People, Locations, Episodes

The Greenwood District (Tulsa, Oklahoma), a story

*Black Wall Street is affirmed on this date in 1907.  The Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, became known as “Black Wall Street,” one of the most commercially successful and affluent majority African American communities in the United States in the 20th century.   Many Blacks came to Oklahoma during the Native American removal. When these tribes […]

The American Convict Leasing Program, a story

*On this date in 1908, the American Convict Leasing Program began. This system of forced penal labor was practiced in the Southern United States and overwhelmingly involved Black men and boys at the end of the Reconstruction era. On this date, Green Cottenham (a Black man) was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County, Alabama, and charged […]

A Black Girl Wins The First National Education Association Spelling Bee in America.

*On this date in 1908, Marie C. Bolden, a Black girl, won the first National Education Association (NEA) Spelling Bee in America. This team-based, inter-city spelling bee was at the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. Predating the 1st Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1925 by seventeen years, this competition was the first national spelling bee […]

Allensworth, CA., California’s First Black Community is Founded

On this date, we celebrate the founding of Allensworth, California, in 1908. This was the first and only all Black town in California’s history.

The Springfield Race Riot Occurs

*On this date in 1908, the three-day Springfield race riot began.  This was an episode of racial violence against blacks by a mob of 5,000 white-American immigrants in Springfield, Illinois. Two black men had been arrested as suspects in a rape and murder. The alleged victims were two young white women and the father of one of them. When a mob seeking to lynch […]

The World’s First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion is Crowned

On this date in 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African American to win the world heavyweight boxing title.

Johnson knocked out Canadian Tommy Burns in the 14th round in a championship fight near Sydney, Australia. Whites hated Johnson, who held the heavyweight title until 1915, for his defiance of the “Jim Crow” racial segregation and oppression of early 20th-century America.

The NAACP is Founded

*This date marks the anniversary of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP) in 1909.

The NAACP Holds Its First Conference

On this date in 1909, the NAACP held its first conference, in New York City. Over 300 African Americans and Whites Americans attended.

Ida B. Wells Barrnett was a keynote speaker at the conference, condemning the lynching of Blacks in the United States.

Black Women And International Women’s Day, a story

*On this date in 1910 the world formally celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD). Since it’s beginning IWD is a global celebration of the wellness of women. Started at a time of great social turbulence and crisis, IWD inherited a tradition of protest and political activism. Yet since its inception there has been a pattern of racial exclusion of women of color, specifically Black Women!

The National Urban League is Founded

This date marks the founding of the National Urban League (NUL) in 1911. The National Urban League is a nonprofit social service and civil rights organization with headquarters in New York City.

Dearfield, Colorado is Founded

*On this date in 1910, Dearfield, Colorado was founded.  Dearfield is presently a ghost town and a former historically black majority settlement in Weld County, Colorado.  James Smith and J.M. Thomas of Denver planted 100 acres of winter wheat that day after arriving through the Great Migration.  It is 30 miles east of Greeley and […]

‘The Revolt of the Lash’ occurs

*On this date in 1910, ‘The Revolt of the Lash’ occurred. This was a naval mutiny in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.   At the beginning of the 20th century, Brazil attempted to transform its country into an international power by modernizing the Brazilian Navy. Social conditions gave Elite white officers oversight, primarily Black and mixed-race crew members. […]

Edgar V. Cunningham, Boy Scout born

*Edgar V. Cunningham, Sr. was born on this date in 1910. He was an early youth member of the Boy Scouts of America who, for several years, was believed to be the first Black Eagle Scout. Background. Cunningham was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was a member of Troop 12 in Waterloo, Iowa, in […]

The Crownsville Hospital Center of Maryland opens.

*The Crownsville Hospital Center opened on this date in 1911. This was a psychiatric hospital for Blacks located in Crownsville, Maryland. The first group of 12 patients arrived and lived in a work camp in a willow curing house adjacent to one of the willow ponds. Staff worked with them to prepare roads and to […]

The First ‘Universal Races Congress’ Assembles

*On this date in 1911, the first “Universal Races Congress” assembled.   This four-day conference at the University of London was a 20th-century global effort against racism. Speakers from several countries discussed race relations and how to improve them.  The congress, with 2,100 attendees, was organized by prominent humanists of that era; it was conceived as a result of comments in 1906 by Felix Adler and primarily […]