Saturday, August 11, 2012

This Week in AfricanAmerican History May 2 to May 8

May 2

1844: Inventor Elijah McCoy, also known as the "Real McCoy," is born in Ontario, Canada. An inventor, McCoy owned patents to fifty inventions that enhanced the running of many engine-operated machines.

1920: The National Negro Baseball League plays its first game in Indianapolis.

May 3

1845: Macon B. Allen becomes the first African-American allowed to practice law in the United States after he passed the Massachusetts bar. In 1873, Allen was appointed to a judgeship in South Carolina.

May 4

1891: Provident Hospital, the first integrated hospital in the United States is founded by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Located in Chicago, Provident Hospital becomes a training ground for African-American doctors and nurses.

1961: The thirteen Freedom Riders begin traveling through the South on buses to assess Southern compliance with the 1960 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation in interstate transportation facilities.

May 5

1865: Baptist minister and community activist Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born. Under his tutelage, Abyssinian Baptist Church becomes the largestProtestant congregation in the United States.

1905:

Using a collection of articles from other news publications and his own reporting, Robert S. Abbott publishes the first issue of the Chicago Defender.

May 6

1787: Prince Hall establishes the first African-American Masonic Lodge in Boston.

1812: Pan-Africanist Martin R. Delay is born in Charles Town, Va.

May 7

1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

May 8

1858: Prominent abolitionist and writer, William Wells Brown, publishes the first play by an African-American. Entitled "Escape," the play emphasizes the complex feeling of being American.

1925 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is founded by Asa Philip Randolph.


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