The Registry

Sandy Ground community founded

*The Sandy Ground community is celebrated on this date in 1828.  Founded by free Blacks prior to the American Civil War, it is located in Staten Island, New York.  The first documented land purchase was by a Black man named Captain John Jackson on this date, just months after the abolition of slavery in New […]

The Alamo conflict, why did it happen?

*On this date in 1836, the Mexican army began attacking the Alamo. This saga of the American story is an important piece of African American history.

Most of the men and women who moved to the Texas territory were colonizers who came in search of wealth and adventure, eager to grab up the land Mexico was handing out by the acre. In doing so, they agreed to convert to Catholicism and become Mexican citizens. Few did either. Once in Texas, they also realized there was much money to be made in Mexico’s cotton industry.

Sociologist, W.E.B. Du Bois born

*This date marks the birth of W.E.B. Du Bois in 1868. He was an African American sociologist, one of the most important Black protest leaders in the United States during the first half of the 20th century.

Agnes Smedley, Activist and Social Radical

*Agnes Smedley was born on this date in 1892. She was a White American activist. The daughter of a laborer, she was born in Osgood, Missouri.

Mechanics Savings Bank opens

*On this date in 1902 we celebrate the founding of Black owned, Mechanics Savings Bank.   This was a depository institution in the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia.  John Mitchell, Jr. African American was its founder.  He also owned and edited the Richmond Planet. In 1905 the bank bought a three-story brick building at No. 310 East Broad Street. The bank’s Clay Street and […]

Louis Stokes, passionate about legal rights

*Louis Stokes was born on this date in 1925. He is an African American politician and administrator.

Surfer, Nick Gabaldon born

*Nick Gabaldon was born on this date 1927. He was an African American Surfer and California’s first Black Surfing Legend.

The first Black New York Yankee, Elston Howard

*Elston Howard was born on this date in 1929. He was an African American baseball player.

From St. Louis, he graduated from Vashon High School where he starred in baseball, track, football and basketball. In 1948, at age nineteen the future New York Yankees’ star played three seasons in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs. He was not an outfielder when he joined the Monarchs, Howard was a catcher, but after working behind the plate on the night he was shifted to the outfield to bolster a wobbly garden defense, and immediately became a match.

Claude Brown, Writer born

*Claude Brown was born on this date in 1937. He was an African American writer and children’s advocate.

Haki Madhubuti, Writer born

*Haki R. Madhubuti was born on this date in 1942. He is an African American poet, essayist, and editor.

Born Donald Luther Lee (Don L. Lee) in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended the University of Illinois and received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.