January 1, 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
January 2, 1965 – Martin Luther King, Jr. calls for non-violent protests if Alabama Blacks are not allowed to register and vote.
January 3, 1624 – William Tucker first African American child born in America.
January 4, 1971 – Congressional Black Caucus formed.
January 5, 1943 – George Washington Carver, agricultural scientist, died.
January 6, 1831 – The World Anti-Slavery Convention opens in London.
January 7, 1890 – William B. Purvis patents fountain pen.
January 8, 1811 – Charles Deslandes leads slave revolt in Louisiana.
January 9, 1866 – Fisk University is founded in Nashville.
January 10, 1864 – George Washington Carver, agricultural scientist, born.
January 11, 1985 – Reuben V. Anderson, first African American to be appointed to Mississippi Supreme Court.
January 12, 1948 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that African Americans have the right to study law at state institutions.
January 13, 1990 – L. Douglas Wilder becomes first African American U.S. governor (Virginia) since Reconstruction. 1913 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated becomes the 2nd Black Greek Letter Organization.
January 14, 1975 – William T. Coleman named U.S. Scretary of Transportation.
January 15, 1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha, first African American sorority, is founded at Howard University.
January 16, 1978 – NASA names Black astronauts: Maj. Frederick D. Gregory, Maj. Guion S. Bluford, and Dr. Ronald McNair.
January 17, 1942 – Three-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali born.
January 18, 1856 – Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, pioneer heart surgeon, born.
January 19, 1969 – UCLA renames its social science buildings to honor alumnus Ralph Bunche.
January 20, 1977 – Patricia Roberts Harris becomes U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the first black woman to hold a Cabinet position.
January 21, 1936 – Former Congressman Barbara Jordan born.
January 22, 1949 – James Robert Gladden becomes first African American certified in orthopedic surgery.
January 23, 1891 – Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founds Provident Hospital in Chicago, one of the first schools of nursing for black students in the U. S.
January 24, 1865 – Congress passes 13th Amendment which, on ratification, abolished slavery in America.
January 25, 1851 – Sojourner Truth addresses the first Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
January 26, 1954 – Dr. Theodore K. Lawless, dermatologist, awarded the Springarn Medal for his research in skin-related diseases.
January 27, 1961 – Leontyne Price made her Metropolitan Opera debut.
January 28, 1787 – Free Africa Society organized in Philadelphia.
January 29, 1926 – Violette Nealy Anderson becomes the first Black woman lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
January 30, 1979 – Franklin Thomas named president of Ford Foundation.
January 31, 1986 – August Wilson’s Fences, starring James Earl Jones, opens at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.