KRLemmons African American History

December 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 12 *

1870 – Joseph Hayne Rainey is the first African American to serve
in Congress representing South Carolina. He is sworn in
to fill an unexpired term.

1872 – U.S. Attorney General George Williams sends a telegram to
“Acting Governor Pinchback,” saying that the African
American politician “was recognized by the President as
the lawful executive of Louisiana.”

1892 – Minnie Evans, visual artist and painter, is born in Pender
County, North Carolina. One of her more famous works will
be “Lion of Judah.” She will be inducted into the
Wilmington, NC “Walk of Fame.” She will join the ancestors
on December 16, 1987.

1899 – Boston native, dentist, and avid golfer, George F. Grant
receives a patent for a wooden golf tee. Prior to the
use of the tee, wet sand was used to make a small mound
to place the ball. Grant’s invention will revolutionize
the manner in which golfers swing at the ball.

1912 – Henry Melody Jackson, Jr. is born in Columbus, Mississippi.
He will move with his family to St. Louis, Missouri and
become a boxer known as Henry Armstrong. In 1938 he will
become the first boxer to hold three titles at the same
time after winning the lightweight boxing championship.
He will be inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame as well
as the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His boxing record
at the time of his retirement in 1945 will be 150 wins, 101
wins by knockout, 21 losses, and 10 draws. After retiring
from boxing, he will become a Baptist minister and will
teach young upcoming fighter how to box. He will join
the ancestors on October 22, 1988 in Los Angeles, California.

1913 – James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens is born in Oakville, Alabama.
He will become a world-class athlete in college, setting
world records in many events. He will go on to win 4 gold
medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, spoiling Hitler’s
plans to showcase Aryan sports supremacy. He will join the
ancestors on March 31, 1980.

1918 – Famed jazz singer Joe Williams is born in Cordele, Georgia.
Williams will sing for seven years in Count Basie’s band,
where he will record such hits as “Every Day I have the
Blues.” He will join the ancestors on March 29, 1980.

1929 – Vincent Dacosta Smith is born in New York City. He will
exhibit his works on four continents and be represented in
the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National
Museum of American Art, and the National Museum of Afro-
American Artists in Boston. He will join the ancestors on
December 27, 2003.

1938 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Missouri that a state must
provide equal educational facilities for African Americans
within its boundaries. Lloyd Gaines, the plaintiff in the
case, disappears after the decision and is never seen
again.

1941 – Dionne Warwick is born in East Orange, New Jersey. Warwick
will sing in a gospel trio with her sister Dee Dee and
cousin Cissy Houston, and begin her solo career in 1960
singing the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. She
will become a three-time Grammy winner.

1943 – Grover Washington, Jr. is born in Buffalo, New York. He
will become a renown jazz artist and famous for his
recording of “Mr. Magic.” He will join the ancestors on
December 17, 1999.

1961 – Martin Luther King Jr., along with over seven hundred
demonstrators is arrested in Albany, Ga., after five mass
marches on city hall to protest segregation. The arrests
trigger the militant Albany movement.

1963 – Kenya achieves its independence from Great Britain with
Jomo Kenyatta as its first prime minister.

1963 – Medgar Wiley Evers is awarded the Spingarn Medal
posthumously for his civil rights leadership.

1965 – Johnny Lee, an actor best known for his portrayal of
“Calhoun” on “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show,” joins the ancestors
at the age of 67.

1965 – Gale Sayers, of the Chicago Bears, scores 6 touchdowns and
ties the NFL record.

1968 – Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to be ranked
Number One in tennis.

1975 – The National Association of Black Journalists is formed in
Washington, DC. Among its founding members are Max
Robinson, who will become the first African American anchor
of a national network news program, and Acel Moore, a
future Pulitzer Prize winner.

1979 – Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe.

1986 – Bone Crusher Smith knocks out WBA champion Tim Witherspoon
in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

2007 – Ike Turner, whose role as one of rock’s critical architects
was overshadowed by his ogre-like image as the man who
brutally abused former wife and rock icon Tina Turner,
joins the ancestors at his home in suburban San Diego at the
age of 76.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 11 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 11 *

1872 – America’s first African American governor takes office as
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became acting governor
of Louisiana.

1916 – John E. Bush, former slave and teacher, joins the
ancestors. He had been appointed receiver of the United
States Land Office in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1898.

1917 – 13 African American soldiers are hanged for alleged
participation in a Houston riot.

1917 – The Great Jazz migration begins as Joe Oliver leaves New
Orleans and settles in Chicago, to be joined later by
other stars.

1917 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Harry T.
Burleigh, composer and accomplished opera singer, for
excellence in the field of music.

1926 – Willie Mae Thornton is born in Montgomery, Alabama. She
will be better known as “Big Mama” Thornton, a blues
singer whose recording of “Hound Dog” in 1952 will be
mimicked by Elvis Presley, much to his success. She
also recorded the hits “Ball & Chain,” and “Stronger
than Dirt.” She will join the ancestors on July 25, 1984.

1928 – Lewis Latimore joins the ancestors in Flushing, New York.
Employed as a chief draftsman, Mr. Latimore created the
drawings for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone in 1870.

1931 – The British Statute of Westminster gives complete
legislative independence to South Africa.

1940 – Lev T. Mills, who will become an artist and chairman of
the art department at Spelman College, is born in
Tallahassee, Florida. His prints and mixed-media works
will be collected by the Victoria & Albert and British
Museums in London and the High Museum in Atlanta and
include glass mosaic murals for an Atlanta subway station
and the atrium floor of Atlanta’s City Hall.

1954 – Jermaine Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. He will become
a singer and musician with his brothers and perform with
their group, The Jackson Five.

1961 – U.S. Supreme Court reverses the conviction of sixteen
sit-in students who had been arrested in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.

1961 – Langston Hughes’ musical, “Black Nativity,” opens on
Broadway.

1964 – Sam Cooke joins the ancestors after being killed. Bertha
Franklin, Manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles,
claimed she killed the singer in self-defense after he’d
tried to rape a 22-year-woman and then turned on Franklin.

1980 – George Rogers, a running back for the University of South
Carolina, is awarded the Heisman Trophy. He achieved 21
consecutive 100-yard games with the gamecocks and led the
nation in rushing.

1981 – Muhammad Ali’s boxes in his 61st & last fight, losing to
Trevor Berbick.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 10 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 10 *

1810 – Tom Cribb of Great Britain defeats beats African
American Tom Molineaux in the first interracial boxing
championship. The fight lasted 40 rounds at Copthall
Common in England.

1846 – Norbert Rillieux invents the evaporating pan, which
revolutionizes the sugar industry.

1854 – Edwin C. Berry is born in Oberlin, Ohio. He will become
a hotel entrepreneur and erects a 22-room hotel, Hotel
Berry, in Athens, Ohio. He will be known, at the time
of his retirement in 1921, as the most successful
African American small-city hotel operator in the
United States. He will join the ancestors in 1931.

1864 – A mixed cavalry force, including Fifth and Sixth Colored
Cavalry regiments, invades southwest Virginia and
destroys salt mines at Saltville. The Sixth Cavalry
was especially brilliant in an engagement near Marion,
Virginia.

1910 – Smarting from the humiliation of seeing the Ty Cobb-led
Detroit Tigers tie the Negro Havana Stars in a six game
series 3-3, the “Indianapolis Freeman” states: “The
American scribes refused to write on the matter, it cut
so deep and was kept quiet.” Not quiet enough, however,
to prevent a ban on Negro teams, even the Cuban-named
clubs, from playing whites.

1943 – Theodore Wilson is born in New York City. He will become
an actor and will star on television in “That’s My Mama”
(Earl the Postman), and “Sanford Arms”.

1950 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche is the first African American to be
presented the Nobel Prize. He is awarded the Peace Prize
for his efforts as under-secretary of the United Nations,
working for peace in the middle east.

1963 – Zanzibar becomes independent within the British
Commonwealth.

1964 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
In his acceptance speech, he dramatically rejects racism
and war and reaffirms his commitment to “unarmed truth
and unconditional love.” He is the youngest person to
earn the award.

1965 – Sugar Ray Robinson permanently retires from boxing with
six victories in title bouts to his credit.

1967 – Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays (Otis’
backup group) join the ancestors after being killed in
the crash of a private plane near Madison, Wisconsin.
Redding is 26 years old. His signature song, “(Sittin’
On) The Dock of the Bay” was recorded just three days
before his death. It will be #1 for four weeks beginning
February 10, 1968.

1982 – Pamela McAllister Johnson becomes the first African
American woman publisher of a mainstream newspaper, the
“Ithaca Journal.”

1984 – South African Anglican Bishop, Desmond Tutu receives the
Nobel Peace Prize.

1999 – Actress Shirley Hemphill joins the ancestors in West
Covina, California at the age of 52. She was best known
for her role as the “waitress with an attitude” on the
television series, “What’s Happening!”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 9 *

1867 – The Georgia constitutional convention, consisting of 33
African American and 137 whites, opens in Atlanta,
Georgia.

1872 – P. B. S. Pinchback is sworn in as governor of Louisiana
after H.C. Warmoth is impeached “for high crimes and
misdemeanors.” He becomes the first African American
governor of a state.

1919 – Roy deCarava is born in New York City. He will become a
leading photographer of the African American experience.
The first African American photographer to be awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship, his first book, “The Sweet
Flypaper of Life,” will be a collaboration with poet
Langston Hughes. He will also found and direct Kamoinge
Workshop for African American photographers in 1963.

1922 – John Elroy (Redd Foxx) Sanford, is born in St. Louis,
Missouri. His off-color records and concerts will
catapult him to fame and his own television show,
“Sanford and Son,” and a later series, “The Royal
Family,” his last before he suddenly joins the ancestors
on October 11, 1991.

1938 – The first public service programming aired when Jack L.
Cooper launches the “Search for Missing Persons” show.
In 1929, he debuted “The All-Negro Hour on WSBC in Chicago.
He is considered to be the first African American disc
jockey and radio announcer.

1953 – Lloyd B. Free is born in Brooklyn, New York. He will
become a professional basketball player and will later
change his name to World B. Free. He will be a NBA
guard with the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers,
Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the
Houston Rockets. He will leave the NBA in 1988 with
17,955 career points and a career scoring average of
20.3 points per game.

1961 – Tanganyika gains independence from Great Britain and
takes the name Tanzania.

1961 – Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores
67 points vs. the New York Knicks.

1962 – Tanzania becomes a republic within the British
Commonwealth.

1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from Great Britain.

1971 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize winner and
Undersecretary of the United Nations from 1955 to his
retirement in October, 1971, joins the ancestors in New
York City at the age of 67.

1971 – Bill Pickett becomes the first African American elected
to the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. He is the
cowboy that invented the bulldogging event famous in
today’s rodeos.

1976 – Tony Dorsett is awarded the Heisman Trophy. Dorsett, a
running back for the University of Pittsburgh, amasses
a total of 6,082 total yards and will go on to play
with the Dallas Cowboys and help lead them to the Super
Bowl.

1984 – The Jackson’s Victory Tour comes to a close at Dodger
Stadium in Los Angeles, after 55 performances in 19
cities. The production is reported to be the world’s
greatest rock extravaganza and one of the most
problematic. The Jackson brothers receive about $50
million during the five-month tour of the United States
– before some 2.5 million fans.

1984 – Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears records another first
as he runs six plays, as quarterback. He is intercepted
twice, but runs the ball himself on four carries. The
Green Bay Packers still win 20-14. Payton says after
the game, “It was OK, but I wouldn’t want to do it for a
living.”

1984 – Eric Dickerson, of the Los Angeles Rams, becomes only the
second pro football player to run for more than 2,000
yards (2,105) in a season. He passes O.J. Simpson’s
record of 2,003 as the Rams beat the Houston Oilers
27-16.

1989 – Craig Washington wins a special congressional election in
Texas’ 18th District to fill the seat vacated by the
death of George “Mickey” Leland.

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