May 1 St. Joseph the Worker	Gwendolyn Brooks, 1st African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for "Annie Allen", 1950
May 2	Poor People's March to Washington began 1968.
May 3 St. Philip and James	Ernest N. Morial, first Black Mayor of New Orleans, LA 1978
May 4	Freedom Rides started in protest to segregate bus terminals 1961
May 5	Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, 1st Black Archb. in U.S. Atlanta, GA, 1988 Terry Steib, SVD, installed as Catholic Bishop of Memphis, TN, 1993
May 6	St. Martin De Porres canonized a Saint, Rome, 1962
May 7	Fenton Johnson, one of first Black writers to emphasize awareness b. 1888
May 8 Mother's Day	Brotherhood Sleeping Car Porters founded, 1926
May 9	John Brown, abolitionist b. 1800
May 10	P.B.S. Pinchback, Lieut. Gov. LA Reconstruction b. 1837 Nelson Mandela inaugurated as 1st Black President, South Africa
May 11	William Grant Still, composer b. 1895
May 12	Oscar de Priest III, Congressman elected 1951
May 13	Joe Louis, heavyweight champion, b. AL, 1914
May 14 St. Matthias	Clara Stanton Jones, 1st African American director of the Detroit Public Library and 1st African American president of the ALA, b.St. Louis, MO 1913
May 15	Arthur Ashe chosen U.S. Davis Cup Tennis Team, 1963
May 16 St. Brendan	John Conyers, Jr., Congressman, principal sponsor of 1965 Voting Rights Act and 1983 MLK holiday bill, and founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, b. 1929, Detroit, MI Sammy Davis Jr., actor, dancer, singer and world class entertainer, d. Beverly Hills, CA, 1990
May 17 St. Paschal Baylon	The 1st Kentucky Derby is won by African American jockey Oliver Lewis riding a horse named Aristides, 1875. 14 of the 15 jockeys in the race are African Americans.
May 18	Mary McLeod Bethune d. Daytona Beach, FL, 1955
May 19	Malcolm X, b. 1925 Patricia R. Harris, 1st Black American Ambassador 1965
May 20 St. Bernadine of Siena	P.B.S Pinchback and James J. Harris are the 1st African American delegates to a Republican convention, 1858. They will participate in the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant for President.
May 21	National Black Catholic VI Congress, Wash., DC, 1987 Thomas "Fats" Waller, b. 1904
May 22	Claude McKay, novelist, poet d. 1948 Bernard Shaw, journalist, anchor CNN, b. 1940
May 23	Civil War hero, Sgt. William H. Carney of the 54th Mass. Colored Infantry becomes the 1st African American Congressional Medal of Honor winner, 1900 Florence Mills opened in "Shuffle Along" the 1st all black musical, 1921
May 24	Lincoln U. 1st Black College founded by Presbyterian, PA, 1854
May 25	Lillia Mae Jackson, pioneer Human Rights Champion, b. 1889
May 26 St. Philip Neri	Senate Passes Voting Rights Bill, 1965
May 27 St. Augustine of Canterbury	Dorie Miller awarded Navy Cross for heroism Pearl Harbor, 1942
May 28	Sojourner Truth participates in Women's Rights Convention, 1851
May 29	Buck (John) O'Neil, becomes the 1st African American coach in major-league baseball, 1962
May 30	Countee Cullen, poet, b. 1903 Gale Sayers, youngest player to be elected to the Football Hall of Fame, b. Wichita, KS, 1943
May 31 Pentecost	Josephite became independent American Community, 1893 Shirley Verrett, Mezzo-Soprano, b. New Orleans, LA, 1931

Black History Facts courtesy of the
Josephite Pastoral Center
1200 Varnum Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017
(202) 526-9270
The Josephite Fathers and Brothers





text ©1998-2011 by Rev. Warren J. Savage
Creativity Consultant: Christina Melville thequeenoftheland@verizon.net