People, Locations, Episodes

The White Rose Home For Colored Working Girls Opens

*On this date, in 1897, the White Rose Home for Colored Working Girls was founded.   Also known as the White Rose Mission and the White Rose Industrial Association, it was created as a “Christian, nonsectarian Home for Colored Girls and Women” by black civic leaders Victoria Earle Matthews and Maritcha Remond Lyons. The settlement house, located in Manhattan’s Upper Westside neighborhood […]

The Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People Opens

*The Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People opened on this date in 1897. This facility was one of the earliest examples of a social welfare institution sponsored by Blacks for nonreligious purposes.

Los Angeles Hires Their First Black Firefighter

On this date in 1897, the first African American firefighter of the Los Angeles Fire Department was hired.

George Washington Bright was appointed by the Fire Commission as a call man and assigned to Engine Co. No. 6. On November 1st of that same year, he was promoted to a full-time hose man and assigned to Engine Co. No. 3. On January 31, 1900, Bright was promoted to Driver Third Class and assigned to Chemical Engine Co. No. 1.

The “Grandfather Clause” is Enacted

*On this date in 1898, the “Grandfather Clause” was enacted for voting purposes.

The Grandfather Clause was a legal or constitutional mechanism passed by seven Southern states during reconstruction to deny suffrage to black Americans. It meant that those who had enjoyed the right to vote prior to 1867, or their lineal descendants, would be exempt from educational, property, or tax requirements for voting. As a result, even if they met all the requirements, they were not allowed to vote.

Frazier Baker, Teacher is Lynched

*On this date in 1898, Frazier B. Baker was lynched.  He was a Black teacher who was appointed as postmaster of Lake City, South Carolina in 1897 under the William McKinley administration.   After Frazier Baker had been appointed postmaster of Lake City, local whites objected and had undertaken a campaign to force his removal. When these […]

The Spanish American War is Declared

The Spanish-American War was declared on this date in 1898. In this conflict the Black men of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries further proved their military abilities in battles and in guarding the Mexican border.

Members of both regiments fought in Cuba, participating in the battle at San Juan Hill in eastern Cuba, near the city of Santiago de Cuba. It was the scene (July, 1898) where Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders took part. The Tenth also served under General John J. Pershing in the expedition against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.

A Race Riot in Wilmington, North Carolina Occurs

On this date in 1898, the Wilmington race riot took place, which became a landmark in North Carolina history.

Williams v. B.O.E. is Decided

*On this date in 1898, Williams v. Board of Education was decided.  This landmark civil rights and education case was before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. In Williams v. Board of Education, black lawyer J.R. Clifford argued against the 1892 Tucker County Board of Education’s decision to shorten the school year for African American schoolchildren from nine […]

A Lawn Mower is Patented by a Black Man

On this date 1899, John Albert Burr invented one of the first rotary-blade lawn mowers.

This Black inventors Patent number is #624,749.

The Negro National Anthem Debuts

*On this date in 1900 “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as the Negro National Anthem and the Negro National Hymn was sung publicly for the first time.

Written by James Weldon Johnson with music by J. Rosamond Johnson, the occasion was a celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln at the Colored High School in Jacksonville, Fla. In 1926, Johnson acknowledged that the song was not written as an expression of African American solidarity.

He said “the song not only epitomizes the history of the race, and its present condition, but voices their hope for the future.”

Britain Request the “Golden Stool” From the Ashanti People

*On this date in 1900, Britain asked the Ashanti of Ghana for the Golden Stool.

The “Ballad of Casey Jones” is Written

On this date in 1900, one of America’s classic folk songs, The Ballad of Casey Jones, was written.

Wallace Saunders a black railroad laborer wrote it. It was one of three songs written by him. Very little is known about Wallace Saunders. He performed odd jobs for the railroad all his life.

At the time of Jones’ accident, Saunders was an engine wiper for the railroad shop in Canton, Mississippi. Saunders wrote The Ballad of Casey Jones the day after Jones’ fatal accident.

The Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association is Chartered

*On this date in 1900, the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA) was chartered. This a non-profit group formed by Helen Douglass with the mission “to preserve to posterity the memory of the life and character of the late Frederick Douglass” and “to collect, collate, and preserve a historical record of his story. Chartered by […]

The First Pan-African Conference is held

*On this date in 1900, the First Pan-African Conference began. This three-day event was in London just before the Paris Exhibition of 1900 “to allow tourists of African descent to attend both events”). On September 24, 1897, Henry Sylvester Williams was instrumental in responding to the European partition of Africa that followed the 1884 Berlin Conference. The formation […]

The Robert Charles Race Riot Occurs

*The Robert Charles riots began on this date in 1900. It occurred for three days in New Orleans, Louisiana, after a black laborer, Robert Charles, fatally shot a white police officer during an altercation and escaped arrest. Charles had come to New Orleans from Mississippi. He was a self-educated activist for civil rights. He believed […]