KRLemmons African American History

April 24 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – April 24 *

1867 – The first national meeting of the Ku Klux Klan is held at
the “Maxwell House” in Nashville, Tennessee.

1867 – African American demonstrators stage ride-ins on Richmond,
Virginia streetcars. Troops were mobilized to restore
order.

1884 – The Medico-Chirurgical Society of the District of Columbia
is founded. It is the first African American medical
society.

1886 – Augustine Tolton is ordained as a Catholic priest after
studying at the College of the Propagation of the Faith in
Rome for five years. Tolton will distinguish himself as a
speaker and a pastor at Catholic churches in New Jersey,
New York City, Chicago, and Quincy, Illinois.

1895 – The National Association of Colored Physicians, Dentists and
Pharmacists is organized at the First Congregational Church
in Atlanta, Georgia. It will change its name to the
National Medical Association in 1903.

1937 – Joseph “Joe” Henderson is born in Lima, Ohio. He will make
his initial reputation in what might be called Blue Note
Records’ second classic phase in the early 1960s, when a
new generation of young musicians began to extend the basic
hard bop framework of the label’s seminal 1950s output in
more experimental directions. He will be one of the players
at the core of that development, both as a leader and in
recordings as a sideman with artists like Kenny Dorham, Lee
Morgan, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner, Larry Young and Horace
Silver, among others. His firm grasp of the root idiom
combined with his experimental nature made him an ideal
exponent of the new style, which did not abandon jazz
structures in as radical a fashion as the free jazz
movement. He will join the ancestors on June 30, 2001 in
San Francisco.

1943 – Speaking on race relations and racial equality at Wayne
State University, Langston Hughes says, “I am for the
Christianity that fights poll tax, race discrimination,
lynching, injustice and inequality of the masses. I don’t
feel that religion should be used to beat down Jews [and]
Negroes, and to persecute other minority groups.

1944 – In Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court rules that a
“white primary” law that excludes African Americans from
voting is a violation of the 15th Amendment and thus
unconstitutional.

1948 – James Melvin Washington is born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
He will become a leading theologian whose emphasis was the
African American religious experience. He will be a
professor at the Union Theological Seminary in New York
from 1975 until he joins the ancestors in 1997. His
published works will include “Frustrated Fellowship: The
Black Baptist Quest for Social Power” (1986), “A Testament
of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr.”
(1986), and “Conversations with God: Two Centuries of
Prayers by African Americans” (1994).

1954 – Wesley Cook is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will
become an activist during his teenage years and will be
arrested and beaten for demonstrating against presidential
candidate governor George Wallace of Alabama. He will be a
founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black
Panther Party in 1968 and will be known as Mumia Abu-Jamal.
After spending the summer months in 1970 working on the BPP
newspaper in California, he will return to Philadelphia to
work as a radio journalist with the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting and will have his own talk show on station
WUHY. He will lose his position as a radio journalist after
his continual criticism of mayor Frank Rizzo and
specifically his coverage of the police treatment of the
militant organization MOVE. While working as a taxicab
driver, he will be accused of killing a Philadelphia
policeman, Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Faulkner is killed in
an altercation with Mumia’s brother, after wounding Mumia.
Mumia is presumed to be the shooter and will be convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. This
verdict is handed down ignoring testimony of witnesses who
saw the killer flee and irregularities during the trial.
On death row since the trial, Mumia will have numerous
appeals turned down. His case will attract worldwide
attention as a racist miscarriage of justice.

1965 – An armed revolt against the dictatorship in the Dominican
Republic is ended with an invasion by United States troops.
Participating in the revolt is Maximiliano Gomez Horatio,
the leader of the Dominican Popular Movement.

1972 – James M. Rodger, Jr., of Durham, North Carolina, is honored
in a White House ceremony as National Teacher of the Year.
He is the first African American to receive the honor.

1972 – Robert Wedgeworth is named director of the American Library
Association. He is the first African American to head the
organization.

1993 – Oliver Tambo joins the ancestors in Johannesburg, South
Africa at the age of 75. He was the former president of
the African National Congress (ANC), law partner of Nelson
Mandela and an important anti-apartheid leader.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 23 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – April 23 *

1856 – Granville T. Woods, who will become an inventor of steam
boilers, furnaces, incubators and auto air brakes and
holder of over 50 patents, is born in Columbus, Ohio.

1872 – Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman
lawyer in ceremonies held in Washington, DC admitting her
to practice before the bar. She had received her law degree
from Howard University on February 27.

1894 – Jimmy Noone is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a jazz clarinetist and a major influence on the
swing music of the 1930’s and 1940’s. He will be a band
leader and be best known as the leader of “Jimmy Noone’s
Apex Club Orchestra.” Two of the people most influenced by
Jimmy Noone’s style will be Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey.
He will join the ancestors after suffering a fatal heart
attack, while performing with “Kid” Ory on April 19, 1944.

1895 – Jorge Mateus Vicente Lima is born in Alagoas, Brazil. He
will become a poet, novelist, essayist, painter, doctor,
and politician. He will become best known as a writer,
manipulating Brazilian subjects, at the same time analyzing
Afro-Brazilian culture and heritage. He will become a
fixture in the Brazilian experience during the 1920’s. Even
though he became a physician, he will exhibit his talents
as a writer in writings from his youth. His most famous
writing will be a poem, “Essa Nega Fulo” (That Black Girl
Fulo), written in 1928. The poem will explore the dynamics
between a slave master, the slave and her mistress. He
will join the ancestors in 1953 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1898 – Alfredo da Rocha Viana Jr. is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He will become a composer and bandleader best known as
“Pixinguinha.” By the time he was a teenager, he will be
respected for his talent as a flutist. After traveling with
his first band to France in 1922, he will open the door of
Brazilian music to the world. He will be credited with
assisting to invent the “samba.” He is generally referred
to as the King of Samba and the Father of Musica Popular
Brasileira. He will join the ancestors on February 17, 1973
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1913 – The National Urban League is incorporated in New York City.
The organization is founded in 1910 when the Committee on
Urban Conditions Among Negroes met in New York to discuss
means to assist rural African Americans in the transition
to urban life. Founders include Mrs. Ruth Standish Baldwin
and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, who becomes the league’s
first executive director.

1941 – New Yorkers are treated to a performance of Cafi Society at
Carnegie Hall by a group of jazz artists that includes
Albert “Jug” Ammons, Hazel Scott, and Art Tatum. It also
marks the first performance of Helena (later Lena) Horne,
who sings “Summertime,” among other songs.

1944 – The NAACP Youth Council and Committee for Unity in Motion
Pictures selects its first Motion Picture Award recipients.
Given to honor actors whose roles advance the image of
African Americans in motion pictures, awards go to Rex
Ingram for “Sahara,” Lena Horne for “As Thousands Cheer,”
Leigh Whipper for “The Oxbow Incident” and “Mission to
Moscow,” Hazel Scott for her debut in “Something to Shout
About” and Dooley Wilson for his role as Sam in
“Casablanca,” among others. The awards will be the fore-
runner to the NAACP’s Image Awards.

1948 – Charles Richard Johnson in born in Evanston, Illinois. He
will become an novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He
will begin his career after graduating from the State
University of New York at Stonybrook with a Ph.D. in
philosophy. He will be mentored by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph
Ellison, Jean Toomer, Richard Wright and John Gardner. He
will be known for his works, “Middle Passage,” “Oxherding
Tale,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” and “Being and Race:
Black Writing Since 1970.” He will win the 1990 National
Book Award for “Middle Passage.”

1954 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, of the Milwaukee Braves, hits the
first of what will be 755 career home runs, in a game
against the St. Louis Cardinals. The score will be 7-5 in
favor of the Braves.

1955 – U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review a lower court decision
which would ban segregation in intrastate bus travel.

1964 – James Baldwin’s play, “Blues for Mr. Charlie” opens on
Broadway. Starring Al Freeman, Jr., Diana Sands, and
others, the play reveals the plight of African Americans in
the South.

1971 – Columbia University operations are virtually ended for the
year by African American and white students who seize five
buildings on campus.

1971 – William Tubman, president of Liberia, joins the ancestors at
the age of 76. He had been president of Liberia since
1944.

1998 – James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he was
framed, dies at a Nashville hospital at age 70.

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