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Black History Month Timeline

Cavalier One
Cavalier One • 24 February 2023 • User blog:Cavalier One
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1939: Ethel Waters makes history by being the first Black performer to host their own television show.
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1040: Hattie McDaniel become the first African-American to win an Academy Award.
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1948: Amanda Randolph becomes the first African-American actress to have a regular role on U.S. television.
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1950: Hazel Scott hosts her own television show.
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1956: Nat King Cole becomes the first African-American to host a television show that airs nationally across the U.S.
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1960: Harry Belafonte becomes the first Black performer to win a Primetime Emmy Award.
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1962: Ethel Waters makes history again by being nominated for an Emmy Award for the television show Route 66.
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1963: Cicely Tyson becomes the first African-American actress to start in a television drama in the show East Side/West Side.
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1966: Nichelle Nichols becomes one of the most prominent Black actresses of a generation in the role of Nyota Uhura on Star Trek.
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1967: Earth Kitt takes on the role of Catwoman in the Batman television series.
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1968: Dianhann Carroll becomes the first African-American woman to appear in a television series in a non-stereotypical role.
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1969: Della Reese hosts her own talk show.
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1970: Gail Fisher wins multiple awards for her role in the television series Mannix.
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1971: Flip Wilson hosts The Flip Wilson Show and becomes television's first Black superstar.
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1974: Teresa Graves is cast in the lead role in the television series Get Christie Love!
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1975: The Jeffersons begins airing with a predominantly Black cast and one of the most prominent interracial married couples on television.
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1977: Roots airs ushering in a turning point for Black stories on U.S. television.
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1977: Black Vulcan becomes the first Black superhero on television when he joins the Super Friends.
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1978: Max Robinson is the first Black anchor of a news network show.
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1979: Robert Guillaume wins an Emmy for his role in Benson.
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1980: Black Entertainment Network (BET) launches, focusing on programming for Black audiences.
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1981: Isabel Sanford wins Emmy Awards for her role as Louise Mills on The Jeffersons.
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1982: Debbie Allen becomes the first Black choreographer to win an Emmy Award.
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1983: Vanessa Williams is crowned as the first Black Miss America.
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1986: Oprah Winfrey launches The Oprah Winfrey Show.
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1987: Jackée Harry becomes the first African-American actress to with the Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy.
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1987: Winifred Hervey is the first African-American to win the Outstanding Comedy Award for The Golden Girls.
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1989: Arsenio Halls is the first African-American to host a late night talk show.
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1990: In Living Color airs, launching multiple careers with its predominantly Black cast.
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1990: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air begins, launching Will Smith to superstardom.
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1991: Thomas Carter becomes the first African-American to win an directing Emmy for an episode of Equal Justice.
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1991: James Earl Jones is the first African-American to win the Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy Award for Heat Wave.
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1992: Martin airs, launching Martin Lawerence to stardom.
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1996 to 2006: UPN ushers in a golden age of Black sitcoms.
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1997: Laurence Fishburne becomes the first Black producer to win the Outstanding Made for Television Movie Emmy for Miss Evers' Boys.
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1997: Chris Rock wins two Emmys for his special, Chris Rock: Bring the Pain, becoming the first Black writer to do so in the Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program category.
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David Mills wins the Oustanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special with The Corner.
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2001: The Proud Family begins airing on Disney.
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2002: Whoopi Goldberg wins an Emmy and becomes the first African-American to attain the EGOT (Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony) award sweep.
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2002: Halle Berry becomes the first African-American to win the Best Actress Award for Monster's Ball.
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2002: Larry Wilmore becomes the first Black writer to win the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
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2005: Shonda Rhimes becomes the first Black female creator of a network show with the launch of Grey's Anatomy.
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2011: Oprah Winfrey launches her own television network, named OWN.
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2012: Kerry Washington ends a forty-year drought of a Black actress leading a network drama show as Olivia Pope in Scandal.
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2012: James Earl Jones becomes the first African-American to attain the EGOT award sweep with his honorary Academy Award.
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2015: Viola Davis is the first Black actress to win the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for How to Get Away with Murder.
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2016: RuPaul wins the Outstanding Host of a Reality or Reality-Competition Program Emmy.
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2016: Key & Peele win the Emmy for Variety Sketch Series.
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2017: Donald Glover becomes the first Black person to win the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Emmy for Atlanta.
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2017: Lena Waithe becomes the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Best Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None.
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2017: Ava DuVernay became the first Black woman to win Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for 13th.
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2017: Ezra Edelman becomes the first Black director to win the Outstanding Directing for a Nonfiction Program Emmy for the documentary O.J.: Made in America.
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2017: W. Kamua Bell becomes the first Black producer to win the Emmy Award for Unstructured Reality Program for his series United Shades of America.
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2019: Billy Porter becomes the first openly gay Black man to win the Outstanding Leader Actor in a Drama Series Emmy for his role in Pose.
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2017: Sonequa Martin-Green is the first Black lead of a Star Trek show, eventually captaining the USS Discovery.
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