People, Locations, Episodes

Americas Armed Service Integrates Its Women’s Ranks

On this date in 1948, the Armed Services integrated its women’s defense organizations.

Ensign Edith De Voe was sworn into the Regular Navy Nurse Corps and in March, First Lieutenant Nancy C. Leftenant entered the Regular Army Nurse Corps, becoming the corps’ first Black members. Following World War II, racial and gender discrimination as well as segregation persisted in the military. Entry quotas and segregation in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) deterred many from re-entry between 1946 and 1947. By June 1948, only four Black officers and 121 enlisted women remained in the WAC.

Bennie Thompson, Politician born

*Bennie Thompson was born on this date in 1948. He is a Black politician serving as the U.S. representative for Mississippi. His district includes most of Jackson and is the only majority-black district in the state. It is about 275 miles long and 180 miles wide and borders the Mississippi River. The Mississippi Delta comprises […]

Shelly v. Kraemer is Ruled

*On this date in 1948, the United States Supreme Court rendered its landmark decision in Shelley v. Kraemer. Holding, by a vote of 6 to 0 (with three judges not sitting), the court ruled that courts cannot enforce racially restrictive covenants since this would constitute state action denying due process of law in violation of […]

Clarence Thomas, Conservative Judge born

Clarence Thomas was born on this date in 1948. He is an African American lawyer and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Thomas was born in the Pin Point, GA, community near Savannah. His father left his family when he was two years old. His mother was eventually unable to make ends meet and he then was raised by his grandfather.

Black History and the American Korean War, a story

*Black History and the American Korean War is affirmed on this date in 1948. U.S. President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, desegregating the armed forces on that date. Although he ordered the desegregation of the military, several all-black units participated in the early stages of what some call “the forgotten war.” Highpoints of all-black […]

Kweisi Mfume, Policy Advocate born

*Kweisi Mfume was born on this date in 1948. He is a former African American politician and current administrator, and activist.

Brown v. Baskin is Ruled

*On this date in 1948, Brown v. Baskin was ruled.  This was one of the legal building blocks against voter suppression against Black citizens in the United States.  One month after the South Carolina General Assembly repealed all statutes related to party primaries in the state to maintain its white primary, Black leaders formed the […]

William Dawson is Elected as America’s First Black Standing Committee Chairman

On this date in 1949, Rep. William L. Dawson of Illinois was elected chairman of House Expenditures Committee in Congress.

He was the first African American chairman of a standing congressional committee in the United States.

Lillian Fishburne, Navy Admiral born

*Lillian Fishburne was born on this date in 1949. She is an African American Rear Admiral (RADM) and Administrator.

Janice Brown, Judge born

*Janice Rogers Brown was born on this date in 1949. She is an African American judge.

From Laverne, Alabama, she attended segregated schools because there was no other opportunity for her to receive an education. She says, her family believed that change would come. At an early age, Rogers witnessed the day in 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision on the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. She recalls seeing her grandmother running across the street from her uncle’s house shouting, “They did it! Thank God, they did it!”

Webb v. School District No. 90 is decided

*On this date in 1949, Webb v. School District No. 90 was decided. This Supreme Court case involved 39 Black students fighting for educational rights. Background Population growth after World War II prompted the construction of a new $90,000—South Park Elementary School near Merriam, Kansas. The district school board had unlawfully established Walker School for […]

Thomas Sankara, Soldier and Pan-Africanist born.

*Thomas Sankara was born on this date in 1949. He was a Black African military officer, Marxist revolutionary, and Pan-Africanist. Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was born in Yako, French Upper Volta, Burkina Faso, the third of ten children to Joseph and Marguerite Sankara. His father, a gendarme, was Mossi–Fulani, while his mother, Marguerite Kinda, was of […]

Sahle-Work Zewde, Diplomat born

*Sahle-Work Zewde was born on this date in 1950.  She is an Ethiopian politician and diplomat.  Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sahle-Work attended elementary and secondary school at Lycée Guebre-Mariam, after which she studied natural science at the University of Montpellier, France. She is fluent in Amharic, French, and English. A veteran in the Ethiopian foreign […]

Briggs v. Elliott is Filed

On this date in 1950, Briggs v. Elliott, a civil Rights case was filed. This legal maneuver assisted the groundwork for Brown v. the Board of Education 4 years later, was filed.

McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents is Ruled

* On this date 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal conditions were unattainable in graduate and professional education in the McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents.