Our History Remembered
November 4, 2008
Barack Obama was elected the first African American president of the United States, fulfilling the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King.
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November 4, 1969
Pop media sensation and successful businessman Sean "Diddy" Combs was born in Harlem, New York City. His empire includes a record label, two clothing lines, a film production company and reality TV shows.
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November 3, 1992
Carol Mosely Braun became the first African American woman to become a U.S. Senator. She served as a Democrat from Illinois.
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November 2, 1983
After a lengthy legislative battle, the bill that officially made Martin Luther King Day a national holiday was signed into law. This holiday, which always falls on the third Monday of January, was the first new national holiday created since 1948. It was first celebrated in 1986.
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November 3, 1868
John Willis Menard became the first African American man elected to the U.S. Congress. He beat a white candidate 5,107 to 2,833 in Louisiana's Second Congressional District.
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November 7, 1991
Magic Johnson announced that he has HIV. Now a successful businessman, Johnson remains an inspirational figure and health activist.
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November 7, 1989
Lawrence Douglas Wilder became the first black person to be elected governor of a state in America. He was governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994.
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November 6, 1990
Sharon Pratt Dixon became the first black woman to be elected mayor of a major American city, Washington, D.C.
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November 7, 1992
Legendary guitarist and music innovator Jimi Hendrix was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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November 1, 1796
The African Free School opened in New York City as the first school in America for African Americans. Started by a group of elite, wealthy, white men called New York Manumission Society, the school was created to educate the children of slaves and free blacks. Dr. James McCune Smith, the first African American to earn a medical degree, was an alumnus of the school.
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Carter G. Woodson was a coal miner and child of former slaves with enthusiasm for the historical documentation of the African-American experience. He decided as a young man that our stories needed to be recognized. After earning a Ph.D. from Harvard University in history, Carter became a Howard University professor. He then co-founded and financed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, with the lofty goal of having it both publish and fund research and writing projects about black history. After resigning as a professor, Woodson dedicated all of his time to the association, as well as to publishing books and resources about the black experience. One notable quarterly he edited was The Journal of Negro History, which was distributed worldwide.
In 1926, Woodson established Negro History Week, as it was called by the black fraternity Omega Psi Phi, to celebrate the achievements of Afrian-Americans. Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Through Woodson's promotion of the celebration in The Journal of Negro History, and by creating and distributing educational kits for children, Negro History Week gained in popularity. In 1976, it evolved into Black History Month.
Learn more about the past and current activities of Woodson's organization, now called the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History.
Source: Henry Louis Gates & Cornel West, 'The African American Century' (Touchstone 2002)
Notable Quotes
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- Oprah
"A person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."
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- Philip Emeagwali
"If ideas are capital, why is Africa investing more on the military than on education?"
AP
- John H. Johnson
"Make small goals ... accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals."
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- Cathy Hughes
"I think the war is terrible, and I think President Bush lied. Outright lied."
Top Black History Discussions
Black Icons, Unscripted
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Revealing Videos
In HBO's 'Black List Project,' notables share personal insights about their joys and struggles.
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+Buy 'The Black List, Vol. 1' DVD
