Empowering Students and Connecting Worlds

DATE

EVENT

Mar. 5, 1770

Crispus Attucks becomes one of the first casualties of the American Revolution.

Mar. 13, 1773

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, Black pioneer and explorer, founded the city of Chicago.

June 17, 1775

Peter Salem, a Minuteman, fights in the battle of Bunker Hill.

Feb. 2, 1807

Congress bans foreign slave trade.

May 27, 1837

The Institute for Colored Youth, which later became Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the first historically Black college, and the oldest historically Black institute of higher learning in the U.S. is founded.

May 24, 1854

Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, the first degree-granting historically Black college in the U.S. is founded.

Sept. 22, 1862

The Emancipation Proclamation is announced.

Jan. 1, 1863

President Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.

Jan 24, 1865

Congress passes 13th Amendment, which on ratification abolished slavery.

June 19, 1865

Blacks in Texas notified of Emancipation Proclamation; Juneteenth now marks this event.

Jan 9, 1866

Fisk University is founded in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mar. 2, 1867

U. S. Congress enacts charter to establish Howard University.

Nov. 28, 1868

14th Amendment, granting Blacks full citizenship rights, becomes part of the Constitution.

Mar. 30, 1870

15th Amendment ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to African Americans.

July 2, 1872

Elijah McCoy patents his first self-lubricating locomotive engine.  The quality of his inventions helped coin the phrase “The Real McCoy.”

Dec. 9, 1872

P.B.S. Pinchback from Louisiana becomes first African American governor in U. S.

Feb. 14, 1879

B. K. Bruce becomes first African American to preside over U. S. Senate. 

Dec. 2, 1884

Granville T. Woods patents telephone transmitter.

Apr. 7, 1885

Granville T. Woods patents Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph.

Sept. 13, 1886

Alain Locke, literary critic and first African American Rhodes Scholar, is born.

Oct. 11, 1887

Granville T. Woods patents telephone system and apparatus.

May 14, 1888

Slavery abolished in Brazil.

July 5, 1892

Andrew J. Beard patents rotary engine.

July 9, 1893

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs first successful open-heart operation.

Sept. 18, 1895

Booker T. Washington delivers famous Atlanta Exposition speech.

May 18, 1896

Plessy vs. Ferguson, U. S. Supreme Court upholds the doctrine of "separate but equal" education and public accommodations.

Oct. 20, 1898

The first African American owned insurance company, North Carolina Life Insurance Company, is founded.

May 23, 1900

Sgt. William H. Carney, first African American awarded Congressional Medal of Honor for valor at Fort Wagner, S. C., 1863.

Nov. 6, 1901

James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson compose "Lift Every Voice and Sing", widely regarded as the Black national anthem.

Feb. 12, 1909

NAACP founded in New York City.

Apr. 6, 1909

Matthew A. Henson, Black explorer, becomes first to reach North Pole.

Sept. 29, 1910

National Urban League founded in New York City.

July 25, 1916

Garrett Morgan, inventor of the gas mask, rescues six people from gas-filled tunnel in Cleveland, OH.

Aug. 26, 1920

19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote is ratified.

Feb. 19, 1923

In Moore vs. Dempsey decision, U. S. Supreme Court guarantees due process of law for Blacks in state courts.

Jan. 29, 1926

Violette Nealy Anderson becomes the first Black woman lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Aug. 23, 1926

Carter G. Woodson, educator, historian and author, inaugurates Negro History Week.

May 16, 1927

William H.Barnes becomes the first African American certified by any American Surgical Board.

Dec. 6, 1932

Richard B. Spikes patents automatic gearshift.

July 22, 1939

Jane M. Bolin from New York City, appointed first African American female judge.

Mar. 9, 1941

Amistad defendants freed by U.S. Supreme Court.

Dec. 22, 1943

W.E.B. DuBois, first African American elected to National Institute of Arts & Letters.

Dec. 13, 1944

First African American servicewomen sworn into the WAVES.

June 21, 1945

Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes first African American to command U.S. Army Corps base.

Apr. 10, 1947

Jackie Robinson first African American to play baseball in major leagues.

Jan. 12, 1948

Supreme Court rules African Americans have right to study law at state institutions.

July 12, 1949

Frederick M. Jones patents air conditioning unit used in food transportation vehicles. 

Dec. 10, 1950

Dr. Ralph J. Bunche becomes the first Black to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

May 17, 1954

U. S. Supreme Court declares segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Sept. 7, 1954

Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD public schools integrated.

Oct. 27, 1954

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes first African American general in the U.S. Air Force.

Dec. 5, 1955

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organizes Birmingham bus boycott.

Oct. 3, 1956

Nat King Cole becomes first Black performer to host his own TV show.

Sept. 24, 1957

Federal troops enforce court-ordered integration as nine children, who become known as the Little Rock Nine, integrate Central High School in Little Rock, AR.

May 4, 1961

Freedom Riders begin protesting segregation of interstate bus travel in the South.

Aug. 5, 1962

Nelson Mandella, South African freedom fighter, imprisoned.  He was not released until 1990.

Sept. 30, 1962

Under protection of federal marshalls, James Meredith enrolls as the first African American student at University of Mississippi.

June 12, 1963

Medgar W. Evers, civil rights leader, is assassinated in Jackson, MS.

Sept. 15, 1963

Four African American girls killed in Birmingham, AL church bombing.

June 24, 1964

Carl T. Rowan appointed the Director of the U.S. Information Agency.

Oct. 14, 1964

At 35, Dr. M. L. King, Jr., becomes youngest man ever to win Nobel Peace Prize.

Feb. 21, 1965

Malcolm X assassinated in New York.

Mar. 14, 1965

Montgomery bus boycott ends when municipal bus service is desegregated.

Mar. 21, 1965

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, AL.

July 13, 1965

Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American appointed U.S. Solicitor General.

June 13, 1967

Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American appointed to U.S. Supreme Court.

Apr. 4, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis.

Nov. 5, 1968

Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, NY, becomes first African American woman elected to Congress.

Feb. 13, 1970

Joseph L. Searles becomes first African American member of NY Stock Exchange.

Nov. 26, 1970

Charles Gordone becomes first Black playwright to receive the Pulitzer Prize.

Jan. 4, 1971

Congressional Black Caucus formed

Jun. 2, 1971

Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. becomes first African American admiral in U.S. Navy.

Apr. 8, 1974

Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's career all-time home run record.

Jan. 16, 1978

NASA names Black astronauts: Maj. Frederick D. Gregory, Maj. Guion S. Bluford, and Dr. Ronald McNair.

Apr. 12, 1983

Harold Washington becomes first African American mayor of Chicago.

Aug. 30, 1983

Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford becomes first African American astronaut in space.

Sept. 17, 1983

Vanessa Williams becomes first African American woman to win Miss America.

June 5, 1987

Dr. Mae C. Jemison becomes first Black woman astronaut.

Mar. 31, 1988

Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved.

Feb. 22, 1989

Col. Frederick D. Gregory becomes the first African American to command a space shuttle mission.

Aug. 10, 1989

Gen. Colin Powell is nominated Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first African American to hold the post.

Jan. 13, 1990

L. Douglas Wilder becomes first African American U. S. governor (Virginia) since Reconstruction.

Sept. 12, 1992

Dr. Mae C. Jemison becomes first African American woman to travel in space.

Oct. 16, 1995

Million Man March held in Washington, D.C.

Nov. 4, 2008

Barack Hussein Obama elected first African American president of the U.S.