Respecting Negro demand, the New York Times announces that the “N” in the word “Negro” and “Negress” would be capitalized in its pages. The New York Time became the first major newspaper to recognize the spelling.

On this day in 1987, Lloyd Richards wins a Tony as best director for the August Wilson play Fences. The play also wins Tony’s for best play, best performance by an actor, and best performance by a featured actress.

On this date in 1958, Composer, musician and singer Prince Rogers Nelson born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On this day in 1943, Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr. on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nikki Giovanni became a leading poet of the Black Arts Movement, Giovanni graduated from Fisk University and published her first poetry collection, Black Feeling.

Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize, was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas. Her poetry captured the lived realities of Black Americans with unmatched clarity and grace. From A Street in Bronzeville to The Bean Eaters, Brooks chronicled inner-city Black life, womanhood, and resistance. In 1950, she won the Pulitzer for Annie Allen, cementing her legacy as a literary icon.

On this day in 1868, Marie Laveau, the “Queen of the Voodoo,” was dethroned because of old age. Believed to be born in New Orleans in 1794 and died in New Orleans on June 15th, 1881. A free woman of color as well as a Quadroon (African, Indian, French and Spanish), she became the most famous and powerful Voodoo Queen in the world.

On this day in 1863, Three regiments and small detachment of white troops repulsed division of Texans in hand-to-hand battle at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana.

On June 7, 1943, Black American soldiers stationed in Bamber Bridge, England, engaged in an armed standoff with white military police. The conflict, sparked by segregationist treatment and racial abuse, highlighted the hypocrisy of fighting for freedom abroad while enduring racism within the ranks. British locals supported the Black soldiers, rejecting U.S. Jim Crow policies. This “mutiny” led to a deeper examination of military segregation and prompted change in military race relations.

On June 7, 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot by a sniper in Mississippi during his “March Against Fear,” a solo walk from Memphis to Jackson intended to challenge racism and encourage Black voter registration. Though wounded, Meredith survived. His shooting galvanized leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, who continued the march, helping birth the “Black Power” movement. Meredith’s bravery remains a pivotal act of resistance in civil rights history.

Mattie Della Shaw, mother of music icon Prince, was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis. A jazz singer and cultural influence on her son, she helped shape Prince’s artistic identity, infusing his early life with music and expression. Her background in the Black arts scene and her relationship with Prince’s father, John Nelson, also a musician, created the environment that would cultivate one of the most innovative artists in history.

While not released on this date, Prince’s self-titled 1979 album was certified platinum by the RIAA on June 7, 1982, coinciding with his 24th birthday. This milestone marked the young artist’s rapid ascent and helped cement his influence on pop, funk, and R&B. His music, image, and defiance of industry norms challenged both racial and gender boundaries, making Prince an enduring symbol of Black creativity and self-determination.

On June 7, 2008, Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first African American candidate to lead a major party ticket. Though formal nomination occurred later, this date marked a historic pivot in U.S. politics. Obama’s candidacy inspired millions, challenged racial narratives, and signaled a generational shift in leadership and possibility for Black Americans on the national stage.

On June 7, 1953, Georgia Gilmore married, beginning a new chapter in a life marked by activism. Gilmore later became instrumental in supporting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A cook by trade, she organized the “Club from Nowhere,” a secret network of Black women who raised funds for the movement. Her courage and culinary skills helped sustain the boycott’s momentum for over a year.

On June 7, 1979, CBS Records and Sony Music finalized a distribution deal that would lead to Off the Wall and later Thriller, changing pop music forever. Michael Jackson, a Black artist breaking racial barriers, would soon become a global phenomenon. This date marked the beginning of Jackson’s solo superstardom and set the stage for his role in redefining Black visibility in mainstream music.

On June 7, 1993, Lauryn Hill graduated from Columbia High School in New Jersey. Within a year, she would rise to fame as a member of The Fugees, then as a solo artist. Her lyrical brilliance and Afrocentric style in The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill made her a generational voice. This transitional moment reflects how young Black talent often blends academic excellence with cultural innovation.

On June 7, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to formally enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, more than two years after it had been issued. This act laid the groundwork for the later celebration of Juneteenth. Black Texans, still enslaved due to the state’s remote geography and Confederate control, learned their legal status had changed. Though freedom was legally recognized, social and economic liberation remained elusive. This delay in delivering justice underscores the persistence of resistance to Black emancipation, even after the Civil War\’s conclusion. The event foreshadowed Reconstruction efforts and racial conflicts in Texas and the broader South.

On June 7, 1943, British colonial police opened fire on a peaceful protest by the All-India Muslim League in Karachi, then part of British India (now Pakistan). Among the protestors were African-descended members of Karachi’s Sheedi community, a group with East African roots. The demonstration aimed to demand better rights and political recognition. Several protestors were injured, and some died. This event highlights the underrepresented role of Afro-Asian populations in South Asia’s anti-colonial struggles and the complex intersections of race, religion, and resistance within the British Empire.

On June 7, 1955, Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah made a historic diplomatic visit to the People’s Republic of China. As the head of the Gold Coast (prior to Ghana’s independence), Nkrumah sought alliances with global anti-colonial movements and non-Western powers. He met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to discuss mutual support in liberation struggles across Africa and Asia. This early relationship symbolized a multipolar strategy in African diplomacy and the effort to position African nations as active global players, not pawns in Cold War politics.

On June 7, 1976, anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko convened a secret strategy session in Soweto with student leaders preparing for protests against the imposition of Afrikaans as a teaching language. The meeting directly preceded the historic Soweto Uprising that began on June 16. Biko emphasized Black consciousness, dignity, and self-organization. His ideological influence helped transform the student-led protest into a national resistance movement. Though Biko was later killed in police custody, his intellectual legacy galvanized resistance across South Africa and the world.

On June 7, 1990, newly released South African leader Nelson Mandela was honored at a massive concert in Wembley Stadium, London. With over 70,000 people in attendance and millions watching globally, the event symbolized international solidarity against apartheid. Mandela’s speech called for continued sanctions until democratic reforms were actualized. The concert marked a turning point in the global anti-apartheid campaign, reinforcing the power of culture and diaspora activism. The event included performances by major artists and showed how global Black voices could converge for political change.

On June 7, 1892, Haitian President Florvil Hyppolite crushed a major uprising in the northern region of the country. This revolt, led by rival factions opposing Hyppolite’s modernization agenda and French-aligned diplomacy, was part of a broader series of 19th-century struggles for political control in post-revolutionary Haiti. Hyppolite’s military success stabilized his presidency temporarily but deepened class and color tensions between Haiti’s Black rural majority and the elite mulatto political class. These conflicts reflected the unresolved contradictions of Haiti’s independence.

On June 7, 1963, the University College of Nairobi was officially chartered as Kenya’s first all-African higher education institution, soon becoming the University of Nairobi. This was a key moment in Kenya’s decolonization, just months before independence. For decades, colonial education had excluded Black Kenyans or relegated them to missionary schools. The university became a center for intellectual resistance, producing leaders, scholars, and activists. It symbolized post-colonial self-determination and the right to African-centered knowledge production.

On June 7, 1972, a group of Black Power activists were arrested in Trinidad and Tobago under the controversial Public Order Act. The group, including members of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), had organized protests demanding land reform, workers\’ rights, and the removal of colonial-era laws. These arrests sparked international outcry and renewed calls for Caribbean sovereignty, racial justice, and economic equality. The Black Power movement in the Caribbean, often overlooked, was critical in shaping post-independence political consciousness.

On June 7, 1881, the British government allowed Zulu King Cetshwayo to leave exile and return to Zululand. Following the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, Cetshwayo had been captured and held in Cape Town and London. His release came after widespread pressure from British liberals and Zulu loyalists. Though he returned to a politically fractured kingdom, his release symbolized partial recognition of African sovereignty. Cetshwayo’s dignity and diplomacy during exile earned him respect even among some British elites.

On June 7, 1989, Angela Davis delivered a major speech at the Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Havana, Cuba. Her address called for unity among African-descended peoples across the Americas, Europe, and Africa, emphasizing shared struggles against imperialism, racial capitalism, and mass incarceration. Davis’s presence in Cuba—a country that had long supported liberation movements in Africa—underscored the internationalism of Black resistance. Her words strengthened Afro-Cuban and African American solidarity and contributed to the ongoing transnational Black radical tradition.

On June 7, 1893, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer, was forcibly removed from a first-class train compartment in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, despite holding a valid ticket. This incident marked the beginning of Gandhi’s lifelong commitment to nonviolent resistance, or Satyagraha. While Gandhi is globally celebrated, what remains far less known is how his philosophy of civil disobedience was deeply influenced by the racial oppression faced by Black and Indian South Africans under colonial rule. The incident awakened him to the broader injustices experienced by non-white populations and spurred him to organize the Indian community against discriminatory laws. Importantly, it also laid a foundation for multiracial solidarity in South Africa’s future liberation movements. Gandhi’s early activism in South Africa became a template for resistance that would echo throughout African and global decolonization struggles, yet its African roots and context are often overlooked in historical narratives.