Episode

On this date in 1783 Birchtown, Nova Scotia was established.  This was one of the largest free Black settlements in North America in the 18th century. 

*On this date in 1950, the Population Registration Act No 30 of 1950 began in South Africa; the beginning of South African Apartheid. 

This law required people to be identified and registered from birth as one of four distinct racial groups: White, Colored, Bantu (Black African), and other. It was one of the 'pillars' of Apartheid. Race was reflected in the individual's Identity Number. 

*On this date in 2008, The NAACP selected Benjamin Todd Jealous as its president. 

The Oxford University-educated activist is the youngest president to lead the nation's oldest Civil Rights organization.  Jealous, 35, was chosen by the group's 64-member board after a yearlong search and was introduced at the group's national headquarters in Baltimore.

Barack Obama takes oath

*On this date in 2009 the first African American became president of the United States of America.

Obama in Texas

On this date in 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois won the Democratic presidential nomination.

This historic step made him the nation's first black president candidate. Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton and set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a 46-year-old opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.