Calendar

July 1, 1889 - Frederick Douglass named U.S. Minister to Haiti.

July 2, 1872 - Elijah McCoy patents his first self-lubricating locomotive engine. The quality of his inventions helped coin the phrase "The Real McCoy".

July 3, 1688 - The Quakers in Germantown, Pa., make the first formal protest against slavery.

July 4, 1900 - Trumpeter Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, jazz pioneer, born.

July 5, 1892 - Andrew J. Beard patents rotary engine.

July 6, 1957 - Althea Gibson wins women's singles title at Wimbledon, becoming first African American to win tennis's most prestigious award.

July 7, 1948 - Cleveland Indians sign pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige.

July 8, 1943 - Faye Wattleton, first African American director of Planned Parenthood, born.

July 9, 1893 - Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs first successful open-heart operation.

July 10, 1875 - Educator Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, born.

July 11, 1905 - W.E.B. Dubois and William Monroe Trotter organize the Niagara Movement, which demanded abolition of all race distinctions.

July 12, 1949 - Frederick M. Jones patents air-conditioning unit used in food transportation vehicles.

July 13, 1965 - Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American appointed U.S. Solicitor General.

July 14, 1955 - George Washington Carver Monument, first national park honoring an African American, is dedicated in Joplin, Mo.

July 15, 1867 - Maggie Lena Walker, first woman and first African American to become president of a bank.

July 16, 1862 - Anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells Barnett born.

July 17, 1953 - Jesse D. Locker appointed U.S. Ambassador to Liberia

July 18, 1939 - Saxophonist Coleman Hawkins records "Body and Soul" one of the classics of jazz.

July 19, 1925 - Paris debut of Josephine Baker, entertainer, activist and humanitarian.

July 20, 1950 - First U.S. victory in Korea won by Black troops of the 24th Infantry Regiment.

July 21, 1896 - Mary Church Terrell elected first president of the National Association of Colored Women.

July 22, 1939 - Jane M. Bolin of New York City, appointed first African American female judge.

July 23, 1778 - More than 700 Blacks participate in Battle of Monmouth (NJ).

July 24, 1807 - Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge, born in New York City.

July 25, 1916 - Garrett Morgan, inventor of the gas mask, rescues six people from gas-filled tunnel in Cleveland, Ohio.

July 26, 1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues Executive Order 9981, ending segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

July 27, 1880 - Alexander P. Ashbourne patents process for refining coconut oil.

July 28, 1868 - 14th Amendment granting Blacks full citizenship rights, becomes part of the Constitution.

July 29, 1895 - First National Conference of Colored Women Convention is held in Boston.

July 30, 1822 - James Varick becomes first bishop of African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

July 31, 1874 - Patrick Francis Healy inaugurated as president of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.