The woman for March 3 is Juanita Kidd Stout, the first African American woman to serve on a state supreme in Pennsylvania. Find out more about this woman by clicking on the links below:
NYTimes Obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/24/us/j-k-stout-pioneering-judge-in-pennsylvania-is-dead-at-79.html
Library of Congress American Memory: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmss5/judg_attys.html
Today in Black History – March 3 *
1820 – In an attempt to resolve the conflict between pro and
antislavery forces, the Missouri Compromise becomes law. In
the final law, Missouri joins the Union as a slave state
while Maine joins as a free one. The measure prohibits
slavery to the north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
1821 – Thomas L. Jennings receives a patent for an invention to “dry
scour” (dry clean) clothes. It is the earliest known patent
granted to an African American.
1865 – Congress establishes the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedman’s Bureau, to
provide health and education to newly freed slaves displaced
by the Civil War.
1865 – Congress charters Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Bank with
business confined to African Americans.
1869 – The University of South Carolina is opened to all races. Two
African Americans, B.A. Boseman and Francis L. Cardozo were
elected to a seven-man board of trustees.
1896 – The South Carolina legislature passes a measure creating the
Colored Normal Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical
College (later South Carolina State) in Orangeburg.
1931 – Cab Calloway records the classic “Minnie The Moocher,” a song
that would be forever linked to him. The song combined
scat-singing with nonsense syllables and lyrics of drug use,
recounting how Minnie and her cocaine-using lover, Smokey
Joe, went to Chinatown, where “he showed her how to kick the
gong around” – slang for opium smoking.
1962 – Jacqueline Joyner (later Kersee) is born in East Saint Louis,
Illinois. She will become an Olympic champion, winning two
medals (silver in 1984 and gold in 1988) in the heptathlon
and another gold medal in the long jump at the 1988 Games in
Seoul, South Korea.
1967 – Grenada gains partial independence from Great Britain.
1988 – Juanita Kidd Stout becomes the first African American woman to
serve on a state supreme court when she is sworn in as an
associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
1991 – Motorist Rodney King is severely beaten by four Los Angeles
police officers after a high-speed chase in a scene captured
on home video by George Holliday.
1998 – Larry Doby, the second African American to play major league
baseball and the first African American to play in the
American League (Cleveland Indians), is selected for
induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
2013 – Bobby Rogers, an original member of Motown’s group, “The Miracles,”
joins the ancestors. His passing was confirmed by the group’s
longtime front man, Smokey Robinson. Robinson, Rogers and the
rest of the Miracles were a cornerstone act for writer-producer
Berry Gordy’s infant Motown Records, putting songs such as “Shop
Around,” “Tracks of My Tears” and “The Tears of a Clown” on the R&B
and pop charts throughout the 1960s. After Robinson left the group,
the Miracles had a No. 1 hit with “Love Machine” in 1976. When the
group disbanded in the late 1970s, Rogers started an interior design
business. The Miracles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 2012.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
In 1990, Carole Gist, from Detroit, Michigan, is crowned Miss USA. She becomes the first African American to win the title.
Information about Ms. Gist can be found at following website below:
Google News: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19910223&id=fgchAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dXYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5284,2983043
Today in Black History – March 2 *
1807 – “The importation of slaves into the United States or the
territories thereof” after January 1, 1808 is banned by
Congress. Although abolitionists will hail the ban, it will
not significantly affect the U.S. supply of slaves. Illegal
importation will continue through Florida and Texas. The law
also has no provision to restrict the internal slave trade,
and the reproduction rate of American slaves is high enough
to allow an active trade. Therefore the domestic slave trade
continues to prosper after 1808.
1867 – Howard University is chartered by Congress in Washington, DC.
Also founded or chartered are Talladega College in Talledega,
Alabama, Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, Johnson
C. Smith College in Charlotte, North Carolina, and St.
Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina.
1867 – The first of a succession of Reconstruction acts is passed by
Congress. The acts divide the former Confederate states into
five military districts under the command of army generals.
1867 – African Americans vote in municipal election in Alexandria,
Virginia, for perhaps the first time in the South. The
election commissioners refuse to count the fourteen hundred
votes and military officials suspend local elections pending
clarification of the status of the freedmen.
1867 – Elections are ordered for constitutional conventions and
freedmen are enfranchised. Commanders in some states change
the status of African Americans by military orders. Major
General E.R.S. Canby opens the jury box to African Americans.
African Americans are named policemen in Mobile, Alabama.
1885 – George W. Williams, minister, lawyer and historian, is named
minister to Haiti. The appointment is vacated by the new
administration.
1896 – In the battle of Aduwa, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) defeats the
troops of the invading Italians.
1919 – Claude A. Barnett establishes the Associated Negro Press (ANP),
the first national news service for African American
newspapers. The goal of the ANP is to provide national news
releases to African American publishers. The ANP will operate
for the next 48 years and have, at one time, 95% of all
African American newspapers as subscribers.
1921 – Harry Pace establishes Pace Phonograph Corporation to produce
records on the Black Swan label. It is the first African
American owned and operated record company and will record
blues, jazz, spirituals, and operatic arias.
1957 – Mark Dean is born in Jefferson City, Tennessee. He will
receive a BSEE degree from the University of Tennessee in
1979, a MSEE degree from Florida Atlantic University in
1982, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford
University in 1992. He will become an engineer for the IBM
Corporation. During his career with IBM, he will hold
several engineering positions in the area of computer
system hardware architecture and design. He will work on
establishing the strategy, architecture, design and
business plan for proposed video server offerings and
studyd the technology and business opportunity for settop
boxes. He will also be chief engineer for the development
of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 & 80, the
Color Graphics Adapter and numerous other subsystems. He
will become an IBM Fellow and Vice President of Systems in
IBM Research. He will be responsible for the research and
application of systems technologies spanning circuits to
operating environments. Key technologies in his research
team will include cellular systems structures (Blue Gene),
digital visualization, DA tools, Linux optimizations for
Pervasive, SMPs & Clusters, Settop Box integration, MXT,
S/390 & PowerPC processors, super dense servers, formal
verification methods and high speed low power circuits.
His awards will include induction as a member of the
National Academy of Engineering, the Black Engineer of the
Year Award, the NSBE Distinguished Engineer award, the
Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award, induction
into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in Akron, OH and
recipient of the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award
in Washington, DC. He will be appointed to IBM Fellow in
1995, IBM’s highest technical honor. Only 50 out of
310,000 IBM employees have the level of IBM Fellow. He will
also be a member of the IBM Academy of Technology, serving
on the Technology Council Board. He will receive several
academic and IBM awards, including thirteen Invention
Achievement Awards and six Corporate Awards. He will also
have more than 30 patents or patents pending.
1961 – 180 African American students and a white minister are arrested
in Columbia, South Carolina after anti-segregation march.
1962 – Philadelphia 76er Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in an NBA
game against the New York Knicks. It is a feat Chamberlain
will repeat but one which has not been equaled by another NBA
player to date.
1963 – Suzette DeGaetano is born in Mays Landing, New Jersey. As
Suzette Charles, she will represent New Jersey in the 1984
Miss America competition. She will win the preliminary talent
competition but will finish as first runner-up to Vanessa Lynn
Williams. When Williams is asked to resign her crown after
nude photographs of her came to light, Charles will be
declared to be the second Miss America for 1984, making her
the second African American Miss America after Williams.
1980 – Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns wins the vacant USBA Welterweight
title. This is one of five weight classes in which he wins
a boxing title, making him the first African American to win
boxing titles in five different weight classes.
1986 – Sidney Barthelemy is elected mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana,
succeeding Ernest Morial as the second African American mayor
of the city.
1988 – J. Saunders Redding, author, joins the ancestors in Ithaca,
New York at the age of 81.
1990 – Carole Gist, of Detroit, Michigan, is crowned Miss USA. She
becomes the first African American to win the title.
2003 – Hank Ballard, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, joins the
ancestors after succumbing to throat cancer in Los Angeles,
California. He wrote “The Twist” and other hits.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
Ralph Waldo Ellison, the author of the classic book Invisible Man was born on March 1. Information on this author can be found by clicking on the following links:
Library of Congress. Type Ralph Ellison in the search box and view hundreds of primary resources on this author at http://loc.gov
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/ralph-ellison/an-american-journey/587/
NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9977702
Lesson plans/activities on Invisible Man
Random House: http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679732761&view=tg
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/lessons_plans/ralph-ellisons-invisible-man/
Ms. Effie’s LifeSavers for Teachers: http://mseffie.com/AP/Invisible%20Man.pdf
In honor of Women’s History Month, I will regularly post information on famous African American women. Today’s woman is Rebecca Lee Crumpler, who was born on March 1 and became the first African American woman who earned her M.D. in 1864.
For more information about Dr. Crumpler, visit the following links below:
National Library of Medicine: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_73.html
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/partners/early/e_pioneers_crumpler.html
Today in Black History – March 1 *
1739 – The British sign a peace treaty with the Black “Chimarrones”
in Jamaica.
1780 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.
1841 – Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African American to serve a
full term in the United States Senate, is born a slave in
Prince Edward County, Virginia. He will join the ancestors on
March 17, 1898.
1864 – Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to
receive an American medical degree, when she graduates from
the New England Female Medical College in Boston. She,
along with Rebecca Cole and Susan McKinney, is one of the
first African American female physicians.
1871 – James Milton Turner is named minister to Liberia and becomes
the first African American diplomat accredited to an African
country. James W. Mason was named minister in March, 1870,
but never took his post.
1875 – The (first) Civil Rights Bill is passed by Congress. The bill,
which gives African Americans equal rights in inns, theaters,
public transportation, and other public amusements, will be
overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.
1914 – Ralph Waldo Ellison is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He
will become a well known author, best known for his book
“Invisible Man,” for which he will win the 1953 National Book
Award. He will join the ancestors on April 16, 1994.
1927 – Harry Belafonte is born in New York City. He will become a
successful folk singer, actor, and winner of the first Emmy
awarded to an African American. His commitment to civil and
human rights will lead him to march with Martin Luther King,
Jr. in Montgomery, Selma, and Washington, DC. Among his
achievements will be Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.
1940 – Richard Wright’s “Native Son” is published by Harper and
Brothers.
1949 – Joe Louis retires as heavyweight boxing champion after holding
the title for a record eleven years and eight months.
1960 – Four national chain stores announce on October 17 that
food counters in about 150 stores in 112 cities in North
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee,
Missouri, Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma have been integrated.
1960 – The Alabama State Board of Education expels nine Alabama State
University students for participating in sit-in
demonstrations.
1960 – Montgomery, Alabama, police break up a protest demonstration
on the Alabama State University campus and arrest thirty-five
students, a teacher and her husband.
1960 – San Antonio, Texas, becomes the first major Southern city to
integrate lunch counters.
1960 – Pope John elevates Bishop Laurian Rugambwa of Tanganyika to
the College of Cardinals, the first cardinal of African
descent in the modern era.
1963 – Carl T. Rowan is named United States ambassador to Finland.
1967 – The House of Representatives votes to expel Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. from the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court will
rule in 1969 that Powell will have to be seated.)
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 