Black History Facts

• Black History Month was preceded by Black History Week.
• Carter G. Woodson initiated the celebration.
• The first Black History Week was celebrated in February 1926.
• James Welden Johnson wrote the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice and Sing".
• The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made slavery illegal in 1865.
• The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted citizenship to African-Americans in 1868.
• The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave African-American men the right to vote in 1870.
• The first African-American child to integrate an elementary school in New Orleans was Ruby Bridges.
• Norman Rockwell created a painting of Ruby Bridges called "The Problem We All Live With".
• Chardayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first two students to integrate the University of Georgia.
• The Supreme Court case that ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional was Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
• The "Freedom Rides" were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses in the segregated southern U.S.
• HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. attended Morehouse College.
• Katherine Johnson attended West Virginia State University.
• Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery.
• Booker T. Washington was the first person honored in the U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage series.
• Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress.
• Bill Robinson was the highest paid African-American performer in the first half of the twentieth century, famous for dancing with Shirley Temple.
• Charles Drew invented the blood plasma bag.
• George Franklin Grant invented the golf tee.
• Sarah Boone invented the ironing board.
• Matthew A. Cherry invented the tricycle.
• John L. Love invented the pencil sharpener.
• Ernie Barnes was the first American professional athlete to become a noted artist.
• Benjamin Banneker is known for making the first wooden clock in America.
• Three HBCUs in the state of Georgia not located in Atlanta are Albany State University, Fort Valley State University, and Savannah State University.
• Earnest J. Gaines was an African-American author whose notable books include "A Lesson Before Dying".
• John Taylor Jr. was the first male African American to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
• Alice Coachman was the first female African American to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
• Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.
• Women were given the right to vote in 1920.
• A book by Earnest Gaines that was made into a movie is "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman".
• Bill Robinson's nickname was Bojangles.

Harlem Renaissance Figures

• Author: Helene Johnson
• Artist (Painter): Aaron Douglas
• Singer: Louis Armstrong
• Musician: Duke Ellington