November 23 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 23 *

1867 – The Louisiana constitutional convention (forty-nine
white delegates and forty-nine African American
delegates) meets in Mechanics Institute in New
Orleans, Louisiana.

1897 – J.L. Love receives a patent for the pencil sharpener.

1897 – Andrew J. Beard receives a patent for the “jerry
coupler,” still is use today to connect railroad
cars.

1905 – Henry Watson Furness, an Indiana physician, is named
minister to Haiti. He will be the last African
American minister to Haiti during this period in
history.

1934 – “Imitation of Life” premieres in New York City.
Starring Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, and Fredi
Washington, it is the story of a white woman and an
African American woman who build a pancake business
while the latter’s daughter makes a desperate attempt
to pass for white.

1965 – Mike Garrett, a University of Southern California
running back with 4,876 total yards and 3,221 yards
rushing, is announced as the Downtown Athletic Club’s
Heisman Trophy winner of 1965. He is the University of
Southern California’s first Heisman Trophy winner. He
will go on to play eight years in the pros, first with
the Kansas City Chiefs and later with the San Diego
Chargers, and be elected to the National Football Hall
of Fame in 1985.

1980 – One thousand persons from twenty five states gather in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and form the National Black
Independent Party.

1988 – Al Raby, the civil rights leader who convinced Martin
Luther King, Jr. to bring his movement to Chicago,
joins the ancestors succumbing to a heart attack.

1988 – South African President Pieter Botha gives a reprieve
to the Sharpeville Six.

1991 – Evander Holyfield retains the heavyweight boxing title,
by KO over Bert Cooper in the seventh round.

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