Week of March 20-26
March 26
1852—The leading Black nationalist of the 1800s Martin R. Delany publishes his manifesto entitled “The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny...
Week of March 13-19
March 13
1794—Eli Whitney patents the Cotton Gin—a device which made cotton production much more profitable by more efficiently separating the seed...
Week of February 27-March 5
February 27
1748—This is the probable birth date of Prince Hall—the “Father of Black Masons.” Hall was a veteran of America’s...
Week of February 20-26
February 20
1895—The great Black leader Frederick Douglass dies at 78 in Washington, D.C. Douglass was the foremost Black abolitionist struggling to...
Week of February 13-19
February 13
1635—The nation’s first public school is established in Boston, Mass. It was called the Boston Latin School. Blacks could not...
Week of February 6-12
February 6
1820—The first organized emigration of Blacks from the U.S. back to Africa occurs. Eighty-six free Blacks leave New York Harbor...
Week of January 30-February 5
January 30
1797—Sojourner Truth is born Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County, N.Y. She becomes the most influential and powerfully spoken Black...
Week of January 16-22
January 16
1901—Hiram R. Revels, the first African-American elected to the United States Senate, died on this day in Aberdeen, Miss. Revels,...
Week of January 9-15
January 9
1906—Poet and novelist Paul Lawrence Dunbar dies. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Dunbar rapidly gained national recognition as a poet. Although...
