Day: June 22, 2015

* Today in Black History – June 21 *

1821 – The African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church is
formally constituted in New York City at its first annual
conference. Nineteen clergymen were present, representing
six African American churches from New York City,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Haven, Connecticut and
Newark, New Jersey. They voted to separate from the
white-controlled Methodist Episcopal Church, which had
insisted on ultimate control of the church’s leadership and
property. To distinguish between the two African Methodist
Episcopal organizations, as well as to honor their original
congregation, in 1848 they will vote to add Zion to their
name.

1832 – Joseph Haynes Rainey is born in Georgetown, South Carolina.
He will become the first African American elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives, where he will serve five
terms. He will join the ancestors on August 1, 1887.

1859 – Henry Ossawa Tanner is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Son
of AME bishop Benjamin Tanner, young Tanner will forgo the
ministry to take up painting. Constantly facing the tension
between racial stereotypes and his art, Tanner will
eventually emigrate to France to pursue his art, considered
by many the finest produced by an African American. He will
be known for his commanding use of light and color in his
seascapes, scenes of everyday life, and religious paintings.
He will join the ancestors in Paris, France on May 25, 1937.

1868 – John Hope is born in Augusta, Georgia. He will become the
first African American president of Atlanta Baptist (later
Morehouse) College in 1906. He will be a pioneer in the
field of education. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown
University, He will encourage an intellectual climate
comparable to what he had known at his alma mater and will
openly challenge Booker T. Washington’s view that education
for African Americans should emphasize vocational and
agricultural skills. He will join the ancestors on February
22, 1936.

1923 – Marcus Garvey is sentenced by the U.S. government to 5 years
in prison for using the U.S. mail to defraud. He is
railroaded by a government that is terrified by the control
that one magnificent orator had over African Americans.
They did not want their major source of cheap labor in
America to leave for Africa.

1927 – Carl B. Stokes is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He will become the
first African American elected mayor of a major American
city. He will be elected to two terms as mayor of Cleveland,
Ohio at a time of urban riots and racial unrest in many major
U.S. cities. Civil rights leaders said his election was an
advance, both symbolic and genuine, for the cause of black
political empowerment. He will be instrumental in getting
through a law requiring city contractors to have minority
employment programs. President Clinton will appoint him, in
1994, as ambassador to the Seychelles, an island nation in
the Indian Ocean. He will join the ancestors on April 3, 1996.

1945 – Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African
American to command a U.S. Army Air Force base when he
takes command of the 477th Composite Group of Godman Field
in Kentucky.

1951 – PFC William H. Thompson is posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor. He is the first African
American recipient since the Spanish-American War.

1964 – In Neshoba County in central Mississippi, three civil rights
field workers disappear after investigating the burning of
an African American church by the Ku Klux Klan. Michael
Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both white New Yorkers, had
traveled to heavily segregated Mississippi in 1964 to help
organize civil rights efforts on behalf of the Congress of
Racial Equality (CORE). The third man, James Chaney, was a
local African American man who had joined CORE in 1963. The
disappearance of the three young men garnered national
attention and led to a massive FBI investigation that was
code-named MIBURN, for “Mississippi Burning.” They are later
found murdered.

1965 – Arthur Ashe leads UCLA to the NCAA tennis championship.

1990 – Little Richard gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

1997 – Patrice Rushen receives an NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award
for her contributions in the field of music.

2001 – Famed blues man John Lee Hooker joins the ancestors at the
age of 83 of natural causes in Los Altos, California. The
veteran blues singer from the Mississippi Delta estimated
that he recorded more than 100 albums over nearly seven
decades. He won a Grammy Award for a version of “I’m In The
Mood,” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1991 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2000
Grammys. Through it all, Hooker’s music remained hypnotic
and unchanged — his rich and sonorous voice, full of
ancient hurt, coupled with a brooding, rhythmic guitar. He
sang of loneliness and confusion. Neither polished nor
urbane, his music was raw, primal emotion.

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

* Today in Black History – June 20 *

1858 – Charles Waddell Chestnutt is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He
will at one time maintain four careers simultaneously –
stenographer, lawyer, author, and lecturer. He will also
serve three years as principal of the Fayetteville State
Colored Normal School in North Carolina. His most famous
literary works will be a biography of Frederick Douglass
and the short story collection “The Conjure Woman”. In
1928, he will receive the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his
literacy accomplishments. He will join the ancestors on
November 15, 1932.

1871 – Ku Klux Klan trials begin in federal court in Oxford,
Mississippi. Many whites, including doctors, lawyers,
ministers and college professors, are arrested and jailed
in the anti-Klan campaign. Of the 930 indicted in
Mississippi, 243 will be tried and found guilty. Some 1180
are indicted in South Carolina and 1849 are indicted in
North Carolina.

1911 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People is incorporated in New York City. It had been
founded on February 12, 1909.

1926 – Mordecai W. Johnson becomes the first African American
president of Howard University.

1929 – “Hot Chocolates” premieres at the Hudson Theatre in New
York City. With music by Fats Waller and lyrics by Andy
Razaf, the musical will introduce the songs “Ain’t
Misbehaving” and “Black and Blue”.

1936 – Jesse Owens of the United States sets the 100 meter record
at 10.2 seconds.

1943 – Thirty-four persons are killed in race riots in Detroit,
Michigan. Federal troops are called in to control the
violence, which stems from African Americans’ frustration
over exclusion from civilian defense jobs.

1946 – Andre’ Watts is born in Nuremburg, Germany. He will
make his debut as a concert pianist at age nine, have his
New York Philharmonic debut in 1963, and become a world-
famous classical pianist. In 2004 he will join the faculty
at Indiana University, where he will hold the Jack I. and
Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in The Jacob School of Music.

1949 – Lionel Ritchie is born in Tuskegee, Alabama. He will be
one of the most successful singers/songwriters in
contemporary popular music, known for his efforts in Pop,
Rhythm & Blues, and country music. Once a member of the
Commodores, Richie will establish a solo career, win
Grammys in 1982 and 1984, and be a featured performer at
the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in
Los Angeles.

1950 – Willie Mays graduates from high school and immediately
signs with the New York Giants for a $6,000 bonus. ‘The
Say Hey Kid’ would play most of his career for the Giants
— in both New York and San Francisco — becoming a
baseball legend. As his career comes to a close, Mays
will be traded to the New York Mets. Mays, an all-star
center fielder, will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of
Fame in his first year of eligibility – 1979.

1960 – Harry Belafonte wins an Emmy for his variety special
“Tonight with Harry Belafonte”. It is the first Emmy
awarded to an African American.

1960 – Floyd Patterson wins back the world heavyweight title by
knocking out Ingemar Johanson of Sweden in round five of
a title bout at the Polo Grounds in New York City.

1967 – Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston, Texas, in federal
court for violating the Selective Service Act by refusing
induction into the armed services. He is fined $10,000
and sentenced to five years in prison. Ali, an opponent
of the Vietnam War, had refused to report for service on
grounds that he was a Muslim minister. The U.S. Supreme
Court will later overturn his conviction.

1969 – 150,000 people attend the Newport Jazz Festival. Jimi
Hendrix gets $125,000 to appear on the program. This is
the largest paycheck for a single concert appearance at
the time.

1988 – The Supreme Court upholds a law that made it illegal for
private clubs to discriminate against women and minorities.

1987 – Whitney Houston’s album, “Whitney”, debuts on “Billboard”
magazine’s album charts at number one. Houston becomes the
first female to have a LP debut at the top.

1990 – South African Black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his
wife, Winnie, arrive in New York City for a ticker-tape
parade in their honor as they begin an eight-city United
States tour.

1997 – Lawrence Payton, occasional songwriter and member of the
“Four Tops,” joins the ancestors after succumbing to liver
cancer at his Southfield, Michigan home at the age of 59.
In 1953, he joined the Four Aims, which consisted of him,
Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Abdul “Duke” Fakir.
They changed their name to the Four Tops in order to avoid
confusion with the Ames Brothers. In 1956, they signed with
Chess Records and subsequently moved on to the Red Top,
Riverside and Columbia labels. They were part of Billy
Eckstine’s Las Vegas Revue in 1960 and in 1963 were signed
to Motown Records where they were teamed with the
production team of Holland, Dozier & Holland. Their last
label signing was to Arista in 1988. In 1990, they were
inducted into the Rock ‘n” Roll of Fame.

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

* Today in Black History – June 19 *

1809 – The first African Baptist Church in the U.S. became
an organized body in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1862 – Slavery is abolished in U.S. territories by Congress.

1864 – In a famous duel between the USS Kearsage and the CSS
Alabama off Cherbourg, France, a brave African American
sailor, Joachim Pease, displays “marked coolness” and
will win a Congressional Medal of Honor. The CSS
Alabama will be sunk.

1865 – Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in
1863, slavery will continue in Texas, until General
Gordon Granger arrives in Galveston with Union forces,
announcing that all slaves in Texas are free. One
third of the people in Texas are slaves. Juneteenth
will be celebrated annually with picnics and barbecues
at public emancipation grounds, some of which will be
used past year 2000. Juneteenth will become a legal
Texas state holiday in 1980. “JUNETEENTH” celebrations
will come to commemorate the emancipation of African
Americans everywhere.

1867 – P.B.S. Pinchback urges African Americans to use their
franchise privileges. “The Congress of the United
States has conferred upon our People the Elective
Franchise and it is our important duty to see that we
use it well….”

1868 – Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby removes the mayor and aldermen
of Columbia, South Carolina, and makes new appointments,
including three African Americans: C.M. Wilder, Joseph
Taylor and William Simonds.

1914 – Ernest Crichlow is born in Brooklyn, New York.
Studying at the Art Students League, Crichlow will be
associated with the Harlem Art Center during the 1930’s
as a noted painter and illustrator whose objectives will
be to advocate social commentary and communication
through art. He will join the ancestors on November 10,
2005.

1926 – DeFord Bailey becomes the first African American
musician to perform on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry show.

1936 – Joe Louis is knocked out by Max Schmeling in the 12th
round of their heavyweight boxing match. The German boxer
earns his victory at Yankee Stadium in New York.

1946 – Joe Louis fights Billy Conn, in New York City, in the
first championship prize fight to be televised.

1948 – Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad, actress (best known for
playing the part of Clair opposite Bill Cosby on the long-
running “Cosby Show”) is born in Houston, Texas.

1953 – Albert W. Dent, president of Dillard University, is
elected president of the National Health Council.

1953 – A bus boycott begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1959 – Mark DeBarge is born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He will
become a recording artist as a member of the rhythm & blues
group DeBarge. The group will be composed of three brothers,
Randy, James and Eldra and sister Bunny. They will actively
perform from 1978 to 1991.

1962 – Paula Julie Abdul, singer/choreographer, is born in Van
Nuys, California.

1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved by the Senate,
73-27, after surviving an 83-day filibuster.

1965 – “I Can’t Help Myself” by the Four Tops tops the pop and
Rhythm & Blues charts. The Motown group will get their second
and only other number one hit with “Reach Out I’ll Be There”
in 1966. Their other hits include: “It’s the Same Old Song”,
“Standing in the Shadows of Love”, “Bernadette” and “Ain’t No
Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” (their only million seller).
The group calls Motown, Detroit, Michigan home and got their
start in 1953 as the Four Aims. Levi Stubbs, Renaldo ‘Obie’
Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir will place 24
hits on the charts from 1964 to 1988. They first recorded as
The Four Tops for Leonard Chess and Chess Records in 1956;
then went to Red Top and Columbia before signing with Berry
Gordy’s Motown label in 1963. The Tops, who will have no
personnel changes in their more than 35 years together will
be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

1968 – Fifty thousand demonstrators participate in Solidarity Day
March of the Poor People’s Campaign. Marchers walk from the
Washington Monument to the Lincoln Monument, where they are
addressed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, presidential
candidate Eugene McCarthy, Coretta Scott King and Ralph
Abernathy.

1969 – Illinois State troopers are ordered to Cairo, by the
governor, to quell racially motivated disturbances.

1971 – The mayor of Columbus, Georgia declares a state of emergency
due to racial disturbances.

1986 – Len Bias, a senior at the University of Maryland and the
1st-round pick of the Boston Celtics, joins the ancestors
after suffering a fatal cocaine-induced seizure.

1990 – Opening statements are presented in the drug and perjury
trial of Washington D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. Barry is
later convicted of a single count of misdemeanor drug
possession, and sentenced to six months in prison. He will
resume a career in politics after prison, when he is elected
to the DC City Council representing Ward 8.

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