennis great Arthur Ashe, is born.
10th 1816 - Richard Allen is elected the 1st Bishop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church.
1943 - Arthur Ashe, 1st African-American to win the U.S. Open
and men's singles title at Wimbleton, is born in
Richmond, Va.
11th 1899 - The man dubbed the "Soybean Chemist, Percy Lavon
Julian, creator of a soybean based cortisone used in the
treatment of arthritis, is born in Montgomery, Alabama.
1908 - The 1st female African-American judge in the United
States, is born Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
1968 - The second Civil Rights Act is passed.
1979 - Brutal Dictator, Idi Amin, is overthrown in Uganda.
12th 1787 - The Free African Society of Philadelphia is founded by
Absolom Jones and Richard Allen
1861 - The Civil War begins with the firing on Fort Sumpter,
South Carolina.
13th 1907 - Harlem Hospital opens in New York, N.Y.
1944 - The United Negro College Fund was founded by Dr.
Frederick D. Patterson, President of Tuskeegee
Institute.
14th 1775 - The 1st anti-slavery society, the Pennsylvania Society
for the Abolition of Slavery, is organized.
1960 - The Motown Record Corporation is incorporated.
15th 1889 - Asa Phillip Randolph, Labor Leader and civil rights
advocate, ia born in Crescent Way, Fla.
1894 - Blues singer, Bessie Smith, who during her lifetime
was known as the "The Empress of the Blues", is born(d.1936).
1960 - The Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee(SNCC), is founded at Shaw University in
Raleigh, N.C.
