People, Locations, Episodes

Thomas Calloway, Lawyer, and Administrator born

*Thomas Calloway was born on this date in 1866. He was a lawyer and administrator. Thomas Junius Calloway was born in Cleveland, Tenn. He was the fifth in a family of seven children. All the children attended Cleveland public schools; he graduated from Fisk University in 1889. He met his expenses with a state scholarship by teaching […]

Charles Scrutchin, Lawyer born

Charles W. Scrutchin was born on this date in 1866. He was an African American lawyer.

Scrutchin was born in Richmond, VA, to Barbara Grafrene and William Scrutchin. The family moved to Georgia when he was 10 years old, and moved again when he was a teenager to Spokane, WA., where he graduated from high school. In 1890, Scrutchin got his undergraduate degree–which he accomplished in three years–from the University of Washington.

Joseph E. Hayford, Editor, and Author born

*Joseph Hayford, also known as Ekra-Agiman, was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black African journalist, editor, author, lawyer, educator, and politician who supported pan-African nationalism.   Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford was born in Cape Coast, in the British Gold Coast colony, now Ghana.  His family, part of the Fante Anona clan […]

Kenesaw Landis, Baseball Administrator born

*Kenesaw Landis was born on this date in 1866.  He was a white-American federal judge and the first Commissioner of Baseball.    Kenesaw Mountain Landis was born in Millville, Ohio. His name was a spelling variation on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the American Civil War, where his father was wounded in 1864. Landis […]

The Scalawag (Politics), a definition

*Independence Day 1867, the political term scalawag is briefly defined.  A Scalawag was a white-American Southerner who supported Blacks after the American Civil War.   Like the term carpetbagger, the word has a history of use as a slur in one-sided Southern debates. The opponents of the scalawags claimed they were disloyal to traditional values.  The term is commonly used in historical studies as a neutral descriptor […]

Black Votes Influence South Carolina Politics After The American Civil War

On this date in 1867, emancipated Blacks began influencing South Carolina politics, when citizens of the state endorsed their constitutional convention and selected state delegates.

The 14th Amendment is Adopted

*On this date in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted.   Approved as one of the Reconstruction Amendments, it is one of the most important American amendments to the present day. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The amendment […]

Cuba’s Ten Years’ War Begins

*On this date in 1868, Cuba’s Ten Years’ War began. Also known as the Great War (Guerra Grande) and the War of ’68, it was part of Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain. Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives led the uprising. Sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his followers proclaimed independence and […]

The First Black Man is Elected to Congress in America

On this date in 1868, the first Black man was elected to the U.S. Congress

John Willis Menard defeated a White candidate, 5,107 to 2,833, in an election in Louisiana’s Second Congressional District to fill an unexpired term in the Fortieth Congress.

Fort Sill (Oklahoma) is Built

*The site of Fort Sill was founded on this date in 1869.  Located in Lawton, Oklahoma, this was a strategic post-American Civil War location that leveraged the use of Black soldiers against Native Americans to expand the white government’s land acquisition in the West. Maj founded Fort Still. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan led a white-American […]

Minnie Cox, Teacher, and Administrator born

*The birth of Minnie Cox in 1869 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American teacher, and postal administrator.

Sylvester Williams, Pan-African Politician born

*Sylvester Williams was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black activist, lawyer, and politician.

One of five children, he was born in Trinidad. His father was a wheelwright who had originally come from Barbados. A talented student young Williams qualified as a schoolteacher in 1886 and became a principal two years later. He was interested in politics and in 1890 helped establish the Trinidad Elementary Teachers Union. One year later, Williams moved to New York where he worked as shoe-shiner. Later he studied law at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia but left before graduating.

John L. Thompson, Lawyer born

The birth of John Lay Thompson in 1869 is marked on this date. He was an African American businessman and lawyer.

Thompson was a native of Iowa’s Decatur County, and a graduate of the Iowa Business College in 1896 and Drake University’s law school in 1898. He secured political positions considered especially prestigious for African Americans in an age of tokenism and unchecked discrimination. A Republican, Thompson was appointed file clerk for the Iowa Senate in 1894 and file clerk for the Iowa General Assembly in 1896.

Voter Suppression in America, an article

*In 1870, Voter Suppression in the United States is addressed. Voter Suppression concerns various legal and illegal efforts to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote. Where found, such voter suppression efforts vary by state, local government, precinct, and election. Separately, there have also been various efforts to enfranchise and disenfranchise various voters […]

Henry Lincoln Johnson, Lawyer, and Politician born

*Henry Lincoln Johnson was born on this date in 1870.  He was a Black lawyer and politician. The son of former slaves Martha Ann and Peter Johnson, Johnson was from Augusta, Georgia. Known to family and friends as “Linc,” he attended Clark Atlanta University and graduated in 1888. Johnson obtained a law degree in 1892 […]