KRLemmons African American History

October 4 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 4 *

1864 – The National Black Convention meets in Syracuse, New York.

1864 – The New Orleans Tribune, the first African American daily
newspaper, is founded by Dr. Louis C. Roudanez. The
newspaper, published in both English and French, starts
as a tri-weekly, but soon becomes an influential daily.

1934 – Malvin Gray Johnson joins the ancestors in New York City.
His deceptively simple paintings, with their warm colors
and serene, sensuous charm, had earned him a large and
loyal group of admirers during the Harlem Renaissance.

1935 – Joe Walcott, World Welterweight Boxing Champion during
the early 1900’s, joins the ancestors after being struck
and killed by a car. He is perhaps the only West Indian
(from Barbados), universally recognized as a boxing
legend. Walcott stood at five feet, one and a half
inches, his fighting weight at 142 pounds, basically a
midget version of Mike Tyson. His short powerful
physique enabled him to bob and weave, catching his
opponent’s punches on his powerful shoulders and his
granite-like head.

1937 – Lee Patrick Brown is born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. He will
become one of the top-ranking law-enforcement executives
in the United States, first as Public Safety Commissioner
in Atlanta, Georgia, then as the first African American
police chief in Houston, Texas, the second African
American police commissioner for New York City, and the
first African American mayor of Houston.

1943 – Hubert Gerold Brown is born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He will be better known as H. Rap Brown, become a Black
nationalist and chairman of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, and later the
Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party. He will be
most famous for his proclamation during that period that
“violence is as American as cherry pie”, as well as once
stating that “If America don’t come around, we’re gonna
burn it down”. He is also known for his autobiography “Die
Nigger Die!”. He will spend five years (1971-1976) in
New York’s Attica Prison after a robbery conviction. While
in prison, he will convert to Islam and change his name to
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin. After his release, he will open a
grocery store in Atlanta, Georgia and become a Muslim
spiritual leader and community activist, preaching against
drugs and gambling in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. He
will be sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of
parole, for the 2000 shooting of two Fulton County Sheriff’s
deputies, one of whom joins the ancestors.

1944 – Dancer Pearl Primus makes her Broadway debut at the
Belasco Theater. She will become widely known for
blending the African and American dance traditions.

1944 – Patricia Holt is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She
will become a singer known as Patti LaBelle and will be
a lead with the Ordettes, the Bluebells, and LaBelle.
She will eventually debut a solo career performing over
90 concerts a year. She will publish her life story,
“Don’t Block The Blessings: Revelations of a Lifetime.”

1945 – Clifton Davis is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will
become an actor and singer, performing in “That’s My
Mama,” and “Amen” on television. He will also become a
minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

1966 – Lesotho (Basutoland) gains its independence from Great
Britain.

1976 – Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz resigns in the wake
of a controversy over a joke he had made about Blacks.

1991 – The Harold Washington Library in Chicago, Illinois is
dedicated in the memory of its beloved former mayor.

1994 – Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vows in
an address to the U.N. General Assembly, to return to
Haiti in 11 days.

1994 – President Clinton welcomes South African President Nelson
Mandela to the White House.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 3 *

1856 – T. (Timothy) Thomas Fortune is born a slave in Marianna,
Florida. In Chicago on January 25, 1890, he will
co-found the militant National Afro-American League to
right wrongs against African Americans authorized by law
and sanctioned or tolerated by public opinion. The league
will fall apart after four years. When it is revived in
Rochester, New York on September 15, 1898, it will have
the new name of the “National Afro-American Council”,
with him as President. Those two organizations will play
a vital role in setting the stage for the Niagara Movement,
NAACP, and other civil rights organizations to follow. He
will also be the leading advocate of using “Afro-American”
to identify his people. Since they are “African in origin
and American in birth”, it is his argument that it most
accurately defines them. With himself at the helm as co-
owner with Emanuel Fortune, Jr. and Jerome B. Peterson, the
New York Age will become the most widely read of all Black
newspapers. It will stand at the forefront as a voice
agitating against the evils of discrimination, lynching,
mob violence, and disenfranchisement. Its popularity is due
to his editorials which condemn all forms of discrimination
and demand full justice for all African Americans. Ida B.
Wells’s newspaper “Memphis Free Speech and Headlight” will
have its printing press destroyed and building burned as
the result of an article published in it on May 25, 1892. He
will then give her a job and a new platform from which to
detail and condemn lynching. His book, “The Kind of Education
the Afro-American Most Needs” is published in 1898. He will
publish “Dreams of Life: Miscellaneous Poems” in 1905. After
a nervous breakdown, he will sell the New York Age to Fred R.
Moore in 1907, who will continue publishing it until 1960.
He will publish another book, “The New York Negro in
Journalism” in 1915. He will join the ancestors on June 2,
1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1904 – The Daytona Normal and Industrial School opens in Daytona
Beach, Florida. In 1923, the school merges with Cookman
Institute and becomes Bethune-Cookman College. One of
the leading institutions for training teachers, founder
Mary McLeod Bethune will later say the college was
started on “faith and a dollar and a half.”

1926 – Marques Haynes is born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. He will
become a professional basketball player with the Harlem
Globetrotters after four years at Langston University. He
will be known as “The World’s Greatest Dribbler.” In the
publication, “Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic”
(1988), he will be cited as dribbling the ball as many as
six times a second. He will retire in 1992 after a 46-year
professional career as player and coach. He will be
inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on October 2,
1998.

1935 – Ethiopia is invaded by Italy, despite Emperor Haile
Selasse’s pleas for help to the League of Nations.

1941 – Ernest Evans is born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina.
Later adopting the name “Chubby Checker” after the
renowned Fats Domino, his best-known recording will be
the 1960’s “The Twist,” which will spark the biggest
dance craze since the Charleston in the 1920’s. In
September 2008, “The Twist” will top Billboard
Magazine’s list of the most popular singles to have
appeared in the “Hot 100” since its debut in 1958.

1949 – The first African American owned radio station, WERD-AM
in Atlanta, Georgia, is founded by Jesse Blanton, Sr.

1950 – Ethel Waters becomes the first African American star in
a TV series, when “Beulah” is aired.

1951 – Dave Winfield is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He will
be selected in four major sports league drafts in 1973
– NFL, NBA, ABA, and MLB. He will choose baseball and
play in 12 All-Star Games over a 20-year career with
the San Diego Padres, the New York Yankees, and the
California Angels.

1974 – Frank Robinson is named manager of the Cleveland Indians.
He becomes the first African American manager in major
league baseball.

1979 – Artist Charles White, joins the ancestors at the age of
61 in Los Angeles, California.

1989 – Art Shell is named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.
He is the first African American coach named in the
National Football League in over 60 years.

1994 – U.S. soldiers in Haiti raid the headquarters of a pro-
army militia that is despised by the general Haitian
population.

1994 – Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announces his
resignation because of questions about gifts he had
received.

1994 – South African President Nelson Mandela addresses the
United Nations, urging the world to support his
country’s economy.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2 *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization. He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 1 *

1851 – William “Jerry” Henry, a runaway slave and craftsman who had
settled in Syracuse, New York, is arrested by a United
States Marshal and scheduled to be returned to slavery.
Ten thousand citizens of the city will storm the sheriff’s
office and courthouse, free Henry, and aid his escape to
Canada via the underground railroad.

1872 – Morgan State College (now University) is founded in
Baltimore, Maryland.

1886 – Kentucky State College (now University) is founded in
Frankfort, Kentucky.

1897 – Virginia Proctor Powell, first female African American
librarian is born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She will
follow in her mother’s footsteps and continue her education
at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1919, She will earn
her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin.
She will move back to Pittsburgh where, although having
adequate training and experience, she was unable to pursue her
desired goal of teaching and spent some time working at her
aunt’s salon as a beautician. Aware of her passion for children
and books, Charles Wilbur Florence, her future husband, will
encourage her to pursue a career in librarianship. During a
time when African Americans were rarely considered for
admission into predominantly white universities, she will be
considered for admission into the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library
School (now the University of Pittsburgh School of Information
Sciences). There is much debate about allowing a Black person
into the program. School officials were concerned with how
white students might react to having a Black peer and the
likelihood that she would not find work upon completion of the
program. She will finish the program in 1923. OVer time she
would work as a librarian in Richmond, Virginia and Washington,
D.C. She will join the ancestors in Richmond, Virginia in 1991.

1937 – The Pullman Company formally recognizes the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters.

1937 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Walter White, NAACP
secretary, for his leadership and work in the anti-
lynching movement.

1945 – Donny Hathaway is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will be
an influential pop and Rhythm & Blues singer of the 1970s
whose hit songs will include “The Ghetto” and “The Closer
I Get to You” (with Roberta Flack). His collaborations with
Roberta Flack will score high on the charts and win him the
Grammy Award for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with
Vocal” for the duet, “Where Is the Love” in 1973. He will join
the ancestors, after commiting suicide, on January 13, 1979.

1945 – Rodney Cline “Rod” Carew, baseball Hall of Famer, is born in Gatún,
Panama, (formally Panama Canal Zone). He will win the American
League’s Rookie of the Year award in 1967 and be elected to the
first of 18 consecutive All-Star game appearances. He will steal
home seven times in the 1969 season to lead the majors, just
missing Ty Cobb’s Major League record of eight and the most in the
major leagues since Pete Reiser stole seven for the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1946. His career total of 17 steals of home currently
puts him tied for 17th on the list with former New York Giant MVP
Larry Doyle and fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Collins. In 1972, He
will lead the American League in batting, hitting .318, and
remarkably, without hitting a single home run for the only time in
his career. He is, to date, the only player in the American League
or in the modern era to win the batting title with no home runs.
In 1975, he will join Ty Cobb as the only players to lead both the
American and National Leagues in batting average for three
consecutive seasons. In the 1977 season, he will bat .388, which is
the highest since Boston’s Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, and win
the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. He will be
inducted into MLB Hall of Fame in 1991. He will also be inducted
into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame.

1945 – Heavyweight champion, Joe Louis, is discharged from the
army.

1947 – United States’ control of Haitian Custom Service and
governmental revenue ends.

1948 – The California Supreme Court voids state statute banning
interracial marriages.

1948 – Edward Dudley is named Ambassador to Liberia.

1951 – The 24th Infantry Regiment, last of the all African
American military units authorized by Congress in 1866,
is deactivated in Korea.

1954 – The British colony of Nigeria becomes a federation.

1955 – Howard Hewitt is born in Akron, Ohio. He will move to Los
Angeles where he would eventually meet Soul Train dancer
and future first wife Rainey Riley-Cunningham, then a
secretary of the show’s creator and original host Don
Cornelius. It was Cornelius who introduced him to fellow
Soul Train dancers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel, and
their group, Shalamar, was born. The trio is best known
for songs such as “Second Time Around”, “A Night to
Remember”, “Dancing in the Sheets” and the ballad “This Is
For The Lover In You”. He will be the group’s lead singer
from 1979 until 1985. When Shalamar breaks up in the mid
1980s, he will go on to pursue a solo career. In 1986 he
will be arrested and indicted in Miami with his fiance Mori
Molina for possession with an intent to distribute cocaine.
He subsequently married Molina who will be convicted and
serve prison time. He will then be acquitted of the charges.
He will sign with Elektra Records and record 1986’s I Commit
To Love (R&B #12), a relatively solid urban album that will
yielded two R&B hits, “I’m For Real” (R&B #2) and “Stay”
(R&B #8). The album will also include “Say Amen”, a gospel
tune that became a surprise hit on the Gospel charts and is
his signature song. He will contribute vocals to La Toya
Jackson’s Hot 100 hit single “Heart Don’t Lie” in 1984.

1960 – Nigeria proclaims its independence from Great Britain.

1961 – East & West Cameroon merge and become the Federal
Republic of Cameroon.

1963 – Nigeria becomes a republic within the British
Commonwealth.

1966 – The Black Panther party is founded in Oakland, California
by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

1977 – Brazilian soccer great, Pele’, retires with 1,281 goals
in 1,363 games.

1989 – Dallas Cowboy, Ed “Too Tall” Jones records his 1,000th
NFL tackle.

1991 – Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell assumes her duties as dean of
New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A noted
art historian, Schmidt had previously served as
commissioner of cultural affairs, director of the
Studio of Harlem, and chair of the Smithsonian
Institution’s Advisory Committee that recommended
creation of a national African American museum.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 30 *

1935 – John Royce “Johnny” Mathis is born in San Francisco,
California. He will become a romantic pop singer who will
amass more than 50 gold and platinum records for such hits
as “Misty”. He will also have the distinction of having
an album on the Billboard pop charts for the longest
period, 560 weeks.

1935 – “Porgy and Bess,” a folk opera by composer George Gershwin,
has its premiere in Boston at the Colonial Theatre. It
was a flop! It was revived in 1942 and ran longer than any
revival in the history of American musical theater.

1942 – Franklin Joseph “Frankie” Lymon is born in New York City.
He will become the lead singer of Frankie Lymon and the
Teenagers and will record his signature song, “Why Do Fools
Fall in Love?,” at age fourteen. He will develop a serious
drug problem before he turns twenty and will join the
ancestors after succumbing to a drug overdose on the
bathroom floor of his grandmother’s apartment at age 25,
on February 27, 1968.

1943 – Marilyn McCoo (Davis) is born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
She will become a singer with the group, “The Fifth
Dimensions”. Some of the hits with the group will be “Up,
Up and Away,” and “Aquarius.” She will have a solo hit,
“One Less Bell to Answer,” and will record “You Don’t
Have to be a Star” with her husband, Billy Davis, Jr. She
will later become a TV hostess for “Solid Gold” from
1981-1984, and from 1986-88. She will also be a TV music
reporter for “Preview.”

1962 – A large force of federal marshals escorts James H. Meredith
to the campus of the University of Mississippi. President
Kennedy federalizes the Mississippi National Guard.
University of Mississippi students and adults from Oxford,
Mississippi, and other southern communities riot on the
university campus. Two persons are killed and one hundred
or more are wounded.

1966 – Bechuanaland becomes the independent Republic of Botswana
with Sir Seretse Khama as its first President.

1975 – Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier square off in a fight billed
as “The Thrilla in Manila”. Ali will win the fight and
retain his world heavyweight title when, after 14 rounds,
Frazier’s trainer refuses to let him continue.

1976 – Two Centuries of Black American Art opens at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. The exhibit features over 60
lithographers, painters, and sculptors including 19th
century masters Joshua Johnston, Edward Bannister, and
Henry O. Tanner as well as modern artists Charles White,
Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett. The introduction
to the exhibit’s catalogue asserts that the assembled
artists’ work proves that the human creative impulse can
triumph in the face of impossible odds, and at times even
because of them.

1991 – President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first freely
elected president, is overthrown by a military junta.
The three-member junta that takes over begins a campaign
of terror and violence that in a three-year period will
cause the deaths of over 5000 Haitians and force tens of
thousands to flee the island by boat. Jean-Bertrand
Aristide sat in the presidency for only seven months.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 29 *

1864 – At the Battle of New Market Heights, Sergeant Major
Christian Fleetwood and 12 other African Americans
fight valiantly for the Union’s cause. They will
receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for their
action the following year.

1916 – Henry Green Parks, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
He will be raised in Dayton, Ohio, attend public
schools, and enroll in Ohio State University in
Columbus, graduating with honors from the University
College of Commerce in 1939 with a B.S. degree in
Marketing. He will also become the first African
American on Ohio State University’s swim team. After
graduation, he will begin working with Pabst Brewing
Company as a sales representative, targeting the
African American market. He will become one of their
leading salesmen, but in 1942 will be given the
opportunity to join W.B. Graham and Associates, a New
York City public relations firm. He will explore the
ideas of many different enterprises and work at W.B.
Graham and Associates for seven years. In 1949, he will
leave W.B. Graham and Associates for Crayton’s Southern
Sausage Company, which creates sausages appealing to
the southern taste. He will be unsuccessful with
Crayton’s Sausage Company, but after learning from his
experiences and coming across southern recipes, 35-year
-old Henry Parks will found Parks Sausage Company in
1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. Parks Sausage Company will
start with only two employees, but rapidly grow to 240
employees with annual sales in the mid-1960s exceeding
$14 million. He will use his marketing and public
relations background to craft a radio commercial which
features a little boy saying, “More Parks Sausage, Mom,
please.” The radio ad will be enormously popular and
helps spur the company’s growth. By 1955 it will be the
largest Black-owned business in Baltimore and later will
become a publicly traded company. Parks Sausage will
also become the first African American firm to advertise
in a World Series, when its ads appear at one of the
seven games between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New
York Yankees in 1955. His company will also have the
distinction of being the first publicly traded Black-
owned firm on the NASDAQ stock exchange. In 1977, he will
sell the company to a conglomerate for $1.5 million
dollars, but will stay on the board until 1980. He will
serve on the corporate boards of Magnavox, Warner Lambert,
and W.R. Grace. He will be a trustee of Goucher College
in Baltimore. He will suffer from Parkinson’s disease in
the last years of his life, and will join the ancestors in
Towson, Maryland on April 14, 1989.

1918 – Edward Thomas Demby is elected suffragan bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal diocese of Arkansas.

1931 – Dr. Lenora Moragne is born in Evanston, Illinois. She will
become one of the leading nutrition scientist in the United
States. She will become head of nutrition education and
training for the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. She will also co-author a junior
high school textbook on nutrition for McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company in New York named “Focus on Food.” She will also be
appointed to the Future Development Committee of the
American Home Economics Association. She will also be elected
to the Board of Directors of the Chicago-based American
Dietetic Association. She will also become the founding editor
and publisher of the Black Congressional Monitor.

1940 – The first United States merchant ship to be commanded
by an African American captain (Hugh Mulzac), is
launched at Wilmington, Delaware.

1947 – Dizzy Gillespie presented his first Carnegie Hall
concert in New York City, adding a sophisticated jazz
touch to the famous concert emporium. Dizzy will
become one of the jazz greats of all time. His
trademark: Two cheeks pushed out until it looked like
his face would explode.

1948 – Bryant Gumbel is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He
will become the editor of Black Sports magazine and a
successful sportscaster before joining NBC’s Today Show
as the first African American anchor of a national
network morning news entertainment program.

1954 – Willie Mays makes his famous “over-the-shoulder catch”
of Vic Wertz’ 460′ drive.

1962 – President John F. Kennedy sends federal troops to
enforce integration of the University of Mississippi.

1962 – Lt. Governor Paul Johnson of Mississippi is found guilty
of civil contempt for blocking the entrance of James
Meredith to the University of Mississippi.

1965 – Ralph Boston of the United States, sets the long jump
record at 27′ 4 3/4″.

1975 – The first African American owned television station in
the United States, WGPR-TV in Detroit, begins
broadcasting.

1977 – In the most-watched prize fight in history to date,
Muhammad Ali beats Ernie Shavers (in a fifteen round
decision) to claim the heavyweight championship boxing
crown. The bout was televised from New York City’s
Madison Square Garden and was officiated by the first
woman official of a heavyweight title boxing match
before an estimated 70 million viewers.

1979 – Sir William Arthur Lewis, Professor of Economics at
Princeton University, becomes the first person of
African descent to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics.

1988 – Florence Griffith Joyner of the United States, sets the
200 meter woman’s record in 21.34 seconds.

1998 – Former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley joins the ancestors
at the age of 80.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 28 *

1829 – “Walker’s Appeal (To the Coloured Citizens of the World),”
a racial antislavery pamphlet, is published in Boston,
Massachusetts, by David Walker.

1833 – Lemuel Haynes, Revolutionary War veteran and first African
American to be ordained by the Congregational Church,
joins the ancestors at the age of 80.

1912 – W.C. Handy’s ground-breaking “Memphis Blues” is published
in Memphis, Tennessee. The composition was originally
entitled “Mr. Crump” and was written for the 1909
political campaign of Edward H. “Boss” Crump.

1938 – Benjamin Earl “Ben E.” King is born in Henderson, North
Carolina. He will become a rhythm and blues singer and
will be best known for his song, “Stand By Me.”

1941 – Charles Robert “Charley” Taylor is born in Grand Prairie,
Texas. He will become a NFL wide receiver/running back with
the Washington Redskins. He will be inducted into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

1945 – Todd Duncan debuts with the New York City Opera as Tonio
in Il Pagliacci. He is the first African American to
sing a leading role with a major American company, almost
ten years before Marian Anderson sings with the
Metropolitan Opera.

1961 – Ossie Davis’s “Purlie Victorious” opens on Broadway. The
play stars Davis, Ruby Dee, Godfrey Cambridge, Alan Alda,
and Beah Richards.

1961 – Atlanta’s segregated restaurants and other public
facilities are peacefully integrated, part of a plan
adopted by city officials earlier in the year.

1967 – Walter Washington takes office as the first mayor of the
District of Columbia.

1972 – The Secretary of the Army repeals the dishonorable
discharges of 167 soldiers involved in the Brownsville
(Texas) Raid. The soldiers, members of the 25th Infantry
who were involved in a riot with the city’s police and
merchants, were dishonorably discharged by President
Theodore Roosevelt without a trial.

1976 – Muhammad Ali retains the heavyweight boxing championship
in a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at Yankee
Stadium.

1979 – Larry Holmes retains the heavyweight boxing championship
by knocking out Ernie Shavers in 11 rounds.

1981 – Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, is sentenced to life
in prison for killing 2 African American joggers in Salt
Lake City, Utah.

1987 – The National Museum of African Art, now a part of the
Smithsonian Institution, opens on the National Mall in
Washington, DC. Founded by Warren M. Robbins in 1964 as
a private educational institution, it is the only museum
in the United States devoted exclusively to the
collection, study, and exhibition of the art of sub-
Saharan Africa.

1990 – Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

1991 – Miles Davis, jazz musician, joins the ancestors at the age
of 65 from pneumonia.

2003 – Althea Gibson, pioneering tennis player, joins the
ancestors at the age of 76 after succumbing to
respiratory failure. She was the first African American
woman to win the Wimbledon championship and was also a
professional golfer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 27 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 27 *

1785 – David Walker, who will become an abolitionist and write
the famous “Walker’s Appeal,” is born free in Wilmington,
North Carolina. He will join the ancestors on June 28, 1830.

1822 – Hiram R. Revels, is born free in Fayetteville, North
Carolina. He will become the first African American U.S.
Senator, elected from Mississippi.

1862 – The First Louisiana Native Guards, the first African
American regiment to receive official recognition, is
mustered into the Union army. The Regiment is composed of
free African Americans from the New Orleans area.

1867 – Louisiana voters endorse the constitutional convention and
elect delegates in the first election under The
Reconstruction Acts. The vote was 75,000 for the
convention and 4,000 against.

1875 – Branch Normal College opens in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A
segregated unit of the state university, the college is
established by Joseph C. Corbin.

1876 – Edward Mitchell Bannister wins a bronze medal for his
painting “Under the Oaks” at the American Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The award to
Bannister will cause controversy among whites who think
African Americans incapable of artistic excellence.

1877 – John Mercer Langston is named Minister to Haiti.

1934 – Greg Morris is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He will come to
Hollywood in the early 1960s to become an actor after
some minor stage experience in Seattle. He will have
guest roles on such series as “Dr. Kildare,” “The Dick Van
Dyke Show” and “The Twilight Zone” before being cast in
“Mission: Impossible.” He will be one of the first African
American actors to star in a hit series during the 1960s,
playing Barney Collier, the quiet, efficient electronics
expert on “Mission: Impossible,” which ran from 1966 to
1973. In 1979, he will go to Las Vegas to film the
television series “Vega$,” in which he plays Lt. David
Nelson. He will like the city so much he will decide to
make it his home. He will join the ancestors after
succumbing to cancer there in 1996.

1936 – Don Cornelius is born. He will become the creator,
producer, and host of the TV show, “Soul Train” in 1970.
The show will become the longest running program
originally produced for first-run syndication in the
entire history of television. The show’s resounding
success will position it as the cornerstone of the Soul
Train franchise which includes the annual specials: “Soul
Train Music Awards,” the “Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards”
and the “Soul Train Christmas Starfest.”

1940 – African American leaders protest discrimination in the U.S.
Armed Forces and war industries at a White House meeting
with President Roosevelt.

1944 – Stephanie Pogue is born in Shelby, North Carolina. She
will become an artist and art professor whose works will
be collected by New York City’s Whitney Museum of American
Art and the Studio Museum of Harlem while she will exhibit
widely in the United States, Europe, Japan, and South
America.

1950 – Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles defeats Joe Louis.

1953 – Diane Abbott is born in the working-class neighborhood of
Paddington in London, England. Her mother (a nurse) and
father (a welder) had moved there in 1951 from Jamaica. A
graduate of Cambridge University, she will make history on
June 11, 1987, becoming the first female of African
descent to be a member of the British Parliament. Her
outspoken criticism of racism and her commitment to
progressive politics will make her a controversial figure
in Great Britain’s Labour Party.

1954 – Public school integration begins in Washington, DC and
Baltimore, Maryland.

1961 – Sierre Leone becomes the 100th member of the United Nations.

1967 – Washington, DC’s Anacostia Museum, dedicated to informing
the community of the contributions of African Americans to
United States social, political and cultural history,
opens its doors to the public.

1988 – Several athletes, among them black Canadian sprinter Ben
Johnson, are expelled from the Olympic Games for anabolic
steroid use. Johnson’s gold medal, won in the 100-meter
dash, is awarded to African American Carl Lewis, the
second-place finisher.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 26 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 26 *

1867 – Maggie Lena Walker is born in Richmond, Virginia. She
will become a noted businesswoman, civil leader, and
founder and president of Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank.
As a result, she will be the first woman president of a
bank in America.

1907 – The People’s Savings Bank is incorporated in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Founded by former African American
congressman George H. White, of North Carolina, the bank
will help hundreds of African Americans buy homes and
start businesses until the illness of its founder forces
its closure in 1918.

1937 – Bessie Smith joins the ancestors in Clarksville,
Mississippi, after succumbing to injuries sustained in
a automobile accident. She was one of the nation’s
greatest blues singers and was nicknamed “the Empress of
the Blues.” In 1925, Smith and Louis Armstrong made the
definitive rendition of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues,”
and in 1929 she made her only movie appearance in the
movie of the same name.

1947 – Lucius Oliver Allen, Jr. (born on September 26, 1947 in
Kansas City, Kansas) is a former professional basketball
player. Prior to his NBA career, he was part of one of
John Wooden’s legendary UCLA teams. He was drafted by the
Seattle SuperSonics in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the
1969 NBA Draft and retired in 1979. Allen played 10 years
in the NBA for four different teams. His highest scoring
average was when he averaged 19.5 points per game during
the 1974-1975 campaign in which he was traded to the Los
Angeles Lakers mid-season after playing with the Milwaukee
Bucks from the 1970-1971 season. During his playing days,
Allen was often referred to by former Bucks announcer
Eddie Doucette as “jack rabbit” because of his speed and
jumping ability.

1957 – The order alerting regular army units for possible riot
duty in other Southern cities is cancelled by Army
Secretary Wilbur M. Brucker.

1962 – A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., becomes the first African
American member of the Federal Trade Commission. It is
one of the Trenton, New Jersey, native’s many
accomplishments, including appointment as a federal
district judge and U.S. Circuit Judge of the Third
Circuit.

1962 – Los Angeles Dodger Maury Wills becomes the 1st baseball
player to steal 100 bases (will go on to steal 104).

1962 – Mississippi bars James Meredith for the third time. Lt.
Gov. Paul Johnson and a blockade of state patrolmen turn
back Meredith and federal marshals about four hundred
yards from the gate of the school.

1968 – The Studio Museum of Harlem opens in New York City.
Conceived by Frank Donnelly and Carter Burden, the
Studio Museum will become an influential venue for
exhibitions of African American artists in all media.

1968 – St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Gibson’s completes his 13th
shutout, and ends the season with a 1.12 ERA.

1994 – Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, President Clinton
announces that he has lifted most U.S. sanctions against
Haiti and urges other nations to follow suit.

1994 – Jury selection begins in Los Angeles for the murder trial
of O.J. Simpson.

1998 – Grammy-winning jazz singer Betty Carter joins the
ancestors in New York City at age 69.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 25 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 25 *

1861 – The Secretary of the Navy authorizes the enlistment of
African Americans in the Union Navy. The enlistees could
achieve no rank higher than “boys” and receive pay of
one ration per day and $10 per month.

1886 – Peter “The Black Prince” Jackson wins the Australian
heavyweight title, becoming the very first man of
African descent to win a national boxing crown.

1911 – Dr. Eric Williams, former prime minister of Trinidad and
Tobago, is born.

1924 – In a letter to his friend Alain Locke, Langston Hughes
writes “I’ve done a couple of new poems. I have no more
paper, so I’m sending you one on the back of this
letter.” The poem, “I, Too”, will be published two years
later and be among his most famous.

1951 – Robert Allen “Bob” McAdoo, Jr. is born in Greensboro, North
Carolina. He will become a one of the best-shooting big
men of all time in professional basketball. He will win
Rookie of the Year, a Most Valuable Player Award and three
consecutive scoring championships, all in his first four
years in the NBA. Over fourteen seasons, He will score
18,787 points and average 22.1 point per game. A five-time
NBA All Star, he will shoot .503 from the field and .754
from the line, scoring in double figures in all but one
season.

1957 – With 300 U.S. Army troops standing guard, nine African
American children forced to withdraw the previous day
from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas,
because of unruly white crowds, are escorted to back to
class.

1962 – Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson in the first round
to become the world heavyweight boxing champion.

1962 – An African American church is destroyed by fire in Macon,
Georgia. This is the eighth African American church
burned in Georgia in one month.

1962 – Governor Ross Barnett again defies court orders and
personally denies James Meredith admission to the
University of Mississippi.

1965 – Willie Mays hits his fiftieth home run of the baseball
season, making him the oldest player to accomplish this.
He was 34 years old. Ten years before this, at the age
of 24, he was the youngest man to accomplish the same
feat.

1965 – Scottie Maurice Pippen is born in Hamburg, Arkansas. He
will become a professional basketball player and will be
traded to the Houston Rockets in 1998 after 11
distinguished seasons with the Chicago Bulls, for whom he
averaged 18.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 833
NBA games. He will earn All-NBA First Team honors three
times in his career and All-Defensive First Team honors in
each of seven seasons (1992-1999. In addition, he will
earn NBA World Championships in six of the eight years and
Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996. He will be selected
as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.
He will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame on August 13, 2010.

1968 – Will Smith is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He
will become a rapper at the age of 12 and will be known
for his hits “Nightmare on My Street” and “Parents Just
Don’t Understand.” In 1990 he will start his acting
career with a six-year run as the “Fresh Prince of Bel
Air.” He will go to become a major motion picture box
office attraction, starring in “Six Degrees of
Separation,” “Made in America,” “Independence Day,”
“Men In Black,” and “Wild, Wild West.”

1974 – Barbara W. Hancock is the first African American woman
to be named a White House Fellow.

1988 – Florence Griffith Joyner runs 100 meters in record
Olympic time of 10.54 seconds.

1991 – Pioneer filmmaker Spencer Williams’s 1942 movie “Blood
of Jesus”, a story of the African American religious
experience, is among the third group of twenty-five
films added to the Library of Congress’s National Film
Registry. Williams, best known for his role of Andy in
the television series “Amos ‘n’ Andy”, was more
importantly, an innovative film director and a
contemporary of Oscar Micheaux. Williams’s film joins
other classics like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “2001: A
Space Odyssey”.

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