This Week In Black History October 2 – 8, 2024

CARL STOKES OCTOBER 2 1800—Nat Turner is born on this day in South Hampton, Va. The spiritually inspired Turner would organize and carry out one of the deadliest slave revolts in Ameri­can history. His rebellion led to the deaths of 57 Whites including men, women and children. 1937—Famed attorney John­nie Cochran is born on this day in Shreveport, La. He was the lead-at­torney in the 1995 murder trial which resulted in the not guilty verdict for football legend O.J. Simpson. In ad­dition to Simpson, Cochran was in­volved in several other high profile cases. He died on March 29, 2005 at the age of 67. 1967—Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first Black justice on the United States Supreme Court. President Lyndon Johnson had nominated him in part because of his distinguished career in the NAACP fighting to desegregate American institutions. Marshall had been the lead attorney in the histor­ic Brown v. Board of Education case which led to the desegregation of the nation’s schools. 1986—The U.S. Senate imposes economic sanctions on the then White minority government in South Africa. The sanctions were imposed only after the Senate over­rode a veto of the measure by Pres­ident Ronald Reagan. Reagan had...