KRLemmons African American History

October 26 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 26           *

1868 – White terrorists kill several African Americans in St.
Bernard Parish, near New Orleans, Louisiana.

1868 – B.F. Randolph, state senator and chairman of the state
Republican party, is assassinated in broad daylight at
Hodges Depot in Abbeville, South Carolina.

1911 – Mahalia Jackson is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Known
as the “Gospel Queen,” Jackson will become instrumental
in the popularization of gospel music and songs.
Jackson’s traditional gospel audiences transcended
beyond African American churchgoers through her
recordings, radio performances and concert tours in
America and abroad. Her recordings will sell millions of
copies. She will join the ancestors on January 27, 1972.

1919 – Edward William Brooke III is born in Washington, DC.
After serving in World War II and obtaining a law degree
from Boston University, he will be elected attorney
general of the State of Massachusetts and serve a term
of four years before being elected to the United States
Senate as a Republican in 1966, the first African
American Senator elected since Reconstruction. In the
Senate, Brooke will oppose President Nixon’s policies in
Southeast Asia, advocate low-income housing, and oppose
quotas to meet affirmative action goals.  Among his
awards will be the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in 1967.

1921 – Solomon Porter Hood is named minister to Liberia.

1934 – At a New York City conference, representatives of the
NAACP and the American Fund for Public Service plan a
coordinated legal campaign against segregation and
discrimination.  Charles H. Houston, Vice-dean of the
Howard University Law School, is named director of the
NAACP legal campaign.

1950 – Walter E. “Chuck” Foreman is born in Frederick, Maryland.
He will become a star running back for the Minnesota
Vikings.  He will be NFC Rookie of the Year in 1973 and
NFC Player of the Year in 1974 and 1976.  He will also
play in losing efforts in Super Bowls VIII, IX, and XI.

1951 – William Collins is born in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He will
become a rhythm and blues performer and bandleader known
as “Bootsy” Collins.   He will form his first group, the
Pacesetters, in 1968.  From 1969 to 1971, the group will
function as James Brown’s backup band and will be dubbed
the JB’s. In 1972, Bootsy will join George Clinton’s
Parliament/Funkadelic. He will launch Bootsy’s Rubber
Band as a spin-off of P-Funk in 1976.  He will record
with Warner Brothers from 1976 through 1982.  After a
six year hiatus, he will sign with Columbia Records in
1988 and actively record into the 1990s.

1951 – Joe Louis is defeated by Rocky Marciano in the eighth
round in a bout at Madison Square Garden.

1962 – Louise Beavers, who starred in more than 100 films,
including “Imitation of Life”, “The Jackie Robinson
Story”, and “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”,
joins the ancestors in Los Angeles, California.

1970 – Following 3 1/2 years of forced isolation from boxing,
Muhammad Ali returns to the ring and beats Jerry Quarry
in Atlanta, Georgia.

1976 – Trinidad & Tobago becomes a republic.

1977 – Dr. Clifford R. Wharton Jr. is named chancellor of the
State University of New York.

1980 – Ten African American Roman Catholic bishops issue a
pastoral letter asserting that “the Church must seize
the initiative to ‘share the gift of our blackness with
the Church in the United States.'”
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry

KRLemmons African American History

October 25 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 25           *

1806 – Benjamin Banneker joins the ancestors at the age of 74
in Ellicott Mills, Maryland.  Banneker was a self-
taught mathematician and builder (at age 21) of the
first striking clock built in the United States.  An
amateur astronomer, Banneker’s calculations for solar
and lunar eclipses appeared in 29 editions of his
almanacs, published from 1792 to 1797.

1915 – Attorney James L. Curtis is named minister to Liberia.

1926 – Crisis magazine, led by editor W.E.B. DuBois, awards its
first prizes in literature and art.  Among the winners
will be Arna Bontemps’ poem “Nocturne at Bethesda,”
Countee Cullen’s poem “Thoughts in a Zoo,” Aaron
Douglas’ painting “African Chief” and a portrait by
Hale Woodruff.

1940 – The Committee on the Participation of Negroes in the
National Defense Program met with President Roosevelt.

1940 – The National Newspaper Publishers Association is
founded.

1940 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to Dr. Louis T. Wright
for his civil rights leadership and his contributions
as a surgeon.

1940 – Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr. is promoted to Brigadier
General, the first African American to attain that rank
in the United States Army or any other branch of the
Armed Forces.

1958 – Ten thousand students, led by Jackie Robinson, Harry
Belfonte and A. Phillip Randolph, participate in the
Youth March for integrated schools in Washington, DC.

1958 – Daisy Bates, head of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP,
and the nine students who integrated Little Rocks’s
Central High School are awarded the Spingarn Medal for
their courage and leadership in the civil rights
struggle.

1962 – Uganda is admitted as the 110th member of the United
Nations.

1968 – The city of Chicago officially recognizes Jean Baptiste
Pointe du Sable as its first settler.

1973 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian marathoner who won the Olympic
Gold Medal in 1960 and 1964, joins the ancestors at
the age of 46.

1976 – Clarence “Willie” Norris, the last surviving member of
the nine Scottsboro Boys, who were convicted in 1931
of the alleged rape of two white women on a freight
train, is pardoned by Governor George Wallace.  Norris
had spent 15 years in prison and had been a fugitive
fleeing parole in Alabama in 1946.

1983 – Mary Francis Berry, professor of history and law at
Howard University, and two other members of the Civil
Rights Commission are fired by President Ronald Reagan.
Considered a champion of minority concerns on the
Commission, Berry will charge the administration with
attempting to “shut up” criticism. She will later sue
and be reinstated.

1983 – The United States and six other Caribbean nations
invade the island nation of Grenada.

1988 – Two units of the Ku Klux Klan and eleven individuals
are ordered to pay $1 million to African Americans who
were attacked during a brotherhood rally in
predominately white Forsythe County, Georgia.

1990 – Evander Holyfield knocks out James “Buster” Douglas in
the third round of their twelve-round fight to become
the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Holyfield’s record stood at 25-0, with 21 knockouts.

1997 – The Million Woman March, organized by grass root sisters,
led by Sister Phile Chionesu and Sister Asia Coney,
takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The event
is attended by 1.3 million attendees (300,000 to 1
million according to Philadelphia officials).  The MWM
had been promoted by word of mouth and avoided
traditional media and mainstream groups, such as
sororities and many civil rights groups.  Sis. Chionesu
calls the march “a declaration of independence from
ignorance, poverty, enslavement, and all the things
that have happened to us that has helped to bring about
the confusion and disharmony that we experience with
one another.”

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