Conference tnpubs::tnpubs_vod

13.0. "Black History" by TNPUBS::FORTEN () Mon Mar 09 1992 15:15

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     05-Mar-1992 11:58am EST
                                        From:     MARY COLLINS @BXC
                                                  COLLINS.MARY
                                        Dept:     Human Resources
                                        Tel No:   508-635-7926

TO: See Below

Subject: I) FROM ONE OF OUR MICH STATE UNIV HIRES NOW IN THE FIELD              

Subject: THOUGHT YOU'D APPRECIATE THIS                               
Subject: FYI - BLACK HISTORY                                         
Subject: FYI - BLACK HISTORY                                         

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                    DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY Document

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     20-Feb-1992 06:01am CST
                                        From:     ALL-IN-1 System Manager
                                                  MANAGER AT A1 at NYEM1 at PCO
                                        Dept:     
                                        Tel No:   

TO:  All ALL-IN-1 users on this node      ( SUBSCRIBERS: AT A1 at NYEM1 at PCO )

Subject: 20TH Century African-American History Timeline              

Attached please find an electronic copy of text from a visual display Carrie 
Osborne has created outlining significant events in 20th Century American 
History which pertain to African-Americans. 

It is all of our history.  

The Valuing Diversity Teams of NY and NJ wish to thank Carrie Osborne for this 
piece as well as Julia Driver for her assistance inputting the data.   



			
			It is the intent of this
			"time-line" to show pieces
			of history -- IN CELEBRATION
			OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH --
			AMERICAN HISTORY AS IT
			PERTAINS TO BLACK AMERICANS...
			Certainly not all-inclusive,
			it highlights major events,
			attitudes, and people which
			have shaped the 20th century...

	*All material is directly
	quoted from a Time Life
	publication, "Chronicles of 
	the 20th Century" detailing
	newspaper headlines and articles
	for every year since 1900*




1901

President Theodore Roosevelt incites controversy by inviting black
leader Booker T. Washington to the White House.

1902

President Roosevelt announces, "A man's color or race is no bar to
office". He went on to say that he would appoint qualified men,
whether white or colored.

1903

President Roosevelt closes a U.S. Post Office in Indianola, Mississippi
for refusing to employ Minnie Cox, a colored Postmaster.

1904

President Roosevelt names a Negro to second his nomination for 
President at the national convention in Chicago.

1905

Jan. 7: On three consecutive occasions, Roosevelt submitted a Negro,
Mr. Gran, for a High Customs Post position in South Carolina. All
three times the Senate rejected the appointment but Roosevelt
maintained his candidacy because he is convinced that racial 
discrimination is morally wrong. On Jan. 7th, the Senate gave in.
Gran got the job.	

1908

Jack Johnson becomes the first Negro to win the World Heavyweight 
Boxing Championship in a TKO over Tommy Burns.

1909

W.E.B. DuBois forms the Negro Rights Committee to agitate for suffrage 
and an end to racial prejudice. DuBois had met with followers 4 years 
earlier in Niagara Falls to organize the Negro movement's left wing 
which has become known as the "Niagara Movement". The Niagara Movement 
opposes Booker T. Washington's call for vocational training and 
Protestant virtue as the road to advancement. DuBois predicts that the 
problem of the 20th century is problem of the color line.

Matthew Hensen, Commander Robert Peary's Negro assistant reaches the 
North Pole with Peary after a 36-day trek. Only 40 dogs and 4 Eskimos 
accompanied Peary and Hensen when they reached their ultimate goal.

Booker T. Washington asks the United States to Aid Liberia.

1910

Riots break out as Jack Johnson defends, and keeps, his Heavyweight 
Boxing title in a bout against Jim Jeffries. Negroes and Whites 
traveling in mobs attacked each other at the end of the fight. Eight 
Negroes were reported killed.

The National Negro Committee, founded in 1909 by W.E.B. DuBois becomes 
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 
and continues to fight for full equality.

1913

Harriet Tubman dies at 92. She was born on a plantation in Maryland 
and fled to the north in 1849. She led over 300 other slaves to safety 
on the underground railroad. During the Civil War, she served as a 
cook, nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army in South Carolina. 
After the war, Miss Tubman was hailed as a true heroine by 
abolitionists and her fellow Negroes.

1914

In New York, Jim Europe conducts the Negro Symphony Orchestra with 
clarinets, trumpets, trombones, banjos, drums, and 10 pianos.

1915

Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute and author of " 
Working with Hands", dies. A former slave, Washington was born on a 
Virginia plantation. At the close of the Civil War he traveled to West 
Virginia where he worked in the kitchen of a woman who taught him to 
read and write. He entered the Hampton Institute for Negroes in 1871 
and founded Tuskegee in Alabama 10 years later.
As a Negro leader, Washington tackled the problems of his people 
pragmatically: occupational training was the solution to emotional and 
economic despair. He earned several honorary degrees, a Harvard MA 
among them, and generous endowments for his school.

"Great White Hope" Jess Willard strips Jack Johnson of his Heavyweight 
title.

1918

In New York, the Union League awards colors to Negro 367th Infantry.

1920

Frederick Douglas becomes the first Negro named to New York 
University's Hall of Fame.

1923

A Young Negro (now called African-American) woman named Bessie Smith 
has come out of nowhere to capture the imagination of people who like 
that kind of jazz called "the blues". She made her first record this 
month and it promises to be a phenomenal success.

1928

In New York, the New Gallery exhibits Archibald Motley in the first 
show to feature a Negro (African-American) artist.

Austrian national Socialists protest the presence of Negro 
(African-American) singer Josephine Baker on a Vienna stage.

1929

The 1920's may come to be remembered as the time when Harlem became 
the capital of African-American social and cultural life. Thousands of 
Negroes from the rural South have emigrated to the New York area. 
In Harlem, still owned by whites but increasingly inhabited by 
Negroes, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson 
Langston Hughes, Claude Mckay, James Weldon Johnson and others work to 
make names for themselves in the annals of literature.

1935

Joe Louis knocks out Primo Carnera in the 6th round.

1936

Back at home, Joe Louis floors Jorge Brescia in the 3rd round in 
Cleveland, it takes Joe Louis only 26 seconds to KO Eddie Simms.

Joe Louis knocks out Charley Retzlaff in the 1st round Joe Louis 
knocks out Jack Sharkey in the 3rd round.

Jesse Owens is the star performer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Ten 
African-Americans showed up on the talent-laden American team. Hitler 
has called the Negroes an "inferior race", and despite the Aryan 
figures posted everywhere, the undisputed star of the show was a 
modest Negro athlete from Ohio State, Jesse Owens. He won the 100 and 
200 meter dashes, the running broad jump, and was on the winning 400 
meter relay team. He was also in a drama with Hitler. Hitler had been 
making a practice of recognizing and congratulating all other 
athletes for their victories but refused to acknowledge Owens or his 
other "black auxiliaries" and left the stadium each time their awards 
were bestowe to avoid a confrontation.

1937

Joe Louis defeats Bob Pastor in New York.

Joe Louis finally becomes the Heavyweight Champion of the world. 
Louis, from Detroit, Michigan, has emerged as the first 
African-American champion in 22 years. There were those who said Louis 
had been denied a title chance until now because of his color.

1939

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have refused to allow 
Marian Anderson to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. Miss 
Anderson is an African-American contralto who has sung for audiences 
worldwide. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly resigned from the 
DAR when she heard about the organization's action.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets in New York with George 
Washington Carver, renowned African-American scientist.

1940

American Black Nationalist, Marcus Garvey dies.

1943

George Washington Carver, chemist and botanist, dies in Tuskegee, 
Alabama. He was born a slave in Missouri in 1861 and came to Tuskegee 
University with a MA in Agriculture from Iowa State College. Carver 
revitalized southern agriculture by developing new uses for soybeans, 
sweet potatoes, peanuts, and other crops.

1945

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, integrates baseball by becoming the first 
African-American signed by a team in organized baseball. The 26 year 
old short stop will leave the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League 
to join the Montreal Club, a Brooklyn Dodger affiliate of the 
International League.

1946

Joe Louis, in the 22nd defense of his world title, finishes Billy Cohn 
off in the 8th round.

1948

Yale University elects Levi Jackson as the first African-American to 
coach a college football team.

1949

An uneasy peace returns to the Middle East as Israel and Egypt signed 
an armistice on the island of Rhodes. Much of the credit for the 
armistice must be given to Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, a Negro, the Mediator 
appointed by the United Nations. The 2 countries acknowledged Bunche's 
skill at a buffet supper on Rhodes last night.

Ralph Bunche, one of the most respected diplomats of our era has 
refused a job as Assistant Secretary of State in Washington. He said 
he did not want his family to risk indignities because of his color. 
Entering government service in 1941, he became the first Negro 
division head in the State DEpartment in 1945, and in 1946 the head of 
the Trusteeship Division of the United Nations.

Jackie Robinson is named MVP of the World Series and the National 
League Batting Champion. (.342 for the season)

Louis Armstrong takes the New Orleans sound to Europe and performs to 
standing ovations everywhere.

King of the tap dancers, Bill Robinson dies. Celebrities and 8 miles 
of crowds paid last tributes to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson who died of 
a heart ailment at age 71. After his admission to the hospital, some 
5,000 admirers sent letters, including President Truman.

Joe Louis, "The Brown Bomer" has retired after 11 years as the 
Heavyweight Champ. Son of a sharecropper who died when he was 4, Louis 
started boxing at 18, turned pro in 1934 and took the title 3 years 
later. Lightening punches won him 25 title defenses with only 1 loss.

1950

Althea Gibson will become the first African-American to compete in the 
U.S. Tennis Championships. U.S.T.A. President said that Miss Gibson 
had been accepted by the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association (a Pre-requisite 
for competition) "because of her ability".

Ralph Bunche becomes the first African-American to win a Noble Prize, 
the Peace Prize, for his successful mediation in Palestine.

1952

At the Miami Springs Country Club, African-Americans are allowed to 
play golf on Mondays -- but every other day of the week, only whites 
can tee off.

The DAR ban against African-American Singers is finally lifted. 
Eleanor Roosevelt never rejoined the organization.

1954

In Washington, Assistant Secretary of Labor James Wilkens is the first 
African-American to attend a Presidential Cabinet meeting.

1955

Marian Anderson debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera as the first 
African-American to sing at the famed MET. Reporters from newspapers 
nationwide were on hand to cover the story. Anderson made news 16 
years ago when she was banned from singing in public for the DAR.

Walter White, leader of the NAACP dies. White was born with fair skin, 
blonde hair and blue eyes -- his ancestry was only 5/32% Negro but he 
chose to be a Negro to fight for emancipation when he could have 
easily joined the white majority. White worked throughout his lifetime 
to put an end to racism and will be sorely missed.

1956

In Birmingham Alabama, whites attack Nat King Cole as he attempts to 
sing to a mostly white audience.

African-Americans boycott busses. Arrests of 115 Negroes on charges of 
boycotting the city's buses in Montgomery, Alabama have triggered 
large protests. Two months earlier, Rosa Parks quietly refused to move 
from her seat near the front of the bus to the designated section in 
the rear for Negroes. She was promptly arrested, fined, and jailed. 
When she told the presiding judge that she intended to appeal his 
decision, thousands of Negroes have boycotted the bus lines, in 
violation of an Alabama statute outlawing organized boycotting. 
Ministers in Montgomery have asked the federal government to 
intervene, urging Washington to "exhaust every effort to give relief 
to these citizens whose civil rights have been violated".

Martin Luther King has been found guilty of orchestrating the 
Montgomery Alabama bus Boycotts.

1957

Troops are sent to Little Rock Arkansas to force integration. Governor 
Faubus  had ordered state militia to not allow African-Americans to 
enter a white high-school. President Eisenhower ordered Faubus to 
comply with integration plans and sent Federal troops to make sure it 
happened.

Althea Gibson an African-American woman who learned to play tennis in 
Harlem and went on to win at Wimbledon, was joyfully saluted in New 
York City.

A new Bill wrought on August 29th, designed to protect and assure 
voting rights for African-Americans and other minorities was passed.

1958

Malcom X frees a Harlem African-American beaten by police during an 
arrest for fighting.

1959

Billie Holiday dies at 44. She was known as one of the finest blues 
singers of all time.

Benjamin O. Davis becomes the first African-American to gain the 
military rank of Major General.

1960

African-Americans gather at Confederate Capital in Montgomery, Alabama 
to protest segregation. Negro Leader Martin Luther King asked 
President Eisenhower repeatedly to intervene in their crusade for 
Civil Rights.

In Greensboro, South Carolina, African-American students marched into 
a variety store and took seats at the lunch counter. This was in 
direct relation to a rash of sit-in protests that were being waged 
across the south at variety stores such as Woolworth's and SH Kress. 
White waitresses refused to serve the students.

In Miami Beach, the first U.S. African-American woman competes in the 
Miss Universe contest -- representing Ohio.

In Georgia, Martin Luther King spends 4 months in prison for waging a 
peaceful sit-in demonstration.

1962

Rioting erupts as University of Mississippi admits it's first 
African-American, James Meredith.

1963

U.S. Supreme court legalizes sit-ins in cities which are still 
enforcing segregation.

More than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators filled Washington D.C. to 
demand passage of the Civil Rights Legislation. Among the many 
speeches and songs that were heard was "I Have a Dream".

In Birmingham, Alabama, 500 are arrested in an African-American 
protest march. Police disperse the crowd with firehoses.

John F. Kennedy sends federal troops to Birmingham after the riots.

In a television appeal to the masses, Rev. King, James Baldwin, and 
Malcom X call JFK's leadership inadequate.

James Meredith receives his diploma from "Ole Miss".

In New York, Martin Luther King denounces JFK's Civil Rights Policy.

In Mississippi, NAACP leader Medgar Evers is shot dead in an ambush.

1964

LBJ signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- "Let us close the springs of 
Racial Poison".

Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American to win an Oscar for 
Best Actor, starring in the film "Lilies of the Field".

Malcom X breaks with Black Muslims to form the "Black Nationalist 
Party". He stated his new party will persuade African-Americans to 
replace non-violence (advocated by King) with active self-defense 
against white supremacists.

Malcom X founds Organization for Afro-American Unity -- to seek 
independence for African-Americans in the Western Hemisphere.

1965

Malcom X shot to death by Negro assassins from the Black Muslim 
Organization that he have previously severed ties with.

In Alabama, 25,000 Civil Rights demonstrators took place in the 
Freedom Walk from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, the state capitol -- 
in all a 50 mile journey. Upon reaching the capitol steps, King 
shouted, "we are all on the move and no wave of racism will stop us!"

1966

First African-American Senator elected by popular vote -- Edward W. 
Brook will take the seat in January and will be the first Negro Senate 
member in 85 years.

1,000 protest the ban on Julian Bond, African-American pacifist, from 
the State of Representatives. The House voted 184 to 12 not to seat 
the 26-year old Bond after he endorsed a Student Non-violent 
Coordinating Committee statement which was critical of US involvement 
in Vietnam.

African-Americans battle police in the streets of Chicago, New York, 
and Cleveland. Over 4000 National Guardsmen were called to Chicago to 
quiet an ongoing war between police and Negro snipers.

1967

In Detroit, race riots sweep the city. 19 killed and 700 arrested. 
Federal troops move in but not before death toll reaches 31.

"Black Power" advocates call for revolution. Race riots in cities are 
"necessary phase of the Black Revolution". Also revolutionary is the 
change in the use of the word "Black" now the term African-American is 
preferred. Blacks and Whites alike are using this term.

By a 69-11 majority, the Senate appointed Thurgood Marshall as the 
first black to the Supreme Court, despite charges that he is too 
liberal, Prior to his current position as Solicitor General, Marshall 
was the chief legal officer for the NAACP and won 29/32 cases before 
the Supreme Court.

1968

April 5th -- Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot as he leaned over 
the second floor balcony railing just outside his room at the Lorraine 
Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The assassin, who managed to escape, is 
believed to be a white man who was staying at a flophouse about 50 to 
100 yards from the motel. King was leaning over the railing to talk 
with his fellow civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson, who was standing 
below.

Reverend Ralph Abernathy succeeds King as President of the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference. Most agree he is the natural 
successor to lead the freedom campaign.

The first black woman ever, democrat Shirley Chisholm is elected to 
the House of Representatives.

Black Militants raise their fists in protest and for Black Power, at 
the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Arthur Ashe becomes the first black male to win big at tennis -- 
taking the U.S. Open with ease.

1970

Benjamin O. Davis, the 1st black U.S. General dies.

1971

Louis Armstrong, jazz virtuoso, dies. He refused to play in his native 
New Orleans until the Civil Rights Act was passed.

1972

Mahalia Jackson, famed Gospel singer dies. She was heard and revered 
in black and white churches alike.

1974

Martin Luther King's mother, Mrs. King Sr. was slain in an Atlanta 
church by a crazed gunman who claimed that he had "been told to kill 
Martin Luther King Sr., but that Mrs. King was as close as he could 
get".

1975

Josephine Baker is dead at 68. She led a host of black Americans to 
Paris in search of artistic freedom in the 1920's.

Elijah Muhammad, American spiritual leader of Black Muslims is dead.

1977

"Roots" draws 80 million -- largest ever TV audience. Roots traces the 
history of black America by tracing the author, Alex Haley's own 
family from bondage in Africa to eventual freedom in America. 
Ironically, it drew more viewers than "Gone with the Wind", which was 
also an epic about the Civil War but it did not accurately depict the 
black experience.

1979

Patricia Harris is sworn in as the 1st black female to occupy a 
cabinet post in a presidential administration -- Secretary of Health, 
Education, and Welfare. (Renamed as Health and Human Services.)

1981

An August 23 poll said black Americans have developed a "gloomy 
Outlook" of the 1980's -- saying the root of their pessimism is due to 
Ronald Regan's administrative budget cuts. He is viewed as worsening 
the overall situation for blacks and other minorities.

Roy Wilkens, American Civil Rights Activist, who led NAACP from 
1955-1977 dies.

1982

Satchel Paige -- the first black American League pitcher dies.

1983

Philadelphia elects Wilson Good as their first, and the countries 
first, black mayor.

1984

Michale Jackson's "Thriller" LP won him 8 Grammy Awards and over $37 
million -- a record for any performer to date, black or white, from a 
single album.

1989

History is made in New York City, when mayor Ed Kotch is dethroned by 
David Dinkins, a black man and also in the state of Virginia where the 
nation's first black Governor is elected -- in a traditionally 
conservative state.


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