November 17th

Today in Black History:

1842. George Latimer, who along with his wife, Rebecca, ran away from slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, is captured in Boston. The resulting trial, the first of many “Fugitive Slave” cases, embittered relations between the North and South, culminating in the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, this particularly heinous piece of legislation allowed slave-owners to pursue escaped Africans throughout the North, and required Northern authorities to assist in their capture. Boston abolitionists raised money for Latimer's defense, and even created a newspaper bearing his name.
Latimer was charged with larceny (of his wife and himself from a James B. Gray, his “owner.”) After he was found not guilty, there were intense negotiations on his purchase price, Gray eventually settling for $400, which was paid by a Black pastor.
Latimer became the father of the famous scientist and inventor Lewis H. Latimer.
Read about Lewis Latimer

1958. Sudanese Prime Minister Abd Allah Khaliltudan is overthrown in a military coup led by Ibrahim Abboud who became prime minister.

1964. The British government imposed an arms embargo on the racist government of South Africa.

1972. Sixteen Blacks were elected to congress, among them Barbara Jordan of Houston and Andrew Young of Atlanta, the first Blacks from the south elected to Congress since Reconstruction.


1976. Canadian-born Jamaican beauty Cynthia Jean Cameron (Cindy) Breakspeare (pictured above) is crowned Miss World. She is mostly known for being the mother of Bob Marley’s youngest son, Damian, and the inspiration for the Marley song “Turn Your Lights down low.”

1978. FBI Agents Charles D. Brennan and George C. Moore testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations that FBI surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was based "solely" on J. Edgar Hoover's hatred, and had nothing to do with King’s alleged communist influences or linkages with radical groups.