KRLemmons African American History

March 21 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 21 *

1934 – Al Freeman, Jr. is born in San Antonio, Texas. He will become
an actor and will be known for his roles in “One Life to
Live,” “My Sweet Charlie,” “Once Upon A Time When We Were
Colored,” “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” and “Down in The
Delta.”

1946 – The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, the first African
American player to join a National Football League team since
1933.

1949 – The Rens, originally from New York, but now representing
Dayton, Ohio, play their last game against the Denver Nuggets.
Their lifetime record, amassed over 26 years, is 2,318 wins
and 381 losses. Their opponents, the Nuggets, will become
the first NBA team to be owned by African Americans, when
Bertram Lee and Peter Bynoe lead a group of investors that
buys the club in 1989.

1955 – NAACP chairman, author, and civil rights pioneer, Walter White
joins the ancestors in New York City.

1960 – Police in Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, fire on Black South
Africans protesting racial pass laws. A protest strategy
devised by the Pan-African Congress to flood South African
jails with pass violators, the protesters will suffer 72
deaths and over 200 injuries in the two days of violence that
will become known as the “Sharpeville Massacre.” The ANC is
outlawed.

1965 – Thousands of marchers complete the first leg of a five-day
freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, dramatizing
the denial of voting rights for African Americans. Led by
Martin Luther King, Jr., thousands of marchers are protected
by U.S. Army troops and federalized Alabama National
Guardsmen because of violence encountered earlier, including
the fatal beating of a white minister, Reverend James J. Reeb.

1981 – Michael Donald, an African American teen-ager in Mobile,
Alabama, is abducted, tortured and killed in what prosecutors
charge is a Ku Klux Klan plot. A lawsuit brought by the
Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of Donald’s mother,
Beulah Mae Donald, will later result in a landmark $ 7
million judgment that bankrupts The United Klans of America.

1990 – Namibia celebrates independence from South Africa.

1990 – United States Secretary of State James Baker meets Black
nationalist leader Nelson Mandela, in Namibia, on the
occasion of Namibia’s independence.

1991 – Test results released in Los Angeles show that Rodney King,
the motorist whose beating by police was videotaped by a
bystander, had marijuana and alcohol in his system following
his arrest. President Bush denounces King’s beating as
“sickening” and “outrageous.”

2011 – Disco-era singer Loleatta Holloway joins the ancestors at the
age of 64. She’s mainly known for her 1980 hit single “Love
Sensation” which has been resampled over the years by several
high-profile bands.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 20 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 20 *

1852 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by white abolitionist Harriet Beecher
Stowe, is published. The controversial novel will be
credited by many, including Abraham Lincoln, with sparking
the Civil War. Mr. Lincoln will later tell Mrs. Stowe,
that she was “the little woman who wrote the book that
started this great war”.

1852 – Martin R. Delany publishes “The Condition, Elevation,
Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United
States,” the first major statement of the African American
nationalist position. Delany says, “The claims of no people,
according to established policy and usage, are respected by
any nation, until they are presented in a national capacity.”
He adds: “We are a nation within a nation; as the Poles in
Russia, the Hungarians in Austria, the Welsh, Irish, and
Scotch in the British dominions.”

1883 – Jan Matzeliger receives patent #274,207 for his shoe lasting
machine. His invention will revolutionize the shoe industry,
allowing for the first mass production of shoes.

1890 – The Blair Bill, which provides federal support for education
and allocates funds to reduce illiteracy among the freedmen
is defeated in the U.S. Senate, 37-31.

1950 – Dr. Ralph Bunche receives the Nobel Peace Prize for his work
as a mediator in the Palestine crisis. He is the first
African American to be so honored.

1957 – Shelton “Spike” Lee is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will
grow up in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York,
the son of an accomplished jazz bassist and art teacher,
Bill Lee. He will become a motion picture director,
producing many of his own films. His films, among them
“She’s Gotta Have It,” “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle
Fever” explore the social, political, and interpersonal
relationships between African Americans and whites similar
to the early work of director Oscar Micheaux.

1970 – Students strike at the University of Michigan and demand
increased African American enrollment. The strike ends on
April 2, after the administration agrees to meet their
demands.

1973 – Roberto Clemente is elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame, 11
weeks after he joins the ancestors. He becomes the first
person of African descent to be elected to the Hall of Fame
in a special election (before the five-year waiting period).
He also is the first Hispanic to enter the Hall of Fame.

1987 – “Hollywood Shuffle” premieres. The film is directed by,
produced by, and stars Robert Townsend. Townsend also used
his own money to bring his comedic vision to the screen.

2000 – Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H.
Rap Brown, is captured in Alabama. He is wanted in the fatal
shooting of a sheriff’s deputy in Atlanta, Georgia. Al-Amin
will maintain his innocence.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 19 *

1867 – Congressman Thaddeus Stevens calls up resolution providing
for the enforcement of the Second Confiscation Act of July,
1862. The measure, which provides for the distribution of
public and confiscated land to the freedmen, is defeated.

1870 – “O Guarani,” the most celebrated opera by Afro-Brazilian
composer Antonio Carlos Gomes, premiers at the Scala Theater
in Milan, Italy. His enormous musical talent opened the
doors of the Milan Conservatory where he studied under the
guidance of the greatest opera directors of the time. Among
other operas, Gomes produces “Fosca,” “Condor,” and
“O Escravo” (The Slave).

1872 – T.J. Boyd, inventor, awarded patent for apparatus for
detaching horses from carriages.

1937 – The Count Basie Orchestra, with vocalists Billie Holiday and
Jimmy Rushing, opens at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

1939 – The New Negro Theater is founded in Los Angeles, California,
by Langston Hughes. The company stages as its first
performance Hughes’s play, “Don’t You Want to be Free?”

1952 – Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton is posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery during the Korean
War. He joins the ancestors after being killed in action on
June 2, 1951.

1967 – French Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association
with France.

1968 – Students take over the Administration Building at Howard
University demanding resignation of university officials
and a stronger orientation to Black culture in the
curriculum. It is the first of many college protests over
Black Studies programs on African American and white college
campuses across the nation.

1995 – Twenty one months after retiring from basketball, Michael
Jordan returns to professional basketball with his former
team, the Chicago Bulls.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 18 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 18 *

1895 – 200 African Americans leave Savannah, Georgia for Liberia.

1901 – William Henry Johnson is born. The Florence, South Carolina
native will leave his home for New York and Europe, where
he will develop a deliberate and controversial primitive
painting style. Among his more famous works will be “Chain
Gang,” “Calvary,” and “Descent from the Cross.”

1939 – Charley Pride is born in Sledge, Mississippi. Intent on a
career in baseball, he will begin his country music career
in 1960, singing between innings at a company-sponsored
baseball game where he is a player. A recording contract
will follow in 1964 and a debut with the “Grand Ole Opry”
in 1967. Pride will become the first African American to
become a successful country music star. His awards will
include a 1972 Grammy.

1941 – Wilson Pickett is born in Prattville, Alabama. He will become
Rhythm & Blues singer and will begin his career as the lead
tenor with The Falcons (“I Found a Love” – 1962). He will
become a solo artist and release the hits, “Funky Broadway,”
“In the Midnight Hour,” “Land of 1000 Dances,” “Mustang
Sally,” “It’s Too Late,” and “Don’t Knock My Love.” He will
be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He
will join the ancestors on January 19, 2006.

1943 – William Hastie wins the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal. A former
federal judge and law school dean, Hastie, a civilian aide
to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, had resigned his
position earlier in the year over the armed forces’
discriminatory practices.

1959 – Irene Cara is born in New York City. She will become an
actress, singer, and songwriter. She will receive an Academy
Award, two Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, plus numerous
other awards emanating from every aspect of the industry. Her
performance in the ground breaking 1980’s picture Fame (1980)
will catapult her into world wide stardom and motivate a
generation of young people to become involved in the
performing arts.

1963 – Vanessa L. Williams is born in Millwood, New York (Westchester
County). She will become the first African American Miss
America. She will later become a popular singer, major
recording star, and movie actress. She will star in the
Tony Award-winning musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the
mini-series “Odyssey,” and the movies “Eraser,” “Hoodlum,”
“Soul Food,” and “Shut Up and Dance.”

1972 – The USS Jesse L. Brown, the first U.S. naval ship to be named
after an African American naval officer, is launched at
Westwego, Louisiana. Brown was the first African American
pilot in the U.S. Naval Reserve and was the first African
American pilot killed in the Korean War (1950). Editor’s
Note: This was not the first naval vessel named after an
African American. The USS Harmon was named after an enlisted
man, Leonard Roy Harmon, during World War II (1944).

1982 – Singer Teddy Pendergrass is paralyzed as a result of an
automobile accident.

1991 – The Philadelphia ’76ers retire Wilt Chamberlain’s #13 jersey.

1991 – Reggie Miller, of the Indiana Pacers ends his NBA free throw
streak of 52 games.

1992 – Donna Summers gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 17 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 17 *

1806 – Norbert Rillieux is born a free man in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Rillieux will become best known for his revolutionary
improvements in sugar refining methods. Awarded his second
patent for an evaporator, the invention will be widely used
throughout Louisiana and the West Indies, dramatically
increasing and modernizing sugar production.

1865 – Aaron Anderson wins the Navy’s Medal of Honor for his heroic
actions aboard the USS Wyandank during the Civil War.

1886 – A massacre occurs in Carrollton, Mississippi. Twenty African
Americans are killed by white supremacists.

1891 – West Virginia State College is founded in Institute, West
Virginia.

1896 – C.B. Scott receives a patent for the street sweeper.

1898 – Blanche Kelso Bruce joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at
the age of 57.

1912 – Bayard Rustin is born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He will
become a civil rights leader and peace activist. He will join
Martin Luther King Jr. in organizing the bus boycott that will
establish King as a national figure. For the next 10 years,
he will move back and forth between the world of the civil
rights movement and the world of peace activism. He will be
instrumental in helping A. Philip Randolph plan the 1963 March
on Washington. But due to his youthful ties to the Communist
Party, a wartime imprisonment, and an arrest in California on
public morals charges, Rustin will be obligated to limit his
public exposure to avoid problems for King and others whom
Southern white leaders (and the FBI) were attempting to
destroy. He will join the ancestors on August 24, 1987.

1919 – Nathaniel Adams Coles is born in Montgomery, Alabama. Better
known as Nat “King” Cole, he will start his musical career in
a band with his brother Eddie and in a production of “Shuffle
Along.” Leader of the King Cole Trio, he will achieve
international acclaim as a jazz pianist before becoming an
even more popular balladeer known for such songs as “Mona
Lisa,” “The Christmas Song” and “Unforgettable.” Cole will
also have the distinction of being the first African American
to host a network television variety show (1956-1957), a
pioneer in breaking down racial barriers in Las Vegas, and a
founding member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and
Sciences, which will honor him with a posthumous Lifetime
Achievement Grammy in 1989. He will join the ancestors on
February 15, 1965.

1933 – Myrlie Beasley is born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She will
become the wife of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1951
and will work with him in order to combat discrimination and
segregation in Mississippi. Together, they will open and
manage the first NAACP Mississippi State Office. Her husband
will be assassinated in 1963, by white supremacist, Byron de
la Beckwith. She will later move to California where she will
graduate from Pomona College. She will work in the corporate
world as Director for Consumer Affairs at the Atlantic
Richfield Company and in government as a Commissioner of the
Los Angeles, California, Board of Public Works. She will be
the first African American woman to serve on that board. She
will be the author of the book, “For Us, the Living,” and the
recipient of numerous honorary degrees. She will later become
Mrs. Myrlie Evers-Williams and be elected vice-chairperson of
the NAACP in 1994, and in 1995 will become the first woman
chairperson. In 1998, she will be succeeded by Julian Bond as
Chair of the NAACP.

1970 – The United States casts its first veto in the U.N. Security
Council. The U.S. kills a resolution that would have condemned
Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled
government of Rhodesia.

2000 – More than 300 members of a religious sect burn to death in a
makeshift church in southwestern Uganda.

2008 – David Paterson is sworn in as New York’s 55th governor. He is
New York’s first Black governor and the nation’s first legally
blind governor.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 16 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 16 *

1827 – With the assistance of James Varick, Richard Allen, Alexander
Crummel, and others, Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm
publish “Freedom’s Journal” in New York City. Operating
from space in Varick’s Zion Church, “Freedom’s Journal” is
the first African American newspaper. Russwurm says of the
establishment of the newspaper, “We wish to plead our own
cause. Too long have others spoken for us.”

1870 – Senator Hiram R. Revels argues against Georgia’s re-admission
to the Union without safeguards for African American citizens.
It is the first official speech by an African American before
Congress.

1956 – Ozzie Newsome is born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He will
become a stand-out football player for the University of
Alabama, and the first African American star athlete for a
major school in the south. Newsome will be drafted by the
Cleveland Browns and start 176 out of 182 games in 13 years.
He will be the all-time leading receiver in Cleveland history
and the all-time receiver among tight ends in the NFL. He
will be fourth among receivers in NFL history with a record
of 662 catches. He will earn three trips to the Pro Bowl and
will be named to the All-NFL Teams of the ’80’s. Newsome
will remain with the Cleveland Browns in an administrative
position after his retirement. In 1994 he will be inducted
into the College Football Hall of Fame and in 1999 to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame.

1956 – Former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, makes his debut as a
pro wrestler. He knocks out 320-pound cowboy Rocky Lee.
Jersey Joe Walcott, the referee, is another former
heavyweight champ.

1960 – San Antonio, Texas becomes the first major southern city to
integrate lunch counters.

1966 – Rodney Peete is born in Mesa, Arizona. He will become a NFL
quarterback playing for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia
Eagles and later, the Washington Redskins.

1970 – Tammi Terrell (Tammy Montgomery), best known for her duets
with Marvin Gaye, joins the ancestors at Graduate Hospital
in Philadelphia after undergoing six brain tumor operations
in 18 months. Doctors first discovered Terrell’s brain
tumor after she collapsed in Gaye’s arms onstage in 1967.

1975 – Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker, jazz and blues singer, blues
guitarist, composer and pianist, joins the ancestors at the
age of 64. He was best known for his hits “Stormy Monday”
and “T-Bone Shuffle.”

1988 – President Ronald Reagan vetoes a civil rights bill that would
restore protections invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s
1984 ruling in Grove City College v. Bell. Reagan’s veto
will be overridden by Congress less than a week later.

1989 – The U.S. Senate agrees to try U.S. District Court Judge Alcee
Hastings on fraud, corruption, and perjury charges stemming
from a 1981 bribery conspiracy case. Hastings, appointed by
President Jimmy Carter as the first African American judge
to serve on the federal bench in Florida, will be convicted
of eight of the original articles and impeached in October.

1991 – Soon Ja Du, a Korean American grocery store owner, shoots to
death Latasha Harlins, a fifteen-year old African American
girl, after Ms. Du accused the girl of trying to steal a
$1.79 bottle of orange juice. A security camera in the
store captures the shooting on videotape. The shooting
exacerbates racial and ethnic tensions in Los Angeles in the
wake of the Rodney King beating.

1995 – Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery,
some 130 years after the rest of the country got around to
it.

1996 – Mike Tyson regains a piece of the heavyweight championship by
defeating WBC champion Frank Bruno by TKO in the third round
to reclaim the heavyweight boxing title in Las Vegas.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 15 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 15 *

1809 – Joseph J. Roberts is born free in Norfolk, Virginia. He will
leave Virginia with his family for the West African coast in
1829, part of the colonization effort of the American
Colonization Society. He will become the first President of
Liberia in 1848. He will join the ancestors in 1876.

1842 – Robert C. DeLarge is born in Aiken, South Carolina. He will
defeat a white opponent by 986 votes out of 32,000 cast to
earn a seat as a South Carolina representative to the United
States Congress in 1870. He will serve in the House of
Representatives from March 4, 1871 until January 24, 1873
when the seat will be declared vacant as the result of an
election challenge initiated by Christopher C. Bowen. After
leaving Congress he will serve as a local magistrate until he
joins the ancestors in Charleston, South Carolina on February
14, 1874.

1897 – The Fifty-fifth Congress (1897-99) convenes. Only one African
American congressman is in attendance: George H. White, of
North Carolina.

1912 – Sam Hopkins is born in Centerville, Texas. He will become a
blues guitarist, better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, and be
considered one of the last blues singers in the grand
tradition of “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, with whom he played as
a child. He will join the ancestors on January 30, 1982 after
succumbing to cancer.

1933 – The NAACP begins a coordinated attack on segregation and
discrimination, filing a suit against the University of North
Carolina on behalf of Thomas Hocutt. The case is lost on a
technicality after the president of an African American
college refuses to certify the records of the plaintiff.

1933 – The Los Angeles Sentinel is founded by Leon H. Washington.

1933 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to YMCA secretary Max
Yergan for his achievements as a missionary in South Africa,
“representing the gift of cooperation…American Negroes may
send back to their Motherland.”

1933 – Cecil Percival Taylor is born in New York City. He will
become a international jazz pianist concert artist and
composer. He will also teach African American music and lead
the Black Music Ensemble at the University of Wisconsin,
Antioch College, and Glassboro State (in New Jersey). He is
considered to be one of the most controversial figures in
“jazz”. For many observers, his work ranks as some of the
most profound art ever produced.

1938 – Emilio Cruz is born in New York City. He will become a painter
who will study in his teens with the influential African
American artist Bob Thompson, study European masters in
Italy, Paris, London, and Amsterdam and become noted in the
United States for both his figurative and abstract paintings.
His work will be exhibited or collected by the Museum of
Modern Art, National Museum of American Art, the Studio
Museum of Harlem, and prestigious private galleries. He will
join the ancestors on December 10, 2004 in New York City
after succumbing to pancreatic cancer.

1944 – Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart is born in Dallas, Texas. He
will become a popular disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay
area. This popularity will fuel his career as a musician and
singer. He will achieve fame with his group: Sly & The
Family Stone and record the hits “Dance to the Music,”
“Everyday People,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You,”
and “Family Affair.”

1946 – Bobby Lee Bonds is born in Riverside, California. He will
become a major league baseball player and hit a grand slam in
his first Major League game on June 25,1968 against the Los
Angeles Dodgers. He will be a 3-time All-Star (1971 and 1973
in the National League and 1975 in the American League). He
will amass a total 332 home runs, 1,024 RBIs, 461 stolen
bases and a .268 batting average for 8 teams. He will hold
the Major League record for most HRs as a lead-off batter in
a game in a season with 11 in 1973. He will be named by The
Sporting News as the National League Player of the Year in
1973, hitting .283 with 39 homers, 96 RBI and 43 stolen
bases. He will join the ancestors on August 23, 2003 after
succumbing to complications of lung cancer and a brain tumor.

1946 – Howard E. Scott is born in San Pedro, California. He will
become a Rhythm and Blues singer, guitarist, and be best
known for his performances as part of the Rhythm & Blues
group “War.” Scott will contribute lyrics, music, and
co-produced some of War’s greatest hits, such as ‘Cisco Kid,’
‘Slipping into Darkness’ and ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?.’ He
will also be the frontman and leader of the group.

1958 – Cincinnati Royals basketball star Maurice Stokes collapses
during a playoff game suffering with encephalitis. It will
be determined that this was the result of an earlier injury,
when his head hit the floor, knocking him unconscious, in the
last game of the regular season. He will go into a coma and
become permanently disabled.

1959 – Saxophonist and major influence on the “Cool School” of jazz,
Lester “Prez” Young joins the ancestors at the age of 49 in
New York City.

1962 – Terence Trent D’Arby is born in New York City. He will become
a popular Rhythm and Blues singer, music producer, songwriter,
and composer. He will be best known for his recording
“Wishing Well.”

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first and only player in NBA
history to score more than 4,000 points in a season (4,029).
He will average 50.4 points per game.

1968 – “LIFE” magazine calls Jimi Hendrix “the most spectacular
guitarist in the world.”

1968 – Bob Beamon sets an indoor long jump record as he leaps 27
feet, 2-3/4 inches.

1969 – St. Clair Drake is named director of the African and Afro
American Studies program at Stanford University. Drake’s
accomplishments in the position will form a model for such
programs across the country.

1970 – The musical, “Purlie” opens a run of 680 continuous
performances on Broadway in New York City.

1980 – Scores of people are injured in Klan-related incidents in
Georgia, Tennessee, California, Indiana and North Carolina.

1985 – Larry Holmes beats David Bey in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was
probably good for Bey, since no one had ever heard of him
before the fight. Holmes defends his International Boxing
Federation heavyweight boxing title with the win.

1991 – Four Los Angeles police officers-Sergeant Stacey Koon and
Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno-
are charged with felony assault and related charges arising
from the Rodney King beating.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 14 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 14 *

1794 – Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, making it possible to clean
50 pounds of cotton a day, compared to a pound a day before the
invention. This will make cotton king and increase the demand
for slave labor.

1829 – African American editor John Russworm writes an editorial in
“Freedom’s Journal” supporting the colonization of Africa by
African Americans.

1889 – Menelik becomes ruler of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Menelik II will
be the Ethiopian emperor (1889-1909) during the frantic race
for African protectorates by European countries. He will
transform the country from a collection of semi-independent
states into a united nation. As ruler of the kingdom of Shoa,
in central Ethiopia, he will conquer the Oromo people to the
south and annex their land. During Menelik’s reign he
suppressed the Ethiopian slave trade, curbed the feudal
nobility, and founded the city of Addis Ababa.

1917 – The first training camp for “colored” officers is established
by the U.S. Army in Des Moines, Iowa, after a long lobbying
effort by the NAACP, led by Joel E. Spingarn and James Weldon
Johnson. The camp will issue 678 officer commissions to
African Americans, compared to 380,000 African American
enlisted men mobilized in World War l.

1933 – Quincy Delight Jones is born in Chicago, Illinois. A trumpeter
and record producer, he will collaborate with many major
American and French recording artists, including Michael
Jackson on the latter’s “Thriller” and “Bad” albums, two of
the most successful records during the 1980’s. A musical
innovator, in 1991, Jones will receive two Grammy awards for
producer of the year and album of the year for “Back on the
Block.” To date, he will accumulate over 25 Grammy awards,
Grammy’s Trustees Award in 1989, and the Grammy’s Legends
Award in 1990. He will also be Musical Director for Mercury
Records, then Vice President. He will also establish Qwest
Records.

1934 – Shirley Scott is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She will
become an accomplished jazz organist, with a blues orientation
to most of her presentations. She started her career playing
with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis in 1956 and continued until 1960.
She will record most of her work with her ex-husband, Stanley
Turrentine from 1961 to 1970.

1946 – Wes Unseld is born in Louisville, Kentucky. His early career
plans will include becoming a teacher, but that thought will
be put on hold when he becomes the second overall pick in the
1968 draft by the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets. In 1969, Unseld’s
debut will be memorable. He becomes only the second NBA
player besides Wilt Chamberlain to be named Rookie of the Year
and MVP in the same season. During a solid 13-year NBA career,
spent entirely with the Bullets organization, Unseld will
become a superb position rebounder and retire as the NBA’s
seventh all-time leading rebounder with 13,769 boards, a 14.0
per game average. Unseld, who will play in five NBA All-Star
games, ranks as the Bullets all-time leader in minutes played
(35,832) and rebounds. He is only one of 20 players in NBA
history to score more than 10,000 points (10,624) and grab more
than 10,000 rebounds. The pinnacle of Unseld’s career will
come in 1978, when he and fellow Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes lead
Washington past Seattle for the NBA championship. For his
efforts, Unseld will be named MVP of the championship series.
After his retirement from the NBA, he will become the coach of
the Bullets.

1947 – William J. Jefferson is born in Lake Providence, Louisiana. He
will become a Louisiana state senator in 1979 and, in 1990,
the first African American congressman elected from the state
since Charles Edmund Nash left office in 1876.

1960 – Kirby Puckett is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become a
major league baseball outfielder. He will be selected by the
Minnesota Twins in the first round (third overall) of the
January 1982 free-agent draft and will spend his entire 14-year
professional career in the Twins organization. Not only will
he become a 10-time All-Star, in 1993 he will become the first
Twins player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP Award. He will
be the Twins’ all-time leader in hits, runs, doubles and total
bases. He will retire on July 12, 1996, after losing vision in
his right eye due to glaucoma, and will become the Twins’
executive vice president of baseball. He will join the
ancestors in Phoenix, AZ, on March 6, 2006 after succumbing to
a stroke.

1967 – In the first NFL-AFL common draft, the Baltimore Colts pick
Bubba Smith as the first pick.

1985 – Bill Cosby captures four of the People’s Choice Awards for “The
Cosby Show.” The awards were earned from results of a
nationwide Gallup Poll.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 13 *

1779 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, an explorer of African descent,
from Santo Domingo (Haiti), builds the first permanent
settlement at the mouth of the river, just east of the present
Michigan Avenue Bridge on the north bank, of what is now the
city of Chicago, Illinois.

1861 – Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing the use of slaves as
soldiers in the Confederate army.

1862 – Congress forbids Union officers and soldiers from aiding in the
capture and return of fugitive slaves, ending what one
historian called the “military slave hunt.”

1869 – Arkansas legislature passes anti-Ku Klux Klan legislation.

1914 – James Reese Europe explains the significance of his Clef Club
Symphony Orchestra, consisting of the best African American
musicians in New York City: “… we colored people have our
own music that is a part of us. It’s the product of our
souls; it’s been created by the sufferings and miseries of our
race.”

1918 – John Rhoden is born in Birmingham, Alabama. An art student who
will study with Richmond Barthe’ and at Talledega College,
Rhoden’s sculptures will have strong romantic and classical
elements. He will receive commissions for Harlem Hospital and
Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, exhibit his work at
the Atlanta University annuals, the Art Institute of Chicago,
and the Whitney Museum and be represented in museums in the
United States and Europe. Among his major works will be
“Safari,” “Eve,” and “Quarter Horse.”

1930 – Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell is born in Miami, Florida. The
trumpeter will make his name as a member of Horace Silver’s
Quintet. From 1974, he will play as a soloist or as an
accompanist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne.

1932 – The “Atlanta World” becomes the first African American daily
newspaper in modern times, when it begins daily publication.
It was founded on August 3, 1928, by William A. Scott, III
and became a bi-weekly in 1930.

1943 – Frank Dixon becomes the first great African American miler in
track as he wins the Columbian Mile in New York City. Dixon
runs the mile in the record time of 4 minutes, 9.6 seconds.

1946 – Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African
American to command an United States Air Force base, when he
assumes command of Lockbourne Air Force Base in Ohio.

1961 – Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johannson to retain the
heavyweight boxing championship.

1984 – James L. Usry is elected the first African American mayor of
Atlantic City, New Jersey. He will serve as mayor until 1990.
A former member of the Harlem Globetrotters, he became an
educator before entering politics.

1999 – Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis,
the WBC champion, keep their respective titles after fighting
to a controversial draw in New York.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 12    *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’Enfant are commissioned
to plan and develop Washington, DC.

1868 – Great Britain gives Basutoland, the status of protectorate at
the request of King Moshweshwe.  The request of protection was
to prevent attacks by the Cape Colony.

1877 – The British annex Walvis Bay, an important deep water port in
South West Africa.

1888 – Hall Johnson is born in Athens, Georgia.  In 1925, he will
organize and direct the Hall Johnson Choir as well as have
significant success as an arranger.  One of his early stage
successes will be as choral director for the 1930 Broadway
play “The Green Pastures” and the 1933 play, “Run Little
Chillun,” for which he will write the book and music. Johnson
and his choir will move to Hollywood in 1936 to make the film
version of “The Green Pastures.”

1926 – The Savoy Ballroom, nicknamed the “Home of Happy Feet,” opens
in New York City.

1932 – Andrew Young is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He will become
a minister, influential leader in the civil rights movement,
first African American ambassador to the United Nations, and
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

1936 – Virginia Hamilton is born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She will
become an award-winning author of juvenile fiction including
“House of Dies Drear,” “M.C. Higgins the Great,” and “Sweet
Whispers, Brother Rush.”

1940 – Alwyn Lopez “Al” Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  He
will become a singer and will be known for his recording of
the theme for the television show, “Moonlighting”.  Al Jarreau
will become the first vocalist in musical history to win
Grammy Awards in three different categories (Rhythm & Blues,
Jazz, and Pop).

1945 – New York becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination by
race and creed in employment.

1955 – Charlie Parker joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 34. He had been one of the founders of the modern jazz
movement.

1962 – Darryl Strawberry is born in Los Angeles, California.  He will
become a professional baseball player and will play right field
for the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San
Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees.  He will set the
New York Mets all-time records for most runs (662), most RBIs
(733) and most home runs (252).  He will be a member of the
winning World Series championship teams in 1986 and 1996.

1964 – Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam.

1982 – Charles Fuller wins the Pulitzer Prize for “A Soldier’s Play.”

2003 – Lynne Thigpen, actress, joins the ancestors at age 54 after
succumbing to complications from an enlarged heart. She played
“the chief” on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

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