KRLemmons African American History

January 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 2 *

1800 – Members of the Free Black Commission of Philadelphia petitions
Congress to abolish slavery.

1831 – The “Liberator” is published for the first time. An abolitionist
newspaper, it is started by William Lloyd Garrison.

1837 – The first National Negro Congress is held in Washington, DC.

1872 – The Mississippi legislature meets and elects John R. Lynch as the
Speaker of the House, at the age of twenty-four.

1898 – Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander is born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She will become the first African American to
earn a Ph.D. in economics. She will join the ancestors on
November 1, 1989.

1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt shuts down the U.S. Post Office in
Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to accept its appointed
postmistress because she is an African American.

1915 – John Hope Franklin is born in Rentlesville, Oklahoma. He will
become a scholar and historian most famous for his book “From
Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans,” which will
sell over two million copies. He will join the ancestors on
March 25, 2009.

1947 – Calvin Hill is born in the Turner Station neighborhood in
Dundalk, Maryland. He will be a running back with a 12 year
National Football League career from 1969 to 1981. He played for
the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns.
He will be named to the Pro Bowl team 4 times (1969, 1972, 1973
and 1974). He will be the father of NBA star Grant Hill.

1957 – Sugar Ray Robinson is defeated by Gene Fullmer for the world
middleweight boxing title.

1963 – Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “That’s The Way Love Is” is released by
Duke Records.

1965 – The Selma, Alabama voter registration drive begins, led by the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a major effort to get
African American voters registered to vote in Alabama.

1970 – Clifton Reginald Wharton, Jr. becomes the first African American
president of Michigan State University and the first African
American president of a major American university in the
twentieth century.

1970 – Dr. Benjamin E. Mays is named the first African American
president of the Atlanta, Georgia Board of Education.

1977 – Erroll Garner, pianist and composer, joins the ancestors in Los
Angeles, California. He was considered the best-selling jazz
pianist in the world, most famous for the jazz standard “Misty.”

1977 – Ellis Wilson joins the ancestors. An artist known for his
striking paintings of African Americans, his work had been
exhibited at the New York World’s Fair of 1939, the Harmon
Foundation, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Among his
best-known works are “Funeral Procession,” “Field Workers,” and
“To Market.”

1980 – Larry Williams, rhythm and blues singer best known for “Bony
Maronie”), joins the ancestors. He is found dead with a
gunshot wound to the head at the age of 45.

1981 – David Lynch, singer with The Platters, joins the ancestors at the
age of 76.

1984 – W. Wilson Goode, the son of a sharecropper, is sworn in as the
first African American mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC,
becoming the first African American woman to head a city of
Washington’s size and prominence.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 1 *

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* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #7 – Imani (ee-MAH-nee) Faith: To believe with all our hearts *
* in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people and the *
* righteousness and victory of our struggle. *
* http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/ *
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1788 – The Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves.

1804 – Haiti achieves independence from France.

1808 – The slave trade is outlawed in the United States. This stopped
the legal importation of African slaves, but did not stop
domestic trading in slaves.

1831 – William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of “The
Liberator” in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper will become
a major influence in the movement to abolish slavery in the
United States.

1856 – Bridget “Biddy” Mason and her children are granted their freedom
by the California courts. After gaining her freedom, she will
move to Los Angeles, where she will become a major landowner and
be known for her philanthropy to the poor.

1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring freedom for slaves living in the states that joined
the rebellion that will become known as the Civil War.

1900 – The British protectorates of Northern & Southern Nigeria are
established.

1916 – The first issue of the “Journal of Negro History” is published
with Carter G. Woodson as editor.

1956 – Sudan becomes independent.

1959 – Chad becomes an autonomous republic within the French Community.

1960 – Cameroon gains independence from France.

1962 – Rwanda is granted internal self-government by Belgium.

1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland is dissolved.

1973 – The West African Economic Community is formed with Benin, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Upper Volta as
members.

1986 – Aruba becomes an independent part of Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as first African American mayor of
New York City.

2005 – Shirley Chisholm, an advocate for minority rights who became the
first African American woman elected to Congress and later the
first African American to seek a major party’s nomination for
the U.S. presidency, joins the ancestors at the age of 80. The
Rev. Jesse Jackson calls her a “woman of great courage.”

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