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The First Black Psychic
Shirley Ajayi was the first African American given a part on a television show as a psychic! The show lasted for about one year[actually six months] in Chicago, Illinois since the show was seasonal! Shirley started her career the minute her predictions came true! She was renamed Aura and hired to
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Mar
27
2002
Charles H. Houston
Charles H. Houston awarded the Spingarn Medal posthumously for his pioneering work in developing the NAACP legal campaign.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
27
1950
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Ashe makes history by becoming the first African American male to win the mens single title at Wimbledon, defeating Jimmy Connors.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
5
1975
First Black Woman Mayor of Washington, D.C.
Sharon Pratt Dixon (now Kelly) was elected mayor of Washington, D.C., making this a first for a woman of any race.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
6
1990
Army Brig. Gen. Sherian Grace CAdoria born.
Birthday of Army Brig. Gen. Sherian Grace Cadoria, in Marksville, Louisiana. A graduate of Southern University, Gen. Cadoria was the highest ranking African American woman officer in the US Armed Forces at the end of 1990.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
26
1940
Henry Lewis
On this day Henry Lewis becomes the first African American to lead a symphony orchestra in the United States.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Feb
15
1968
Former Saint Louis Cardinals first baseman Bill White is named president of the
Former Saint Louis Cardinals first baseman Bill White is named president of the National League. He is the first African American to head a major sports league.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by NSBE Boston
Feb
3
1989
James Gladden 1st certified orthopedic surgeon
January 22, 1949 - James Robert Gladden becomes first African American certified in orthopedic surgery.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
22
1949
David Ruggles
David Ruggles dies in Northampton, Mass. Often called the first African American bookseller for his bookstore established in 1834, Ruggles was an abolitionist, and a conductor on the Underground Railroad
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
26
1849
William Stanley Braithwaite Born
Called by W.E.B. Dubois the most prominent critic of poetry in America , William Stanley Braithwaite was born in Boston, Mass. On May 5, 1919. Mr. Braithwaite was awarded the Springarn medal by th N.A.A.C.P. for his literary achievements.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
5
1919
Arthur Ashe
22 year old Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to make the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
14
1963
Founder of the NAACP, Arthur Spingarn was born, 1878
Founder of the NAACP, Arthur Spingarn was born, 1878
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA) Boston Professional Chapter
Dec
1
1878
George Alcorn patents fabrication of spectrometer
Patent # 4,618,380
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
21
1986
Beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade
In order to encourage Spanish emigration to the Americas, Bishop Bartolomeo de las Casas, conquistador, persuades the Spanish Crown to allow each Spanish settler to import 12 enslaved Africans to the Americas; this is the formal beginning of the Atlantic slave trade; when Bishop las Casas dies in
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
0
1517
Shirley Franklin is sworn in
Shirley Franklin is sworn in as the first African American Mayor of Atlanta and the only African American female mayor of a major American city.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Jan
7
2002
Confederate Flag Protest
In Montgomery, Alabama, Thomas Reed, president of the Alabama chapter of the NAACP, was arrested after he and 11 others attempted to strike a Confederate flag flying atop the state capitol building.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Feb
3
1988
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
Fifty-fifth Congress (1897-99) Convened
Fifty-fifth Congress (1897-99) convened. One Black congressman: George H. White, North Carolina.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
15
1911
The Chip Woman's Fortune by Willis Richardson
The Chip Womans Fortune by Willis Richardson, the first dramatic work by an African American playwright to be mounted on Broadway, opens at the Frazee Theatre on Broadway
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by APEX Museum
May
15
1923
Harvey B. Gantt born
Harve B. Gantt, the first African American student to enroll at Clemson University in Charleston, South Carolina. Gantt became mayor pro tem of Charleston in 1983 and later served as mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
14
1943
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois resigned from his position at the NAACP in a disagreement over policy and racial strategy.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
26
1934
Moneta Sleet becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for his
Moneta Sleet becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. and her daughter at her husbands funeral
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
5
1969
Death of Mary McLeod Bethune, educator/activist
Death of Mary McLeod Bethune (79), educator and civil rights leader, Daytona
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
18
1955
Benjamin Hooks
Benjamin Hooks, Federal Communications Commission member, named to succeed Roy Wilkins as executive director of the NAACP.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Intellitech
Nov
6
1976
Journalist Ralph Waldo Tyler born
Birthday of Ralph Waldo Tyler, journalist, Auditor-General of the Navy and World War I foreign correspondent. Te oldest of 12 children, Tyler is believed to have been born in Ohio. He attended elementary and high schools in Columbus, Ohio, studied a year in Baldwin,Missouri, and began teaching
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by New York University
Mar
18
1860
George Johnson
George and Noble Johnson founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1916. It was the first black-owned production company, it produced films exclusively for African
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
17
2001
Dorothy Dandridge, actress born
Dorothy Dandrige
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
9
1922
Robert N.C. Nix, first African American rep
Robert N.C. Nix, first African American representative from Pennsylvania and 11 term congressman, born
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Aug
9
1905
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
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
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