This Week In Black History, Oct. 17-23

WILMA RUDOLPH

Week of October 17-23
November 7
1837—Elijah P. Lovejoy, one of the White heroes of Black history, is killed by a pro-slavery mob while defending his anti-slavery newspaper in Alton, Ohio.
1841—The “Slave Revolt On The Creole” occurs when 125 Black slaves overpower the crew of the slave ship Creole and sail it to the Bahamas, where they were granted freedom and political asylum.
1876—The disputed presidential election which changed the course of Black history occurs. The dispute led to the Hayes-Tilden Compromise. In order to be declared president, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes reached an agreement with southern Democrats, which had the effect of ending much of Reconstruction and the protection of Black rights. The Jim Crow era began with “Black codes” and other measures which severely limited Black rights. Many of these rights were not restored until the 1960s.
1934—The first Black Democrat is elected to the United States Congress. His name was Arthur L. Mitchell. Up until this point in history, most Blacks were Republicans because of the roles of Abraham Lincoln and a group, known as the “Radical Republicans,” played in ending slavery. Mitchell defeated Oscar DePriest for the congressional seat from Chicago.

ESTHER ROLLE

November 8
1898—The Wilmington Massacre occurs. A mob of Whites launches a terror campaign against Blacks in Wilmington, N.C. They destroy a Black newspaper plant, seize control of city government and officially leave nine to 11 Blacks dead. However, the unofficial death toll was said to be closer to 100. The Black press building was burned.
1933—Actress Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Fla. She is best remembered for her role in the 1970s television series “Good Times.”
1966—Edward W. Brooke is elected the first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction. He was a Republican from Massachusetts. The 90-year-old Brooke is scheduled to receive a Congressional award next month for his service.
November 9

BenjaminBanneker
BENJAMIN BANNEKER

1731—Multi-talented scientist and inventor Benjamin Banneker is born in Ellicott Mills, Md. He is generally considered America’s first Black scientist. Banneker constructed the first clock made in America; completed the design and layout of Washington, D.C., after Pierre L’Enfant returned to France; published a farmer’s almanac for 10 years, while also studying astronomy; and predicted solar eclipses.
1868—The governor of Arkansas, Powell Clayton, calls out the state militia and declares martial law in 10 counties in a bid to put down a Ku Klux Klan-led insurrection.
1868—The Howard University Medical School—the first designed to train Black medical personnel—opens in Washington, D.C. There were eight students in the first class.

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WILLIAM MONROE TROTTER

1901—Fiery pioneer Black journalist William Monroe Trotter starts the Guardian newspaper in Boston, Mass. Trotter made headlines throughout the nation when in November 1914, he confronted President Woodrow Wilson in the White House for failing to do more to stop the lynching of Blacks. For daring to argue with the president, the New York Times denounced Trotter saying he had “superabundant untactful belligerency.” But W.E.B. DuBois called him “fearless.”

Dorothy-Dandridge
DOROTHY DANDRIDGE

1922—Actress Dorothy Dandridge is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is generally considered one of Hollywood’s first Black female sex symbols. She appeared opposite Harry Belafonte in “Carmen Jones” and was the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar. Dandridge died in 1965 at age 43.
November 10
1898—George H. White introduces the first anti-lynching legislation in the U.S. Congress. The North Carolinian was one of the last Blacks in Congress before Jim Crow laws and attitudes drove most Blacks from high elected offices. After leaving Congress, he founded a Black bank and established an all-Black community called Whiteville near present day Trenton, N.J.

GRANVILLE T. WOODS

1891—Granville T. Woods patents an improvement to the electric railway. Woods was one of the most prolific Black engineers and inventors in U.S. history. His motto could have been “I didn’t invent the product, but I invented something that made it better.” Born in Columbus, Ohio, he invented and patented improvements to the electric railway, air brakes, telegraphs, telephones and numerous other products.
1957—Charlie Sifford wins the Long Beach Open, becoming the first Black person to win a major professional golf tournament.
1994—Famed Jazz singer Carmen McRae dies in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was born in New York City on April 8, 1920.
November 11

NatTurner
NAT TURNER

1831—Anti-slavery rebel Nat Turner is hanged roughly two months after his capture for leading the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history. The minister and mystic told reporters God had called on him to lead the revolt, which left 55 Whites dead.
November 12
1775—General George Washington, first president and “father of the country” issues an order barring free Blacks from serving in the army as the U.S. struggled for independence from England. Washington was also a slave owner. The slave owning aristocracy felt if free Blacks fought for America’s liberation they would demand freedom for their enslaved brothers and sisters. Despite Washington’s order, hundreds of Blacks did fight in the Revolutionary War.

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THE BANJO by HENRY OSSAWA TANNER

1900—Henry Ossawa Tanner becomes an internationally acclaimed artist as he takes a silver medal for his art displayed at the Paris Exposition. Nearly 7,000 artists had entered their works. The Pittsburgh-born Tanner had numerous major works including his painting called “The Banjo Lesson.”
1922—Sigma Gamma Rho is founded by seven Black women in Indianapolis, Ind. The sorority grows to become one of the largest in the nation.
1977—Ernest “Dutch” Morial is elected the first Black mayor of New Orleans, La.

WILMA RUDOLPH

1994—Track and field great and Olympics star Wilma Rudolph dies in Nashville, Tenn., at the age of 54.
November 13
1839—The Liberty Party—the nation’s first anti-slavery political party—is formed in Warsaw, N.Y. Among the founders were legendary abolitionists Samuel Ringgold Ward and Henry Highland Garnet. At this point in history the two major political parties—the Whigs and the Democrats—were both pro-slavery.
1913—Pioneering Black surgeon Daniel Hale Williams becomes a member of the American College of Surgeons. Williams is generally credited with being the first American doctor to perform open heart surgery. The history-making event took place in Chicago on July 9, 1893.
1922—Many Black historians have selected this as the date which marks the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance—perhaps the greatest period of artistic achievement by African-Americans in U.S. history. From poetry to plays and from paintings to sculptures, Black art reached a pinnacle. In a broader sense, the Harlem Renaissance ran from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s.

JANET COLLINS

1951—Ballerina Janet Collins becomes the first Black woman to dance with the Metropolitan Opera Co. in New York City. Prior to that achievement she performed with the world-renowned Black dance troupe directed by the legendary Katherine Dunham.
1955—Whoopi Goldberg, given name Caryn Johnson, is born in New York City. She graduates from a stand-up comedy routine to become a major Hollywood actress and is currently one of the principal hosts of the television talk show “The View.”
1956—The United States Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling which banned segregation on public buses in Montgomery, Ala. The decision was forced in major measure by a year-long Black bus boycott sparked by the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a White man. Leadership of the boycott also launched the civil rights career of Martin Luther King Jr. and his status as the national Black leader.
1967—Carl Stokes wins the race for mayor in Cleveland, Ohio. In doing so, he becomes the first Black mayor of a major American city.
1985—New York Met Dwight Gooden becomes the youngest pitcher ever to win the Cy Young award.

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