This Week In Black History November 6 – 12, 2024

NOVEMBER 6 & 1858—Samuel E. Cornish dies. Along with John Russwurm, he established the first Black-owned and operated newspaper in Amer­ica—“Freedom’s Journal.” The newspaper’s famous motto was “We wish to plead our cause.” 1860—Abraham Lincoln is elect­ed the 16th president of the Unit­ed States. His opposition to the expansion of slavery prompted slave-owning states to succeed from the union which brought about the Civil War. Lincoln’s opposition to slavery was more pragmatic than moral signified by his famous phrase—“A nation cannot exist half-slave and half-free.” 1900—James Weldon Johnson composes “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing.” The song becomes the “Black National Anthem.” In 1920, Johnson becomes the first Black head of the NAACP. NOVEMBER 7 1837—Elijah P. Lovejoy, one of the White heroes of Black history, is killed by a pro-slavery mob while defending his anti-slavery newspa­per in Alton, Illinois. 1841—The “Slave Revolt On The Creole” occurred when 125 Black slaves overpowered the crew of the slave ship Creole and sailed it to the Bahamas where they were granted freedom and political asy­lum. 1876—The disputed presidential election that changed the course of Black history occurs. The dis­pute led to the Hayes-Tilden Com­promise. In order to be declared president, Republican Rutherford B....