Hello and Welcome to Did You Know #1.

Did you know:

• 1876

First African American to earn a doctorate degree: Edward Alexander Bouchet (Yale College Ph.D., physics; also first African American to graduate from Yale, 1874)

• 1885

First African-American woman to hold a patent: Sarah E. Goode, for the cabinet bed, Chicago, Illinois

• 1901

First African American invited to dine at the White House: Booker T. Washington

Washington in 1901 was the first African-American ever invited to the White House as the guest of President Theodore Roosevelt.

• 1903

First Broadway musical written by African Americans, and the first to star African Americans: In Dahomey

First woman to found and become president of a bank: Maggie L. Walker, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank (since 1930 the Consolidated Bank & Trust Company), Richmond, Virginia

• 1926

First African-American woman to receive a degree (Ph.D.) from Yale University: Otelia Cromwell, who had previously been the first African-American graduate of Smith College.

· 1950

First African-American star of a network television show: Ethel Waters, Beulah

· 1956

First African-American male star of a network television show: Nat King Cole, The Nat King Cole Show

• 1960

First African-American US presidential candidate: Rev. Clennon King, on the Independent Afro-American party

• 1990

First elected African-American governor: Douglas Wilder (Democrat; Virginia)

• 1917

First African-American woman to win a major sports title: Lucy Diggs Slowe, American Tennis Association

• 1956

First African-American Wimbledon tennis champion: Althea Gibson (doubles, with Englishwoman Angela Buxton); also first African American to win a Grand Slam event (French Open).

· 2009

Disney is adding its first African-American princess to the Disney Princess franchise.
"USA Today" reports Princess Tiana is slated to make her big screen debut later this year in the animated musical "The Princess and the Frog."
She will be the first princess introduced by Disney since 1998's Mulan

Tags: Black History Month

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