This Week In Black History

April 14, 1775

First abolitionist society in U.S. is founded in Philadelphia.

April 15, 1964

Sidney Poitier becomes first Black to win Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field.

April 16, 1862

Slavery abolished in the District of Columbia.

April 17, 1983

Alice Walker wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Color Purple.

April 18, 1864

More than 200 Black Union troops massacred by Confederate forces at Ft. Pillow, Tennessee.

April 19, 1972

Stationed in Germany, Major Gen. Frederic E. Davidson becomes first Black to lead an army division.

April 20, 1894

Dr. Lloyd A. Hall, pioneering food chemist, born.