African-American leaders have been vital to making America strong. We’ll begin this section by celebrating Black History Month (February), and it will then become a continuing ACA section.
Amazing inventions and incredible creativity.
May 17, 2004
First Gay Marriage in U.S.
Last week President Barack Obama came out in favor of gay marriage so it is important to note that only eight years ago this week the first same-sex marriage in the United States took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
May 18, 1896
Ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1896 the Supreme Court struck a major blow against integration, ruling that the Louisiana law that provided “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on railroad cars was constitutional. The ruling provided that long as equal accommodations were provided, segregation was not discrimination. The case was eventually used to justify segregating all public facilities, including railroad cars, restaurants, hospitals, and schools. Not until 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was Plessy v. Ferguson struck down.
African-American leaders have been vital to making America strong. We’ll begin this section by celebrating Black History Month (February), and it will then become a continuing ACA section.
First African-American to Practice Medicine in the U.S.James Derham was born into slavery in Philadelphia. He was owned by three doctors in the area. In one of the households he learned to read and write.
In 1788 he was sold to a prominent surgeon in New Orleans, and the surgeon encouraged Derham to learn medicine. He showed great aptitude at helping others, and he also quickly learned the art of surgery.
He either paid for or was given his freedom (reports vary) and was permitted to practice among the freemen and slaves of New Orleans. He was popular for his medical knowledge but also his fluency in speaking French, English, and Spanish. He would have been a godsend to African-Americans who would not have been allowed to visit a white doctor.
Dr. Benjamin
Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a well-respected physician of the day, visited New Orleans and was introduced to James Derham. He is quoted as saying about Derham: “I conversed with him on medicine and surgery and found him learned. I thought I could give him information concerning the treatment of disease, but I learned more from him than he could expect from me.” (From the Journal of the National Medical Association, Volume 4, No.1.)
Though James Derham’s skills were well-known and his practice flourished, New Orleans passed regulations in 1801 that prevented him from practicing medicine since he had no formal medical degree.
He disappeared after 1802.
What a loss.

From physician Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1833-1895) and businessman Reginald Lewis (1942-1993) to cartoonist Jackie Ormes (1911-1986) and architect Paul R. Williams (1894-1980), Black History Month has provided an opportunity to take a look at 21 fascinating individuals who succeeded against all odds.
One of Southern California’s signature architects.
• One of the first African-Americans to own land in Los Angeles
• Smart businesswoman who donated generously
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born in 1818.

“Almost totally missing from the traditional history of the American West is the role of the Black cowboy as well as other Black pioneers who traveled through and settled during the nineteenth century in the vast territory west of the Mississippi,” writes Bennie J. McRae, Jr. in a1996 book, Lest We Forget. McRae notes that though history books and Hollywood manage to expunge blacks from the record, of the estimated 35,000 cowboys that worked the ranches and rode the trails between five and nine thousand (about one-third) were said to have been African-American.
Ormes’ comic strips were syndicated in black newspapers in the 1930s and ‘40s, making her the only nationally syndicated black woman cartoonist until the 1990s.