Sources

General Assembly of the United Nations adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

President Truman issues Executive Order 9808, establishing the President’s Committee on Civil Rights to propose measures to strengthen and protect the civil rights.

Billie Holiday records “Strange Fruit”-a haunting song describing lynching. The song increases public recognition of lynching as racist terror.

Thurgood Marshall heads the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) legal defense efforts and works tireless to end segregation.

Oscar DePriest (Illinois Republican) begins term in House of Representatives. He is the last black to serve in the House until the election of William Dawson in 1943.

Grant wins re-election against a Democratic/liberal Republican opponent.

The fifteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, securing the right to vote for black adult males.

Under the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541, a colonial assembly was required to secure the King’s permission unto any colonial statutes and laws.