January 20 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – January 20 *
1788 – The First African Baptist Church is organized in Savannah,
Georgia, with Andrew Bryan ordained as its pastor. It is
the first African American Baptist church in the United
States, as well as the first Baptist church, Black or white,
in Savannah.
1847 – William Reuben (W.R.) Pettiford is born in Granville County,
North Carolina. He will become the pastor of the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. As a leader
in the community, he will also become a businessman,
founding the Alabama Penny Savings Bank on October 15, 1890.
The Alabama Penny Savings Bank will be Alabama’s first
African American-owned bank and the first of three banks in
the nation, owned and operated by African Americans in the
early 1900s. He will join the ancestors on September 21,
1914. (Note: The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is also
known for the bombing during the Civil Rights movement,
on September 15, 1963, that killed four little girls.)
1868 – The Florida constitutional convention with eighteen African
Americans and twenty-seven whites meet in Tallahassee.
1870 – Hiram R. Revels is chosen by the Mississippi legislature to
fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of Confederate president
Jefferson Davis. Although he will be challenged by the
Senate, Revels will take his seat one month later, becoming
the first African American U.S. Senator.
1895 – Eva Jessye is born in Coffeyville, Kansas. She will become
an influential choral director, working in King Vidor’s
“Hallelujah” and the original production of George
Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” She will join the ancestors on
February 21, 1992.
1954 – The National Negro Network is formed by W. Leonard Evans.
Some 40 radio stations are charter members of the network.
1973 – Guinea-Bissau nationalist leader Amilcar Cabral joins the
ancestors after being assassinated in Conakry, Guinea, by
Portuguese agents. He had founded the PAIGC (African Party
for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), the
organization that fought Portuguese colonial rule and
eventually led to the independence of Guinea-Bissau and
Cape Verde. Cabral is considered one of Africa’s most
important independentist leaders.
1977 – Clifford Alexander, Jr. is sworn in as the first African
American Secretary of the Army.
1986 – The inaugural issue of “American Visions” magazine hits the
newsstands nationwide. The magazine is dedicated to
exposing its readers to African American contributions to
history, literature, music, and the arts.
1986 – The United States observes the first federal holiday in
honor of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
2012 – Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits
as “The Wallflower,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” and the
wedding favorite “At Last,” joins the ancestors at the age
of 73.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
January 19 African American Historical Events
* Today in Black History – January 19 *
1918 – John Harold Johnson is born in Arkansas City, Arkansas.
He will become the founder and president of Johnson
Publishing Company, Inc., the most prosperous African
American publishing company in America. His company will
publish the “Negro Digest”(his first), “Ebony,” “Jet,”
“Black Star,” “Black World” and “Ebony Jr.” magazines. He
will receive numerous awards, including the Horatio Alger
Award, the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the National Newspaper
Publishers Association’s Henry Johnson Fisher Award for
outstanding contributions to publishing. He will be the
first Black person to appear on the Forbes 400 Rich List,
and have a fortune estimated at close to $500 million. He
will join the ancestors on August 8, 2005.
1952 – The PGA Tournament Committee votes to allow African American
golfers to compete in sanctioned golf tournaments.
1959 – In a letter to her mother shortly before the opening of her
first play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry says
“Mama, it is a play that tells the truth about people,
Negroes, and life and I think it will help a lot of people
to understand how we are just as complicated as they are–
and just as mixed up–but above all, that we have among our
miserable and downtrodden ranks–people who are the very
essence of human dignity. That is what, after all the
laughter and tears, the play is supposed to say.”
1970 – The California state board of regents fires Angela Davis
from her teaching position at the University of California
at Los Angeles for being a Communist. This will be done at
the urging of then Governor Ronald Reagan. Her dismissal
will be overturned later by the courts, but the board of
regents will refuse to renew her contract at the end of the
1969-1970 academic year.
1983 – In its “State of Black America” annual report, the National
Urban League warns that the recession had disproportionately
hurt African Americans: “A major question facing the nation
in 1983 is whether the inevitable restructuring of the
American economy will include Black people.”
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
January 18 African American Historical Events
* Today in Black History – January 18 *
1856 – Dr. Daniel Nathan Hale Williams is born in Hollidaysburg,
Pennsylvania. He will graduate from Chicago Medical
College in 1883 and begin his practice on Chicago’s South
Side. After 8 years of frustration, not being able to use
the facilities at the white hospitals in Chicago, he will
found Provident Hospital in 1891 and open it to patients of
all races. He will make his mark in medical history on
July 10, 1893, when he performs the world’s first successful
open heart surgery.
1948 – The first courses begin at the University of Ibadan in
Nigeria.
1949 – Congressman William Dawson is elected chairman of the House
Expenditure Committee. He is the first African American to
head a standing committee of Congress.
1958 – Willie Eldon O’Ree becomes the first person of African
descent to play in the NHL, when he debuts with the Boston
Bruins in a 3-0 win over Montreal in the Forum.
1961 – Zanzibar’s Afro-Shirazi party wins 1 seat by a single vote
and control Parliament by a single seat.
1962 – Southern University is closed because of demonstrations
protesting the expulsion of student sit-in activists.
1966 – Robert C. Weaver takes the oath of office as Secretary of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Appointed by
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Weaver becomes the first
African American to serve in a U.S. President’s Cabinet.
1975 – “The Jeffersons,” one of the first TV shows about an African
American family, is seen for the first time. The Jeffersons,
who move to Manhattan’s posh East Side, are the former
neighbors of the Bunkers in the sitcom “All in the Family.”
The Jeffersons will be the first show to introduce the
subject of mixed marriages humorously and tastefully in
prime time TV. Sherman Hemsley plays George Jefferson and
Isabelle Sanford the role of Louise, his wife.
1989 – Otis Redding, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder are inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
1990 – The South African government announces that it is
reconsidering a ban on the African National Congress.
1990 – Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry is arrested for allegedly
purchasing and using crack cocaine in a Washington, DC hotel
room. The circumstances surrounding his arrest, trial, and
conviction on one count of misdemeanor cocaine possession
will be hotly debated by African American and white citizens
of the District and elsewhere.
1995 – South African President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet denies
amnesty sought by 3,500 police officers in apartheid’s
waning days.
2000 – Jester Hairston, who appeared on radio and TV’s “Amos ‘n’
Andy,” but who was better known to younger fans as the wise
old church member Rolly on the sitcom “Amen,” joins the
ancestors in Los Angeles, California at the age of 98.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
January 17 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – January 17 *
1759 – Paul Cuffee is born in Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts. He will
become a successful shipowner, philanthropist, and a force
in the movement for African Americans’ repatriation to
Africa. He was of Aquinnah Wampanoag and African Ashanti
descent and helps to colonize Sierra Leone. He will build a
lucrative shipping empire and establish the first racially
integrated school in Westport, Massachusetts. He will join
the ancestors on September 9, 1817.
1874 – Armed white Democrats seize the Texas government and put an
end to Radical Reconstruction in Texas.
1917 – The United States pays $ 25 million for the Danish Virgin
Islands.
1923 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to George Washington
Carver, head of the department of research, Tuskegee
Institute, for his pioneering work in agricultural
chemistry.
1923 – The first session of the Third Pan-African Congress convenes
in London, England. The second session will be held in
Lisbon.
1924 – Jewel Plummer Cobb is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
be a prominent cancer research biologist before becoming a
professor and administrator at Connecticut College and
Rutgers University and, in 1990, president of California
State University, Fullerton, the first African American
woman to hold such a position in the CSU system.
1927 – Eartha Mae Keith is born in North, South Carolina. She will
start her career at the age of 16 as a professional dancer
with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, which will take her
to Paris, where she will tour as a nightclub singer. She
will become known as Eartha Kitt. She will eventually
return to the United States and roles on Broadway and in
films. In 1968, her career will take a sudden turn when, at
a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she will
speak out against the Vietnam War. For many years
afterward, she will be blacklisted by many in the U.S.
entertainment industry and be forced to work abroad where
her status will remain undiminished. In 2007, She will
celebrate her 80th birthday. This remarkable milestone will
be celebrated with a special performance at New York’s
Carnegie Hall in June. She will join the ancestors on December
25, 2008.
1931 – James Earl Jones is born in Arkabutla, Mississippi. He will
become renowned as an actor, both on the stage and the
screen, earning a Tony award in 1969 for his portrayal of
boxing great Jack Johnson in the “The Great White Hope” as
well as acclaim for his Broadway roles in “A Lesson From
Aloes,” “Fences,” and many others. Among his film and
television credits will be the voice of Darth Vader in
“Star Wars” and leading roles in “Paris” and “Gabriel’s
Fire.”
1931 – Lawrence Douglas Wilder is born in Richmond, Virginia. He
will graduate from Virginia Union University and serve in
the U.S. Army in Korea, where he will receive the Bronze
Star for heroism. He will attend and graduate from, the
Howard University School of Law and become a successful
trial attorney. In 1969, he will be elected as Virginia’s
first African American state senator since Reconstruction.
In 1985, he will become Virginia’s first African American
Lieutenant Governor. He will make history for a third time
on January 13, 1990, when he takes office as the first
elected African American governor in U.S. history.
1942 – Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. is born in Louisville, Kentucky.
Early in his boxing career, Clay converts to Islam. As
Muhammad Ali, he is one of the first African American
athletes to intermingle political and social consciousness
with sports. He will become the dominant heavyweight boxer
of the 1960s and 1970s, winning an Olympic gold medal,
capturing the professional world heavyweight championship
on three separate occasions, and defend his title
successfully 19 times. Ali’s extroverted, colorful style,
both in and out of the ring, will introduce a new mode of
media-conscious athletic celebrity. Through his strong
assertions of Black pride, his conversion to the Muslim
faith, and his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War, Ali
will become a highly controversial symbol of the turbulent
1960s.
1961 – Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary and first Congolese
Premier of the Republic of Congo, joins the ancestors after
being murdered at the age of 36, by the secessionist
Tshombe’s soldiers.
1966 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opens his civil rights campaign
in Chicago, Illinois. This marks the first time, during the
civil rights movement, that the campaign takes place in a
northern city.
1970 – John M. Burgess is installed as bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts.
1978 – Dr. Ronald McNair is named by NASA as a participant on a
space mission.
1989 – The Phoenix Suns/Miami Heat game is cancelled, due to racial
unrest in Miami.
1990 – The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, and The Platters are inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1996 – Former U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan joins the ancestors
in Austin, Texas, at the age of 59.
1998 – Louis Stokes, the first African American congressman from the
state of Ohio, announces his retirement from Congress at the
age of 73. He has been a congressman for three decades.
2000 – Nearly 50,000 people march to South Carolina’s Statehouse on
Martin Luther King Day to demand the Confederate battle flag
be taken down. They are protesting the Confederate flag as a
symbol of slavery and racism.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
January 16 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – January 16 *
1776 – The Continental Congress approves General George Washington’s
order on the enlistment of free African Americans.
1865 – General William T. Sherman issues his Field Order No. 15,
setting aside “the islands from Charleston, south, the
abandoned rice fields along the river for thirty miles back
from the sea, and the country bordering the St. John’s River,
Florida,” for exclusive settlement by African Americans. The
order provides that “each family should have a plot of not
more than forty (40) acres of tillable ground…in the
possession of which land the military authorities will afford
them protection until such time as they can protect
themselves….” General Rufus Saxton, South Carolina
Freedmen’s Bureau director, will later settle some 40,000
African Americans on forty-acre tracts in the area. In
South Carolina and other states, African American settlers
will be given possessory titles pending final action on the
confiscated and abandoned lands of Confederate rebels. Many
will never see their land, because President Johnson will
reverse the policy implemented by the Freedmen’s Bureau.
1871 – Jefferson F. Long, of Georgia, is sworn in as the second
African American congressman.
1901 – Hiram Revels joins the ancestors in Aberdeen, Mississippi, at
the age of 73. He held the distinction of being the first
African American elected to serve in the U.S. Senate.
1938 – Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson become the first African
Americans to perform at Carnegie Hall, in New York City.
Benny Goodman leads a historic jazz concert, later considered
to be one of the first “serious” jazz concerts. Goodman
refuses to perform without the two African American members
of his band. Carnegie Hall officials will relent and the
integrated band performs to critical praise with Hampton on
vibraphone and Wilson on piano.
1941 – The War Department announces formation of the first Army Air
Corps squadron for African American cadets. The 99th Pursuit
Squadron is formed and the Tuskegee Training Program is
established. The 99th will fly more than 500 missions and
more than 3,700 sorties during one year of combat before
being combined with the 332nd Fighter Group.
1941 – Dr. Charles Richard Drew sets up and runs the pioneer blood
plasma bank in Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. This
bank will serve as one of the models for the system of banks
operated later by the American Red Cross.
1962 – A suit accusing the New York City Board of Education of using
“racial quotas” is filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of
African American and Puerto Rican children.
1966 – Harold R. Perry becomes the second African American Roman
Catholic bishop in U.S. history.
1967 – Lucius D. Amerson, a former army paratrooper, becomes the first
African American sheriff in the South since Reconstruction,
when he is sworn in at Tuskegee (Macon County), Alabama.
1967 – The first Black government is installed in the Commonwealth of
the Bahamas.
1974 – Heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, is named the
Associated Press “Athlete of the Year.”
1978 – NASA names Major Frederick D. Gregory, Major Guion Bluford,
and Dr. Ronald McNair to its astronaut program.
1988 – Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, a self-styled oddsmaker and expert
on sports, is fired as a CBS Sports commentator after making
controversial remarks about athletes of African descent.
1989 – Racially motivated disturbances erupt in Miami, Florida after
a police officer fatally shoots an African American
motorcyclist, causing a crash that kills a passenger.
2012 – Today marks the first King holiday where visitors can celebrate
the legacy of the civil rights leader at the Martin Luther King,
Jr. Memorial, since it was dedicated in the fall of 2011. The
National Park Service will lay a wreath at the site and offer
educational programs throughout the day._
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
January 15 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – January 15 *
1865 – An African American division, under the command of Major
General Charles Paine, participates in the Fort Fisher,
North Carolina expedition, which will close the Confederacy’s
last major seaport.
1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is founded at Howard University in
Washington, DC. The culmination of efforts by Ethel Hedgeman
(Lyle) and eight other undergraduates, it is the first Greek-
letter organization for African American women.
1929 – Michael Luther King is born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father
will have both of their names changed to Martin Luther King,
Sr. and Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will become a Baptist
minister, world-renowned civil rights leader, and an advocate
of non-violence. His efforts, beginning with the Montgomery
bus boycott in 1955 and continuing for the next 13 years,
will fundamentally change civil rights for African Americans
and earn him a number of honors and awards, including the
Nobel Peace Prize (1964), Medal of Freedom, and the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal (1957). He will join the ancestors on April 4,
1968 after being assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee.
1941 – Yancey Williams, a Howard University student, asked a federal
court to order the Secretary of War and other government
officials to consider his application for enlistment in the
Army Air Corps as a flying cadet.
1950 – More than 4,000 delegates from one hundred national
organizations attend the National Emergency Civil Rights
Conference in Washington, DC.
1968 – Reporting the results of a “Jet” magazine poll, “The New York
Times” article “Negro History Week Stirs Up Semantic Debate”
indicates that 59% of those polled prefer the term Afro-
American or Black to Negro.
1970 – Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the nearby crypt containing
the remains of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his boyhood home
are dedicated as part of a memorial to be known as the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change.
1970 – Biafra officially surrenders to the Nigerian government and is
reintegrated into Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu had declared the
independence of the eastern province of Biafra in 1967 to
guarantee the survival of Igbos, Biafra’s ethnic majority
group. During the war with Nigeria, as many as 400,000
Biafrans died of starvation.
1990 – George Foreman knocks out Gerry Cooney in 2 rounds, at the age
of forty two.
1998 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) National
President Joseph E. Lowery, steps down from his post and
Martin Luther King, III is named the new president, the actual
birthday of SCLC Founding President, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
Publicize Crash Course: LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Path
Yesterday, we learned the ins and outs of pushing your new posts to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Today, we continue our tour of the Publicize universe with the three other social networks you can connect to from your WordPress.com account: LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Path.
The ability to share your content with different audiences quickly and easily will help you cultivate a healthy readership. Just as important, with Publicize you can tweak your sharing preferences so that each post reaches its intended destination: you can always choose which services to publish to, and what custom message to include (if any).
You can connect to these three services in exactly the same way, and from the exact same page, as the ones discussed yesterday. Simply visit Settings → Sharing in your dashboard, click “Connect” on the desired one, and authenticate your account in the window that opens. Once you’re done…
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Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Later this month, the 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Award Committee will announce the authors and illustrators recipients. “The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.”
I look forward to hearing the announcements. This announcement, as well as others, are part of the American Library Association Youth Media Awards. Many of us have called these awards the Academy Awards for authors and illustrators. These award winning books and media not only honors the authors and illustrators, but also tells the world that these are books that should be read.
Some time ago, I challenged myself to read the honor and award books from the Coretta Scott King Book Awards list http://www.ala.org/emiert/coretta-scott-king-book-awards-all-recipients-1970-present So I shall continue the challenge this year, and begin to read these books. If you do not have a reading challenge, and there are many, you can certainly join me in this challenge!
Happy reading!
January 14 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – January 14 *
1868 – The South Carolina constitutional convention, the first
official assembly in the western hemisphere with an African
American majority, meets in the Charleston Clubhouse with
seventy-six African American delegates and forty-eight white
delegates. Two-thirds of the African American delegates are
former slaves. A New York Herald reporter writes: “Here in
Charleston is being enacted the most incredible, hopeful, and
yet unbelievable experiment in all the history of mankind.”
1868 – The North Carolina constitutional convention meets in Raleigh,
with fifteen African American and one hundred eighteen whites
in attendance.
1873 – P.B.S. Pinchback is elected to the U.S. Senate. Since he had
previously been elected to Congress, he went to Washington
with the unique distinction of being both a senator-elect and
a congressman-elect.
1874 – I.D. Shadd is elected Speaker of the Lower House of the
Mississippi legislature.
1916 – Author John Oliver Killens is born in Macon, Georgia. Among
his books will be the novels “Youngblood,” and “And Then We
Heard the Thunder,” biographies of Denmark Vesey, John Henry,
and Aleksandr Pushkin, and the script for “Odds Against
Tomorrow,” a 1959 movie starring Harry Belafonte. He will join
the ancestors on October 27, 1987.
1930 – Biologist and pioneer of cell division, Ernest E Just, is named
Vice-President of the American Zoological Society.
1940 – Horace Julian Bond is born in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be
one of several hundred students from across the South who will
found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
He will become SNCC’s communications director. He will spend
over twenty years of service in the Georgia General Assembly,
after having his first elective seats denied him in the
mid-sixties. Bond will be known also for his narration of many
civil rights oriented programs, most notably, the critically
acclaimed 1987 and 1990 PBS series, “Eyes on the Prize.” He
will become Chairman of the NAACP in February, 1998.
1948 – Carl Weathers is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become an actor and is best known for his portrayal of
fictional boxer Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies.
1970 – Diana Ross and the Supremes perform their last concert
together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
1975 – William T. Coleman is named Secretary of Transportation by
President Gerald R. Ford. He is the second African American
to hold a Cabinet-level position.
1979 – After much pressure from civil rights leaders and others,
President Jimmy Carter proposes Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birthday become a federal holiday.
1981 – James Frank, president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City,
Missouri, is installed as the first African American president
of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
1987 – The National Urban League’s report “State of Black America”
blasts President Reagan’s policies, stating, “Black Americans
enter 1987 besieged by the resurgence of raw racism,
persistent economic depression and the continue erosion of
past gains.”
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
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