U.Due south. Department of Justice // Wikimedia Eatables

Blackness history from the year you were born

Black History Month is dedicated to celebrating the achievements and reflecting on the experiences of African Americans. What began equally a calendar week in 1926 has blossomed into 28 days of remembrance and lessons on the contributions of Black Americans.

Many Blackness Americans come from a lineage of captured and enslaved people who were forcibly brought to the U.S. to build the culture and infrastructure of a identify in which they never asked to live. Forced immigration and centuries of cultural genocide have driven Blackness Americans to literally and figuratively rebuild a civilisation from the ground up. In the face up of historical oppression and inequality—slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the police force violence that ignited the #BlackLivesMatter move—African Americans have continuously fought for their rights, reaching countless milestones, achievements, and freedoms in doing so. While existence forced to be largely on the fringes of lodge, Black Americans nevertheless accept fabricated many significant contributions to the arts, education, politics, engineering, and numerous other fields.

The 1930s saw history from Olympic track and field star Jesse Owens and the eventual breakout moment of author-activist Zora Neale Hurston; in the '50s, the first Ceremonious Rights Act since 1875 was signed into law; and five decades later, in 2008, Americans elected the first Blackness president.

But in the theme of education—part of the function of this month for much of the state—you lot'll learn of other, less-discussed moments and perhaps some unfamiliar faces in Blackness history: the desegregation of the military in the '40s, the first Black Miss America in the '80s, and the 1995 Million Man March in Washington D.C., are a few remarkable moments.

Peruse Stacker'due south listing to larn more than about some of the significant achievements and moments in Black history, from 1919 to 2021.

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1919: Oscar Micheaux produces 'The Homesteader'

Regarded equally the first African American characteristic filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux produced the movie version of his book "The Conquest" nether the name "The Homesteader." This silent pic featured an all-Black cast and touched on the issues of race relations during that era.

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1920: Zeta Phi Beta is established at Howard Academy

This historical, Greek-lettered sorority was created by five women Howard University students. Their vision was to consequence positive change and raise cultural awareness within their community while promoting loftier educational standards. The sorority is yet around today and remains based out of its Washington D.C. headquarters the sorority purchased in 1959.

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1921: 'Shuffle Along' becomes the first major African American musical on Broadway

When "Shuffle Forth" debuted on May 23, 1921, near a decade had passed since an all-Black musical of any kind had graced a Broadway stage. The vaudeville-style play nigh a mayoral race launched the careers of Josephine Bakery and Paul Robeson and is widely regarded equally i of the first Blackness musicals to cross over to mainstream white audiences. Equally such, the musical's success signaled a modify and dismantling of sorts of racial segregation in the Broadway theater world.

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1922: Abolitionist Frederick Douglass' home becomes a national museum

In 1922, Cedar Loma, Douglass' habitation until his 1895 death, became a certified historical site. Among the preserved sites visitors can see during a visit is his "growlery," or man cave. Douglass would retreat to this private room with a stove, desk-bound, and a bed whenever he wanted privacy to work on his writing.

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1923: Jean Toomer's 'Pikestaff' is published

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1924: National Bar Clan is founded

The National Bar Clan was founded out of 2 movements—the Greenville Movement and the Convention of the Iowa Colored Bar Association—after a number of Blackness lawyers were denied membership to the American Bar Association. Today, the association has more than 84 chapters and represents more than lx,000 law professionals.

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1925: A. Philip Randolph and Milton P. Webster create the BSCP

Organized by African American employees of the Pullman Company, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was the first labor matrimony by and for Blackness employees. A first of its kind, BSCP is largely considered meaning in both the labor and ceremonious rights movements.

[Pictured: Brotherhood of Sleeping Machine Porters display their banner at a 1955 ceremony celebrating the system's 30th anniversary. Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979), Wedlock president, seen wearing black and white shoes, holds upwards Brotherhood flag.]

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Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis // Getty Images

1926: Negro History Calendar week is formed

The precursor to Black History Month was the brainchild of historian Carter Thou. Woodson in collaboration with the Association for the Report of African American Life and History. Respective with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, the week was initially erected to give Black Americans a sense of pride in their own history and has since been expanded to a whole month.

[Pictured: Negro History Week proclamation on Feb. 6, 1956, with (from left) Dr. Leroy Weeks, Vassie D. Wright, and Mayor Norris Poulson.]

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1927: Floyd Joseph Calvin hosts starting time Black radio show

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1928: First African American elected to Congress

Oscar Stanton De Priest began his career in politics in 1915 with a stint on the Chicago Urban center Council. More than than a decade later on, he made history when he was tapped as the Republican candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives representing the state of Illinois.

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1929: Negro Experimental Theatre is established

The Negro Experimental Theatre (aka the Harlem Experimental Theatre) was the project of librarian and playwright Regina M. Anderson. The early theater company produced one-act plays and was ane of the early companies to influence and encourage the arts in Black communities.

[Pictured: The 135th Street branch of the New York City Public Library in 1930.]

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1930: Howard University Gallery of Fine art is established

Creative person James V. Herring organized Howard University's student gallery, a first of its kind. Howard University Gallery of Art was the first gallery on a Blackness campus, and the only gallery controlled entirely by African Americans.

[Pictured: An art class at Howard Academy dated 1936.]

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1931: Scottsboro boys are falsely convicted

In March 1931, ix African American teenagers were falsely defendant of rape while aboard a train in Alabama. Eight of the nine were bedevilled and sentenced to decease. The cases were eventually appealed in the United States Supreme Court, raising questions about unfair courtroom proceedings for Black defendants, like being judged past an all-white jury. Over the course of subsequent retrials (and reconvictions), the boys in total served in backlog of 100 years in prison. Ultimately, information technology was revealed the boys had been illegally hopping trains in search of work and, while detained for a minor charge, deputies convinced two white women to accuse the boys of rape. 1 of the women, Ruby Bates, recanted her story and became an abet for freeing the Scottsboro boys.

[Pictured: The young Black men accused in the Scottsboro rape case under the protection of National Baby-sit on March twenty, 1931, in Scottsboro, Alabama.]

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U.Southward. National Athenaeum // Wikimedia Eatables

1932: 'Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male' begins

The U.S. Public Health Service, in conjunction with the Tuskegee Institute, began studying the natural occurrences of syphilis in the homo body on unassuming and sick-informed Blackness male person participants. The experiment involved more than than 600 men, many of whom were not informed of their infection. They were also not given adequate or correct handling for the disease. The report ended at the hands of a whistleblower in 1972; President Bill Clinton issued a formal amends in 1997.

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U.S. National Park Service // Wikimedia Commons

1933: Dr. Carter G. Woodson'southward 'The Mis-Educational activity of the Negro' is published

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his deportment," says Dr. Carter Thou. Woodson in his groundbreaking book, "The Mis-Educational activity of the Negro." Woodson asserted that Blacks were essentially existence mentally controlled by the public school arrangement. In 1998, singer and rapper Lauryn Hill would make reference to the book with her debut album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Colina." In addition to launching Negro History Week and penning "The Mis-Education of the Negro," Woodson was an accomplished author, journalist, American historian, and founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

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1934: Maggie Lena Walker dies

Maggie Lena Walker grew upward helping her mother, a former slave, with her laundry business organisation. This early exposure to entrepreneurship made an impression; in 1903, Walker became the commencement African American adult female to exist president of a banking company when she founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. In 1930, the depository financial institution became the Consolidated Depository financial institution and Trust Company, with Walker staying on as chairman. The bank continued on as a Blackness-owned establishment following Walker's death and was sold in 2005.

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Photo Quest // Getty Images

1935: National Council of Negro Women is created

The National Council of Negro Women, founded by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, continues to be influential in advocating on the behalf of African American women in the United states of america. Bethune was a champion of college instruction: The schoolhouse she founded, Bethune-Cookman University, became a four-twelvemonth higher in 1941.

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1936: Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Games

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1937: 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is published

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1938: Creative person Jacob Lawrence shows his first exhibition

Painter Jacob Lawrence's brand of modernism depicted the various aspects of life in Harlem. His starting time solo showroom was shown in February 1938 at the Harlem YMCA on 135th Street. A few years afterward, when he was only 24, Lawrence became one of the showtime Black artists to exist presented by Downtown Gallery.

[Pictured: Artist Jacob Lawrence in March 1945.]

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1939: Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial

Opera singer Marian Anderson was scheduled to sing at Washington's Constitution Hall on Easter Sunday in 1939. But at the last minute, she was refused the opportunity because of her race by Daughters of the American Revolution (a motility that caused First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to go out the grouping). Instead, Anderson gave a free open up-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The moment brought fifty-fifty greater sensation to the issues of racial injustice during that time menstruum.

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1940: Hattie McDaniel wins an Academy Honour

Hattie McDaniel made history as the first African American person to win an University Award for her role as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind." She came under fire at the time for her portrayal of a maid, only the defiant McDaniel famously retorted, saying she'd rather play a maid than serve as i in existent life.

[Pictured: Actress Fay Bainter (at correct) presents Hattie McDaniel with the Oscar for her supporting office in "Gone With the Current of air" on Feb. 29, 1940, at the Twelfth Almanac Feast of the Academy of Move Moving-picture show Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.]

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1941: National Negro Opera Visitor is created

The National Negro Opera Visitor was the outset of its kind when musician Mary Cardwell Dawson founded it in 1941. The Black music association was created with the vision of affording Black Americans opportunities for cultural development through classical music.

[Pictured: Dorothy I Height, speaker at the National Negro Opera Foundation banquet, is shown with Dorothy Farrabee of Howard University and Mary Caldwell Dawson, founder and president of the National Negro Opera Foundation, in 1961.}

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U.S. National Archives // Wikimedia Commons

1942: Hugh Mulzac becomes the first African American helm to command an integrated crew

Hugh Mulzac, a Blackness fellow member of the U.S. Merchant Marine, was offered the hazard at the onset of World War Two to operate his own vessel. That ship was the SS Booker T. Washington, the starting time Liberty transport named after an African American. Mulzac said no at showtime, citing Commission policies stipulating he would be commanding an all-Black crew. What followed were protests from Blackness organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which pressured officials to change course. Mulzac and so became the first African American ship commander, doing so over an integrated coiffure. The milestone did fiddling to modify things long-term, however, as he found himself out of a job by the early 1950s.

[Pictured: Helm and crew of the SS Booker T Washington on Feb. 8, 1943. Captain Hugh Mulzac is fourth from the left on the beginning row.]

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Three Lions // Getty Images

1943: Detroit Race Riots

The great migration from South to North brought mass amounts of Blacks to Detroit in search of work and a better life. Despite the urban center having 200,000 African American residents, Black people were still treated as 2nd-class citizens—especially where housing was concerned. When Detroit started constructing Black housing projects and factories began promoting Black workers, disgruntled whites decided to fight back confronting the changing of the times. What followed were racially motivated attacks involving more 200 Blacks and whites, leaving 25 African Americans dead and hundreds more injured.

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1944: United Negro College Fund is created

Dr. Frederick D. Patterson, president of the Tuskegee Constitute, put out a phone call to other leaders of historically Blackness colleges urging them to pool sums of coin together in a fund for inbound Blackness college students in fiscal need. In the last 70 years, the fund has supported more than than 400,000 students in earning college degrees.

[Pictured: Tuskegee Found president Dr. Frederick D. Patterson and George Washington Carver on April 2, 1940.]

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1945: Ebony mag debuts

John H. Johnson published the first event of Ebony magazine in November 1945, heralding a new era of putting forth a positive epitome of Black Americans in mainstream media. A smaller news mag called Jet was founded a few years afterward in 1951.

[Pictured: John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony Magazine and possessor of Johnson publications.]

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Jack Delano/Library of Congress // Wikimedia Commons

1946: Morgan v. Virginia invalidates split only equal on interstate bus transport

In a case predating the Rosa Parks bus boycott, Irene Morgan was riding on a Greyhound bus and refused to requite her seat up to a white rider. Morgan was arrested but refused to plead guilty to violating Virginia's segregation law. That move presented an opportunity for Morgan's lawyer to argue that the constabulary unfairly got in the way of interstate commerce. The case went all the manner to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor.

[Pictured: Sign for the "colored" waiting room at a passenger vehicle station in Durham, North Carolina, May 1940.]

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1947: 16 men commence on the 'Journeying of Reconciliation'

Sometimes called "the outset freedom ride," sixteen Blackness and white men embarked on a direct-action bus trip that flipped racial structures on their heads: Blackness protesters sat at the front of the bus, while white protestors sat at the back. Protests like these served every bit a tangible representation of the power of hands-on activism.

[Pictured: Equally a Trailways bus carrying Freedom Riders arrives in Jackson, Mississippi on May 24, 1961, police officers with dogs prepare to arrest and jail those on board.]

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Toni Frissell/Library of Congress // Wikimedia Commons

1948: Desegregation of the US Armed Forces

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1949: Get-go Black-endemic radio station

An auditor and professor past trade, Jesse B. Blayton Sr. made history when he founded WERD-AM in Atlanta, becoming the kickoff Black man to ain his own radio station. Blayton pioneered what he referred to every bit "Negro appeal" music, playing early R&B and soul cuts that didn't get much airtime elsewhere. The radio station later became a supporter of the civil rights movement.

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Mmw3v // Wikimedia Commons

1950: Gregory Swanson is admitted to the University of Virginia Police force School

With the aid of a lawsuit, Gregory Swanson became the commencement Black student to attend the Academy of Virginia Constabulary Schoolhouse. This historic victory allowed Black applicants to be permitted into the other University of Virginia professional programs equally well.

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1951: 'We Charge Genocide' petition is presented to the Un

Created by William Patterson and the Civil Rights Congress, the "We Accuse Genocide" petition suggested the U.s.a. committed genocide against African Americans based on the outlines put forth by the U.N. Genocide Convention. More than than 150 hate crimes that took identify over the previous half-dozen years against Black people were documented, forth with nearly 350 other violent crimes against Black Americans. The document, signed by 94 individuals and prominent civil rights leaders, was presented at the United nations Convention in Paris.

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Activity Sports Photography // Shutterstock

1952: Cora Brown becomes Michigan's offset Black woman elected to state senator

Cora Dark-brown's successful 1952 campaign made her the first Black woman in the U.S. elected to a state Senate seat. She served as Michigan state senator through 1956, advocating on health issues, public utilities, and welfare. She became the special associate full general counsel of the U.Southward. Post Office in 1957.

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United states of america Information Agency/PhotoQuest // Getty Images

1953: Ralph Ellison wins the National Book Award for 'Invisible Human'

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National Archive // Newsmakers

1954: Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Potency ends racial bigotry in St. Louis Housing Authorisation

Frankie Muse Freeman served as lead attorney in the landmark Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority case that effectively put a stop to segregation in St. Louis public housing. Years later, Freeman led a task forcefulness to cease segregation in St. Louis public schools.

[Pictured: Frankie Muse Freeman existence sworn in as the first woman member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1964. She was the lead attorney in Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority.]

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Johnny Melton/Oklahoma Historical Society // Getty Images

1955: Read's Drug Store sit down-ins begin

Local African American students of Morgan State College teamed upward with the Committee on Racial Equality to stage a serial of sit-in protests to desegregate the local lunch counter at Read'due south Drug Store in Baltimore, Maryland. The peaceful, five-day protest was a success—later on losing pregnant business organization, the drug store vowed to serve all customers.

[Pictured: A Civil Rights sit-in led by Clara Luper to desegregate the lunch counter at Katz Drug Shop at Primary and Robinson in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Aug. 26, 1958.]

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William Gottlieb/LOC // Wikimedia Commons

1956: 'The Nat King Cole Show' challenges racial lines on Tv

Jazz legend Nat King Cole was the kickoff Blackness man to host a nationally televised show with "The Nat King Cole Show" in 1956. For a petty more than a year, Cole serenaded viewers and featured summit entertainers. The show ended later 13 months considering advertisers were hard to come up by. Cole's programming, yet, paved the way for successful nighttime serial similar "The Arsenio Hall Evidence."

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U.Due south. National Archives // Wikimedia Commons

1957: Civil Rights Act of 1957

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into police force the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to protect ceremonious rights, specifically Black voting rights. The act also established the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, giving federal officers the green light to prosecute those who deny or impede voter rights.

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1958: Willie O'Ree is the first Black role player in the National Hockey League

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1959: Motown Records is founded

With the opening of his Detroit-based label, Berry Gordy began churning out soul hits that left lasting imprints in the hearts of Americans everywhere. Over the decades, the label would get on to produce chart-topping musicians and groups similar Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye.

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U.S. Department of Justice // Wikimedia Commons

1960: Cherry-red Bridges integrates Louisiana schools

Six-yr-onetime Ruby Bridges was selected by the NAACP to integrate an all-white New Orleans school. Desegregating the school was an uphill battle, as many white parents pulled their children from classes, forcing Bridges to do about of her learning solitary. Over the years, many more Blackness students were enrolled in William Frantz Elementary School, and Bridges later graduated from an integrated high school.

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1961: Whitney Young Jr. is appointed executive manager of the National Urban League

The National Urban League (NUL) experienced meaning growth under the leadership of activist and educator Whitney Young Jr. Those milestones included a well-nigh twentyfold increase in the system's annual budget, becoming a total partner in the civil rights move, and an increase in staffing from a few dozen to more than i,000. The NUL in 1963 too hosted planning meetings for A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., and fellow civil rights leaders ahead of the March on Washington, securing the organization's significance in the growing civil rights move.

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1962: James Meredith integrates Ole Miss campus

When James Meredith practical to the University of Mississippi, he was accustomed. That acceptance, even so, was rescinded when his race was discovered. Following 1954'due south Brown v. Lath of Educational activity ruling, all schools were supposed to desegregate. As such, Meredith sued for discrimination. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor, and in October 1962, he became the first Black person to enroll at the schoolhouse.

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Birmingham Law Department // Wikimedia Commons

1963: 'Messages from a Birmingham Jail' is published

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1964: Mississippi Liberty Democratic Party is established

The formation of the Mississippi Liberty Democratic Political party (MFDP) was in straight response to the all-white Mississippi Democratic Political party and its control of the state's political process. MFDP advocated for Blackness Mississippians and their right to be included in the political process, and rallied against an all-white political party in a state that had a large Black population.

[Pictured: Aaron Henry, chair of the Mississippi Liberty Autonomous Party delegation, reading from a document while seated before the Credentials Commission at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, on Aug. 22, 1964.]

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1965: Malcolm X assassinated

Human rights activist Malcolm 10 committed his life to the advancement of Black people with his "past any means necessary" philosophy. Afterward making a pin away from the Nation of Islam, he was gunned down in February 1965 past members of the same organization. Many decades later, the men convicted of Malcolm 10'southward murder, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam, were exonerated from their murder convictions in 2021 after a review constitute the FBI and the New York Police Department withheld cardinal evidence during the trial.

[Pictured: Martin Luther Rex and Malcolm X dated March 26, 1964.]

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1966: Stokely Carmichael promotes 'Black power'

Civil rights activist James Meredith—the first Black student to attend the Academy of Mississippi—prepare out on a solo "Walk Against Fear" from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, in June 1966. He was shot in Mississippi just a day into the walk and was hospitalized. Fellow activist Stokely Carmichael—along with Martin Luther King Jr., Cleveland Sellers, Allen Johnson, and several civil rights organizations—continued the march in Meredith'southward name. Along the way, in Greenwood, Mississippi, Carmichael gave a voice communication that etched his name into Blackness history forever and became a slogan of resistance: "Nosotros've been saying 'liberty' for half dozen years. What we are going to starting time proverb now is 'Black Power.'"

[Pictured: Stokely Carmichael speaks at a ceremonious rights gathering in Washington on April 13, 1970.]

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1967: Loving v. Virginia strikes downwards interracial union ban in Virginia

After beingness wed in Washington D.C., Richard and Mildred Loving were banned from Virginia every bit their marriage violated the state's Racial Integrity Deed. The two avoided jail time by moving to the nation's upper-case letter. Afterwards five years of living in D.C., the interracial couple longed to return to their hometown. The American Ceremonious Freedom Union got involved with the case, moving information technology all the way up to the Supreme Court.

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1968: 'Julia,' starring Diahann Carroll, hits Goggle box screens

In the groundbreaking sitcom, "Julia," Diahann Carroll pioneers the role of Julia, a widow and nurse raising a son in the early on 1970s. Carroll's role in this series was notable in that it was ane of the offset television receiver shows featuring a Black lead who wasn't a domestic worker.

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Laqueshia Harris // Wikimedia Commons

1969: UNC food workers proceed strike

The dining hall workers of the University of Due north Carolina at Chapel Hill went on strike, citing poor working conditions and inadequate pay for their labor. The strike, led past Mary Smith and Elizabeth Brooks, began in February and lasted until December and serves as a representation of the effectiveness of peaceful protests against larger institutions.

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1970: Gail Fisher wins a Primetime Emmy

Gail Fisher is the kickoff African American adult female to win a Primetime Emmy. The award was for her role in "Mannix," a detective series starring Mike Connors on CBS. Subsequently nominees to follow in her footsteps include Debbie Allen and Nell Carter.

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U.South. Congress // Wikimedia Eatables

1971: Congressional Black Conclave is formed

Made upwardly of mostly African American members of Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus has for the last l years been committed to ensuring Black Americans and other marginalized members of society have equal rights and opportunities. The Caucus uses ramble ability, potency, and finances to address pressing problems like the reformation of the criminal justice system, voter suppression, and racial health disparities.

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Thomas J. O'Halloran LOC // Wikimedia Commons

1972: Shirley Chisholm runs for president

Laying the groundwork for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to run for leader of the free world, Shirley Chisholm made history past beingness the first Black candidate of a major party in a presidential race. As a Barbadian American daughter of immigrants, Chisholm was a fiercely contained and potent thinker. Her campaign slogan, "Unbought and Unbossed," suggested equally much.

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Shalor (Wiki Ed) // Wikimedia Commons

1973: Combahee River Collective is created

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1974: Henry 'Hank' Aaron hits his 715th dwelling run

Hank Aaron kicked things up a notch when he hit a home run in the fourth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With that one swing, Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth'due south domicile run record, cementing his position as one of the all-time in baseball.

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Zachary Freyman // Condé Nast via Getty Images

1975: John Hope Franklin is selected every bit president of the Organization of American Historians

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Brownie Harris/Corbis // Getty Images

1976: Barbara Jordan delivers keynote accost at Democratic National Convention

Barbara Jordan, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, became the first Black woman to evangelize a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Hashemite kingdom of jordan'due south voice communication is regarded as one of the best of the 20th century and is nevertheless relevant today: "Nosotros are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not simply to solve the issues of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the hope of America. We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and sustain a society in which all of u.s. are equal."

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U.S. National Archives // Wikimedia Commons

1977: Andrew Jackson Immature Jr. becomes ambassador to the Un

A former senior aide to Martin Luther Rex Jr., Andrew Immature'due south commitment to the civil rights movement fabricated him a perfect candidate for administrator to the United Nations. Young became the first African American to accept on this position and served every bit the official representative for the Carter assistants'south foreign policy program.

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Hulton Archive // Getty Images

1978: Muhammad Ali wins heavyweight boxing title for the third time

With his defeat of Leon Spinks, Muhammad Ali became the first boxer to win the globe heavyweight boxing title three times in his career. He retired just three years after, returning just briefly for select fights. His accomplishments include 56 wins and 37 knockouts—as well as years working alongside beau civil rights activists and celebrities in their own right such every bit Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and NFL star Jim Brown.

[Pictured: Globe heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali knocks out Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965.]

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1979: Assata Shakur goes on the run

The revolutionary icon and old fellow member of the Black Liberation Regular army Assata Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and went off the filigree earlier beingness found alive in Cuba five years later. Her initial charges (all steeped in controversy) were attempted murder, murder, depository financial institution robbery, kidnapping, and armed robbery. She was convicted of the murder of a law officer because of a loophole in New Jersey police force saying it did not need to be proven that Shakur had fired a mortal shot. She was sentenced to life earlier her escape. She remains in Republic of cuba, although President Donald Trump in 2017 said the U.S. would consider lifting new, stricter rules against visitors to Republic of cuba if fugitives such as Shakur were returned.

[Pictured: Assata Shakur (Joanna Chesimard) arrives at Middlesex County jail January. 29, 1976.]

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Mike Theiler // Getty Images

1980: Robert L. Johnson launches BET

After years of working behind the scenes in cable Telly, Robert 50. Johnson created Black Entertainment Television (BET), the first cable television receiver station geared toward an African American audience. The channel was a hit, and Johnson became the get-go Black billionaire when he sold his company to Viacom in 2001. The BET partition of Viacom today is the most widely received network for African American audiences, with the paid channel reaching over 88 one thousand thousand American households.

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Lisa Terry // Getty Images

1981: Mumia Abu-Jamal is arrested

A routine traffic stop ended with the death of a police officer. Activist Mumia Abu-Jamal was arrested for the crime and put on trial for a murder he says he did not commit. This issue catapulted Abu-Jamal to the forefront of a social justice movement confronting racial bias in the judicial organization.

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Michael Ochs Archive // Getty Images

1982: Michael Jackson'south 'Thriller' is released

"Thriller," the sixth studio album past Michael Jackson, went on to sell more than 33 one thousand thousand copies worldwide. "Thriller" is largely considered the best-selling record of all time. The following year Jackson released a 13-infinitesimal music video for the title song, changing the mural of music videos forever.

[Pictured: Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones pose with their Grammys Feb. 28, 1984, at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.]

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1983: Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America

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1984: Jesse Jackson runs for president

Civil rights activist and politician Jesse Jackson became the second African American to pursue a major campaign for president (later on Shirley Chisholm), running as a Democrat. He ultimately took third place in the primaries and launched another unsuccessful bid in 1988. In spite of never securing the presidential nomination, Jackson laid the foundation for the ballot of America's first Black president 24 years later.

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1985: MOVE Black Liberation Business firm is bombed

Philadelphia-based radical movement MOVE was headquartered in a house in West Philadelphia. On the morning of May 13, surrounding neighbors were evacuated by government before 500 police officers gathered around 6221 Osage to arrest commonage members. MOVE members and the police exchanged burn down, with the regime bombing the compound and killing six adults and five children.

[Pictured: Aerial view of smoke rising from smoldering rubble where some 60 homes were destroyed by fire subsequently a shootout and bombing at the dorsum-to-nature terrorist grouping Move's business firm in West Philadelphia May fourteen, 1985.]

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UPI eh/Ezio Peteresen // Getty Images

1986: Oprah Winfrey launches her talk show

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" catapulted news ballast Oprah Winfrey to distinction and went on to run for 25 years. The show was non but an influential platform for Winfrey, who had a crude childhood and worked her way up to co-anchoring the evening news and launching a production company but featured an array of topics and interests from thought-provoking guests. Winfrey'southward work—as a talk prove host, media empire, actress, author, and mentor—has left a permanent impression on young Blackness women and what goals they are willing to set for themselves.

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1987: Dr. Ben Carson separates conjoined twins

Dr. Ben Carson was director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine when he became the first person in history to dissever twins conjoined at the head. The risky surgery took 22 hours and was considered by many to be a medical phenomenon.

[Pictured: Dr. Benjamin S. Carson poses for a portrait at Johns Hopkins Infirmary on Jan. 24, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland.]

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1988: The film 'Mississippi Called-for' is released

"Mississippi Burning" is a law-breaking drama is loosely based on the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. The 3 field workers organized voter registration for African Americans when they were reportedly abducted and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. The movie showcases the hostility and backlash the case received.

[Pictured: Willem Dafoe in a scene from the film "Mississippi Called-for."]

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1989: Colin Powell becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Nominated by President George H.W. Bush, Army Gen. Colin Powell became the first African American and the youngest person e'er to get chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this position, Powell helped pivot the U.S. war machine's agenda away from the Soviet Union to focus on regional and humanitarian needs. Powell passed away from COVID-xix at age 84 in 2021.

[Pictured: Secretary of Defence force Dick Cheney (left) administers the oath of function to General Colin Powell as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October. six, 1989. Full general Powell'south wife, Alma, is shown property the Bible.

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Scrap Somodevilla // Getty Images

1990: Lawrence Douglas Wilder becomes offset elected African American governor

Nothing signals the changing times of the 1990s more than than when Lawrence Douglas Wilder made history every bit the first elected African American governor. Twenty-viii years later, Stacey Abrams put up a good fight in her quest to become the first Black adult female governor of Georgia.

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1991: Julie Dash'due south 'Daughters of the Dust' is released

A menses piece set up at the turn of the century, "Daughters of the Dust" tells the story of a group of Gullah women every bit they prepare to migrate north. Experimental in tone and imagery, Nuance's flick is the first movie directed by an African American adult female to receive major distribution across the U.S. Years later on, Beyoncé paid homage to the movie in her "Lemonade" album.

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1992: Rodney King chirapsia ignites the LA Riots

Four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in April of the chirapsia of Rodney King. The roughshod beating was defenseless on tape, nonetheless, and showed the extent of constabulary brutality. The amortization touched off the LA Riots and started an expanded, nationwide debate on racial injustice.

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DON EMMERT/AFP // Getty Images

1993: Toni Morrison wins Nobel Prize for 'Beloved'

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1994: Nas' debut album 'Illmatic' is released

The debut album of New York rapper Nas cemented his identify amid hip-hop and rap royalty. "Illmatic" actually didn't sell well upon its release, but it gained rave reviews amongst music fans and critics. The anthology is regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of all time.

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1995: 1000000 Man March is held in Washington DC

Chosen on by Minister Louis Farrakhan, this mass meeting had the aim of changing the perception of Black manhood. The march has since gone downward in history every bit a positive occasion of brotherhood and personal atonement, though some criticisms regarded the exclusion of women.

[Pictured: Attendees at the Million Man March Oct. 16, 1995, in Washington D.C.]

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1996: 'Moesha' premieres

For immature Black girls growing upwardly in the 1990s, "Moesha" was the show to sentry. Starring R&B and pop singer Brandy, the show portrayed an boilerplate Black loftier school teen growing upwardly in Los Angeles. "Moesha" aired for six seasons and birthed a successful spin-off called "The Parkers."

[Pictured: Moesha stars Brandy (left) and her existent-life blood brother Ray J, pose for production stills.]

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1997: Tiger Woods wins his beginning major

American golf game got a much-needed milk shake-up when 21-year-old Tiger Forest won the prestigious Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Many regard Wood' awe-inspiring win to be one of the greatest performances past a golf pro in history. Since and then, he'south won 14 more than majors, including iv more Masters.

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1998: 'The Undercover Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer' is canceled later the commencement episode

"The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" ignited controversy before it even aired for its lighthearted have on American slavery. Chi McBride starred as the title grapheme, a butler to President Abraham Lincoln. Groups like the NAACP rapidly got involved, calling for a boycott of the prove and its parent company United Paramount Network. As a consequence, only ane episode aired before its cancellation.

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1999: Serena Williams wins US Open

One-half of the dynamic tennis-playing Williams sisters, Serena Williams became the first African American woman to win a m slam in an Open up Era tennis match. She would proceed to win a record—male or female person—22 more majors.

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2000: Venus Williams wins Women'due south Singles at Wimbledon

The legacy of Althea Gibson received some visitor when 20-year-former Venus Williams became the first African American woman to win Wimbledon since Gibson in 1958. Venus and Serena Williams became the first sisters in the history of tennis to win the Wimbledon doubles championship.

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2001: Rev. Wilton D. Gregory becomes president of U.s.a. Conference of Catholic Bishops

A human of God his whole life, the Rev. Wilton D. Gregory has held many positions in the church. None, however, were as important equally the one he would take on in November 2001 when he became the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was the beginning African American to head an episcopal briefing and was named Time's Person of the Calendar week in 2002 for his measured approach of defrocking priests embroiled in the sex abuse scandal of the Roman Cosmic Church.

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2002: Halle Berry wins University Accolade for 'Monster's Brawl'

Halle Drupe was the first African American to take habitation the University's Best Extra Accolade for her portrayal of a grieving mother and widow in "Monster's Ball." Though the floodgates take opened for other women of colour to be nominated in the same category, Berry holds the distinction of being the only Black adult female to win.

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2003: Dennis Due west. Archer becomes the president of the American Bar Association

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2004: Phylicia Rashad wins a Tony for Best Lead Actress in a play

Known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the 1980s sitcom "The Cosby Show," actress Phylicia Rashad is no stranger to groundbreaking roles. She made history again playing the matriarch Lena Younger in "A Raisin in the Dominicus," for which she earned the stardom of becoming the first African American woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

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2005: Condoleezza Rice becomes U.s. secretary of land

Condoleeza Rice worked as a national security advisor earlier condign the outset Blackness female Secretary of Country from 2005 to 2009. During her time in the position, Rice dedicated herself to transforming affairs in the Eye East.

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2006: Soulja Boy starts global dance craze with 'Crank That'

The 16-year-old rapper known as Soulja Boy first recorded his hit "Crank That" in 2006 in his home. A year later he became an overnight sensation after uploading the video to YouTube. The video was viewed tens of millions of times, making it ane of the get-go viral music videos. The song and its tricky dance routine were a hit, with some calling the "Crank That" dance fad the biggest since 1996's "The Macarena." Later that year, the unsigned artist was nominated for a Grammy.

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2007: Barbara Hillary goes to the North Pole

Barbara Hillary was 75 years old when she became the first Black woman to accomplish the Northward Pole. A few years later, at 79, Hillary trekked to the South Pole every bit well, becoming the first Black woman to hold that distinction too.

[Pictured: A stock photo of the North pole marker sign.]

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Ron Sachs-Pool // Getty Images

2008: Barack Obama becomes president of the Usa

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2009: Disney'due south first Black princess arrives

In a long-overdue move, Disney finally produced a film starring a Blackness princess to its itemize. "The Princess and the Frog" is set in 1920s New Orleans and follows a young woman chosen Tiana who dreams of opening her ain restaurant. Her plans are dashed when she meets a two-faced prince who turns her into a frog. The flick was a striking at the box office and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

[Pictured: Anika Noni Rose, the phonation of Princess Tiana, arrives for the world premiere screening of Disney's "The Princess and The Frog" in Burbank, California, November. 15, 2009.]

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2010: Dustin Byfuglien wins Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks

Fifty-two years afterwards Willie O'Ree desegregated the hockey rink, Dustin Byfuglien had a memorable showing during the 2010 Stanley Cup. He tied for the team atomic number 82 of the Chicago Blackhawks with xi playoff goals, and his team somewhen won the Stanley Cup over the Philadelphia Flyers.

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Federal Agency of Prisons // Wikimedia Commons

2011: Charles Eastward. Samuels Jr. becomes managing director of Federal Agency of Prisons

Charles E. Samuels started with humble beginnings equally a correctional officer in 1988. In 2011, he became the outset African American man to oversee the Federal Bureau of Prisons. All his hard piece of work paid off in 2015 when he was awarded the U.S. Section of Justice'due south highest accolade, the Edward H. Levi Honor for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity, which recognized his contributions to the constabulary enforcement field.

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Richard David Ramsey // Wikimedia Commons

2012: Fred Luter Jr. is elected the president of the Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention, founded in 1845, is considered by many to be an institution born out of slavery. And then when the Rev. Fred Luter Jr. was elected as the grouping's kickoff Black president, it was a signal to many that a modify had arrived at the doorsteps of many Southern Baptists withal holding outdated views.

[Pictured: Fred and Elizabeth Luter on May 5, 2017.]

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2013: Cheryl Boone Isaacs is elected president of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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2014: Ava DuVernay earns a Golden Globe nomination

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Ismael Quintanilla // Getty Images for SXSW

2015: Bree Newsome brings downward the flag

Artist and activist Bree Newsome famously and boldly took down the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina Capitol Building. Newsome'southward act of defiance has gone down in history equally ane against hatred and oppression.

[Pictured: Bree Newsome speaks onstage at The Gifts of Faith: Cultivating Resilience during SXSW at Austin Convention Center on March 13, 2018, in Austin, Texas.]

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2016: Carla Hayden becomes Librarian of Congress

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2017: Tiffany Haddish hosts 'Saturday Night Live'

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2018: Stacey Abrams runs for governor of Georgia

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2019: 'Blackness Panther' achieves two milestones

Not only did the 2018 Marvel moving picture "Black Panther" get the first superhero movie to star a predominantly Black cast, but at the 2019 University Awards, Ryan Coogler'southward smash hit garnered ii history-making Oscars. Ruth E. Carter became the first African American woman to win for All-time Costume Blueprint, thanking the Academy, in role, for "honoring African royalty, and the empowered way women can wait and lead onscreen." Hannah Beachler was the kickoff to win for Best Production Design, remarking, "I stand up here with bureau and self-worth because of Ryan Coogler. ... I stand here because of this human being who offered me a amend perspective of life."

[Pictured: Ruth E. Carter accepts the Costume Design accolade for "Black Panther" onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards.]

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2020: Blackness Lives Matter/George Floyd Protests

Organizer Alicia Garza starting time used the phrase "Black lives matter" on Twitter in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17-yr-erstwhile Trayvon Martin, in 2012. The term became the rallying cry of a motion that gained momentum in 2016 when San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid, and Eli Harold took a articulatio genus during the national canticle before a football game every bit a way to shine a calorie-free on police brutality against Black people. Post-obit the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, when officeholder Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of 46-year-old Floyd for more than than eight minutes, protests kicked off effectually the country and world to award Floyd and all other Black lives.

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2021: Kamala Harris sworn in as Vice President of the United states

On Jan. twenty, 2021, American politician Kamala Harris made history threefold when she was sworn into office as President Joe Biden's vice president of the U.s.. This cemented Harris' marker in the history books by becoming not only the commencement female U.South. vice president but also the kickoff of Black and Asian ancestry.

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2022: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez wins Best Extra Golden Earth

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, an actress of Black and Puerto Rican beginnings formerly known every bit Mj Rodriguez, is no stranger to making an impact with her powerful on-screen performance, particularly equally Blanca Evangelista on FX's flow drama series, "Pose." In 2021, Rodriguez became the get-go transgender adult female to earn an Emmy Award nomination in a major category (Outstanding Lead Extra in a Drama Serial). The following yr, in 2022, Rodriguez carved some other marking for herself in the history books when she won the Golden Globe Award for best actress at the 79th ceremony, making her the first transgender thespian ever to win a category in the history of the awards.

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