On March 2, 1807, the U.S. Congress passes an act to
“prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or
place within the jurisdiction of the United States,
from any foreign kingdom, place, or country.” It
would go into effect at the start of the following
year.
Hattie McDaniel and Clark Gable from Gone with the Wind.
On February 29, 1940, Gone with the Wind was honored with
eight Oscars by the American Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences.
An epic Southern romance set during the hard times of the
Civil War, the movie swept the prestigious Best Picture,
Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Film
Editing, and Actress categories.
However, the most momentous award that night undoubtedly
went to Hattie McDaniel for her portrayal of “Mammy,” a
housemaid and former enslaved woman. McDaniel, who
won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, was the
first African American actress or actor ever to be honored
with an Oscar.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1895, McDaniel demonstrated
her talents as a singer and actress while growing up in
Denver, Colorado.
She left school while a teenager to become a performer in
several traveling minstrel groups and in 1924 became one
of the first African American women to sing on U.S. radio.
With the onset of the Great Depression, she was forced to
take work as a ladies’ washroom attendant in a Milwaukee
club.
The club, which hired only white performers, eventually
made an exception and let her sing, and she performed
there for a year before setting her sights on Hollywood.
On August 26, 1951, McDaniel suffered a stroke,
complicated by diabetes and a heart ailment,
and was admitted to the Temple Hospital in
Los Angeles.
She died of breast cancer on October 26, 1952.
Charlotte E. Ray (January 13, 1850 – January 4, 1911)
As the first woman admitted to practice law in the District of
Columbia and the first African-American woman certified
as a lawyer in the United States, civil and women’s rights
activist and teacher Charlotte E. Ray truly earned her place
in history.
She made extraordinary contributions to the advancement
of women, she was a legal pioneer.
Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827 – 1901)
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi,
was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African
American ever to sit in Congress.
During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister,
helped form African American army regiments for the Union
cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a
chaplain for the Union army.
Posted to Mississippi, Revels remained in the former
Confederate state after the war and entered into
Reconstruction-era Southern politics.
CHICAGO (TNND) — Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a prominent
civil rights leader who worked closely with Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. and continued his work after his death,
died Tuesday.
