Top 10 Black History events in July

Most certainly, Black/Pan-African history is a 24/7/365 history that can’t be contained in February. Every day of every month of the year has something to say about Black power, Black brilliance, Black resistance and Black love.

But yo, July is literally overflowing with important moments from our ongoing, trans-generational story. Listed below is just a sampling of moments from our history that should be learned, studied, researched, taught, shared and learned from.

So, check out (and share with your peeps) the Top 10 July Black History moments. And holla if there are additional ones that need to be added to the list—along with this important nugget: my daughter Maisha’s birthday (July 25)!

July 5, 1852: Frederick Douglass gave a speech that is now known as the “What To The Slave Is The 4th Of July” speech. Douglass was asked to give a speech on July 4th during a commemoration of the Declaration of Independence. However, he chose to give one on July 5th instead. When Douglass gave his speech he acknowledged the signers of the Declaration of Independence but he made it clear that there was too much work to be done before the 4th of July would be a day of celebration for Blacks.

July 16, 1862: Ida B. Wells Barnett, anti-lynching zealot, entrepreneur, publisher and powerful member of the Black Press, author and activist, was born in Holly Springs, Miss.

July 4, 1881: Booker T. Washington officially opened Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Alabama.

July 11-14, 1905: A group of prominent Black intellectuals led by W.E.B. Du Bois met in Fort Erie, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, to form an organization calling for civil and political rights for African Americans. With its comparatively aggressive approach to combating racial discrimination and segregation, the Niagara Movement served as a forerunner to the NAACP.

July 4, 1910: The first Black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson (born in Galveston, TX), successfully defended his heavyweight championship by knocking out Jim “The Great White Hope” Jeffries, who had come out of retirement “to win back the title for the White race.” Jeffries got his assed whupped so bad by Johnson that the police ordered the crew recording the fight to stop, jumped in the ring and ended the fight. White domestic terrorist attacks broke out across the country, with white mobs attacking and killing Blacks indiscriminately; angry because the “Great White Hope” caught that “Great Black Ass-whuppin’.”

July 1, 1917: The East St. Louis, Illinois “Race riot” occurred. This act of white domestic terrorism aimed at Black residents and business owners is estimated to have tortured and killed 200 (though probably more) Black people. Martial law was declared. A congressional investigating committee said, “It is not possible to give accurately the number of dead. At least 39 Negroes and eight white people were killed outright, and hundreds of Negroes were wounded and maimed. ‘The bodies of the dead Negroes,’ testified an eye witness, ‘were thrown into a morgue like so many dead hogs.’ There were 312 buildings and 44 railroad freight cars and their contents destroyed by fire.”

July 12, 1949: Inventor extraordinaire Frederick McKinley Jones patents the air conditioning unit (Patent No. 2475841)

July 1, 1961: Olympic legend and University of Houston alum Carl Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Lewis, who won 10 Olympic medals, including nine gold, over four Olympics, was named “Olympian of the Century” by Sports Illustrated; “Sportsman of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee; and “World Athlete of the Century” by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Additionally, UH named the Carl Lewis International Complex after him.

July 28, 1967: The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (The Kerner Report) is created. The Kerner Commission was charged with responding to the “racial disorder” that came with the summer of 1967 (especially riots in Newark and Detroit). Here are the opening words of that report which was published in 1968:

The summer of 1967 again brought racial disorders to American cities, and with them shock, fear and bewilderment to the nation. The worst came during a two-week period in July, first in Newark and then in Detroit. Each set off a chain reaction in neighboring communities.

On July 28, 1967, the President of the United States estab­lished this Commission and directed us to answer three basic questions: What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again?

To respond to these questions, we have undertaken a broad range of studies and investigations. We have visited the riot cities; we have heard many witnesses; we have sought the counsel of experts across the country.

This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white–separate and unequal. Reaction to last summer’s disorders has quickened the move­ment and deepened the division. Discrimination and segrega­tion have long permeated much of American life; they now threaten the future of every American. This deepening racial division is not inevitable. The move­ment apart can be reversed. Choice is still possible. Our principal task is to define that choice and to press for a national resolution.

To pursue our present course will involve the continuing polarization of the American community and, ultimately, the destruction of basic democratic values. The alternative is not blind repression or capitulation to lawlessness. It is the realization of common opportunities for all within a single society.

This alternative will require a commitment to national action–compassionate, massive and sustained, backed by the resources of the most powerful and richest nation on this earth. From every American it will require new attitudes, new understanding, and, above all, new will. The vital needs of the nation must be met; hard choices must be made, and, if necessary, new taxes enacted.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess which route the U.S. took.

July 8, 2001: Venus Williams wins her second straight Wimbledon Women’s Singles Championship. In so doing, Venus became the first woman to win consecutive Wimbledon Championships since 1995-96 and (with her 2000 victory) the first Black woman to win Wimbledon since back-to-back winner Althea Gibson, 1957-1958.

ADDITIONAL JULY MOMENTS

July 23, 1962: Baseball great Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

July 20, 1967: More than one thousand persons attended the first Black Power Conference in Newark, New Jersey.

July 6, 1971: Dr. Henry Sampson invented the cell phone.

July 25, 1984 : Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, the blues singer and songwriter whose recordings of “Hound Dog” and “Ball ‘n’ Chain” later were transformed into huge hits by Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin, died. Thornton was born on December 11, 1926 outside of Montgomery in rural Ariton, Alabama. Following her years as a traveling blues singer, Thornton moved to Houston in 1948 to begin her recording career. In Houston, Thornton joined Don Robey’s Peacock Records in 1951. One of her earliest and most popular recorded tracks was “Hound Dog.” Initially released by Peacock in 1953. Thornton’s version topped the R&B charts for seven weeks and sold over two million copies nationwide. However, Thornton only received roughly $500 for her smash hit. In 1956, Elvis Presley’s version was released and became his first hit record, launching his career.

ALSO: Check Out the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) History of Racial Injustice for July at https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jul