*Chance v. Lambeth was decided on this date in 1951. This suit was brought to the United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit by William C. Chance. He was a 64-year-old Black school teacher trying to recover damages from the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. This was because he was wrongfully ejected because of his […]
learn more*On this date (International Women’s Day) in 1951, we celebrate Sojourners for Truth and Justice. Sojourners for Truth and Justice was a radical protest organization formed by African American women from 1951 to 1952. It was led by activists such as Louise Thompson Patterson, Shirley Graham Du Bois, and Charlotta Bass. That year, a group of 14 African […]
learn moreOn this date in 1951, Orestes (“Minnie”) Minoso became the first Black Chicago White Sox player.
A veteran of the Negro Leagues’ New York Cubans and Bill Veeck’s Cleveland Indians, Minoso had a sensational rookie year, batting .326 with 173 hits, while leading the league in triples and stolen bases. In a questionable and possibly racist decision, sportswriters gave the Rookie of the Year Award to the Yankees’ statistically inferior Gil McDougal.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, Private First Class William Henry Thompson became the first Black to earn the Medal of Honor in the Korean conflict.
While manning his machine gun during a surprise attack on his platoon, Thompson of Company M, Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment, was killed in action. This occurred at a critical juncture in the 8th Army’s attempt to stop the North Korean Army’s southward movement.
Pfc. Thompson’s effort near Hainan, Korea, resulted in his becoming the first Black man to receive the Medal of Honor since 1898.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, the Amos ‘n’ Andy television show came on the air.
One of the most popular and long running radio programs of all time was brought to television and produced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the two actors who had created and starred in the radio version. Since they were white, a four-year search to find the right actors to play the parts took place. Only Ernestine Wade and Amanda Randolph were brought over from the radio cast.
learn more*The Cicero Race Riot occurred on this date in 1951. One of the 20th century’s worst race riots happened when a mob of 4,000 whites attacked an apartment building that housed a single Black family in a neighborhood in Cicero, Cook County, Illinois.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, a racial incident of, during the college football game between Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) and Drake University.
During the first quarter of the game, Drake’s Johnny Bright, a black running back and the nation’s leading rusher, was knocked out of the game with a broken jaw by Oklahoma A&Ms defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith, who was white. With Bright gone, A&M erased an early deficit and won the game over previously unbeaten Drake.
learn more*Libya gained its independence on this date in 1951. Under the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya. The officially the State of Libya is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, […]
learn more*Lita Lavaughn McClinton was born on this date in 1952. She was a Black socialite. The daughter of Emory McClinton, a former U. S. Department of Transportation official, and his wife, JoAnn McClinton, a Georgia state representative. McClinton married white millionaire James Vincent Sullivan. Although McClinton was in love, her parents never liked Sullivan. They […]
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 in 1952, we remember the Mau Mau Uprising. Also known as the Mau Mau Rebellion, the Kenya Emergency, and the Mau Mau Revolt, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as Mau Mau, and the British. The Mau Mau […]
learn more*On this date in 1953, the Baton Rouge Bus boycott occurred. This was the first Black bus boycott in America.
learn more*On this date in 1953, the Bantu Education Act was enacted. Called Act No. 47 of 1953 and later renamed the Black Education Act 1953, it was a South African segregation law of the apartheid system. Its major provision enforced racially separate educational facilities. Even universities became “tribal,” and all but three missionary schools chose to close […]
learn moreThe George Washington Carver National Monument was dedicated on this date in 1953, in Diamond, Missouri, although it was established ten years earlier (1943).
The monument recognizes Carver’s outstanding achievements as a scientist, educator, and humanitarian. Although Dr. Carver spent only 10 to 12 years on the Diamond Grove farm in Missouri, the area and community greatly influenced the course of his life. It was here that Carver was born into slavery and orphaned as an infant. Yet, he grew up with a love and appreciation of nature that would sustain him throughout his life.
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 […]
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