Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, leaders of the Black Panther Party, were killed during a pre-dawn raid by the Chicago Police Department, coordinated with the FBI and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Civil rights advocates and later investigations revealed that Hampton was drugged and shot multiple times while asleep, prompting widespread outrage and charges of extrajudicial murder.

• Fred Hampton was only 21 years old and had founded the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party in November 1968.

• He quickly became known for his charismatic leadership and revolutionary vision, forming free breakfast programs, health clinics, and a Rainbow Coalition that united poor Black, Latino, and white communities.

• Mark Clark, 22, was standing watch at the time of the raid and was also shot and killed.

Subsequent investigations uncovered that the FBI’s COINTELPRO program had targeted Hampton and the Black Panthers as part of a broader effort to disrupt civil rights movements.

On this date, journalist Emmett J. Scott published early reports highlighting the growing movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. Though the Great Migration began gradually in the early 1910s, it gained significant momentum around this time—fueled by racial violence, segregation, and the lure of industrial jobs in Northern cities.

Over the next several decades, more than 6 million African Americans would migrate in waves, seeking better opportunities and shaping the cultural, economic, and political fabric of cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia. Between 1910 and 1930 alone, over 1.5 million Black Southerners relocated.

This mass movement:

• Sparked the Harlem Renaissance and other cultural booms.

• Shifted political power in Northern states.

• Altered American demographics permanently.

Moneta Sleet Jr., a photographer for Ebony magazine, became the first African American man and the first African American photographer to win a Pulitzer Prize. He received the award for his poignant photograph of Coretta Scott King, taken at the funeral of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The image, showing Mrs. King with their daughter Bernice on her lap, became one of the most iconic portrayals of grief and strength during the civil rights era. Sleet’s win was also a major milestone for Black journalists and photographers working in mainstream media.

Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., director of the NAACP Washington Bureau, received the Spingarn Medal for the pivotal role he played in the enactment of landmark civil rights legislation. Known as the “101st U.S. Senator” for his tireless lobbying, Mitchell was instrumental in the passage of key laws including the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Spingarn Medal, established in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, former Chairman of the NAACP Board, is awarded annually to honor outstanding achievement by an African American.

Anthony Overton, a pioneering African American businessman, was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP for his outstanding achievements in business. Overton was a publisher, banker, insurance executive, and cosmetics manufacturer — becoming one of the most successful Black entrepreneurs of his era. He founded Half-Century Magazine, the Victory Life Insurance Company, and the Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Company, one of the first to market cosmetics specifically for Black women.

The Spingarn Medal was established in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, then Chairman of the NAACP Board, to honor outstanding achievement by African Americans annually.

On this day, Duke Ellington and his band began their legendary residency at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. This engagement catapulted Ellington to national fame, thanks in part to the club’s radio broadcasts, which introduced his music to a wide audience.

Ellington, born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington, D.C., had arrived in New York in the early 1920s. By 1923, he was performing with his group The Washingtonians, named after his hometown. His sophisticated style and innovative compositions helped define the Harlem Renaissance and transformed the landscape of American jazz.

On this day, the modern Ku Klux Klan was officially chartered by the Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia. This marked the formal rebirth of the white supremacist organization, which had been originally founded during the Reconstruction era. Revived at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in 1915, the second Klan was inspired in part by the racist film The Birth of a Nation and positioned itself as a defender of “Americanism.”

Throughout the 1920s, the Klan spread rapidly beyond the South into states like Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California, claiming millions of members at its peak. It used intimidation, violence, and political influence to promote white supremacy and anti-Black, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, and anti-immigrant ideologies.

On this day, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) organized nationwide protests against the film The Birth of a Nation, which premiered earlier that year. The movie, directed by D.W. Griffith, glorified the Ku Klux Klan and promoted racist stereotypes that vilified African Americans.

The NAACP condemned the film for inciting racial hatred and violence, and used organized resistance—picket lines, petitions, and public statements—to challenge its showing in theaters across the country.

These protests marked one of the earliest and most prominent civil rights campaigns against racist portrayals of Black people in mainstream media, and highlighted the broader racial discrimination African Americans faced in both the South and North, particularly during the World War I era.

Founded in Harlem, The Amsterdam News became one of the most influential African American newspapers in the United States. It served as a critical voice for the Black community, covering issues often ignored by mainstream press—civil rights, politics, culture, and community news.

1909 was a pivotal year in Black history:

• ? W. E. B. Du Bois and others helped establish the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in response to ongoing racial violence and injustice.

• ? Matthew Henson, an African American explorer, was part of the first successful expedition to the North Pole, accompanying Robert Peary. Many historians credit Henson as the first person to actually reach the Pole due to his position leading the group.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven visionary students known as the “Jewels.” Recognizing the need for a support network and a strong bond of brotherhood among African descendants in higher education, the fraternity became a beacon of leadership, academic excellence, and social advocacy.

Alpha Phi Alpha played a critical role in the civil rights movement and has produced many prominent leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and W.E.B. Du Bois (honorary member).