People, Locations, Episodes

A Black Man Patents The Golf Tee

George Grant patented the first golf tee on this date in 1899.

George F. Grant, who was not only one of the first African American golfers in post-Civil War America, he was one of the first African American dentists too. His was the blueprint for today’s wooden and plastic tees. He owned the first patent and also the last recognition for his invention. By all accounts, Dr. Grant was not the most skilled golfer, but he enjoyed the recreational aspects of the game.

C. L. Dellums, Union Activist born

*C. L. Dellums was born on this date in 1900. He was a Black labor activist. Born in Corsicana, Texas, Cottrell Laurence Dellums “had chosen San Francisco as the ideal place for a Negro to live in 1923.” Dellums stated, “I wanted to be a lawyer, and the University of California had the best law […]

Effa Manley, Negro League Baseball Team Owner born

*Effa Manley was born on this date in 1900. An African American business entrepreneur, Manley was the only female owner in the history of Negro Leagues.

Manley was from Philadelphia, and rarely discussed her heritage, and most people assumed she was a light-skinned Black. Young Effa was raised in a household with a Black stepfather and Black half-siblings. After graduation from high school in Philadelphia, she moved to New York to work in the millinery business. She met Abe Manley, a man 24 years older than her, at the 1932 World Series at Yankee Stadium.

The Rosebud Bar, (Ragtime Venue) Opens

The Rosebud Bar’s opening in St. Louis, MO, in 1900 is celebrated on this date. It was one of the original venues for Ragtime music.

The Colored American Magazine is Published

*May 19, 1900 celebrates the first publication of the Colored American Magazine (CAM). This was one of the first monthly magazines created for the national African American consumer.

Black History and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union

*Black history and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) are affirmed on this date in 1900. The ILGWU, whose members worked in the women’s clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, and one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership and significant influence […]

Lena Baker, Domestic Worker born

*Lena Baker was born on this date in 1900. She was a Black maid. She was born to a family of sharecroppers and raised near Cuthbert, Georgia. Her family, which included three siblings, moved to the county seat when she was a child. As a youth, she and her siblings worked as farm laborers; she […]

National Business League is Founded

Booker T. Washington founded the National Business League on this date in 1900, in Boston, MS, as the National Negro Business League. Five years later, the NNBL was incorporated officially in New York City. The organization was renamed and reincorporated in Washington, D. C. in 1966, when it became the National Business League (NBL). and reincorporated in Washington, D.C. in 1966, when it became the National Business League (NBL). It was established and operating 12 years before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was founded.

John Atkinson, Park Superintendant born.

*John Atkinson was born on this date in 1901. He was a Black plasterer, Jeweler, Watch Repair, Small Appliance Repair, and The Dew Drop Inn owner in Atlanta, Georgia.  From Crawfordville, Georgia, John Lloyd Atkinson was the son of George William Atkinson and Emma Louise Edwards Atkinson. He received his first schooling from his father, […]

Whitesboro, New Jersey is Founded

*Whitesboro, New Jersey, was founded on this date in 1901. It is one of many Black towns in America established after the American Civil War.  The Colored Equitable Industrial Association founded it. This financial group had Black investors, including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Booker T. Washington, and George Henry White, the leading investor and namesake. White was a Black attorney […]

Blackdom, New Mexico is Founded

*Blackdom, New Mexico, is celebrated on this date in 1901. This was one of many Black settlements formed in 19th-century Reconstruction-era America. It was sometimes called a freedom colony in Chaves County, New Mexico. The Blackdom site is located eight miles (13 km) west of Dexter and 18 miles (29 km) south of Roswell. The altitude is 3,638 […]

The Harlem, New York YMCA is Founded

The 1901 establishment of the Harlem Branch of the YMCA is celebrated on this date.

The Mechanics Savings Bank Opens

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

Sarah Rector, Entrepreneur born

*Sarah Rector was born on March 3, 1902. She was a Black entertainer and businesswoman. Sarah Rector was born near the all-black town of Taft, Oklahoma, in Indian Territory. She had five siblings. Her parents, Rose McQueen, and her husband, Joseph Rector, were descendants of African people who had been slaves owned by the Muscogee […]

Fay Jackson, California Journalist born

*The birth of Fay Jackson is celebrated on this date in 1902. She was an African American journalist and movie publicist.

Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas, as the youngest of three children to Charles T. and Lulu Beatrice Jackson. Her father was a concrete mason and chemical scientist and her mother a seamstress and actress. At the age of 16, her family moved to Los Angeles. In 1922, Jackson graduated from Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, attended USC, majored in journalism and philosophy and was the first president of the Epsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.