January 1907

Alain Locke of Philadelphia was selected as a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford University, the first African American to receive the honor, though he faced racial barriers even at Oxford. He would later become the intellectual architect of the Harlem Renaissance.

'The Shoo-Fly Regiment,' written and performed by Bob Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson, opened on Broadway as one of the few all-Black musical productions of the decade, depicting Black soldiers with dignity at a time when such representations were politically charged.

Sol White published 'Sol White's Official Baseball Guide,' the first history of Black baseball, documenting the achievements of Black players before and after the color line and preserving the record of a systematically excluded athletic tradition.

Washington's National Negro Business League grew to 320 chapters across the country by 1907, promoting Black economic self-sufficiency, documenting Black business achievements, and providing a national network for Black entrepreneurs outside of protest politics.

Ernest Hogan, known as the 'Unbleached American' and credited with coining the word 'ragtime,' fell terminally ill in 1907 after pioneering Black musical comedy performance. Though controversial for some song titles, his theatrical innovations were foundational.

Kelly Miller, mathematician and sociologist, became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University, the most prominent historically Black university in America. Miller used his platform to write influential essays mediating between Du Bois's radicalism and Washington's accommodationism, shaping Black intellectual discourse. His tenure helped build Howard into a leading center of Black scholarship.

Following the Brownsville affair and patterns of Southern Black disfranchisement, Black Republican leaders including Reverdy Ransom debated whether Black voters should continue their historic loyalty to the Republican Party, an early signal of the eventual political realignment.

Meta Warrick Fuller, trained under Auguste Rodin in Paris, became one of the first Black American artists to receive critical recognition in Europe and America. Her 1907 sculpture Ethiopia Awakening later became an iconic image of the Harlem Renaissance, portraying a Black woman emerging from Egyptian mummy wrappings as a symbol of racial rebirth. W.E.B. Du Bois championed her as a pioneering artist of Black consciousness.

Scott Joplin moved to New York City, drawn by the city's vibrant music scene and his hope to produce his opera 'Treemonisha,' marking a new chapter in the King of Ragtime's career.

Becomes the first African American Rhodes Scholar; later the "Dean of the Harlem Renaissance."