Black History Moments:
Look How Far We Have Come...
s I researched and prepared to write this article on Black History Moments, it could have gone in
many directions. Trying to come to terms with moments that would do justice to a group of people where their very beginnings here in America have been paved with injustices is a tough endeavor. So many times we are overlooked for our contributions to the success of this country and struggles to for equality. I decided to focus on some landmark moments that have moved us ahead in leaps and bounds instead of focusing on the many known facts that we come to know as students going through our school systems. The following is a timeline of some milestones that have happened since 1942.
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March 1942: First Black Cadets graduate from flying school at Tuskegee, Alabama.
June 1942: First squadron of black aviators flew in its first combat mission.
November 1942: Johnson Publishing Company was organized and published the first issues of “Negro Digest”
November 1942: William L. Dawson was elected to Congress from Chicago.
August 1944: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. of Harlem became first Black Congressman from the East.
April 1944: Supreme Court rules in Smith v Allwright that “White primaries” could not exclude Black Voters.
April 1944: United Negro College Fund incorporated.
November 1945: Ebony magazine founded beginning a new era of “Black” journalism.
December 1946: Committee on Civil Rights created.
July 1948: Two Executive orders issued ending Racial Discrimination in Federal
Employment and requiring equal treatment in the Armed Services.
November 1951: Publication of first issue of “Jet” magazine by Johnson Publishing Company beginning a new era of weekly news coverage in Black America.
May 1954: Supreme Court outlaws segregation in the public school system
May 1955: Chuck Berry records “Maybelline’” which played a major role in development of rock ‘n’ roll.
December 1955: Historic Boys Boycott.
August 1957: U.S. Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957.
September 1957: Little Rock Nine enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
December 1959: Motown Records founded.
February 1960: Lunch counter and Five-and-Dime store Sit-in Movement.
May 1961: “Freedom Riders” begin bus trip through the South.
August 1963: 25,000 people participate in the March on Washington, (I Have a Dream)
July 1964: Civil Rights Bill, with public accommodations and fair employment sections signed.
August 1964: Economic Opportunity Act, initiating the “war on poverty.”
January 1966: Robert Weaver sworn in as secretary of housing and urban development, first Black member of presidential cabinet.
October 1967: Thurgood Marshal becomes first Black member of Supreme Court.
November 1967: Carl Stokes of Cleveland, Ohio and Richard Hatcher of Gary, Indiana become first Blacks elected mayors in major U.S cities.
April 1968: U.S. Congress passes Civil Rights Bill banning racial discrimination in housing market and makes it a crime to interfere with civil rights workers.
January 1977: ABC-TV shows Alex Haley’s Roots.
November 1983: Bill signed designating the third Monday of January of each year a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
November 1983: Rev. Jesse L. Jackson announced that he was running for U.S. President.
September 1984: The Cosby Show premiered on NBC-TV changing the image of the African-American.
September 1989: General Colin L. Powell is confirmed by the Senate as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Highest ranking officer in the U.S. History.
November 1989: L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes the first Black elected governor.
January 2009: Barack Obama inaugurated as president of the United States.
Many times people complain about the current state of affairs. I will leave you with some lyrics that I once heard.
Look how far he’s brought us. Look how far we’ve come.
We’re not where we ought to be. But we’re not where we used to be. Thank you, Lord for what you’ve DONE!
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By Suzette Laviolette
14 Our Voice / February, 2014