This Week In Black History July 3 – 9, 2024

1957—Althea Gibson becomes the first Black person (male or female) to win the singles championship at Wim­bledon. JULY 3 1775—Prince Hall founds African Lodge Number One—the first Black lodge of Free Masons in the Unit­ed States. Hall would become the pioneer builder of Black Masons in America. He was also a leading voice against slavery and for Black rights in the North. 1962—The first Black man permitted to play Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson, is named to the Baseball Hall of Fame. JULY 4 1922—Samuel L. Gravely is born. Gravely became the first African American admiral in the United States Navy and the first African American to command a U.S. warship. The Rich­mond, Va., native died in 2004 at the age of 82. 1972—College professor and activist Angela Davis is acquitted of charges that she assisted and conspired with the young men involved in a deadly 1970 shootout at the Marin County courthouse in California. The assault on the courthouse was an attempt to free imprisoned Black activist George Jackson. At least three people were killed during the escape attempt. Da­vis, a Birmingham, Ala., native who became a member of the Communist Party, spent 16 months in prison but on...