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 Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 23 Poet of the Day: Michael S. Harper

April 23 Poet of the day is Michael S. Harper.  Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938, he has published more than ten books and written several collections.  Read about this award-winning Poet Laureate of Rhode Island here:

Additional resources on Michael S. Harper:

Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/michael-s-harper

Lunch Poems: Poetry reading on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY8R7APJ8uM

Michael S. Harper reading “Dear John, Dear Coltrane”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdDn9njMcM

Modern American Poetry: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/harper/harper.htm

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 22 Poet of the Day: Sonia Sanchez

April 22 Poet of the day is Sonia Sanchez.  Born September 9, 1934, this poet, activist, educator is often associated with the Black Arts Movement.  Read more about this multitalented woman here:

Additional resources on Sonia Sanchez:

Poets.org: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/276

Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sonia-sanchez

MSNBC Video: http://www.msnbc.com/the-cycle/watch/sonia-sanchez-on-activism-and-poetry-101378115761

Def Poetry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X8gIrkUTh0

Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/21/poet_activist_sonia_sanchez_at_peace

Art & Power in Movement: http://blip.tv/amherstmedia/sonia-sanchez-art-power-in-movement-4977129

Voices From the Gap: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/sanchez_sonia.php

National Visionary Leadership Project: http://www.visionaryproject.org/sanchezsonia/

Interview with Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/a-qanda-with-poet-laureate-sonia-sanchez/2012/10/24/eb76c68c-1e02-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_blog.html

KRLemmons African American History

April 23 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 23 *

1856 – Granville Tailer Woods is born in Columbus, Ohio. He will
become an inventor of steam boilers, furnaces, incubators
and auto air brakes and holder of over 50 patents. He will
become the first American of African ancestry to be a
mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War.
Self-taught, he will concentrate most of his work on trains
and streetcars. One of his notable inventions will be the
Multiplex Telegraph, a device that sends messages between
train stations and moving trains. His work will assure a
safer and better public transportation system for the
cities of the United States. He will join the ancestors on
January 30, 1910.

1872 – Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman
lawyer in ceremonies held in Washington, DC admitting her
to practice before the bar. She had received her law degree
from Howard University on February 27.

1894 – Jimmy Noone is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a jazz clarinetist and a major influence on the
swing music of the 1930’s and 1940’s. He will be a band
leader and be best known as the leader of “Jimmy Noone’s
Apex Club Orchestra.” Two of the people most influenced by
Jimmy Noone’s style will be Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey.
He will join the ancestors after suffering a fatal heart
attack, while performing with “Kid” Ory on April 19, 1944.

1895 – Jorge Mateus Vicente Lima is born in Alagoas, Brazil. He
will become a poet, novelist, essayist, painter, doctor,
and politician. He will become best known as a writer,
manipulating Brazilian subjects, at the same time analyzing
Afro-Brazilian culture and heritage. He will become a
fixture in the Brazilian experience during the 1920’s. Even
though he became a physician, he will exhibit his talents
as a writer in writings from his youth. His most famous
writing will be a poem, “Essa Nega Fulo” (That Black Girl
Fulo), written in 1928. The poem will explore the dynamics
between a slave master, the slave and her mistress. He
will join the ancestors in 1953 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1898 – Alfredo da Rocha Viana Jr. is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He will become a composer and bandleader best known as
“Pixinguinha.” By the time he was a teenager, he will be
respected for his talent as a flutist. After traveling with
his first band to France in 1922, he will open the door of
Brazilian music to the world. He will be credited with
assisting to invent the “samba.” He is generally referred
to as the King of Samba and the Father of Musica Popular
Brasileira. He will join the ancestors on February 17, 1973
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1913 – The National Urban League is incorporated in New York City.
The organization is founded in 1910 when the Committee on
Urban Conditions Among Negroes met in New York to discuss
means to assist rural African Americans in the transition
to urban life. Founders include Mrs. Ruth Standish Baldwin
and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, who becomes the league’s
first executive director.

1941 – New Yorkers are treated to a performance of Cafi Society at
Carnegie Hall by a group of jazz artists that includes
Albert “Jug” Ammons, Hazel Scott, and Art Tatum. It also
marks the first performance of Helena (later Lena) Horne,
who sings “Summertime,” among other songs.

1944 – The NAACP Youth Council and Committee for Unity in Motion
Pictures selects its first Motion Picture Award recipients.
Given to honor actors whose roles advance the image of
African Americans in motion pictures, awards go to Rex
Ingram for “Sahara,” Lena Horne for “As Thousands Cheer,”
Leigh Whipper for “The Oxbow Incident” and “Mission to
Moscow,” Hazel Scott for her debut in “Something to Shout
About” and Dooley Wilson for his role as Sam in
“Casablanca,” among others. The awards will be the fore-
runner to the NAACP’s Image Awards.

1948 – Charles Richard Johnson in born in Evanston, Illinois. He
will become an novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He
will begin his career after graduating from the State
University of New York at Stonybrook with a Ph.D. in
philosophy. He will be mentored by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph
Ellison, Jean Toomer, Richard Wright and John Gardner. He
will be known for his works, “Middle Passage,” “Oxherding
Tale,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” and “Being and Race:
Black Writing Since 1970.” He will win the 1990 National
Book Award for “Middle Passage.”

1954 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, of the Milwaukee Braves, hits the
first of what will be 755 career home runs, in a game
against the St. Louis Cardinals. The score will be 7-5 in
favor of the Braves.

1955 – U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review a lower court decision
which would ban segregation in intrastate bus travel.

1964 – James Baldwin’s play, “Blues for Mr. Charlie” opens on
Broadway. Starring Al Freeman, Jr., Diana Sands, and
others, the play reveals the plight of African Americans in
the South.

1971 – Columbia University operations are virtually ended for the
year by African American and white students who seize five
buildings on campus.

1971 – William Tubman, president of Liberia, joins the ancestors at
the age of 76. He had been president of Liberia since
1944.

1998 – James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he was
framed, dies at a Nashville hospital at age 70.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 22 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 22 *

1526 – The first recorded slave revolt occurs in a settlement of
some five hundred Spaniards and one hundred slaves, located
on the Pedee River in what is now South Carolina.

1882 – Benjamin Griffith Brawley is born in Columbia, South
Carolina. He will become a prolific author and educator,
serving as a professor of English at Morehouse, Howard,
and Shaw universities. He will also serve as dean of
Morehouse. His books, among them “A Short History of the
American Negro” and “A New Survey of English Literature,”
will be landmark texts recommended at several colleges. He
will join the ancestors in 1939.

1922 – Charles Mingus is born in Nogales, Arizona. Raised in Watts,
California, he will play double bass with Charlie Parker,
Duke Ellington, and Bud Powell before becoming a bandleader
and composer in his own right. Although not as popular as
Miles Davis or Ellington, Mingus, who also will play piano,
will be considered one of the principal forces in modern
jazz. He will join the ancestors in 1979 succumbing to Lou
Gehrig’s disease.

1950 – Charles Hamilton Houston, architect of the NAACP legal
campaign, joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at the age
of 54.

1964 – A Trinity College student occupies the school administration
building to protest campus bias.

1964 – New York police arrest 294 civil rights demonstrators at the
opening of the World Fair.

1970 – Yale University students protest in support of the Black
Panthers.

1981 – The Joint Center for Political Studies reports that 2991
African Americans held elective offices in 45 states and
the District of Columbia, compared with 2621 in April, 1973,
and 1185 in 1969. The Center reports 108 African American
mayors. Michigan had the largest number of African American
elected officials (194), followed by Mississippi (191).

1981 – Brailsford Reese Brazeal, economist and former dean of
Morehouse College, joins the ancestors in Atlanta, Georgia,
at the age of 76.

1989 – Huey Newton, black activist and co-founder of the Black
Panther Party, joins the ancestors, after being killed at
age 47.

2000 – The Rev. R.F. Jenkins, a pastor active in civil-rights
organizations, who led his church for 25 years, joins the
ancestors in Omaha, Nebraska, after suffering a heart attack
at the age of 87. He was the first African American Lutheran
Church Missouri Synod minister in the Nebraska district. He
and his wife, Beatrice, had come to Omaha in 1954 after
serving pastorates in Alabama and North Carolina. He had
also previously served eight years as a faculty member at
Alabama Lutheran College. He had returned to his hometown of
Selma, Alabama, to take part in a civil-rights march in
1965. He served on the Omaha School District board from 1970
to 1976, and retired from the pulpit in 1979.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 21 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 21 *

1878 – The ship Azor leaves Charleston, South Carolina, on its
first trip, carrying 209 African Americans bound for
Liberia.

1892 – African American Longshoremen strike for higher wages in St.
Louis, Missouri.

1900 – Dumarsais Estime’ is born in Verrettes, Artibonite, Haiti.
He will become president of Haiti in 1946 and will be
regarded as a progressive leader and statesman. He will
be the first black head of state since the U.S. occupation
of Haiti ended in 1934. He will join the ancestors in New
York City on July 20, 1953.

1938 – The Harlem Suitcase Theatre opens with Langston Hughes’s
play “Don’t You Want to be Free?” The play’s star is a
young Robert Earl Jones, father of James Earl Jones.

1940 – Souleymane Cisse’ is born in Bamako, Mali. He will become
a filmmaker, graduating from the State Institute of Cinema
in Moscow in 1969. He will become one of the most popular
filmmakers in Africa.

1966 – Milton Olive, Jr. becomes the first African American to win
the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery during the
Vietnam War. He will be honored for saving the lives of his
fellow soldiers by falling on a live grenade while
participating in a search-and-destroy mission near Phu
Coung.

1965 – Pedro Albizu Campos joins the ancestors at the age of 71 in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. Campos was a Puerto Rican of
African descent who advocated Puerto Rico’s independence
and condemned United States imperialism and the 1898
invasion and occupation of Puerto Rico. Some Puerto Ricans
refer to him as “Don Pedro,” and one of the fathers of
Puerto Rican national identity.

1966 – His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie visits Kingston,
Jamaica.

1971 – Francois Duvalier, known as “Papa Doc,” joins the ancestors
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at the age of 64. He had been
president-for-life of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He will be
succeeded in power by his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier.

1974 – By winning the Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida, Lee
Elder becomes the first African American professional golfer
to qualify for the Masters Tournament. It will be one of
four PGA tour victories for the Dallas, Texas, native,
including the Houston Open in 1976 and the Greater Milwaukee
Open and Westchester Classic in 1978. Elder’s career
earnings of $2 million will place him among the top three
African American golfers, along with Calvin Peete ($2.3
million and 12 PGA tournament victories) and Charlie Sifford
($1 million).

2003 – Nina Simone, “High Priestess of Soul”, joins the ancestors in
Carry-le-Rouet (South of France) at the age of 70. As she
wished, her ashes will be spread in different African
countries. She gained fame in the 1960s for her civil rights
songs.

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

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 21 Poet of the Day: Dudley Randall

Dudley Randall is April 21 Poet of the Day.  He was a poet, publisher, and founder of Broadside Press.  Read about this fascinating poet here:

Additional resources on Dudley Randall:

Modern American Poetry: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/randall.htm

Poemhunter: http://www.poemhunter.com/dudley-randall/biography/

Remembering Dudley Randall: http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/1527

Biography: http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2931/Randall-Dudley.html

YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twDVg48yCp0

Ballad of Birmingham poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2BzXvD2eiM

 

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 20 Poet of the Day: Naomi Long Madgett

Naomi Long Madgett is April 20 Poet of the Day.  Founder of Lotus Press, this poet, educator, Poet Laureate of Detroit, Naomi Long Madgett was the first woman awarded  Eminent Artist Award from the Kresge Foundation in 2012.  Read about this remarkable woman here:

Additional resources on Naomi Long Madgett:

History Makers: http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/naomi-long-madgett-41

Kresge Foundation: http://kresge.org/news/detroit%E2%80%99s-poet-laureate-naomi-long-madgett-named-2012-kresge-eminent-artist

Free Press: http://www.freep.com/article/20130407/ENT05/304070050/Naomi-Long-Madgett-Art-X

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRUqrH1VRHU

KRLemmons African American History

April 20 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 20 *

1853 – Harriet Tubman starts as a conductor on the Underground
Railroad.

1871 – Third Enforcement Act defines Klan conspiracy as a rebellion
against the United States and empowers the president to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus and declare martial law
in rebellious areas.

1877 – Federal troops are withdrawn from public buildings in New
Orleans, Louisiana. Democrats then take over the state
government.

1908 – Lionel Hampton is born in Louisville, Kentucky. He will
become trained as a drummer and starts his musical career
on this instrument. In 1930, while in a recording session
with Louis Armstrong, He will become fall in love with the
sound of a vibraphone that was used only to play the famous
NBC bing-bang-bong station identification. This will lead
to Armstrong asking Hampton to add the instrument to the
score they were about to record. “Memories of You”, the
song premiering Hampton on the vibraphone, will become a
classic. He will go on to become the best-known jazz master
of the vibraphone. He will join the ancestors on August 31,
2002.

1920 – Mary J. Reynolds invents a hoisting/loading mechanism.

1926 – Harriet Elizabeth Byrd is born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She
will become a teacher and in 1981, the first African
American legislator in Wyoming’s state history. She will
serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1981 to
1988, and in the Wyoming Senate from 1988 to 1992, becoming
the first African American to serve in both houses. During
her career in the state legislature, she will sponsor
legislation establishing a state holiday in honor of Martin
Luther King Jr., achieving a partial victory in 1991 through
the establishment of the Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming
Equality Day which is popularly recognized as King Day in
the state. Other legislation she will sponsor includes
requiring the use of child safety restraints, expansion of
available handicapped parking, and the establishment of
social services programs for adults.

1951 – Luther Vandross is born in New York City. An early backup
singer and commercial jingle writer, his big break as a
solo artist will come in 1981 when his album “Never Too
Much” will reveal his talents to both Rhythm & Blues and
pop audiences. He will make a string of hit albums,
earning seven consecutive platinum and double-platinum
albums and achieve his greatest crossover success with the
albums “The Best of Luther Vandross” and “Power of Love,”
which will earn him three Grammy awards. He will join the
ancestors from complications of diabetes and a stroke on
July 1, 2005.

1964 – Cleveland school officials report that 86 per cent of the
African American students in the school system participated
in one-day boycott.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson awards the Medal of Freedom to
Leontyne Price, for “Her singing has brought light to her
land.”

1969 – James Earl Jones wins a Tony for his portrayal of
controversial heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in “The
Great White Hope.”

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing is a
constitutionally acceptable method of integrating public
schools.

2010 – Dorothy Height, the leading female voice of the 1960s civil
rights movement and a participant in historic marches with
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, joins the ancestors
at the age of 98. Dr. Height, whose activism on behalf of
women and minorities dates to the New Deal, led the National
Council of Negro Women for 40 years. She continued actively
speaking out into her 90s, often getting rousing ovations at
events around Washington, where she was immediately recognized
by the bright, colorful hats she almost always wore. In a
statement, President Barack Obama calls her “the godmother of
the civil rights movement” and a hero to Americans. “Dr. Height
devoted her life to those struggling for equality … and
served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil
Rights Movement _ witnessing every march and milestone along
the way,” Obama said.

2011 – Gerard Smith joins the ancestors at the age of 36, succumbing to
lung cancer. He was an American visual artist, musician, and
member of the celebrated Brooklyn-based band “TV on the Radio.”
He recorded an album of original music as “A Rose Parade” with
Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum and also produced music with
Midnight Masses.

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

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 19 Poet of the Day: Jessie Redmond Fauset

April 19 Poet of the Day is Jessie Redmond Fauset. A scholar and novelist, she was the first black woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  Read about this pioneering woman here:

Additional information on Jessie Redmond Fauset:

Poets.org: Rondeau, a poem by Jessie Redmond Fauset http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23953

Dead Fires by Fauset: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19689

About.com: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/harlemrenaissance/p/jessie_fauset.htm

Voices From the Gap: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/fausetJessie.php

Black Past: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/fauset-jessie-r-1882-1961

Harlem Renaissance: http://harlemrenaissancepoets7.wikispaces.com/Jessie+Redmon+Fauset