KRLemmons African American History

May 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 3 *

1845 – Macon B. Allen becomes the first African American formally
admitted to the bar in Massachusetts when he passes the
examination in Worcester. The previous year, he was
admitted to the bar in Maine, making him the first
licensed African American attorney in the United States.

1902 – African American jockey Jimmy Winkfield wins his second
Kentucky Derby in a row astride Alan-a-Dale. With
Winkfield’s wins, African American jockeys have won 15 of
28 Derby races.

1921 – Walker Smith, Jr. is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will
begin his career as a boxer by using the amateur
certificate of another boxer, Ray Robinson, which enables
him to enter contests at a young age. After winning the
welterweight Golden Glove titles in 1939 and 1940, he will
turn professional. He will continue to box under that name
as a professional and will be known as Sugar Ray Robinson.
He will be a world welterweight champion and five-time
middleweight champion, with a 175-19-6 record and 109
knockouts from 1940-65. He will win his last middleweight
title at the age of 38. He will join the ancestors on
April 12, 1989. He will be voted the Associated Press
Fighter of the Century in December, 1999.

1933 – James Brown is born in Barnwell, South Carolina. The only
child of a poor backwoods family, he will be sent, to
Augusta, Georgia at age five, to live at an aunt’s brothel.
He will evolve from a juvenile delinquent to become one of
the most influential Rhythm & Blues singers, with a career
that will span more than five decades and include the hits
“I Got You,” “Cold Sweat,” “Living in America,” “Prisoner
of Love,” “Sing It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.”
Incarcerated in 1988 for aggravated assault, Brown will be
released in 1991 and return to the recording scene, where
he will continue to influence a new generation of artists
including M.C. Hammer, Prince, and many others. He will be
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23,
1986 and on February 25, 1992, will receive a Lifetime
Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards. He will
join the ancestors on December 25, 2006.

1948 – In Shelley v. Kraemer, the Supreme Court rules that courts
cannot enforce segregational housing covenants, which bar
persons from owning or occupying property because of their
race.

1967 – African American students seize the finance building at
Northwestern University and demand that African American
oriented curriculum and campus reforms be implemented.

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

KRLemmons African American History

May 2 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 2 *

1844 – Elijah McCoy is born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada. He
will become a master inventor and holder of over 50
patents. He will be the inventor of a device that allows
machines to be lubricated while they are still in
operation. Machinery buyers insisted on McCoy lubrication
systems when buying new machines and will take nothing
less than what becomes known as the “real McCoy.” The
inventor’s automatic oiling devices will become so
universal that no heavy-duty machinery will be considered
adequate without it, and the expression becomes part of
America culture. He will join the ancestors on October 10,
1929.

1920 – The first game of the National Negro Baseball League (NNL)
is played in Indianapolis, Indiana. The NNL was formed
earlier in the year by Andrew “Rube” Foster and a group of
African American baseball club owners to combat prejudice
and further enjoyment of the game.

1968 – The Poor People’s March, led by Ralph D. Abernathy, begins
as caravans from all over the country leave for Washington,
DC., to protest poverty and racial discrimination.

1990 – The government of South Africa and the African National
Congress open their first formal talks aimed at paving the
way for more substantive negotiations on dismantling
apartheid.

1992 – Los Angeles begins a massive cleanup and rebuilding effort
after three days of widespread civil unrest. The April 29
acquittal of four police officers in the 1991 beating of
motorist Rodney G. King fueled perceptions of unequal
justice for African Americans and sparked multiracial
violence that resulted in unprecedented figures of 58
deaths, over 2,000 injuries, over 600 fires, $1 billion in
property damage and spread to San Francisco, Las Vegas,
Seattle, Atlanta, Madison (Wisconsin), and Toronto.

1994 – Nelson Mandela claims victory in the wake of South Africa’s
first democratic elections. President F.W. de Klerk
acknowledges defeat.

1999 – Reverend Jesse Jackson, who leads a group of religious
leaders to the country of Serbia, obtains the release of
three American Army prisoners of war, Staff Sgt. Andrew A.
Ramirez, 24, of Los Angeles;Spc. Steven M. Gonzales, 21, of
Huntsville, Texas; and Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, 25,
of Smiths Creek, Mich. at 4:45 EST.

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

KRLemmons African American History

May 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 1 *

1863 – The Confederate congress passes a resolution which brands
African American troops and their officers criminals. The
resolution, in effect, dooms captured African American
soldiers to death or slavery.

1866 – White Democrats and police attack freedmen and their white
allies in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-six African Americans
and two white liberals are killed. More than seventy are
wounded. Ninety homes, twelve schools and four churches
are burned.

1867 – Reconstruction of the South begins with the registering of
African American and white voters in the South. Gen.
Philip H. Sheridan orders the registration to begin in
Louisiana on May 1 and to continue until June 30.
Registration will begin in Arkansas in May. Other states
follow in June and July. By the end of October, 1,363,000
citizens had registered in the South, including 700,000
African Americans. African American voters constitute a
majority in five states: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi and South Carolina.

1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first African American
in the Major Leagues when he plays for the Toledo Blue
Stockings in the American Association. A catcher, he goes
0-for-3 in his debut, allowing 2 passed balls and
committing 4 errors, as his team bows to Louisville 5-1. He
will do better in 41 subsequent games before injuries force
Toledo to release him in late September. In July he will be
joined by his brother Welday, an outfielder. Racial bigotry
will prevent his return to major league ball. No other
African American player will appear in a major league
uniform until Jackie Robinson in 1947.

1901 – Sterling Allen Brown is born on the campus of Howard University
in Washington, DC. He will become a poet, literary critic,
editor of “The Negro in American Fiction” and “Negro Poetry
and Drama,” and the co-editor of the anthology, “The Negro
Caravan.” He will begin his teaching career with positions at
several universities, including Lincoln University and Fisk
University, before returning to Howard University in 1929. He
will be a professor there for forty years. His poetry will
use the south for its setting and show slave experiences of
the African American people. He will often imitate southern
African American speech using “variant spellings and
apostrophes to mark dropped consonants.” He will teach and
write about African American literature and folklore. He will
be a pioneer in the appreciation of this genre. He will have
an “active, imaginative mind” when writing and “have a natural
gift for dialogue, description and narration.” He will be
known for introducing his students to concepts popular in
jazz, which along with blues, spirituals and other forms of
black music will form an integral component of his poetry. In
addition to his career at Howard University, he will serve as
a visiting professor at Vassar College, New York University,
Atlanta University, and Yale University. Some of his notable
students will include Toni Morrison, Kwame Ture (Stokely
Carmichael), Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sowell, Ossie Davis, and
Amiri Baraka (aka LeRoi Jones). He will retire from his
faculty position at Howard in 1969 and devote full-time to
poetry. He will join the ancestors on January 13, 1989.

1941 – A. Philip Randolph issues a call for 100,000 African
Americans to march on Washington, DC, to protest armed
forces and defense industry discrimination. In response,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who attempted to persuade
Randolph and others to cancel the demonstration, will issue
Executive Order 8802, to ban federal discrimination, before
Randolph finally yields.

1946 – Mrs. Emma Clarissa Clement is named “American Mother of the
Year” by the Golden Rule Foundation.

1948 – Glenn H. Taylor, U.S. Senator from Idaho and Vice-
presidential candidate of the Progressive party, is
arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a
meeting through a door marked “for Negroes.”

1950 – Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win a
Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry “Annie Allen.”

1975 – A commemorative stamp of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar is issued
by the U.S. Postal Service as part of its American Arts
series.

1981 – Dr. Clarence A. Bacote, historian and political scientist,
joins the ancestors in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 75.

1990 – Robert Guillaume, former star of the Benson TV series,
premieres in the title role in “Phantom of the Opera” at
the Music Center in Los Angeles. Guillaume continues the
role that had been played to critical acclaim by the
English star, Michael Crawford.

1991 – Rickey Henderson steals his 939th base in the Oakland A’s
game against the New York Yankees, breaking Lou Brock’s
major league record.

1995 – Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X,
had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan are dropped as jury selection for her trial is
about to begin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later
renounced his past and became a Republican, joins the
ancestors in Pomona, California, at age 62.

1998 – Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, pleads guilty
to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than
500,000 Tutsis.

2000 – Bobby Eggleston is sworn in as the new sheriff of Drew
County, Arkansas. He becomes the first African American
sheriff in Arkansas since Reconstruction.

2011 – “Obama Gets Osama”. President Barack Obama authorizes a
military special operations to capture the founder and
leader of terrorist organization al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.
This operation resulted in his death and the removal of
his body from his sanctuary in Pakistan.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 30 *

1864 – A regiment captures a rebel battery after fighting
rearguard action. Six infantry regiments check rebel
troops at Jenkins’ Ferry, Saline River, Arkansas. The
troops are so enraged by atrocities committed at Poison
Spring two weeks earlier, that the Second Kansas Colored
Volunteers went into battle shouting, “Remember Poison
Spring!”

1881 – Julian Francis Abele is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He will be the first black student to enroll in the
Department of Architecture at the University of
Pennsylvania, and become the department’s first black
graduate in 1902. He will become a prominent architect, and
chief designer in the offices of Horace Trumbauer. He will
contribute to the design of more than 400 buildings,
including the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University
(1912-15), the Central Branch of the Free Library of
Philadelphia (1918-27), and the Philadelphia Museum of Art
(1914-28). He will be the primary designer of the west
campus of Duke University (1924-54). He will never travel to
view the campus he designed because of his revulsion of
segregation then so prevalent in the South. His contributions
to the Trumbauer firm were great, but the only building for
which he will claim authorship during Trumbauer’s lifetime
was the Duke University Chapel. He will join the ancestors
on April 23, 1950.

1931 – William Lacy Clay, Sr. is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will
be elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in
1968. He will become an advocate for environmentalism, labor
issues, and social justice. He will face ethics charges in the
1970s for billing the government on auto trips while flying on
airlines, and the House banking scandal revealed that he had
328 overdrafts. In 1993, he will help to pass the Family and
Medical Leave Act. From 1991 until the Democrats lose control
of Congress in 1995, he will chair the House Committee on the
Post Office and Civil Service. In 2000, he will retire from
the House and be succeeded by his son, William Lacy Clay, Jr.

1940 – Jesse E. Moorland joins the ancestors in Washington, DC.
He was a clergyman, key force in fund-raising for African
American YMCAs, alumnus and trustee of Howard University.
The donation of his substantial private library to Howard
forms the basis of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
on the university’s campus.

1961 – Isiah Lord Thomas III is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will
become a basketball player, playing collegiately for the
Indiana Hoosiers. He will go on to play professionally as
point guard for the Detroit Pistons from 1981 until 1994 and
will lead the “Bad Boys” to NBA championships in the 1988–89
and 1989–90 seasons. After his playing career, he will be an
executive with the Toronto Raptors, a television commentator,
an executive with the Continental Basketball Association, head
coach of the Indiana Pacers, and an executive and head coach
for the New York Knicks. He will later be the men’s basketball
coach for the Florida International University (FIU) Golden
Panthers for three seasons from 2009 to 2012. He will be named
to the All-NBA First team three times and is the Pistons’ all-
time leader in points, steals, games played and assists. He
will rank fifth in NBA history in assists (9,061, 9.3 apg) and
rank ninth in NBA history in steals (1,861). He will be known
for his dribbling ability as well as his ability to drive to
the basket and score. His No. 11 will be retired by the Detroit
Pistons. In 2000, he will be elected to the Basketball Hall of
Fame in his first year of eligibility.[

1983 – Robert C. Maynard becomes the first African American to gain
a controlling interest in a major metropolitan newspaper
when he buys the Oakland Tribune from Gannett.

1994 – The counting of ballots begins in South Africa’s first all-
race elections.

1994 – Some 100,000 men, women and children fleeing ethnic slaughter
in Rwanda cross into neighboring Tanzania.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 29 *

1854 – Ashmun Institute, later Lincoln University, is founded in
Oxford, Pennsylvania. It will be “the first institution
founded anywhere in the world to provide a higher
education in the arts and sciences for youth of African
descent.” (This applies to the modern era).

1899 – Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington is born in Washington, DC.
He will form his first band in 1919, and move to New York
City in 1922. His five-year tenure at the famed Cotton
Club will garner him wide acclaim. Scoring both his first
musical and making his recording debut in 1924, Ellington
will be known as the first conventional jazz composer,
although he will also become renowned for his Sacred
Concerts in the mid-1960’s. His most notable works
include “Take the A Train,” “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated
Ladies,” and “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.” He will
join the ancestors on May 24, 1974.

1915 – Donald Mills is born in Piqua, Ohio. With his brothers,
Herbert, Harry and John, the Mills Brothers will begin
performing in 1922 in their hometown and over time will
sell an estimated 50 million records. The group will break
racial barriers in the era of Jim Crow and sing before
royalty in London. From the early 1930s onward, the Mills
Brothers will be a nationwide hit on radio and in record
sales. In 1931, the song “Tiger Rag” will sell 1 million
copies. Some of their other hit songs will include “You
Always Hurt the One You Love,” “Glow Worm,” “Yellow Bird,”
and “Paper Doll.” The brothers will also appear in several
movies, including “The Big Broadcast” in 1932, and “Twenty
Million Sweethearts” in 1934. Donald will be the last
surviving member of the group and will tour in his later
years with his youngest son, John, after his brothers
retire in 1982. He will accept a Grammy Award for Life
Achievement for the Mills Brothers in 1998. With 2,246
recordings made by 1981, their last year performing
together, the Mills Brothers may have recorded more songs
than anyone else. They will be awarded 36 gold records. He
will join the ancestors on November 13, 1999.

1922 – Parren James Mitchell is born in Baltimore, Maryland. In
1971, he will become the first African American elected to
Congress from the State of Maryland. He will represent the
7th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1971
to January 3, 1987. During his 16 year career, he will fight
for affirmative action legislation. As Chairman of the Small
Business Committee, he will attach an amendment to a $4
billion public works bill that compels state and local
governments, seeking federal grants, to set aside 10% of the
funds to retain minority firms as contractors and
subcontractors. He will also mentor several dozen young up
and coming leaders. Maryland House of Delegates majority
whip Talmadge Branch will be an early aide, Delegate
Nathaniel Oaks will volunteer in Mitchell’s early campaigns,
as will Delegates Sandy Rosenberg and Curt Anderson. He will
initiate a congressional investigation into Wedtech where
bribes were alleged to have been offered in return for no
bid military contracts. In 1986, he will retire from
Congress, but will run unsuccessfully for Lieutenant
Governor of Maryland as the running mate of Attorney General
Stephen H. Sachs. He will join the ancestors on May 28,2007.

1928 – Carl Edward Gardner is born in Tyler, Texas. He will become
a singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of
The Coasters. The Coasters will go on to produce several
enduring classics of 1950s rock and roll music including
“Yakety Yak”, “Charlie Brown”, and “Poison Ivy”. Together
with the other members of the Coasters – Cornell Gunter,
Billy Guy and Will “Dub” Jones, he will be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He will join the
ancestors on June 12, 2011.

1934 – Otis Rush is born in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He will move
to Chicago, Illinois in 1948 and become a blues musician,
singer and guitarist who will help to shape Chicago’s West
Side blues sound. His distinctive guitar style will feature
a slow burning sound and long bent notes. With similar
qualities to Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound will become
known as West Side Chicago blues and be an influence on many
musicians including Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton. He
is left-handed and, unlike many other left-handed guitarists,
will play a left-handed instrument strung upside-down with
the low E string at the bottom. He will play often with the
little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for
positioning. It is widely believed that this contributes to
his distinctive sound. He will also be known for his wide-
ranging, powerful tenor voice.

1967 – Mrs. Robert W. Clayton is elected president of the YWCA, the
first African American president of the organization.

1983 – Harold Washington is sworn in as the first African American
mayor of Chicago.

1992 – Rioting erupts in Los Angeles after a jury acquits four
white policemen of charges related to the videotaped
beating of African American motorist Rodney King. The
National Guard and federal troops are mobilized to deal
with the civil disturbance, which will last several days
and cost the lives of 58 persons. There are demonstrations
and riots in other American cities.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 28 *

1898 – Sir Grantley H. Adams is born in Colliston Government Hill,
St. Michael Parish, Barbados. He will become an attorney and
political leader and will found the Barbados Progressive
League. The league will later become the Barbados Labour
Party on March 31, 1938. The Governor-General, in 1954,
will appoint him, the First Premier of Barbados, heading a
full ministerial government. In recognition of his
meritorious contribution to Barbados and the wider
Caribbean region, Her Majesty, the Queen of England, will
knight him in 1957. He will surrender his Premiership of
Barbados to assume the position of the first (and only)
Premier of the West Indies Federation from 1958-1962. The
federation will dissolve in 1962. In 1966, he will become
the first Leader of the Opposition in a newly independent
Barbados after being re-elected to the House of Assembly.
He will retire from politics in 1970 and will join the
ancestors. on November 28, 1971.

1910 – Martin Morua Delgado joins the ancestors in Havana, Cuba.
He had been a labor and political activist, statesman,
journalist and author. He had been a leading opponent of
slavery in Cuba and after emancipation, a leading proponent
for racial equality. He also was active in the struggle for
Cuban independence from Spain. Cuba will celebrate the
centennial of his birth in 1956.

1911 – Mario Bauza is born in Havana, Cuba. He will become a
professional trumpet player, bandleader and arranger. He
will be a leading player in the creation of Afro-Cuban
jazz. While in Cuba, he will be primarily a classical
musician, playing for the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra.
He will leave Cuba for New York City in 1930 and find
himself working in mostly jazz venues. He will play with
Noble Sissle, Chick Webb (musical director), Don Redman,
and Cab Calloway. While working with Chick Webb, he will
convince Webb to hire the young Ella Fitzgerald as a
vocalist for the band. While collaborating with these
talents, he will integrate Afro-Latin influence into the
music whenever possible. He will be active in the jazz
musical scene until the last year of his life. He will
join the ancestors on July 11, 1993.

1924 – Kenneth David Kuanda is born in Lubwe, Northern Rhodesia
(Northern Rhodesia will eventually become the country of
Zambia). He will begin his political career with the
Northern Rhodesia African Congress, which will become the
African National Congress. Like most African politicians
who called for independence from colonial rule, he will be
imprisoned multiple times. After his release from prison
in 1960, he will continue to be active and will promote
many activities of civil disobedience. Under his
leadership, the colonial administration will relent and
the British will grant Zambia its independence on October
24, 1964. He will become president of Zambia from its day
of independence until November 2, 1991.

1934 – Charles Patton joins the ancestors in Indianola, Mississippi.
He was a bluesman who is considered to be the creator of the
Delta variation of the blues. His recordings between 1929
and 1934 will contribute to the national influence of the
Mississippi Delta style on the blues.

1935 – Akin Euba is born in Lagos, Nigeria. He will become a
classical composer whose work will integrate European and
Yoruba influences into his compositions. His music will be
introduced to the world at the 1972 Olympics in Munich,
Germany. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1974, he will become
a music educator and continue to create his unique African
musical art form. He will eventually become a professor of
African music at the University of Pittsburgh.

1941 – In a famous Jim Crow railroad case brought by congressman
Arthur W. Mitchell, the Supreme Court rules that separate
facilities must be substantially equal.

1950 – William Anthony Colon in born in the Bronx in New York City.
He will begin his musical career, while a teenager, creating
recordings that will emphasize his Afro-Puerto Rican
heritage in the form of salsa music. His music will
integrate the influence of Puerto Rican life in New York
City with the African influence on the Puerto Rican
experience. He will create and produce over thirty
recordings and be nominated for at least five Grammy awards
in Latin music.

1957 – W. Robert Ming, a Chicago lawyer, is elected chairman of the
American Veterans Committee. He is the first African
American to head a major national veterans organization.

1967 – Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army and is
stripped of his boxing titles by the World Boxing
Association and the New York Athletic Association.

1983 – Two African American women, Alice Walker and Gloria Naylor,
win prestigious American Book Awards for fiction. Alice
Walker’s novel “The Color Purple” will be dramatized as a
theatrical movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover,
and Oprah Winfrey. Naylor’s first novel, “The Women of
Brewster Place,” will be made into a made-for-television
movie and series starring Oprah Winfrey, Jackee’, and
Paula Kelly.

1990 – Clifton Reginald Wharton, Sr. joins the ancestors in
Phoenix, Arizona. He was an attorney and was the first
African American to enter the U.S. Foreign Service and the
first African American to become a United States Ambassador
to a European country (Norway-1961).

1991 – Former CORE director and North Carolina judge Floyd Bixley
McKissick joins the ancestors in North Carolina at the age
of 69. He led CORE from 1963 to 1966 during its
transformation to a more militant civil rights organization.

1997 – Ann Lane Petry joins the ancestors in Old Saybrook,
Connecticut. She was a leading African American novelist
and was known for her works, “The Street,” “Country Place,”
“The Narrows,” “Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the
Underground Railroad,” “Tituba of Salem Village,” “The
Drugstore Cat,” and “Legends of the Saints.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 27 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 27 *

1883 – Hubert Henry Harrison, is born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
He will become, by the 1920s, one of the nation’s most
prominent atheists. Harrison will recognize the connection
between racism and religion, and point this out quite
bluntly. The Bible was a slave master’s book in Harrison’s
eyes, which not only sanctioned the keeping of slaves, but
even gave advice on their handling. He will state that
any African American person who accepts Christianity was
either ignorant or crazy. He also will address Islam by
stating that the slave masters may have been largely
Christian, but many of the slave traders were Muslims,
apparently not deterred by their faith. He will join the
ancestors on December 17, 1927.

1903 – The publication of W.E.B. DuBois’s “The Souls of Black Folk”
crystallizes opposition to Booker T. Washington’s program
of social and political subordination.

1903 – Maggie L. Walker is named president of Richmond’s St. Luke
Penny Bank and Trust Company and becomes the first woman to
head a bank.

1903 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds clauses in the Alabama state
constitution which disfranchises African Americans.

1927 – Coretta Scott is born in Marion, Alabama. She will marry
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1953 and be an integral part of
his civil rights activities. After his assassination in
1968, she will continue her civil rights activities,
founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent
Change in Atlanta, Georgia. She will join the ancestors on
January 31, 2006 after succumbing to complications of a
stroke and heart attack.

1944 – Cuba M. Gooding, Sr. is born in New York City, New York. He will
become the lead singer of the soul group, The Main Ingredient
best known for its two biggest hits, “Everybody Plays the
Fool” (1972) and “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” (1974).
He will also have a brief solo career on Motown Records
during the late-1970s and early-1980s. His biggest
international success will be Brian Auger’s “Happiness Is
Just Around the Bend” in 1983, which in recent times will be
sampled by several Rhythm & Blues artists, as well as
hitting the charts again as a remix by United Kingdom
Hardcore Rave group Altern-8 in 1991. In the same year,
samples from the song will also feature prominently in
Bizarre Inc’s single “Playing With Knives.” He will release
a single called “Politics” in September, 2007. He will also
develop a film project called “Everybody Plays the Fool: The
Cuba Gooding Story.” The film will highlight three
generations of the Gooding Family: Dudley “Cuba” Gooding,
Cuba Gooding, Sr., and Cuba Gooding, Jr. 00n the Boat Trip DVD
trivia track, it will state that he will appear in the 2003
romantic-comedy “The Fighting Temptations,” which will star
his son Cuba Gooding, Jr., but he will not be in the movie.
In 1999 he, along with Mark Yardley and David James will write
the international house hit, “Back and Forth” by the Supakings.

1949 – Herbert Lee (Herbie) Murrell is born in Lane, South Carolina. He
will become a member of the Rhythm and Blues group, the
Stylistics. Formed in 1968 in Philadelphia, the Stylistics will
first achieve some regional attention in 1971 with the
simplistic “You’re A Big Girl Now,” most notable for its
contrast to the work they will record a year later. Their Avco
Records debut will be a Philly Soul masterpiece, containing a
basket of marvelous compositions by Thom Bell and co-writer
Linda Creed that will become soul standards covered by other
artists for the next 30 years. “You Are Everything,” “Betcha By
Golly Wow,” “Stop Look Listen” and “People Make the World Go
Round” will all rocket up the Pop and Soul charts, and
immediately make the Stylistics the most sought after Soul
balladeers. The Stylistics will team with veteran producer
Preston Glass in 2009 and record a new album, “That Same Way,”
which wILL be released in Europe and Asia in late 2009 and in
the United States in 2011. It will be a great return to form
and the group’s best album in a quarter century. It will also
win the group a nomination for the 2011 SoulTracks Readers’
Choice Awards. The Stylistics will continue to tour regularly
and actively around the world.

1960 – Togo achieves its independence from France. Sylvanus
Olymplo serves as its first prime minister.

1961 – Sierra Leone obtains its independence from Great Britain
with Dr. Milton Margai as its first prime minister.

1961 – Kwame Nkrumah, African statesman and the first president of
Ghana, joins the ancestors in exile, in Conarky, Guinea at
the age of 62.

1977 – Artist Charles Alston joins the ancestors in New York City.
After studying at Columbia University and Pratt Institute,
he had traveled to Europe and the Caribbean before
executing murals for Harlem Hospital and Golden State
Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles. A recipient
of the National Academy of Design Award, he also received
the first-place award of the Atlanta University
Collection’s 1942 show for his gouache “Farm Boy.” His
best known works are “Family” and “Walking.” Among his
other notable works are “School Girl,” “Frederick Douglass,”
and “Nobody Knows.”

1994 – The first “Freedom Day” takes place in South Africa.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 26 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 26 *

1798 – James Pierson Beckwourth is born in Fredericksburg,
Virginia. He will become a legendary American Western
mountain man, trapper, warrior, Indian chief, and
trailblazer. He will maintain a lifelong friendship with
the Crow Indian nation. He will work as an Army scout
during the third Seminole War and will be a rider for the
Pony Express. In 1850, he will discover a pass through the
Sierra Nevada mountains that will enable settlers to more
easily reach California. The Beckwourth Pass is still in
use today by the Union Pacific Railroad and the U.S.
Interstate Highway System. He will join the ancestors on
October 29, 1866.

1886 – William Levi Dawson is born in Albany, Georgia. A graduate
of Fisk University, he will move to Chicago, serve in the
365th Infantry in World War I, become an attorney and
initially be involved in Republican politics upon his
return to the city after the war. Elected to his first
term in the United States Congress in 1942, he will serve
27 years in the House, where he will become the first
African American representative to chair a committee of
Congress, the Committee on Expenditures in Executive
Departments, in 1949. He will join the ancestors on
November 9, 1970.

1886 – Gertrude Pritchett is born in Columbus, Georgia. She will
become a blues singer and vaudeville performer. She will
marry William “Pa” Rainey and will become the “Ma” half of
“Rainey and Rainey: The Assassinators of the Blues.”
Between 1923 and 1928, she will record 93 songs, many of
which were her own compositions. She will perform
nationwide and will have a loyal fan base, even after her
recording contract with Paramount is terminated. She will
have a great impact on performers who will follow her and
will be immortalized by being included in August Wilson’s
play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and the poem of Sterling
Brown, “Ma Rainey.” She will join the ancestors on
December 22, 1939 and will be inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

1964 – The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form
Tanzania. The name is derived from the first syllable of
each country’s name.

1968 – Students seize the administration building at Ohio State.

1984 – Jazz musician great William “Count” Basie, joins the
ancestors in Hollywood, Florida at the age of 77. NOTE:
Many sources will have 1904 for Count Basie’s birth year.
Our source for his birth and death is the Kennedy Center
Archives documenting “The Honors” bestowed on him in 1981.

1991 – Maryann Bishop Coffey is named the first woman and the first
African American co-chair of the National Conference of
Christians and Jews.

1992 – “Jelly’s Last Jam” opens at Virginia theater on Broadway.
Gregory Hines will portray the great jazz composer Jelly
Roll Morton and will receive a Tony award as best actor in
a musical in that role.

1994 – Voting begins in South Africa’s first all-race elections.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 25 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 25 *

1905 – Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson is born in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.
He will become an educator at Howard University in Washington, DC
and Yeshiva University in New York City. In 1944, he will publish
an essay in the anthology, “What The Negro Wants,” which will
illustrate comparisons between the Allied struggle in Europe
during World War II and the civil rights struggle of African
Americans in the United States. As a member of the American
Communist Party, he will work as a civil rights activist. This
affiliation will cause him to be repeatedly investigated by
the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities. After
resigning from the Communist Party in 1957, he will continue to
be active in civil right activities and educational pursuits
until his retirement in 1984. He will join the ancestors on
June 17, 1993 in Norwalk, Connecticut.

1916 – Madeline M. Turner receives a patent for the fruit press.

1918 – Ella Fitzgerald is born in Newport News, Virginia. Discovered
at an amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre in 1934, she will
be a leading jazz vocalist of the swing era. Known for her
renditions of such songs as “A Tisket, A Tasket” (her first
million-seller), her unique scat styling and series of recordings
of great American songwriters will make her an enduring favorite
of jazz lovers. She will join the ancestors on June 15, 1996 in
Beverly Hills, California.

1942 – Ruby Doris Smith Robinson is born in Atlanta, Georgia. She will
become a civil rights activist and a founding member of The
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She will be
one of the original “Freedom Riders,” and will assist in creating
the policy of “jail, no bail,” employed by activists to fill
southern jails and bring national attention to the civil rights
struggle. After becoming SNCC’s first and only female executive
secretary, she will become ill with leukemia and joins the
ancestors on October 7, 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia.

1944 – The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is founded by Dr. Frederick
Douglass Patterson, then president of Tuskegee Institute, with 27
charter colleges and universities and a combined enrollment of
14,000 students.

1944 – George Herriman joins the ancestors in Los Angeles, California
at the age of 63. He had been a successful cartoonist who was
the author of the comic strip “Krazy Kat.” The comic strip ran
successfully from 1913 until this date.

1945 – The United Nations is founded at a San Francisco meeting
attended by African American consultants, most notably W.E.B.
Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ralph J. Bunche and Walter White.

1950 – At the NBA’s annual players draft, the Boston Celtics select
Charles “Chuck” Cooper. He is the first African American ever
drafted by an NBA team.

1960 – A consent judgment in a Memphis federal court ended restrictions
barring voters in Fayette County, Tennessee. This was the first
voting rights case under the Civil Rights Act.

1972 – Major General Frederick E. Davidson becomes the first African
American to lead an Army division when he is assigned command of
the 8th Infantry Division in Europe.

1979 – Olodum, an internationally recognized Afro-Brazilian Carnival
association, is founded in Bahia, Brazil. The music of this
group celebrates Black history and protests racial discrimination.
The name Olodum is derived from the name of the supreme Yoruba
deity, Olodumare’.

1990 – Tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon joins the ancestors in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of 67. A leading influence
in the bop movement along with Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie,
Gordon played in London in the early 1960’s and stayed until the
mid-1970’s. Elected to the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980, his role in
the 1986 movie “‘Round Midnight” will revive interest in his music
and earn him an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 24 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 24 *

1867 – The first national meeting of the Ku Klux Klan is held at
the “Maxwell House” in Nashville, Tennessee.

1867 – African American demonstrators stage ride-ins on Richmond,
Virginia streetcars. Troops were mobilized to restore
order.

1884 – The Medico-Chirurgical Society of the District of Columbia
is founded. It is the first African American medical
society.

1886 – Augustine Tolton is ordained as a Catholic priest after
studying at the College of the Propagation of the Faith in
Rome for five years. Tolton will distinguish himself as a
speaker and a pastor at Catholic churches in New Jersey,
New York City, Chicago, and Quincy, Illinois.

1895 – The National Association of Colored Physicians, Dentists and
Pharmacists is organized at the First Congregational Church
in Atlanta, Georgia. It will change its name to the
National Medical Association in 1903.

1937 – Joseph “Joe” Henderson is born in Lima, Ohio. He will make
his initial reputation in what might be called Blue Note
Records’ second classic phase in the early 1960s, when a
new generation of young musicians began to extend the basic
hard bop framework of the label’s seminal 1950s output in
more experimental directions. He will be one of the players
at the core of that development, both as a leader and in
recordings as a sideman with artists like Kenny Dorham, Lee
Morgan, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner, Larry Young and Horace
Silver, among others. His firm grasp of the root idiom
combined with his experimental nature made him an ideal
exponent of the new style, which did not abandon jazz
structures in as radical a fashion as the free jazz
movement. He will join the ancestors on June 30, 2001 in
San Francisco.

1943 – Speaking on race relations and racial equality at Wayne
State University, Langston Hughes says, “I am for the
Christianity that fights poll tax, race discrimination,
lynching, injustice and inequality of the masses. I don’t
feel that religion should be used to beat down Jews [and]
Negroes, and to persecute other minority groups.

1944 – In Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court rules that a
“white primary” law that excludes African Americans from
voting is a violation of the 15th Amendment and thus
unconstitutional.

1948 – James Melvin Washington is born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
He will become a leading theologian whose emphasis was the
African American religious experience. He will be a
professor at the Union Theological Seminary in New York
from 1975 until he joins the ancestors on May 3, 1997. His
published works will include “Frustrated Fellowship: The
Black Baptist Quest for Social Power” (1986), “A Testament
of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr.”
(1986), and “Conversations with God: Two Centuries of
Prayers by African Americans” (1994).

1954 – Wesley Cook is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will
become an activist during his teenage years and will be
arrested and beaten for demonstrating against presidential
candidate governor George Wallace of Alabama. He will be a
founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black
Panther Party in 1968 and will be known as Mumia Abu-Jamal.
After spending the summer months in 1970 working on the BPP
newspaper in California, he will return to Philadelphia to
work as a radio journalist with the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting and will have his own talk show on station
WUHY. He will lose his position as a radio journalist after
his continual criticism of mayor Frank Rizzo and
specifically his coverage of the police treatment of the
militant organization MOVE. While working as a taxicab
driver, he will be accused of killing a Philadelphia
policeman, Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Faulkner is killed in
an altercation with Mumia’s brother, after wounding Mumia.
Mumia is presumed to be the shooter and will be convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. This
verdict is handed down ignoring testimony of witnesses who
saw the killer flee and irregularities during the trial.
On death row since the trial, Mumia will have numerous
appeals turned down. His case will attract worldwide
attention as a racist miscarriage of justice.

1965 – An armed revolt against the dictatorship in the Dominican
Republic is ended with an invasion by United States troops.
Participating in the revolt is Maximiliano Gomez Horatio,
the leader of the Dominican Popular Movement.

1972 – James M. Rodger, Jr., of Durham, North Carolina, is honored
in a White House ceremony as National Teacher of the Year.
He is the first African American to receive the honor.

1972 – Robert Wedgeworth is named director of the American Library
Association. He is the first African American to head the
organization.

1993 – Oliver Tambo joins the ancestors in Johannesburg, South
Africa at the age of 75. He was the former president of
the African National Congress (ANC), law partner of Nelson
Mandela and an important anti-apartheid leader.

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