Black Hoosiers through the years

Black History Month began as Negro History Week in February 1926 as a way to encourage people to learn more about black history, according to the Library of Congress website.

In 1976, the celebration was expanded to a full month.

Every year since then, February has been officially celebrated as Black History Month.

1895
Marcellus Neal earns a degree in mathematics as IU’s first black graduate. Preston Eagleson works to integrate IU sports by playing football in the 1893, 1894 and 1895 seasons.

1896
Plessy v. Ferguson establishes “separate but equal” status for African-Americans.

1919
Frances Elizabeth Marshall is IU’s first black female graduate. She graduates with a degree in English.

1911
Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha chapter is chartered at IU as the first historically black fraternity on campus.

1925
Black students protest to have equal access to the Student Building dining area at IU.

1926
The first Negro History Week is celebrated nationally.

1946
The IU campus chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is formed.

1947
Jackie Robinson works to integrate baseball at IU.

1947
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Gamma Eta chapter becomes the second historically black fraternity at IU. Omega Psi Phi, Zeta Epsilon chapter is founded as the third black fraternity. Delta Sigma Theta, Gamma Nu chapter is founded as the first historically black sorority at IU.
 
1948
IU forward Bill Garrett becomes the first African-American to play Big Ten Basketball.

1949
IU All-American tailback George Taliaferro becomes the first African-American to play quarterback in pro football with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference.

1951
Richard Johnson is the first black tenured faculty member.

1954
Brown v. Board of Education outlaws segregation in schools.

1960
Thomas Atkins becomes IU’s first black student body president.

1963
Martin Luther King Jr. gives his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.

1965
Malcom X is assassinated in New York.

1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.

1968
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis.

1970
The IU Board of Trustees appoints education professor Herman Hudson as the University’s first Dean of Afro-American Affairs. In the same year, he founded and chaired the new Afro-American Studies Program.

1971
Sigma Gamma Rho, Epsilon Chi chapter is founded as the second historically black sorority at IU.

1972
The Afro-American Studies Program gains department status. Phi Beta Sigma, Epsilon Iota chapter is founded as the fourth black fraternity.

1973
The Black Culture Center is established on North Jordan Avenue. Zeta Phi Beta, Delta Epsilon chapter is founded as the third historically black sorority.

1974
Herman Hudson founds the African-American Arts Institute.

1976
Black History Week is expanded to the full month that is still celebrated each February.

1981
The IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is first proposed.

1983
Denise Jackson is chosen for Athlete of the Year after leading the women’s basketball team to its first Big Ten championship.

1995
Iota Phi Theta fraternity, Gamma Delta chapter is founded as the eighth greek organization in the “Divine Nine” that make up the African-American greek-lettered organizations.

2000
Isiah Thomas, the IU graduate who led the Hoosiers to a national basketball championship in 1981, becomes the full-time coach to the Indiana Pacers.

2001
Mike Davis is IU’s first black head coach for men’s basketball.

2002
The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center opens and is now home to the center, a library, the African-American Arts Institute and Diversity Education.

Nov. 4, 2008
Barack Obama is elected the 44th president of the United States.