*Melanie Lomax was born on this date in 1950. She was a Black civil rights lawyer and former head of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Melanie Elizabeth Lomax was the daughter of Lucius W. Lomax, Jr., an attorney, and Hallie Almena Davis Lomax, a civil rights activist and editor of the Los Angeles […]
learn more*David Duke was born on this date in 1950. He is a white-American politician, white supremacist, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. David Ernest Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Maxine (née Crick) and David Hedger Duke, the younger of two children. As the son of an engineer for Shell Oil Company, Duke frequently moved with his family […]
learn moreOn this date in 1950, the first US victory in Korea was won by Black troops in the Army’s 24th Infantry Regiment.
The victory happened at Yechon, where Captain Charles M. Bussey, a World War II Tuskegee Airman, was the ground commander. He earned a Silver Star.
During the Korean War, two Black soldiers were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor: Private First Class William Thompson, mortally wounded by a grenade; and Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton, who died of wounds received during his heroic exploits.
Both men were in the 24th Infantry.
learn more*Alan Keyes was born on this date in 1950. He is an African American politician and diplomat from the state of Maryland.
learn more*On this date in 1950, the 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) was formed. This unit was a Ranger light infantry company of the United States Army active during the Korean War. As a small special operations unit, it specialized in irregular warfare. It was a segregated unit; all its personnel, including its officers, were black. The U.S. Army, which […]
learn more*Elijah Cummings was born on this date in 1951. He was a Black politician. Elijah Eugene Cummings was from Baltimore and was the son of Ruth Elma (née Cochran) and Robert Cummings. His parents were sharecroppers; he was the third of seven children. Cummings graduated with honors from the Baltimore City College High School in 1969. He later attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where […]
learn moreSharon Sayles-Belton was born on this date in 1951. She is an African American administrator, activist, and politician.
She was born in Minneapolis, one of four girls from the family of Bill and Ethel Sayles. She graduated from Central High School and from Macalester College in St. Paul in 1973. She then worked as a civil rights activist in Jackson, MS, returned to Minnesota, began working as a parole officer, and later served as the assistant director of the Minnesota Program for Victims of Sexual Assault. She also co-founded the Harriet Tubman Shelter for Battered Women.
learn more*Miller v. Board of Education was filed on this date in 1952. The plaintiffs were Black, deaf, school-age residents of the District of Columbia. The defendants were the Board of Education, its members, the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Commissioners of the District and its members, the Federal Security Administrator, the Board of Directors […]
learn more*On this date 1952, a Black woman murdered a White man in Florida. Ruby McCollum murdered Dr. C. Leroy Adams. This shooting was as noted in African America as the O.J. Simpson Murder trial 43 years later.
learn more*James Perkins Jr. is celebrated on this date in 1952. He is a Black businessman, teacher, and politician. James Perkins Jr. grew up in Selma, where his parents were elementary school principals and nurses. He graduated in 1971 in the first racially integrated class at Selma High School; he organized an unsuccessful effort to use […]
learn more*Pamela G. Alexander was born on this date in 1952. She is an African American Judge, lawyer, administrator and community activist.
From Minneapolis, she is one of 5 children born to Robert and Francis Alexander. She has said that at the age of 12, her courtroom testimony in the rape of a friend was instrumental in her law career pursuit. After graduating from Minneapolis Central High School, she received her BA from Augsburg College in 1974. That same year she became a Law Clerk at the Neighborhood Justice Center and the Legal Rights Center.
learn more*Linda Thomas-Greenfield was born on this date in 1952. She is a Black educator, administrator, and diplomat. Thomas-Greenfield was born in Baker, Louisiana. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University in 1974 and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1975. Thomas-Greenfield taught political science at Bucknell […]
learn more*Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born on this date in 1953. He is a former Black priest and politician. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born into poverty in Port-Salut, Sud, Haiti. His father died three months after he was born, and he later moved to Port-au-Prince with his mother. At age five, Aristide started school with priests of the Salesian […]
learn more*On this date in 1953, the Central African Federation, CAF, was established. This was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. For ten years, the Federation was established with a Governor-General as the British Queen’s representative […]
learn moreLloyd Austin was born on this date in 1953. He is a retired Black Army officer, four-star general, and presidential cabinet member. Lloyd James Austin III was born in Mobile, Alabama, and raised in Thomasville, Georgia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) with a Bachelor of Science in 1975. He later […]
learn more