Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & African American "Firsts" in American History

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Compiled 2012 by

Jim Crow Laws ruled the lives of the black people in the United States through much of the

20th Century

While the Civil War in the 19th century ended slavery it did not end the prejudice

Every aspect of daily life was ruled by prejudice

Nothing was shared

Drinking water, swimming, eating, travel, work, where you lived, all was dictated by skin color

This was the way of life, if you wanted to live

Even schools were separate and unequal

White schools in the 1960s Black schools in the 1960s

And many wanted to keep it that way

Imagine living in a world where you are unwanted?

And the politics of the country did not help

People wanted change, demanded justice

They organized and worked for it

This is the world and time Martin Luther King, Jr., was born into

“I believe unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the last

word……”

1929:Martin Luther King, Jr. was

born in Atlanta, GA

King was ordained at

the age of 19, receives his

Ph.D. degree in 1955.

1948:Graduated

from Morehouse

College

1954: Married Coretta Scott in Marion,Georgia.

1955:Began

ministering at the

Dexter Avenue Church,

Montgomery, Alabama.

Dr. King

King, Jr. speaking in church during the Montgomery bus

boycott, December 1955.

The Bus Boycott in 1956 lead to the District court ruling bus segregation is unconstitutional.

1957:Civil Rights

Commission is created by the

federal government.

1958: King’s book, “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery

Story” is published.

Dr. King was arrested

numeroustimes during Civil Rights Movement.

Received 20

honorary doctorate degrees.

A Friend to all.

1964: Nobel Peace Prize

Winner

Coretta marching by his side……

“Letter from Birmingham

Jail”, 16 April 1963, Makes an impact.

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but

that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I

usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some

people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two.No, the only tired I was, was

tired of giving in. I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind

not to move. Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.”

Rosa Parks

Freedom March…

Selma to

Montgomery, Alabama

Dr. King is fatally shot

in Memphis, Tennessee, just after 6

p.m. on April 4, 1968.

Coretta and children

…….Mourn

April 19, 1968Dr. King’s

funeral is an international

event.

November 2, 1986,

President Reagan

declares a national

holiday in King’s honor.

King’s Dream …

Equal rights for

all…

Tolerance…

Non-violence…

Faith….

Peace….

Equality for all….

Many died for

the cause of

Civil Rights.

To be allowed to eat at the same table….

Persistence will prevail…..

Thousands in the Great March

to Freedom in Detroit, 1963

Millions in Washington,DC Million Man March, October 1995

Dr. King’s final

freedom march…

The King family

Free At Last….

August 28, 1963

March on Washington

“I Have a Dream”

Desegregation of Little Rock High School, Arkansas

STOP THE VIOLENCE!!

Oh, deep in my heart (I know that)

I do believe: We shall overcome some day.

We Shall overcome some day

We Shall OvercomeWe Shall Overcome,

We’ll walk hand in hand.

We shall live in peace.

We are not afraid.

We shall all be free.

We are not alone.

We SHALL OVERCOME!!!

The First patents issued to African Americans: Thomas L. Jennings, 1821, for a dry-cleaning process. Sarah E. Goode,

1885, for a bed that folded up into a cabinet.

Dr. Charles DrewInventor of the blood bank, Drew's medical breakthrough in 1940 has helped save millions of lives by making more blood available to the many people in need of transfusions.

The first to graduate with BAs: Alexander Lucius Twilight, 1823, Middlebury College; Mary Jane Patterson, 1862, Oberlin

College.

Edward A. Bouchet1876, the first black man to receive a Ph.D. from Yale University. In 1921, three individuals became the first U.S. black women to earn Ph.D.s: Georgiana Simpson, University of Chicago; Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, University of Pennsylvania; and Eva Beatrice Dykes, Radcliffe College.

Jackie RobinsonIn 1947 Robinson was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in New York, paving the way for African Americans to play in Major League Baseball.

Emlen (Em) Tunnell1948 became the first African America player for the New York Giants. In 1967 he also became the He first black player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Nat Clifton"Sweetwater" Clifton is the first black to play in the NBA, making his debut with the New York Knicks in 1950.

Don NewcombeOf the Brooklyn Dodgers was the first African American to win the coveted Cy Young Award as top pitcher in Major League Baseball in 1956.

Althea GibsonThe 29-year-old Harlem girl, who became the first black American ever to win a championship in Britain's historic Wimbledon tournament, was accorded the city's traditional reception with a ticker tape parade in 1957.

Venus & Serena WilliamsThe 2002 U.S. Open in Flushing, Queens. The two sisters were the first African American Women to hold the rank of #1 in the same year. - Venus in the beginning of the year and Serena at the end.

Ernie DavisOf Syracuse University holds the Heisman Memorial Trophy at a dinner at the Downtown Athletic club in New York. The 1961 Heisman trophy winner was the first African American to be awarded honor.

Arthur AsheHolds his U.S. Open Trophy as Tom Okker looks on in 1968. Ashe was the first African American man to win both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, and the first black member of the Davis Cup in 1963.

Emmett AshfordEmmett Ashford, the first African American Umpire in Major League Baseball, 1966.

Dizzy GillespieBebop was born in 1941, when trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917), double bass player Milt Hinton, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianist Thelonious Monk and drummer Kenny Clarke began playing informally together.

Marian AndersonIn her dressing room after first act as she receives batch of congratulatory telegrams. She became the first African American member of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1954.

Ella FitzgeraldDubbed "The First Lady of Song," she was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. Winning 13 Grammy awards and selling over 40 million albums, her first Grammy was in 1956, the inaugural year of the Grammies.

Count BassieHere with his wife Catherine in their Queens home, was, along with Ella Fitzgerald, the first African American to win a Grammy in 1957, Basie won two.

Arthur MitchellAs founder and director of the Dance Theater of Harlem, Mitchell was the first African American to become a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet in 1956.

Sidney PoitierThe first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films: To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, making him the top box office star of that year.

Gordon ParksThe first African American director of a major motion picture in 1969 'The Learning Tree‘.

Oprah WinfreyThe first black woman with a talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 1986, Winfrey is now thought to be one of the most influential women in the world. She is the first black woman to be a billionaire. 2010 Life magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world. In 2005 she became the first black person listed by Business Week as one of America's 50 most generous philanthropists, having given an estimated $303 million as of 2007.

Robert O. LoweryMayor Lindsay and Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery at the scene of the fire on E. 23rd St. where 12 firemen were killed. Lowery was the first African American to be named Fire Commissioner of a major U.S. City.

Eugene Jacques BullardGeorgia-born , in 1917, Bullard was denied entry into the U.S. Army Air Corps because of his race, served throughout World War I in the French Flying Corps. He received the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor, among many other decorations.

William Harvey CarneyCarney was born simply as "William," as a slave in Norfolk, Virginia February 29, 1840, but escaped to Massachusetts through the Underground Railroad. He received his medal for saving the American flag and planting it on the parapet and although wounded, holding it while the troops charged. Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor May 23, 1900, nearly 40 years later.

Benjamin O. DavisFirst black brigadier general on October 25, 1940. Davis was awarded the DSM "for exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility from June 1941 to November 1944". His foreign awards and honors include of the Croix de Guerre with Palm from France and the Grade of Commander of the Order of the Star of Africa from Liberia.

Bessie A. BuchananAssemblywoman Buchanan, from Manhattan, First black woman elected to the assembly in Albany, New York, in 1955

Constance Baker MotleyThe first African American woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court: 'Brown vs. the Board of Education‘. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Shirley ChisholmFirst African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress. She served seven terms as a representative from New York's 12th district, from 1969 until her retirement in 1982. She was also the first African American woman to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972.

UN Undersecretary Ralph J. BuncheUnited Nations Undersecretary Ralph J. Bunche. The first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, for his work in Palestine.

Alain LeRoy Lockefirst black American Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Locke went on to be a chief exponent of the Harlem Renaissance and Chaired the Philosophy Department at Howard University for 30 years.

Helen Elsie AustinFirst black woman to serve as Assistant Attorney General, in Ohio, 1937-38.

Kamala Harris

First African American Attorney General of California and first Indian American Attorney General in United States, 2010-present.

Thurgood MarshallOn June 13, 1967, President Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court, saying that this was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place."

Carl B. StokesIn 1868 Pierre Caliste Landry was the first elected African American to be elected as a mayor of an US city. Only two other African Americans were elected in 100 years until Stokes served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, but took office on Jan 1, 1968, becoming the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city.

L. Douglas WilderThe grandson of slaves, Virginia's lieutenant governor (1986–90) and then governor (1990–94), the first elected African-American governor in U.S. history.

Edward Brooke became the first African-American Senator since Reconstruction, 1966–1979. Carol Mosely Braun became the

first black woman Senator, serving from 1992–1998. There have only been a total of five black senators in U.S. history: the

remaining two are Blanche K. Bruce (1875–1881) and Barack Obama (2005–2008).

First black person to serve as Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, 2001–2004. The first black female was Condoleezza

Rice, 2005–2009.

Barack ObamaOnly the second time ever that the Democratic Party elected a black person to the senate, Sen. Barack Obama went on to beat Sen. John McCain in the general election on November 4, 2008, and was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, becoming the first black president in US history.

Works Cited:• http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=rosaPar• http://www.worldbook.com/fun/aajourny/html/bh005.html• http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/• http://www.midsouth.rr.com/civilrights/• http://www.sitins.com/ • http://www.amistadresource.org• http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org• http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com• http://www.brittainketcham.com/chicago-il-civil-rights-lawyers• http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101sp10/bheist4/

index.html• http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/

white-only-1.html• http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/

Letter_Birmingham.html