This 1867 drawing by Alfred Waud, “The First Vote,” depicts Black
men waiting in line to cast ballots in Southern states.

On January 8, 1867, African American men gained the right to vote in the
District of Columbia despite the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The
Republican-controlled senate overrode Johnson by a vote of 29-10
three years before a constitutional amendment granted the right to
vote to all men regardless of race.

As evidenced by his veto, Johnson valued reconciliation with the former Confederacy over racial equality and also opposed the Fourteenth
Amendment, which made freed slaves citizens. His opposition to 
the Republicans’ views on Reconstruction would define his presidency 
and lead to his becoming the first president ever to be impeached.

Though Johnson was unable to stop Congress from granting voting 
rights to the African Americans of D.C., he spent much of his term in 
office vetoing the bills of the so-called Radical Reconstructionist.  

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)

Johnson was the 17th U.S. president,
assumed office after the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln.

ED DANAHUE

On this day in 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery,
AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was
arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the
U.S.      
      
      
    
  
 

    
   
The Cleveland Avenue bus Rosa Parks was riding when she was arrested. (Henry Ford Museum)

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)

John "Pops" Witherspoon (John Weatherspoon)
January 27, 1942 – October 29, 2019)

Witherspoon performed in dozens of television shows and films. He is
best known for his role as Willie Jones in the Friday series. The actor
died suddenly at his home.

After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to
confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In July 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the
Supreme Court, announced his retirement after 34 years. President
George Bush quickly nominated Clarence Thomas, a 43-year-old African
American judge known for his conservative beliefs, to fill the seat. He  
had been chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
during the Reagan administration, and in 1990 Bush had appointed him
to the U.S. Court of Appeals. As the confirmation hearings for Thomas’
Supreme Court nomination got underway, he evaded controversy over
his conservative views on issues such as abortion by refusing to state
a clear political position. He seemed headed for an easy confirmation
until Anita Hill, a former aide, stepped forward and accused him of
sexual harassment.

   
Anita Hill during the confirmation hearings.    
    

Hill is a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s
studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the
university’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
    
    

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas turned 71 in June.

Anita Faye Hill became 63 in July.

Diahann Carroll (Carol Diahann Johnson)
(July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019)

Carroll was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She said the diagnosis
"stunned" her because there was no family history of breast cancer and
she had always had a healthy lifestyle. She underwent nine weeks of
radiation therapy, and was clear since. She died today in Los Angeles.

Her 1968 debut in Julia (NBC) the first series on American television to
star a black woman in a nonstereotypical role, was a milestone both in
her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of a mixed-
race diva in the primetime soap opera Dynasty.

Julia, original release from September 17, 1968 – March 23, 1971