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This Day in History

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.

Election Day: An American Holiday, An American History

Claude Barnett (1889-1967), Journalist and Publisher

Founded the Associated Negro Press, the first international news agency for black newspapers
Advocated against segregation in the military and the segregation of the blood supply

Claude Barnett was born in Sanford, Florida. His parents were domestic workers, and their marriage didn’t last. While still a baby, Barnett moved with his mother to Oak Park, Illinois so they could live near his maternal grandmother.

As a child, Barnett worked when he could to help ends meet. When he graduated from high school he was admitted to the Tuskegee Institute where he completed his degree in only two years (1904-06). His time at Tuskegee gave him a strong network of alumni and professors, which helped Barnett accomplish what he did personally and professionally. Barnett also took quickly to the principles espoused by the school’s founder, Booker T. Washington (1856-1915): moderation, respectability, vocational training, capitalism, and taking responsibility for oneself.

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