People, Locations, Episodes

John Howard Armstrong, Canadian Track Athlete born

*John Armstrong Howard was born on this date in 1888.   He was a Black Canadian track and field athlete and Canada’s first Black Olympic athlete.     Born in the United States, he was the son of Robert and Cornelia Howard; he came to Winnipeg with his father in 1907, who worked as a mechanic at […]

‘Bullet Joe’ Rogan, Baseball Player born

*The birth of Wilbur Rogan in 1889 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American baseball player.

The First Black Man Becomes Boxing Champ in America

*On this in 1890, George “Little Chocolate” Dixon knocked out Cal McCarthy.

Dixon became the first Black world champion in boxing and the first Black man to hold an American title in any sport.

John Donaldson, Baseball Player born

*John Donaldson was born on this date in 1891. He was a Black baseball pitcher in Pre-Negro league and Negro League baseball. John Wesley Donaldson was born in Glasgow, Missouri; very little is known about his parents, siblings, or childhood.   Donaldson’s early career was playing for the Missouri Black Tigers of nearby Higbee, Missouri, in 1908, and subsequently for […]

Black History and American College Basketball 🏀, a story

*With March Madness beginning, on this date we remember African Americans in the history of American college basketball.

Bill Lindsay, Baseball Player born

*Bill Lindsay was born on this date in 1891. Nicknamed “The Kansas Cyclone” and “Lightning,” he was a Black baseball pitcher for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. William Bill Lindsay’s parents were Peter Lindsay and Mona Mady Lindsay from Lexington, Missouri. He started his career with the Kansas City, […]

Black History and American College Football, a story

College football is in the air and African American involvement at the collegiate level is rich with tradition.

The First HBCU College Football Game in America is played

On this date in 1892, the first Black College Intercollegiate football game was played. The game was played in the snows of North Carolina, two days after Christmas.

Emma Chambers Maitland, Dancer and Boxer born

*Emma Chambers Maitland was born on this date in 1893. She was a Black dancer, teacher, and boxer. Born Jane Chambers, she was from near Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Wyatt Chambers and Cora Chambers. Her parents were sharecroppers, and she had seven brothers. She was educated at a convent school in Rock Castle, Virginia, and […]

Fritz Pollard, Football Player, and Coach born

*Fritz Pollard was born on this date in 1894. He was the first African American coach in the National Football League.

Frederick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard grew up in Chicago. By the time he graduated from high school, he was a talented baseball player, running back and a three-time Cook County track champion. He briefly played football for Northwestern, Harvard and Dartmouth before receiving a scholarship from the Rockefeller family to attend Brown University in 1915.

Cleveland Abbott, Athlete, and Teacher born

*Cleveland Abbott was born on this date in 1894. He was a Black football player, coach, and educator. Cleveland Leigh “Cleve” Abbott was born in Yankton, South Dakota., one of seven children to Albert Abbott and Mollie Brown Abbott. Abbott attended and graduated from high school 1908-1912 in Watertown, South Dakota. He was a multi-sport […]

The Colored Hockey League is Formed

*On this date, 1895, the Colored Hockey League was formed. This was an all-Black ice hockey league featuring teams across Canada’s Maritime Provinces.  The league was founded by a group of four Black Baptist leaders and intellectuals: Pastor James Borden of Dartmouth Church; James A.R Kinney, who would go on to be the first Black […]

Tiger Flowers, Boxer born

*Theodore “Tiger” Flowers was born on this date in 1895. He was an African American boxer.

Nicknamed The Georgia Deacon, he was from Camille, GA. The muscular Flowers was a deserving champion in an era of great middleweights. He fought 36 times alone in 1924 and 31 times the following year, losing only four. Flowers took the middleweight crown from Hall of Famer Harry Greb, lost it to Mickey Ealker. It has been said of him that Flowers “fought ’em all,” including Sam Langford, Jamaica Kid, Fireman Jim Flynn, Jack Delaney, Jock Malone, Mike McTigue, and Maxie Rosenbloom.

Silas Simmons, Baseball Player, born

*Silas Simmons was born on this date in 1895. He was a Black semi-professional and professional left-handed pitcher/outfielder baseball player for Black teams in the pre-Negro League era. Silas Joseph Simmons was born in Middletown, Delaware. Simmons was five-foot-ten and began playing for the Germantown Blue Ribbons, a semi-pro team, in 1911. In 1913, the Blue […]

Oscar Charleston, Baseball Player born

Oscar Charleston was born on this date in 1896. He was an African American baseball player and manager who was considered by many to be the best all-around ball player in the history of the Negro leagues.

Oscar McKinley Charleston was born in Indianapolis, and left school in his mid-teens and entered the U.S. Army during World War I. He was in the army when he first played organized baseball while stationed in the Philippines. He was the only black player in the Manila League in 1914.