I have written numerous articles about “Black History” and why it is needed today and in the future. Black History is not taught in schools as it was when I was in school back in the day. Black History is the pipeline for our young generation knowing about the path that got us here today.
Ladies and Gentlemen, November has so much black history in it. The following are known famous black Americans:
1. November 1, 1787 - Monumission Society opens first free secular school for African Americans in New York.
2. November 2, 1903 - Maggie Walker opens St. Luke Penny Saving Bank.
3. November 3, 1868 - John Willis Menard became the first African American elected to Congress but was never seated.
4. November 4, 2008 - Barack Obama became the first African American elected US president.
5. November 5, 1968 - Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress.
6. November 6, 1880 - George Coleman Pooge, the first African American Olympic Medalist, was born.
7. November 7, 1955 - Supreme Court outlaws recreational facility segregation.
8. November 8, 1938 - Crystal Bird Fauset is the first African American elected to a state legislature.
9. November 9, 1731 - Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and inventor was born.
10. November 10, 1957 - Charlie Sifford is the first African American to win a major professional golf tournament.
11. November 11, 1896, on Veteran Day, Shirley Graham Du Bois, playwrite, musician, and activist was born.
12. November 12, 1977 - Ernest N. Morial was elected mayor.
13. November 13, 1839 - The first antislavery political party, the Liberty Party formed.
14. November 14, 1960 - Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to attend an all-white school in the South.
15. November 15, 1894 - Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founded the Freedmen’s Hospital of Nursing.
16. November 16, 1873 - William Christopher Handy, “Father of The Blues” was born.
17. November 17, 1980 - WHHM, first African American operated public radio station goes on the air at Howard University.
18. November 18, 1899 - Howard Thurman, theologian and author was born.
19. November 19, 1921 - Roy Campanella, first African American catcher in Major League baseball was born .
20. November 20, 1962 - Discrimination outlawed in federally funded housing.
21. November 21, 2010 - Margaret T Burroughs, cofounder of the Dusable Museum of African American History in Chicago dies.
22. November 22, 1986 - George Branham is the first African American to win the Professional Bowlers Association championship.
23. November 23, 1897 - John Lee Love patents the portable pencil sharpener.
24. November 24, 1957 - Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns, sets record for rushing yards gained in a single game.
25. November 25, 1955 - Interstate Commerce Commission outlaws segregation in interstate travel.
26. November 26, 1883 - Sojourner Truth, civil rights activist, died.
27. November 27, 1828 - Marjorie Stewart Joyner receives patent for “permanent-waving machine.”
28. November 28, 1961 - Ernie Davis becomes first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
29. November 29, 1940 - Thelma Mothershed, one of the Little Rock Nine, was born.
30. November 30, 1912 - Gordon Parks, photographer and filmmaker was born.
I’m a proud black man and I have gone places and seen things I used to read about in my history book. I know that I came up in the most prestigious time of life. I went through Jim Crow, Segregation, Integration, and the new kid on the block, Gentrification. Now that the 2020 presidential election is over, I hope that we as a people can see how important our vote is, so keep using it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, be proud to be black, intelligent and beautiful, because we have a legacy that is second to none. Be safe during this pandemic, and wear your mask.