November 26th in Black History.
1792. Sarah Moore Grimké was born into a wealthy slave-owning family in Charleston, South Carolina. She and her younger sister Angelina became Quakers and outspoken advocates for abolition and women’s rights. Shunned by the Quakers for their activism, these two southern white women became even more determined freedom fighters.
1878. International cycling star Marshall "Major" Taylor was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Taylor was the first Black American cycling champion and one of the highest-paid athletes of his time. His many achievements included the world one-mile track cycling championship in 1899.
1883. Death of Sojourner Truth. Born into slavery in Ulster County NY, she was a deeply religious woman who walked away from the plantation, changed her name from Isabella Baumfree, and became a tireless worker for Black liberation and women’s rights.
1895. National Negro Medical Association of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists was founded. The group is still thriving, and operates out of Washington DC, under the name National Medical Association.
1939. Anna Mae Bullock was born near Brownsville, TN. Under the name Tina Turner, she continues to be a successful singer and actor.
1968. The new Race Relations Act in Britain made it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people because of their ethnic background.
1968. Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson becomes the 34th Heisman Trophy winner.
1970. Charles Edward Fleming was born in Cleveland, OH in 1925. Under the nom de guerre, Charles Gordone, he became a playwright, director, actor, and educator. As Charles Gordone, he became the first Black to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama on this date in 1970 for his play No Place To Be Somebody.
1970. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the first black general in the U.S. Army, died. His son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. became the commander of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, and the first Black general in the Air Force.
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