People, Locations, Episodes

The First Black Male Swimmer Qualifies for the Olympics

*On this date in 2000, the first African American man made the U.S. Olympic Swimming team.

Anthony Ervin of Valencia, Calif., qualified in the men’s 50-meter freestyle. The meet took place at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis; Indiana.

Ervin, (then) 19 years old also swam on the 400-meter freestyle relay team at the Sydney Games.

The First Black Mayor of Selma, Alabama is Elected

On this date in 2000, Selma, Alabama, Black businessman James Perkins defeated White incumbent Joe Smitherman for mayor. Smitherman, a former segregationist, was first elected before the bloody civil rights march of 1965.

Perkins became the first African American mayor of that pivotal southern city a focal point of the Civil Rights movement.

Perkins received 6,326 votes, 57 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan runoff which featured a heavy turnout. Smitherman had 4,854 votes, 43 percent.

Black Entertainment Television is Sold to Viacom

*On this date in 2000, Viacom Inc. announced that their company had agreed to acquire Black Entertainment Television (BET). The cost, $3 billion dollars, consisting of Viacom Class B Common Stock and the assumption of debt.

Black Sheriff Murdered In Georgia

On this date in 2000, an African American sheriff was murdered in Dekalb County, Georgia. Derwin Brown was gunned down in the driveway of his home two days before taking office.

He was extremely well liked and campaigned on the promise to clean up the department, which had been overwhelmed for years by corruption. Brown won the election over Sidney Dorsey that August, and had told 38 departmental employees that they would be fired when he took office on January 1. On July 10, 2002, Sidney Dorsey was convicted of plotting the murder of Brown.

America’s First Black Secretary of State is Appointed

On this date in 2000, Colin Powell was appointed as United States Secretary of State. Accepting President-elect George W. Bush’s nomination to be the America’s 65th Secretary of State, Powell became the first African American to hold that position.

Powell, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had presided over Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. He said, “If you want to be successful in the 21st century, you must find your path to democracy, market economics and a system which frees the talents of men and women to pursue their individual destinies.”

The Alabama Church bomber Is Convicted 38 Years Later

On this date in 2001, justice prevailed in the racial murder of four young girls in Alabama. A former Ku Klux Klan member was found guilty of murder in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African American girls, one of the most notable crimes of the civil rights era.

The Civil Rights Commission Reports on the 2000 Presidential Election

On this date in 2001, the United States Civil Rights Commission, headed by Mary Frances Berry, issued the results of its six-month long study to the November 2000 presidential election.

The report concluded that minority voters were disenfranchised by the methods used in the Florida election. It noted that Blacks were 10 times more likely than whites to have their ballots rejected and Black voting districts were disproportionately hindered by old and error prone voting equipment.

The Last Sorority in the American South, (University of Alabama) Integrates

On this date in 2001, the University of Alabama sorority system remained segregated. Melody Twilley, a junior at the University, was trying to become the first African American to get accepted by a white sorority.

Twilley’s sorority rush counselor told her “You didn’t get asked back.” The school’s top officials, civil rights leaders, and alumnae who dominate the politics and business in the state, had followed her progress through the rush selection process closely. Twilley sings in the school choir and carries a 3.87 grade point average.

Black Firefighters, and 9/11, (Among the First American Responders)

On this date in 2001, 12 Black firefighters died during the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center in New York City.

They were among the 343 firefighters and the almost 3,000 citizens who were victims of the attack in New York City.

The 12 Black firefighters were Vernon Cherry, André Fletcher, Gerald Baptist, Keith Glascoe, Karl Joseph, Tarel Coleman, William Henry, Ronnie Henderson, Vernon Richard, Leon Smith, Jr., Shawn Powell, and Keithroy Maynard.

A White Policeman is Acquitted for Killing a Black Youth

On this date in 2001, a white police officer in Cincinnati, OH, was acquitted in the killing of an unarmed black man. The killing sparked that city’s worst racial unrest in three decades.

Kofi Annan Receives The Nobel Peace Prize

On this date in 2001, in Oslo, Norway, the United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Annan, of Kumasi, Ghana, is the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations. The first secretary-general to be elected from the ranks of United Nations staff, he began his term on 1 January 1997. He has devoted almost his entire working life to the world body and was lauded for “bringing new life to the organization” that has often taken great risks in the promotion of human rights and conflict resolution since the end of World War II.

Miss World Crowns Its First Black African Winner

On this date in 2001, the first Black African woman won the Miss World beauty pageant.

Agbani Darego, an 18-year old from Nigeria, was crowned in Sun City, South Africa. Miss Aruba, Zerelda Lee, and Miss Scotland, Juliet-Jane Horne, were first and second runnersup.

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Death Sentence Is Thrown Out

On this date in 2001, a federal judge threw out the death sentence imposed nearly two decades earlier on Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Abu-Jamal is respected by supporters worldwide as a crusader against racial injustice but reviled by others as an unrepentant cop-killer. U.S. District Judge William Yohn cited problems with the jury charge and verdict form in the trial that ended with the former journalist and Black Panther’s first-degree murder conviction in the 1981 death of a Philadelphia police officer. The judge denied all of Abu-Jamal’s other claims and refused his request for a new trial.

The First Black Olympic Speed-Skater Qualifies

On this date in 2001, Shani Davis became the first African American to qualify for the United States Olympic speed skating team.

Davis, a former roller skater from Chicago, beat his close friend and world cup champion Apolo Ohno in the 1,000 meter short-track final held in Kearns, Utah, qualifying for the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Davis (then 19 years old) needed the 987 points that went with first place in order to finish sixth, knocking 1998 Olympian Tommy O’Hare off the team. O’Hare stormed out of the Olympic Oval without talking to reporters.

The First African American Wins A Gold Medal In The Winter Olympics

*On this date in 2002, Vonetta Flowers became the first African American gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

She and partner Jull Brakken won the inaugural women’s two-person bobsled event.