June 1

1973 – WGPR becomes the first television station owned by African Americans.

1947 – Glory Van Scott, dancer, theater professor and stage actress was born today in Chicago.

June 2

1939 – Songwriter Janie Bradford was born today in Charleston, South Carolina.

1971 – Vice admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr. became the first African American Admiral in the U.S. Navy on this date.

June 3

1949 – Wesley Brown became the first African American graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy.

1919 – Liberty Life Insurance Company, the first legal reserve company organized by Blacks in the North, incorporated the Supreme Court Ruling of Irene Morgan vs. Commonwealth of Virginia, which banned segregation in interstate bus travel.

June 4

1972 – Activist and author Angela Davis was acquitted of charges in San Jose, California on this date.

1991 – Baltimore Orioles manager Frank Robinson is named assistant general manager of the club, the third African American to become an assistant GM.

June 5

1987 – Dr. Mae Johnson became the first Black astronaut when she completed her training at NASA as a mission specialist on this date. Jemison became the first Black female in space in September of 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle.

1955 – Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded his doctorate from Boston University.

June 6

1934 – Civil Rights leader Roy Innis was born on this day.

1955 – Journalist E. R. Shipp was born on this day.

June 7

1917 – Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born on this day.

1958 – Singer Prince was born on this day.

June 8

1977 – Rapper Kayne West was born on this day.

1953 – Discrimination in Washington D.C. restaurants was banned on this day.

June 9

1948 – Civil rights attorney Oliver Hill becomes the first African American to be elected City Council of Richmond, Virginia.

1989 – Congressman John Conyers announced a call for a reparations study.

June 10

1898 – Hattie McDaniel, Oscar winning actress, was born today.

1899 – Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in Cincinnati.

June 11

1934 – R & B and doo wop singer Pookie Hudson was born today.

1963 – Two African American students, escorted by federalized National Guard troops, enrolled at the University of Alabama. This was despite the opposition of Gov. George Wallace.

June 12

1991 – Michael Jordan leads the Chicago Bulls in win over the L.A. Lakers in five games to capture his first NBA Championship.

1972 – The National Black MBA Association was incorporated today.

June 13

1967 – Thurgood Marshall, U.S. solicitor general was named to the Supreme Court by President Johnson.

1937 – Eleanor Holmes was born in Washington D.C. Holmes was a graduate of Yale University’s School of Law, and became the chairperson of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, as well as a Georgetown University law professor before she was elected as a non-voting delegate to Congress representing to the District of Columbia.

June 14

1941 – Rhodes scholar and writer John Edgar was born on this day.

1927 – George Washington Carver received a patent for producing paints and stains on this day.

June 15

1877 – Henry O. Flipper received his degree at West Point, and became the first African American graduate.

1921 – Bessie Coleman received her pilot license on this day.

June 16

2002 – Tiger Woods wins the U.S. Open Golf Tournament.

1975 – Adam Wade hosts the Nationally televised game show Musical Chairs. He is the first African American game show host.

June 17

1980 – Tennis star Venus Williams was born on this day.

1862 – Congress authorized President Lincoln to accept African Americans in the Union Army.

June 18

1968 – The Supreme Court banned racial discrimination in sale and rental housing.

1942 – The U.S. Navy commissioned its first African American officer, Harvard Medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.

June 19

1948 – Actress Phylicia Rashad was born today. She’s best known for her work on the television series, The Cosby Show, but she later became the first African American woman to win a Tony Award for best actress.

June 20

1960 – Harry Belafonte wins an Emmy for his variety special Tonight With Harry Belafonte – the first Emmy to be awarded to an African American.

1911 – NAACP was incorporated in New York.

June 21

1859 – Henry Ossawa Tanner was born today.

1945 – Col.B.O. Jr. was named the commander of Godsman Field in Kentucky and became the first African American to head an Army Air Force in the United States.

June 22

1868 – Congress readmitted the state of Arkansas on the condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise African Americans.

1909 – Katherine Dunham was born on this day.

June 23

1940 – Wilma Rudolph was born today.

1904 – Gospel singer Willie Mae Ford Smith was born today.

June 24

1972 – The rules committee of the Democratic National Convention approved the nomination of Yvonne Brathwaite Burke as co-chairperson of the convention.

1884 – Former Mississippi Congressman John Lynch was elected temporary chairman of the Republican convention and became the first African American to preside over deliberations of a national party.

June 25

1968 – Lincoln Alexander becomes the first African American of the Canadian Parliament.

1945 – Carolyn Cheeks was born today in Detroit, Michigan.

June 26

1934 – W.E.B Du Bois resigned from his position at the NAACP in a disagreement over policy and racial strategy.

1974 – Yankees baseball star Derek Jeter was born today.

1967 – Martin Luther King was denied freedom of speech when he came to a Chicago church.

June 27

1939 – Frederick Jones invented the ticket dispensing machine.

1872 – Poet and author Paul Laurence Dunbar was born today.

June 28

1970 – Muhammad Ali stood before the Supreme Court in regards to his refusal of induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

1964 – Organization for Afro-American Unity was founded in New York by Malcom X.

June 29

1970 – NAACP chairman Stephen Gill Spottswood told the NAACP convention that the Nixon administration was “anti-Negro” and was pressing “a calculated policy” inimical to the “needs and aspirations of the large majority” of citizens.

1863 – William Henry Hunt was born today.

June 30

1951 – NAACP attached issues concerning segregation and discrimination at elementary and high school levels.

1978 – Larry Doby became manager of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

Facts from www.blackfacts.com