KRLemmons African American History

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.

1944 – Eugene Washington is born in LaPorte, Texas. He will become a
professional football player, playing wide receiver. He will
play for the Minnesota Vikings (1967–1972) and the Denver
Broncos (1973–1974). He will wear #84 for Minnesota and Denver.
He will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in
2011.

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 and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

November 22 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 22 *

1865 – The Mississippi legislature enacts “Black Codes” which
restrict the rights and freedom of movement of the
freedmen. The Black Codes enacted in Mississippi and
other Southern states virtually re-enslave the
freedmen. In some states, any white person could
arrest any African American. In other states, minor
officials could arrest African American “vagrants” and
“refractory and rebellious Negroes” and force them to
work on roads and levees without pay. “Servants” in
South Carolina were required to work from sunrise to
sunset, to be quiet and orderly and go to bed at
“reasonable hours.” It was a crime in Mississippi for
African Americans to own farm land. In South Carolina,
African Americans have to get a special license to
work outside the domestic and farm laborer categories.

1871 – Louisiana Lt. Governor Oscar J. Dunn, joins the
ancestors suddenly in the midst of a bitter struggle
for control of the state government. Dunn aides
charge that he was poisoned.

1884 – T. Thomas Fortune founds the “New York Freeman”, which
later becomes the “New York Age.”

1884 – The Philadelphia Tribune is founded by Christopher J.
Perry.

1893 – Alrutheus Ambush Taylor, teacher and historian, is
born in Washington, DC. He will become Fisk
University’s Dean. He and other local African American
historians will come under the influence of Dr. Carter
G. Woodson, who spoke in Nashville on several occasions.
In 1941, Taylor will publish a Tennessee study from the
African American perspective. Taylor titled his study,
“The Negro in Tennessee, 1865-1880.” Taylor’s book
will go beyond slavery and cover Reconstruction history
and various aspects of African American life, including
business and politics.

1930 – The Nation of Islam is founded in Detroit.

1942 – Guion S. Bluford, Jr. is born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He will become a Colonel in the United
States Air Force, an astronaut and the first African
American to fly in space (four times – STS 8, STS 61A,
STS 39, STS 53).

1957 – The Miles Davis Quintet debuts with a jazz concert at
Carnegie Hall in New York.

1961 – Frank Robinson becomes the first baseball player to be
named “Most Valuable Player” in both major leagues.

1965 – Muhammad Ali defeats Floyd Patterson. Ali, a recent
convert to the Muslim faith, taunts the former champ
and ends the fight in 12 rounds to win the world
heavyweight title.

1968 – A portrait of Frederick Douglass appears on the cover
of Life magazine. The cover story, “Search for a Black
Past,” will be the first in a four-part series of
stories in which the magazine examines African
Americans, a review of the last 50 years of struggle
and interviews with Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond,
Eldridge Cleaver, Dick Gregory, and others.

1986 – 24 year-old George Branham wins the Brunswick Memorial
World Open. It is the first time an African American
wins a Professional Bowlers Association title.

1986 – Mike Tyson, 20 years, 4 months old, becomes the
youngest to wear the world heavyweight boxing crown
after knocking out Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.

1988 – Bob Watson is named assistant general manager of the
Houston Astros, the team where he began his
professional career in 1965. One of a select few
African American assistant general managers in the
sport, Watson’s spikes hang in the Baseball Hall of
Fame for scoring baseball’s 1,000,000th run in 1976.

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