WYBC celebrates Black History EVERYDAY!
Facts from www.blackfacts.com
May 1
1867 – Howard University chartered.
1941 – Asa Philip Randolph issued 100,000 Blacks to march on Washington, D.C. to protest discrimination in the armed forces and war industries.
1950 – Gwendolyn Brooks, first Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize
1973 – Dr. Rameck R. Hunt was born on this day.
May 2
1962 –Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first basketball player to score 100 points in a game.
1922 – Library science professor and school media librarian Henrietta Smith was born today in New York, New York.
1920 – First game of National Negro Baseball League played in Indianapolis.
1844 – Elijah McCoy, inventor, held over 50 patents, born on this day.
May 3
1964 – Actor Frederick O’Neal became the first African American elected president of the Actors’ Equity Association on this date.
1921 – Walter Smith Junior – known as Sugar Ray Robinson – was born today in Alley, Georgia.
May 4
1961 – CORE begins freedom rides from Washington, DC to force desegregation of southern bus terminals
1996 – Astrophysicist Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson was appointed director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.
May 5
1985 – The Apollo theater, a historic venue in Harlem for black variety shows and a hub of social life in New York City, reopens for its 50th anniversary.
1905 – Robert S. Abbott published first issue of the newspaper “Chicago Defender
May 6
1787 – First Black Masonic Lodge founded Prince Hall in Boston.
1926 – Painter Edward Clark was born today on this date in New Orleans.
1967 – 400 students seized administration building at the Cheyney State College.
May 7
1946 – Emma Clarissa Clement became the first African American woman to be named “American Mother of the Year” by the Golden Rule Foundation.
1943 – The Liberty Ship George Washington Carver, named after the scientist, launched.
1885 – Dr. John E.W. Thompson, a graduated of the Yale Medical School, was named Minister to Haiti.
1700 – William Penn began monthly meetings for Blacks advocating emancipation
May 8
1945 – Germany surrendered on V-E day.
1925 – The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the trailblazing black labor union, was organized by A. Philip Randolph.
1969 – Carole Anne-Marie Gist, the first African American woman to win the Miss USA title was born today.
May 9
1800 – John Brown, abolitionist, was born on this day.
1862 – General Hunter of the Union Army issued a proclamation freeing the slaves of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
1867 – Sojourner Truth delivers the Equal Rights Speech.
May 10
1950 – Jackie Robinson appears on the cover of Life magazine, becoming the first African American to be featured on the cover of the magazine.
1950 – Charles “Chuck” Cooper became the first Black drafted into the NBA on this date by the Boston Celtics.
May 11
1956 – Deborah Sawyer, environmental entrepreneur, was born on this day.
1931 – Stage director Vernell Lillie was born on this day.
1854 – Dancer Martha Graham was born on this day.
1807- Ira Aldridge,19th century Black actor, famous throughout the world, was born on this day.
May 12
1871 – Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Ky., following sit-in staged by a Black teenager
1940 – Jazz singer Al Jarreau was born on this day.
1947 – Civil rights activist and city alderman The Honorable Dorothy Tillman was born on this day.
1954 – Author and public relationships chief executive Terrie Williams was born on this day.
May 13
1914 – Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-1949), was born on this day.
1966 – Singer Darius Rucker was born on this day.
1969 – James Charles Evers was elected to be the first African American mayor of a racially mixed town in Mississippi.
May 14
1885 – Musician Joseph “King” Oliver was born today.
1963 – Arthur Ashe became the first African American male selected to play for the U.S. Davis Cup Tennis team.
May 15
1946 – Camilla Williams became the first African American woman to sign a contract with a major American opera company.
1929 – Book publishing executive Bennett Johnson was born on this day.
May 16
1966 – Grammy award R & B singer Janet Jackson was born on this day.
1967 – It was declared Jan E. Matzeliger Day in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was honored for his shoe lasting machine, which was patented in 1880.
1990 – Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. dies on this day.
May 17
1915 – National Baptist Convention was chartered.
1956 – World boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard was born on this day.
May 18
1896 – U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy V. Ferguson, which upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine.
1946 – MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was born on this day.
May 19
1925 – Malcom X, AKA Malcom Little, was born on this day.
1930 – Lorriane Hansberry was born on this day.
May 20
1970 – American rapper and actor Busta Rhymes (aka Trevor Tahiem Smith, JR.) was born today.
1952 – Actor and entertainer Lawrence Tero was born today.
May 21
1833 – Black students enroll in classes at Oberlin College in Ohio.
1972 – The Notorious B.I.G., known also as Biggie, was born on this day.
May 22
1966 – Bill Cosby became the first African American to receive an Emmy for best actor in a dramatic series for his role in I Spy.
1921 – Musicians and composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s musical “Shuffle Along,” opened on Broadway on this day.
May 23
1907 – Katie Booth, civic leader, was born on this day.
1954 – Anthony Johnson, physicist, was born on this day.
May 24
1854 – Lincoln University, the first Black college in the US, was founded on this day.
1944 – Patti LaBelle, R&B singer, was born on this day.
1983 – Reverend Jesse Jackson became the first African American to address a joint session of the United States Senate and House of Representatives on this day.
May 25
1949 – Novelist and essayist Jamaica Kincaid was born on this day. She has written novels such as “Annie John.”
1926 – Miles Davis, jazz composer and trumpet player, was born on this day.
May 26
1799 – Author Aleksandr Puskin was born on this day.
1961 – Freedom Ride Coordinating committee was established in Atlanta.
May 27
1936 – Corporate executive James B. Lockhart was born on this day.
1947 – James Johnson Jr., civil engineer was born on this day.
1935 – Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis was born on this day.
May 28
1944 – Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Gladys Knight was born on this day.
1910 – Electric blues guitarist and vocalist Aaron “T-Bone” Walker was born on this day.
1831 – Eliza Ann Gardner, underground railway conductor, born on this day.
May 29
1973 – Thomas Bradley, a seasoned councilman, was elected mayor of Los Angeles.
1865 – President Andrew Johnson announced his program of Reconstruction, which required ratification of the 13th amendment. The program did not guarantee black suffrage.
May 30
1903 – Poet Countee Cullen was born on this day in Baltimore.
1965 – Vivian Malone becomes the first African American graduates from the University of Alabama.
May 31
1909 – National Negro Committee (now NAACP) held first conference in New York
1961 – Judge Irving Kaufman ordered the board of education of New Rochelle to integrate schools.
1979 — Zimbabwe was proclaimed independent.
