Andrew Young
1940—The Black newspaper owners group—the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association) is founded.
1940—Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes the first Black general in the U.S. Army.
1958—An estimated 10,000 students led by Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte, and labor leader A. Phillip Randolph, participate in a youth march for integrated schools in Washington, D.C.
1976—One-time racist Gov. George Wallace grants a full pardon to Clarence “Willie” Norris—the last known survivor of the nine “Scottsboro Boys.” The group had been framed in a 1931 conviction for allegedly raping two White women.
1994—Apparently believing it would be easy to frame a Black man for the crime, Susan Smith—a White woman from Union, S.C.—claims that a Black carjacker had driven off with her two sons. Her story became a national sensation but it later fell apart. She eventually confessed to drowning the children and was convicted of murder.
1749—The British parliament legalizes slavery in the American colony, which would become known as Georgia.
1806—Benjamin Banneker dies at 74. He had become a recognized inventor and scientist. He also completed the design and layout of Washington, D.C. after Pierre Charles L’Enfant returned to France.
1868—B.F. Randolph, a prominent Black politician in South Carolina after the Civil War, is assassinated. He was believed to have been killed by former Confederate soldiers seeking to re-establish White racist rule in the state via terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.
1872—Inventor T. Marshal patents the fire extinguisher.
1911—Famed gospel singer Mahalia Jackson is born (1911-1972) in New Orleans, La. She is generally considered to be the greatest gospel singer who ever lived.
1891—Inventor P.B. Downing patents the street letter mailbox whose basic design remains in use today. Not much is known about Downing.
1960—President John F. Kennedy intervenes to get…
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