KRLemmons African American History

March 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 28 *

1870 – Jonathan S. Wright becomes the first African American State
Supreme Court Justice in South Carolina.

1925 – Sculptor Ed Wilson is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will
study at the University of Iowa, receive sculpture awards
from the Carnegie Foundation, Howard University and the
State University of New York, and have his work shown at
Two Centuries of Black American Art, and other exhibitions.
Among his major works will be “Cybele.”

1939 – The Renaissance (Big 5) becomes the first African American
team on record to win a professional world championship
(basketball).

1958 – William Christopher (W.C.) Handy joins the ancestors in New
York City at the age of 85. In the same year, the movie of
his life, “St. Louis Blues” is released, starring Nat King
Cole as Handy.

1966 – Bill Russell is named head coach of the Boston Celtics and
becomes the first African American to coach an NBA team.

1984 – Educator and civil rights activist Benjamin Mays joins the
ancestors in Atlanta, Georgia. Mays had served as dean of
the School of Religion at Howard University and president of
Morehouse College, where he served as the mentor to the
young Martin Luther King, Jr.

1990 – Michael Jordan scores 69 points in a NBA game. This the 4th
time he scores 60 points or more in a game.

1990 – President Bush posthumously awards the Congressional Gold
Medal to Jesse Owens and presents it to his widow ten years
after he joins the ancestors. In 1936, Jesse Owens won four
Olympic Track and Field gold medals in a single day in
Berlin. The 1936 Berlin Olympics, the last Olympic Games
before the outbreak of WWII, were hosted by the Nazi
Germans, who intended the event as a showcase of their
racist theories of the superiority of the “Aryan” race.
But a 23-year-old African-American named Jesse Owens
shattered their plans, along with several world records,
when he dashed to victory in the 100-meter and 200-meter
sprints, anchored the victorious 400-meter relay team, and
won the broad jump. President George Bush adds the
Congressional Gold Medal to Owens’s collection. Congress had
voted the award in recognition of Owens’s humanitarian
contributions. After his athletic career, he had devoted
his energy and his name to organizations providing
opportunities to underprivileged youth.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 27 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 27 *

1867 – African American demonstrators in Charleston, South Carolina
stage ride-ins on streetcars. On May 1, the Charleston City
Railway Company will adopt a resolution guaranteeing the right
of all persons to ride in streetcars.

1872 – Cleveland Luca, a musician, member of the famous musical Luca
Family Quartet and composer of the Liberian National Anthem,
joins the ancestors in Liberia.

1924 – Sarah Vaughan is born in Newark, New Jersey. On a dare, she
will enter a 1943 amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre in
Harlem and be hired by Earl “Fatha” Hines as a result of her
performance. She will begin recording in 1945, be considered
one of the finest jazz vocalists, and earn the nickname “The
Divine One.” She will join the ancestors on April 3, 1990.

1934 – Arthur Mitchell is born in New York City. The first male
recipient of the dance award from the High School of
Performing Arts in 1951, he will be the first African American
dancer to become a principal artist in the New York City
Ballet Company and will found the highly influential Dance
Theatre of Harlem in 1969.

1969 – The Black Academy of Arts and Letters is founded at a meeting
in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, professor of
religion and sociology at Union Theological Seminary, is
elected president of the organization.

1972 – Fleeta Drumgo and John Cluchette are acquitted by an all-white
jury of the murder of a white guard at Soledad prison. George
Jackson, the third “Soledad Brother,” is killed in the alleged
escape attempt.

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