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Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard is a celebrated American actor known for his strong performances in movies such as “Hustle & Flow” and “Ray & Crash”. He was born on March 11, 1969 in Chicago, Illinois to Tyrone Howard and Anita Williams. He came from a family of actors; his maternal
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Source: Black History Resources
Sponsored by Prospanica Boston Professional Chapter
Mar
11
1969
Carrington, Walter Charles (1930 - )
Walter Charles Carrington served as the United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Senegal from 1980 to 1981, and to Nigeria from 1993 to 1997. He married Arese Ukpoma, a Nigerian physician, and has lived in three Nigerian cities since the late
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Source: Black Past
Jul
24
1930
Curry, Stephen (1988- )
Wardell Stephen Curry II, also known as Stephen Curry, is a professional basketball player with the Golden State (California) Warriors. Curry is considered one of the greatest shooters in NBA history and an “elite” all-time scorer.  As the 7th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Curry
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Source: Black Past
Mar
18
1988
Remond, Charles Lenox (1810-1873)
Charles Lenox Remond was born into an elite free Black family in Salem, Massachusetts.  His parents, John and Nancy Lenox Remond, had been married by the Rev. Thomas Paul, a prominent African American minister and anti-slavery activist, in 1807.  Nancy Lenox’s father was a veteran of the American
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Boston Professional Chapter
Rodney King is beaten by a group of white policemen in Los Angeles, Calif
Rodney King is beaten by a group of white policemen in Los Angeles, Calif
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
3
1991
Isaacs, Cheryl Boone (1949---)
Veteran publicist Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the first African American to serve as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, followed the path of her pioneering sibling as a top-tier executive in the Hollywood motion picture industry.  Ashley A. Boone Jr. (1939-1994),her brother, had
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Source: Black Past
Jul
30
2013
Jackson, Alphonso R. (1946- )
Alphonso R. Jackson cultivated a three-decade career in public service that included an appointment as head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the administration of his long-time friend, President George W. Bush.  Born in Marshall, Texas, in 1946, Jackson grew up in
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Source: Black Past
Usher
Name at birth: Usher Raymond IV
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Rainey, Gertrude “Ma” (1886-1939)
Businesswoman and entertainer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, known as the Mother of Blues, was the most popular blues singer/songwriter of the 1920s. She is considered to be the first woman to introduce blues into her performances. As a single woman, she established her own entertainment company
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Museum of African American History in Massachusetts
Palmer, Larry L. (1949- )
On November 1, 2011, President Barack H. Obama appointed Larry L. Palmer the United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. On March 30, 2012, the U.S. Senate confirmed Palmer’s nomination and he reported to his post in Bridgetown, Barbados. Born in Augusta, Georgia, on July
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by New York University
Bank Organized
Independence Bank of Chicago organized.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
3
1964
First Baptist Church, Richmond (1780-- )
The First Baptist Church, founded in 1780 by Joshua Morris, emerged in the aftermath of the Great Awakening religious revival movement (1730s-1770s) that spread across the South.  In contrast to the other churches in Richmond organized during the same time, the First Baptist attracted both black
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by Prospanica Boston Professional Chapter
Mali
U.S. Department of State Background Note
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Civil Rights Act of 1960
AN ACT To enforce constitutional rights, and for other
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Source: Black Past
Sep
30
1950
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland (1785- )
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel A.M.E.), Baltimore lays claim to the designation as the oldest independent continuously operating African American church in the state of Maryland tracing its origins back to 1785 when a group of African Americans met at the Strawberry Alley
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Source: Black Past
Charles Henry Turner
Born: 2/3/1867 Cincinnati, OhioDied: 2/14/1923 Chicago, IllinoisCharles Henry Turner was an American research biologist, educator, zoologist, and comparative psychologist born in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1892, Turner became the first African American to receive a graduate degree at the University of
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by NSBE Boston
Brazil
In Jan. 2003, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former trade union leader and factory worker widely known by the name Lula, became Brazils first working-class president. As leader of Brazils only Socialist party, the Workers Party, Lula pledged to increase social services and improve the lot of the
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
Pilgrim Baptist Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota (1863- )
Pilgrim Baptist Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the oldest African American church in the state of Minnesota. A group of escaped slaves began worshiping together in 1863, and under the leadership of fellow escaped slave Robert Thomas Hickman, the church officially became Pilgrim Baptist Church
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Source: Black Past
Nov
15
1866
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
Sep
28
1986
Vaughan, Míceál
Míceál Vaughan recently retired as Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he has served on the faculty since
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Source: Black Past
1st Black Democratic Congressman
Arthur L. Mitchell defeated Oscar DePriest in a Chicago election and became the first Black Democratic congressman.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
7
1934
Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor (1819-1876)
Born a slave in 1819 in Natchez, Mississippi, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield had little reason to dream of the life that would eventually become her own.  Because of a series of unlikely circumstances and her own relentless efforts she would eventually become known as the first African American singer
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by BARBinc
Mar
31
1876
Killings in Civil Rights demonstrations
Jonathan M. Daniels, white Episcopal seminary student from Massachusetts, killed and Richard F. Morrisroe, white Roman Catholic priest from Chicago, seriously wounded by shotgun blasts fired by white special deputy sheriff in Hayneville, Alabama. They were participating in civil rights
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Aug
12
1965
Mercer, Mabel Alice Wadham (1900-1984)
Mabel Mercer was one of the most important jazz cabaret singers of the 20th Century. Her personal singing style emphasizing interpretation, diction, lyrics, and projection over vocal proficiency influenced numerous leading singers including Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat
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Source: Black Past
Seacole, Mary Jane (1805 –1881)
Mary Jane Grant Seacole was an early nurse in the British Empire during the 19th Century. Born in Kingston, Jamaica as Mary Grant, she was the daughter of a Scottish officer and a black mother. Mary’s mother ran a hospital/boarding house in Kingston and she, after a brief period as
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Source: Black Past
May
14
1881
Pugh, Mary E. (1959- )
Mary E. Pugh, founder of Pugh Capital Management, a successful investment firm in Seattle, was the first black woman and youngest person to be named Senior Vice President at Washington Mutual Savings Bank. Born to a Boeing engineer father and real estate agent mother, Pugh’s family lived
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Source: Black Past
Johnson, Magic
Johnson, Magic (Earvin Johnson, Jr.), 1959–, African-American basketball player, b. Lansing, Mich. After winning the national championship with Michigan State Univ. (1979), he joined the Los Angeles Lakers and with them won five National Basketball Association championships
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
(1920) Archibald Grimke, “The Shame of America, or the Negro’s Case Against the Republic”
Archibald Grimke was born enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina in 1849.  After the Civil War, Archibald and his younger brother Francis, enrolled at Lincoln University.  Archibald graduated in 1872 and then entered Harvard Law School.  After graduation he practiced in Boston.  By the 1880s Grimke
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Source: Black Past
Watson, Diane Edith (1933- )
Diane Edith Watson was born November 12, 1933 in Los Angeles, California and has spent the majority of her life in the Los Angeles area. Her father was a Los Angeles policeman and her mother worked nights at a post office after her parents divorced when Watson was
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Source: Black Past
Nov
12
1933
Sowande, Olufela (Fela) Obafunmilayo (1905-1987)
Musician, composer, professor, and conductor Fela Sowande was born May 1905 in Abeokuta, Nigeria.   He was the son of Emmanuel Sowande, who was an Anglican priest and influential in the development of Nigerian sacred music.  Fela Sowande was a musician and composer of music in the classical
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Source: Black Past
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