Today In Black History On January 23rd

2 Posted by William Frazier - January 23, 2016 - January, LATEST POSTS, Today In Black History

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams founded Provident Hospital (January 23, 1891) in Chicago, Illinois. The school was founded based on the unfair treatment to people of color, which also led him to open Provident Hospital School of Nursing. Dr. Williams became inspired to open the Nursing school after Emma Reynolds was denied admission to schools based on her color.
Richard Wright wins Spingarn Medal (January 23, 1941) for authoring the novel, “Native Son.” The success of the book led to an Orson Welles directed Broadway play that garnered favorable reviews. Possibly due to the unfairness he faced in American society, he decided to become a permanent resident of France. He isn’t the first writer of his time to become an American expatriate, and his books from that point on continued to have the same edge as before.
The Army Nurse Corps dropped their color bar (January 23, 1945) due to tremendous pressure from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. Now that nurses of all races were able to be admitted, it was a big win for the organization and an even bigger win for women across America.
Demonstrations took place at the University of Chicago (January 23, 1962) based on unfair treatment to minority students. Off-campus housing under the school’s guidelines were operated as segregated apartment houses. At the time, one of the little-known students by the name of Bernie Sanders was leading one of the many sit-ins against segregation. He would go on to become a huge political name, and is currently in the running to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
The 24th Amendment was ratified (January 23, 1964), which destroyed a loophole that was used to keep African Americans from voting. By getting rid of poll tax, politicians were able to get away with denying equal rights to people of all races. It would serve as one of many loopholes to get plugged up over the years concerning voting.