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Ota Benga, African native kept in zoo, kills self
An African native once kept in a Bronx zoo, Ota Benga, commits suicide. In 1906 the crowds thronged the monkey house exhibit at the Bronx Zoo (New York Zoological Park). Here were mans evolutionary ancestors - monkeys, chimpanzees, a gorilla named Dinah, an orangutan named Dohung and a African of
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Intellitech
Mar
20
1916
Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950.
Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry) in 1950. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas but grew up in Chicago. She is a witty poet who satirizes blacks and whites and attacks racial discrimination. She uses black language and rituals to proclaim black solidarity.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
1
1950
James B. Parsons
James B. Parsons becomes the first African American chief judge of a federal court, the U.S. District Court of Chicago. In 1961, Parsons became the first African American district court judge
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
19
1975
Ground is broken for the Harold Washington wing of the DuSable Museum in Chicago
Ground is broken for the Harold Washington wing of the DuSable Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by artist and poet Margaret T. Burroughs in 1961, the DuSable is one of the oldest African American museums in the U.S.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sep
17
1991
Otis Boykin
Otis F. Boykin was born on August 29, 1920 in Dallas, Texas. After graduating high school, he attended Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated in 1941 and took a job as a laboratory assistant with the Majestic Radio and TV Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. He undertook various tasks but
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Source: Black History Resources
People United To Save Humanity (PUSH) founded at
People United To Save Humanity (PUSH) founded at Chicago meeting by Rev Jesse Jackson.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Pride Academy
Dec
18
1971
Nkom, Alice (1945- )
Alice Nkom broke barriers for women by becoming the first female barrister in her country of Cameroon. She is also well known among Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) activists worldwide because of her legal advocacy for gay
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by New York University
The Arsenio Hall Show premieres.
The Arsenio Hall Show premieres. It is the first regularly scheduled nightly talk show to star an African American.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Jan
3
1989
Bank in Chicago Established
Seaway National Bank of Chicago established.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
25
1965
Baseball player Darryl Strawberry born
New York Mets controversial star outfielder Darryl Strawberry was born in Los Angeles.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Mar
12
1962
Emmett Till
Born: 7/25/1941 Chicago, IllinoisDied: 8/28/1955 Money, MississippiEmmett Till was an African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14, after reportedly flirting with a white woman.Till was from Chicago, Illinois, and visiting relatives in Money, a small town in the
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Henry Ransom Cecil McBay, chemist, is born
Henry Ransom Cecil McBay, chemist, Born May 29, 1914 in Mexia, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Science from Wiley College in 1934 and a Master of Science from Atlanta University in 1936. Henry McBay earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1945. McBay served as an Instructor
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Source: Blackfacts.com
May
29
1914
Baseball star Ernie Banks born
Baseball great Ernie Banks, former Chicago Cub star, was born in Dallas, TX.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
Jan
31
1931
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
Lincoln Motion Picture Company
African American audiences were generally ignored by the major motion picture studios in the first two decades of the 20th Century. Nonetheless, demand for films aimed at black theaters in both the South and larger Northern cities prompted the formation of several “black” motion picture
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Source: Black Past
Sponsored by National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAP) Boston Chapter
Ella Fitzgerald Born
Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song, born. In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
25
1918
William L. Dawson
William L. Dawson elected to Congress from Chicago. Black and white advocates of direct, nonviolent action organizing the Sleeping Car Porters under the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and securing recognition for them; and because of his fearless, determined mobilization of mass opinion that
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
3
1942
Bo Diddley is born.
Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates on Sunday December 30th 1928 on a small farm near the town of McComb, Mississippi, USA, in rural Pike County, close to the Louisiana border, the only child of Ethel Wilson and Eugene Bates. He had 3 half-brothers and
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Diversity In Action
Dec
30
1928
Lou Rawls is born
Louis Allen Rawls AKA Lou Rawls born in Chicago. He is a three-time Grammy-winning singer and has been a popular black MOR singer since the Fifties.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Dec
1
1935
Renowned attorney Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander dies in Philadelphia
Renowned attorney Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander dies in Philadelphia
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Nov
6
1989
Barnett, Powell S. (1883-1971)
Powell S. Barnett was a child when his father arrived in Roslyn to work in the coal mines.  Seeing no future in mining, Powell left for Seattle in 1906, and quickly found work. Years later, after working in construction and for hotels, he served as a clerk for State Senator Frank Connor.  Barnett
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Source: Black Past
Paul Robeson and Japanese Americans, 1942-1949
One hero and friend of Japanese Americans, both individuals and the community generally, was Paul Robeson. Robeson was (after Joe Louis) the most popular and visible African American of the 1930s and 1940s. He was a celebrated stage actor and movie star, an internationally famous folk
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Source: Black Past
Mae Jemison: Astronaut, Physician
Born: October 17, 1956
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
17
1956
Famous Black Astrologer not Psychic!
James Black was one of the first famous Black Astrologer in the early 70s! He lived in Chicago on the southside. He was born around 1910-1911! He read for clients like Earth Wind & Fire, Aura Ajayi, a famous psychic and countless more all over the world!He was once featured in Ebony Magazine!
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by Eastern Bank
Sep
8
1911
Police officers and Blacks exchanged sniper fire
Police officers and Blacks exchanged sniper fire on Chicagos West Side. One youth was killed and nine policemen were injured.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
8
1969
Ex-football star O.J. Simpson is cleared today of murdering his ex-wife Nicole B
Ex-football star O.J. Simpson is cleared today of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Oct
3
1995
Florence Price, composer born
Florence Beatrice Smith Price COMPOSER Birthplace: Little Rock, Arkansas April 9, 1888- June 3, 1953 Florences mother was a music teacher, so naturally, she learned how to play the piano at an early age.She had her first recital by the age of four and had composed and published her first musical
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Apr
9
1888
Martin Luther King Jr's Death
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated by white sniper in Memphis, Tennessee. Assassination precipitated a national crisis and rioting in more than one hundred cities. Forty-six persons were killed in major rebellions in Washington, Chicago and other cities. Twenty thousand federal troops and
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Sponsored by New York University
Apr
4
1968
Chris Rock Born
Comedian, author, recording artist, actor, and talk show host Chris Rock was born in South Carolina. He will become a critically comedian, hosting his self titled show on HBO. He will also bring to the forefront a boycott of the flag of his birthplace. He will star in and make a few movies of his
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Source: Blackfacts.com
Feb
7
1967
Branford Marsalis
Best Known
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Source: Fact Monster - Black History
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