NOVEMBER 6   1858—Samuel E. Cornish dies. Along with John Russwurm, he established the first Black-owned and operated newspaper in Amer­ica—“Freedom’s Journal.” The newspaper’s famous motto was “We wish to plead our cause.” 1860—Abraham Lincoln is elect­ed the 16th president of the Unit­ed States. His opposition to the expansion of slavery prompted slave-owning states to succeed from the union which brought about the Civil War. Lincoln’s opposition to slavery was more pragmatic than moral signified by his famous phrase—“A nation cannot exist half-slave and half-free.” 1900—James Weldon Johnson composes “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing.” The song becomes the “Black National Anthem.” In 1920, Johnson becomes the first Black head of the NAACP. NOVEMBER 7 1837—Elijah P. Lovejoy, one of the White heroes of Black history, is killed by a pro-slavery mob while defending his anti-slavery newspa­per in Alton, Illinois. 1841—The “Slave Revolt On The Creole” occurred when 125 Black slaves overpowered the crew of the slave ship Creole and sailed it to the Bahamas where they were granted freedom and political asy­lum. 1876—The disputed presidential election that changed the course of Black history occurs. The dis­pute led to the Hayes-Tilden Com­promise. In order to be declared president, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes reached an agreement with southern Democrats, which had the effect of ending much of Reconstruction and the protection of Black rights. The Jim Crow era began with “Black codes” and oth­er measures, which severely limited Black rights. Many of these rights were not restored until the 1960s. 1934—The first Black Democrat is elected to the United States Congress. His name was Arthur W. Mitchell. Up until this point in his­tory, most Blacks were Republicans because of the roles of Abraham Lincoln and a group known as the “Radical Republicans” in ending slavery. Mitchell defeated Oscar DePriest for the congressional seat from Chicago. 1967—Riots spread throughout the nation. A Senate committee is­sues a report revealing that there were 75 major Black riots in cities across the nation. This compared with just 21 the previous year. 1989—L. Douglas Wilder is elect­ed the first Black governor of Vir­ginia since Reconstruction. Virginia was actually governed by a Black man for a brief period during Re­construction. NOVEMBER 8 1898—The Wilmington Massacre occurs. A mob of Whites launched a terror campaign against Blacks in Wilmington, N.C. They destroyed a Black newspaper plant, seized control of city government and of­ficially left nine to 11 Blacks dead. However, the unofficial death toll was said to be closer to 100. 1932—Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president. During his 16 years in office Roosevelt institut­ed a series of New Deal programs designed to pull the nation out of the Great Depression. It was during his years in office that Blacks over­whelmingly switched from the Re­publican Party to the Democratic Party even though Roosevelt ad­opted some policies that angered Blacks. 1933—Actress Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Fla. She is best remembered for her role in the 1970s television series “Good Times.” This Oct. 28, 2009, file photo shows President Barack Obama greeting former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a ceremony where Brooke received the Congressional Gold Medal. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)   1966—Edward W. Brooke is elected the first Black U.S. sena­tor since Reconstruction. He was a Republican from Massachusetts. NOVEMBER 9 1731—Multi-talented scientist and inventor Benjamin Banneker is born in Ellicott Mills, Md. He is generally considered America’s first Black scientist. Banneker con­structed the first clock made in America; completed the design and layout of Washington, D.C., after Pierre L’Enfant returned to France; published a farmer’s almanac for 10 years, while also studying astrono­my; and predicted solar eclipses. 1868—The governor of Arkansas, Powell Clayton, calls out the state militia and declares martial law in 10 counties in a bid to put down a Ku Klux Klan-led insurrection. 1868—The Howard University Medical School—the first designed to train Black medical personnel— opens in Washington, D.C. There were eight students in the first class. 1901—Fiery pioneer Black jour­nalist William Monroe Trotter starts the Guardian newspaper in Boston, Mass. Trotter made head­lines throughout the nation when in November 1914, he confronted President Woodrow Wilson in the White House for failing to do more to stop the lynching of Blacks. For daring to argue with the president, the New York Times denounced Trotter saying he had “superabun­dant untactful belligerency.” But W.E.B. DuBois called him “fearless.” 1922—Actress Dorothy Dan­dridge is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is generally considered one of Hollywood’s first Black female sex symbols. She appeared opposite Harry Belafonte in “Carmen Jones” and was the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar. Dandridge died in 1965 at age 43. NOVEMBER 10 1898—George H. White intro­duces the first anti-lynching leg­islation in the U.S. Congress. The North Carolinian was one of the last Blacks in Congress before Jim Crow laws and attitudes drove most Blacks from high elected offices. After leaving Congress, he found­ed a Black bank and established an all Black community called White­ville near present day Trenton, N.J. 1891—Granville T. Woods patents an improvement to the electric rail­way. Woods was one of the most prolific Black engineers and inven­tors in U.S. history. His motto could have been “I didn’t invent the prod­uct, but I invented something that made it better.” Born in Columbus, Ohio, he invented and patented im­provements to the electric railway, air brakes, telegraphs, telephones and numerous other products. 1957—Charlie Sifford wins the Long Beach Open, becoming the first Black person to win a major professional golf tournament. 1994—Famed Jazz singer Car­men McRae dies in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was born in New York City on April 8, 1920. NOVEMBER 11 1831—Anti-slavery rebel Nat Turner is hanged roughly two months after his capture for lead­ing the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history. The minister and mys­tic told reporters God had called on him to lead the revolt, which left 55 Whites dead. NOVEMBER 12 1775—General George Washing­ton, first president and “father of the country” issues an order bar­ring free Blacks from serving in the army as the U.S. struggled for in­dependence from England. Wash­ington was also a slave owner. The slave owning aristocracy felt if free Blacks fought for America’s libera­tion they would demand freedom for their enslaved brothers and sis­ters. Despite Washington’s order, hundreds of Blacks did fight in the Revolutionary War. 1900—Henry Ossawa Tanner be­comes an internationally acclaimed artist as he takes a silver medal for his art displayed at the Par­is Exposition. Nearly 7,000 artists had entered their works. The Pitts­burgh-born Tanner had numerous major works including his painting called “The Banjo Lesson.” 1922—Sigma Gamma Rho Soror­ity, Inc. is founded by seven Black women in Indianapolis, Ind. The so­rority grows to become one of the largest in the nation. 1977—Ernest “Dutch” Morial is elected the first Black mayor of New Orleans, La. 1994—Track and field great and Olympics star Wilma Rudolph dies in Nashville, Tenn., at the age of 54. The post This Week In Black History November 6 – 12, 2024 appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.