Today In Black History

1816*

By 1816 there were several African Methodist Churches around the country and that year they met to form the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church. 

On April 11, 1816 Richard Allen was named the first bishop of this church.

1865*

President Lincoln recommended suffrage for Black veterans and Blacks.

1881*

Spelman College, an institution sponsored by John D. Rockefeller's family, opened for Negro women in Atlanta, Georgia. It became the "Radcliffe and the Sarah Lawrence of Negro education."

1899*

Chemist Percy Julian born in Montgomery, Alabama. Julian studied at DePauwm, Fisk, Harvard and Vienna (Germany) Universities. 

In his lifetime he discovered several synthetic substances including one that made paint water-tight, cortisone and a fire suppressing foam.

1967*

Harlem voters defied Congress and re-elected Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

1968*

President Johnson signed a bill. This bill also made it a crime to interfere with civil rights workers and to cross state lines to incite a riot.

1968*

President Johnson signed a the 1968 Housing Act which outlawed discrimination in the sale, rental or leasing of housing. 

This bill also made it a crime to interfere with civil rights workers and to cross state lines to incite a riot.

1972*

Benjamin L. Hooks, a Memphis lawyer-minister, becomes the first African American named to the Federal Communications Commission.

1988*

Willie D. Burton becomes the first African American to win the Oscar for sound, for the movie Bird.

1997*

The new Museum of African American History opened in Detroit. 

It is the largest of its kind in the world.