Day: October 11, 2012

Today in Black History – October 11          *

1864 – Slavery is abolished in Maryland.

1865 – Jamaican national hero, Paul Bogle leads a successful
        protest march to the Morant Bay Courthouse.  Poverty and
        injustice in Jamaican society and lack of public
        confidence in the central authority had urged Paul Bogle
        to lead the march.  A violent confrontation with official
        forces will follow the march, resulting in the death of
        nearly 500 people.  Many others will be flogged and
        punished before order is restored.  Paul Bogle will be
        captured and hanged on October 24, 1865.  His forceful
        demonstration will pave the way for the establishment of
        just practices in the courts and bring about a change in
        official attitude, making possible the social and economic
        betterment of the Jamaican people.

1882 – Robert Nathaniel Dett, is born in Ontario, Canada.  He will
        become an acclaimed concert pianist, composer, arranger,
        and choral conductor.  He will receive his musical
        education at the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory in
        Lockport, NY, Oberlin College (BM, 1908, composition and
        piano), and the Eastman School of Music (MM, 1938).  He
        will become President of the National Association of Negro
        Musicians from 1924-1926.  His teaching tenures will
        include Lane College in Tennessee, Lincoln Institute in
        Missouri, Bennett College in North Carolina, and Hampton
        Institute in Virginia.  It will be at Hampton Institute
        that he develops the choral ensembles which will receive
        international acclaim and recognition. He will join the
        ancestors on October 2, 1943, in Battle Creek, Michigan,
        after succumbing to congestive heart failure.

1887 – A. Miles registers a patent on an elevator.

1919 – Arthur “Art” Blakey is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
        Blakey, a jazz drummer credited as one of the creators of
        bebop, will be best known as the founder of the Jazz
        Messengers. The band will become a proving ground for some
        of the best modern jazz musicians, including Horace Silver,
        Hank Mobely, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins,
        Wynton Marsalis, and Branford Marsalis. He will join the
        ancestors on October 16, 1990.

1939 – Coleman Hawkins records his famous “Body and Soul” in New
        York City.

1939 – The NAACP organizes the Education and Legal Defense Fund.

1972 – A major prison uprising occurs at the Washington, DC jail.

1976 – The United Nations Day of Solidarity with South Africa is
        declared by the membership of the United Nations.  A
        special day of solidarity is observed with the numerous
        political prisoners who are being held in South Africa.

1980 – Billie Thomas joins the ancestors after a heart attack in
        Los Angeles, California at the age of 49. He was an actor,
        most notable as the third child to portray Buckwheat in
        the Our Gang comedies, a role he played in some 80
        episodes of the popular film series.

1985 – President Reagan bans the importation of South African gold
        coins known as Krugerrands.

1991 – Redd Foxx (John Elroy Sanford), comedian (Sanford & Sons,
        Harlem Nights), joins the ancestors at the age of 68.

1994 – U.S. troops in Haiti take over the National Palace.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry