Year: 2019
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Joseph Rainey sworn-in to Congress
It was on this date in 1870 that Joseph Rainey was sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rainey was not the first African-American to serve in Congress, that honor belonging to Hiram Revels, but Rainey was the first African-American to be elected to Congress. Rainey represented South Carolina’s 1st District and was re-elected four times.…
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Port Chicago Disaster
At 10:18 p.m. on July 17, 1944, a pair of explosions at the Port Chicago naval pier killed more than 300 military personnel and civilian workers. The event caused the largest number of stateside deaths during the war. In the aftermath of the explosion, it was determined that racism played a key role in an…
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Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement is often described as the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons, NAACP, which is not untrue. However, the 1905 gathering began as in response to another movement launched a decade earlier. The July 11 inaugural meeting was held in Fort Erie, Ontario, near the famous falls for…