Today In Black History

1755*

Jean Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy, distinguished French geographer, is born.

1786*

Jean-Baptiste Lislet-Geoffrey was the first Black correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences.

1826*

John Brown Russwurm is considered to be the first Black in America to graduate college. Two years after entering Bowdoin College, he received his baccalaureate degree on September 6,1826. A lesser known Black student, Edward Jones graduated just two weeks before on August 23,1826 from Amherst College. Both men received their Masters, John in 1829 and Edward in 1830.

1861*

James Stone, a light skinned fugitive slave passing for white, enlisted in the First Fight Artillery of Ohio. His racial identity would not be known until his death nearly a year later.

1900*

National Negro Business League founded. At the organizing meeting in Boston, Booker T. Washington was elected president.

1908*

52 nurses lead by Martha M. Franklin form the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, to improve the status of African American nurses

1917*

Race riot, Houston, between soldiers of Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment and white citizens. Two Blacks and eleven whites killed. Martial law declared.

1954*

Inventor Philip Emeagwali was born in Akure, Nigeria