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Jennings, Thomas L. (1791- 1856)
Thomas L. Jennings was the first black man to receive a patent. The patent was awarded on March 3, 1821 (US Patent 3306x) for his discovery of a process called dry-scouring which was the forerunner of today’s modern dry-cleaning.  Jennings was born free in New York City, New York in 1791.  In his
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Source: Black Past
Mar
3
1821
Scott Joplin dies
Scott Joplin dies in New York City. Joplin was one of the early developers of ragtime and the author of Maple Leaf Rag. He also created several rag-time and grand operas, the most noteworthy was Treemonisha.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
1
1917
World renowed opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her debut in New York City, 1
World renowed opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her debut in New York City, 1958
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Nov
4
1958
Armed Democrats seized Texas government
Armed Democrats seized Texas government and ended Radical Reconstruction in Texas.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
17
1874
Alexander, Roberta (1949- )
Roberta Alexander is an internationally famous American opera soprano. After performing in numerous operas in the United States and Europe, she established herself as one of the leading American sopranos in the latter quarter of the twentieth century, both on the operatic stage and as an orchestral
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Intellitech
Mar
3
1949
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He was born on July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to Hattie Bell and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr. His parents divorced when he was very young and he moved to Brooklyn, New York with his mother while visiting his father once
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Eastern Bank
Jul
30
1961
First Black Grandmaster
Maurice Ashley, an immigrant from Jamaica, was 14 and living in Brooklyn, when he feel in love with the game of chess after reading a book about Paul Morphy, a 19th-century Louisianian who was Americas first great chess
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
17
1999
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The leading scorer in the history of NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won 6 of the most prestigious NBA titles, five of which were with the Los Angeles Lakers over a period of 20 years. His list of achievements is one of the most extraordinary in league’s history. Not only was Kareem a member of six NBA
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
Apr
16
1947
Eleanor Holmes
Eleanor Holmes (later Eleanor Norton) is born in Washington, DC. A graduate of the Yale University School of Law, Norton will become chairperson of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and a Georgetown University law professor before being elected a non-voting delegate to Congress
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
13
1937
Gordone, Charles (1925- )
Charles Gordone was born Charles Edward Fleming on October 12, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio to parents William and Camille Fleming.  He took his stepfather’s surname of Gordon when his mother remarried when he was five years old.  The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana, his mother’s hometown, when Charles
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Illinois Math and Science Academy
Nov
13
1995
(1838) James McCune Smith, “The Abolition Of Slavery And The Slave Trade In The French And British Colonies”
James McCune Smith (1813-1865) was a prominent physician and abolitionist. Smith was educated in the African Free School in New York City. When failing to be admitted to any American college, he enrolled in Glasgow University in Scotland in 1832 and earned three degrees including his medical
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Boston Professional Chapter
Jun
9
1838
Thomas, Harry K., Jr. (1956- )
Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants.   His mother was a social worker and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses.  Thomas finished
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by BARBinc
Apr
27
2010
Segregation Movements
Tennessee started modern segregation movement with Jim Crow railroad car and was followed by Florida (1887), Mississippi (1888), Texas (1889), Louisiana (1890), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia (1891), South Carolina (1898), North Carolina (1899), Virginia (1900), Maryland (1904), Oklahoma
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
24
1881
Death of singer Billie Holiday
Death of singer Billie Holiday (44) New York City.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jul
17
1959
Samuel " Black Sam" Fraunces
George Washington gives his farewell address to his troops at Fraunces Tavern in NYC owned by ,Samuel Black Sam Fraunces a wealthy West Indian of African and French descent who aided Revolutionary forces with food and money
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Dec
4
1783
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan was a popular twentieth century African-American Jazz singer. She was recognized for her beautiful voice and often nicknamed ‘Sassy’, ‘Sailor’ and ‘The Divine One’ for her salty speech. Moreover, she won a Grammy Award and was awarded the “highest honor in jazz” by The
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Source: Black History Resources
Mar
27
1924
Earl Campbell
Earl Christian Campbell is a professional American football player who played for the Houston Oilers and the New Orleans Saints. He was born on March 29, 1955 in Tyler, Texas. He was the sixth of eleven children in his family. Their father died when he was very young. He began playing football at
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Source: Black History Resources
Jul
27
1991
Fifth national Black convention met in New York
Fifth national Black convention met in New York with fifty delegates from eight states.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jun
2
1834
General Jackson Reneges On His Promise
General Jackson Reneges On His Promise: General Jackson, on order to prepare to meet Packenham, the British General, in the contest at New Orleans, came into the plantation fields to enlist five hundred Negro slaves. These are General Jackson comments: Had you not as soon go into battle an
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
12
2002
Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor was a popular American stand-up comedian and one of the most influential entertainers of his time. He was born on December 1, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. He had a troubled childhood; his mother worked as a prostitute and his father was a bartender, boxer and World War veteran. His
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Boston Professional Chapter
Dec
1
1940
Beah, Ishmael (1980– )
Ishmael Beah is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his personal history, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider. Beah was born on November 23, 1980, in Mattru Jong, Bonthe District, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The Sierra Leone Civil War started in March
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Source: Black Past
Nov
23
1980
Texas Admitted as a Slave State
Texas became a slave state.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
29
1845
(1934) W.E.B. Du Bois, “A Negro Nation Within a Nation"
W.E.B Du Bois, a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) through most of his life was a staunch integrationist.  In 1934 however he advanced the argument that since integration would not happen in the nation any time soon, African Americans had to
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Boston Metropolitan Chapter
Jun
26
1934
Dixon, Charles Dean (1915-1976)
Charles Dean Dixon, conductor, was born January 10, 1915 in New York, New York to West Indian parents Henry Charles Dixon and McClara Rolston Dixon. Dixon’s parents exposed him to classical music at an early age and his mother taught him to play the violin, along with a number of other
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by BARBinc
Nov
4
1976
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was a renowned educator and African American leader of the 20th century. She was born on July 10, 1875 in South Carolina to parents who had been former slaves. She was one of 17 children in her family, and all of them, including Mary, worked at the cotton plantations along
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Source: Black History Resources
May
18
1955
Michael Jeffrey Jordan's Birthday
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, 36, Basketball player, former minor league baseball player, Born New York, New York, February 17, 1963
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Feb
17
1963
White, Lois Jean(1938- )
Lois Jean Barron White, the first African American President of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) was born in Nashville, Tennessee on March 21, 1938. She was raised by her grandmother, Rosa Barron, as her own mother lived away in Massachusetts.  White’s grandmother taught her the value
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Mar
21
1938
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph was the most important civil rights leader to emerge from the labor movement. Throughout his long career, he consistently kept the interests
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Source: HISTORY | Watch Full Episodes of Your Favorite Shows
(1923) James Weldon Johnson, “Our Democracy and the Ballot”
Poet, novelist and U.S. diplomat, James Weldon Johnson is probably best known to millions as the author of the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the black national anthem. Johnson was also a civil rights activist and was Executive Secretary of the National Association of Colored
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Source: Black Past
Mar
10
1923
First Black newspaper, Freedom's Journal,
First Black newspaper, Freedoms Journal, published in New York City.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
16
1827
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