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On this day in 1842, Allen Allensworth, minister, educator and town founder, was born enslaved in Louisville, Kentucky. Allensworth escaped slavery by joining the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1871, he was ordained a Baptist minister and led several churches in Kentucky. In 1880 and 1884, he was the only Black delegate from Kentucky to the Republican National Conventions. In 1886, Allensworth was appointed military chaplain to a unit of Buffalo Soldiers and by the time that he retired in 1906 had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, the first African American to achieve that rank. After leaving military service, Allensworth moved to Los Angeles, California. On June 30, 1908, he founded the town of Allensworth in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley as an all-Black community. It is the only California town founded, financed, and governed by African Americans. By 1914, the town was reported to be 900 acres of deeded land worth more than $112,500. Allensworth died September 14, 1914. Over the next couple of decades, the town became a ghost town. Parts of the town have been preserved as the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places February 23, 1972. Biographies of Allensworth include “Battles and Victories of Allen Allensworth” (1914) and “Out of Darkness: The Story of Allen Allensworth” (1998). #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1844, Francis B. “Frank” Johnson, bugler, bandleader and composer, died. Johnson was born June 16, 1792 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not much is known of his early life but by 1818 he was a well-known musician in Philadelphia. That year, Johnson published “A Collection of New Cotillions,” the first published African American composer. He went on to compose more than 300 pieces of music with over 250 of his pieces being published. In 1824, Johnson composed much of the music for the triumphal return to Philadelphia of Revolutionary War hero General Lafayette. In 1837, he led his band to Europe, the first Black American musicians to visit Europe, where they performed for Victoria shortly before she became Queen of England. Johnson returned to the United States at the end of 1838 and toured widely throughout the U. S. and Canada until 1844. White bands often refused to perform in parades when Johnson’s band was performing. Johnson’s band continued to perform after his death until about the time of the Civil War. A Pennsylvania state historical marker in Philadelphia was dedicated to Johnson in 1992. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1889, Chandler Owen, writer, editor and co-founder of The Messenger, was born in Warrenton, North Carolina. After graduating from Virginia Union University in 1913, he moved to New York City to become a fellow of the National Urban League. In 1917, Owen and A. Phillip Randolph founded The Messenger which published political commentary, advocacy of trade unionism, and literature of the New Negro Movement. During World War I, they wrote “Patriotism has no appeal to us; justice has. Party has no weight with us; principle has.” For their outspoken opposition to Black participation in the war, Owen and Randolph were arrested under the Espionage Act. After The Messenger folded in 1928, Owen moved to Chicago, Illinois to become managing editor of the Chicago Bee, an African American newspaper. By 1942, Owen owned a public relations firm and was a speechwriter for mostly Republican politicians. He wrote speeches for presidential candidates Wendell Wilkie in 1940, Thomas Dewey in 1944 and 1948, and Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. He also wrote speeches for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and 1965. Owen died November 2, 1967. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1960, The Republic of Senegal gained its independence from France. Senegal is located in Western Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. Dakar is the capital city. It is approximately 76,000 square miles in area and has a population of approximately 13.7 million. Islam is the predominant religion, practiced by 95% of the population. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Northeast Houston, Houston, Texas)

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On this day in 1950, Carter G. Woodson, historian, author and journalist, died. Woodson was born December 19, 1875 in New Canton, Virginia. Through self-instruction, he mastered the fundamentals of common school subjects by 17 and graduated from high school at 22. He then earned his Bachelor of Literature degree from Berea College in 1903, his Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1908, and his Ph. D. in history from Harvard University in 1912. In 1915, he co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and published his first book, “The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861.” Other books that he authored include “The History of the Negro Church” (1922) and “The Mis-Education of the Negro” (1933). In 1916, Woodson began publication of “Journal of Negro History,” which was renamed “Journal of African American History” in 2002, and in 1920 founded the Associated Publishers, the oldest African American publishing company in the United States. Woodson noted that African American contributions to history “were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by writers of history textbooks and teachers who use them.” In 1926, Woodson single-handedly pioneered the celebration of Negro History Week which we now refer to as Black History Month. That same year, he was awarded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Spingarn Medal. Woodson’s Washington, D. C. home was designated the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site February 27, 2006. Also, many schools around the country are named in his honor. His biographies, “Carter G. Woodson: The Father of Black History” and “Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History,” were published in 1991 and 1993, respectively. Woodson’s name is enshrined in the Ring of Genealogy at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Houston, Texas)

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On this day in 2012, Elizabeth Catlett Mora, sculptor and printmaker, died. Catlett was born April 15, 1915 in Washington D. C. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Howard University in 1935 and taught high school for a couple of years. In 1940, she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa, the first African American student to do so. Her sculpture “Mother and Child,” done for her thesis, won first prize in sculpture at the 1940 American Negro Exposition. In 1946, Catlett received a Rosenwald Fund Fellowship which allowed her to travel to Mexico which she made her permanent home and later became a Mexican citizen. In 1948, she became the first female professor of sculpture and head of the sculpture department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, School of Fine Arts where she taught until retirement in 1975. Some of Catlett’s best known prints are “Sharecropper” (1968) and “Malcolm X Speaks For Us” (1969). Sculptures include “Dancing Figure” (1961) and “Target” (1970). In 2003, Catlett received the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center. In 2008, her life-size sculpture “Homage to My Young Black Sisters” was auctioned for $288,000, a record for one of her works. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1940, Wangari Muta Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, was born in Nyeri District, Kenya. Maathai earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and minor in chemistry and German from Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in 1964 and her Master of Science degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. In 1971, Maathai became the first East African woman to receive a Ph. D. when she earned her Doctor of Anatomy degree from the University College of Nairobi. She also taught at the university where she campaigned for equal benefits for women on the staff. Maathai also worked with the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Environment Liaison Centre where she came to believe that the root of most of Kenya’s problems was environmental degradation. In 1977, she led the planting of the first trees to conserve the environment in what became the Green Belt Movement. She encouraged, and paid a small stipend to, women to plant tree nurseries throughout Kenya. In 2002, she was elected to parliament and appointed assistant minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, a position she held until 2005. On October 8, 2004, it was announced that Maathai had won the Nobel Peace Prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace,” the first African woman and environmentalist to win the prize. In 2005, Maathai was elected the first president of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council. That same year, she was included on Time magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. She received the coveted 2006 Indira Gandhi Peace Prize from the Republic of India. Maathai published two autobiographies, “The Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigning for Africa, Women and the Environment” (2002) and “Unbowed: A Memoir” (2006). She also published “The Challenge for Africa” (2009) and “Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World” (2011). Maathai died September 25, 2011. #EverydayIsBlackHistory (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1949, “Troubled Island” became the first opera by an African American to be performed by a major opera company when it was performed by the New York City Opera. The opera was composed by William Grant Still, “the dean” of African American classical composers. Despite selling out the first three nights and receiving 22 curtain calls on opening night, the opera was shut down, never to be staged again. “Just Tell the Story: Troubled Island” (2006) delves into some of the reasons why. Still was born May 11, 1895 in Woodville, Mississippi but raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He started taking violin lessons at 15 and taught himself to play a number of other instruments. Still attended Wilberforce University where he conducted the university band and started to compose. He also studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. After serving in the United States Navy during World War I, he worked as an arranger for W. C. Handy and later played in the pit orchestra for the musical “Shuffle Along.” In 1934, Still was the recipient of the first Guggenheim Fellowship. On July 24, 1936, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra. Still eventually moved to Los Angeles, California where he arranged music for films, including “Pennies From Heaven” (1936) and “Lost Horizon” (1937). He received honorary doctorate degrees from a number of institutions, including Oberlin College, Howard University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of California. Still died December 3, 1978. On June 15, 1981, his opera “A Bayou Legend” became the first opera by an African American to be performed on national television when it premiered on PBS. His biography, “In One Lifetime: A Biography of William Grant Still,” was published in 1984. (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1948, Naomi Ruth Sims, the first African American supermodel, was born in Oxford, Mississippi but raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sims’ early attempts to get modeling work through established agencies were frustrated by racial prejudice, with some telling her that her skin was too dark. Her first break came in August, 1967 when she was photographed for the cover of the New York Times’ fashion supplement. Her next breakthrough was when she was selected for a national television campaign for AT&T. After that, she went on to achieve worldwide recognition, appearing as the first Black model on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal in 1968 and on the cover of Life Magazine in 1969. Sims retired from modeling in 1973 and started her own business which expanded into a multi-million dollar beauty empire. She also authored several books on modeling, health and beauty, including “All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman” (1976), “How to Be a Top Model” (1979), and “All About Success for the Black Woman” (1982). Sims died August 1, 2009. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1969, Kim Batten, hall of fame track and field athlete, was born in McRae, Georgia. Batten ran track for Florida State University and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1991. She won the United States Outdoor Championship in the 400 meter hurdles in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 and broke the world record in 1995. Batten won the Silver medal in the event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. She retired from track at the end of the 2001 season and was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2012. Batten coached at Florida State from 1991 to 2000 and is currently the hurdles coach at Georgia State University. She also owns Body by Batten Sports Performance and Fitness. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 2012, Addie L. Wyatt, labor and civil rights activist and minister, died. Wyatt was born March 8, 1924 in Brookhaven, Mississippi but raised in Chicago, Illinois. She worked as a meat packer from 1941 to 1954 and during that time became involved with the United Packinghouse and Food and Alliance Workers Union. She was elected vice president of her branch in 1953, the first Black woman to hold a senior office in an American labor union. Wyatt was appointed to the Labor Legislation Committee of the United States Commission on the Status of Women in the early 1960s and was a founding member of the National Organization of Women in 1966. She was a founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974 and was elected international vice president of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1976. Wyatt, along with Barbara Jordan, was named Time magazine Person of the Year in 1975, the first African American women to be named. Wyatt was ordained a minister in 1955 and participated in a number of civil rights marches, including the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist established the Addie L. Wyatt Award in 1987. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1965, Crystal Bird Fauset, the first African American female state legislator in the United States, died. Fauset was born June 27, 1894 in Princess Anne, Maryland but raised in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1918 to 1926, she worked as a field secretary for African American girls at the Young Women’s Christian Association. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Teacher’s College, Columbia University in 1931. Also that year, Fauset founded the Colored Women’s Activities Club for the Democratic National Committee and as a result was appointed director of the Women and Professional Project in the Works Progress Administration. She also served on the Federal Housing Advisory Board in 1935. Fauset was elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature in 1938, the first African American female legislator in the country. During her time in the legislature, she focused on improvements in public health, housing the poor, public relief, and women’s rights in the workplace. Fauset resigned from the Pennsylvania legislature in 1940. Fauset was appointed race relations director at the Office of Civil Defense in 1941 and became a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black cabinet.” After World War II, Fauset helped found the United Nations Council of Philadelphia which later became the World Affairs Council. During the 1950s, she traveled to Africa, India, and the Middle East to support independence leaders. A Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated in her honor in Philadelphia in 1991. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1962, Augusta Fells Savage, Harlem Renaissance sculptor, died. Savage was born February 29, 1892 in Green Cove Springs, Florida. She was admitted to Cooper Union Art School in New York City in 1921. She applied for an art program sponsored by the French government in 1923 but was turned down by the international judging committee because of her race. During this time, she received her first commission, a bust of W. E. B. Du Bois for the Harlem Library. Savage enrolled in the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, a leading Paris art school, in 1929. She returned to the United States in 1931 and became the first African American artist to be elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1934. That year, she also launched the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts which evolved into the Harlem Community Art Center. In 1939, Savage received a commission from the New York World’s Fair to create “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a 16 foot sculpture that was the most popular work at the fair. One of her most famous busts, “Gamin,” is on permanent display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A biography intended for young readers, “In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage,” was published in 2009. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Houston, Texas)

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On this day in 1967, Debra Janine “Debi” Thomas, hall of fame figure skater and physician, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. Thomas won the United States National Ladies’ Figure Skating title February 8, 1986, the first African American to win the title. That same year, she won the Ladies’ World Figure Skating Championship and earned ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year Award. At the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games, she won the Bronze medal in ladies’ singles figure skating. Thomas retired from amateur skating after the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships where she also won the Bronze medal. Thomas earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering from Stanford University in 1991 and her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997. Thomas was inducted into the U. S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000 and is currently an orthopedic surgeon. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1912, Dorothy Irene Height, hall of fame educator and social activist, was born in Richmond, Virginia. While in high school, Height was awarded a scholarship to Barnard College but when she enrolled she was denied admittance because at that time Barnard only admitted two African Americans per academic year and they had already admitted two. Height then pursued studies at New York University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1932 and Master of Arts degree in psychology in 1933. Height started working as a case worker with the New York City Welfare Department and joined the national staff of the Young Women’s Christian Association in 1944. From 1946 to 1957, she also served as the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1957, a position she held until 1997. Height served on numerous presidential committees, including the President’s Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped and the President’s Committee on the Status of Women. Height was named to the National Council for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1974, established in response to the “Tuskegee Syphillis Study.” Height also served as chair of the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She received many awards and honors, including the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989, the 1993 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Spingarn Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President William J. Clinton August 8, 1994. Height was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush in 2004. Height died April 20, 2010. She published her autobiography, “Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir,” in 2005. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)

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On this day in 1985, Patricia Roberts Harris, hall of fame lawyer and the first African American woman to serve as a United States Ambassador, died. Harris was born May 31, 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Howard University in 1945 and graduated at the top of her class from the George Washington University National Law Center in 1960. On May 19, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her Ambassador to Luxembourg where she served until 1967. Harris was named dean of Howard University’s School of Law in 1969, a position she held until 1972. President Jimmy Carter appointed Harris Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977 and she became Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare July 19, 1979, the first African American woman to hold a presidential cabinet post, where she served until 1981. She was appointed a professor at the George Washington University National Law Center in 1982, a position she held until her death. Harris also served on the boards of several corporations, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Scott Paper Company, and IBM. The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in her honor in 2000 and she was posthumously inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003. The Patricia R. Harris Education Center in Washington, D. C. is named in her honor. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Houston, Texas)

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On this day in 1957, Stephanie Dorthea Mills, singer and Broadway star, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Mills appeared in her first play at nine and two years later won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times. Mills made her Broadway debut in the 1968 musical “Maggie Flynn” and recorded her first single, “I Knew It Was Love,” in 1973. Mills career took off in 1974 when she portrayed Dorothy in “The Wiz,” for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress – Musical. Also in 1974, Mills released her debut album, “Movin’ In the Right Direction.” Mills had her first gold album with “What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin” in 1979 and that was followed by “Sweet Sensation” (1980). That album featured “Never Knew Love Like This Before” which earned Mills the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance – Female. These albums were followed by “Stephanie” (1981) and “Merciless” (1983), both of which were nominated for Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance – Female. Other albums include “If I Were Your Woman” (1987) and “Home” (1989), both of which reached platinum status. Mills took a break from recording to care for her son in 1992. She returned in 2000 and released “Born For This” in 2004 and “Breathless” in 2010. #WomensHistoryMonth (at Humble, Texas)