December
This Month in Black History

December 1847
Frederick Douglass began publishing the North Star, his antislavery newspaper.

December 1938
The Supreme Court decided the case Missouri ex rel. Gaines vs Canada and ruled that states must provide equal educational facilities for blacks. Lloyd Gaines whose complaint sparked the case disappeared shortly after the decision. The reason for his disappearance remains a mystery.

December 1941
Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. Dorie Miller who was serving on the USS West Virginia in Hawaii received the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the attack.

December 1950
Ralph Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

December 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Click to listen to his Nobel lecture.

December 1976
Andrew Young was named US Ambassador to the United Nations.

December 2009
President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Click to listen to his Nobel speech.