* Today in Black History - May 5 * 1857 - The Dred Scott decision, in the famous U.S. Supreme Court case, declares that no black--free or slave--could claim United States citizenship, therefore could not sue. It also stated that Congress could not prohibit slavery in United States territories. The ruling will arouse angry resentment in the North and will lead the nation a step closer to civil war. It also will influence the introduction and passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution after the Civil War (1861-1865). The amendment, adopted in 1868, will extend citizenship to former slaves and give them full civil rights. 1865 - Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born near Martins Mill in Franklin County, Virginia. He will be a social and religious leader at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, after becoming the pastor in 1908. Under his leadership, he will expand the role of the church in the community and increase its membership to 10,000. When he retires in 1937, Abyssinian Baptist Church will be the largest Protestant church in the United States. He will be succeeded in the pulpit by his son, Adam CLayton Powell, Jr., who will become a future congressman. He will join the ancestors on June 12, 1953. 1883 - Josiah Henson joins the ancestors in Dawn, Ontario, Canada at the age of 93. He had escaped slavery in Maryland and settled in Canada. He had been part of the creation of a settlement for fugitive slaves near Dawn, Ontario. 1905 - Robert Sengstacke Abbott founds the Chicago Defender, calling it The Worlds Greatest Weekly. 1919 - The NAACP awards the Spingarn Medal to William Stanley Braithwaite. Braithwaites publication of essays and verse in notable mainstream magazines and editorial efforts on three books of verse and poetry anthologies had earned him wide acclaim among African Americans and whites. 1931 - Edwin A. Harleston joins the ancestors in Charleston, South Carolina. One of the most popular and influential African American painters of the day, his work will be exhibited at the Harmon Foundation, the Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and in the exhibit Two Centuries of Black American Art. 1935 - Jesse Owens, of the United States, sets the long jump record at 26 8. 1943 - Maximiliano Gomez Horatio is born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. After working in the sugar refineries in his home area, be will become a politician, leading the Dominican Popular Movement. He believed that the Dominican Republic should be guided by its own historical and social environment, not on any European model. He will participate in an insurrection that is ended by a U.S. invasion in 1965. He will later be imprisoned and after his release, he will go into exile. He will join the ancestors under suspicious circumstances in Brussels, Belgium, on May 23, 1971. 1965 - Edgar Austin Mittelholzer joins the ancestors in Farnham, Surrey, England, after committing suicide at the age of 55. He had been the first author from the Carribean to earn his living as a writer. He was considered the father of the novel in the English-speaking Caribbean. 1969 - Moneta Sleet becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. and her daughter at her husbands funeral. 1971 - A race riot occurs in the Brownsville section of New York City. 1975 - Hank Aaron surpasses Babe Ruths RBI mark. He will finish his career with 755 home runs and over 2200 RBIs. Both records will stand for many years. Aaron will be inducted into Baseballs Hall of Fame on August 1, 1982. 1977 - The Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society is founded in Washington, DC. The societys mission is to encourage scholarly research in African American genealogy. 1988 - Eugene Antonio Marino, is installed as the archbishop of Atlanta, becoming the first African American Roman Catholic archbishop in the United States. 2003 - Walter Sisulu, a major player in the fight against apartheid in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, joins the ancestors at the age of 90 after a long illness.
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 17:04:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015