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TODAY
IN HISTORY
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| January
1, 1863 |
Emancipation
Proclamation declared to free slaves in the USA |
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January 2, 1959
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Fidel Castro leads rebel army across Cuba
and takes control after Bastista regime collapses
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January 3, 1621
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William Tucker is born in the USA….first
Black child on official record
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January 4, 1971
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Congressional Black Congress formed in
the USA
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January 5, 1943
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William H. Hastie, civilian to Secretary
of war, resigns to protest segregation and discrimination
in US Armed Forces
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January 6, 1993
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Famed musician, John Birks "Dizzy
Gilespie" dies
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January 8, 1912
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The African National Congress is formed
as chiefs, representatives of people and church organizations
and other prominent individuals gather in Bloemfontein, South
Africa
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January 12, 1970
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The 31-month civil war in Nigeria comes
to an end with an estimated 2 million dead, including a generation
of Ibo tribe children
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January 15, 1929
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Martin Luther King, civil rights leader
is born in Atlanta, Georgia
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January 17, 1917
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Virgin Islands is purchased by the USA
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January 19, 1994
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Bob Marley is inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame
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January 20, 1993
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Inaugural poem written and read by Maya
Angelou for President, Bill Clinton
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January 22, 1879
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Zulu warriors hand the British army one
of its worst defeats in the Battle of Isandhlwana, in Natal,
South Africa. The British invading force lose 52 officers
and 1277 enlisted men in a single day, where the Zulu warriors,
fighting mostly with spears and cowhide shields, were the
victors.
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January 23, 1977
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ABC introduces the award winning mini-series
Roots to television audience
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Feb. 1, 1902
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Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri.
He will be known as one of the most prolific poets of the
20th century and a leading voice in the Harlem
Renaissance
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Feb. 2, 1948
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President Harry Truman sends a message
to Congress, pressing for civil rights legistration, including
anti-lynching provisions.
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Feb. 3, 1810
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Antonio Ruiz (El Negro Falucho) national
hero of Argentina, dies for his country
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Feb. 6, 1945
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Bob Marley, international Reggae artist,
is born in St. Ann, Jamaica
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Feb. 7, 1974
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Grenada declares independence from the
Britain
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Feb. 8, 1925
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Marcus Garvey enters US Federal prison
in Atlanta on questionable mail fraud charges in connection
with the sale of stock in the Black Star Line.
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Feb. 9, 1944
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Alice Walker, best known for writing The
Color Purple, which will win the American Book Award and the
Pulitzer prize, is born in Eatonton, Georgia
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Feb. 11, 1990
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Nelson Mandela is released from prison
after serving 27 years as a political prisoner
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Feb. 12, 1900
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James Weldon Johnson writes the lyrics
for ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ which becomes the "Black
National Anthem" for a Lincoln birthday celebration
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Feb. 14, 1760
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Richard Alien, founder and first bishop
of the AME Church is born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsilvania
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Feb. 15, 1964
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Louis Armstrong’s ‘Hello Dolly’ becomes
the number one record on Bill-board’s top 40 charts, replacing
the Beatles’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
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Feb. 17, 1963
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Michael Jordon, star basketball player,
is born in Brooklyn, New York. His phenomenal style and scoring
ability will earn him universal acclaim
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Feb. 19, 1919
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The first Pan African Congress is held
in Paris, France
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Feb. 20, 1927
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Sidney Poitier, one of the modern movies’
leading men, is born in Miami, Florida
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Feb. 21, 1965
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Malcolm X, former Black Muslim leader is
assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. He is one
of the most charismatic leaders of the civil rights movement.
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Feb. 20, 1895
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Frederick Douglas, renown slavery abolitionist,
dies in Cedar Hill, Washington at 78 years of age
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Feb. 23, 1868
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Dr. William Edward Burghart DuBois is born
in Great Barrington, Mass.
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Feb. 25, 1964
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Muhammad Ali, considered by many as the
greatest heavyweight champion of all time, wins his first
championship title by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami
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Feb. 28, 1967
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WBA and New York Athletic Commission withdraws
recognition of Muhammad Ali as World Heavyweight Boxing champion
because of his refusal to serve in armed forces
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Feb. 29, 1968
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The Kerver Commission said white racism
was the main cause of the riots in American cities and that
America was ‘moving towards two societies, one Black and one
White, separate and unequal’
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March 1, 1896
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Ethiopians defeat the Italian colonial
army in the Battle of Adwa
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March 2, 1807
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US Congress declares the importation of
slaves into the jurisdiction of the USA, illegal as of January
1, 1808
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March 3, 1988
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Juanita Kidd Stout becomes the first African-American
woman to serve on a state Ssupreme Court when she is sworn
in as an associate justice in Pennsylvania
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March 4, 1932
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Miriam Zensi Makeba "Empress of African
Song" is born in Prospect Township, South Africa. Although
she is exiled from her homeland, Makeba becomes an internationally
known singer and critic of apartheid
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March 5, 1770
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Crispus Attucks becomes the first African-American
martyr in the American Colonies when he is killed during the
Boston Massacre, which starts the American Revolution
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March 6, 1957
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Ghana declares independence from British
colonial rule under the leadership of Pan-Africanist, Kwame
Nkrumah
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March 7, 1539
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Esteban de Dorantes, native of Azamoor,
Morocco, discovers Arizona and New Mexico
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March 8, 1825
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Alexander Thomas Augusta is born free in
Norfolk, Virginia. A surgeon and practising physican, he will
become the first African-American faculty member of an American
medical school, Howard University
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March 9, 1841
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Joseph Cinque and 37 African slaves who
revolted on the slave ship Amistad are ordered free by the
US Supreme Court and returned to Africa after successfully
appealing their mutiny conviction on grounds that they were
kidnapped by outlawed slave traders.
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March 10, 1913
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Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who led
over 300 slaves to freedom, dies at 93 years in Auburn, New
York
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March 11, 1868
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Moshweshe, South African king and diplomatic
genius dies
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March 12, 1791
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Banjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’enfant
are commissioned to plan and develop Washington D.C.
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March 13, 1979
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Grenadian people revolt and overthrow Prime
Minister, Eric Gairy and establishes People’s Revolutionary
Government under the leadership of Maurice Bishop.
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March 14, 1889
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Menelik II, becomes Emperor of Ethiopia
and serves during the frantic race for African countries by
European countries. Menelik’s forces will defeat the Italians
at Aduwa and force Italy to accept Ethiopia’s independence
in 1896.
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March 16, 1827
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First Black newspaper, The Freedom Journal
is published in New York City
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| March 17, 1919 |
Nathaniel Adams
Cole is born in Montgomery, Alabama. Better known as Nat King
Cole, he will start his musical career in a band with his brother
Eddie. |
| March 18, 1939 |
Charley Pride is
born in Sledge, Mississippi. Intent on a career in baseball,
he will begin his country music career in 1960 singing between
innings at a company sponsored baseball game where he is a player. |
| March 19, 1937 |
The Count Basie
Orchestra, with vocalists Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing opens
at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. |
| March 20, 1957
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Spike Lee is born
in Atlanta, Georgia. His films, among them She’s Gotta Have
It, Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, explore the social,
political and interpersonal relationships between African-Americans
and whites. |
| March 21, 1960 |
Police in Sharpeville,
fire on Black south Africans protesting racial pass laws. The
protestors will suffer 72 deaths and over 200 injuries in two
days of violence that will become known as the Sharpeville Massacre.
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| March 22, 1492
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Alonzo Pietro,
an experienced explorer, sets sail with Christopher Columbus
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| March 23, 1916 |
Marcus Mosiah
Garvey arrives in America from Jamaica |
| March 24, 1870 |
Canada gives voting
rights to Blacks |
| March 25, 1843 |
Black exporer
Dodson sets out in search of the North West Passage |
| March 26, 1872
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Thomas J. Martin
is awarded the patent for inventing the fire extinguisher |
| March 27, 1984
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Ahmed Sekou Toure,
President of Guinea dies at 62 years of age |
| March 28, 1984 |
Educator and Civil
Rights activist Benjamin Mays dies in Atlanta, Georgia. He had
served as Dean of the School of Religion at Howard University
and President of Morehouse College, where he served as the mentor
to the young Martin Luther King Jr. |
| March 29, 1959 |
Barthelemy Boganda,
president and founder of the Central African Repyblic, dies
in a plane crash |
| March 30, 1870 |
USA government
passes the 15th Amendment, which guarantees the right to vote
regardless of "race, color or previous condition of servitude".
Despite this amendment, it will be almost 100 years before African-Americans
become universally able to vote. |
| March 31, 1988
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Toni Morrison wins
the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved, a powerful novel of a runaway
slave who murders her daughter rather than see her raised in
slavery. |
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Continued.... |
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