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Posts published in “African-American Firsts”

The First 5 African-Americans to be Featured on U.S. Stamps

By goodblacknews on February 5, 2013

Many wonder who were the first group of African-Americans to get their own stamp.

It’s no secret that African-Americans have contributed to the development of the United States; more than we are given credit for. However, most of the ones who have been acknowledged for their work in America have been honored with their very on U.S., postage stamp.
While we know Harriett Tubman and other famous African-Americans have their pictures on stamps, many wonder who were the first group of African-Americans to get their own stamp.
Check out the list below to find out:
1. Booker T. Washington
Born of slaves, Booker T. Washington worked his way through Hampton Institute and Wayland Seminary. By the age of 25, he was named the president of the Tuskegee Institute. Washington was known for being one of the best orators of his time who used his oration skills to be the voice for African-Americans. He also helped develop 5,000 small schools to educate African-Americans throughout the south.
Washington was awarded with a 10 cent stamp in 1940. The U.S. Postal Service invited the pubic for recommendations and Booker T. Washington’s name was repeatedly submitted. Him receiving a 10 cent stamp was an honor in itself because most of the other African-Americans featured were relegated to the stamps worth a penny or two.
2. George Washington Carver
As one of the most famous African-Americans of his time, George Washington Carver became known as “The Peanut Man” due to his extensive work trying to explain the positive effect peanuts could have on the southern farming industry. After being invited by Booker T. Washington to become the Director of Agriculture at Tuskegee Institute, Carver continued his work in botany and agriculture until the day he died in 1934.
George Washington Carver was commemorated with a three cent stamp in 1948. He was picked to receive a stamp for his work in science and how his work with the peanut and sweet potato industry helped farming continue to succeed when most thought the farming industry was on its last legs.

African Americans Fly High with Math and Science

By goodblacknews on February 5, 2013
Barrington Irving , a 23-year-old Jamaican-born pilot, at a news conference at Opa-locka Airport Wednesday, June 27, 2007, ending a three-month journey he said would make him the youngest person to fly around the world alone.
Barrington Irving , a 23-year-old Jamaican-born pilot, at a news conference at Opa-locka Airport Wednesday, June 27, 2007, ending a three-month journey he said would make him the youngest person to fly around the world alone.  (Alan Diaz/AP)

This Black History Month, NPR’s “Tell Me More” is taking a look at African Americans in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) who are inspiring future generations.
Today, Barrington Irving shares how his sky high dreams became a reality. A chance encounter in his parents’ bookstore put him on a path that would make him the youngest person and first African American to fly solo around the world.
Barrington Irving remembers a man walking into the store dressed in a pilot’s uniform. The man asked whether Irving might consider a future in aviation. “I immediately just said to him, I don’t think I’m smart enough to do it,” Irving remembers. “Then I asked him how much money he made and after he answered that question, I took an interest in aviation.”

Highway Marker in Kentucky Honors First African-American Civil War Recruits

By goodblacknews on February 4, 2013

Colored Re-Enactment RegimenThe First U.S. Colored Troops Recruits at Camp Nelson in Danville, Kentucky were honored at a dedication ceremony Monday. A historical highway marker was unveiled by re-enactors from the 12th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment from Camp Nelson for the men.

On May 23, 1864, nearly 150 African-American men, mostly slaves, left Boyle County to march to Jessamine County to enlist in the Union Army. On the way, people from Danville threw stones, and shot pistols at the recruits. When they reached Camp Nelson, they were initially turned away by Union Col. Andew Clark because there was no policy for the recruitment of slaves. 

The men were accepted into the Army, which prompted a Union policy change allowing able-bodied African American men into the service. More than 5,000 U.S. colored troops were eventually recruited at Camp Nelson.  To see a video of the dedication, click the link below:
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/3927877?wpid=11176

Black Female Pioneers: Sarah Jane Woodson Early Paves Way for Black Educators

By goodblacknews on February 4, 2013

Sarah Jane Woodson Early
In the mid-1800’s, it wasn’t easy to be an African-American woman with professional aspirations.  But Sarah Jane Woodson Early wasn’t just a hard-working and multi-tasking professional woman—she was a woman ahead of her time. Educating was her life’s passion and in 1858, she became the first African American female college professor. Throughout her life she taught, gave lectures and also worked as an author, black nationalist, and temperance advocate.
Born a free woman in Chillicothe, OH, on Nov. 15, 1825, Early’s upbringing served as the basis for her activist and academic spirit. Her parents, Thomas and Jemima Woodson, founded the first black Methodist church of west of the Alleghenies. They also founded Berlin Crossroads, a separate black farming community. Although there was never any supporting historical evidence, her father believed he was the oldest son of Sally Hemings and President Thomas Jefferson.

97 Years Ago Today: The Negro Baseball League was Founded in Missouri

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013
The Negro National League was founded in Kansas City, Missouri, by former player Robe Foster on Feb. 3, 1920.  The Negro Leagues would be home to some of America’s greatest Black talent and future Hall of Famers like Martin Dihigo and John Henry “Pop” Lloyd . Minorities were banned from major league teams until Jackie Robinson, a former Negro Leagues star, broke the color barrier in 1947, when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
article by Britt Middleton via bet.com

Black History Facts of the Day: Feb 3rd

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

Check out the facts below:
– In 1903 Jack Johnson became the first black Heavyweight Champion
– In 1956 Autherine J. Lucy becomes the first black student to attend the University of Alabama. She was expelled three days later “for her own safety” in response to threats from a mob.
– In 1964 NYC School officials reported that 464,000 Black and Puerto Rican students boycotted New York City public schools. More than 267,000 were absent during second boycott, March 16.
– In 1965  Geraldine McCullough Wins Widener Gold Medal
article via blackenterprise.com

148 Years Ago Today: First African-American Lawyer Practices Before U.S. Supreme Court

By goodblacknews on February 1, 2013

Upon the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which formally ended slavery, abolitionist lawyer John Swett Rock became the first African-American admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court on Feb. 1, 1865.
Rock was born free on October 13, 1825, in Salem, New Jersey. He was also an educator and later studied dentistry, graduating from the American Medical College in Philadelphia in 1852. He set up a practice in Boston, where many of his patients were escaped slaves fleeing to Canada through the Underground Railroad.
An outspoken abolitionist in Boston, Rock switched his focus to law and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1861. He served the U.S. Supreme Court for just one year before health problems derailed his career. On Dec. 3, 1866, at age 41, he died from tuberculosis.
article by Britt Middleton via bet.com

70 Years Ago Today: Etta Moten Barnett Becomes 1st African-American to Sing at the White House

By goodblacknews on January 31, 2013
Etta Moten Barnett (Photo: Chicago Library)

Broadway star and film actress Etta Moten Barnett sang at the birthday party for President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Jan. 31, 1943, becoming the first African-American to perform at the White House.
She performed “Remember My Forgotten Man,” which she also sang in the movie Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), although she was not listed in the credits. A conaltro vocalist, she was best known for her starring role in the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess on Broadway. 
Barnett was born November 5, 1901, in Weimar, Texas. She married Claude Barnett, founder of the Associated Negro Press, in 1934. In her later years, Barnett was active in many community organizations including the National Council of Negro Women, the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the African American Institute. She passed away from pancreatic cancer on January 5, 2004, at age 102.
article by Britt Middleton via bet.com

Born On This Day in 1919: Baseball Legend Jackie Robinson

By goodblacknews on January 31, 2013
Legendary Baseball player Jackie Robinson
 
Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, was born in Cairo, Georgia, on Jan. 31, 1919.
Robinson had a litany of firsts in his career: He was the first Black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first Black vice president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem. In the world of baseball, Robinson played a prominent role in ending racial segregation in professional baseball. Prior to Robinson playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, African-American players were restricted to the Negro Leagues for 60 years.

Born On This Day in 1892: Renowned Aviator Bessie Coleman

By goodblacknews on January 26, 2013
Noted stunt-flier Bessie Coleman was born.
Bessie Coleman, born Jan. 26, 1892, was a renowned aviator who was the first African-American woman to become a pilot and to hold an international pilot’s license. When she turned 18, Coleman took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now called Langston University). She completed one term before her money ran out, and returned home.
In 1915 she moved to Chicago and worked as a manicurist, listening to stories from pilots who had flown in World War I. Determined to become a pilot, she was encouraged by Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender to study aviation abroad. Coleman received financial backing from a banker and the Defender. She eventually traveled to Paris and became the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license and also the first in the world to earn an aviation pilot’s license. She later traveled to the Netherlands and Germany to get additional training before returning to the United States, where she did stunt flying and was billed as “the world’s greatest woman flier.”  
Coleman developed a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot, who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt. She died in 1926 after an airplane malfunction caused her aircraft to crash at the age of 34.
article by Jonathan P. Hicks via bet.com