Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for March 11:
| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1895 |  The 2-day “New Orleans Dockworkers Massacre,” an attack against black, non-union dockworkers by unionized white workers begins. The mob killed six black workers. The incident had its roots in both economic pressure and racial hatred. The men killed in the massacre were Henry James, Jules Calise Carrebe, Leonard Mallard, William Campbell, and two unknown men. Learn more. | |
| 1911 |  Civil rights activist, attorney, judge, and the first black American to serve as an Ambassador, Edward Dudley is born in South Boston, VA. Dudley earned a Bachelor’s degree from Johnson C. Smith College in Charlotte, NC in 1932, and a law degree from St. John’s University in New York City in 1941. In 1942 he was appointed to the New York Attorney General’s Office, where he served until he was recruited the following year by Thurgood Marshall, the Chief Legal Counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to become a Special Assistant Counsel. In 1945, Dudley became the Legal Counsel to the Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1948, President Harry Truman sent Dudley to Liberia as U.S. Envoy and Minister, elevating Dudley to the rank of Ambassador in May of 1949. In 1955 Dudley was named a judge in the New York state domestic relations court. Ambassador Dudley was elected to the New York Supreme Court in 1965. Learn more. | |
| 1926 |  American religious leader and pioneering civil rights activist Ralph David Abernathy is born. The son of a successful farmer, Abernathy was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1948 and graduated with a B.S. degree from Alabama State University in 1950. His interest then shifted from mathematics to sociology, and he earned an M.A. degree in the latter from Atlanta University in 1951. That same year Abernathy became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.
Shortly thereafter, Rev. Abernathy met and became Dr. Martin Luther King’s chief aide and closest associate. In 1955–56, King and Abernathy organized a boycott by black citizens of the Montgomery bus system that forced the system’s racial desegregation in 1956. This nonviolent boycott marked the beginning of the civil rights movement of the following two decades. Abernathy and King subsequently co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), respectively serving as secretary-treasurer and president. Learn more. | |
| 1959 | 
Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play, A Raisin in the Sun, premieres on Broadway. It is the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first with a Black director, Mr. Lloyd Richards, and featuring a cast in which all but one character is Black. The production would be nominated for four Tony Awards: Best Play – written by Lorraine Hansberry; produced by Philip Rose, David J. Cogan; Best Actor in Play – Sidney Poitier; Best Actress in a Play – Claudia McNeil; and Best Direction of a Play – Lloyd Richards. Publications such as The Independent and Time Out have listed it among the best plays ever written. Learn more. | |
| 1965 |  While participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches actions in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, ally James Reeb is murdered by white segregationists, dying of head injuries in the hospital two days after being severely beaten (on the evening of March 9, 1965, following the 2nd Selma to Montgomery protest March earlier that day). Reeb was a 38-year old American Unitarian Universalistminister, pastor, and activist during the civil rights movement in Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts. Three men were tried for Reeb's murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. His murder remains officially unsolved. Learn more. |
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