KRLemmons African American History

October 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 9 *

1823 – Mary Ann Shadd (later Cary) is born free in Wilmington,
Delaware, the eldest of thirteen children. She will
become the publisher of Canada’s first anti-slavery
newspaper, “The Provincial Freeman”, devoted to displaced
African Americans living in Canada. This also makes her
the first woman in North America to publish and edit a
newspaper. She will then become a teacher, establishing
or teaching in schools for African Americans in
Wilmington, Delaware, West Chester, Pennsylvania, New
York, Morristown, New Jersey, and Canada. She will also
be the first woman to speak at a national Negro
convention. In 1869, she will embark on her second
career, becoming the first woman to enter Howard
University’s law school. She will become the first
African American woman to obtain a law degree and among
the first women in the United States to do so. She will
join the ancestors in 1893.

1894 – Eugene Jacques Bullard is born in Columbus, Georgia.

1906 – Leopold Senghor is born in Joal, Senegal, French West
Africa (now in Senegal). He will become a poet and
president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Senghor will
attempt to modernize Senegal’s agriculture, instill a
sense of enlightened citizenship, combat corruption and
inefficiency, forge closer ties with his African
neighbors, and continue cooperation with the French. He
will advocate an African socialism based on African
realities, free of both atheism and excessive
materialism. He will seek an open, democratic,
humanistic socialism that shunned such slogans as
“dictatorship of the proletariat.” A vigorous spokesman
for the Third World, he will protest unfair terms of
trade that work to the disadvantage of the agricultural
nations. In 1984, Senghor will be inducted into the
French Academy, becoming the first Black member in that
body’s history.

1929 – Ernest “Dutch” Morial is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He will become the first African American mayor of New
Orleans in 1978 and be re-elected in 1982.

1940 – The White House releases a statement which says that
government “policy is not to intermingle colored and
white enlisted personnel in the same regimental
organizations.”

1959 – Mike Singletary is born in Houston, Texas. He will
become a second-round draft pick for the Chicago Bears
in 1981. He will be the first or second leading tackler
for each of his eleven seasons. Over his career he will
amass 1488 tackles (885 solo), 51 passes defended, 13
fumble recoveries, and 7 interceptions. He will be an
All-NFC selection nine straight years from 1983-1991,
will be selected to ten consecutive Pro Bowls, and
Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and 1988. He will
be enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

1961 – Tanganyika becomes independent within the British
Commonwealth.

1962 – Uganda gains its independence from Great Britain.

1963 – Uganda becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth.

1989 – The first NFL game with a team coached by an African
American, Art Shell, takes place as his Los Angeles
Raiders beat the New York Jets 14-7 on Monday Night
Football.

1999 – Milt Jackson, a jazz vibraphonist who made the instrument
sing like the human voice as a longtime member of the
Modern Jazz Quartet, joins the ancestors at the age of
76. He succumbs to liver cancer in a Manhattan hospital.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 8 *

1775 – A council of general officers decides to bar slaves and
free African Americans from serving in the Continental
Army.

1930 – Faith Ringgold is born in New York City. She will become
a multimedia artist whose paintings, face masks, fabric
and soft sculptures, and quilts will earn her praise for
her reaffirmation of African American women’s values and
unique perspective.

1941 – Rev. Jesse L. Jackson is born in Greenville, South
Carolina. He will be a civil rights leader and founder
of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in
1971, an organization that will focus attention on the
economic disparity between whites and African Americans.
In 1988, he will be a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination.

1950 – Robert “Kool” Bell is born. He will become a Rhythm and
Blues singer and will become the leader of his own group,
“Kool & the Gang.”

1963 – The Sultan of Zanzibar cedes his mainland possessions to
Kenya.

1969 – Police officers and African Americans exchange sniper
fire on Chicago’s West Side. One youth is killed and
nine policemen are injured.

1992 – The Nobel Prize for literature is awarded to West Indies
poet, Derek Walcott.

1993 – The U.N. General Assembly lifted almost all its remaining
economic sanctions against South Africa, begun in the
1960s and built up in subsequent years because of
Pretoria’s policy of racial apartheid.

1999 – Laila Ali, the 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali,
makes her professional boxing debut by knocking out
opponent April Fowler 31 seconds after the opening bell
in Verona, New York.

2009 – Abu Talib, bluesman who recorded and toured with Ray Charles
and Little Walter under his given name, Freddy Robinson,
joins the ancestors in Lancaster, California after
succumbing to cancer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 7 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 7 *

1821 – William Still is born in Burlington County, New Jersey.
He will become an abolitionist and will be involved in
the anti-slavery movement working for the Pennsylvania
Society for the Abolition of Slavery. After the Civil
War, he will chronicle the personal accounts of former
runaway slaves, who had traveled on the Underground
Railroad. His publication, “Underground Railroad,”
published in 1872, will provide a revealing look into
the activities of the flight of fugitive slaves. Still
will be a civil rights activist, researcher and writer,
until he joins the ancestors on July 14, 1902.

1857 – Moses Fleetwood Walker is born in Steubenville, Ohio.
He will become a baseball player when he and his brother
Welday join the first baseball team at Oberlin College.
He will become a professional baseball player after
leaving Oberlin when he joins the Toledo Blue Stockings
of the Northwestern League in 1883. When he plays his
first game for the Blue Stockings in the American
Association the next year, he will become the first
African American to play in the major leagues. He will
join the ancestors on May 11, 1924. After the 1884 season,
no other African Americans will play in the major leagues
until Jackie Robinson in 1947.

1873 – Henry E. Hayne, secretary of state, is accepted as a
student at the University of South Carolina. Scores of
African Americans will attend the university in 1874 and
1875.

1886 – Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.

1888 – Sargent C. Johnson is born in Boston, Massachusetts. He
will be a pioneering artist of the Harlem Renaissance,
known for his wood, cast stone, and ceramic sculptures.
Among his most famous works will be “Forever Free” and
“Mask.

1889 – Clarence Muse is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will
become a pioneer film and stage actor. He will appear
in the second talking movie ever made and go on to appear
in a total of 219 films. His career will span over 60
years. He will join the ancestors on October 13, 1979.

1891 – Archibald John Motley, Jr. is born in New Orleans,
Louisiana. He will become one of the more renowned
painters of the 1920’s and 1930’s. He will join the
ancestors on January 16, 1981.

1897 – Elijah Poole is born in Sandersville, Georgia. He will
become better known as The Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
one of the most influential leaders in the Nation of
Islam. Poole will be trained by Master Wallace Fard
Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam, and will lead
the organization to become the largest African American
movement since Garveyism until he joins the ancestors
on February 25, 1975.

1931 – Desmond Mpilo Tutu is born in Klerksdorp, South Africa.
He will become the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1984, and
Archbishop of the Anglican Church (First Anglican bishop
of African descent) of Johannesburg, South Africa.

1934 – LeRoi Jones is born in Newark, New Jersey. He will be
better known as Amiri Baraka, influential playwright,
author, and critic of the African American experience.

1954 – Marian Anderson becomes the first African American singer
hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

1981 – Egypt’s parliament names Vice President Hosni Mubarak to
succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat.

1984 – Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as NFL’s career rushing
leader.

1985 – Lynette Woodward, is chosen as the first woman to play
with the Harlem Globetrotters.

1989 – Ricky Henderson steals a record 8 bases in a play off
(5 games).

1993 – Writer, Toni Morrison, is awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature.

1995 – Coach Eddie Robinson, of Grambling State University, wins
his 400th game and sets a NCAA record that clearly
establishes him as a legend.

1997 – MCA Records offers, for sale, fifteen previously
unreleased tracks of legendary guitarist, Jimi Hendrix.
Hendrix joined the ancestors in 1970.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 6 *

1776 – Henri Christophe is born a slave in Grenada. He will
become a Haitian revolutionist and ruler and also become
provisional chief of northern Haiti. He will establish
himself as King Henri I in the north and build Citadelle
Laferriere.

1847 – National Black convention meets in Troy, New York, with
more than sixty delegates from nine states. Nathan
Johnson of Massachusetts is elected president.

1868 – An African American state convention at Macon, Georgia,
protests expulsion of African American politicians from
the Georgia legislature.

1871 – The Fisk Jubilee Singers begin their tour to raise money
for the school. Soon they will become one of the most
popular African American folk-singing groups of the late
19th century, performing throughout the U.S. and Europe
and raising large sums for Fisk’s building program.

1917 – Fannie Lou Hamer is born near Ruleville, Mississippi. She
will become a leader of the civil rights movement during
the 1960’s and founder of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party in Montgomery County, Mississippi.

1921 – Joseph Echols Lowery is born in Huntsville, Alabama. An
early civil rights activist, he will become a founder,
chairman of the board, and president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. He will lead SCLC to
great levels of civil rights activism including a 2,700
mile pilgrimage to extend and strengthen the Voting
Rights Act, protesting toxic waste sites in African
American communities, and actions against United States’
corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa.

1965 – Patricia Harris takes the post as U.S. Ambassador to
Belgium, becoming the first African American U.S.
ambassador.

1981 – Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, is assassinated by
extremists while reviewing a military parade.

1986 – Abram Hill joins the ancestors in New York City. He was
the founder of the city’s American Negro Theatre in 1940,
where the careers of Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, and
Sidney Poitier were launched. Hill’s adaptation of the
play “Anna Lucasta” premiered on Broadway in 1944 and
ran successfully for 900 performances.

1991 – Williams College’s exhibit of African American photography
– “Black Photographers Bear Witness: 100 Years of Social
Protest” opens. The exhibit includes photography by C.M.
Battey, James Van Der Zee, Marvin and Morgan Smith,
Moneta Sleet, Carrie Mae Weems, and others.

1991 – Anita Hill, a former personal assistant to Supreme Court
justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accuses Thomas of sexual
harassment (from 1981-83) during his confirmation
hearings.

1994 – South African President, Nelson Mandela, addresses a joint
session of Congress. He will warn against the lure of
isolationism, saying the U.S. post-Cold War focus should
be on eliminating “tyranny, instability and poverty”
across the globe.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 5 *

1867 – Monroe Baker, a well-to-do African American businessman,
is named mayor of St. Martin, Louisiana. He is probably
the first African American to serve as mayor of a town.

1872 – Booker T. Washington leaves Malden, West Virginia to enter
Hampton Institute.

1878 – George B. Vashion joins the ancestors after succumbing to
yellow fever in Rodney, Mississippi. He was the first
African American lawyer in the state of New York and an
educator and poet whose most famous work was “Victor Oge”
(1854), the first narrative, nonlyrical poem by an
African American writer.

1929 – Autherine Lucy (later Foster) is born in Shiloh, Alabama.
She will be the first African American student to enroll
at the University of Alabama (1956).

1932 – Perle Yvonne Watson is born in Los Angeles, California. As
Yvonne Braithwaite, she will serve as staff attorney on
the McCone Commission investigating the causes of the
Watts riots and will become the first African American
woman elected to the California state assembly, as well
as the first African American woman elected to the House
of Representatives. She also will be the first woman to
sit on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as a
result of an appointment by Governor Brown. Some years
later, she will become the first woman elected to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

1985 – Grambling’s coach Eddie Robinson wins his record 324th
college football game.

1992 – Eddie Kendrick, one of the original members of the Motown
group, The Temptations, joins the ancestors after
succumbing to lung cancer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 4 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 4 *

1864 – The National Black Convention meets in Syracuse, New York.

1864 – The New Orleans Tribune, the first African American daily
newspaper, is founded by Dr. Louis C. Roudanez. The
newspaper, published in both English and French, starts
as a tri-weekly, but soon becomes an influential daily.

1934 – Malvin Gray Johnson joins the ancestors in New York City.
His deceptively simple paintings, with their warm colors
and serene, sensuous charm, had earned him a large and
loyal group of admirers during the Harlem Renaissance.

1935 – Joe Walcott, World Welterweight Boxing Champion during
the early 1900’s, joins the ancestors after being struck
and killed by a car. He is perhaps the only West Indian
(from Barbados), universally recognized as a boxing
legend. Walcott stood at five feet, one and a half
inches, his fighting weight at 142 pounds, basically a
midget version of Mike Tyson. His short powerful
physique enabled him to bob and weave, catching his
opponent’s punches on his powerful shoulders and his
granite-like head.

1937 – Lee Patrick Brown is born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. He will
become one of the top-ranking law-enforcement executives
in the United States, first as Public Safety Commissioner
in Atlanta, Georgia, then as the first African American
police chief in Houston, Texas, the second African
American police commissioner for New York City, and the
first African American mayor of Houston.

1943 – Hubert Gerold Brown is born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He will be better known as H. Rap Brown, become a Black
nationalist and chairman of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, and later the
Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party. He will be
most famous for his proclamation during that period that
“violence is as American as cherry pie”, as well as once
stating that “If America don’t come around, we’re gonna
burn it down”. He is also known for his autobiography “Die
Nigger Die!”. He will spend five years (1971-1976) in
New York’s Attica Prison after a robbery conviction. While
in prison, he will convert to Islam and change his name to
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin. After his release, he will open a
grocery store in Atlanta, Georgia and become a Muslim
spiritual leader and community activist, preaching against
drugs and gambling in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. He
will be sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of
parole, for the 2000 shooting of two Fulton County Sheriff’s
deputies, one of whom joins the ancestors.

1944 – Dancer Pearl Primus makes her Broadway debut at the
Belasco Theater. She will become widely known for
blending the African and American dance traditions.

1944 – Patricia Holt is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She
will become a singer known as Patti LaBelle and will be
a lead with the Ordettes, the Bluebells, and LaBelle.
She will eventually debut a solo career performing over
90 concerts a year. She will publish her life story,
“Don’t Block The Blessings: Revelations of a Lifetime.”

1945 – Clifton Davis is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will
become an actor and singer, performing in “That’s My
Mama,” and “Amen” on television. He will also become a
minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

1966 – Lesotho (Basutoland) gains its independence from Great
Britain.

1976 – Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz resigns in the wake
of a controversy over a joke he had made about Blacks.

1991 – The Harold Washington Library in Chicago, Illinois is
dedicated in the memory of its beloved former mayor.

1994 – Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vows in
an address to the U.N. General Assembly, to return to
Haiti in 11 days.

1994 – President Clinton welcomes South African President Nelson
Mandela to the White House.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 3 *

1856 – T. (Timothy) Thomas Fortune is born a slave in Marianna,
Florida. In Chicago on January 25, 1890, he will
co-found the militant National Afro-American League to
right wrongs against African Americans authorized by law
and sanctioned or tolerated by public opinion. The league
will fall apart after four years. When it is revived in
Rochester, New York on September 15, 1898, it will have
the new name of the “National Afro-American Council”,
with him as President. Those two organizations will play
a vital role in setting the stage for the Niagara Movement,
NAACP, and other civil rights organizations to follow. He
will also be the leading advocate of using “Afro-American”
to identify his people. Since they are “African in origin
and American in birth”, it is his argument that it most
accurately defines them. With himself at the helm as co-
owner with Emanuel Fortune, Jr. and Jerome B. Peterson, the
New York Age will become the most widely read of all Black
newspapers. It will stand at the forefront as a voice
agitating against the evils of discrimination, lynching,
mob violence, and disenfranchisement. Its popularity is due
to his editorials which condemn all forms of discrimination
and demand full justice for all African Americans. Ida B.
Wells’s newspaper “Memphis Free Speech and Headlight” will
have its printing press destroyed and building burned as
the result of an article published in it on May 25, 1892. He
will then give her a job and a new platform from which to
detail and condemn lynching. His book, “The Kind of Education
the Afro-American Most Needs” is published in 1898. He will
publish “Dreams of Life: Miscellaneous Poems” in 1905. After
a nervous breakdown, he will sell the New York Age to Fred R.
Moore in 1907, who will continue publishing it until 1960.
He will publish another book, “The New York Negro in
Journalism” in 1915. He will join the ancestors on June 2,
1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1904 – The Daytona Normal and Industrial School opens in Daytona
Beach, Florida. In 1923, the school merges with Cookman
Institute and becomes Bethune-Cookman College. One of
the leading institutions for training teachers, founder
Mary McLeod Bethune will later say the college was
started on “faith and a dollar and a half.”

1926 – Marques Haynes is born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. He will
become a professional basketball player with the Harlem
Globetrotters after four years at Langston University. He
will be known as “The World’s Greatest Dribbler.” In the
publication, “Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic”
(1988), he will be cited as dribbling the ball as many as
six times a second. He will retire in 1992 after a 46-year
professional career as player and coach. He will be
inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on October 2,
1998.

1935 – Ethiopia is invaded by Italy, despite Emperor Haile
Selasse’s pleas for help to the League of Nations.

1941 – Ernest Evans is born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina.
Later adopting the name “Chubby Checker” after the
renowned Fats Domino, his best-known recording will be
the 1960’s “The Twist,” which will spark the biggest
dance craze since the Charleston in the 1920’s. In
September 2008, “The Twist” will top Billboard
Magazine’s list of the most popular singles to have
appeared in the “Hot 100” since its debut in 1958.

1949 – The first African American owned radio station, WERD-AM
in Atlanta, Georgia, is founded by Jesse Blanton, Sr.

1950 – Ethel Waters becomes the first African American star in
a TV series, when “Beulah” is aired.

1951 – Dave Winfield is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He will
be selected in four major sports league drafts in 1973
– NFL, NBA, ABA, and MLB. He will choose baseball and
play in 12 All-Star Games over a 20-year career with
the San Diego Padres, the New York Yankees, and the
California Angels.

1974 – Frank Robinson is named manager of the Cleveland Indians.
He becomes the first African American manager in major
league baseball.

1979 – Artist Charles White, joins the ancestors at the age of
61 in Los Angeles, California.

1989 – Art Shell is named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.
He is the first African American coach named in the
National Football League in over 60 years.

1994 – U.S. soldiers in Haiti raid the headquarters of a pro-
army militia that is despised by the general Haitian
population.

1994 – Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announces his
resignation because of questions about gifts he had
received.

1994 – South African President Nelson Mandela addresses the
United Nations, urging the world to support his
country’s economy.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2 *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization. He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 1 *

1851 – William “Jerry” Henry, a runaway slave and craftsman who had
settled in Syracuse, New York, is arrested by a United
States Marshal and scheduled to be returned to slavery.
Ten thousand citizens of the city will storm the sheriff’s
office and courthouse, free Henry, and aid his escape to
Canada via the underground railroad.

1872 – Morgan State College (now University) is founded in
Baltimore, Maryland.

1886 – Kentucky State College (now University) is founded in
Frankfort, Kentucky.

1897 – Virginia Proctor Powell, first female African American
librarian is born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She will
follow in her mother’s footsteps and continue her education
at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1919, She will earn
her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin.
She will move back to Pittsburgh where, although having
adequate training and experience, she was unable to pursue her
desired goal of teaching and spent some time working at her
aunt’s salon as a beautician. Aware of her passion for children
and books, Charles Wilbur Florence, her future husband, will
encourage her to pursue a career in librarianship. During a
time when African Americans were rarely considered for
admission into predominantly white universities, she will be
considered for admission into the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library
School (now the University of Pittsburgh School of Information
Sciences). There is much debate about allowing a Black person
into the program. School officials were concerned with how
white students might react to having a Black peer and the
likelihood that she would not find work upon completion of the
program. She will finish the program in 1923. OVer time she
would work as a librarian in Richmond, Virginia and Washington,
D.C. She will join the ancestors in Richmond, Virginia in 1991.

1937 – The Pullman Company formally recognizes the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters.

1937 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Walter White, NAACP
secretary, for his leadership and work in the anti-
lynching movement.

1945 – Donny Hathaway is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will be
an influential pop and Rhythm & Blues singer of the 1970s
whose hit songs will include “The Ghetto” and “The Closer
I Get to You” (with Roberta Flack). His collaborations with
Roberta Flack will score high on the charts and win him the
Grammy Award for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with
Vocal” for the duet, “Where Is the Love” in 1973. He will join
the ancestors, after commiting suicide, on January 13, 1979.

1945 – Rodney Cline “Rod” Carew, baseball Hall of Famer, is born in Gatún,
Panama, (formally Panama Canal Zone). He will win the American
League’s Rookie of the Year award in 1967 and be elected to the
first of 18 consecutive All-Star game appearances. He will steal
home seven times in the 1969 season to lead the majors, just
missing Ty Cobb’s Major League record of eight and the most in the
major leagues since Pete Reiser stole seven for the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1946. His career total of 17 steals of home currently
puts him tied for 17th on the list with former New York Giant MVP
Larry Doyle and fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Collins. In 1972, He
will lead the American League in batting, hitting .318, and
remarkably, without hitting a single home run for the only time in
his career. He is, to date, the only player in the American League
or in the modern era to win the batting title with no home runs.
In 1975, he will join Ty Cobb as the only players to lead both the
American and National Leagues in batting average for three
consecutive seasons. In the 1977 season, he will bat .388, which is
the highest since Boston’s Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, and win
the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. He will be
inducted into MLB Hall of Fame in 1991. He will also be inducted
into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame.

1945 – Heavyweight champion, Joe Louis, is discharged from the
army.

1947 – United States’ control of Haitian Custom Service and
governmental revenue ends.

1948 – The California Supreme Court voids state statute banning
interracial marriages.

1948 – Edward Dudley is named Ambassador to Liberia.

1951 – The 24th Infantry Regiment, last of the all African
American military units authorized by Congress in 1866,
is deactivated in Korea.

1954 – The British colony of Nigeria becomes a federation.

1955 – Howard Hewitt is born in Akron, Ohio. He will move to Los
Angeles where he would eventually meet Soul Train dancer
and future first wife Rainey Riley-Cunningham, then a
secretary of the show’s creator and original host Don
Cornelius. It was Cornelius who introduced him to fellow
Soul Train dancers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel, and
their group, Shalamar, was born. The trio is best known
for songs such as “Second Time Around”, “A Night to
Remember”, “Dancing in the Sheets” and the ballad “This Is
For The Lover In You”. He will be the group’s lead singer
from 1979 until 1985. When Shalamar breaks up in the mid
1980s, he will go on to pursue a solo career. In 1986 he
will be arrested and indicted in Miami with his fiance Mori
Molina for possession with an intent to distribute cocaine.
He subsequently married Molina who will be convicted and
serve prison time. He will then be acquitted of the charges.
He will sign with Elektra Records and record 1986’s I Commit
To Love (R&B #12), a relatively solid urban album that will
yielded two R&B hits, “I’m For Real” (R&B #2) and “Stay”
(R&B #8). The album will also include “Say Amen”, a gospel
tune that became a surprise hit on the Gospel charts and is
his signature song. He will contribute vocals to La Toya
Jackson’s Hot 100 hit single “Heart Don’t Lie” in 1984.

1960 – Nigeria proclaims its independence from Great Britain.

1961 – East & West Cameroon merge and become the Federal
Republic of Cameroon.

1963 – Nigeria becomes a republic within the British
Commonwealth.

1966 – The Black Panther party is founded in Oakland, California
by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

1977 – Brazilian soccer great, Pele’, retires with 1,281 goals
in 1,363 games.

1989 – Dallas Cowboy, Ed “Too Tall” Jones records his 1,000th
NFL tackle.

1991 – Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell assumes her duties as dean of
New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A noted
art historian, Schmidt had previously served as
commissioner of cultural affairs, director of the
Studio of Harlem, and chair of the Smithsonian
Institution’s Advisory Committee that recommended
creation of a national African American museum.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 30 *

1935 – John Royce “Johnny” Mathis is born in San Francisco,
California. He will become a romantic pop singer who will
amass more than 50 gold and platinum records for such hits
as “Misty”. He will also have the distinction of having
an album on the Billboard pop charts for the longest
period, 560 weeks.

1935 – “Porgy and Bess,” a folk opera by composer George Gershwin,
has its premiere in Boston at the Colonial Theatre. It
was a flop! It was revived in 1942 and ran longer than any
revival in the history of American musical theater.

1942 – Franklin Joseph “Frankie” Lymon is born in New York City.
He will become the lead singer of Frankie Lymon and the
Teenagers and will record his signature song, “Why Do Fools
Fall in Love?,” at age fourteen. He will develop a serious
drug problem before he turns twenty and will join the
ancestors after succumbing to a drug overdose on the
bathroom floor of his grandmother’s apartment at age 25,
on February 27, 1968.

1943 – Marilyn McCoo (Davis) is born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
She will become a singer with the group, “The Fifth
Dimensions”. Some of the hits with the group will be “Up,
Up and Away,” and “Aquarius.” She will have a solo hit,
“One Less Bell to Answer,” and will record “You Don’t
Have to be a Star” with her husband, Billy Davis, Jr. She
will later become a TV hostess for “Solid Gold” from
1981-1984, and from 1986-88. She will also be a TV music
reporter for “Preview.”

1962 – A large force of federal marshals escorts James H. Meredith
to the campus of the University of Mississippi. President
Kennedy federalizes the Mississippi National Guard.
University of Mississippi students and adults from Oxford,
Mississippi, and other southern communities riot on the
university campus. Two persons are killed and one hundred
or more are wounded.

1966 – Bechuanaland becomes the independent Republic of Botswana
with Sir Seretse Khama as its first President.

1975 – Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier square off in a fight billed
as “The Thrilla in Manila”. Ali will win the fight and
retain his world heavyweight title when, after 14 rounds,
Frazier’s trainer refuses to let him continue.

1976 – Two Centuries of Black American Art opens at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. The exhibit features over 60
lithographers, painters, and sculptors including 19th
century masters Joshua Johnston, Edward Bannister, and
Henry O. Tanner as well as modern artists Charles White,
Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett. The introduction
to the exhibit’s catalogue asserts that the assembled
artists’ work proves that the human creative impulse can
triumph in the face of impossible odds, and at times even
because of them.

1991 – President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first freely
elected president, is overthrown by a military junta.
The three-member junta that takes over begins a campaign
of terror and violence that in a three-year period will
cause the deaths of over 5000 Haitians and force tens of
thousands to flee the island by boat. Jean-Bertrand
Aristide sat in the presidency for only seven months.

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