Black History Through the Decades Event: The 1980’s

Hello hello hello everyone! Welcome to the fourth day of our Black History Through the Decades event! Thank you for joining us as we travel through the decades. Today, we will be discussing the 80’s! Below is a timeline of just a few of the many important Black history events in the United States in the 1980’s.

Let’s begin with…

January 1980
Robert L. Johnson, an American entrepreneur, launched the Black Entertainment Television (BET) channel. In this time there were very few shows and music videos that featured Black actors/performers so BET targeted the Black community through a variety of different entertainment styles.

1982
After Reverend Benjamin Chavis (who once was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and his congregation blocked a toxic waste dump in North Carolina, Chavis coined the term environmental racism, a concept that described environmental injustice that occurs within a racialized context, and due to his efforts, a national campaign was launched against environmental racism. Four years later Chavis conducted and published thelandmark study “Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites.”

December 1982
Michael Jackson, a dominant figure in pop music, released “Thriller” which went on to become the best selling album in music history.

August 1983
Guion S. Bludford, Jr. became the first African American astronaut to travel to space.

November 1983
Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday became an official federal holiday after Ronald Reagan signed a bill. While establishing the holiday, Reagan told the country, "This year marks the first observance of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a national holiday. It is a time for rejoicing and reflecting. We rejoice because, in his short life, Dr. King, by his preaching, his example, and his leadership, helped to move us closer to the ideals on which America was founded."

October 1985
Gwendolyn Brooks became the first Black person to be named a U.S. Poet Laureate. Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1950.

September 1986
Oprah Winfrey launched her groundbreaking talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” becoming the first African American woman to host a television show.

1988
Jesse Jackson ran for the Democrat’s Party’s presidential nomination for the second time (his first run was in 1984). Although he was unsuccessful, his presidential campaigns paved the path for Barack Obama to eventually become the first Black U.S. President two decades later.

October 1989
Colin Powell, a retired four star general, was the first Black person to be named chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the past, Powel was also the first Black person to be a national security advisor during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

Thank you for reading! Now here are some questions to answer!

-Out of all of the events from the 80's you have read about, which one do you find most interesting? Why?

-Do you feel the events from the 80's helped pave the way to how everything is run today? Why or why not?

-Are there any important Black history events from the 80's not mentioned that you would like to share with us?

Thank you so much for reading and participating in today’s event post! To see more posts in this event, please click here, to join our YPOC taglist please click here, and to check out the lovely Self-Harm Recovery community, please click here!

Sources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post–civil_rights_era_in_African-American_history https://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2012/01/african-american-history-in-80s.html?m=1https://www.thoughtco.com/african-american-history-timeline-1980-1989-45446