KRLemmons African American History

April 13 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 13 *

1723 – The governor of Massachusetts issues a proclamation on
the “fires which have been designedly and
industriously kindled by some villainous and desperate
Negroes or other dissolute people as appears by the
confession of some of them.”

1873 – The Colfax Massacre occurs on Easter Sunday morning, in
Grant Parish, Louisiana. More than sixty African
Americans are killed.

1891 – Nellallitea “Nella” Walker is born in Chicago, Illinois
to an African American father and Danish mother. She
will become a writer known as Nella Larsen and one of
the most celebrated novelists of the Harlem Renaissance.
She will receive many awards for her writings, including
the Harmon Foundation’s bronze medal for literature in
1929, and the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1930. When she
receives the Guggenheim award, she becomes the first
African American woman recipient. She will best known
for her novels, “Quicksand” and “Passing.” She will
join the ancestors on March 30, 1964.

1906 – Riots occur in Brownsville, Texas, when African American
soldiers retaliate against white citizens for racial
slurs.

1907 – Harlem Hospital opens in New York with 150 beds. It will
become one of the early leading African American
hospitals.

1946 – Albert “Al” Green is born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He
will become one of the most popular soul and pop singers
of the 1970’s, known for his recordings “Tired of Being
Alone,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “Here I Am (Come and Take
Me)” and “I’m Still in Love with You.” Green will later
become a minister and return to performing as a gospel
singer, where he will win numerous Grammy awards.

1963 – Sidney Poitier receives an Oscar for best actor for his
performance in “Lilies of the Field.” He is the first
African American male to receive the Academy Award. He
will later become a director and make 1980’s “Stir
Crazy,” the largest-grossing movie by an African
American director ever.

1997 – Eldrick “Tiger” Woods wins the 61st Masters Tournament
in Augusta, Georgia at the age of 21, becoming the
youngest person and first person of Black African descent
to ever win this tournament.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 12 *

1787 – Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organize Philadelphia’s
Free African Society which W.E.B. Du Bois refers to,
over a century later, “the first wavering step of a
people toward a more organized social life.”

1825 – Richard Harvey Cain is born in Greenbrier County,
Virginia (now part of West Virginia). He will become
an AME minister, an AME bishop, publisher, a member of
the South Carolina Senate, member of the U.S. House of
Representatives, and a founder of Paul Quinn College
in Waco, Texas. He will join the ancestors on January
18, 1887.

1861 – The Civil War begins as Confederate troops attack Fort
Sumter, South Carolina.

1864 – Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort
Pillow, Tennessee, and massacres the inhabitants,
sparing, the official report says, neither soldier nor
civilian, African American nor white, male or female.
The fort is defended by a predominantly African
American force.

1869 – The North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan
legislation.

1940 – Herbert Jeffrey “Herbie” Hancock is born in Chicago,
Illinois. After graduating from college at age 20, he
will go to New York with Donald Byrd, who had heard him
perform in Chicago. While in New York, Byrd will
introduce Hancock to Blue Note Records executives. This
will lead to work with various established jazz
artists and later Hancock’s first solo album, “Taking
Off,” which includes appearances by Freddie Hubbard and
Dexter Gordon. Contained on this album is Hancock’s
first top 10 hit, “Watermelon Man.” It will not be long
before Hancock gets the attention of the legendary
Miles Davis, who will extend an invitation to Hancock
to join his new group. After working with Davis for
several years Herbie will decide to form his own band,
a sextet which will include Julian Priester, Buster
Williams, and Eddie Henderson. He will become one of
the most popular jazz artists, known for his
compositions “Watermelon Man” and “Chameleon,” as well
as his musical score for the movie “‘Round Midnight,”
for which he will win an Oscar in 1986.

1960 – Martin Luther King, Jr. denounces the Vietnam War which
he says is “rapidly degenerating into a sordid military
adventure.”

1968 – African American students occupy the administration
building at Boston University and demand Afro-American
history courses and additional African American
students.

1980 – Liberian President William R. Tolbert Jr. and twenty-
seven others join the ancestors after being killed in
a coup d’etat by army enlisted men led by Master
Sergeant Samuel K. Doe.

1983 – The people of Chicago, Illinois elect Harold Washington
as the city’s first African American mayor.

1989 – Former middleweight boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson
joins the ancestors in Culver City, California, at age
67.

1990 – August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” wins the Pulitzer
Prize for drama. It is the second Pulitzer Prize for
Wilson, who also won one for “Fences” in 1987 and was
awarded the New York Drama Critics’ Award for “Fences,”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and “Joe Turner’s Come and
Gone.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 11 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 11 *

1865 – President Lincoln recommends suffrage for African American veterans
and African Americans who are “very intelligent.”

1881 – Spelman College is founded with $100 and eleven former slaves
determined to learn to read and write. It is opened as the Atlanta
Baptist Female Seminary. The two female founders, Sophia B. Packard
and Harriet E. Giles are appalled by the lack of educational
opportunities for African American women at the time. They will
return to Boston determined to get support to change that and earned
what will prove to be the lifelong support of John D. Rockefeller,
who considers Spelman to be one of his family’s finest investments.
The name Spelman is adopted later in honor of Mrs. Rockefeller’s
parents.

1933 – William Anthony “Tony” Brown is born in Charleston, West Virginia.
He will become well known as executive producer, host, and moderator
of the Emmy-winning television series “Black Journal.” In 1971 he
will establish and become the first dean of Howard University’s School
of Communications, a post he will hold until 1974. In 2002, he will
be inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences’ Silver Circle. He will become the dean of Hampton
University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications
in 2004 and hold that position until 2009, when he will step down.

1955 – Roy Wilkins is elected the NAACP’s executive secretary following
the ancestral ascension of Walter White.

1956 – Singer Nat “King” Cole is attacked on the stage of a Birmingham
theater by white supremacists.

1966 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African American major league
umpire, working in the American League. He had been the first
African American professional umpire in the minor leagues in
1951.

1967 – Harlem voters defy Congress and re-elect Congressman Adam Clayton
Powell Jr. after he had been expelled by the legislative body.

1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs what will become known as the
1968 Housing Act, which outlaws discrimination in the sale,
rental, or leasing of 80% of the housing in the United States.
Passed by the Senate and submitted by the House to Johnson in
the aftermath of the King assassination, the bill also protects
civil rights workers and makes it a federal crime to cross state
lines for the purpose of inciting a riot.

1972 – Benjamin L. Hooks, a Memphis lawyer and Baptist minister, becomes
the first African American to be named to the Federal Communications
Commission.

1979 – Idi Amin is deposed as president of Uganda. A combined force of
Tanzanian and Ugandan soldiers overthrew the dictator. Amin, who
attained power in 1971 after a coup against socialist-leaning
President Milton Obote, oversaw the killing of at least 100,000
people. It is believed that Idi Amin left Uganda to live in Saudi
Arabia.

1988 – Willie D. Burton becomes the first African American to win the
Oscar for sound when he receives the award for the movie “Bird.”

1997 – The Museum of African American History opens in Detroit. It will
become the largest of its kind in the world.

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

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Tracey Baptiste and The Story Behind “The Jumbies”

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I interviewed Tracey for the Brown Bookshelf in 2012. As she shared Angel’s Grace with me, I quickly became a member of the Tracey admiration club. She writes. She edits. She encourages and she shares her knowledge with young people. Today, Tracey is giving the Brown Bookshelf and its readers the inside scoop on her latest book, The Jumbies. Welcome back, Tracey!

As a kid I could not get enough of fairytales. Princes, princesses, helpful fairies, vindictive witches, magical mishaps, and cleverly-hatched plans that led to happy endings were all I dreamt of all day long as I flipped through the pages of my beautifully illustrated Grimm’s fairytales, a book almost too large and heavy for my three year-old hands. But fairytales were something that happened in places far away from my native Trinidad, in lands where children could leave footprints in the snow, and you needed a large red…

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“I’m okay”: Resilience & Depression in Cindy L. Rodriguez’s When Reason Breaks

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By Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez

I’m guilty of always saying “I’m okay,” even when I know I am not. Often times, it seems easier to lie than to explain the depths of what hurts. It also seems more appropriate to suck it up than to admit I’m not as strong as I appear. Saying “I’m okay” when I am not is also a way to mask the shame I feel for feeling depressed when I know others have it worse. As Cindy L. Rodriguez explains in her blog post, “Depression in YA and the Latin@ Community,” depression is often associated with trauma and feeling depressed because you’re simply depressed rarely seems like a good enough reason. While causes and effects of depression vary tremendously, I have found that the stereotypes about depression are consistent. The stigma alone associated with depression has made it difficult for folks to speak openly…

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