KRLemmons African American History

November 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 8 *

1920 – Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Florida. She
will become an actress, primarily on television. She
will win an Emmy Award for her role in “Summer of My
German Soldier”. She will be best-known, however, for
her role as Florida, in the television sit-com, “Good
Times.” Even though Ms. Rolle will play characters who
worked as maids, off-stage, she will be a tireless
crusader against black stereotypes in Hollywood. She
will join the ancestors in 1998 at the age of 78. Note:
At the time of her death, her manager will give her date
of birth as November 8, 1920, though some references
list the year as 1922.

1932 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Robert R. Moton,
president of Tuskegee Institute, for his “thoughtful
leadership in conservative opinion and action.”

1938 – Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, is elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is the first
African American woman elected to a state legislature.

1947 – Minnie Ripperton is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
study opera under Marion Jeffrey. She will spend months
and months learning how to breathe and listening to and
holding vowels. Eventually, she will begin singing
operas and operettas with a show tune every so often.
Despite her natural talent (a pure five to six octave
soprano) for opera, Minnie will be more attracted to
“Rock N Roll” and the promise of a touring career. She
will eventually discontinue her classical training to
follow her dream of becoming a famous songstress. It
will, however, be her classical training which will
bring her recording success. She will be best known for
her recording of “Loving You.” She will join the
ancestors in July, 1979 at the age of 31 after
succumbing to breast cancer.

1953 – Alfre Woodard is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She will
become an actress after her education at Boston
University, School of Fine Arts. She will receive a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television
Miniseries/Movie, an Emmy Award for Best Actress, as
well as ACE and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best
Actress for her performance in the 1997 HBO original
movie, “Miss Evers’ Boys.” Woodard’s many feature
film credits include “Star Trek: First Contact,”
“Heart and Souls,” “Primal Fear” opposite Richard Gere,
the ensemble film “How to Make An American Quilt,” Spike
Lee’s family drama, Crooklyn,” Dr. Maya Angelou’s “Down
in the Delta” starring Wesley Snipes, and “Passionfish,”
for which she will receive a 1998 Golden Globe
Nomination for Best Actress. In 1984, she will receive
an Academy Award nomination for her performance in
Martin Ritt’s “Cross Creek.”

1959 – Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scores 64 points
and sets a National Basketball Association scoring record.

1960 – Otis M. Smith is elected auditor general of Michigan and
becomes the first African American chosen in a statewide
election since Reconstruction.

1966 – Edward W. Brooke (Republican, Massachusetts), is elected
to the U.S. Senate and becomes the first African American
senator since Reconstruction and the first African
American senator elected by popular vote.

1966 – Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, the American
League’s batting and home-run champion, is named the
league’s Most Valuable Player.

1966 – John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines,
is awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “for his productive
imagination…in the perilous field of publishing” and
“for his contributions to the enhancement of the Negro’s
self-image through his publications.”

1983 – W. Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harvey Gantt
of Charlotte, North Carolina, and James A. Sharp, Jr. of
Flint, Michigan, are the first African Americans elected
mayor of their respective cities.

2011 – Dwight Arrington Myers, better known as rapper “Heavy D”,
joins the ancestors at the age of 44. He was rushed to a
Los Angeles hospital after collapsing at his Beverly Hills
home.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 7 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 7 *

1775 – Lord Dunmore, the British governor of the colony of
Virginia, issues a proclamation granting freedom to
any slave who is willing to join the British army in
its fight against the American revolutionaries. The
offer applies only to slaves owned by “rebels”. About
800 slaves will eventually accept the offer.

1876 – Edward Bouchet, is the first African American to
receive a Ph.D. from a college in the United States
(Yale University).

1876 – Edward Bannister, the first African American artist to
win wide critical acclaim, is awarded a prize at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition for his work, “Under
the Oak”.

1915 – Meharry Medical College is incorporated as a separate
entity in Nashville, Tennessee.

1916 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Col. Charles
Young, U.S. Army, for organizing the Liberian
constabulary and establishing order on the frontiers of
Liberia.

1934 – Arthur L. Mitchell, becomes the first African American
Democratic congressman (Illinois), after defeating
Republican Oscar Depriest in a Chicago election.

1938 – Delecta Clark is born in Blythesville, Arkansas. He will
become a rhythm and blues singer better known as “Dee”
Clark. He will move to Chicago as a child and be in the
Hambone Kids with Sammy McGrier and Ronny Strong. They
will recorded for Okeh Records in 1952 – the next year
Clark will sing with the Goldentones. This group will
later become the Kool Gents. Clark will go solo in 1957
and in 1958 enjoyed his first smash with “Nobody for You,”
an Abner release that will reach number three Rhythm &
Blues and just miss the Top 20 on the pop charts. He will
continue a string of R&B winners with “Just Keep It Up,”
“Hey Little Girl,” and “How About That” for Abner in 1959
and 1960. Clark will team with guitarist Phil Upchurch to
write “Raindrops” in 1961, which will become his
signature song. Raindrops will peak at number three
Rhythm & Blues and number two pop, and will be his last
major hit. He will join the ancestors in 1990.

1950 – Alexa Canady is born in Lansing, Michigan. She will
become, at age 30, the first African American female
neurosurgeon in the United States. She will be first in
her class at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
She will become one of the finest neurosurgeons in the
country, and be highly esteemed for her outstanding
ability as a pediatric surgeon and researcher. Canady
will become the director of neurosurgery at Children’s
Hospital in Detroit and a clinical professor at Wayne
State University.

1955 – In reviewing a Baltimore, Maryland case, the U.S. Supreme
Court bans segregation in public recreational areas.

1963 – Elston Howard, of the New York Yankees, becomes the first
African American to win the American League MVP award.

1967 – Carl Stokes of Cleveland, Ohio, and Richard Hatcher of
Gary, Indiana, become the first African American mayors of
these major United States cities.

1967 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Edward W. Brooke
for his public service as the first African American U.S.
senator since Reconstruction.

1967 – A report of the Senate Permanent Investigating Committee
says there were seventy-five major riots in 1967, compared
with twenty-one major riots in 1966. The committee
reports that eight-three persons were killed in 1967
riots, compared with eleven in 1966 and thirty-six in
1965.

1970 – A racially motivated civil disturbance occurs in Daytona
Beach, Florida.

1972 – Reverend Andrew Young of Atlanta, Georgia and Barbara
Jordan of Houston, Texas become the first southern
African Americans elected to Congress since Reconstruction.
Also elected for the first time was Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
(California). Republican Senator Edward W. Brooke of
Massachusetts was overwhelmingly endorsed for a second
term.

1978 – Five African Americans are elected to Congress: William Gray
III (Pennsylvania), Bennett Stewart (Illinois), Melvin
Evans (Virgin Islands), Julian Dixon (California) and
George “Mickey” Leland (Texas).

1989 – David Dinkins is the first African American elected mayor of
New York City.

1989 – L. Douglas Wilder is elected as the first African American
governor (D-Virginia) in the United States since
Reconstruction.

1990 – The National Football League withdraws its plans to hold the
1993 Super Bowl in Phoenix due to Arizona’s refusal to
honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

1991 – Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar Magic Johnson announces his
retirement from professional basketball after learning he
has tested positive for the AIDS virus.

1999 – Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in
1953, to win four straight tournaments.

1999 – Kenya’s Joseph Chebet wins the New York City Marathon.

2011 – Former Heavyweight Champion, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, succumbs to
liver cancer at the age of 67. Winner of 27 out of 32 fights,
Frazier only lost 4 times in his career, twice to George
Foreman and twice to Muhammad Ali.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 6 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 6 *

1746 – Absalom Jones, a major leader of the African American Pioneer
period, is born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware. Jones will
become a friend of Richard Allen and together they will found
the Free African Society, which would serve as a protective
society and social organization for free African Americans.
.
1844 – Spain grants the Dominican Republic its independence.

1868 – Jonathan Gibbs, minister and educator, is appointed Secretary
of State by the governor of Florida.

1884 – Author and abolitionist William Wells Brown joins the ancestors
in Chelsea, Massachusetts. An escaped slave, Brown’s
autobiography sold 10,000 copies, a record in his day. Brown
also wrote the first known travelogue by an African American
and authored the 1853 work “Clotel”; “Or The President’s
Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States”, the
first fictional work published by an African American.

1900 – James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson compose “Lift
Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” It will become known as the “Negro
National Anthem.”

1920 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to W.E.B. Du Bois for
“the founding and calling of the Pan African Congress.”

1920 – James Weldon Johnson becomes the first African American
executive secretary of the NAACP.

1928 – Oscar DePriest is elected to the Seventy-First Congress from
Illinois’ First Congressional District (Chicago). Before
becoming a U.S. Representative, DePriest was the first African
American to serve on the Chicago City Council, having been
elected alderman of the Second Ward in 1915. He is the first
African American to win a seat in the United States House of
Representatives in the twentieth century.

1928 – The Atlanta “Daily World” is founded by W.A. Scott Jr. The
newspaper will become a daily in 1933.

1928 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Charles W. Chestnutt,
the first African American to receive widespread critical
recognition as a novelist. He was cited for his “pioneer work
as a literary artist depicting the life and struggle of
Americans of Negro descent.”

1937 – Eugene Pitt is born in Brooklyn, New York. He will become a
rhythm and blues singer with The Genies – “Who’s that Knockin'”
and lead singer for The Jive Five – “Never Never,” “What Time is
It?,” “I’m a Happy Man” and “My True Story”.

1962 – Edward W. Brooke is elected Attorney General of Massachusetts,
Gerald Lamb is elected Treasurer of Connecticut, and 5 African
Americans are elected to the House of Representatives. Augustus
“Gus” F. Hawkins, becomes the first African American congressman
from the West (Los Angeles, California).

1962 – The U.N. General Assembly adopts a resolution condemning South
Africa for its apartheid policies and recommends member states
apply economic sanctions.

1973 – Coleman Young is elected as the first African American mayor
of Detroit, Michigan.

1973 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Wilson C. Riles,
the superintendent of public instruction in California, “in
recognition of the stature he has attained as a national leader
in the field of education.”

1973 – The Symbionese Liberation Army ambushes Marcus A. Foster,
superintendent of public schools in Oakland, California, after
a Board of Education meeting. Two members of the group, were
convicted of the slaying, but one of the men has his conviction
overturned, based on a legal technicality.

1973 – Thomas Bradley is elected as the first African American mayor
of Los Angeles, California. His political success was due to
his masterful use of multi-racial coalition. African Americans
at this time were not a large segment of the Los Angeles
population.

1976 – FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks is elected NAACP executive
director by the organization’s board of directors, succeeding
Roy Wilkins. He will serve the organization for 16 years,
retiring in 1992. Of his tenure he says, “We have maintained
the integrity of this organization and kept our name out front
and on the minds of those who would turn back the clock.”

1983 – Sgt. Farley Simon, a native of Grenada, becomes the first Marine
to win the Marine Corps Marathon.

1990 – Harvey Gantt, former mayor of Charlotte, NC, loses his Senate
race to incumbent Jesse Helms and the opportunity to become the
first African American senator from the South since
Reconstruction. Barbara-Rose Collins and Maxine Waters are
elected to Congress from their home districts in Michigan and
California, respectively, while Eleanor Holmes Norton is elected
as a non-voting delegate from the District of Columbia.

1990 – Arsenio Hall gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

1992 – Vernon Jordan, along with Warren Christopher, is asked to lead
the White House transition team, by President-elect William
Jefferson Clinton.

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

KRLemmons Uncategorized

quality, quantity, context

elliottzetta's avatarFledgling

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00051]I’ll be speaking on an Afrofuturism panel at Brooklyn College next week, and I hope I’ll have the chance to talk about After Earth. Most critics panned the film but for Black youth (boys in particular), that film is groundbreaking—something white reviewers just don’t get. Sometimes I think it’s not worthwhile to send my books out for review because many reviewers fail to situate the book within Black storytelling traditions and within the context of the publishing industry (what’s already available—or not). So I’m especially grateful to Charlotte over at Charlotte’s Libraryfor her thoughtful review of The Phoenix on Barkley Street and her provocative, appropriate introduction:

Quick–think of a fantasy book written for early elementary aged kids of 8 or so, where the fantasy stars a group of minority kids and takes place in an urban neighborhood where gangs and abandoned properties are big problems, just like they are…

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