People, Locations, Episodes

The Wolof African Community, a story

*The Wolof people are celebrated on this date in c 800. They are a West African ethnic community in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. They have a history that dates to the 8th century. Their early history is unclear. The Wolof belonged to the medieval era Wolof Empire of the Senegambia region. Details of the pre-Islamic religious […]

Gunston Hall (Plantation), a story

*Gunston Hall is affirmed on this date in 1759. This is an 18th-century Georgian plantation and the home of white-American Founding Father George Mason. It is near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia. Built between 1755 and 1759 as the main residence and headquarters of a 5,500-acre estate. The interior of the house and its design […]

The Sisters of the Holy Family Congregation is Founded

The Sisters of The Holy Family Parish, an African American congregation of pontifical status, was founded on this date in 1842 in New Orleans.

It was founded by a free woman of African descent, Henriette Delille, some 20 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. It was created by Henriette Delille of New Orleans, Juliette Gaudin, born in Cuba of Haitian parents, and Mlle Alcot, a young French woman.

It was started under the direction of Father Etienne Rousselon, Vicar-General of the Diocese of New Orleans.

Shaw University is Founded

On this date in 1865, Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, a private, coeducational institution, was founded. Shaw is the first Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) founded in the South, and one of over 100 in the America.

Laurence C. Jones, Administrator born

*Laurence Jones was born on this date in 1882.  He was a Black educator, administrator, and activist.  From St. Joseph, Missouri, his father worked as a porter at the Pacific House Hotel.  Laurence Clifton Jones came from a family of educators with an uncle who founded the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute in Michigan in 1846.   When he was 15, […]

Lester Melrose, Blues Music Producer born

*Lester Melrose was born on this date in 1891. He was a white-American talent scout and producer of Chicago blues music. Lester Franklin Melrose was born in Sumner, Illinois, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose, who owned a small farm. He relocated to Chicago around 1914 and tried unsuccessfully as a catcher […]

A Black Man Patents an Electric Railway Conduit

On this date 1893, Granville T. Woods of Cincinnati, a Black inventor, patented the electric railway conduit.  The patent is #509065.  For a while he manufactured and sold his inventions through the Woods Electric Company, but he later sold his patent rights to the General Electric Company.

Black History and The Rhodes Scholarship, a story

*The Rhodes scholarship is celebrated on this date in 1902. It is one of the most prestigious and oldest international fellowship programs for graduates and prolific intellectuals in the world. Created and named after South African mining magnate Cecil John Rhodes, the program brings together more than 80 scholars each year from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Botswana, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Germany, Jamaica, and the United States, from which 32 scholars are chosen. Scholars are awarded scholarships worth $50,000 each for two years of study at Oxford University.

Coleman Hawkins, Jazz Tenor Saxophonist born

Coleman Hawkins, an African American jazz composer and saxophonist, was born on this date in 1904.

The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching is Formed

*On this date in 1930, the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL) was founded.   Activist Jesse Ames founded ASWPL with headquarters in Atlanta.  The organization initially excluded Black women and appealed directly to white southern women to stop the lynching. The ASWPL secured the signatures of 40,000 southern women on its ‘Pledge Against Lynching’ (see below). Despite encountering hostile […]

Etta Z. Falconer, Math Educator born

*The birth of Etta Falconer in 1933 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American mathematician and educator.

James DePreist, Classical Musician born

*James DePreist was born on this date in 1936. He is an African American performer, composer, arranger, and conductor of music and poet.

The Hollywood Victory Committee Negro Division is Formed

*The Hollywood Victory Committee Negro Division was created on this date in 1941. Chaired by Hattie McDaniel, this was a Black subcommittee of the white Hollywood Victory Committee. Both committees were associated with the Screen Actors Guild to support American troops during World War II. It provided a means for stage, screen, television, and radio performers […]

Abdul Alkalimat, Author and Professor born

*Abdul Alkalimat was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black author and professor of African American studies and library and information science. Born Gerald Arthur McWorter in Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, he lived with his family in the Frances Cabrini Houses until 1953, when they moved to the city’s West Side. Alkalimat is the […]

‘Black Nativity’ Debuts on Broadway

On this date in 1961, “Black Nativity” opened on Broadway. Langston Hughes’ self-described “gospel song play” was staged at New York City’s Lincoln Theater.

The Christmas story performed in dialog, narrative, pantomime, gospel song, and folk spirituals is an expression of Hughes’ late-in-life interest in African American spirituality and the oral traditions of the African American church.