November – This Month in Black American History

By Guest Blogger Yahtzeebutterfly

 

Birthdays

November 1, 1915 – Artist and poet Margaret Taylor-Burroughs

Here she is reading her philosophy:

 

 

November 2, 1859 – Educator James Benson Dudley

Excerpt from NCpedia;

“ James Benson Dudley, educator and college president, was born in Wilmington to John Bishop and Annie Hatch Dudley, slaves of Edward B. Dudley (1789–1855), governor of North Carolina…”

“Dudley edited the ‘Wilmington Chronicle’, a Negro weekly newspaper, and was active in politics, serving as register of deeds for New Hanover County in 1891 and as delegate to the 1896 Republican National Convention in St. Louis. He was secretary of the board of trustees for the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Greensboro from 29 May 1895 to 27 May 1896 before succeeding John O. Crosby as president of that institution on 28 May 1896; he retained the post for twenty-nine years.”

 

November 4, 1942 – Ophthalmologist and inventor Patricia Bath in Harlem, New York

November 9, 1731 – Surveyor Benjamin Banneker in Baltimore County, Maryland

 

November 11, 1914 – Civil rights activist Daisy Bates, who guided the Little Rock Nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High School

November 12, 1906 – Blues singer and guitarist Booker (Bukka) White

 

November 13, 1955 – Happy Birthday, Whoopi Goldberg!

November 13, 1928 – Bebop jazz pianist Hampton Hawes

 

November 14, 1915 – Figure skater Mabel Fairbanks

 

November 16, 1873 –  “Father of the Blues” W. C. Handy

 

 

November 22, 1942 – Astronaut and aerospace engineer Guion Bluford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

November 30, 1924 – U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm who ran for President of the United States in 1972 with the campaign slogan “Unbossed and Unbought.”

 

Events

November 1, 1910 – First issue of the NAACP’s “Crisis” magazine (W.E.B. Du Bois was its first editor)

 

 

November 1, 1945 – First issue of “Ebony” magazine founded by John H. Johnson

 

 

 

November 5, 1945 – Frank Sinatra visited Gary, Indiana to advocate for integrated school.

Excerpt:

“ Gary in 1945 was a relatively diverse community, owing to job opportunities at the steel mill that served as the city’s economic engine. But at one local school, Froebel High School, efforts at desegregation were met with great resistance. When a new principal began integrating extracurricular activities like student government, the school orchestra and use of the swimming pool, a group of white students went on strike from their classes.”

“In an attempt to deescalate tensions, the school invited Frank Sinatra to offer a performance and words of wisdom—a decision that led LIFE, in November of 1945, to report on the strike and its aftermath.”

WBEZ has more on Sinatra’s visit to Froebel High School:

November 6, 1901 – “Lift Every Voice and Sing” also known as the Black National Anthem, is composed by brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson.

 

November 7, 1955 – Interstate bus segregation was banned by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

November 12, 1941 – Founding of the National Negro Opera Company

November 13, 1956 – “U. S. Supreme court strikes down Alabama laws requiring segregation of buses.” (Browder v. Gayle)

November 17, 1961 – Nine Chatmon Youth Council members and SNCC workers Charles Sherrod and Cordell Reagon tested the interstate Commerce Commissions desegregation rules in Albany, Georgia at the Trailways bus station.  This was the beginning of the Albany Movement.

 

 

November 28, 1958 – Federal court throws out law against segregated athletic events in Louisiana.