This Week In Black History

November 3, 1981 – Thirman L. Milner elected mayor of Hartford, CT, becoming first black mayor in New England.

November 4, 1879 – Thomas Elkins patents refrigeration apparatus.

November 5, 1968 – Shirley Chisolm of Brooklyn, NY, becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress.

November 6, 1901 – James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson compose “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, widely regarded as the black national anthem.

November 7, 1989 – L. Douglas Wilder is elected governor of Virginia, becoming the nation’s first black governor since the Reconstruction.

November 8, 1938 – Crystal Bird Faucet is elected state representative in Pennsylvania, becoming the first black woman to serve in a state legislature.

November 9, 1731 – Mathematician, urban planner and inventor Benjamin Banneker born.