African American Archives

Huey Newton surrounded by youth of East Oakland community, August 1970.

Feb. 17, 1942: Huey P. Newton Born

Huey P. Newton was co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

Feb. 12, 1900: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Was First Publicly Performed

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first publicly performed by 500 school children in Jacksonville, Florida. Later, the NAACP adopted the song as the Black National Anthem. The lyrics spoke out against racism and Jim Crow laws.

Jan. 26, 1944: Angela Davis Born

Born on this day, Angela Davis is a civil rights activist, writer, professor, and a founding member Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex.

Jan. 24, 1874: Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Born

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, collector, writer, who spent his life championing Black history, was born on this day.

Jan. 15, 1817: The Vote on Colonization of Free Blacks in West Africa

Nearly 3,000 African American men met at the Bethel A.M.E. Church and denounced the American Colonization Society’s proposal to resettle free African Americans in West Africa.

Jan. 8, 1811: Louisiana’s Heroic Slave Revolt

The German Coast Uprising was a strategic military assault against white supremacy by hundreds of enslaved Africans.

Zora Neale Hurston | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Jan. 7, 1891: Zora Neale Hurston Born

Zora Neale Hurston, a folklorist, anthropologist, and author, was born in Alabama.

“The Indians and Negroes Massacring the Whites in Florida, in January 1836,” woodcut engraving depicting the slave uprising at the outbreak of the Second Seminole War.

Dec. 26, 1835: Second Seminole War

Africans and Native Americans formed Florida’s Seminole Nation and defeated a heavily armed U.S. invading army during the Second Seminole War.

Scene from the Memphis, Tenn., massacre | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

May 1 – 3, 1866: Memphis Massacre

White civilians and police killed 46 African Americans and injured many more while burning houses, schools, and churches in Memphis, Tennessee.

Nov. 7, 1985: Court Ruling in Wrongful Case Against Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

U.S. District Court Judge handed down his decision to free Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who had been wrongfully accused of murder.

The 1850 Fugitive Slave Law Convention, Cazenovia, New York. The Edmonson sisters are standing wearing bonnets and shawls in the row behind the seated speakers. Frederick Douglass is seated, with Gerritt Smith standing behind him, and with Abby Kelley Foster the likely person seated on Douglass's left.

April 15, 1848: The Escape on the Pearl Schooner

Seventy-seven enslaved people attempted to flee Washington, D.C. by sailing away on a schooner called The Pearl.

Charles Spurgeon Rucks | Zinn Education Project

Dec. 29, 1923: Terror Attack on African Americans in Catcher, Arkansas

The Catcher “Race Riot” began in Arkansas, leading to the creation of another sundown town.

Dec. 27, 1937: Harriet Elizabeth Brown Case Settled

Harriet Elizabeth Brown, a teacher from Maryland, sued for equal pay for Black teachers and won the case.

Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X Assassinated

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) was assassinated, just weeks after speaking in Selma.

Feb. 26, 1965: Jimmie Lee Jackson Murdered

Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten and shot by an Alabama state trooper during a peaceful voting rights march on Feb. 18. He died eight days later.

Feb. 26, 2012: Trayvon Martin Murdered

Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, was murdered. The death of Martin and acquittal of the man who shot him sparked the national and global Movement for Black Lives.

Feb. 13, 1937: Founding of Southern Negro Youth Congress

The first Southern Negro Youth Conference (SNYC) conference was held in Richmond, Virginia.

Feb. 12, 1968: Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis

Over 1,100 sanitation workers strike and march for better wages, conditions, and safety with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.

Crosswhite (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Jan. 27, 1847: Crosswhites Escaped to Canada

Several hundred citizens of Marshall, Michigan, helped Adam and Sarah Crosswhite escape slavery and kidnapping and flee to Canada.

Clifton Walker (Photo) | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 28, 1964: Clifton Walker Murdered

Korean War veteran Clifton Walker was murdered by the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan while on his way home from his late work shift at the International Paper plant in Mississippi.

March 1, 1874: White League Formed

A group of Confederate veterans in Louisiana formed the White League with the goal of using terrorism to undermine Reconstruction.

Jan. 23, 1957: Klan Forces Man to Jump from Bridge

Mr. Willie Edwards Jr., a 24-year-old African American man, was murdered by members of the Alabama KKK.

The Fifteenth Amendment and its results poster | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Feb. 3, 1870: 15th Amendment Ratified

The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution officially granted African American men the right to vote.

Jan. 1, 1960: Greenville Airport Protest

South Carolina NAACP held Greenville Airport Protest in support of Jackie Robinson.

Jan. 1, 1923: Rosewood Massacre

White supremacists destroyed the Black town of Rosewood, Florida, and murdered many of its residents. Descendants have fought for reparations and recognition of the history.

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