On this Day in Black History

1760 - Jupiter Hammon, a New York slave, became the first African-American to publish. His was a poem titled "An Evening Thought, Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries".
1792 - Kentucky became the 15th state of the US
1796 - Tennessee became the 16th state of the US
1843 - Sojourner Truth began her career as an antislavery activist.
1861 - The first skirmish of the US Civil War took place at the Fairfax, VA Court House.
1864 - Senator Solomon Dill was assassinated in his home. Dill had allegedly made "incendiary speeches" to South Carolina Blacks.
1866 - The African American Registry (not the same as this website) features a brief article and definition of Civil Rights.
1869 - Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric voting machine.
1885 - The Appeal newspaper was founded
1909 - Warren E. Henry born
1920 - W. E. B. Du Bois received the Spingarn Medal, NAACP's highest award.
1921 - A race riot erupted in Tulsa, OK
1924 - Spelman Seminary became Spelman College.
1926 - Andy Griffith born
1926 - Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) born
1934 - Pat Boone (Charles Eugene Boone) born
1937 - Morgan Freeman born
1938 - Superman, the world's first super hero, appeared in the first issue of Action Comics.
1939 - Cleavon Little born
1941 - The U. S. Army activated the first African-American tank battalion, the 758th.
1953 - Haile Selasie received a ticker-tape parade in New York.
1961 - FM multiplex stereo broadcasting began.
1963 - Governor George Wallace vowed to defy an injunction that ordered the integration of the University of Alabama.
1966 - Approximately 2,400 persons attended White House Conference on Civil Rights.
1968 - Henry Lewis became the first Black musical director to lead a major US Orchestra (New Jersey Symphony)
1968 - Helen Keller died
1973 - WGPR became the 1st television station owned by Blacks
1979 - White rule ended in Rhodesia; Rhodesia became Zimbabwe
1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news station.
1991 - David Ruffin (Temptations) died of an apparent drug overdose.
1994 - South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth after an absence of 33 years.
1998 - Goodyear Tire & Rubber was sued for alleged discrimination towards black workers.
2001 - Jamal "Shyne" Barrow was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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