August 24, 1950 Chicago attorney and social worker Edith Sampson is named the first black person to be appointed a U.S. delegate to the United […]
Category: This Week in Black History
This Week in Black History
August 16, 1963 Television and advertising executive George Olden becomes the first black person to design a U.S. postage stamp when he creates a stamp […]
This Week in Black History
August 5, 1965 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil […]
This Week in Black History
Aug. 5, 1892 Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman gets a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, scout and spy during the Civil […]
This Week in Black History
July 23, 1962 Georgia native Jackie Robinson, the first black player to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, becomes the first black person […]
This Week in Black History
July 18, 1863 The 54th Massachusetts volunteer army, composed of free black men, charges Fort Wagner in Charleston, S.C. The attack, featured in the film […]
This Week in Black History
July 9, 1893 Chicago physician Daniel Hale Williams, the nation’s first black cardiologist, performs the first successful open heart surgery at Provident Hospital, the nation’s […]
This Week in Black History
July 6, 2002 Former Compton resident Serena Williams wins her first Wimbledon tennis tournament, defeating her sister Venus, winning her first Grand Slam singles title […]
This Week in Black History
July 1, 1991 Georgia-born attorney Clarence Thomas is nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall, the high court’s first black justice. Despite […]
This Week in Black History
June 24, 1936 Bethune-Cookman College President Mary McLeod Bethune, the 15th child of former slaves, is named director of negro affairs for the National Youth […]