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…

View original post 323 more words

KRLemmons African American History

November 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 5 *

1828 – Theodore Sedgwick Wright becomes the first African 
American person to get a Theology Degree in the United 
States, when he graduates from Princeton Theological 
Seminary.

1867 – First Reconstruction constitutional convention opens in
Montgomery, Alabama. It has eighteen African Americans 
and ninety whites in attendance.

1901 – Etta Moten (later Barnett) is born in San Antonio, Texas. 
She will become an actress starring in “Porgy and Bess” 
and have a successful career on Broadway. She will 
appear in the movie “Flying Down to Rio”(1933), singing 
and dancing the Carioca, and as a singer in “The Gold 
Diggers of 1933″(1933). In her later years, she will be 
active as an Advisory Board Member of The Black Academy 
of Arts and Letters. 

1917 – The Supreme Court (Buchanan vs Warley) rules that a 
Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance mandating blacks and 
whites live in separate areas is unconstitutional.

1926 – Negro History Week is initiated by Carter G. Woodson. 

1931 – Ike Turner is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will 
become a singer, songwriter/pianist and will join forces
in 1960 with his wife, Tina Turner.

1935 – The Maryland Court of Appeals orders the University of 
Maryland to admit African American student, Donald 
Murray.

1956 – Art Tatum, joins the ancestors at age 46 in Los Angeles, 
California. Despite impaired vision, he received formal 
training in music and developed a unique improvisational 
style. He was an accomplished jazz pianist who impressed 
even classicist Vladimir Horowitz. Perhaps the most 
gifted technician of all jazzmen, Tatum had other assets 
as well, among them an harmonic sense so acute as to make 
him an almost infallible improviser. This aspect of his 
style, as well as his great rhythmic freedom, influenced 
the young players who became the founders of a new style 
called bebop.

1956 – The Nat King Cole Show premiers. The 15-minute show 
starring the popular singer will run until June 1957 and 
reappear in July in a half-hour format. The first network 
variety series hosted by an African American star, it was
canceled due to lack of support by advertisers. 

1968 – Eight African American males and the first African American 
female, Shirley Chisholm, are elected to the U.S. Congress. 
Including previously elected Massachusetts senator Edward 
Brooke, it is the largest number of African American 
representatives to serve in Congress since the 44th 
Congress of 1875-1877. 

1970 – The National Guard is mobilized in Henderson, North 
Carolina, as a result of racially motivated civil 
disturbances.

1974 – George Brown of Colorado and Mervyn Dymally of California 
are the first African American lieutenant governors elected
in the 20th century, while Walter Washington becomes the 
first African American to be elected mayor of the District 
of Columbia, and Harold Ford is elected to Congress from 
Tennessee, the first African American from the state. 

1974 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Damon J. Keith “in tribute 
to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles as 
revealed in a series of memorable decisions he handed down 
as a United States District Court judge.”

1989 – The first memorial to the civil rights movement in the 
United States is dedicated at a ceremony in Montgomery, 
Alabama. The memorial was commissioned by the Southern 
Poverty Law Center, a legal and educational organization 
located in Montgomery.

1994 – George Foreman, 45, becomes boxing’s oldest heavyweight 
champion by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round 
of their WBA fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 4 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 4 *

1872 – Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback is elected as a U.S.
congressman from Louisiana. 

1872 – Three African Americans are elected to major offices in 
Louisiana elections: C.C Antoine, lieutenant governor;
P.G. Deslonde, secretary of state; W.B. Brown, 
superintendent of public education.

1879 – T. Elkins receives a patent on the refrigeration 
apparatus.

1953 – Hulan Jack becomes first African American Manhattan 
Borough President in New York City. 

1958 – World renowned opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her 
debut in New York City.

1959 – Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs shortstop, wins the National 
League MVP.

1969 – Howard N. Lee and Charles Evers are elected the first 
African American mayors of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 
and Fayette, Mississippi respectively. 

1971 – Elgin Baylor announces his retirement from the Los 
Angeles Lakers. After 14 years in the NBA, Baylor had 
scored 23,149 points, the third highest in the league, 
and was the fifth-highest career rebounder. 

1978 – William Howard Jr. is elected president of the National 
Council of Churches, at the age of 32.

1982 – Rayford Logan joins the ancestors in Washington, DC. He 
was an educator, historian, and author of numerous books 
on African Americans, including the “Dictionary of 
American Negro Biography.” Among his honors was a 1980 
NAACP Spingarn Medal. 

1988 – Bill and Camille Cosby make a $20 million gift to Spelman 
College. In his remarks to newly inaugurated President 
Johnetta B. Cole, Cosby states, “I want Johnetta Cole to
understand the love that Camille and I have for this 
college, the love we have for women who, in spite of odds 
against them, come to this school to challenge themselves, 
to challenge the school, then to challenge what we call 
‘the outside world.'” 

1988 – The Martin L. King, Jr. Federal Building is dedicated in 
Atlanta, Georgia. It is the first federal building in the 
nation to bear the name of the slain civil rights leader.

1999 – Daisy Bates, who is best known for counseling the “Little 
Rock Nine,” joins the ancestors at the age of 84. The 
“Little Rock Nine” were the students who broke the color 
barrier at all-white Central High School in Little Rock, 
Arkansas in 1957, Her leadership helped to inch America
toward desegregated schools. She had dedicated her entire 
life to service in the civil rights struggle.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 3 *

1868 – John W. Menard, of Louisiana, is elected as the African
American representative to Congress. Menard defeats a 
white candidate, 5,107 to 2,833, in an election in 
Louisiana’s Second Congressional District to fill an 
unexpired term in the Fortieth Congress.

1874 – James Theodore Holly, an African American who emigrated 
to Haiti in 1861, is elected bishop of Haiti.

1883 – Race riots occur in Danville, Virginia, resulting in the 
death of four African Americans.

1896 – South Carolina State College is established.

1905 – Artist Lois Mailou Jones is born in Boston, Massachusetts. 
She will win her first award in 1926 and have major 
exhibitions at the Harmon Foundation, the Salon des 
Artistes Francais in Paris, the National Academy of 
Design, and many others. Despite her long career, she 
will not have a major retrospective of her work until 
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston mounts a show in her 
honor in 1973. She will join the ancestors on June 9,
1998. 

1920 – “Emperor Jones” opens at the Provincetown Theater with 
Charles Gilpin in the title role.

1933 – Louis Wade Sullivan is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will 
become the founder and first dean of the Morehouse 
School of Medicine and Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, the highest-ranking African American in the 
Bush Administration.

1942 – William L. Dawson is elected to Congress from Chicago. 

1942 – Black and white advocates of direct, nonviolent action 
organized the Congress of Racial Equality in Chicago. 
Three CORE members stage a sit-in at Stoner’s Restaurant
in Chicago’s Loop.

1942 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to Asa Philip Randolph 
“for organizing the Sleeping Car Porters under the 
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and securing 
recognition for them; and because of his fearless, 
determined mobilization of mass opinion that resulted 
in… Executive Order No. 8802, which banned racial 
discrimination in defense industries and government work.”

1945 – Irving C. Mollison, a Chicago Republican, is sworn in as 
U.S. Customs Court judge in New York City.

1945 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Paul Robeson 
“for his outstanding achievement in the theater, on the 
concert stage, and in the general field of racial 
welfare.”

1949 – Larry Holmes is born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He will 
become a professional boxer and world heavyweight 
champion from 1978 to 1985. During his reign, he will 
defend his title more times than any other heavyweight 
in history, with the exception of Joe Louis.

1953 – Jeffrey Banks is born in Washington, DC. He will become 
an influential fashion designer and the youngest designer 
to win the prestigious Coty Award, for his outstanding 
fur designs. 

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA San Francisco Warriors, scores 
72 points vs the Los Angeles Lakers.

1964 – John Conyers, Jr. is elected to the House of 
Representatives from Detroit, Michigan.

1970 – Twelve African Americans are elected to the Ninety-second 
Congress, including five new congressmen: Ralph H. 
Metcalfe (Illinois), George Collins (Illinois), Charles 
Rangel (New York), Ronald Dellums (California), and 
Parren Mitchell (Maryland).

1970 – Wilson Riles is elected as the first African American 
superintendent of Public Instruction in California. 

1970 – Richard Austin is elected as the first African American 
secretary of state in Michigan.

1974 – Harold G. Ford is elected U.S. Congressman from Tennessee. 

1978 – Dominica is granted its independence by Great Britain.

1979 – Klansmen fire on an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North 
Carolina, and kill five persons.

1981 – Coleman Young is re-elected mayor of Detroit. Thurman L. 
Milner is elected mayor of Hartford, Connecticut. James 
Chase is elected mayor of Spokane, Washington. 

1983 – Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for 
President of the United States. Although unsuccessful in 
this and a later 1988 campaign, Jackson will win many 
Democratic state primaries. His candidacy will win him 
national attention and a platform for increased 
representation by African Americans in the Democratic
Party. 

1992 – Carol Moseley Braun is the first African American woman to
be elected to the U.S. Senate. 

1992 – James Clyburn is the first African American to represent 
South Carolina since Reconstruction. He had previously 
served for 18 years as South Carolina’s Human Affairs 
Commissioner.

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

KRLemmons Uncategorized

a) political

elliottzetta's avatarFledgling

LastBunnycoverChildren’s literature is not neutral. It can be educational and entertaining, but books for kids also tell us something about our society and ourselves. As I wrote in my last HuffPo essay,

There’s clearly a direct link between the misrepresentation of Black youth as inherently criminal and the justification given by those who brazenly take their lives. The publishing industry can’t solve this problem, but the relative lack of children’s books by and about people of color nonetheless functions as a kind of “symbolic annihilation.” Despite the fact that the majority of school-age children in the US are now kids of color, the US publishing industry continues to produce books that overwhelmingly feature white children only. The message is clear: the lives of kids of color don’t matter.

I’m not a citizen so I can’t vote—and that stings a bit when I look at yesterday’s election results. But even if…

View original post 140 more words

KRLemmons African American History

November 2 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 2 *

1875 – Democrats suppress the African American vote by fraud
and violence and carry Mississippi elections. “The
Mississippi Plan” staged riots, political
assassinations, massacres and social and economic
intimidation will be used later to overthrow
Reconstruction governments in South Carolina and
Louisiana.

1903 – Business and civic leader, Maggie Lena Walker, opens
the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia,
becoming the first female bank president in the United
States.

1930 – Ras Tafari Makonnen is crowned Negus of Ethiopia, taking
the name Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Solomonic
Dynasty. His coronation will signify to thousands of
Jamaicans and Garveyites in the United States, the
fulfillment of the prophecy of their leader, Marcus
Garvey.

1954 – Charles C. Diggs becomes the first African American
representative to Congress from Michigan. He, along
with William Dawson of Illinois and Adam Clayton Powell,
Jr. of New York, comprise the largest number of African
Americans to date in Congress in the 20th century. Diggs
will leave Congress in 1980 after being convicted of
mail fraud and being censured by Congress.

1954 – NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Dr. Theodore K.
Lawles for his research on skin-related diseases.

1958 – Willie McGee, baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals and
1985 National League MVP), is born.

1979 – Black activist Joanne Chesimard escapes from a New Jersey
prison, where she was serving a life sentence for the
1973 slaying of a New Jersey state trooper. Chesimard,
who takes the name Assata Shakur successfully flees the
United States to Cuba.

1982 – Katie B. Hall is elected the first African American
congressional representative from Indiana.

1983 – President Ronald Reagan signs a bill to establish a
federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s birthday on the third Monday in January. It is
the culmination of the efforts by many civil rights
organizations and entertainers to name King’s birthday
as a national holiday.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 1 *

1787 – The first free school for African Americans, the African
Free School opens in New York City.

1866 – The first Civil Rights Act is passed over the veto of
President Andrew Johnson.

1901 – Grambling State University is founded in Grambling,
Louisiana as the “Colored Industrial and Agricultural
School” under the leadership of Charles P. Adams.

1910 – The first edition of Crisis magazine is published by the
NAACP with W.E.B. Du Bois as its editor.

1927 – Florence Mills joins the ancestors in New York City after
being hospitalized for an appendectomy at the age of 32.
She was one of the most popular entertainers of her day,
appearing in “Shuffle Along” and “From Broadway to Dixie”
as well as having successful tours in the United States
and Europe.

1940 – In the foreword to his book, “The Negro in Art”, Howard
University professor Alain Locke introduces the most
extensive retrospective of African American art published
to date. The selections appearing in the book span almost
300 years and include the work of 100 black artists from
Europe and the United States including Joshua Johnston,
Edward Bannister, Henry O. Tanner, Romare Bearden, Hale
Woodruff, Palmer Hayden, Allan Crite, James A. Porter,
and James Lesesne Wells, among others.

1942 – John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of Negro Digest.

1945 – The first issue of Ebony magazine is published in Chicago,
Illinois. The second publication of John H. Johnson’s
fledgling company, Ebony will be the catalyst for a
communications empire that will eventually include
magazines, book publishing, and radio.

1946 – Dr. Charles S. Johnson becomes the first African American
president of Fisk University.

1951 – Jet magazine is founded by John H. Johnson, publisher of
Ebony magazine.

1981 – Antigua & Barbuda gain independence from Great Britain.

1998 – John Kagwe of Kenya wins the New York City Marathon for
the second consecutive year.

1999 – Former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, the NFL’s
all-time leading rusher, joins the ancestors after
succumbing to bile duct cancer at the age of 45.

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