This Week In Black History July 17-23, 2024

• JULY 17

1794—Former slave and minister Richard Allen officially dedicated the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadel­phia, Pa. The church was the first all-Black denomination not affiliated with a larger White congregation. The incident leading to the dedication took place in 1787 when Allen, Absalom Jones and several other Blacks were thrown out of Philadelphia’s St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church when they attempted to pray along-side Whites. The AME Church would go on to become one of the largest Black religious denominations in America.

1862—As the Southern, pro-slavery rebels prove more difficult in battle than expected, Congress passes a law giving President Abraham Lincoln the authority to begin recruiting free Blacks and recently freed slaves into military service during the Civil War.

1911—Frank M. Snowden is born in York County, Va. The Harvard educated Snowden would become a prominent pro­fessor at Washington, D.C.’s, Howard Uni­versity and a leading authority on Blacks in ancient history. His major works include “Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Gre­co-Roman Experience” and “Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks.” Snowden documented that “Ethiopians pi­oneered religion” and played a major role in the development of the greatness of ancient Egypt. Snowden also showed that Blacks influenced the development of both ancient Greek and Roman societies work­ing in capacities ranging from musicians to scholars. Snowden died in February 2007 at the age of 95.

In this March 1, 1964 file photo, Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight boxing champion, right, stands with Malcolm X outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater on Broadway at 49th Street in New York. (AP Photo)

1942—Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Ky. Ali would join the Na­tion of Islam and become a major opponent of the U.S. war in Vietnam. He would later split with Malcolm X when Malcolm broke away from the Nation of Islam.

1944—The so-called Port of Chicago Mu­tiny takes place. In the middle of America’s involvement in World War II, an ammuni­tions depot at Port Chicago, Calif., explodes killing 320 men—most of them Black. It was the worse stateside disaster in U.S. military history. However, when 258 surviving Black soldiers refused to return to work until they received certain safety guarantees, their refusal was labeled a mutiny by military au­thorities. Fifty of the soldiers were convict­ed of mutiny and jailed. However, after the war, President Harry S. Truman commuted their sentences.

• JULY 18

1753—This is believed to be the day Lem­uel Haynes escaped from slavery in Massa­chusetts. The product of a Black father and a mother who was normally described in history texts as “a White woman of respect­able ancestry,” Haynes would become a renowned figure in early American histo­ry. He fought with distinction in American Revolutionary War for independence from Britain and would become the first Black person ordained as a minister by a main­stream Protestant church. He was also the first Black in American history to become head minister at a predominantly White church.

1863—Sergeant William H. Carney was the first Black person to receive the Con­gressional Medal of Honor for bravery in battle. The bravery which led to the medal occurred on this day in 1863 at the battle of Battery Wagner.

1918—Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is born in Transkei, South Africa. Mandela would spend 27 years in prison for his struggles against the system of racial oppression in South Africa known as apartheid. When he was finally released in 1990, it was a day of massive celebration for Blacks and pro­gressive Whites throughout South Africa and much of the world. He won hundreds of awards for his anti-apartheid efforts in­cluding the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. With the downfall of apartheid in the ear­ly 1990s, Mandela would become the first Black president of the country in 1994. He was widely praised for not launching a campaign of revenge against his White for­mer oppressors.

• JULY 19

1848—Anti-slavery activist and the fore­most Black leader of his day Frederick Douglass gives a stirring speech at the First Women’s Rights Convention, which took place in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Douglas helped sway the 260 women and 40 men present to back a women’s right to vote resolution being pushed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Initially, many of the delegates opposed the resolution fearing it was too radical an idea for the times but changed their minds after hearing Douglass’ presentation. Women would not finally get the right to vote until 1920.

1941—The first U.S. Army Flying Acad­emy for Black cadets is officially dedicat­ed at Tuskegee, Ala. Between 1940 and 1946, 992 pilots were trained. More than 400 would see action in World War II even though many Whites initially felt Blacks were not intelligent enough to fly airplanes. The Tuskegee Airmen, as they became known, would fly with great distinction during the war. They were credited with downing 109 German planes and destroy­ing numerous enemy fuel dumps, trucks and planes. Approximately 150 of them lost their lives during training or combat. Final­ly, in March 2007,more than 300 surviving members and their wives were honored and the airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal.

1952—Joe Louis Reliford broke the color barrier in Georgia State Baseball in States­boro, Ga. He pinch hit, threw out a runner from left field and robbed the Statesboro Pilots best hitter, Jim Shuster of a home run—all in one inning and at the age of 12. His historical catch is on display in Coo­perstown, N.Y., where he is the only bat­boy among Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees. Reliford is the author of “From Batboy to the Hall of Fame.”

• JULY 20

1967—The first Black Power Conference takes place in Newark, N.J. More than 1,000 delegates representing 126 organizations attended. The conference represented a break with the integration-with-Whites thrust of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Instead, delegates called for great­er focus on Black political empowerment, economic development, community con­trol and the building of Black institutions.

• JULY 21

1864—Amazingly, what is now consid­ered the first Black daily newspaper be­gins publishing on this day during slavery. The New Orleans Tribune was founded by wealthy Black Doctor Louis C. Rouda­nez and edited by a Belgium Jean-Charles Heuzean. The Tribune, however, actual­ly followed the Daily Creole which began publication in 1856. But it was so pressured by Whites that it adopted pro-slavery posi­tions. The Tribune, meanwhile, would begin as a tri-weekly and become a full-fledged daily in October.

1896—The National Association of Col­ored Women is founded in Washington, D.C., and Mary Church Terrell is elected president. The association would establish nurseries, help orphans, and battle for a woman’s right to vote. Terrell became an activist and power broker in the nation’s capital fighting for desegregation of restau­rants and helping build schools. She was born in 1863 and died in 1954.

2001—Blues legend John Lee Hooker dies. He was 83.

• JULY 22

1861—President Abraham Lincoln sub­mits the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. The order freeing slaves, however, was not actually issued until Jan. 1, 1863. And even then, it benefited very few slaves. The Emancipa­tion Proclamation freed slaves in the rebel­lious Southern states. But the federal gov­ernment at the time did not have control of the South so no slaves actually went free. In the so-called Border States where the federal government did have authority, the Proclamation did not apply. About the only slaves who benefited were those who had already escaped and fled to the Union side during the Civil War.

1939—Jane Matilda Bolin becomes the first Black female judge in America. New York City Mayor Fiorella LaGuadia appoint­ed her a judge in the court of domestic re­lations.

1963—Floyd Patterson loses his heavy­weight boxing title to Sonny Liston and Liston would later lose it to a young fighter by the name of Cassius Clay—later Muham­mad Ali.

2001—Actor Whitman Mayo dies in At­lanta, Ga., of a heart attack. He was 71. Mayo is best known for his role as “Grady” in the popular 1970s television series “San­ford and Son.”

• JULY 23

1900—The first Pan African conference took place in London, England. Blacks from throughout the world gathered to plot strategies for bringing about rights for all people of African ancestry, independence from colonialism for African countries and international Black unity. This “conference” was the precursor of all the subsequent Pan African “Congresses.” Among the most prominent names present in 1900 were African-American activist and intellectual W.E.B. DuBois and West Indian lawyer H. Sylvester Williams.

1948—The Progressive Party Conven­tion begins in Philadelphia. The convention nominates Henry Wallace for president and he makes the strongest showing of virtu­ally any third-party candidate in American history. More than 150 Blacks were at the convention and dozens ran for office on the Progressive Party ticket. They were at­tracted by the party’s call for an end to seg­regation, full voting rights for Blacks and universal government sponsored health insurance. The party was populated mainly by liberals and leftists. Wallace’s candidacy was even endorsed by the then relative­ly strong American Communist Party. The party came under vicious attack during the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s. But positions taken by the Progressive Par­ty forced the Democratic Party to adopt meaningful changes in order to hold onto the Black vote.

1984—The first Black Miss America Va­nessa Williams is forced to give up her crown as a result of the discovery of some sexually explicit photographs. She was re­placed by the first runner-up (another Af­rican-American) Suzette Charles. Williams bounced back, however, and became a successful singer and actress.