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* Today in Black History – May 6 * 1787 – Prince Hall forms African Lodge 459, the first African 1794 – Haiti, under Toussaint L’Ouverture, revolts against France. 1812 – Martin R. Delany is born free in Charlestown, Virginia. He 1930 – Noted actor Charles Gilpin joins the ancestors. The founder 1931 – Willie Mays is born in Westfield, Alabama. He will become a 1960 – The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed by President 1967 – Four hundred students seize the administration building at Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry |
May 5 African American Historical Events
* Today in Black History – May 5 *
1857 – The Dred Scott decision, in the famous U.S. Supreme Court
case, declares that no black–free or slave–could claim
United States citizenship, therefore could not sue. It
also stated that Congress could not prohibit slavery in
United States territories. The ruling will arouse angry
resentment in the North and will lead the nation a step
closer to civil war. It also will influence the
introduction and passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution after the Civil War (1861-1865). The
amendment, adopted in 1868, will extend citizenship to
former slaves and give them full civil rights.
1865 – Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born near Martin’s Mill in
Franklin County, Virginia. He will be a social and
religious leader at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem,
after becoming the pastor in 1908. Under his leadership,
he will expand the role of the church in the community and
increase its membership to 10,000. When he retires in
1937, Abyssinian Baptist Church will be the largest
Protestant church in the United States. He will be
succeeded in the pulpit by his son, Adam CLayton Powell,
Jr., who will become a future congressman. He will join
the ancestors on June 12, 1953.
1883 – Josiah Henson joins the ancestors in Dawn, Ontario, Canada
at the age of 93. He had escaped slavery in Maryland and
settled in Canada. He had been part of the creation of a
settlement for fugitive slaves near Dawn, Ontario.
1905 – Robert Sengstacke Abbott founds the Chicago Defender,
calling it “The World’s Greatest Weekly.”
1919 – The NAACP awards the Spingarn Medal to William Stanley
Braithwaite. Braithwaite’s publication of essays and verse
in notable mainstream magazines and editorial efforts on
three books of verse and poetry anthologies had earned him
wide acclaim among African Americans and whites.
1931 – Edwin A. Harleston joins the ancestors in Charleston, South
Carolina. One of the most popular and influential African
American painters of the day, his work will be exhibited at
the Harmon Foundation, the Gallery of Art in Washington, DC,
and in the exhibit “Two Centuries of Black American Art.”
1935 – Jesse Owens, of the United States, sets the long jump record
at 26′ 8″.
1943 – Maximiliano Gomez Horatio is born in San Pedro de Macoris,
Dominican Republic. After working in the sugar refineries
in his home area, be will become a politician, leading the
Dominican Popular Movement. He believed that the Dominican
Republic should be guided by its own historical and social
environment, not on any European model. He will participate
in an insurrection that is ended by a U.S. invasion in 1965.
He will later be imprisoned and after his release, he will
go into exile. He will join the ancestors under suspicious
circumstances in Brussels, Belgium, on May 23, 1971.
1965 – Edgar Austin Mittelholzer joins the ancestors in Farnham,
Surrey, England, after committing suicide at the age of 55.
He had been the first author from the Carribean to earn his
living as a writer. He was considered the father of the
novel in the English-speaking Caribbean.
1969 – Moneta Sleet becomes the first African American to win a
Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of Mrs. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and her daughter at her husband’s funeral.
1971 – A race riot occurs in the Brownsville section of New York
City.
1975 – Hank Aaron surpasses Babe Ruth’s RBI mark. He will finish
his career with 755 home runs and over 2200 RBIs. Both
records will stand for many years. Aaron will be inducted
into Baseball’s Hall of Fame on August 1, 1982.
1977 – The Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society is
founded in Washington, DC. The society’s mission is to
encourage scholarly research in African American genealogy.
1988 – Eugene Antonio Marino, is installed as the archbishop of
Atlanta, becoming the first African American Roman Catholic
archbishop in the United States.
2003 – Walter Sisulu, a major player in the fight against apartheid
in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, joins the ancestors at
the age of 90 after a long illness.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry.
Black Lives Do Matter
The events that have happened in the past two years and now in 2015, I never thought that I would see in my lifetime: Case in point, the modern-day lynchings of Black men and Black boys in these United States – read the constitution when you get a chance. Then there is the underlying fact that as a librarian (Black) I see the clear picture that has been painted about my own people: Young Black Men, Black Boys| Black Women, Black Girls | Blackness | Worthless | Black Wombs don’t Matter. Young Black Men, Black Boys| Black Women, Black Girls | Blackness | Worthless | Black Wombs don’t Matter. Young Black Men, Black Boys| Black Women, Black Girls | Blackness | Worthless | Black Wombs don’t Matter. Young Black Men, Black Boys| Black Women, Black Girls | Blackness | Worthless | Black Wombs don’t Matter. Young Black Men, Black Boys|…
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April 12 Poet of the Day: Quincy Troupe
Although it is officially May, I shall continue with the April Poet and Jazz posts. April 12 Poet of the Day is Quincy Troupe. Read more about this prolific and fascinating writer below.
Website: http://www.quincytroupe.com/
Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/quincy-troupe
Poets.org: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/quincy-troupe
Books written by Quincy Troupe from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Quincy-Troupe/e/B001ILMAXK
Youtube videos:
“Forty One Seconds”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2z-MQc6VGc, “Interview” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIR3eSCLiDw, “Conversation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTuSJnl_sDY
May 4 African American Historical Events
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* Today in Black History – May 4 * 1864 – Ulysses S. Grant crosses the Rapidan and begins his duel 1937 – Melvin Edwards is born in Houston, Texas. He will become 1942 – Nickolas Ashford is born in Fairfield, South Carolina. He 1943 – William Tubman is elected president of Liberia. 1951 – Sigmund Esco Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. Better known as 1961 – Thirteen CORE-sponsored Freedom Riders begin a bus trip in 1965 – Willie Mays’ 512th home run breaks Mel Ott’s 511th National 1969 – “No Place to Be Somebody” opens at the Public Theatre in New 1985 – The famed Apollo Theatre, once the showcase for the nation’s 1990 – The South African government and the African National 1999 – Five New York police officers go on trial for the torture Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry. |
Mixed Up: Author Kim Baker Navigates a Bicultural Narrative
By Kim Baker
I’m bicultural. My grandparents on my mom’s side eloped and migrated from Mexico to New Mexico where they had babies and my grandpa worked in the coal mines until, lungs destroyed, they moved again to East Los Angeles for better weather. My uncle can tell you about how cramped it was with all the kids in the backseat. Sunshine couldn’t save my grandpa, but most of my family is still around the area. My dad is Anglo and from Texas. His side of the family has been in the states so long, nobody knows for sure from where they originally migrated. So, like lots of people, I’ve got a mixed ethnicity. Culture is a weird thing. It’s shared customs and distinct experiences. I’m ridiculously pale, and I have my husband’s surname so people are often surprised to hear about my Mexican heritage. When people do find out…
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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.
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.
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.
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.
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 