Know Your History!
Up to the early 20th century, most American knowledge of Black history was limited to the African American struggle through slavery and emancipation. The significance of Black history is recognition of the advancements and accomplishments of a group of people once defined by the Constitution as three-fifths of a person. While slavery in America hosts the background of Black history, the African American impact on history reaches beyond the country’s early history, as African Americans have made significant contributions.
African-American Facts for Week of: July 10,
July 10, 1893
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the world’s first open-heart surgery on a young man named James Cornish. James was rushed to Provident Hospital in Chicago with a stab wound.
July 10, 1943
Arthur Ashe is born
Arthur Ashe, Born July 10, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. In 1963, Twenty-year-old Arthur Ashe becomes the first African-American to make the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team. Later that year, as the #1-ranked American and one of the best players in the world, Arthur applied for a visa to play in the South African Open, a prestigious event. His visa was denied because of the color of his skin. He decided to take a bold stand. His call for expulsion from South Africa from the tennis tour and Davis Cup play was quickly supported by numerous prominent individuals and organizations, both in and out of the tennis world. In effect, he raised the world’s awareness to the oppressive form of government (apartheid) of South Africa. He died February 6, 1993 in New York.
July 11, 1905
Niagara Movement
Black intellectuals and activists organized Niagara movement (the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) at a meeting near Niagara Falls. Delegates from fourteen states, led by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter, demanded abolition of all distinctions based on race.
July 12, 1936
Actress and founder of the Negro People’s
Actress and founder of the Negro People’s Theater, Rose McClendon dies
July 12, 1967
Racial Outbreaks
Twenty-three killed in Newark rebellion. The racial uprising spread to ten of the city’s twenty-three square miles. More than 1,500 persons were injured and 1,300 were arrested. Police reported 300 fires. The Newark rebellion, the worst outbreak of racial violence since Watts, spread to other New Jersey communities, including New Brunswick, Englewood, Paterson, Elizabeth, Palmyra, Passaic, and plainfield. The National Guard was mobilized.
July 13, 1972
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm became the first African American Presidential nominee, with 151 votes from the delegates polled.
July 13, 1965
The first Black solicitor general of the US was appointed, Thurgood Marshall
The first Black solicitor general of the US was appointed, Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court’s 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
Before becoming a judge, Marshall was a lawyer who was best known for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education, a decision that desegregated public schools. He served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after being appointed by President John F. Kennedy and then served as the Solicitor General after being appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. President Johnson nominated him to the United States Supreme Court in 1967.
July 14, 1914
Marcus Garvey
On July 14, 1914 Marcus Garvey arrived in Jamaica after a long tour which had taken him through Central America and Europe. Five days later on July 19th he launched the largest independent organization the world has ever seen – the Universal Negro Improvement Association , UNIA, intended to be the mouthpiece of black women, men and children all over the world.
July 14, 1951
George Washington Carver National Monument
George Washington Carver National Monument presented in Joplin MO, 1951.
July 15, 1970
James McGhee
James McGhee is sworn in as the first African American mayor of Dayton, Ohio.
July 15, 1822
Philadelphia opens its Public schools
Philadelphia opens its Public schools for Blacks.
July 16, 1862
Ida B. Wells Barnett
Ida Wells was born a slave on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to James and Elizabeth (Warrenton) Wells. The oldest in a family of four boys and four girls, she acquired from her parents a love of liberty and self-sufficiency that characterized her life. Ida B. Wells-Barnett is one of eleven prominent Tennesseans depicted in the official Tennessee bicentennial portrait and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). On March 25, 1931, in Chicago, at the age of 68, the ever-vocal “crusader for justice” was forever silenced.
Too often America revels in its greatness but often fails to confront or come to grips with the darker moments of American history. Exploring African American history could allow America to lance the boil of the past and move towards healing.
To me, the omission of any group from history teachings results in a limited understanding of history’s relationship with the present and future. Know your history.
Comments, I can be reached at:
