People, Locations, Episodes

Jacques Francis, Slave Diver, and Trial Witness born

*This date in 1527 is celebrated as the birth date of Jacques Francis, A Black British slave salvage diver. Francis was from Arguin Island, Mauritania. However, records at the time described him as a “Guinea diver” and exceptionally talented. He had been working for Piero Corsi on a 1546 salvage attempt of the Mary Rose, […]

Emanuel Hewlett, Lawyer, Judge, and Activist born

*Emanuel Hewlett was born on this date in 1850. He was a Black attorney, judge, and civil rights activist. Emanuel D. Molyneaux Hewlett was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 15, 1850, the son of Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett and Virginia Josephine Molyneaux Hewlett. He had two sisters, Virginia Lind and Aaronella, and two brothers, […]

Racial Segregation In America, a story

*Racial segregation in the United States of America is affirmed on November 19, 1862. These were (are) laws that excluded facilities and services to communities based on race. The plight of Africans in the United States of America as chattel enslaved people was enforceable because of laws. Africans were brought to this country in the same category […]

Lutie Lytle, Lawyer and Teacher born

*Lutie A. Lytle was born on this date in 1875. She was a Black lawyer and teacher. Lutie A. Lytle was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was one of six surviving children of John R. and Mary Ann “Mollie” (Chesebro) Lytle, both formerly enslaved people. In 1882, the Lytle family moved to Topeka, Kansas. Lutie […]

Clara Washington Bruce, Lawyer born

*Clara Washington Bruce was born on this date in 1879.  She was a Black lawyer and administrator. Clara Washington Burrill grew up in a Black middle-class family in Washington, DC, she graduated in 1897 from the city’s M Street High School, a segregated school known for its rigorous curriculum and exceptional faculty. After high school, […]

Williams v. B.O.E. is Decided

*On this date in 1898, Williams v. Board of Education was decided.  This landmark civil rights and education case was before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. In Williams v. Board of Education, black lawyer J.R. Clifford argued against the 1892 Tucker County Board of Education’s decision to shorten the school year for African American schoolchildren from nine […]

Theodore Berry, Attorney, and Politician born

Theodore M. Berry, an African American politician, was born on this date in 1905.

He was born in Maysville, a small town on the banks of the Ohio River, to a white father, a farmer he met only once, and a deaf mother who and communicated with him only in sign language. As a child, he sold newspapers, shined shoes, shoveled coal, delivered laundry, shelved books in local libraries, and worked as a desk clerk at the “Black” YMCA in Cincinnati, where he roomed during high school.

E. Ginger Sullivan, Lawyer, and Administrator born.

*E. Ginger Sullivan was born on this date in 1933.  She is a Black lawyer and civic health administrator. E. Ginger Williamson was born to Catherine Caesar and James Williamson in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She attended Cranville Elementary School and Pittsfield High School. In 1955, Sullivan received her B.A. degree from Northeastern University. She received her […]

Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital is Decided

*On this date in 1963, Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital was decided.  This federal case reached the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that “separate but equal” racial segregation in publicly funded hospitals violated equal protection under the United States Constitution.  George Simkins, Jr. was a dentist and NAACP leader in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of his African American patients developed an abscessed tooth, and […]

The Race Relations Act is passed

*On this date in 1965, the Race Relations Act was enacted. This was the first legislation in the United Kingdom to address racial discrimination. The Act outlawed discrimination on the “grounds of color, race, or ethnic or national origins” in public places in Great Britain. It also prompted the creation of the Race Relations Board […]

The Supreme Court Favors Reverse Discrimination Decision

On this date in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of reverse discrimination suits.

The establishment of racial quotas in the name of affirmative action brought charges of so-called reverse discrimination in the late 1970s. Although the U.S. Supreme Court accepted such an argument in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), it let existing programs stand and approved the use of quotas in 1979 in a case involving voluntary affirmative-action programs in unions and private businesses.

Police Brutality Protest in Oakland, CA Occurs

*On this date in 2010 the Black community in Oakland, California protested and verdict in the death of another black man by an Oakland police officer.