People, Locations, Episodes

Ethiopia Wins The Battle of Gundet

On this date in 1875, Ethiopia won the Battle of Gundet over Egypt. This conflict was carefully observed in Black America due to a growing black Nationalist idealism and the views of people such as Edward Blyden and Martin Delany.

The Emancipation Memorial is Erected

*On this date in 1876, The Emancipation Memorial was erected. Also known as the Freedman’s Memorial, it is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. It was sometimes called the “Lincoln Memorial” before the more prominent memorial was dedicated in 1922.  Designed and sculpted by Thomas Ball and erected […]

Voting Riot in Indianapolis, Indiana Occurs

*On this date in 1876, a race riot happened in Indianapolis, Indiana over voting rights.

The Hamburg Massacre Occurs

*On this date in 1876, the Hamburg, Massacre occurred. This was a race riot between community’s Black militia and Whites from the surrounding rural area of South Carolina during Reconstruction. 

Seven men died that afternoon, six were Black militiamen or civilians and one was a White farmer killed in the attack. Hamburg was a small all-Black community across the river from Augusta, Georgia.   Like many Black communities in South Carolina, it was solidly Republican and with the GOP in charge in Columbia, some of its men were members of the South Carolina National Guard (the Militia).  

The Poll Tax in America, a story

*On this date in 1876, the American national election resulted in the illegal use of the Poll Tax in the United States.   Historically, Poll taxes have been a major source of government funding among the colonies that formed the United States. Poll taxes made up from one-third to one-half of the tax revenue of colonial Massachusetts. To encourage […]

The Compromise Of 1877, a story

*The Compromise of 1877 was enacted on this date in 1877. This unwritten arrangement, informally arranged among U.S. Congressmen, settled the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election.   This agreement, less than a week before the Presidential inauguration, resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, ending the Reconstruction […]

William Hayward, Colonel, and Lawyer born

*William Hayward was born on this date in 1877 in Nebraska City, NE. He was a white-American lawyer and military Colonel.  He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1894; Hayward had been a judge in Nebraska for two years when he entered politics in 1903. He served in public office for several years in […]

Nicodemus, Kansas is Founded

On this date in 1877, the Registry celebrates the town of Nicodemus, Kansas, a brief haven for many Blacks from the old confederacy long before southern Blacks migrated to the industries of the north.

Established during Reconstruction, Nicodemus, Kansas, was the first primarily Black rural settlement after slavery ended. The town was named for a legendary slave who foretold the coming of the Civil War. On April 16 of that year, a circular predicted Nicodemus would become the “Largest Colored Colony in America.” In June, W. R.

‘Jim Crow Laws’ in America, a story

Jim Crow Laws are featured on this date. These were any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the American South between the end of the formal Reconstruction period (1877) and the beginning of the strong civil-rights movement (1950s).

The Posey County Lynching occurs

*On this date in 1878, the Posey County lynching occurred. This racial terror lynching is the largest reported lynching in Indiana’s history. Black men Jim Good, Jeff Hopkins, Ed Warner, William Chambers, and Dan Harris, Sr. were lynched near Mount Vernon. These men, allegedly connected to a brothel robbery, were killed by a white mob. In connection […]

The Zulu-British War Begins

On this date in 1879 the Zulu-British War began.

The Zulu kingdom, centered on the southeast coast of southern Africa between the Drakensburg Mountains and the Indian Ocean, surfaced in the early 19th century under the command of the great Zulu warrior-king Shaka. The Zulu nation in the beginning had no problem with the British, who founded it as the colony Natal, on the southern border of Zululand in the 1840s. But the British eventually saw the Zulu as a threat.

“The Exodus Of 1879”, a story

*On this date in 1879, an exodus from slavery after reconstruction began in earnest. More than 900 Black families from Mississippi reached St. Louis, en route to Kansas, the North and the West.

Some Black migrants sought “conductors” to make travel arrangements for them. These conductors (most of them white scallywags) would often ask for money in advance and not show up at the appointed departure time, leaving migrants stranded at docks and train stations. During this migration yellow fever ravaged many river towns in Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike Occurs

*The Atlanta washerwomen’s strike occurred on this date in 1881. This boycott was a labor strike by washerwomen. The strike was primarily carried out by Black women, who argued for increased wages and greater autonomy in their work. Following the American Civil War, many Black women were washerwomen, also known as laundresses. More African American women […]

The Chanteys, Work Songs with African Roots

This date’s Registry looks at the origins of the Chanteys in 1882. A Chantey is a style of choral singing associated with black slave labor in the early United States.

America’s First Shoe Lasting Machine is Patented

*On this date in 1883, a Black inventor patented the first shoe lasting machine.

Jan Matzeliger from Dutch Guiana revolutionized the shoe industry with his invention, patent #274,207.