KRLemmons African American History

February 22 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 22 *

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1841 – Grafton Tyler Brown is born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A
lithographer and painter, he will be the first African American
artist to create works depicting the Pacific Northwest and
California. His paintings will be collected by the Oakland
(California) Museum of Art, Washington State Museum, and private
individuals. He will join the ancestors in 1918.

1865 – Tennessee adopts a new constitution abolishing slavery. This
will allow Tennessee to become the first former confederate
state to be re-admitted to the Union.

1888 – Horace Pippin is born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His right
arm crippled in World War I (where he will earn a Purple
Heart), Pippin will paint holding the wrist of his practically
useless right arm in his left fist. The self-taught artist
will win wide acclaim for the primitive style and strong
emotional content of his work. He will join the ancestors on
July 6, 1946.

1898 – The African American postmaster of Lake City, South Carolina
joins the ancestors after being lynched. His wife and three
daughters are shot and maimed for life.

1906 – African American evangelist William J. Seymour first arrives
in Los Angeles and begins holding revival meetings. The
“Azusa Street Revival” later broke out under Seymour’s
leadership, in the Apostolic Faith Mission located at 312
Azusa Street in Los Angeles. It will be one of the pioneering
events in the history of 20th century American Pentecostalism.

1921 – Jean-Bedel Bokassa I is born in Bobangul, Oubangul-Chari,
French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African
Republic). He will become a career soldier who will seize
power from President David Dacko in a 1965 coup. In 1972 he
will proclaim himself president-for-life, ruling the country
with brutal repression, using its revenues for personal
enrichment, and crowning himself emperor in 1976. He will be
deposed in September 1979 and was imprisoned for murder in
1986 after seven years in exile. He will be pardoned in 1993
and will join the ancestors on November 3, 1996 at the age of
75.

1938 – Ishmael Scott Reed is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He will
become a poet (nominated for the National Book Award for
“Conjure”), novelist (“Yellow Back,” “Radio Broke Down,”
“Mumbo Jumbo,” “Flight to Canada”), and anthologist of the
well-received “19 Necromancers from Now” and “The Yardbird
Reader, Volume I.”

1940 – Chester ‘Chet’ Walker is born in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He
will begin his NBA All-Star career with the Philadelphia
’76ers in 1963, averaging 17.3 points per game. The highlight
of his career will be capturing the NBA title in 1967 on a
team that included Wilt Chamberlain. The 76ers will defeat the
Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division finals, preventing them
from going to their ninth straight NBA final.

1950 – Julius Erving is born in Roosevelt (town of Hempstead), New
York. He will become a star basketball player, first for the
ABA’s Virginia Squires and later for the NBA’s Philadelphia
76ers. Known as “Dr. J.,” he will become the third pro player
to score more than 30,000 career points (after Wilt
Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). He will be enshrined in
the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets a NBA record with 34 free throw attempts.

1979 – St. Lucia gains its independence from Great Britain.

1989 – “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, by Bobby McFerrin, wins the Grammy for
Song of the Year.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 21 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 21 *

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* Black Facts every day of the year. *
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1864 – Saint Francis Xavier Church in Baltimore, Maryland is dedicated.
It is the first exclusively African American parish in the
United States.

1895 – The North Carolina Legislature adjourns for the day to mark the
death of Frederick Douglass.

1933 – Eunice Waymon (Nina Simone) is born in Tryon, North Carolina.
She will begin her entertaining career in 1954 and bolstered
by critical praise for her 1959 recording of “I Loves You,
Porgy,” she will tour in the U.S. and Europe during the 1960’s
and early 1970’s. Returning to the concert stage and
recording studio in 1977, she will be called the “High
Priestess of Soul.” She will record rarely in the 1970’s and
1980’s, but will experience a career comeback in the United
States with her 1993 album release, “A Single Woman.” She
will join the ancestors in Carry-le-Rouet (South of France) on
April 21, 2003. As she wished, her ashes will be spread in
different African countries.

1936 – Barbara Jordan is born in Houston, Texas. The first African
American state senator in the Texas legislature since 1883
and a three-term congresswoman, she will play a key role in
the 1974 Watergate hearings. In 1976, she will be the first
woman and first African American to make a keynote speech
before the Democratic National Convention. She will join the
ancestors on January 17, 1996 in Austin, Texas.

1940 – John Lewis is born in Troy, Alabama. He will become founder
and chairman of SNCC, organizer of the Selma-to-Montgomery
March in 1965, executive director of the Voter Education
Project, and congressman from Georgia’s 5th District. Lewis’
power will continue to be felt when he is named Democratic
deputy whip by Speaker of the House Thomas S. Foley in 1991.

1965 – El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) joins the ancestors after
being assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem at the
age of 39. He was best known for his doctrine of
self-determination for African American people, including
their right to fight for their rights and protect themselves
in a hostile America by “whatever means necessary.”

1976 – Florence Ballard, one of the original Supremes, joins the
ancestors in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 32. Ballard
had said that she never received a royalty check prior to
1967 for any of her work with the Supremes, who featured
Diana Ross and included Mary Wilson.

1998 – Julian Bond, civil rights leader from the 1960’s, former
Georgia state legislator, and college professor, becomes the
new chairperson of the NAACP.

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