October 20
1898—The North Carolina Mutual And Provident Insurance Co. is founded by a group led by John Merrick. The company grows into the largest Black-owned insurance firm in America.
1904—Enolia P. McMillan is born. She becomes first female president of the NAACP.
October 21
1865—Jamaican national hero and independence advocate, George William Gordon, is unjustly arrested and sentenced to death for his struggle to free the Caribbean island nation from White minority rule. The son of a White man and a Black slave woman, Gordon is considered one of Jamaica’s most significant national heroes.
1950—Earl Lloyd becomes first Black person to play in an NBA game.
1994—Dexter King, youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is named head of SCLC—an organization founded by his slain father. Ironically, Dexter’s sister Rev. Bernice King would later be named to head the civil rights group.
October 22
1906—Three thousand Blacks demonstrated and rioted in Philadelphia to protest a theatrical production of Thomas Dixon’s racist play—“The Clansman.” The play essentially praised the Ku Klux Klan while demeaning Blacks.
1936—Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale is born in Dallas, Texas.
1953—Clarence S. Green becomes the first African-American certified as a neurological surgeon.
2009—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a devastating report showing the number of new HIV/AIDS infections was declining for all population groups—except homosexual males, which the CDC refers to as MSM—men who have sex with men. Among MSMs, the highest infection rate was found among young Black males aged 13 to 24.
October 23
1775—The Continental Congress approves a resolution barring free Blacks from the army fighting for American independence from England. The resolution came even though many free Blacks were already fighting in the war. The motive behind the resolution came from Southern slave colonies which feared that by fighting in the war for American independence, Blacks would also demand an end to slavery.
1911—The National Urban League is formed. Next only to the NAACP, it becomes the second oldest and second largest Black self-help organization in America. It grew out of the spontaneous 20th-Century Freedom Movement for freedom and opportunity that came to be called the Black Migrations. Central to the organization’s founding were two remarkable people: Mrs. Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, who would become the Committee’s first executive secretary.
1947—The NAACP files an “Appeal To The World” with the newly found United Nations concerning racial injustice in America. For its day, the filing was a bold move on the part of the NAACP and it angered many liberal and conservative Whites.
October 24
1892—More than 25,000 Black workers are said to have joined a workers strike in New Orleans to protest working conditions, lynching and other social ills.
1935—Fascist Italy invades Ethiopia—at the time, one of only two independent countries in Africa. U.S. Blacks were among thousands protesting worldwide. Powerful Harlem, N.Y., Pastor Adam Clayton Powell Sr. was among those seeking aid for Ethiopia. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie spoke at his church.
1935—“Mulatto” opens on Broadway in New York City. The play written by famed Black poet Langston Hughes becomes the first long-run Black play on Broadway. Written during the summer of 1930, “Mulatto” is Hughes’ first full-length play. Opening on Oct. 24, at the Vanderbilt Theatre, “Mulatto” ran on Broadway for more than a year and toured for two seasons.
1948—Kweisi Mfume is born Frizzel Gray in Baltimore, Md. He became a congressman and head of the NAACP but later lost a bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
1964—The African nation of Zambia becomes independent from White colonial rule.
October 25
1940—Black newspaper owner’s group—the NNPA (National Negro Publishers Association)—was founded when John H. Sengstacke of the Chicago Defender organized a meeting with other African-American publishers designed for “harmonizing our energies in a common purpose for the benefit of Negro journalism.” The group decided to form the National Negro Publishers Association. In 1956 the trade association was renamed the National Newspapers Publishers Association.
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.
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