People, Locations, Episodes

Blacks Hijack Delta Airlines Flight 841

*On this date in 1972, the Delta Air Lines Flight 841 hijacking occurred.  Members of the Black Liberation Army took over the aircraft in flight using weapons smuggled on board, including a handgun hidden inside a bible with its pages cut out to form a cavity. Seven crew and 94 passengers boarded the Douglas DC-8 […]

The First Black Man Umpires a National League Baseball game

*On this date in 1972, Art Williams became the first African American umpire in the National League.

He called the game from third base as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 10 innings. William was a minor league pitcher in the mid 1950’s.

He died in 1979 at the age of 44 in his home in Bakersfield, California.

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.

A Black Man, and Woman Patent a Corner Cleaner Attachment

*On this date in 1973, a Black man and woman patented a corner cleaner attachment.  Gertrude E. Downing and William. Desjardin received patent No. 3,715,772. The device combines two cleaning machines for the expense of one.

The USS Jesse L. Brown is Commissioned

*On this date in 1973, a naval ship was named after African American Jesse Brown.

First constructed as an escort vessel the USS Jesse L. Brown was built at Westwego, Louisiana. It commissioned for Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator killed in combat over Korea.

Then reclassified as a Navy frigate, the USS Jesse L. Brown was leased and then sold to Egypt on June 27 1994, where it was renamed “Dumyat”. Success!

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:
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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 […]

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (film) Debuts

*On this date in 1973, The Spook Who Sat by the Door (film) debuted in Chicago. This action crime–drama film was based on the 1969 novel by Sam Greenlee. On August 22, 1973, there was a benefit premiere at the Maryland Theatre on the South Side of Chicago and a sneak preview at the Woods […]

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 […]

A School Superintendent is Killed by Domestic Terrorist Group

A Black superintendent of schools was killed in an ambush on this date in 1973.

Marcus A. Foster, superintendent of schools in Oakland, CA, was ambushed after a Board of Education meeting. He was shot eight times, and five of the bullets were tipped with cyanide. Two members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a West Coast terrorist group, were convicted of the slaying, but the conviction of one of the men was overturned on a legal technicality.

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 […]

Grenada Gains Independence From Britain

*Grenada gained independence from Britain on this date in 1974. Grenada is a country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and several small islands that lie north of the main island […]

The Combahee River Collective Begins

*The Combahee River Collective (CRC) is celebrated on this date in 1974. The CRC was a Black feminist lesbian organization active in Boston from 1974 to 1980. Their name commemorated an episode at the Combahee River organized and led by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863, in the Port Royal region of South Carolina. The […]