June Black History Calendar

June 1, 1968 – Henry Lewis becomes first Black musical director of an American symphony orchestra – the New Jersey Symphony

June 2, 1971 – Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. becomes first African American admiral in U.S. Navy.

June 3, 1890 – L.H. Jones patents corn harvester.

June 4, 1972 – Angela Davis acquitted of all murder and conspiracy charges.

June 5, 1987 – Dr. Mae C. Jemison becomes first Black woman astronaut.

June 6, 1831 – First annual “People of Color” convention held in Philadelphia.

June 7, 1917 – Poetess Gwendolyn Brooks, first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize (Poetry 1950), born.

June 8, 1953 – Supreme Court ruling bans discrimination in Washington, D.C. restaurants.

June 9, 1995 – Lincoln J. Ragsdale, pioneer fighter pilot of World War II, dies.

June 10, 1854 – James Augustine Healy, first African American Roman Catholic bishop is ordained.

June 11, 1912 – Joseph H. Dickson patents player piano.

June 12, 1963 – Medgar W. Evers, civil rights leader, is assassinated in Jackson, Miss.

June 13, 1967 – Thurgood Marshall nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson.

June 14, 1864 – Congress rules that African American soldiers must receive equal pay.

June 15, 1913 – Dr. Effie O’Neal, first Black woman to hold an executive position in the American Medical Association, born.

June 16, 1970 – Kenneth A. Gibson elected mayor of Newark, N.J., first African American mayor of a major eastern U.S. city.

June 17. 1775 – Minuteman Peter Salem fights in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

June 18, 1863 – The 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry attacks Fort Wagner, S.C.

June 19, 1865 – Black in Texas are notified of Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863. “Juneteenth,” marks the event.

June 20, 1953 – Albert W. Dent of Dillard Universality elected president of the National Health Council.

June 21, 1945 – Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes first African American to command a U.S. Army Air Corps base.

June 22, 1897 – William Barry patents the postmarking and canceling.

June 23, 1940 – Sprinter Wilma Rudolph, winner of three gold medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics, born.

June 24, 1964 – Carl T. Rowan appointed the Director of the United States Information Agency.

June 25, 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt issues executive order establishing Fair Employment Practice Commission.

June 26, 1975 – Samuel Blanton Rosser becomes first African American certified in pediatric surgery.

June 27, 1991 – Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announces his retirement.

June 28, 1864 – Fugitive slave laws repealed by Congress.

June 29 1886 – Photographer James Van Der Zee born.

June 30, 1921 – Charles S. Gilping awarded Springarm Medal for his performance in Eugene O’Neill Emperor Jones.