Arthur Wergs Mitchell, the first Black Democrat elected to Congress, died in Petersburg, Virginia, on May 9, 1963.
On May 8, 1915, Henry McNeal Turner, the first Black U.S. Army chaplain, died in Windsor, Ontario.
On May 7, 1943, the SS George Washington Carver was launched.
On May 6, 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls and penalties for obstructing someone's attempt to register to vote.
Influential Black newspaper the Chicago Defender was founded by Robert S. Abbott.
Nickolas Ashford, of the singing/songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, was born in Fairfield, S.C., on May 4, 1941.
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