1862 |
President Abraham Lincoln is the first president to meet with a group of black leaders |
1864 |
The Republican National Convention makes the abolition of slavery a plank in its platform |
1868 |
Oscar J. Dunn becomes Lieutenant Governor in Louisiana
P.B.S Pinchback and James J. Harris become the first African-American delegates to the Republican National Convention, held in Chicago |
1870 |
Hiram R. Revels is elected to fill U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Jefferson Davis
Joseph H. Rainey, South Carolina, becomes the first African-American Congressman
Alonzo J. Ransier is elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina before being elected to the U.S. Congress in '72 |
1871 |
Robert B. Elliot chairs South Carolina delegation to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia |
1872 |
John R. Lynch is elected Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives; he will be elected to US Congress in 73 |
1875 |
Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi becomes the first African-American elected to a full term in US Senate |
1884 |
John R. Lynch is the first African-American to preside over the Republican National Convention; gives the keynote address |
1901 |
President Theordore Roosevelt invites Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House |
1920 |
The Republican National Convention declares that African-Americans must be admitted to all state and district conventions |
1954 |
President Dwight Eisenhower appoints J. Ernest Wilkins as Assistant Secretary of Labor |
1960 |
Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player, endorses Nixon for President |
1966 |
Edward W. Brooke (R-MA) is the first African-American elected to U.S. Senate by popular vote |
1968 |
Arthur A Fletcher is appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor; he will be a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee in '76 and appointed Chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights in '90 |
1975 |
President Gerald Ford appoints William T. Coleman Secretary of Transportation
James B. Parsons is named Chief Judge of the US District Court in Chicago, the first African-American to hold such a position |
1980 |
NAACP President Benjamin Hooks is invited to address the Republican National Convention |
1981 |
President Ronald Reagan appoints Clarence Pendleton, Jr, as Chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission |
1982 |
President Reagan appoints Clarence Thomas as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
1989 |
President George H.W. Bush appoints Louis Sullivan as Secretary of Health and Human Services
President Bush appoints General Colin L. Powell as Chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff
President Bush appoints Condolezza Rice as Director of the National Security Council |
1990 |
Gary Franks is elected to US Congress (CT) |
1991 |
President Bush appoints Clarence Thomas to U.S. Supreme Court |
1998 |
U.S. House of Representatives elects J.C. Watts (R-OK) to be Chairman of the House Republican Conference |
2001 |
President George W. Bush appoints General Colin L. Powell as the Secretary of State; Roderick R. Paige as the Secretary of Education; Condoleezza Rice as Advisor of the National Security Council; Alphonso Jackson as the Deputy Secretary to Housing and Urban Development; Claude Alien as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services; Leo S. Mackay, Jr, as the Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Larry D. Thompson as the Deputy Attorney General; and Stephen A. Perry as Adminstrator of General Services Adminstration. |
