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Historic Breakthroughs: Milestones for Blacks in the US

Thursday 28 August 2008

by:   |  Visit article original @ The Los Angeles Times

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Photo: Francis Miller / Time Life Pictures)

    Forty-five years to the day after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will formally accept his party's nomination for president. Here are some key landmarks in African American political history:

    1847 Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, launches an abolitionist newspaper called the North Star.

    1857 The U.S. Supreme Court dismisses the appeal for freedom of a Missouri slave named Dred Scott because "Negroes, whether slaves or free, that is, men of the African race, are not citizens of the United States by the Constitution."

    1863 President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, a presidential order that frees slaves in states that were in rebellion against the federal government.

    1866 The Civil Rights Act, which grants full citizenship to those born on U.S. soil (except Indians), is passed.

    1870 Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi is elected as the first African American U.S. senator. That same year, the 15th Amendment, which prohibits states from denying the right to vote because of race, is ratified.

    1909 The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization, is formed by W.E.B. DuBois and others.

    1954 The Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public schools in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., case.

    1963 More than 200,000 people participate on the march on Washington and assemble at the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

    1965 President Lyndon Johnson issues an executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in hiring on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

    1967 Former NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall is the first black justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    1989 L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia is the first African American to be elected as governor of a U.S. state.

    1992 Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois becomes the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

    2001 Colin Powell is the first African American appointed secretary of State.

    2005 Condoleezza Rice becomes the first black woman to serve as secretary of State.

    2008 Barack Obama becomes the first African American presidential nominee of a major party.

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    Source: Times reporting.

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Why is Obama referred to as

 Thu, 08/28/2008 - 17:52 — frank1569 (not verified)
Why is Obama referred to as African American, or as the first "black" candidate for President? Is there some sort of rule that says if one is half-black then he's all black, but if he's half-white he's all black anyway? Does every race trump white? If one is half-Japanese and half-white, is he a Japanese-American? If the situation were reversed - if BO had a white father and black mother and turned out "white," would he still be considered an African American? Most religions insist one is the same religion as the Mother, not the Father - so who decided it's different for race?

He is bi racial. End of

 Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:04 — Anonymous (not verified)
He is bi racial. End of story. My grandson is white american and asian Vietnamese. He is bi racial. Stop trying to parse out how much makes you what.

Why is Obama referred to as

 Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:40 — Tom Camfield (not verified)
Why is Obama referred to as "black," Frank1569 asks. Because no matter what degree of black tinge a person may have, he or she is considered as, and is referred to as, "black" by racists seeking someone to whom to feel superior (by some weird reasoning). Pretty much the same for anyone with a Muslim, Hispanic, Native American or Asian appearance. It's a lot like the Dr. Seuss story about the Star=Bellied Sneeches who felt they were the best on the beaches, superior to bare-bellied Sneeches. Racism makes about as much sense. If Scandinavians had some distinguishing look about the, you can bet they'd also be targets of the lily-white idiots of English, Irish, German, Russian, French, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, Greek or whatever heritage who somehow feel that they the only true Americans.

great observation frank

 Thu, 08/28/2008 - 20:00 — Anonymous (not verified)
great observation frank 1569...these types of subtle(?!) 'spin' (read carrots) are obviously used to pump some kind of enthusiasm back into a political process that is (and mostly always has been) in its bottom line a 'gaming' of the niavete/ignorance/apathy/confusion of mr and mrs. average citizen. having a 'first black candidate' and even 'first black president' window dresses the ole US of A with a fig leaf of 'hope' and 'change' as this type of sh*t has done since the country was founded; as long as the pyramid stays firm(no pun intended) and certain agendas are advanced, what difference does color, or gender, or anything else really make?....so as foghorn leghorn once said, "...eye...ball....eyeball...thats a joke son..". so lets see just how much REAL CHANGE actually takes place, especially the kind that helps the anonymous(and expendable) We The People...and not mr and mrs. 6 digits a year and above...or Mr. Linked-To-The-Military-Industrial-War-Profits-Oil-Drilling-Pharmaceutical-Telcom-Spy-Media Giant-Speculate-To-Masterbate-Death-Machine-No-Bid-Torture-Unitary-Executive-Fundamentalistically-'Religious'-Privatized-One-World-Corporation. its just a new face on a very very old $/power trip; the whole earth as a company town/plantation. btw, i do like obama.

I imagine that if Dr. King

 Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:45 — EDGEOFNOWHERE (not verified)
I imagine that if Dr. King were alive to attend this convention, he would call for an immediate end to the war and a huge reduction in military spending, not to mention a revocation of the "Patriot" Act. He would probably hang out with the likes of Dennis Kucinich, not Obama.

having attended the rules

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 13:34 — Joan Lipkin (not verified)
having attended the rules and by laws committe in dc as well as the democratic convention in denver, i am convinced that the great Dr King would have been in an ethical dilemma over where to throw his support but that like many wonderful African American leaders, including John Lewis, Stephanie Tubbs Jone snd Maya Angelou, he would have ulimtaely supported Hillary Clinton. he would have recognized that Hillary and bill Clinton have worked to advance the cause of poor people and people of color for years. And as a dedicated practicioner of non violence, he would not have condoned the thuggish tactics that Obama and the DNC used to secure the nomination: this included unchecked sexism, swamping the caucuses illegally, stripping of votes in Michigan and Florida, threatening Clinton delegates in Denver and denying an open and honest roll call. If anything, he would have called to a halt to this, broken with some of his supporters and said, not this way. He would have had the courage to ask Obama to stop, where no one else has been able to. Sadly, we will never know. But as a student of Dr King, and a sad witness to what has transpired, i believe he would have done the right thing.

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