January
1st - Emancipation Proclamation made in 1863
- Kwanzaa celebration ends
5th - Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity founded at Indiana U. in 1911
9th - Fisk University founded in Nashville, TN in 1866
- Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity founded at Howard U. in 1914
10th - George Washington Carver born in 1864
11th - Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded in 1957
12th - The Congressional Black Caucus organized in 1971
13th - Delta Sigma theta Sorority founded at Howard U. in 1913
15th - Martin Luther King, Jr. born in 1929
- Alpha Kappa Alpha (1st Black Greek) Sorority founded at Howard U. in 1908
16th - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority founded at Howard U. in 1920
17th - Dr. Daniel H. Williams born in 1856
- Boxer Muhammad Ali born in 1942
18th - Actor James Earl Jones born in 1931
19th - Baptist Church organiz-ed by Blacks in Savannah, GA in 1788
25th - Constance B. Motley appointed the first Black Woman federal judge in 1966
30th - Harlem Globetrotters formed by Abe Saperstein in 1927
31st - Jackie Robinson born in 1919
February
Black History Month
1st - Langston Hughes born in 1902
5th - Henry "Hank" Aaron born in 1934
12th - NAACP founded in 1909
14th - Frederick Douglass born in 1818
- Morehouse College founded as Augusta Inst. in 1867
15th - Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded in 1957
23rd - William E.B. DuBois born in 1868
25th - Hirim Revels of Mississippi was the first African American elected to the US Senate in 1870
March
2nd - Howard University chartered in 1867
- Freedmans Bureau for Black Education established in 1865
6th - Dred Scott decision in 1857
13th - Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin in 1794
14th - African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded in 1821
16th - Freedom's Journal, first African American newspaper, published in 1827
17th - C.B. Scott patented the street sweeper in 1896
21st - 25th - Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march in 1965
23rd - Right to vote 15th Amendment ratified in 1870
30th - Morehouse College founded as Augusta Institute in 1867
31st - Jack Johnson born in 1871
April
5th - Booker T. Washington born a slave in VA in 1856
8th - Hank Aaron set new Major League Baseball home run record at 715 in 1974
9th - First Civil Rights Bill passed over Presidential veto in 1866
- Paul Robeson born in 1898
14th - First Abolition Society founded in Philadelphia in 1775
15th - Asa Phillip Randolph born in 1889
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee founded at Shaw Univ. in 1960
20th - Fisk University opens in 1866
- Harriet Tubman starts working on the Underground Railroad in 1853
23rd - National Urban League founded in 1910
May
1st - Howard U. chartered by Congress in 1867
- Gwendolyn Brooks wins Pulitzer Prize in 1950
6th - Civil Rights Act passed in 1960
- 1st Black Masonic Lodge founded in Boston, Prince Hall, 1787
13th - Joe Lewis born in 1914
17th - Supreme Court School Segregation ban in 1954
19th - Malcolm X born in 1925
24th - Lincoln University founded in Pennsylvania In 1854
26th - Voting Rights Bill passed in 1965
29th - Tom Bradley elected first Black Mayor of Los Angeles
June
June is Black Music Month
4th - First Baptist Church in the US founded in 1665
10th - Richard Allen started the Independent Methodist Movement in 1794
14th - First Abolition society founded in 1775
19th - Juneteenth
12th - Medgar Evers killed in 1963
21st - A.M.E. Zion Church organized in 1821
27th - A. Phillip Randolph became president of the first Black labor union, The Sleeping Car Porters
July
2nd - Thurgood Marshall born in 1908
- 1964 Civil Rights Bill signed by President L.B. Johnson
4th - Tuskegee Inst. founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881
8th - Billy Eckstine born in 1914
10th - Mary McLeod Bethune born in 1875
13th - Thurgood Marshall becomes first Black US Supreme Court Justice in 1967
21st - National Association of Colored Women founded in 1895
23rd - 14th Amendment adopted in 1868
31st - Whitney Young, Jr. born in 1921
August
6th - Mathew Henson helped discover the North Pole in 1909
- President Lyndon Johnson signed Voters Rights Bill in 1965
7th - Ralph Bunche born in 1904
8th - Mathew Henson born in 1865
14th - Ernest Everett Just born in 1893
21st - Nat Turner revolt in 1831
22nd - Civil Rights March on Washington held in 1963
23rd - A.M.E. Church organized in 1796
- National Negro Business League organized by Booker T. Washington in 1900
25th - Althea Gibson born in 1927
27th - Roy Wilkins born in 1901
September
2nd - Prudence Crandall born in 1803
7th - John Merrick, co-founder NC Mutual Life Ins. Co., born in 1859
12th - Jesse Owens born in 1913
- 1st African American Masonic Lodge organized in 1787
15th - Jan E. Matzeliger born in 1852
22nd - Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ralph J. Bunche in 1950
26th - Maggie L. Walker, Banker & Organizer, born in 1867
October
9th - Morgan State Colege founded in 1869
11th - Rev. Martin Luther King awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
12th - Frank Robinson became the first Black Major League Baseball manager in 1975
16th - John Brown attacked Harper's Ferry in 1859
17th - Louis Farrakhan led the Million Man March on Washington, D.C. in 1995
26th - Mahalia Jackson born in 1911
31st - Booker T. Washington inducted into the hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1945
November
9th - Benjamin Banneker born in 1731
- Howard University Medical School opens in 1868
16th - W. C. Handy, "Father of the Blues", born in 1873
18th - Sojourner Truth born in 1797
17th - Omega Psi Phi Fratern-ity founded at Howard University in 1911
20th - Garrett T. Morgan patents the traffic signal in 1923
21st - Shaw University founded in North Caroline in 1865
24th - Scott Joplin born in 1868
December
5th - Montgomery AL Bus Boycott began in 1955
15th - Bill of Rights took effect in 1791
16th - Andrew Young appointed US Ambassador to the United Nations in1976
23rd - Madame C.J. Walker born in 1867
24th - National Council of Negro Women founded in 1935
26th - Kwanzaa celebration begins
