On this date in 2005, Lena Baker, an African American woman, was pardoned posthumously for a murder.
In 1944, Baker was sentenced to death in Randolph County for murder. She is the only woman ever put to death in Georgia’s electric chair. Baker had been a maid in the household of white employer E. B. Knight. She allegedly killed Knight because he threatened her at a Cuthbert Grist mill. An all-white jury convicted her in a one-day trial.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, the Rosa Parks OutKast court case was settled.
learn more*On this date in 2005, Wachovia Bank became another financial contractor to acknowledge past ties to slavery. The New York-based bank disclosed in a filing with the city of Chicago, which two years ago passed an ordinance requiring companies that do business with the city to research their history to determine any links to slavery. Wachovia […]
learn moreOn this date in 2005, the United States Senate issued a resolution addressing their delay in voting against American lynching.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman was convicted of manslaughter in Mississippi.
Edgar Ray Killen was convicted in the murders of three Civil Rights workers exactly 41 years ago. A jury of nine Whites and three Blacks reached the verdict on their second day of deliberations, rejecting murder charges against Killen but also turning aside defense claims that he wasn’t involved at all. An all-white jury in 1967 just three years after the murders had found Killen innocent.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, a division of Nextel Communications publicly apologized for its racially explicit advertising for its cell phone.
The advertisements were billboards depicting a bug-eyed Black male asking “Where you at?” The ads, scattered around Reno, NV, were promoting a new cell phone designed for teens. Some people criticized that it exploits Black youths, promotes non-standard English, and resurrects an ethnic form of segregation and slavery.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, the Mexican government issued postage stamps of Memín Pinguín.
Memín Pinguín was created by the late Yolanda Vargas Dulchéis. Memin Pinguín is a Black comic personality whose cartoons have been published throughout Mexico and other Latin countries since 1943 in various publications. Stories feature him as a very poor Afro-Mexican boy who is often taunted and laughed at. The original character, known as Memín Pingo by some Mexicans, was changed to Pingüín when they found that the word was slang for “penis” in some countries. M
learn moreOn this date in 2005, a Black teenager, was murdered in England with an ax in a hate crime.
Anthony Walker, 18, was waiting for a bus with his girlfriend and a cousin when a man started shouting racist taunts at them near Walker’s home in Liverpool. The three left to find another bus stop to avoid trouble, but a group of three or four men followed them through a park. One of Walker’s companions saw one of them club Walker with an ax. They ran to get help and returned a few minutes later to find him with the ax embedded in his skull. Walker died early the next day.
learn more*On this date in 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall and began its devastation on Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, states that are 30% African American. Formed on August 23rd, Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane that made landfall on Florida and Louisiana until August 31st, causing catastrophic damage, particularly in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, and over 1,200 deaths. Subsequent flooding was largely caused […]
learn moreOn this date in 2005, White radio talk show host William Bennett was quoted as making racially divisive statements about African Americans in relation to abortion and crime. He spoke them on the program “Morning in America.” Here is the transcript from the show.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, racial rioting began in France.
Starting in a northeastern Paris suburb of Toulouse, African immigrants were angry over the deaths of two Black teenagers. Rage had been building over racism and over living and working conditions for Africans and the dissent grew into a nationwide insurrection.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare the life of African American Stanley Tookie Williams.
Jesse Jackson and others (shown) marched across the Golden Gate Bridge into the San Francisco area in protest. Williams, the founder of the Crips street gang, was executed one minute after midnight.
Just before the governor announced his decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals denied Williams’ request for a reprieve.
learn moreOn this date in 2005, Actor Morgan Freeman dismissed America’s Black History Month as “ridiculous.”
Freeman, who won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 2005 for “Million Dollar Baby,” said he hoped to see an end to the annual series of events in February. “Black history is American history,” Freeman said in a BBC interview. Freeman also said the only way to end racism was to “stop talking about it.”
learn more*On this date in 2006, Shani Davis became the first Black to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
He captured the men’s 1,000-meter speed skating race in Turin, Italy. After crossing the line and spotting his time, the first guy to break 1:09 on the slow Turin ice, Davis thrust his right fist in the air.
As he coasted along the back straightaway, he raised both arms toward the roof of the Olympic oval, and then put his hands on his head in obvious relief.
learn more*On this date in 2006, the first Black African born Swedish politician became a Minister. Nyamko Sabuni is a project manager and administrator. Sabuni moved to Sweden from Burundi at the age of 12. In her campaign, she suggested that all girls should undergo compulsory checks for genital mutilation (known as female circumcision); which led […]
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