This Week In Black History – November 23, 2023

November 23, 1897 – A.J. Beard patented the “Jenny Coupler”, still in use today to connect railroad cars. John L. Love patented pencil sharpener.

November 24, 1868 – Pianist Scott Joplin, the “Father of Ragtime”, born.

November 25, 1975 – Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.

November 26, 1970 – Charles Gordone becomes the first black playwright to receive the Pulitzer Prize (for No Place to Be Somebody).

November 27, 1990 – Charles Johnson awarded National Book Award for fiction for Middle Passage.

November 28, 1960 – Novelist Richard Wright dies.

November 29, 1908 – Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall born.