Singer, Tina Turner was born, 1941
National Negro Medical Association founded, 1895
On this date in 1970, B.O. Davis Sr. (93), first Black general, dies in Chicago.
On this date in 1970, Charles Gordone awarded Pulitzer Prize for his play, No Place To Go. Painter Jacob Lawrence awarded Spingarn Medal “in tribute to the compelling power of his work which has opened to the world…a window on the Negro’s condition in the United States” and “in salute to his unswerving commitment” to the Black struggle.
ON this date in 1911, William Henry Lewis was appointed assistant attorney general of the United States by President William Howard Taft, making him the first Black appointed to a sub-cabinet post.
On this date in 1883, abolitionist and orator, Sojourner Truth dies in Battle Creek, Michigan.
On this date in 1872, South Carolina General Assembly met in Columbia Stephen A. Swails was elected president pro tem of the senate, and Samuel J. Lee was elected Speaker of the house. The Assembly named four Blacks to the seven-man governing board of the University of South Carolina.
ON this date in 1872, Macon B. Allen was elected judge of the Inferior Court of Charleston. Allen, the first Black lawyer, thus became the second Black to hold a major judicial position and the first Black with a major judicial position on the municipal level.
