Black History Knowledge — September 24

What happened on this day. These are the September 24 moments in Black history worth knowing, remembering, and passing on.

1957 — Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne to Little Rock

On September 24, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to enforce school desegregation. Addressing the nation that evening, he became the first president since Reconstruction to use federal troops to protect Black citizens’ rights.

1968 — The Studio Museum in Harlem opens

On September 24, 1968, the Studio Museum in Harlem celebrated its opening in a rented loft on Fifth Avenue and 125th Street. Founded to exhibit and support artists of African descent whom mainstream museums ignored, it became the flagship institution of Black American art.

1969 — The Chicago Eight trial begins

On September 24, 1969, the Chicago Eight conspiracy trial opened, with Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale among the defendants charged over the 1968 Democratic Convention protests. When Seale demanded his right to counsel of his choice, Judge Julius Hoffman ordered him bound and gagged in open court, an image that exposed American justice to the world.

2016 — The National Museum of African American History and Culture opens

On September 24, 2016, President Barack Obama dedicated the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall, ringing the opening bell with ninety-nine-year-old Ruth Bonner, daughter of a man born enslaved. A century after Black veterans first proposed it, the nation’s front yard finally held the full Black American story.