The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. The Haitian Revolution, however, was much more complex, consisting of several revolutions going on simultaneously. These revolutions were influenced by the French Revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government.
In the winter of 1827, a group of free Black men from various states along the Eastern Seaboard met in New York City to discuss how they could better communicate to blacks about issues affecting them. Newspapers were generally denied to Black citizens and to make matters worse, established media always painted Blacks in a negative light “even to the extent of questioning both the integrity and morality of the entire race.” (NNPA) The Freedom’s Journal was established with Rev. Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm, as the paper’s editors.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. In a single stroke, it changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved persons in the designated areas of the South from “slave” to “free”. It had the practical effect that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Eventually it reached and liberated all of the designated slaves. It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in New York by prominent black and white intellectuals and led by W.E.B. Du Bois. For the next half century, it would serve as the country’s most influential African-American civil rights organization, dedicated to political equality and social justice In 1910, its journal, The Crisis, was launched. Among its well-known leaders were James Weldon Johnson, Ella Baker, Moorfield Storey, Walter White, Roy Wilkins, Benjamin Hooks, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Julian Bond, and Kwesi Mfume.
File Photo
The Los Angeles Sentinel was established in 1933 by Colonel Leon H. Washington, who first encouraged readers to not “spend where they can’t work” with a news story about a store owner who would not hire blacks but would have them as customers. The Sentinel remains as the oldest and largest African American newspaper west of the Mississippi, putting emphasis on issues affecting the Black community. In 2004, Danny J Bakewell, a well-known and successful real estate developer, businessman, and philanthropist became the Sentinel’s publisher and CEO.
Before emancipation in 1865, there were less than 20 Black Los Angeles residents. The construction of the Santa Fe railroad and a settlement increase in 1880, increasing numbers of blacks came to Los Angeles. By 1900, 2,131 African-Americans, the second largest black population in California, lived in Los Angeles.
The landmark Supreme Court case established that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The law overturned Plessy v Ferguson, which allowed state sponsored segregation as long as facilities were equal. However, arguments against segregation pointed to the fact separate facilities were inherently unequal. The decision paved the long difficult road to integrated schools. (Courtesy Photo)
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C., was a landmark event for the early civil rights movement and is partly credited with winning the passage of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Over 250,000 demonstrators converged on Washington, D.C., in what was to that point the largest public protest in the history of the nation. Throughout 1962, civil rights activists had been discussing the need for a large national demonstration to push for Federal legislation to combat discrimination. While the private organizing of the march highlighted the tension over strategies in and beyond the movement, the march itself, on August 28, 1963, was a tremendous success. “Freedom buses” were organized in hundreds of cities to bring people to Washington, D.C., and over 250,000 people—60,000 of them white— participated in the march. The protest culminated in a rally at Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Civil Rights Act was enacted July 2, 1964. The landmark legislation outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color or nationality. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as “public accommodations”).
In February 1965 Malcolm X, Black Nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated. He was assassinated by three Nation of Islam members. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published shortly after his death, is considered one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.
Between 1961 and 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had led a voting registration campaign in Selma, the seat of Dallas County, Alabama, a small town with a record of consistent resistance to black voting. When SNCC’s efforts were frustrated by stiff resistance from the county law enforcement officials, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were persuaded by local activists to make Selma’s intransigence to black voting a national concern. SCLC also hoped to use the momentum of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to win federal protection for a voting rights statute. During January and February, 1965, King and SCLC led a series of demonstrations to the Dallas County Courthouse. On February 17, protester Jimmy Lee Jackson was fatally shot by an Alabama state trooper. In response, a protest march from Selma to Montgomery was scheduled for March 7. Six hundred marchers assembled in Selma on Sunday, March 7, and, led by John Lewis and other SNCC and SCLC activists, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River en route to Montgomery. Just short of the bridge, they found their way blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around. When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people. “Bloody Sunday” was televised around the world.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in response to Jim Crow laws and other restrictions of minorities’ voting rights at the time, primarily in the Deep South. The Act has undergone several changes and additions since its passage, but the U.S. Supreme Court found a key provision of the Act unconstitutional in 2013.
Watts Rebellion (file)
Martin Luther King, Jr., was an American clergyman and civil rights leader was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday, April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. King was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. that evening. He was a prominent leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience.
The Rumble in the Jungle was a historic boxing event in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). Held at the 20th of May Stadium on the night of October 30, 1974 (4:00 am), it pitted the undefeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman against challenger Muhammad Ali, a former heavyweight champion. Attendance was about 60,000. Ali won by knockout, putting Foreman down just before the end of the eighth round. It has been called “arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century”.
In 1981, the California African American Museum opened its doors in Exposition Park. The museum occupies a 44,000 square feet (4,100 m2) building. It includes three exhibition galleries, a theater gallery, a 14,000-square-foot (1,300 m2) sculpture court, a conference center, special events room, an archive and research library. The permanent collection includes paintings, photographs, sculpture and artifacts representing the diverse contributions of African Americans.
The Rodney King Riot of 1992 occurred in Los Angeles, California in response to a highly publicized incident of police brutality. Rodney King, who had worked as a Dodgers Stadium usher, was arrested on charges of speeding, driving while intoxicated, and failing to yield. The four responding police officers claimed that King had been high on drugs and was trying to attack them, prompting the police to beat him on the grounds of self-defense. An amateur photographer, George Holliday, was standing nearby and captured the attack on film. The four officers were brought to court and tried on charges of assault. At 3:00 p.m. on the day of April 29, 1992, the four police officers were acquitted of the assault charges. The riot started soon after the announcement. Around 4:15 p.m, a little over an hour after the acquittal was delivered, there were reports of looting in South Central Los Angeles. By 5:45 p.m. there were numerous reports of motorists being assaulted in the streets and by 8:15 that evening, the first fatality was reported in the news. Rioting occurred throughout the next few days, with the heaviest damage done in the South Central district of Los Angeles and “Koreatown,” which was located between black neighborhoods and Hollywood. Koreans became the eventual targets of the rioting, as minorities claimed they mistreated both Latino and African American customers in their stores. The rioting finally came to a halt on May 2, 1992 when 10,000 National Guardsmen, 3,500 military personnel, and the entire Los Angeles Police Department were deployed to the South Central district. When all of the rioting was finally stopped, over 51 people were killed, 2,383 people were injured, 8,000 people were arrested, and over 700 businesses were burned. Damages were estimated at about $1 billion to property.
On October 16, 1995, an estimated 850,000 African American men from across the United States gathered together at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to rally in one of largest demonstrations in Washington history. This march surpassed the 250,000 who gathered in 1963 for the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. This assembly of black men was organized and hosted by the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan who called for all able-bodied African American men to come to the nation’s capital to address the ills of black communities and call for unity and revitalization of African American communities. Although the Million Man March was proposed and organized primarily by the leader of Islam, many religions, institutions, and community organizations across the spectrum of African America joined together not only for a rally of black men but also to build what many saw as a movement directed toward a future renaissance of the black race.
In 2005, Danny J Bakewell Sr. held the first annual Taste of Soul family festival. Thousands of people gathered on Crenshaw Blvd. between King and Rodeo to enjoy live shows, a variety of food and other vendors. The event was and continues to be an immense success, growing larger every year with celebrities, large scale sponsorship and the relatively new StarQuest and StarQuest Kids stages.
In 2009, Barack Obama became the first Black President of the United States of America and the country’s 44th president. Obama was reelected president in November 2012 and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is located in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., southwest of the National Mall. The national memorial is America’s 395th unit in the National Park Service. King is the first African American honored with a memorial on or near the National Mall and only the fourth non-President to be memorialized in such a way. The King Memorial is administered by the National Park Service (NPS).
