People, Locations, Episodes

Black History, and the American Boy Scout Movement, a story

The Scout Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

The National Negro Bar Association is formed

*The National Negro Bar Association (NNBA) began on this date in 1912.   It was the first national bar association for African American lawyers in the United States. The NNBA was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the time, the American Bar Association refused to accept black members, making the NNBA the only national bar association […]

Black History and The Girl Scouts of America

*On this date in 1912, the Registry marks the history of African American’s in the Girl Scouts of the USA.

The “All Nations” Baseball Team Takes the Field

*On this date of breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, we celebrated the founding of the World ‘All-Nations’ baseball team in 1912.   This barnstorming professional baseball team toured the American Midwest from 1912 to 1918, and again in 1920 and 1921, and from 1923 to 1925. It derived its name from the racial intersectionality of its […]

The ‘African Times And Orient Review’ is Published

*On this date in 1912, we celebrate the publication of African Times and Orient Review. This was a pan-Asian and Pan-African journal launched by Duse Mohamed Ali, a Black British actor and journalist, with the help of John Eldred Taylor.   The first Universal Races Congress, held in 1911 in the United Kingdom, inspired it and wrote of the global […]

‘Silent Sam’ (Confederate Monument), a story

*Silent Sam was affirmed on this date in 1913. It was a Confederate monument located on the University of North Carolina campus.  This bronze statue of a Confederate soldier was created by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson and stood on the historic McCorkle Place on the University campus. This location has been described as “the […]

The Spingarn Medal Award is Established

The the Spingarn Medal was established on this day in 1914, one of the most prestigious annual awards given in African America.

The Chilembwe Uprising Occurs

*On this date in 1915, The Chilembwe uprising occurred. This rebellion was against British colonial rule in Nyasaland (modern-day Malawi). John Chilembwe, a Black African Baptist minister, led it. Based around his Church in the village of Mbombwe in the southeast of the protectorate, the revolt leaders were mainly from an emerging Black middle class. They were motivated by grievances against the […]

The First Spingarn Medal Award is Issued

*On this date in 1915 Ernest Just, biologist, received the Spingarn Medal for pioneering research on fertilization and cell division.

He was the first recipient of the prestigious award given yearly by the NAACP. Professor Just was head of the Department of Physiology, Howard University Medical School.

The Black Legion is Formed

*The Black Legion is affirmed on this date in 1915.  They were a white supremacist terrorist organization active in the Midwestern United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s.   In 1915, the release of D. W. Griffith’s film, The Birth of a Nation, inspired a revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in […]

American Troops Occupy Haiti

*The United States’ occupation of Haiti began on this date in 1915.  This intervention occurred following the murder of dictator President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by insurgents angered by his political murders of elite opposition.   That day, 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, under the authority of US President Woodrow Wilson. The first invasion […]

The National Half Century Exposition and Lincoln Jubilee is held

*The National Half Century Exposition and Lincoln Jubilee were held from this date to September 16, 1915. Also known as the National Half Century Anniversary Exposition and The Lincoln Jubilee: 50th Anniversary Celebration was held at the Coliseum on Wabash Avenue and Fifteenth Street, Chicago, Illinois. This event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the emancipation proclamation in […]

Ota Benga Commits Suicide

*On this date in 1916, Ota Benga, an African pygmie kept in the Bronx Zoo, killed himself.

Benga was brought to America from the Belgian Congo in 1904 by noted African explorer Samuel Verner along with other pygmies and displayed in an exhibit in the 1904 St. Louis world’s Fair. In 1906, the crowds thronged the monkey house exhibit at the Bronx Zoo (New York Zoological Park) to view Benga. In time he began to hate being the object of curiosity.

The Waco Horror Lynchings, a story

The Waco Horror took place on this date in 1916, one of many lynching of Blacks by whites in America during the 20th century.

Of the 492 recorded lynching that occurred in Texas between 1882 and 1930, this incident received the greatest dishonor, both statewide and nationally. The incident began about sundown on the evening of May 8, 1916, near the town of Robinson, TX, eight miles south of Waco.

Willie McGee, Laborer and Capital Punishment Victim, born.

*The birth of Willie McGee is celebrated on this date in c. 1916. He was a Black laborer who was executed in 1951 after being controversially convicted for the rape of a white woman during the Jim Crow Era. Early life Willie McGee was born in Pachuta, Mississippi, to Bessie and Jasper McGee Sr. at […]