blacksinhistory:

1.1996 – Oakland, California- School board becomes the 1st in the nation to recognize black english aka Ebonics as a sepearate language, NOT a dialect or slang.

2.1989 – Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Dickerson wins the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best cinematography for the Spike Lee movie, “Do the Right Thing”.

3.1971 – People United To Save Humanity (PUSH) founded at Chicago meeting by Rev Jesse Jackson.

4.1971 – Spingarn Medal : Leon H. Sullivan
Spingarn Medal presented to Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, founder of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OIC) for his leadership.

5.1963 – Lori McNeil born
Lori McNeil is born in San Diego, California. She will win 42 professional tennis titles.

6.1917 – Ossie Davis was born on this day.
Ossie Davis was born on this day.

7.1912 – Gen Benjamin O Davis is born in Washington, DC

8.1865 – The 13th Amendment.On December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery in the U.S., was ratified.

9.1859 – BLACKS IN UNION NAVY

BLACKS IN UNION NAVY: One out of every four Union sailors was a Black. Of the 118,044 sailors in the Union Navy, 29,511 were Blacks. At least four Black sailors won Congressional Medals of Honor.

10.1859 – South Carolina was declared an “independent commonwealth.” BLACKS IN CONFEDERACY: Confederacy was the first to recognize that Blacks were major factors in the war. South impressed slaves to work in mines, repair railroads and build fortifications, thereby releasing a disproportionately large percentage of able-bodied whites for direct war service. A handful of Blacks enlisted in rebel army, but few, if any, fired guns in anger. Regiment of fourteen hundred free Blacks received official recognition in New Orleans but was not called into service. It later became, by a strange mutation of history, the first Black regiment officially recognized by the Union army. 

11.1859 – BLACKS IN UNION ARMY:
The 185,000 Black soldiers in the Union army were organized into 166 all Black regiments (145 infantry, 7 cavalry, 12 heavy artillery, 1 light artillery, 1 engineer). Largest number of Black soldiers came from Louisiana (24,052), followed by Kentucky (23, 703) and Tennessee (20,133). Pennsylvania contributed more Black soldiers than any other Northern state (8,612). Black soldiers participated in 449 battles, 39 of them major engagements. Sixteen Black soldiers received Congressional Medals of Honor for gallantry in action. Some 37,638 Black soldiers lost their lives during the war. Black soldiers generally received poor equipment and were forced to do a large amount of fatigue duty. Until 1864, Black soldiers (from private to chaplain) received seven dollars a month whereas white soldiers received from thirteen to one hundred dollars a month. In 1863 Black units, with four exceptions (Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers and twenty-ninth Connecticut Volunteers), were officially designated United States Colored Troops (USCT). Since the War Department discouraged applications from Blacks, there were few commissioned officers. The highest ranking of the seventy-five to one hundred Black officers was Lt. Col. Alexander T. Augustana, a surgeon. Some 200,000 Black civilians were employed by Union army as laborers, cooks, teamster and servants. 

12.1852 – George H. White
George H. White, the only African American member of the U.S. House of Representatives, (1896) and the first to introduce an antilynching bill, born. He also founded Whitesboro, N,J, as a haven for African Americans escaping Southern racism.

Just food for thought