February 19, 1885 Jonathan Jasper Wright, lawyer and South Carolina Supreme Court judge, died. Wright was born February 11, 1840 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. After studying the law for three years and feeling himself qualified for the legal profession, Wright applied for admission to the Bar, but was refused an examination because of his race. […]
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The Orangeburg Massacre – February 8th in African American History
February 8, 1968 The Orangeburg Massacre occurred in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Police fired into a crowd of approximately 200 mostly students who were protesting segregation at a local bowling alley. Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith, students at South Carolina State University, and Delano Middleton, a high school student, were killed and 27 other protesters were injured. […]
Margaret Bush Wilson – January 30th in African American History
January 30, 1919 Margaret Bush Wilson, lawyer and activist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Wilson earned her Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Talladega College in 1939 and her law degree from the Lincoln University of Missouri School of Law. After passing the bar, she was the second woman of color admitted to […]
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson – January 23rd in African American History
January 23, 1976 Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson, concert singer, scholar, stage and film actor, athlete, and multi-lingual orator, died. Robeson was born April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey. He won a full academic scholarship to Rutgers University, the third African American student accepted at Rutgers. Although he was the only black student on campus […]
Barak Obama’s 2nd Term Inauguration on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 21st in African American History
January 21, 2013 Today is only the second time in history when the Presidential Inauguration and the federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. converge. Making this day even more historic is that Barack Obama, the first African-American President is being sworn into office on a day dedicated to a man who dreamed of the […]
January 4th in African American History – Charlotte E. Ray
January 4, 1911 Charlotte E. Ray, the first black woman lawyer, died. Ray was born January 13, 1850 in New York City. After graduating from the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth, she attended Howard University where she was a student and teacher. In 1872, Ray graduated from Howard University School of Law with […]
January 2nd in African American History – John Hope Franklin
January 2, 1915 John Hope Franklin, historian and author, was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma. Franklin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fisk University in 1935 and his Master of Arts degree and Ph. D. in history from Harvard University in 1936 and 1941, respectively. In the early 1950s, he served on the NAACP Legal […]