People, Locations, Episodes

Alice Bah Kuhnke, Politician born

*Alice Bah Kuhnke was born on this date in 1971. She is an Afro Swedish (Black Swede) politician and former actress. Alice Bah grew up in Horda in Småland, Sweden, the daughter of a Gambian father and a Swedish mother. She attended a track-and-field-oriented high school in Växjö and was one of the country’s best female sprinters […]

The First National Black Political Convention is Held

*On this date in 1972 the first National Black Political Assembly was held.

Some eight thousand African Americans (three thousand of whom were official delegates) arrived in Gary, Indiana, to attend their first convention, which was more commonly known as the “Gary Convention.” A sea of Black faces chanted, “It’s Nation Time! It’s Nation Time!” No one in the room had ever seen anything like this before. The radical Black nationalists clearly won the day; moderates who supported integration and backed the Democratic Party were in the minority.

Camillo Gonsalves, Lawyer, and Diplomat born

*Camillo Gonsalves was born on this date in 1972. He is a Black Vincentian politician, lawyer, and diplomat. Camillo Michael Gonsalves was born in Philadelphia to Ralph E. Gonsalves, the current Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and his then-wife, Sonia V. Gonsalves, a Professor of Psychology at Stockton University. Gonsalves obtained a […]

The Kitty Hawk Riot Takes Place

*On this date in 1972, The USS Kitty Hawk Riot occurred.  This was a racial conflict between white and Black sailors aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk that night while positioned at Yankee Station off the coast of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  In the early days of the Vietnam War, black service members represented less than 5% of the Navy.    By 1971, after President […]

The First Black Southern Congress Representatives Since Reconstruction Are Elected

On this date in 1972, Barbara Jordan and Andrew Young became the first African Americans from the South elected to Congress since Reconstruction.

Jordan represented Houston, TX., and Young was a representative of Atlanta, GA.

The National Conference of Black Mayors is Founded

The National Council of Black Mayors (NCBM) was founded on this date in 1972.

Headquartered in Georgia, NCBM’s mission was to enhance the executive skills of its members to more effectively govern their cities. After the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 were enacted, the number of African Americans elected to public office increased substantially, with the most dramatic gains coming in the South at the mayoral level. In 1972, 13 recently elected black mayors met in Fayette, MS., to discuss developing programs to benefit their respective municipalities.

Ben Jealous, Administrator, and Activist born

*Benjamin Jealous was born January 18, 1973. He is an African American Administrator, Journalist and Civil rights Activist.

America’s elects its first Black Woman Mayor

On this date in 1973, Leila Smith Foley became the first African American woman to be elected Major of a U.S. city, Taft, Oklahoma.

Reference:
The Associated Press
permissions
450 W. 33rd St.,
New York, NY 10001.

To Become a Legislator

The First Black Man is Elected Mayor of Los Angeles

On this date in 1973, Tom Bradley became the first African American mayor of Los Angeles, CA.

He defeated incumbent Sam Yorty, and thus also became the first Black mayor of major city, which was predominantly White.

The Bahamas Gains Independence From Britain

*On this date in 1973, the Bahamas gained independence from the United Kingdom. The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718. After the American Revolutionary War, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists to the Bahamas; they took their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. African slaves and their descendants constituted most of the population from this period […]

Clementa Pinckney, South Carolina Politician born

*Clementa Pinckney was born on this date in 1973.  He was an African American minister and politician. Clementa Carlos Pinckney was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother, Theopia Stevenson Aikens was an early childhood development educator, and his father, John Pinckney, was an auto mechanic. Pinckney had six brothers and sisters and was named in honor of […]

Guinea-Bissau Gains Independence From Portugal

*On this date in 1973, Guinea-Bissau gained Independence from Portugal. Self-governing occurred 89 years after the 1884 invasion from the Berlin Conference, the high point of white-European competition for territory in Africa, a process commonly known as the Scramble for Africa.  Recognition became universal following April 24, 1974, a socialist-inspired military coup in Portugal overthrew Lisbon’s Estado […]

Alvin Bragg, Lawyer and Prosecutor born

*Alvin Bragg was born on this date in 1973. He is a Black politician and lawyer. Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is from Harlem, New York. He graduated from Trinity School and Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1995. Bragg earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor […]

The Symbionese Liberation Army, a story

*The founding of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) is affirmed on this date in 1973.  They were an American left-wing terrorist organization active between 1973 and 1975.  Also called the United Federated Forces, it considered itself a vanguard army. The group committed bank robberies, two murders, and other acts of violence.  They were responsible for the assassination of Oakland school superintendent […]

Stacey Abrams, Politician, Lawyer, and Activist born

*Stacey Abrams was born on this date in 1973. She is a Black politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author.  Stacey Yvonne Abrams is the second of six siblings; she was born to Robert and Carolyn Abrams in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi. The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where her parents pursued graduate degrees at Emory University and later became Methodist ministers. Her siblings include […]