*On this date in 1981, Knight v. Alabama was filed in federal court. The suit, brought by John F. Knight and others associated with two Historically Black Colleges in Alabama (HBCU), held that Alabama’s higher education system utilized racially discriminatory practices in allocating funding and admissions practices. The State of Alabama’s practices were determined to be […]
learn moreOn this date in 1955, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company was ruled. This was a landmark civil rights case in the United States in which the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to a bus segregation complaint filed in 1953 by Black Women’s Army Corps (WAC) private Sarah Louise Keys. This broke with its historic loyalty to the Plessy v. Ferguson separate but equal doctrine and interpreted the […]
learn more*On May 17, 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “Give Us the Ballot” speech. Dr. King address 25,000 people in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial for the Payer Pilgrimage for Freedom. He suggested that the “betrayal” of disenfranchised Americans by all politicians offered the ultimate argument for why the struggle for voting rights is essential […]
learn more*On this date in 1798, the Bahian Conspiracy was declared. Also known as Revolt of the Tailors (after the occupation of many of the leaders) it was a late eighteenth century African slave rebellion in Bahia, in the State of Brazil. This was a separatist movement with a popular base and extensive Afro-Brazilian participation. The objectives of the rebelling baianos were proposing to liberate […]
learn more*On this date in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba, leader of the MNC-L became the first Prime Minister. In the fallout from the Léopoldville riots, the report of a Belgian parliamentary working group on the future of the Congo was published in which a strong demand for “internal autonomy” was […]
learn more*On this date in 1928, James Earl Ray was born. He was a white-American fugitive and felon. Ray was born on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille and George Ellis Ray. He had Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry and had a Catholic upbringing. Ray was the first born of nine children, including John Larry Ray, Franklin Ray, Jerry William Ray, Melba Ray, Carol Ray […]
learn more*On this date in 1862, The Morrill Land-Grant Act was passed. This allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states and paved thee way for many Historical Black Colleges and Universities, (HBCU) using the proceeds of federal land sales. The Morrill Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War and the Morrill Act of […]
learn more*On this date in 1863, the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was formed. This wasa Union Army regiment during the American Civil War, formed by General Rufus Saxton. It was composed of escaped slaves from South Carolina and Florida. It was one of the first black regiments in the Union Army. Department of the South staff officer James D. Fessenden was heavily involved in efforts to recruit volunteers […]
learn more*On this date in 1865, The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was established. Also known as the Joint Committee of Fifteen, this committee of the 39th United States Congress played a major role in Reconstruction in the wake of the American Civil War. It was created to “inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether […]
learn more*On this date in 1960 The Republic of Dahomey (Benin) became independent of France. In the words of the historian Martin Meredith, the young country “was encumbered with every imaginable difficulty: a small strip of territory jutting inland from the coast, it was crowded, insolvent and beset by tribal divisions, huge debts, unemployment, frequent strikes and an […]
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