January 18
Yanga Establishes Free Black Settlement in Mexico
Gaspar Yanga, believed to be of royal Gabonese descent, escaped slavery and led a maroon community of freedom seekers in the highlands near Veracruz, Mexico for over 30 years. After defeating a Spanish military expedition sent to destroy them in 1609, Yanga negotiated a treaty that formally recognized the free town of San Lorenzo de los Negros in 1618—one of the first officially recognized free Black settlements in the Americas.
Daniel Hale Williams Performs Open Heart Surgery
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, born on January 18, 1856, was a pioneering African American surgeon who performed one of the first successful open heart surgeries in 1893 at Provident Hospital in Chicago, which he founded as the first non-segregated hospital in America.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams Born
Born January 18, 1856, Daniel Hale Williams became one of the first physicians to perform successful open-heart surgery. He also founded Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States.
Birth of Daniel Hale Williams
Daniel Hale Williams, a pioneering African American surgeon, is born.