Black - African American History Facts

Augusta Savage, famed sculptor and art instructor, was born near Jacksonville, FL, on this date in 1892. Savage was very influential in the "Harlem Renaissance."

Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender, Chicago's first black newspaper, died on this date in 1940.

Actress Hattie McDaniel won an "Oscar" for her role as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind, on this date in 1940. McDaniel was the first black woman to win this award.

Autherine Juanita Lucy, the first black student at the University of Alabama, was expelled on this date in 1956 following a riot that occurred three weeks earlier at the school. Whites were upset by her admittance.

The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission), on this date in 1968, stated that white racism was the cause of the riots (rebellions) in American cites and that America was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal."