KRLemmons African American History

October 14 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 14 *

1834 – Henry Blair of Glen Ross, Maryland, receives a patent for
a corn planting machine.

1864 – The first African American daily newspaper, the New
Orleans Tribune, is published in both French and English.

1916 – Sophomore tackle and guard Paul Robeson is excluded from
the Rutgers football team when Washington and Lee
University refuse to play against an African American.
The exclusion will be temporary and the young Robeson
will go on to be named a football All-American twice.

1947 – Charles “Charlie” Joiner, Jr. is born in Many, Louisiana.
He will become a professional football player after being
picked in the fourth round of the 1969 NFL draft. He will
be a wide receiver for the Houston Oilers from 1969-1972,
the Cincinnati Bengals from 1972-1975, and the San Diego
Chargers from 1976-1986. In eighteen seasons, he will
play in 239 games (most ever for a wide receiver at the
time of his retirement) and compile a career record of 750
catches, 12,146 yards, and 65 touchdowns. He will catch
586 passes as a Charger and was a key element in vaunted
“Air Coryell” offense. He exceeded 50 catches in seven
seasons, was a 100-yard receiver in 29 games, and played
in three Pro Bowls. In his last thirteen years, he will
miss only one game. He will be inducted into the Football
Hall of Fame in 1996.

1958 – The District of Columbia Bar Association votes to accept
African Americans as members.

1964 – Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. is announced as the recipient of
the Nobel Peace Prize for his civil rights activities.
King is the second African American to win the Peace
Prize.

1969 – A racially motivated civil disturbance occurs in
Springfield, Massachusetts.

1971 – Two people are killed in a Memphis, Tennessee racially
motivated disturbance.

1980 – Bob Marley performs in his last concert before he
untimely joins the ancestors succumbing to cancer.

1995 – Sports Illustrated places Eddie Robinson on the cover
of its magazine. He is the first and only coach of an
Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to
appear on the cover of any major sports publication in
the United States.

1999 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, joins the
ancestors in a London hospital at age 77.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 13 *

1831 – Jo Anderson, a slave, helps invent the grain harvester
reaper.

1876 – Meharry Medical College, formally opens at Central
Tennessee College.

1901 – Edith Spurlock (later Sampson) is born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. She will graduate from the John Marshall
Law School in Chicago in 1925 with a Bachelor of Laws
degree. In 1927, she will become the first African
American woman to receive a Masters of Laws degree from
Loyola University. She will become a member of the
Illinois bar in 1927, and be admitted to practice before
the Supreme Court in 1934. She will become the first
African American woman to be named a delegate to the
United Nations. She will serve from 1950 to 1953, first
as an appointee of President Harry S. Truman and later
during a portion of the Eisenhower Administration. She
will join the ancestors on October 8, 1979.

1902 – Arna Bontemps is born in Alexandria, Louisiana. He will
become a prolific poet, librarian, and author of
historical and juvenile fiction. Among his best-known
works will be “God Sends Sunday” and “Black Thunder”,
the juvenile books “We Have Tomorrow” and “The Story of
the Negro”, and “American Negro Poetry”, which he edited.
In 1943, after graduating from the University of Chicago
with a masters degree in library science, Bontemps was
appointed librarian at Fisk University in Nashville,
Tennessee. He will hold that position for 22 years and
will develop important collections and archives of
African American literature and culture. Through his
librarianship and bibliographic work, he will become a
leading figure in establishing African American
literature as a legitimate object of study and
preservation. He will join the ancestors on June 4, 1973.

1906 – J. Saunders Redding is born in Wilmington, Delaware. He
will become a literary and social critic and author of
non-fiction works on the African American experience. He
will earn an advanced degree in English at Brown
University (1932) and will be a professor at various
colleges and universities, including Morehouse, Hampton,
and Cornell. In 1949, his stint as a visiting professor
at Brown will make him the first African American to hold
a faculty position at an Ivy League university. He will
write many books and articles on African American culture
and other topics, including “To Make a Poet Black” (1939),
a landmark history of African American literature; “No Day
of Triumph” (1942), an autobiographical account of a
journey through southern black communities; and “Stranger
and Alone” (1950), a novel, as well as several more general
historical and sociological works. He will also edit with
Arthur P. Davis, an important anthology, “Cavalcade: Negro
American Writing from 1760 to the Present” (1971). He will
join the ancestors on March 2, 1988 at his home in Ithaca,
New York.

1914 – Garrett Augustus Morgan, the son of former slaves, receives
a patent for an invention he calls the “Safety Hood and
Smoke Protector,” which came to be known as a gas mask.

1925 – Garland Anderson’s “Appearances” opens at the Frolic Theatre
on Broadway. It is the first full-length Broadway play by
an African American.

1946 – Demond Wilson is born in Valdosta, Georgia. He will become
an actor and will be best known as Lamont Sanford on the
long-running television show, “Sanford & Son.”

1962 – Jerry Lee Rice is born in Crawford, Mississippi. He will
become a professional football player, selected as the
16th pick overall in the first round of the NFL draft by
the San Francisco 49ers in 1985. He will be considered to
be the greatest NFL receiver of all time. He will retire
as the leader in a number of statistics. His 1,549
receptions were 448 receptions ahead of the second place
record held by Cris Carter. His 22,895 receiving yards
were 7,961 yards ahead of the second place spot held by
his Raiders teammate Tim Brown. His 197 touchdown
receptions were 67 scores more than Carter’s 130, and his
207 total touchdowns were 32 scores ahead of Emmitt
Smith’s second place spot of 175. He will retire from the
NFL on August 24, 2006.

1979 – Clarence Muse joins the ancestors in Perris, California at
the age of 90. He was a pioneer film and stage actor who
appeared in 219 films. His first film was the second
talking movie ever made.

2000 – Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo are enshrined into the
Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 12 *

1904 – William Montague Cobb is born in Washington, DC. He will
become the only Black physical anthropologist with a
Ph.D. before the Korean War, He will hold the only Black
perspective on physical anthropology for many years.
He will serve as the Chairman of the Anthropology
Section of the American Association for Advancement of
Science and be the first African American President of
the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
He will be not only a famous physical anthropologist
because of his race, but also because of the great
contributions he made to the field of anthropology. He
grew up pondering the question of race, which ultimately
led him to his studies of anthropology. After graduating
from Dunbar High School, he will continue his studies at
Amherst College, where he will study a wide variety of
subjects and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
After his graduation from Amherst, he will research
embryology at the prestigious Woods Hole Marine Biology
Laboratory in Massachusetts. He will then attend Howard
University Medical School, where he will earn an Masters
Degree in 1929 and will later spend much of his
professional career. The next few years, he will spend
his time at Case Western Reserve University, where he will
earn a Ph.D. and work on the Hamann-Todd Skeletal
Collection. He will return to Howard University in 1932
and begin working on a laboratory of his own to conduct
skeletal research. He will also continue his research on
human cranio-facial union at the Hamann-Todd Collection
and the Smithsonian Institute during the summers. In his
mind, his two best papers on this subject were “The
Cranio-Facial Union and the Maxillary Tuber in Mammals”
(1943), and “Cranio-Facial Union in Man” (1940). These
publications will establish him as a functional anatomist.
He will also make significant contributions in the issue
of race in athletics, where he will claim race was
insignificant to athletics and also profile the biology
and demography of the African American race during the
1930’s. He will leave his legacy of skeletal research with
the Laboratory of Anatomy and Physical Anthropology at
Howard University. This collection of over 600 skeletons
will be considered one of the premiere collections of its
kind. He will also be the editor of the Journal of the
National Medical Association from 1949 to 1977. He will
join the ancestors on November 20, 1990.

1908 – Ann Lane Petry is born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She
will become the author of “The Street and the Juvenile
Work”, and “Harriet Tubman, Conductor of the
Underground Railroad.” She will join the ancestors on
April 28, 1997.

1925 – Xavier University, America’s only African American
Catholic college, becomes a reality, when the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences is established. The
first degrees were awarded three years later. (The
Normal School was founded in 1915.)

1929 – Napoleon Brown Goodson Culp is born in Charlotte, North
Carolina. He will become a blues singer better known as
“Nappy” Brown. He will begin his career as the lead singer
for the gospel group, The Heavenly Lights, recording for
Savoy Records. In 1954, Savoy will convince Brown to
cross over to secular music. For the next few years,
he will ride the first wave of rock and roll until his
records stop selling. After years away from the
limelight, he will resurface in 1984 with an album for
Landslide Records. He will then regularly perform and
record for the New Moon Blues independent label. He will
join the ancestors on September 20, 2008.

1932 – Richard Claxton Gregory is born in St. Louis, Missouri.
He will be better known as “Dick” Gregory and in the
1960’s will become a comedic pioneer, bringing a new
perspective to comedy and opening many doors for Black
entertainers. Once he achieves success in the
entertainment world, he will shift gears and use his
talents to help causes in which he believes. He will
serve the community for over forty years as a comedian,
civil and human rights activist and health/nutrition
advocate. On October 9, 2000, his friends and
supporters will honor him at a Kennedy Center gala,
showing him their “appreciation for his uncommon
character, unconditional love, and generous service.”

1935 – Samuel David Moore is born in Winchester, Georgia. He
will become a rhythm and blues singer and one half of
the group: Sam & Dave (Dave Prater). The two singers
will be brought together onstage at Miami’s King of Hearts
nightclub during an amateur night venue. Sam and Dave
will record for the Alston and Roulette labels before
being discovered by Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler,
who caught their act at the King of Hearts in 1964 and
then sent them to Memphis-based Stax to record the
next year. They will be best know for their hits,
“Hold On! I’m a Comin'”, “Soul Man”, “I Thank You”,
and “You Got Me Hummin'”. Sam and Dave will finally
call it quits after a performance in San Francisco on
New Year’s Eve in 1981. Samuel Moore will live to see
the induction of Sam and Dave into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1992 (Dave Prater will be killed in an
automobile accident on April 9, 1988).

1968 – Equatorial Guinea gains independence from Spain.

1972 – Forty-six African American and white sailors are
injured in a racially motivated insurrection aboard
the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, off the coast of
North Vietnam.

1989 – George Beavers, Jr., the last surviving founder of
Golden State Life Insurance Company of Los Angeles,
California, joins the ancestors. He co-founded this
company in 1925, which is the third largest African
American life insurance company, with $120 million in
assets and $5 billion of insurance in force.

1989 – Herschel Walker is traded from the Dallas Cowboys to
the Minnesota Vikings for 12 players. The trade will
turn out a lot better for Dallas than for Minnesota.

1999 – Wilt Chamberlain joins the ancestors. He succumbs to
a heart attack at the age of 63 in his Bel Air home
in Los Angeles, California. Chamberlain was a center
so big, agile and dominant that he forced basketball
to change its rules and is the only player to score
100 points in an NBA game.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 11 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 11 *

1864 – Slavery is abolished in Maryland.

1865 – Jamaican national hero, Paul Bogle leads a successful
protest march to the Morant Bay Courthouse. Poverty and
injustice in Jamaican society and lack of public
confidence in the central authority had urged Paul Bogle
to lead the march. A violent confrontation with official
forces will follow the march, resulting in the death of
nearly 500 people. Many others will be flogged and
punished before order is restored. Paul Bogle will be
captured and hanged on October 24, 1865. His forceful
demonstration will pave the way for the establishment of
just practices in the courts and bring about a change in
official attitude, making possible the social and economic
betterment of the Jamaican people.

1882 – Robert Nathaniel Dett, is born in Ontario, Canada. He will
become an acclaimed concert pianist, composer, arranger,
and choral conductor. He will receive his musical
education at the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory in
Lockport, NY, Oberlin College (BM, 1908, composition and
piano), and the Eastman School of Music (MM, 1938). He
will become President of the National Association of Negro
Musicians from 1924-1926. His teaching tenures will
include Lane College in Tennessee, Lincoln Institute in
Missouri, Bennett College in North Carolina, and Hampton
Institute in Virginia. It will be at Hampton Institute
that he develops the choral ensembles which will receive
international acclaim and recognition. He will join the
ancestors on October 2, 1943, in Battle Creek, Michigan,
after succumbing to congestive heart failure.

1887 – A. Miles registers a patent on an elevator.

1919 – Arthur “Art” Blakey is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Blakey, a jazz drummer credited as one of the creators of
bebop, will be best known as the founder of the Jazz
Messengers. The band will become a proving ground for some
of the best modern jazz musicians, including Horace Silver,
Hank Mobely, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins,
Wynton Marsalis, and Branford Marsalis. He will join the
ancestors on October 16, 1990.

1939 – Coleman Hawkins records his famous “Body and Soul” in New
York City.

1939 – The NAACP organizes the Education and Legal Defense Fund.

1972 – A major prison uprising occurs at the Washington, DC jail.

1976 – The United Nations Day of Solidarity with South Africa is
declared by the membership of the United Nations. A
special day of solidarity is observed with the numerous
political prisoners who are being held in South Africa.

1980 – Billie Thomas joins the ancestors after a heart attack in
Los Angeles, California at the age of 49. He was an actor,
most notable as the third child to portray Buckwheat in
the Our Gang comedies, a role he played in some 80
episodes of the popular film series.

1985 – President Reagan bans the importation of South African gold
coins known as Krugerrands.

1991 – Redd Foxx (John Elroy Sanford), comedian (Sanford & Sons,
Harlem Nights), joins the ancestors at the age of 68.

1994 – U.S. troops in Haiti take over the National Palace.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

October 10 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 10 *

1874 – South Carolina Republicans carry the election with a
reduced victory margin. The Republican ticket is
composed of four whites and four Blacks.

1899 – J.W. Butts, inventor, receives a patent for a luggage
carrier.

1899 – I. R. Johnson patents his bicycle frame.

1901 – Frederick Douglass Patterson is born in Washington, DC.
He will receive doctorate degrees from both Iowa State
University and Cornell University. Dr. Patterson will
serve as the president of Tuskegee Institute from 1935
to 1955. In 1943, he will organize a meeting of the
heads of Black colleges to conduct annual campaigns
for funds needed to help meet the operating expenses of
27 Black colleges and universities. This will result
in the formation of the United Negro College Fund. Dr.
Patterson will serve as its first president.

1917 – Thelonious Monk is born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
He will become an innovative jazz pianist and composer
of ‘Round Midnight.’ Monk will be considered one of the
fathers of jazz improvisation and in 1961 will be
featured on the cover of Time magazine, only one of
three jazz musicians so honored at that time.

1935 – George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” premieres at the
Alvin Theater in New York City.

1946 – Ben Vereen is born in Miami, Florida. He will become a
dancer and multi-faceted entertainer.

1953 – Gus Williams is born. He will become a professional
basketball player and NBA guard with the Golden State
Warriors, Seattle Supersonics, and Washington Bullets.

1957 – President Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister
of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused
service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.

1961 – Otis M. Smith is appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court
and becomes the first African American on the high
court.

1978 – Congressman Ralph H. Metcalfe joins the ancestors in
Chicago at the age of 68.

1989 – South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that
eight prominent political prisoners, including African
National Congress official Walter Sisulu, would be
unconditionally freed, but that Nelson Mandela would
remain imprisoned.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 9 *

1823 – Mary Ann Shadd (later Cary) is born free in Wilmington,
Delaware, the eldest of thirteen children. She will
become the publisher of Canada’s first anti-slavery
newspaper, “The Provincial Freeman”, devoted to displaced
African Americans living in Canada. This also makes her
the first woman in North America to publish and edit a
newspaper. She will then become a teacher, establishing
or teaching in schools for African Americans in
Wilmington, Delaware, West Chester, Pennsylvania, New
York, Morristown, New Jersey, and Canada. She will also
be the first woman to speak at a national Negro
convention. In 1869, she will embark on her second
career, becoming the first woman to enter Howard
University’s law school. She will become the first
African American woman to obtain a law degree and among
the first women in the United States to do so. She will
join the ancestors in 1893.

1894 – Eugene Jacques Bullard is born in Columbus, Georgia.

1906 – Leopold Senghor is born in Joal, Senegal, French West
Africa (now in Senegal). He will become a poet and
president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Senghor will
attempt to modernize Senegal’s agriculture, instill a
sense of enlightened citizenship, combat corruption and
inefficiency, forge closer ties with his African
neighbors, and continue cooperation with the French. He
will advocate an African socialism based on African
realities, free of both atheism and excessive
materialism. He will seek an open, democratic,
humanistic socialism that shunned such slogans as
“dictatorship of the proletariat.” A vigorous spokesman
for the Third World, he will protest unfair terms of
trade that work to the disadvantage of the agricultural
nations. In 1984, Senghor will be inducted into the
French Academy, becoming the first Black member in that
body’s history.

1929 – Ernest “Dutch” Morial is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He will become the first African American mayor of New
Orleans in 1978 and be re-elected in 1982.

1940 – The White House releases a statement which says that
government “policy is not to intermingle colored and
white enlisted personnel in the same regimental
organizations.”

1959 – Mike Singletary is born in Houston, Texas. He will
become a second-round draft pick for the Chicago Bears
in 1981. He will be the first or second leading tackler
for each of his eleven seasons. Over his career he will
amass 1488 tackles (885 solo), 51 passes defended, 13
fumble recoveries, and 7 interceptions. He will be an
All-NFC selection nine straight years from 1983-1991,
will be selected to ten consecutive Pro Bowls, and
Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and 1988. He will
be enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

1961 – Tanganyika becomes independent within the British
Commonwealth.

1962 – Uganda gains its independence from Great Britain.

1963 – Uganda becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth.

1989 – The first NFL game with a team coached by an African
American, Art Shell, takes place as his Los Angeles
Raiders beat the New York Jets 14-7 on Monday Night
Football.

1999 – Milt Jackson, a jazz vibraphonist who made the instrument
sing like the human voice as a longtime member of the
Modern Jazz Quartet, joins the ancestors at the age of
76. He succumbs to liver cancer in a Manhattan hospital.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 8 *

1775 – A council of general officers decides to bar slaves and
free African Americans from serving in the Continental
Army.

1930 – Faith Ringgold is born in New York City. She will become
a multimedia artist whose paintings, face masks, fabric
and soft sculptures, and quilts will earn her praise for
her reaffirmation of African American women’s values and
unique perspective.

1941 – Rev. Jesse L. Jackson is born in Greenville, South
Carolina. He will be a civil rights leader and founder
of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in
1971, an organization that will focus attention on the
economic disparity between whites and African Americans.
In 1988, he will be a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination.

1950 – Robert “Kool” Bell is born. He will become a Rhythm and
Blues singer and will become the leader of his own group,
“Kool & the Gang.”

1963 – The Sultan of Zanzibar cedes his mainland possessions to
Kenya.

1969 – Police officers and African Americans exchange sniper
fire on Chicago’s West Side. One youth is killed and
nine policemen are injured.

1992 – The Nobel Prize for literature is awarded to West Indies
poet, Derek Walcott.

1993 – The U.N. General Assembly lifted almost all its remaining
economic sanctions against South Africa, begun in the
1960s and built up in subsequent years because of
Pretoria’s policy of racial apartheid.

1999 – Laila Ali, the 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali,
makes her professional boxing debut by knocking out
opponent April Fowler 31 seconds after the opening bell
in Verona, New York.

2009 – Abu Talib, bluesman who recorded and toured with Ray Charles
and Little Walter under his given name, Freddy Robinson,
joins the ancestors in Lancaster, California after
succumbing to cancer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 7 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 7 *

1821 – William Still is born in Burlington County, New Jersey.
He will become an abolitionist and will be involved in
the anti-slavery movement working for the Pennsylvania
Society for the Abolition of Slavery. After the Civil
War, he will chronicle the personal accounts of former
runaway slaves, who had traveled on the Underground
Railroad. His publication, “Underground Railroad,”
published in 1872, will provide a revealing look into
the activities of the flight of fugitive slaves. Still
will be a civil rights activist, researcher and writer,
until he joins the ancestors on July 14, 1902.

1857 – Moses Fleetwood Walker is born in Steubenville, Ohio.
He will become a baseball player when he and his brother
Welday join the first baseball team at Oberlin College.
He will become a professional baseball player after
leaving Oberlin when he joins the Toledo Blue Stockings
of the Northwestern League in 1883. When he plays his
first game for the Blue Stockings in the American
Association the next year, he will become the first
African American to play in the major leagues. He will
join the ancestors on May 11, 1924. After the 1884 season,
no other African Americans will play in the major leagues
until Jackie Robinson in 1947.

1873 – Henry E. Hayne, secretary of state, is accepted as a
student at the University of South Carolina. Scores of
African Americans will attend the university in 1874 and
1875.

1886 – Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.

1888 – Sargent C. Johnson is born in Boston, Massachusetts. He
will be a pioneering artist of the Harlem Renaissance,
known for his wood, cast stone, and ceramic sculptures.
Among his most famous works will be “Forever Free” and
“Mask.

1889 – Clarence Muse is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will
become a pioneer film and stage actor. He will appear
in the second talking movie ever made and go on to appear
in a total of 219 films. His career will span over 60
years. He will join the ancestors on October 13, 1979.

1891 – Archibald John Motley, Jr. is born in New Orleans,
Louisiana. He will become one of the more renowned
painters of the 1920’s and 1930’s. He will join the
ancestors on January 16, 1981.

1897 – Elijah Poole is born in Sandersville, Georgia. He will
become better known as The Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
one of the most influential leaders in the Nation of
Islam. Poole will be trained by Master Wallace Fard
Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam, and will lead
the organization to become the largest African American
movement since Garveyism until he joins the ancestors
on February 25, 1975.

1931 – Desmond Mpilo Tutu is born in Klerksdorp, South Africa.
He will become the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1984, and
Archbishop of the Anglican Church (First Anglican bishop
of African descent) of Johannesburg, South Africa.

1934 – LeRoi Jones is born in Newark, New Jersey. He will be
better known as Amiri Baraka, influential playwright,
author, and critic of the African American experience.

1954 – Marian Anderson becomes the first African American singer
hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

1981 – Egypt’s parliament names Vice President Hosni Mubarak to
succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat.

1984 – Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as NFL’s career rushing
leader.

1985 – Lynette Woodward, is chosen as the first woman to play
with the Harlem Globetrotters.

1989 – Ricky Henderson steals a record 8 bases in a play off
(5 games).

1993 – Writer, Toni Morrison, is awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature.

1995 – Coach Eddie Robinson, of Grambling State University, wins
his 400th game and sets a NCAA record that clearly
establishes him as a legend.

1997 – MCA Records offers, for sale, fifteen previously
unreleased tracks of legendary guitarist, Jimi Hendrix.
Hendrix joined the ancestors in 1970.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 6 *

1776 – Henri Christophe is born a slave in Grenada. He will
become a Haitian revolutionist and ruler and also become
provisional chief of northern Haiti. He will establish
himself as King Henri I in the north and build Citadelle
Laferriere.

1847 – National Black convention meets in Troy, New York, with
more than sixty delegates from nine states. Nathan
Johnson of Massachusetts is elected president.

1868 – An African American state convention at Macon, Georgia,
protests expulsion of African American politicians from
the Georgia legislature.

1871 – The Fisk Jubilee Singers begin their tour to raise money
for the school. Soon they will become one of the most
popular African American folk-singing groups of the late
19th century, performing throughout the U.S. and Europe
and raising large sums for Fisk’s building program.

1917 – Fannie Lou Hamer is born near Ruleville, Mississippi. She
will become a leader of the civil rights movement during
the 1960’s and founder of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party in Montgomery County, Mississippi.

1921 – Joseph Echols Lowery is born in Huntsville, Alabama. An
early civil rights activist, he will become a founder,
chairman of the board, and president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. He will lead SCLC to
great levels of civil rights activism including a 2,700
mile pilgrimage to extend and strengthen the Voting
Rights Act, protesting toxic waste sites in African
American communities, and actions against United States’
corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa.

1965 – Patricia Harris takes the post as U.S. Ambassador to
Belgium, becoming the first African American U.S.
ambassador.

1981 – Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, is assassinated by
extremists while reviewing a military parade.

1986 – Abram Hill joins the ancestors in New York City. He was
the founder of the city’s American Negro Theatre in 1940,
where the careers of Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, and
Sidney Poitier were launched. Hill’s adaptation of the
play “Anna Lucasta” premiered on Broadway in 1944 and
ran successfully for 900 performances.

1991 – Williams College’s exhibit of African American photography
– “Black Photographers Bear Witness: 100 Years of Social
Protest” opens. The exhibit includes photography by C.M.
Battey, James Van Der Zee, Marvin and Morgan Smith,
Moneta Sleet, Carrie Mae Weems, and others.

1991 – Anita Hill, a former personal assistant to Supreme Court
justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accuses Thomas of sexual
harassment (from 1981-83) during his confirmation
hearings.

1994 – South African President, Nelson Mandela, addresses a joint
session of Congress. He will warn against the lure of
isolationism, saying the U.S. post-Cold War focus should
be on eliminating “tyranny, instability and poverty”
across the globe.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 5 *

1867 – Monroe Baker, a well-to-do African American businessman,
is named mayor of St. Martin, Louisiana. He is probably
the first African American to serve as mayor of a town.

1872 – Booker T. Washington leaves Malden, West Virginia to enter
Hampton Institute.

1878 – George B. Vashion joins the ancestors after succumbing to
yellow fever in Rodney, Mississippi. He was the first
African American lawyer in the state of New York and an
educator and poet whose most famous work was “Victor Oge”
(1854), the first narrative, nonlyrical poem by an
African American writer.

1929 – Autherine Lucy (later Foster) is born in Shiloh, Alabama.
She will be the first African American student to enroll
at the University of Alabama (1956).

1932 – Perle Yvonne Watson is born in Los Angeles, California. As
Yvonne Braithwaite, she will serve as staff attorney on
the McCone Commission investigating the causes of the
Watts riots and will become the first African American
woman elected to the California state assembly, as well
as the first African American woman elected to the House
of Representatives. She also will be the first woman to
sit on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as a
result of an appointment by Governor Brown. Some years
later, she will become the first woman elected to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

1985 – Grambling’s coach Eddie Robinson wins his record 324th
college football game.

1992 – Eddie Kendrick, one of the original members of the Motown
group, The Temptations, joins the ancestors after
succumbing to lung cancer.

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