Reflecting On Courage And Change: Black History Events From October 15–21

October 15 - In 1859, white abolitionist John Brown led a violent revolt in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to inspire an uprising among enslaved Black people. Though dozens of whites were killed, the rebellion was swiftly suppressed. President Abraham Lincoln called Brown a “misguided fanatic,” yet his unyielding hatred of slavery made him a lasting symbol of resistance. In 1887, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1885, a devastating blow that ushered in the Jim Crow era and stripped Black Americans of hard-won rights gained after Reconstruction. On this same date in 1991, Clarence Thomas was confirmed as the 106th associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, a controversial milestone that continues to spark debate within the Black community. October 16 - Born in 1849, George Washington Williams became the nation’s first recognized Black historian and later served in Ohio’s legislature. In 1855, John Mercer Langston became Clerk of Brownhelm Township, likely the first African American elected to public office. And in 1895, Black physicians founded the National Medical Association in Atlanta to advocate for racial equity in healthcare.