This Week in Black History January 1 – 7

Jean Jacques Dessalines

January 1, 1804 – Jean Jacques Dessalines proclaimed independence of Haiti, the second republic in the Western Hemisphere

The Slave Trade Act

January 1, 1808 – The US Congress banned the slave trade, prohibiting "the importation of slaves into the United States or the territories thereof" after January 1, 1808

President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation

January 1, 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

George Washington Carver

January 1(?), 1864 – George Washington Carver was born near Diamond Grove, Missouri (like many women and men born into slavery, the exact date of Carver’s birthday is unknown)

John Hope Franklin

January 2, 1915 – Historian, John Hope Franklin was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma

Paul Douglas Freeman

January 2, 1936 – Orchestra Conductor, Paul Douglas Freeman was born in Richmond, Virginia

Solomon Northup

January 3, 1853 – Solomon Northup regained his freedom after being kidnapped and enslaved 12 years earlier. Northrup published a book about his experiences entitled “12 Years a Slave”

Grace Bumbry

January 4, 1937 – Opera singer, Grace Bumbry was born in St. Louis, Missouri

B.F. Adair, Black Congressman in Arkansas during Reconstruction

January 7, 1868 – First Arkansas Reconstruction Legislature convenes. Eight Blacks and 43 whites delegates met in Little Rock.

W.B. Purvis and his patent for the Fountain Pen

January 7, 1890 – W.B. Purvis patented the fountain pen

Michael Griffith

January 7, 1986 – The Howard Beach Incident. Michael Griffith and two other black men were set upon by a group of white youths outside a pizza parlor. Two of the victims, including Griffith, were severely beaten. Griffith fled onto a highway where he was fatally struck by a passing car.

Three local teenagers, Jon Lester, Scott Kern, and Jason Ladone were convicted of manslaughter for the death of Griffith. A fourth assailant, Michael Pirone, was acquitted. Griffith's death heightened racial tensions in New York City and was the second of three highly publicized, racially motivated killings of black men by white mobs in New York City in the 1980s. The other victims were Willie Turks in 1982 and Yusuf Hawkins in 1989.