April 26, 2003 Rosemary Brown, the first black woman in Canada to be elected to public office, died. Brown was born May 17, 1930 in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to Canada to attend McGill University. During the 1960s, she worked in social work for various organizations in Canada. In 1972, she was elected to the […]
Archive | Politics RSS feed for this section
April 15th in African American History – Harold Lee Washington
April 15, 1922 Harold Lee Washington, the first and only African American Mayor of Chicago, was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Bronzeville, the epicenter of black culture in Chicago. After service in the United States Army Air Force from 1942 to 1945, Washington earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Roosevelt College […]
Chris Hani – April 10th in African American History
April 10, 1993 Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party and Chief of Staff of the armed wing of the African National Congress, was assassinated. Born Martin Thembisile Hani on June 28, 1942 in the small town of Cofimvaba, Hani joined the ANC Youth League at the age of 15. He also studied […]
Colin Luther Powell – April 5th in African American History
April 5, 1937 Colin Luther Powell, the first African American United States Secretary of State, was born in Harlem, New York. Powell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 1971. While at City […]
Wilson Camanza Riles – April 1st in African American History
April 1, 1999 Wilson Camanza Riles, the first African American to be elected to statewide office in California, died. Riles was born June 27, 1917 near Alexandria, Louisiana. He graduated from Northern Arizona State University in 1940 and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1971, Riles was elected […]
March 23rd in African American History – Patricia Roberts Harris
March 23, 1985 Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African American woman to serve as a United States Ambassador, died. Harris was born May 31, 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois. She graduated summa cum laude from Howard University in 1945 and in 1960 graduated from the George Washington University National Law Center. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson […]
March 6th in African American History – Michael Norman Manley
March 6, 1997 Michael Norman Manley, two-time Prime Minister of Jamaica, died. Manley was born December 10, 1924 in St. Andrew, Jamaica. He served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II and graduated from the London School of Economics in 1949. In 1967, he won election to the Jamaican House of Representatives […]