Black History Month 2025

1884 1885-1889 1890

21 Chester A. Arthur | 22 Grover Cleveland | 23 Benjamin Harrison

Reconstruction Redemption Jim Crow

1877-1896
Redemption



United States - Whites tired of seeing the progress of Black Americans. This period was the backlash against those gains. It slowly reversed much of the work that was done, after the Slavery War, to protect the newly freed.

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January 8, 1886
Noble Drew Ali Born



North Carolina - Noble Drew Ali was born Timothy Drew.

Ali founded the Moorish Science Temple of America. In 1913, Ali founded the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey. Later, the Temple relocated to Chicago. There, Ali converted thousands.

Noble Drew Ali died July 20th, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois.

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May 9-10, 1886
Corporations Got Civil Rights



Washington, D. C. - The United States Supreme Court gave civil rights to corporations. The case was Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886). This decision made a legal fiction (corporation) equal to a United States citizen.

Civil Rights protections were meant for Black Americans. It was meant to unite the nation after the Slavery War. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments do not use 'corporation.'

The Fourteenth Amendment used 'persons' in its text. The Supreme Court decided 'persons' included corporations. This gave corporations protection under the U. S. Constitution. The decision was unanimous.

Black citizens can be hurt and jailed, but not corporations. The United States Supreme Court made no distinction. Corporations had all the benefits of law, without all the risk.

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June 7, 1886
First Black Professional Baseball League



Atlanta, Georgia - The name of the first Black American baseball league was the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists. The Georgia Champions’ won against the Memphis Eclipse. The score was 11-10.

The league only lasted one year. But, it was not the last. The next year, the National Colored Base Ball League began in 1887. The leagues were formed due to racial exclusion laws in the United States.

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November 23, 1887
The Thibodaux Massacre



Thibodaux, Louisiana - Whites murdered 60 Black American farm workers. They tried to unionize for better pay from whites. In response, whites shot to death the leaders, allies, and other Black Americans just for being there.

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