*The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was established on this date in 1963. Formed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory governments, one of the main heads for OAU’s establishment was Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and economic integration among member states, and to eradicate colonialism and Neo-colonialism from the African continent. The organization […]
learn more*This date in 1962 celebrates Burundi independence from Belgium. Burundi is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The capital cities are Gitega and Bujumbura. Burundi began its drive for independence on […]
learn more*King Leopold II was born on this date in 1835. He a white-European Monarch, the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909. Born Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor in Brussels as the second but eldest surviving son of Leopold I and Louise of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in […]
learn more*James R. Johnston was born on this date in 1876. He was a Black Canadian lawyer and community leader. James Robinson Johnston was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia; the eldest of the five sons of William Johnston, a shoemaker, and Elizabeth Ann Thomas. His maternal grandparents were Reverend James Thomas, a white man from Wales who headed the African […]
learn more*On this date in 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state from Britain. Saint Lucia is a sovereign island country in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. The island was previously called Iyonola, the name given to the island by the native Arawaks and later, […]
learn moreThe Federal Housing Act was enacted on this date in 1934. This American legislation began the modern involvement of the federal government in the American housing market. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created from this legislation. It represented the early New Deal’s most important attempt at short-term pump priming of the economy, but it also […]
learn more*Edwin McMasters Stanton was born on this date in 1814. He was white-American lawyer and politician. The first of David and Lucy Stanton’s four children, Edwin McMasters, was born to them in Steubenville, Ohio. Edwin’s early formal education consisted of a private school and a seminary behind the Stanton’s’ residence, called “Old Academy”. When […]
learn more*Sala Udin was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black politician activist and administrator. Born Samuel Wesley Howze in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to William and Mary Howze; he was raised in the Hill District of the city; he was one of eleven children. In 1961, Udin graduated from Port Richmond High School in […]
learn more*On this date in 1815, The White House of the Confederacy was built. This is a historic house located in the Court End neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Built as the main executive residence of the sole President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, from August 1861 until April 1865. It was viewed as the Confederate States counterpart to the White House in Washington, D.C. […]
learn more*Elizabeth Van Lew was born on this date in 1818. She was a white-American abolitionist and philanthropist. Elizabeth Van Lew was born in Richmond, Virginia to John Van Lew and Eliza Baker whose maternal grandfather was abolitionist Hilary Baker, mayor of Philadelphia from 1796 to 1798. Her father came to Richmond in 1806, at the […]
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