KRLemmons African American History

December 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 2 *

1859 – John Brown, abolitionist who planned the failed attack
on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, is hanged at
Charles Town, West Virginia.

1866 – Harry T. Burleigh, singer and composer, is born in
Erie, Pennsylvania. He will be educated at the
National Conservatory of Music in New York City, where
he will meet and form a lasting friendship with Anton
Dvorak. He will eventually be awarded the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal. Burleigh will be best known for his
arrangements of the Negro spiritual “Deep River”. He
will join the ancestors on December 12, 1949.

1884 – Granville T. Woods receives a patent for his first
electric device, an improved telephone transmitter.

1891 – North Carolina A&T College, Delaware State College and
West Virginia State College are established.

1891 – The Fifty-second Congress convenes. Only one African
American congressman has been elected – Henry P.
Cheatham of North Carolina.

1891 – Charles Harris Wesley, historian, educator, and
administrator, is born in Louisville, Kentucky. His
published works will include, “Neglected History,”
“Collapse of the Confederacy,” and “Negro Labor in the
United States,”and “1850-1925: A Study of American
Economic History.” He will join the ancestors on
August 16, 1987.

1908 – John Baxter “Doc” Taylor joins the ancestors as a result
of of typhoid pneumonia at the age of 26. Taylor had
been a record-setting quarter miler and the first
African American Olympic gold medal winner in the 4 x
400-meter medley in the 1908 London games.

1922 – Charles C. Diggs is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will
become an early member of the civil rights movement and
will attend the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers. In
1954, he will defeat incumbent U.S. Representative
George D. O’Brien in the Democratic Party primary
elections for Michigan’s 13th congressional district. He
will go on to win the general election to the 84th
Congress and be subsequently re-elected to the next
twelve Congresses. He will be the first African American
elected to Congress from the state of Michigan. He will
also be elected the first chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus. He will serve as a congressman from January
3, 1955, until his resignation June 3, 1980. He will
resign from the United States House of Representatives
and serve 14 months of a three-year sentence for mail
fraud, although he maintained his innocence. He will join
the ancestors on August 24, 1998.

1923 – Roland Hayes becomes the first African American to sing
in the Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.

1940 – William Ferdie ‘Willie’ Brown is born in Yazoo City,
Mississippi. He will play college football at Grambling
State University and will not be drafted by any
professional team after leaving college in 1963. He will
be signed by the Houston Oilers of the American Football
League (AFL), but will be cut from the team during training
camp. He will then be signed by the AFL’s Denver Broncos
and became a starter by the middle of his rookie season. He
will win All-AFL honors in his second season and play in
the AFL All-Star Game, recording nine interceptions for 144
yards. In 1967, he will be traded to the AFL’s Oakland
Raiders and spend the remainder of his playing career there.
He will serve as defensive captain for 10 of his 12 years
with the team. He will be named to five AFL All-Star games
and four NFL Pro Bowls. He will also be named All-AFL three
times and All-NFL four times. His most memorable moment as
a Raider will come during Super Bowl XI, when he intercepts
a Fran Tarkenton pass and return it a Super Bowl-record 75
yards for a touchdown. His record will stand for 29 years.
He will retire after the 1978 season, and finish his Raiders’
career with 39 interceptions. He will finish his 16
professional football season seasons with 54 interceptions,
which he returned for 472 yards and two touchdowns. He will
also recover three fumbles. He will be a member of the
American Football League All-Time Team and be inducted into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 28, 1984, his first
year of eligibility. In 1999, he will be ranked number 50 on
The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players,
making him the highest-ranking Raiders player.

1943 – “Carmen Jones,” a contemporary reworking of the Bizet
opera “Carmen” by Oscar Hammerstein II with an all-black
cast, opens on Broadway.

1953 – Dr. Rufus Clement, president of Atlanta University, is
elected to the Atlanta Board of Education.

1975 – Ohio State running back Archie Griffin becomes the first
person ever to win the Heisman Trophy twice, when he is
awarded his second trophy in New York City. He amassed
a career record of 5,176 yards and 31 consecutive 100
yard plus games.

1989 – Andre Ware of the University of Houston, becomes the
first African American quarterback to win the Heisman
Trophy.

1992 – Dr. Maya Angelou is asked to compose a poem for William
Jefferson Clinton’s presidential inauguration.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 1 *

1641 – Massachusetts becomes the first colony to give statutory
recognition to the institution of slavery.

1821 – Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) proclaims independence
from Spain.

1873 – The 43rd Congress (1873-75) convenes with seven African
American congressmen: Richard H. Cain, Robert Brown
Elliott, Joseph H. Rainey and Alonzo J. Ransier, South
Carolina; James T. Rapier, Alabama; Josiah T. Walls,
Florida; John R. Lynch, Mississippi.

1873 – Mifflin Wister Gibb is elected city judge in Little Rock,
Arkansas and becomes the first African American to hold
such a position.

1873 – Bennett College (Greensboro, North Carolina) and Wiley
College (Marshall, Texas) are founded.

1874 – Queen Esther Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star, is
established at 708 O Street, N.W., Washington, DC in the
home of Mrs. Georgiana Thomas. The first Worthy Matron
is Sister Martha Welch and the first Worthy Patron is
Bro. Thornton A. Jackson. This establishes the first
Eastern Star Chapter among African American women in the
United States.

1877 – Jonathan Jasper Wright, the first African American state
supreme court justice, resigns from the state supreme
court in South Carolina. He resigns knowing that whites
would soon force him off the bench after overthrowing
the Reconstruction government. He will later join the
ancestors on February 19, 1885, in obscurity, of
tuberculosis.

1934 – Paul Williams is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He
will become Billy Paul, rhythm and blues singer, best
known for his song, “Me and Mrs. Jones”. The song,
recorded in 1972 will earn him a Grammy Award.

1935 – Lou Rawls is born in Chicago, Illinois. A successful
rhythm, blues, and jazz singer, he will record over 30
albums including “Unmistakably Lou”, a 1977 Grammy
winner for best R & B vocal performance. He will also
be a strong supporter of African American colleges, as
host of the annual UNCF telethon. He will join the
ancestors on January 6, 2006.

1940 – Richard Franklin Lennox Pryor III is born in Peoria,
Illinois. Raised in a brothel owned by his grandmother,
Pryor will try music as a drummer before his big comedy
break on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and a series of
successful, Grammy-winning comedy albums. Pryor will
also make movies, most notably “Stir Crazy” and “Silver
Streak”. Pryor will also battle drug abuse and illness
in his career, including his near death from burns
inflicted while freebasing cocaine and a battle against
multiple sclerosis. He will join the ancestors on
December 5, 2005.

1955 – Rosa Parks, a seamstress, refuses to take a back seat on
a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her refusal to move will
result in her arrest and will begin a 382-day boycott
of the bus system by African Americans and mark the
beginning of the modern American Civil Rights movement.

1958 – The Central African Republic is made an autonomous
member of the French Commonwealth of Nations.

1980 – George Rogers, of the University of South Carolina, is
named the Heisman Trophy winner. Rogers will go on to
achieve success with the Washington Redskins.

1980 – United States Justice Department sues the city of
Yonkers, New York, citing racial discrimination.

1981 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpasses Oscar Robertson as
basketball’s second all-time leading scorer (second
only to Wilt Chamberlain). Kareem gets to the total of
26,712 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah
Jazz 117-86. Chamberlain’s record will fall in 1984,
when Kareem’s scores reach 31,259. Kareem will wind up
his career in 1989 with 38,387 points.

1982 – Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller” is released and will
go on to become the best-selling album in history, with
over 40 million copies sold worldwide.

1987 – James Baldwin, author, joins the ancestors in St. Paul
de Vence, France, of stomach cancer, at the age of 63.
He explored the plight of oppressed African Americans in
20th century America in a variety of literary forms.
His output included novels and plays, but it was above
all, as an essayist, that he achieved a reputation as
the most literary spokesman in the struggle for civil
rights in the 1950s and 1960s. His three most important
collection of essays were “Notes of a Native Son” in
1955, “Nobody Knows My Name” in 1961, and “The Fire Next
Time” in 1963. The most highly regarded of his novels
were the first three, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” in
1953, “Giovanni’s Room” in 1956, and “Another Country”
in 1962.

1989 – Dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey joins the ancestors
in New York City. Ailey began his professional career
with Lester Horton, founded, and was the sole director
of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958.
Initially performing four concerts annually, he took
the company to Europe on one of the most successful
tours ever by an American dance troupe. Among his
honors were the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in 1977, and
Kennedy Center Honors.

1992 – Pearl Stewart becomes the first African American woman
editor of the Oakland Tribune, which has a circulation
of over 100,000.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 30 *

1869 – John Roy Lynch is elected to the Mississippi House of
Representatives.

1912 – Gordon Parks, Sr. is born in Fort Scott, Kansas. In the
late 1930’s, while working as a railroad porter, he
will become interested in photography and launch his
career as a photographer and photojournalist. From
1943 to 1945, he will be a correspondent for the Office
of War Information, giving national exposure to his
work. This will lead to him becoming a staff
photographer for Life magazine in 1948. He will branch
off into film and television in the 1950’s and in 1968
will produce, direct, and write the script and music
for the production of his book, “The Learning Tree.”
He will also direct and write the music scores for the
movies “Shaft,” “Shaft’s Big Score,” The Super Cops,”
“Leadbelly,” “Odyssey of Solomon Northrup” and “Moments
Without Proper Names.” He will also direct “Superfly,”
“Three The Hard Way,” “Aaron Loves Angela,” and be
called a “Twentieth Century Renaissance Man” by the
NAACP, who will award him its Spingarn Medal in 1972.
The Library of Congress will honor him in 1982 with the
National Film Registry Classics designation for his
film, “The Learning Tree.” He will join the ancestors
on March 7, 2006.

1924 – Shirley Anita St. Hill (later Chisholm) is born in
Brooklyn, New York. While an education consultant for New
York City’s day-care division, she will become active in
community and political activities that included the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and her district’s Unity Democratic Club. She
will begin her political career at the age of 40, when she
is elected to the state assembly. In 1968, she will be the
first African American woman elected to Congress,
defeating civil-rights leader James Farmer, who had
asserted in his campaign that African American voters
needed “a man’s voice in Washington.” She will run for
President in 1972 and continue her Congressional duties
until 1982.

1933 – Sam Gilliam is born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He will become
an artist known for his unique manipulation of materials
that result in painted sculpture or suspended paintings.
His work will be shown at the 36th Venice Miennale as well
as in the exhibit “African-American Artists 1880-1987.”

1937 – Robert Guillaume (Williams) is born in St. Louis, Missouri.
He will become an actor and be best known for his roles in
the sit-coms “Soap” and “Benson”.

1944 – Luther Ingram is born in Jackson, Mississippi. He will
become a rhythm and blues musician and singer and will be
best known for the song, “(If Lovin’ You is Wrong) I Don’t
Want to be Right.”

1948 – The Negro National League (Professional Baseball) officially
disbands. Although black teams will continue to play for
several years, they will no longer be major league caliber.
The demise of the Negro Leagues was inevitable as the
younger black players were signed by the white major league
franchises.

1953 – Albert Michael Espy is born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. In
1987, he will be sworn in as the state’s first African
American congressman since John Roy Lynch more than 100
years before. He will become Secretary of Agriculture
during the Bill Clinton administration. Leaving the
cabinet under fire and indicted for corruption, he will
later be vindicated when he is found not guilty.

1956 – Archie Moore is defeated by Floyd Patterson, as Patterson
wins the heavyweight boxing title vacated by the retired
Rocky Marciano. At the age of 21, Patterson becomes the
youngest boxer to be named heavyweight champion.

1962 – Bo Jackson is born in Bessemer, Alabama. The 1985 Heisman
Trophy winner will be one of the few professional athletes
to play in two sports – football and baseball.

1965 – Judith Jamison makes her debut with Alvin Ailey’s American
Dance Theatre in Chicago, dancing in Talley Beaty’s Congo
Tango Palace. Jamison will rejoin the company in 1988 as
artistic associate due to the failing health of Alvin
Ailey. she will become the company’s artistic director in
1989 upon Ailey’s death.

1966 – Barbados gains its independence from Great Britain.

1975 – The state of Dahomey becomes the People’s Republic of
Benin.

1981 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Coleman A. Young
“in recognition of his singular accomplishments as mayor
of the City of Detroit.”

1990 – Ruth Washington, long-time publisher of the Los Angeles
Sentinel, joins the ancestors. Following the death of
her husband Chester, Washington acted as publisher of the
weekly newspaper, founded in 1933, for sixteen years.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 29 African American Historical Events

oday in Black History – November 29 *

1905 – The Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper,
begins publication.

1907 – Thomas C. Fleming is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He
will become the co-founder of the San Francisco Sun
Reporter, an African American weekly newspaper. Mr.
Fleming will be active, as a writer for the paper,
from its inception in 1944 through the end of the
century. He will chronicle his life as an African in
America through his series, “Reflections on Black
History,” published in his 90’s, while still active as
a journalist with his beloved Sun Reporter. He will join
the ancestors on November 21, 2006.

1908 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is born in New Haven,
Connecticut. Son of the famed minister of Harlem’s
Abyssinian Baptist Church, the younger Powell will be
a civil rights activist, using mass meetings and
strikes to force employment reforms. In 1944, Powell
will be elected to Congress and begin what will be
considered a controversial congressional career. Among
his early actions will be the desegregation of eating
facilities in the House and an unrelenting fight to end
discrimination in the armed forces, employment, housing,
and transportation. Later in his career, his
questionable activities while chairman of the Committee
on Education and Labor will result in his expulsion
from Congress, re-election and eventual return to his
seat. He will join the ancestors on April 4, 1972.

1915 – William Thomas “Billy” Strayhorn is born in Miami Valley
Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. He will write his first
song, “Lush Life,” when he is 16 while working as a
soda jerk in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He will join
Duke Ellington as a co-composer, assistant arranger,
and pianist, where he will collaborate with Ellington
for 29 years on some of the band’s greatest hits.
Among Strayhorn’s compositions will be “Satin Doll,”
and “Take the ‘A’ Train.” He will join the ancestors
on May 31, 1967 of esophageal cancer at the age of 51.

1935 – Two-term congressman from North Carolina, Henry Plummer
Cheatham joins the ancestors in Oxford, North Carolina.
Cheatham was the only African American member of
Congress during the 1890 term.

1943 – David Bing is born in Washington, DC. He will be
selected No. 2 in the 1966 NBA draft by the Detroit
Pistons, and play 12 years in the NBA. He will be
inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1990, and named
one of the top 50 basketball players of all time.

1961 – Freedom Riders are attacked by white mob at bus station
in McComb, Mississippi.

1964 – Don Cheadle is born in Kansas City, Missouri. He will
become an actor and star in movies such as “Boogie
Nights”, “Rebound”, “Hamburger Hill”, and “Devil in a
Blue Dress”. He will also be successful on the small
screen in “Picket Fences”, “Golden Palace” and a
variety of guest appearances.

1989 – The space shuttle Discovery lands after completing a
secret military mission. The mission was led by Air
Force Colonel Frederick D. Gregory, the first African
American commander of a space shuttle mission.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 28 *

1868 – John Sengstacke Abbott is born in Frederica, Georgia.
The son of former slaves, he will attend Hampton
Institute and prepare himself for the printing trade.
He will also go on to law school, and will work as an
attorney for a few years, but will change careers to
become a journalist. He will found the Chicago Defender,
a weekly newspaper on May 6, 1905. He will start the
paper on $25, and in the beginning, operate it out of
his kitchen. Under his direction, the Defender will
become the most widely circulated African American
newspaper of its time and a leading voice in the fight
against racism. He will cultivate a controversial,
aggressive style, reporting on such issues as violence
against blacks and police brutality. The Defender will
raise eyebrows with its anti-lynching slogan – “If you
must die, take at least one with you,” its opposition
to a segregated Colored Officers Training Camp in Fort
Des Moines, Iowa in 1917, and its condemnation of Marcus
Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
Through the Defender, he will also play a major role in
the “Great Migration” of many African Americans from the
South to Chicago. He will join the ancestors on
February 22, 1940.

1871 – The Ku Klux Klan trials begin in Federal District Court
in South Carolina.

1907 – Charles Alston is born in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After studying at Columbia University and Pratt
Institute, he will travel to Europe and the Caribbean,
execute murals for Harlem Hospital and Golden State
Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles, earning
the National Academy of Design Award, and the First
Award of the Atlanta University Collection’s 1942 show
for his watercolor painting, “Farm Boy”. As a teacher,
he will teach at the Harlem Community Art Center, Harlem
Art Workshop, and Pennsylvania State University. He
will be an associate professor of painting at The City
University of New York and a muralist for the WPA during
the Depression. His two-panel mural of that period,
“Magic and Medicine,” can be seen at Harlem Hospital. He
will become a full professor at City University of New
York in 1973. He will join the ancestors on April 27,
1977.

1929 – Berry Gordy is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will become
the the founder and president of Motown Records, the
most successful African American-owned record company.
Gordy’s “Motown Sound” will become synonymous with the
1960’s and will launch the careers of Diana Ross and the
Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson
and the Miracles, the Jackson Five, and many others.

1942 – Richard Wright, author of “Native Son” and “Black Boy”,
joins the ancestors in Paris, France at the age of 52.

1942 – Paul Warfield is born in Warren, Ohio. He will become an
wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins.
Over his career, he will catch 427 passes for 8,565 yards
and 85 touchdowns. He will have a sensational 20.1-yard
per catch average and will be All-NFL five years. He also
will be named to eight Pro Bowls. He will be enshrined in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

1958 – Chad, Congo, and & Mauritania become autonomous members of
the French World Community.

1960 – Mauritania gains independence from France.

1961 – The Downtown Athletic Club awards the Heisman Trophy to
Ernie Davis, a halfback from Syracuse University. He is
the first African American to win the award.

1966 – A coup occurs in Burundi overthrowing the monarchy. A
republic is declared as a replacement form of government.

1981 – Pam McAllister Johnson is named as publisher of Gannett’s
Ithaca (New York) Journal. She is the first African
American woman to head a general circulation newspaper in
the United States.

1992 – In King William’s Town, South Africa, four people are
killed, about 20 injured, when black militant gunmen
attack a country club.

2011 – Comedian and Actor, Patrice O’Neal, joins the ancestors at
the age of 41, succumbing to complications of a stroke he
suffered in September. O’Neal had appeared on shows like
“The Office” and “The Chappelle Show” as well as being a
regular guest on the “Opie and Anthony” radio show.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 27 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 27 *

1942 – Johnny Allen Hendrix is born in Seattle, Washington.
Hendrix’s father, James “Al” Hendrix, later changes
his son’s name to James Marshall. James Marshall
Hendrix will be best known as Jimi Hendrix, leader of
the influential rock group, The Jimi Hendrix
Experience. His music will influence such groups as
“Earth, Wind, and Fire,” “Living Colour,” and “Sting.”
He will join the ancestors on September 18, 1970 after
succumbing to asphyxiation from his own vomit. He will
be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992
and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. His star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame will be dedicated in 1994. In
2006, his debut album, “Are You Experienced,” will be
inducted into the United States National Recording
Preservation Board’s National Recording Registry. Rolling
Stone magazine will name him number 1 on their list of
the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.

1951 – Sixteen-year-old Hosea Richardson becomes the first
licensed African American jockey to ride on the Florida
circuit.

1957 – Dorothy Height, YMCA official, is elected president of
the National Council of Negro Women.

1964 – Robin Givens is born in New York City. She will become
an actress and will star in “Head of the Class,” and “A
Rage in Harlem,” “Michael Jordan: An American Hero,”
“Blankman,” “Foreign Student,” “Boomerang,” “The Women
of Brewster Place,” and “Beverly Hills Madam.”

1968 – Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information for the Black
Panther Party, becomes a fugitive from justice as a
parole violator.

1989 – Jennifer Lawson assumes her duties as Executive Vice
President for National Programming and Promotion
Services at the Public Broadcasting Service. The Alabama
native is the chief programming executive for PBS,
determining which programs are seen on the network. She
is the first woman to hold such a position at a major
television network.

1990 – Charles Johnson wins the National Book Award for his
novel “Middle Passage.” He is the fourth African
American to win the award, formerly called the American
Book Award.

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

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American History, African American Literature, African American Poetry, Children's literature

Giving Thanks Always: Two Children’s Thanksgiving Books

Everyday that I wake up I give thanks.  As a person who is grateful to wake up this morning, and as a school librarian, I’m sharing two books that talk about thanks and Thanksgiving from different perspectives.  These books may be found in your local library and/or can be purchased at Amazon.com

Thanks A Million by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. Publisher: Greenwillow Books. 2006.  ISBN-10: 068817292X; ISBN-13: 978-0688172923. 32 pages. Ages 5 and up.

Review from School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 4–Sixteen thoughtful poems about being thankful for everyday things. Grimes uses a variety of forms that include haiku, a riddle, and a rebus in selections that speak directly to the experiences of young children. In Lunch Box Love Notes, a big sister sometimes resents having to watch out for her baby brother, but a note left in her lunch box by her mother thanking her for taking such good care of Ray makes it worthwhile. Dear Teacher closes, Signed, David/who only hates math/½ as much/as he used to. A Lesson from the Deaf simply and eloquently describes saying thank you in sign language. Cabreras acrylic illustrations are distinctive, folksy, and effective. The art for Mystery is particularly effective, showcasing 42 children of different ethnicities in small, rectangular portraits. A lovely book for reflection and discussion.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

A Strawbeater’s Thanksgiving by Irene Smalls, illustrated by Melodye Benson Rosales. Publisher: Little Brown & Co. 1998.  ISBN-10: 0316798665; ISBN-13: 978-0316798662.  32 pages. Ages 7 and up.

Review from School Library Journal:

Grade 2-5-In this tale based on slave narratives, Smalls presents little-known traditions and unfamiliar figures of speech. At the annual corn-shucking party, seven-year-old Jess longs to be the “strawbeater” who, according to the author’s note, “stands behind a fiddler, reaches around his left shoulder, and beats on the strings while the fiddle is being played, in the manner of a snare drum.” He must wrestle Nathaniel, a bigger boy, for the honor, and when he is chosen for his tenacity rather than his brawn, the festivities begin. There is dancing, singing, good-natured competition, and plenty of food. The story line is somewhat stilted and would require some historical background to be fully appreciated. Rosales’s vibrant, full-color oil paintings carry the emotion and spirit of the day. The bright, bold reds and browns add a sense of power and strength. This is not as satisfying as Patricia and Fredrick McKissack’s Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (Scholastic, 1994), but it helps to fill out the life stories of slaves and presents an interesting glimpse of a harvest celebration of the period.
Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
KRLemmons African American History

November 26 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 26 *

1866 – Rust College is founded in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

1872 – Macon B. Allen is elected judge of the Lower Court of
Charleston, South Carolina. Allen, the first African
American lawyer, becomes the second African American
to hold a major judicial position and the first
African American with a major judicial position on
the municipal level.

1878 – Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor is born in Indianapolis,
Indiana. He will become an American cyclist and win the
world 1 mile (1.6 km) track cycling championship in 1899
after setting numerous world records and overcoming
racial discrimination. He will be the first African
American athlete to achieve the level of world champion
and only the second black man to win a world championship,
after Canadian boxer George Dixon. He will hold the title
of “the world’s fastest bicycle racer” for 12 years. He
will join the ancestors on June 28, 1932 in Chicago,
Illinois.

1883 – Sojourner Truth, women’s rights advocate, poet, and
freedom fighter, joins the ancestors in Battle Creek,
Michigan.

1890 – Savannah State College is founded in Savannah, Georgia.

1968 – O.J. Simpson is named Heisman Trophy winner for 1968.
A running back for the University of Southern
California, Simpson amassed a total of 3,187 yards in
18 games and scored 33 touchdowns in two seasons. He
will play professional football with the Buffalo Bills
and the San Francisco 49ers and be equally well known
as a sportscaster and actor.

1970 – Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. the first African American
general in the U.S. military, joins the ancestors at
the age of 93 in Chicago, Illinois.

1970 – Charles Gordone is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his
play, “No Place To Be Somebody.”

1970 – Painter, Jacob Lawrence is awarded the Spingarn Medal
“in tribute to the compelling power of his work which
has opened to the world…a window on the Negro’s
condition in the United States” and “in salute to his
unswerving commitment” to the Black struggle.

1986 – Scatman Crothers, actor, who is best known for his role
as “Louie” on TV’s “Chico & the Man”, joins the
ancestors at the age of 76.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 25 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 25 *

1841 – Thirty-five survivors of the “Amistad” return home to
Africa.

1922 – Marcus Garvey electrifies a crowd at Liberty Hall in
New York City as he states the goals and principles
of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA): “We represent peace, harmony, love, human
sympathy, human rights and human justice…we are
marshaling the four hundred million Negroes of the
world to fight for the emancipation of the race and
for the redemption of the country of our fathers.”

1935 – Namahyoke Sokum Curtis, who led a team of 32 African
Americans to nurse yellow fever victims during the
Spanish-American War, joins the ancestors. She will
be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

1941 – Annie Mae Bullock is born in Nutbush, Tennessee. She
will meet Ike Turner in the early 1950’s at a St.
Louis, Missouri club. Soon after, she will begin
singing with his band on occasional engagements, and
in 1959, form the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. After
separating from Ike and the band, she will build an
even more successful career on her own, which will
include the multi-platinum album, “Private Dancer”
and five Grammy awards.

1949 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche receives the Spingarn Medal for
his contributions to the Myrdal study and his
achievements as UN mediator in the Palestine
conflict.

1949 – The St. Louis chapter of CORE presses a sit-in
campaign designed to end segregation in downtown St.
Louis facilities.

1955 – The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation
in interstate travel. The law affects buses and
trains as well as terminals and waiting rooms.

1987 – Harold Washington, the first African American mayor
of Chicago, Illinois, joins the ancestors, in office
at the age of 65.

1997 – Legendary Eddie Robinson, of Grambling State University,
coaches his last game as head coach. This will close
out a career spanning 57 years. He has the NCAA record
for wins at 402. The closest to Eddie Robinson’s record
is ‘Bear’ Bryant of the University of Alabama at 323
wins.

1998 – Comedian Flip Wilson joins the ancestors in Malibu,
California, at the age of 64.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 24 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 24 *

1874 – Stephen A. Swails is re-elected president pro tem of the
South Carolina State Senate.

1874 – Robert B. Elliott is elected Speaker of the lower house
of the South Carolina legislature.

1880 – Southern University is established in New Orleans,
Louisiana.

1880 – More than 150 delegates from Baptist Churches in eleven
states organize the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention
of the United States at a meeting in Montgomery,
Alabama. The Rev. William H. McAlphine is elected
president.

1883 – Edwin Bancroft Herson is born in Washington, DC. He will
become a pioneering physical education instructor,
coach, and organizer of the Negro Athletic Association,
and the Colored Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association.
Inducted into the Black Sports Hall of Fame in 1974, he
will be widely considered “the Father of Black Sports.”

1935 – Ronald V. Dellums is born in Oakland, California. He
will become a Berkeley city councilman, where he will be
a vocal champion for minority and disadvantaged
communities. In 1970, he will stage a successful
campaign for the 9th district seat in the U.S. House of
Representatives. Among his leadership roles will be
Chairman of the District of Columbia Committee.

1938 – Oscar Robertson is born in Charlotte, Tennessee. He will
attend the University of Cincinnati, where he will be a
two-time NCAA Player of the Year and three-time All-
American. He will go on to play for fourteen years in
the NBA (Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks) and earn
All-NBA honors 11 times and lead the Royals and the Bucks
to ten playoff berths. Robinson, along with Lew Alcinder
(Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), will lead the Bucks to their only
NBA Championship. Robertson will conclude his career
with 26,710 points (25.7 per game), 9,887 assists (9.5
per game) and 7,804 rebounds (7.5 per game). He will be
voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979, following
his retirement in 1974 and be voted one of “The 50
Greatest Players in NBA History.”

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