This Day in History: 2017-04-15
In the Year 1807 “Freed Muslim Remains in America” – Yarrow Marmout, an African slave of the Muslim faith, was set free in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, where he lived for the
rest of his life. Marmout was an early shareholder in the Columbia
bank, which is the second chartered bank in the U.S. Today portraits
of Marmout hang in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the
Georgetown Public Library. In 1927, nearly 175 years after his arrival
to the U.S. as a slave, a descendant of his daughter-in-law’s family,
Robert Turner Ford, graduated from Harvard University.
May 12, 1902 - "Joe Gans Becomes World's First African-American Boxing Champion" Joe Gans defeated Frank Erne to become the world's first African-American
to win World Championship in any weight class. He became a world champion a full six years before famed boxer Jack Johnson. This is because Johnson's attempts at challenging for the heavyweight title were thwarted as James J. Jeffries refused to face him. Gans and Johnson were two early champions in a sport dominated by African-Americans throughout the 20th century.