May 15: Sigma Pi Phi, the first African American Greek-lettered organization, was formed in Philadelphia, PA, 1904
May 14: Africans in Brazil rejoiced on this day as their country became the last in the western hemisphere to end enslavement, 1888
May 13: Stevland Morris aka Stevie Wonder was born on this day in Saginaw, MI, 1950
May 12: Robert Smalls, while enslaved, stole a Confederate ship and freed a number of enslaved, 1862
May 9: An enslaved African named Caesar was released in exchange for his cure for poison and rattlesnake bites in S. Carolina, 1750
May 8: Inventor Matthew A. Cherry received a patent for the tricycle, 1888
May 7: The first registered African American nurse, Mary Mahoney was born in Dorchester, MA, 1845
May 6: Producer and Emmy Award-winning actress, Lynn Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, LA, 1953
May 4: The Civil Rights group, C.O.R.E. began “freedom rides” in the South to test federal desegregation orders, 1961
May 3: Jimmy Winkfield won his second Kentucky Derby in a row, 1920. He went on to win more than 2,500 horse races
April 2: South African politician and activist, Winnie Mandela, passed away in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2018
April 1: Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved” won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, 1988
March 29: Granville T. Woods and his brother Lyates Woods patented two improvements to railroad brakes, 1904
March 28: SUNY-Brockport hosted its inaugural Fannie Barrier Williams event in honor of the famed activist, 2014
March 26: William Hastie was appointed to the US District Court of the Virgin Islands becoming the first African-American Federal judge, 1937