Robert Morris Sr may not have been the first African-American attorney to be granted a license in the United States, but he was the very first to file a lawsuit on a behalf of a client.

Throughout Morris’ career, he worked with earnest to provide civil rights for freed African-Americans. Trying the first civil rights cases to desegregate schools, Morris argued, “It is very hard to retain self-respect if we see ourselves set apart and avoided as a degraded race by others.. Do not say to our children that however well-behaved their very presence is in a public school, is contamination to your children.”

In addition, Morris worked to aid fugitive slaves from returning to bondage. In 1850, he helped Shadrack Minkins and Anthony Burns remain free African-Americans.

For Morris’ efforts, he will always be honored in not just African-American, but American history.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/robert-morris.htm

Robert Morris Sr may not have been the first African-American attorney to be granted a license in the United States, but he was the very first to file a lawsuit on a behalf of a client.

Throughout Morris’ career, he worked with earnest to provide civil rights for freed African-Americans. Trying the first civil rights cases to desegregate schools, Morris argued, “It is very hard to retain self-respect if we see ourselves set apart and avoided as a degraded race by others.. Do not say to our children that however well-behaved their very presence is in a public school, is contamination to your children.”

In addition, Morris worked to aid fugitive slaves from returning to bondage. In 1850, he helped Shadrack Minkins and Anthony Burns remain free African-Americans.

For Morris’ efforts, he will always be honored in not just African-American, but American history.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/robert-morris.htm

Macon Bolling Allen was the first African-American to be granted a license to practice law in the United States. He was also the first to hold a judicial post.

Yet, although he achieved greatness in a time when African-Americans were enslaved in the South and fighting for rights in the North, Allen’s ability to work as a lawyer did not make things easy for him. Initially granted the right to practice in the state of Maine, Allen relocated to Boston after he could not find clients. Once in Boston, he became involved in the abolitionist movement and opened the first African-American law firm with Robert Morris Sr.

Following the Civil War, Allen moved again–this time to Charleston. He believed that through the

fifteenth amendment he would be able to become actively involved in politics. And for a time he was an active member of local and state politics. However, following the Reconstruction period, his rights, like other African-American men were revoked through poll taxes, literacy tests and Grandfather clauses.

Although Allen was able to achieve greatness just by being “the first,” it was not any easier for him. Allen’s life, like so many other African-Americans of this time, proves the consistent need to fight oppression and overcome societal obstacles.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/macon-bolling-allen-the-first-african-american-lawyer.htm

By Femi Lewis, About.com GuideApril 30, 2013

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Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/dred-scott.htm

By Femi Lewis, About.com GuideApril 30, 2013

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Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/timeline-1850-to-1859.htm

By Femi Lewis, About.com GuideApril 30, 2013

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Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/04/30/dred-scott.htm

Overview

The Negro Baseball Leagues were professional leagues in the United States for players of African descent. At its height of popularity–from 1920 through World War II, Negro Baseball Leagues were an integral part of African-American life and culture during the Jim Crow Era.

1859: The first documented baseball game between two African-American teams is played on November 15 in New York City. The Henson Baseball Club of Queens played the Unknowns of Brooklyn. The Henson Baseball Club defeated the Unknowns, 54 to 43.

1885: The first African-American professional team is founded in Babylon, NY. They are named the Cuban Giants.

1887: The National Colored Baseball League is established, becoming the first professional African-American league. The league begins with eight teams–the Lord Baltimores, Resolutes, Browns, Falls City, Gorhams, Pythians, Pittsburgh Keystones, and the Capital City Club. However, within two weeks the National Colored Baseball League will cancel games as a result of poor attendance.

1890: The International League bans African-American players, which will last until 1946.

1896:The Page Fence Giants club is established by “Bud” Fowler. The club is considered one of the best teams in early African-American baseball history because players toured in their own railroad car and played against major league teams such as the Cincinnati Reds.

1896: The United States Supreme Court upholds Louisiana’s “separate but equal” laws concerning public facilities. This decision affirms racial segregation, de facto segregation and prejudice throughout the United States.

1896: The Page Fence Giants and Cuban Giants play a national championship. The Page Fence Club wins 10 out of 15 games.

1920: At the height of the
Great Migration, Andrew “Rube” Foster, owner of the Chicago American Giants organizes a meeting with all the Midwest team owners in Kansas City. As a result, the Negro National League is established.

1920: On May 20, the Negro National League begins its first season with seven teams–the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs and Cuban Stars. This marks the beginning of the “Golden Era” of Negro Baseball.

1920: The Negro Southern League is established. The league includes cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Memphis, New Orleans and Chattanooga.

1923: The Eastern Colored League is established by Ed Bolden, owner of the Hilldale Club, and Nat Strong, owner of the Brooklyn Royal Giants. The Eastern Colored League consists of the following six teams: Brooklyn Royal Giants, Hilldale Club, Bacharach Giants, Lincoln Giants, Baltimore Black Sox and the Cuban Stars.

1924: The Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League and the Hilldale Club of the Eastern Colored League play in the first Negro World Series. The Kansas City Monarchs win the championship five games to four.

1927 – 1928: The Eastern Colored League faces many conflicts between various club owners. In 1927, New York’s Lincoln Giants left the league. Although the Lincoln Giants returned in the following season, several other teams including the Hilldale Club, Brooklyn Royal Giants and Harrisburg Giants all left the league. In 1928, the Philadelphia Tigers were brought into the league. Despite several attempts, the League disbands in June of 1928 over player contracts.

1928: The American Negro League is developed and includes the Baltimore Black Sox, Lincoln Giants, Homestead Grays, Hilldale Club, Bacharach Giants and the Cuban Giants. Many of these teams were members of the Eastern Colored League.

1929: The stock market crashes, placing financial strains on many facets of American life and business, including Negro League baseball as ticket sales slump.

1930: Foster, founder of the Negro National League dies.

1930: The Kansas City Monarchs end their ties with the Negro National League and become an independent team.

1931: The Negro National League disbands after the 1931 season as a result of financial strains.

1932: The Negro Southern League becomes the only major African-American baseball league operating. Once considered less lucrative than other leagues, the Negro Southern League is able to begin the season with five teams including the Chicago American Giants, Cleveland Cubs, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs and Louisville White Sox.

1933: Gus Greenlee, a business owner from Pittsburgh forms the new Negro National League. Its first season begins with seven teams.

1933: The inaugural East-West Colored All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. An estimate 20,000 fans attend and the West wins, 11-7.

1937: The Negro American League is established, uniting the strongest teams on the West Coast and south. These teams included the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, Cincinnati Tigers, Memphis Red Rox, Detroit Stars, Birmingham Black Barons, Indianapolis Athletics and St. Louis Stars.

1937: Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard help the Homestead Grays begin its nine-year streak as champions of the Negro National League.

1946: Jackie Robinson , a player for the Kansas City Monarchs, is signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. He plays with the Montreal Royals, and becomes the first African-American to play in the International League in more than sixty years.

1947: Robinson becomes the first African-American player in major league baseball by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. He wins National League Rookie of the Year.

1947: Larry Doby becomes the first African-American player in the American League when he joins the Cleveland Indians.

1948: The Negro National League disbands.

1949: The Negro American League is the only major African-American league still playing.

1952: More than 150 African-American baseball players, most from the Negro Leagues, have been signed to Major League Baseball. With low ticket sales and a lack of good players, the era of African-American baseball comes to an end.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/timelines/a/Negro-Baseball-League-Timeline.htm

Overview

In 1827, Samuel Eli Cornish and John B. Russwurm became the publishers and editors of Freedom’s Journal the first African-American newspaper in the United States. The paper served an estimated 300,000 free blacks throughout the United States. In addition, it offered African-Americans the opportunity to fight against racism and prejudice existing in mainstream newspapers.

Considered a reform paper, Freedom’s Journal published current events, anecdotes of everyday people, and editorials. The purpose of the paper was to take a strong stance against slavery and colonization. In addition, the paper served as an advocate for the political rights of African-Americans such as voting and fighting against violent acts against African-Americans.

Samuel Eli Cornish

Cornish was considered a leader in New York’s African-American community because of his work as a minister, abolitionist and newspaper publisher.

Born in Delaware to free parents in 1795, Cornish moved to Philadelphia in 1815 as a young man. In 1821, Cornish moved to New York City. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1922 and established the New Demeter Street Presbyterian Church, the first African-American Presbyterian congregation in New York City. He later presided over the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and Emmanuel Church in New York. Cornish was also one of the four founding African-American members of the American Missionary Association in 1846 and held high positions in the American Bible Society.

Although Cornish’s stint as a publisher of Freedom’s Journal was short lived, he did return two years later. Cornish attempted to republish the paper and changed its name to The Rights of All but the publication closed in less than a year. Cornish became editor of another newspaper, Colored American from 1837 to 1839.

As an abolitionist, Cornish was one of the founding members of the American Anti Slavery Society and was active until 1840. That same year, Cornish joined the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In this position, Cornish used his abilities as a writer to inform the readers about abolitionism.

Cornish was married to Jane Livingston and the couple had four children. He died at the age of 63 on November 6, 1958 at his home in Brooklyn, NY.

John Brown Russwurm

Like Cornish, Russwurm was an abolitionist. However, the men differed in their ideas on colonization.

Russwurm was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica in 1799 to a slave and English merchant. At the age of eight, Russwurm was sent to live in Quebec. Five years later, Russwurm’s father moved him to Portland, Maine where his father remarried. Russwurm attended the Hebron Academy and taught at an all black school in Boston. In 1824, he enrolled in Bowdoin College. Following his graduation in 1826, Russwurm became Bowdoin’s first African-American graduate and the third African-American to graduate from an American college.

After moving to New York City in 1827, Russwurm met Cornish. The pair published Freedom’s Journal, a news publication whose aim was to fight against enslavement. However, once Russwurm was appointed senior editor of the journal, he changed the paper’s position on colonization–from negative to advocate of colonization. As a result, Cornish left the newspaper. Two years later, Russwurm resigned and immigrated to Liberia.

From 1830 to 1834, Russwurm worked as the colonial secretary for the American Colonization Society. In addition he edited the Liberia Herald. After resigning from the news publication, Russwurm was appined superintendent of education in Monrovia.

In 1836, Russwurm became the first African-American governor of Maryland in Liberia. He used his position to persuade African-Americans to immigrate to Africa.

Russwurm married Sarah McGill in 1833. The couple had three sons and one daughter. Russwurm died in 1851 in Cape Palmas, Liberia.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/biographies/a/Publishers-Of-Freedoms-Journal.htm

In March of 1931, nine young African-American men ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen were accused of raping two white women. Each were tried, convicted and sentenced in a matter of days. As a result, African-American newspapers published news accounts and editorials of the events of the case. Civil rights organizations followed suit, raising money and providing defense for these young men. However, it would take several years for these young men’s cases to be overturned.

1931

March 25: A group of young African-American and white men engage in a scuffle while riding a freight train. The train is stopped in Paint Rock, Ala and nine African-American teens are arrested for assault. Soon after, two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, charge the young men with rape. The nine young men are taken to Scottsboro, Ala. Both Price and Bates are examined by doctors. By the evening, the local newspaper, Jackson County Sentinel calls the rape a “revolting crime.”

March 30: The nine “Scottsboro Boys” are indicted by a grand jury.

April 6 – 7: Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems, were placed on trial, convicted and given the death sentence.

April 7 – 8: Haywood Patterson meets the same sentence as Norris and Weems.

April 8 – 9: Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams and Andy Wright are also tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

April 9: 13-year-old Roy Wright is also tried. However, his trial ends with a hung jury as 11 jurors want the death sentence and one votes for life in imprisonment.

April through December: Organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as well as the International Labor Defense (ILD) are astonished by the age of the defendants, length of thier trails, and sentences received. These organizations provide support to the nine young men and thier families. The NAACP and IDL also raise money to for appeals.

June 22: Pending an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, the executions of the nine defendants is stayed.

1932

January 5: A letter written from Bates to her boyfriend is uncovered. In the letter, Bates admits she was not raped.

January: The NAACP withdraws from the case after the Scottsboro Boys decide to let the ILD handle their case.

March 24: The Alabama Supreme Court upholds the convictions of seven defendants in a vote of 6-1. Williams is granted a new trial because he was considered a minor when he was originally convicted.

May 27: The United States Supreme Court decides to hear the case.

November 7: In the case of Powell v. Alabama, the Supreme Court ruled that the defendants were denied the right to counsel. This denial was considered a violation of their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The cases are sent to the lower court.

1933

January: Noted attorney Samuel Leibowitz takes the case for the IDL.

March 27: Patterson’s second trial begins in Decatur, Ala before Judge James Horton.

April 6: Bates comes forward as a witness for the defense. She denies being raped and further testifies that she was with Price for the duration of the train ride. During the trial, Dr. Bridges says that Price showed very little physical signs of rape.

April 9: Patterson is found guilty during his second trial. He is sentenced to death by electrocution.

April 18: Judge Horton suspends Patterson’s death sentence after a motion for a new trial. Horton also postpones the trials of the eight other defendants as racial tensions are high in town.

June 22: Patterson’s conviction is set aside by Judge Horton. He is granted a new trial.

October 20: The cases of the nine defendants are moved from Horton’s court to Judge William Callahan.

November 20: The cases of the youngest defendants, Roy Wright and Eugene Williams, are moved to Juvenile Court. The other seven defendants appear in Callahan’s courtroom.

November to December: Patterson and Norris’ cases both end in the death penalty. During both cases, Callahan’s bias is revealed through his omissions–he does not explain to Patterson’s jury how to deliver a not guilty verdit and also does not ask for the mercy of God upon Norris’ soul during his sentencing.

1934

June 12: In his bid for re-election, Horton is defeated.

June 28: In a defense motion for new trials, Leibowitz argues that qualified African-Americans were kept off jury rolls. He also argues that names added on the current rolls were forged. The Alabama Supreme Court denies the defense motion for new trials.

October 1: Lawyers associated with ILD are caught with $1500 bribe that was to be given to Victoria Price.

1935

February 15: Leibowitz appears before the Supreme Court of the United States, describing the lack of African-American presence on juries in Jackson County. He also shows the Supreme Court justices the jury rolls with forged names.

April 1: In the case of Norris v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court decides that the exclusion of African-Americans on jury rolls did not protect African-American defendants of their rights to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The case is overturned and sent to a lower court. However, Patterson’s case is not included in the argument because of filing date technicalities. The Supreme Court suggest that lower courts review Patterson’s case.

December: The defense team is reorganized. The Scottsboro Defense Committee(SDC) is established with Allan Knight Chalmers as chairman. Local attorney, Claren Watts serves as co-counsel.

1936:

January 23: Patterson is retried. He is found guilty and sentenced to 75 years in prison. This sentence was a negotiation between the foreman and the rest of the jury.

January 24: Ozie Powell pulls a knife and slashes a police official’s throat while being transported to Birmingham Jail. Another police official shoots Powell in the head. Both the police official and Powell survive.

December: Lieutenant Governor Thomas Knight, the prosecuting attorney for the case, meets with Leibowitz in New York to come to a compromise.

1937

May:Thomas Knight, a justice on the Alabama Supreme Court, dies.

June 14:Patterson’s conviction is upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court.

July 12 – 16: Norris is sentenced to death during his third trial. As a result of the pressure of the case, Watts becomes sick, causing Leibowitz to steer the defense.

July 20 – 21: Andy Wright’s is convicted and sentenced to 99 years.

July 22 – 23: Charley Weems is convicted and sentenced to 75 years.

July 23 – 24: Ozie Powell’s rape charges are dropped. He pleads guilty to assaulting a police official and is sentenced to 20 years.

July 24: The rape charges against Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams and Roy Wright are dropped.

October 26: The United States Supreme Court decides not to hear the appeal of Patterson.

December 21: Bibb Graves, the governor of Alabama, meets with Chalmers to discuss clemency to the five convicted defendants.

1938:

June: The sentences given to Norris, Andy Wright and Weems are affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court.

July: Norris’ death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment by Governor Graves.

August: A denial of parole is recommended for Patterson and Powell by an Alabama parole board.

October: A denial of parole is also recommended for Norris, Weems, and Andy Wright.

October 29: Graves meets with the convicted defendants to consider parole.

November 15: The pardon applications of all five defendants is denied by Graves.

November 17: Weems is released on parole.

1944

January: Andy Wright and Clarence Norris are released on parole.

September: Wright and Norris leave Alabama. This is considered a violation of their parole. Norris returns to jail in October 1944 and Wright in October 1946.

1946

June: Ozie Powell is released from prison on parole.

September: Norris receives parole.

1948

July:Patterson escapes from prison and travels to Detroit.

1950

June 9: Andy Wright is released on parole and finds a job in New York.

June: Patterson is caught and arrested by the FBI in Detroit. However, G. Mennen Williams, governor of Michigan does not extradite Patterson to Alabama. Alabama does not continue its attempts to return Patterson to prison.

December: Patterson is charged with murder after a fight in a bar.

1951

September: Patterson is sentenced t

1952

August: Patterson dies of cancer while serving time in prison.

1959

August: Roy Wright dies

1976

October: George Wallace, governor of Alabama, pardons Clarence Norris.

1977

July 12: Victoria Price sues NBC for defamation and invasion of privacy after its broadcast of Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys airs. Her claim, however, is dismissed.

1989

January 23: Clarence Norris dies. He is the last surviving Scottsboro Boys.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/timelines/a/Timeline-Of-Scottsboro-Boys.htm

The Negro Baseball Leagues were professional leagues in the United States for players of African descent. At its height of popularity–from 1920 through World War II, Negro Baseball Leagues were an important part of African-American life and culture during the Jim Crow Era.

There were many factors that led to the success of the Negro Baseball League. Local
African-American newspapers published stories about games and its players. In addition, the
Great Migration provided population growth in Northern, Midwestern and Western cities that set the stage for the National Negro League to become lucrative.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2013/03/31/negro-baseball-leagues.htm