This Week In Black History (August 24 – August 30)
August 24, 1987 – Bayard Rustin, a prominent activist and organizer in the March on Washington in 1963, died. Rustin worked with Martin Luther King Jr. as an organizer in 1955 with the Montgomery bus boycott. (Courtesy Photo)
August 25, 1925 – Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organized at a mass meeting in Elks Hall in Harlem. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters would become one of the most successful union organizing efforts in history. The union was a platform for disenfranchised railroad porters and attendants who worked long hours for relatively meager wages and benefits. The union accounted for more than 15,000 members. President and civil rights leader activist, A. Philip Randolph. (Courtesy Photo)
August 26, 1968 – Civil rights activist Julian Bond had served in the Georgia state legislature a few short years when he received a vice presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention that year. He did not meet the Constitution’s ruling that a vice president be 35 years-old, he was 28 years-old at the time. (Courtesy Photo)
August 27, 1961 – Grammy Award winning gospel artist Yolanda Adams was born in Houston, Texas. She is best known for her signature spiritual singles “The Battle Is The Lord’s,” “Open My Heart,” and more. (Courtesy Photo)
August 28, 1955 – Emmett Till, at 14 years-old wad kidnapped and lynched in Money, Mississippi by two racist White men Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for allegedly flirting with a White woman, Carolyn Bryant. His murder trial became one of many historic, controversial moment in the civil rights movement. (Courtesy Photo)
August 29, 1958 – Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indian started out as the lead singer in famous boy band The Jackson 5. Jackson was a prolific singer, songwriter and dancer, earning the title, “King of Pop.” He became one was one of the most popular entertainers in the world. (Courtesy Photo)
August 30, 1966 – Constance Baker Motley became the first Black woman to be appointed to a federal judgeship in that year. Motley was a civil trailblazer, a legal advocate who worked with the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the NAACP and with Thurgood Marshall. She won civil rights cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, and represented Martin Luther King Jr. (Courtesy Photo)
