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 April 28:
| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1936 |  Lint Shaw, a 45-year-old Black farmer, was seized and shot to death by a mob of 40 white men in Colbert, Georgia, just eight hours before he was scheduled to stand trial on allegations of attempting to assault two white women (a common accusation of the Jim Crow era, frequently lodged on spurious or nonexistent grounds). No one was ever prosecuted for his murder. Learn more. | |
| 1941 |  In Mitchell v. United States, a case brought by and co-argued by Congressman Arthur Mitchell (the first African American elected to Congress from Illinois as a Democrat), the United States Supreme Court unanimously rules that African Americans are entitled to equal passenger accommodations on the nation’s railroads. As later described by Congressman Mitchell, his legal victory was a “step in the destruction of Mr. Jim Crow himself.” Learn more about Congressman Mitchell and about Mitchell v. United States, here and here. | |
| 1971 |  United States Navy officer Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. is promoter to rear admiral, the first African American to become a flag officer. Previously, he was the first African American in the U.S. Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer, the first to command a Navy ship, and the first fleet commander. He retired with the rank of vice admiral. Learn more. | |
| 1983 |  Alice Walker’s 1982 epistolary novel, The Color Purple, wins the 1983 National Book Award for Fiction. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was later adapted into a film and a musical for the stage. Learn more. |
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