We’ve still got a month left of historical milestones!
While December allows us to shift our focus to the holidays and preparing for the new year, there are a lot more things to commemorate during the final month of the Gregorian calendar year. From celebrity birthdays and transitions to historical firsts, there are a lot of things that happened this month over the last four centuries. In our latest recap, here are some important things that happened in December that you never learned, courtesy of BlackFacts.com:
December 17, 1663 – Anna Nzinga, Queen of the Ndongo (Angola), queen of Matamba, passes away
December 5, 1784 – Phyllis Wheatley, the first Black author to be published in book form, passes away
December 4, 1807 – Prince Hall, abolitionist and creator of the Prince Hall Freemasonry, dies
December 3, 1847 – Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney launch The North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper
December 6, 1849 – Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
December 8, 1850 – Lucy Ann Stanton makes history as the first woman to graduate from college
December 16, 1859 – The last slave ship, the Clothilde, lands, bringing a shipment of enslaved people to Mobile Bay, Alabama
December 23, 1867 – Beauty entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker is born in Delta, Louisiana
December 5, 1870 – Cowboy Bill Pickett born is born in Travis County, Texas
December 11, 1872 – P.B.S. Pinchback makes history as the first African American governor of an American state, Louisiana
December 19, 1875 – Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, is born
December 15, 1883 – William Hinton, developer of Hinton Test for diagnosing syphilis, is born
December 21, 1886 – Lucy Parsons’ “I Am An Anarchist” speech appears in the Kansas City Journal
December 2, 1891 – Historian Charles H. Wesley is born
December 7, 1895 – Sir Milton Margai, the first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone is born
December 12, 1899 – Dr. George F. Grant, a dentist, inventor, and avid golfer receives the patent for a wooden golf tee
December 13, 1903 – Civil rights activist Ella Baker is born in Norfolk, Virginia
December 8, 1903 – Opera singer and philanthropist Zelma Watson George is born in Texas
December 25, 1907 – Jazz singer Cab Calloway is born
December 26, 1908 – Jack Johnson makes history as the first Black world heavyweight champion
December 12, 1911 – Negro Baseball League player Josh Gibson is born
December 4, 1915 – The Great Migration of 2 million Blacks from Southern states to the North begins
December 18, 1917 – Actor Ossie Davis is born
December 29, 1917 – Tom Bradley, the former five-term Mayor of Los Angeles, is born
December 12, 1918 – Jazz singer Joe Williams is born
December 25, 1918 – Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, former President of Egypt, is born
December 9, 1919 – Roy DeCarava, first Black photographer to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, is born
December 23, 1919 – Inventor Alice H. Parker receives patent for gas heating furnace
December 14, 1920 – Popular Bebop trumpeter Clark Terry is born
December 9, 1922 – Comedian John Elroy Sanford, also known as Redd Foxx, is born
December 13, 1923 – Larry Doby, first African American in baseball’s American League, is born
December 19, 1924 – Actress Cicely Tyson is born
December 26, 1924 – Harmonica player DeFord Bailey Sr. makes history as the first Black person to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee
December 8, 1925 – Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. is born
December 11, 1926 – Blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton is born
December 11, 1928 – Inventor Lewis Howard Latimer, passes away
December 30, 1928 – Guitarist Bo Diddley is born
December 15, 1929 – Emery Barnes, Former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, is born
December 5, 1931 – Rev. James Cleveland, aka “The King of Gospel,” is born
December 5, 1932 – Singer Little Richard is born
December 1, 1933 – 3x Grammy Award winning singer Louis Allen Rawls is born
December 8, 1933 – Actor and Comedian Clerow “Flip” Wilson is born
December 3, 1935 – Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune receives Spingarn Medal for her work in building and founding Bethune Cookman College
December 5, 1935 – Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune founds National Council of Negro Women
December 8, 1936 – NAACP files first suit to equalize salaries of Black and white teachers
December 8, 1936 – The Michigan Chronicle is founded by Louis E. Martin
December 15, 1936 – Writer Donald Goines is born in Detroit, Michigan
December 9, 1938 – NFL Player David “Deacon” Jones is born in Eatonville, Florida
December 14, 1939 – Ernie Davis, first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy, is born
December 27, 1939 – Actor John Amos is born
December 1, 1940 – Comedian Richard Franklin Lennox Pryor III is born in Peoria, Illinois
December 12, 1940 – 3x Grammy award winning singer Dionne Warwick is born
December 7, 1941 – Novelist Richard Wright is awarded the Spingarn Medal
December 7, 1941 – Lester Granger is appointed as executive director of the National Urban League
December 7, 1942 – Reginald F. Lewis, the first Black American to build a billion-dollar business, is born
December 22, 1943 – W.E.B. Du Bois makes history as the first Black person elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters
December 13, 1944 – First group of Black women complete officer training for the WAVES (Women’s Auxiliary Volunteers for Emergency Service)
December 14, 1945 – American journalist and cultural critic Stanley Crouch is born
December 5, 1946 – Spingarn Medal awarded to Thurgood Marshall, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
December 18, 1946 – South African apartheid activist Steve Biko is born
December 21, 1948 – Actor Samuel L. Jackson is born
December 31, 1948 – Singer Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, is born
December 1, 1949 – Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke is born
December 6, 1949 – Blues legend Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, passes away
December 25, 1951 – Mabel K. Staupers receives Spingarn for her leadership in the field of nursing
December 28, 1954 – Actor Denzel Washington is born
December 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus
December 5, 1955 – Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
December 5, 1955 – Spingarn Medal awarded to Carl Murphy, publisher of the Baltimore Afro-American
December 27, 1956 – Jackie Robinson receives Spingarn Medal
December 5, 1957 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is awarded the Spingarn Medal for his leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 21, 1959 – Track legend Florence Griffith Joyner is born
December 21, 1959 – Spingarn Medal presented to Duke Ellington for his pioneering contributions to the arts
December 24, 1959 – Film producer and director Lee Daniels is born
December 22, 1960 – Iconic artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is born
December 30, 1960 – Langston Hughes awarded Spingarn Medal and named poet laureate of the Negro race
December 6, 1961 – Psychiatrist and philosopher Dr. Frantz O. Fanon passes away
December 9, 1961 – Tanzania gains its independence
December 11, 1961 – Langston Hughes musical Black Nativity, opens on Broadway
December 17, 1961 – American sculptor Marion Perkins passes away
December 12. 1963 – Medgar Wiley Evers is posthumously awarded the Spingarn Medal for his civil rights leadership
December 12, 1963 – Kenya gains its independence
December 14, 1963 – Singer Dinah Washington passes away in Detroit at the age of 39
December 18, 1963 – Professional tennis player Lori McNeil is born
December 3, 1964 – Spingarn Medal presented to NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins
December 10, 1964 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes history as the second African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize
December 26, 1966 – First Day of Kwanzaa
December 6, 1967 – Lillian Evans Evanti, one of the first internationally recognized African American opera performers, passes away
December 8, 1967 – Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the first Black astronaut, passes away
December 10, 1967 – Singer and songwriter Otis Redding passes away
December 11, 1967 – Comedian Mo’Nique is born
December 14, 1968 – Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. awarded NAACP’s Spingarn Medal
December 2, 1969 – Marie V. Brittan Brown granted patent for first-of-its-kind home security system
December 4, 1969 – Ebony magazine photographer Moneta Sleet Jr. makes history as the first Black man to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize for journalism
December 4, 1969 – Hip Hop mogul Shawn Corey “Jay Z” Carter is born
December 4, 1969 – Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are assassinated in Chicago
December 6, 1970 – Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is born
December 18, 1970 – Rapper Earl “DMX” Simmons is born
December 9, 1971 – Bill Pickett becomes the first black person elected to the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame
December 9, 1971 – Nobel Peace Prize winner and former undersecretary of the United Nations, Ralph Bunche, passes away
December 21, 1972 – Gordon B. Parks is awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal for his work as a photographer
December 4, 1973 – Supermodel Tyra Lynne Banks is born
December 16, 1973 – O.J. Simpson sets NFL Record for 2003 rushing yards in one season
December 11, 1972 – Rapper Yasiin Bey is born
December 2, 1975 – Ohio State football player Archie Griffin makes history as the only athlete ever to win the Heisman Trophy twice
December 12, 1975 – The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is founded
December 30, 1975 – Golf icon Tiger Woods is born
December 9, 1976 – Legendary NFL Player Tony Dorsett is awarded the Heisman Trophy
December 16, 1976 – President Jimmy Carter appoints Andrew Young as Ambassador and Chief US Delegate to the United Nations
December 21, 1976 – Alvin Ailey awarded Spingarn Medal in recognition of his work in the field of dance
December 28, 1978 – Singer John Legend is born
December 20, 1981 – “Dreamgirls” Broadway Musical premiers at the Imperial Theater
December 20, 1983 – NBA player Julius “Dr. J” Erving scores his 25,000th career point
December 31, 1984 – First nationally broadcast telethon for United Negro College Fund is held, raising 14.1 million
December 10, 1985 – Actress Raven-Symoné is born
December 13, 1986 – Civil rights activist Ella Baker passes away
December 1, 1987 – World renowned writer James Baldwin passes away in Saint-Paul, France
December 8, 1987 – Kurt Schmoke makes history as the first Black mayor of Baltimore, MD
December 16, 1988 – Singer and songwriter Sylvester passes away in San Francisco
December 20, 1988 – Max Robinson, first Black news anchor for a major news network, passes away
December 1, 1989 – Dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey passes away
December 17, 1991 – Michael Jordan named 1991 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
December 24, 1992 – Alphonso Michael Epsy named first Black Secretary of Agriculture
December 7, 1994 – Hair care pioneer Marjorie Joyner passes away at the age of 98
December 9, 1995 – Kweisi Mfume is unanimously elected as President and CEO of the NAACP
December 12, 1995 – Willie Brown makes history as first African American mayor of San Francisco
December 6, 1997 – Lee P. Brown makes history as the first African American mayor of Houston
December 3, 2000 – Poet Gwendolyn Brooks passes away
December 12, 2007 – Musician Ike Turner passes away
December 31, 2015 – Singer Natalie Cole passes away
December 30, 2019 – 80-year-old Donzella Washington fulfills lifelong dream of earning bachelor’s degree, graduates from Alabama A&M University
December 4, 2021 – Deion Sanders leads Jackson State to SWAC Championship win
December 5, 2021 – Motown Founder Berry Gordy receives Kennedy Center Honors
Black history is every month!
This month in Black history: Important things that happened in December that you never learned. Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. Photo Courtesy of Doyle M. Pace/Blues News