The Registry

Eartha White, a full life of giving

Eartha Mary Magdalene White was born on this date in 1876. She was an African American vocalist, educator, administrator, and humanitarian.

New Orlean General Strike occurrs

*On this date in 1892, the New Orleans general strike occurred. This was a general strike that began despite appeals to racial hatred and Black and White workers remained united. The general strike ended on November 12, with unions gaining most of their original demands. Early that year, streetcar conductors in New Orleans won a shorter workday and the preferential closed shop. This victory drove many New Orleans workers to seek assistance from the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Maude E. Callen Nurse & Midwife born

*On Maude Callen was born on this date in 1898. She was an African American nurse and midwife.

Maude E. Callen was born in Quincy, Florida. She was one of thirteen sisters. She was orphaned by the age of six and then was raised in the home of her uncle, Dr. William J. Gunn, a physician, in Tallahassee, Florida. She graduated from Florida A & M University in 1922 and then completed her nursing course at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Horace M. Bond, Educator born

Horace M. Bond was born on this date in 1904. He was an African American teacher and administrator.

Bond was the grandson of slaves, the sixth of seven children. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father a minister, and both had attended Oberlin College. Bond excelled as a student, graduating from high school at the age of 14.

Stage, Screen, and TV, Esther Rolle born

On this date in 1920, Esther Rolle was born. She was an African American Emmy Award-winning actress.

She was born in Pompano Beach, FL, the tenth of 18 children birb ti parents were of Bahamian descent. Rolle attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, and then attended Spelman College for a year before moving to New York. She supported herself by working in a pocketbook factory while auditioning for the theater.

A voice from heaven, Minnie Riperton

On this date in 1947, Minnie Riperton, African American singer with one of widest vocal ranges of any singer in the twentieth century, was born in Chicago.

She was the daughter of Daniel and Thelma Riperton, the youngest of eight children. At the age of three she started modern dance lessons, followed by ballet lessons at 5. Her voice lessons began at the age of nine and she was developing her operatic chops at 11.

Actress Alfre Woodward born

Alfre Woodard, an African American actress, was born on this date in 1953.

Born in Tulsa, OK, she is the youngest of three children. She was named by her godmother, who claimed she saw a vision of Alfre’s name written out in gold letters. A former high school cheerleader and track star, Alfre was bitten by the acting bug after being persuaded to audition for her school play by a nun at her school.

First Black senator elected since Reconstruction

On this date in 1966, Edward W. Brooke was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Brooke, a Massachusetts Republican, became the first African American senator since the Reconstruction era in the United States and the first Black senator elected by popular vote.

The 1960s were years of racial violence, and in that year, 43 cities were hit, with 11 killed, more than 400 injured, and 3,000 arrested.

The next year, a record number of rebellions—as black people called them-—made 1967 “the worst year for riots in the United States.”

Reference:
Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1989.

Black Woman becomes official presidential candidate

On this date in 1988, the first African American officially qualified to run for president of the United States of America since 1972.

Dr. Lenora Fulani of the New Alliance Party ran in the general election, passing the minimum 70,000 votes in every state and the District of Columbia to run. She received 217,221 of the popular vote that year. Dr Fulani focused on issues concerning unemployment, health care, and homelessness, and officially ran again in 1992. Shirley Chisholm was the first official Black woman candidate in America.

References:
America Vote 18

Massachusetts elects its first Black governor

On this date in 2006, Massachusetts elected the first black person to win the state’s highest office in its 218-year history. Deval Patrick defeated Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, the Republican nominee, as well as independent Christy Mihos and Grace Ross of the Green-Rainbow Party.

The victory made Patrick only the second African American governor in the nation since Reconstruction. The first, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, left office in 1995.