April 2008
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
     1 Dr. Charles Drew, developer of blood plasma, dies in 1950.  2 Toussaint L’Overture, Haitian leader, commands French forces at St. Doming, 1796.  3 Carter G. Woodson, “Father of Black History”, dies in 1950.  4 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, 1968.  5 Booker T. Washington is born a slave in Virginia, 1856.
 6 In 1909, Matthew Henson, American Explorer, reaches the North Pole.  7 Nine Whites are killed during a Slave Revolt in New York City, 1712.  8 Baseball great Hank Aaron sets new home run record, 1974.  9 The Civil Rights Act is passed by Congress in 1866.  10 Richard Allen is made Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816.  11 Spellman College is founded in 1881.  12 The Free African Society is organized in Philadelphia, 1787.
 13 In 1964, Sidney Poitier wins the Academy Award for “Best Actor”.  14 The 1st Abolitionist Society is organized in Philadelphia, 1775. In 1897, Elizabeth Wright and Jessie Dorsey opens the Denmark Industrial School, which later becomes Vorhees College.  15 James Webster Smith of Columbia becomes the first African American to enter West Point, 1870.  16 The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is organized in Raleigh, 1960. South Carolina native Irene Trowell-Harris becomes the 1st female African American General in the 357-year history of the National Guard.  17 Reverend Ralph Abernathy dies in 1990. In 1758, Francis Williams, 1st African American College graduate, publishes a book of poems in Latin.  18 Alex Haley wins the Pulitzer Prize for Roots, 1977.  19 Cheney State College, one of the oldest Black colleges in the U.S., is founded in 1837.
 20 Harriet Tubman begins work on the Underground Railroad, 1853.  21 Private Milton L. Olive becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor(Posthumously) during the Vietnam War in 1966.  22 Charles Mingus, pianist and band leader, is born in 1922.  23 Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American lawyer in the U.S. and the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia, 1872.  24 The United Negro College Fund is established in 1944.  25 Ella Fitzgerald, singer, is born in Virginia, 1917.  26 William “Count Basie,” jazz pianist and composer dies in 1984.
 27 Coretta Scott King, activist, is born in Alabama, 1927.  28 Samuel L. Gravely becomes the first African American Admiral in the U.S. Navy, 1971.  29 “Duke” Ellington, musician and composer, is born in Washington, D.C., 1899.  30      

Miller F. Whittaker Library, SC State University            300 College Street, Orangeburg, SC 29117      Reference 803-536-8640