July 6, 1957 – Althea Gibson became the first African-American to win Wimbledon singles championship. Gibson paved the way for the Williams sisters, Arthur Ashe and many others during a period when the elite sport was very segregated. In 1964, Gibson became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association and played pro golf until 1971. She served as New Jersey’s commissioner of athletics from 1975 to 1985. Gibson died from respiratory failure in 2003. Years later on the same day, Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus to win the Wimbeldon Women’s singles competition.
July 7, 2006 – Model and educator, Dorothea Towles Church, was the first successful black fashion model in Paris died on this day. Church discovered personal liberation on the runways of Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1950’s. broken through the color barriers. She attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Texarkana, and then Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where she received a bachelor’s degree in biology and pre-med, graduating cum laude. In1945, she began teaching biology and drama at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, and at the Holmes Avenue School in 1946. In the summer of 1945, she enrolled in the University of Southern California, studying drama and speech under William DeMille. She also began attending the Dorothy Farrier School of Modeling and Charm. In 1948 she began studying for her Masters of Science degree at the University of Southern California, where she became a member of the Black women’s sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. Church toured Black colleges with her collection, staging fashion shows and fund-raisers for more than 200 branches of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
July 8, 1995 – Iconic R&B girl group, TLC reached the top of the charts with their hit single, “Waterfalls,” Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (July 2 – August 19, 1995) for 7 weeks. Written by Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez, Marqueze Etheridge and producers, Organized Noize, the song was featured on the group’s sophomore album, “CrazySexyCool.” After a seven-week reign, “Waterfalls” was succeeded by “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal.
July 9, 1893 – Medical pioneer, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first open-heart surgery. Williams an apprentice shoemaker, a successful barber age 17, he began his medical studies as an apprentice with prominent surgeon Dr. Henry Palmer, which helped him earn a spot at Northwestern University’s prestigious Chicago Medical School. After earning an M.D. in 1883, he became one of the city’s precious few African-American physicians. Spurred by the experience of a Black woman who aspired to study nursing but was denied the opportunity because of her race, Williams helped found the Provident Hospital and Nursing Training School. In 1893, Williams earned fame for his superior medical instinct and surgical skill by performing the first open-heart surgery on the young Black man James Cornish who was admitted to Provident Hospital with a deep stab wound in his chest and close to his heart.
July 10, 1875 – Educator and civil rights leader, Mary McLeod Bethune was born in Mayesville, South Carolina. Bethune’s parents were former slaves who sought the significance of an education and the opportunities it could give Blacks. Her scholastic achievements earned her a scholarship to North Carolina’s Scotia Seminary, where she served as a springboard for a distinguished career as an educator and activist. In 1904, Bethune opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School with just five students. In 1929, Bethune merged with Cookman Institute, leading the school to be named the Bethune-Cookman College. In 1935, She founded the National Council of Negro Women to encourage Black women to promote globally participate in efforts to promote social justice and human rights. Bethune was an advisor on “Negro affairs” to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1974, she became the first Black leader and first woman to be honored with a monument, a statue located in a public park in Washington, D.C.
July 11, 1905 – Black intellectuals and activists, W.E.B. Du Bois and William M. Trotter organized the Niagara Movement (the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in efforts to end racial and social injustices. Along with 29 other activists, DuBois and Trotter met in Canada at Niagara Falls and created the Niagara Movement. The movement asked for “abolition of all caste distinctions based simply on race and color,” as well as freedom of speech. Coming less than 50 years after the abolition of slavery, these requests were seen as radical in their time. The movement reached 170 members by the end of the year, but disbanded in 1910 due to financial and internal issues.
July 12, 1887 – Mound Bayou, Mississippi, perhaps the nation’s best known historically all-Black town, is founded by ex-slave Isaiah Montgomery and his cousin Benjamin T. Green. It was built as a sanctuary for former slaves during a period when Jim Crow racism and terrorism by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were on the rise. It is considered the oldest surviving all-Black town in America. According to the 2000 Census, the town had 2,100 residents.
