October Black History Calendar
- Oct 1, 1940
Charles Drew named supervisor of the “Plasma for Great Britain” project.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 2, 1986
President Ronald Reagan appoints Edward J. Perkins ambassador to South Africa.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 3, 1956
Nat King Cole becomes first Black performer to host his own TV show.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 4, 1864
First Black daily newspaper, The New Orleans Tribune, founded.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 5, 1872
Booker T. Washington enters Hampton Institute, Virginia.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 6, 1917
Political activist Fannie Lou Hamer born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 7, 1934
Playwright-poet Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), author of Blues People: Negro Music in White America and The Motion of History, born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 8, 1941
Rev. Jesse Jackson born in Greenville, South Carolina.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 9, 1888
O.B. Clare patents Trestle.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 10, 1899
Isaac R. Johnson patents bicycle frame.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 11, 1887
Granville T. Woods patents telephone system and apparatus.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 12, 1904
Physician, author, educator W. Montague Cobb born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 13, 1579
Martin de Porres , the first Black saint in the Roman Catholic Church, born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 14, 1964
At age 35, Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes youngest man ever to win Nobel Peace Prize.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 15, 1991
Clarence Thomas confirmed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the second African American to serve on the court.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 16, 1995
Million Man March held in Washington, D.C.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 17, 1888
Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C., first bank for blacks, organized.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 18, 1948
Playwright Ntozake Shange , author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, is born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 19, 1943
Paul Robeson opens in Othello at the Shubert Theater in New York City. The show runs for 296 consecutive performances.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 20, 1898
The first African American-owned insurance company, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, founded.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 21, 1917
Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pioneer of “bebop” jazz, born.
Read on BlackPast - Oct 22, 1953
Clarence S. Green becomes first African American certified in neurological surgery.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 23, 1947
The NAACP petitions the United States on racial conditions in the U.S.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 24, 1980
U.S. District Judge Patrick Higginbotham rules that Republic National is guilty of discrimination against African Americans and women.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 25, 1992
Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston becomes first African American to manage a team to the World Series.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 26, 1911
Mahalia Jackson gospel singer, born.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 27, 1954
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes first African American general in U.S. Air Force.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 28, 1981
Edward M. McIntyre elected first African American mayor of Augusta, Georgia.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 29, 1949
Alonzo G. Moron becomes first African American president of Hampton Institute, Virginia..
Search Library of Congress - Oct 30, 1979
Richard Arrington elected first African American mayor of Birmingham, Alabama.
Search Library of Congress - Oct 31, 1896
Actress, singer Ethel Waters born.
Search Library of Congress