Dec 1 |
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus, 1955. |
Dec 2 |
Odetta Holmes, singer, actress, songwriter, human rights activist, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”, died, 2008. |
Dec 3 |
Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of North Star, 1847. |
Dec 4 |
The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded to abolish slavery in the U.S. under the leadership of William Lloyd Garrison, 1833. |
Dec 5 |
Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott began, 1955. |
Dec 6 |
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted, 1865. |
Dec 7 |
Comer Cottrell, businessman and founder of Pro-Line cosmetics, was born in Mobile, Alabama, 1931. |
Dec 8 |
Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, dancer, film and stage actor, was born in New York City, 1925. |
Dec 9 |
P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana becomes first African American governor in U.S., 1872. |
Dec 10 |
Ralph J. Bunche becomes first African American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950. |
Dec 11 |
Henrietta Bradberry, received patent number 2,390,688 for a waterproof pneumatically operated way to fire torpedoes under water, 1945. |
Dec 12 |
George Franklin Grant received patent number 638,920 for his invention of the golf tee, 1899. |
Dec 13 |
Jamie Foxx, stand-up comedian, actor and singer, was born Eric Marlon Bishop in Terrell, Texas, 1867. |
Dec 14 |
Ernest Davis, hall of fame college football player and the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy, was born in New Salem, PA, 1939. |
Dec 15 |
William A. Hinton, first African American on Harvard Medical School faculty, developer of Hinton test to detect syphilis, was born in Chicago, IL, 1883. |
Dec 16 |
Andrew Jackson Young, Jr., first African American to be nominated as the Ambassador to the United Nations, 1976. |
Dec 17 |
Condoleezza Rice became the first female to hold the position of United States National Security Advisor, 2000. |
Dec 18 |
Raiford Chatman “Ossie” Davis, actor, director, playwright and social activist, was born in Cogdell, Georgia, 1917. |
Dec 19 |
Carter Godwin Woodson, “father of Black history”, educator, historian, author and journalist, was born in New Canton, Virginia, 1875. |
Dec 20 |
South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union, 1860. |
Dec 21 |
Josh Gibson, hall of fame Negro League baseball player, was born in Buena Vista, Georgia, 1911. |
Dec 22 |
Jerry Pinkney, award winning illustrator of children’s books, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1939. |
Dec 23 |
Madam C.J. Walker, businesswoman and America’s first self-made female millionaire, was born Sarah Breedlove in Delta, LA, 1867. |
Dec 24 |
Ernest Nathan “Dutch” Morial, the first African American Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, died, 1989. |
Dec 25 |
Cabell “Cab” Calloway III, hall of fame jazz singer and bandleader, was born in Rochester, New York, 1907. |
Dec 26 |
John A. “Jack” Johnson, becomes first African American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion with a 14th round TKO of Tommy Burns, 1908. |
Dec 27 |
Ruth Carol Taylor, nurse, journalist and the first African American airline stewardess in the United States, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, 1931. |
Dec 28 |
Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, was born in Mount Vernon, New York, 1954. |
Dec 29 |
Thomas J. Bradley, the first African American Mayor of Los Angeles, California, was born in Calvert, Texas, 1917. |
Dec 30 |
Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods, one of the most successful golfers of all time, was born in Cypress, California, 1975. |
Dec 31 |
Gabrielle “Gabby” Douglas, first African American gymnast to win the Olympic individual all-around Gold medal, born in Virginia Beach, VA, 1995. |