Historical Events — Black History Month Columbus

[Richard & Mildred Loving | January 6, 1959] Richard and Mildred Loving plead guilty to violating a Virginia law against interracial marriage and receive one-year sentences in prison unless they leave the state for 25 years.

[HUD Secretary | January 13, 1966] Dr. Robert Weaver was the administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency under the Kennedy Administration. JFK tried to appoint Dr. Weaver as a full Cabinet member but received pushed back. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Dr. Weaver in 1966 making him the first HUD Secretary.

[Macon Academy | January 28, 1963] Years after Brown v. Board of Education, civil rights lawyer Fred Gray files a lawsuit to desegregate public schools in Macon County, Alabama, leading to the founding of Macon Academy, an all-white private school.

[Harlem Hellfighters | February 17, 1919] The New York Tribune featured a three-page spread about 3,000 veterans of the 369th Infantry (formerly the 15th New York (Colored) Regiment) paraded up from 5th Ave. Their nickname was "Hellfighters", the Harlem Hellfighters.

[John Willis Menard | February 27, 1869] Congress refuses to seat John Willis Menard of Louisianna, the first Black man elected to the House of Representatives.

[6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion | February 1945] African American women were granted the opportunity to travel to serve overseas in late 1944. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was established to deliver mail to American troops, government personnel, and volunteers abroad in England. The Battalion was led by Major Charity Edna Adams.

[Dred Scott v. Sandford | March 6, 1857] The Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford rules that people of African descent cannot be U.S. citizens, are not protected by the Constitution and have no standing to sue in federal courts.

[Southern Manifesto | March 12, 1956] Congressmen from 11 Southern states issue the Southern Manifesto declaring opposition to the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision prohibiting racial segregation in public schools.

[Virginia's Eugenical Sterilization Act | March 20, 1924] Virginia's Eugenical Sterilization Act is signed into law and later becomes the model sterilization law for other states and for Nazi Germany.

[Greater Union Baptist Church | April 2, 2019] Greater Union Baptist Church burns down in Opelousas, Louisiana; it is the third Black church destroyed by fire in St. Landry Parish within 10 days.

[Critical Race Theory | April 28, 2021] After increasing resistance to discussions about America's racial history, Idaho becomes the first state to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools.

[Turner County, Georgia | April 27, 2007] White parents in Turner County, Georgia, protest a high school's decision to hold its first racially integrated prom; previously, parents had organized private, racially segregated proms for students.

[WWI Veterans | May 29, 1930] Black families of fallen World War I veterans are forced to travel separately from white mourners of a State Department trip to visit their loved ones' graves.

[Juneteenth | June 19, 1885] Months after the Emancipation Proclamation is signed, enslaved Black people in Texas finally learn about it when Union troops arrive and tell them the Confederacy lost the Civil War.

[Shelby Co. v. Holder | June 25, 2013] In Shelby Co. v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidates key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, removing protections that had shielded voters from racial discrimination since 1965.

[Historical Monuments | July 20, 2015] North Carolina lawmakers pass a bill requiring legislative approval to remove historical monuments after discussing how to protect Confederate monuments; the bill is signed days later.

[Philadelphia Transit | August 1, 1944] In Philadelphia, 6,000 white transit employees strike after eight Black men begin training as motormen on street cars, a job that had been reserved for white men only.

[American National Exhibition | August 14, 1959] Black models are cut from a fashion show for the American National Exhibition in Moscow after U.S. fashion editors object to racially-integrated scenes.

[First kidnapped Africans | August 20, 1619] A Dutch ship lands in Jamestown, Virginia, carrying the first kidnapped Africans trafficked to colonial Virginia, where they were sold into slavery.

[Tuskegee, Alabama | September 10, 1963] White students in Tuskegee, Alabama, withdraw from school after racial integration; with the help of state funds, most enroll at the private Macon Academy, which is still over 90% white today.

[Litte Rock, Arkansas | September 27, 1958] In Little Rock, Arkansas, residents vote to close public schools rather than integrate; schools remain closed for one year.

[Refusal of interracial marriage | October 6, 2009] A justice of the peace in Louisiana refuses to marry an interracial couple because of their race; he later admits that he denied marriage licenses to interracial couples for years.

[Mexico Olympics | October 16, 1968] U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise black-gloved fists on the medal stand at the Olympics in Mexico to protest racial inequality in the U.S.; they receive death threats for years after returning home.

[University of Tennessee | December 23, 1946] The all-white University of Tennessee basketball team refuses to pay against Duquesne University because the team includes on Black player.

[Alabama amendment | November 2, 2004] Alabama voters reject a constitutional amendment that would remove from the state constitution a provision requiring separate schools for "white and colored children."

[Ann Lowe | 1919- 1972] Ann Lowe earned the reputation as the first renowned African American fashion designer, designing the gown worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married JFK in 1953.

[Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander | 1921] In 1921, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics. Three years later, became the first African American woman to enroll in the School of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and earn a juris doctor degree.

[Thurgood Marshall | 1967-1991} After working several years as a civil rights lawyer, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

[Ralph Bunche | 1950] First African American Nobel Peace Prize awardee "for his work as mediator in Palestine in 1948-1949."

Historical Milestones

Join Us! 2024 BHMC Community Events