KRLemmons African American History

September 24 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 24 *

1825 – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is born free in Baltimore,
Maryland. She will grow up to be one of the most famous
African American poets. Harper’s mother will join the
ancestors before she is three years old, leaving her an
orphan. Harper will be raised by her uncle, William
Watkins, a teacher at the Academy for Negro Youth and a
radical political figure in civil rights. Watkins will
be a major influence on Harper’s political, religious,
and social views. Harper will attend the Academy for
Negro Youth and the rigorous education she will receive,
along with the political activism of her uncle, will
affect and influence her poetry. In 1850, she will
become the first female to teach at Union Seminary in
Wilberforce, Ohio. After new laws pass in 1854, state
that African Americans entering through Maryland’s
northern border could be sold into slavery, Harper will
become an active abolitionist and writer. She will be
known for her writings, “Forest Leaves,” “Poems on
Miscellaneous Subjects,” “Moses: A Story of the Nile,”
“Achan’s Sin,” “Sketches of Southern Life,” “Light
Beyond the Darkness,” “Iola Leroy: Or Shadows Uplifted,”
“The Martyr of Alabama and Other Poems,” “Atlanta
Offering Poems,” and “Idylls of the Bible.” She will join
the ancestors on February 22, 1911.

1883 – The National Black convention meets in Louisville,
Kentucky.

1894 – Sociologist and professor at Morehouse College, Fisk
University, and Howard University, E.(Edward) Franklin
Frazier is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will organize
the Atlanta University School of Social Work (for African
Americans), later becoming its director. He will write
the controversial publication (1927) “The Pathology of
Race Prejudice” in Forum Magazine. His writings will
include “The Negro Family in the United States” (1939),
among the first sociological works on African Americans
researched and written by an African American. He will
also write “Negro Youth at the Crossways” (1940) and
“Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World” (1957),
which deals with African studies. Frazier will have a
distinguished career at Howard University as chairman of
its sociology department as well as serving as the first
African American president of the American Sociological
Society. He will join the ancestors on May 17, 1962.

1931 – Cardiss Robertson (later Collins) is born in St. Louis,
Missouri. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1973
after the death of her husband, George, she will serve in
a leadership capacity often in her Congressional career,
most notably as chairman of the Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and
Competitiveness.

1935 – World Heavyweight Champion, Joe Louis, becomes the first
African American boxer to draw a million dollar gate.

1941 – John Mackey is born in New York City. He will become a
football player in the National Football League in 1963
and will play all but one of his pro years with the
Baltimore Colts. His career record will include 331
catches, 5,236 yards, and 38 touchdowns. He will be
enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in 1992 (the
second tight end to be so honored).

1946 – Charles Edward “Mean Joe” Greene is born in Temple, Texas.
He will become a star football player for North Texas
State and will be a number one draft pick in the National
Football League in 1969 and will play his entire career
(1969-1981) with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He will become
the “cornerstone of franchise” that dominated the NFL in
the 1970s. He will be an exceptional team leader,
possessing size, speed, quickness, strength, and
determination. He will be NFL Defensive Player of The
Year twice (1972 and 1974). He will be All-Pro or All-
AFC nine years and will play in four Super Bowls (won
all four), six AFC title games, and 10 Pro Bowls. He
will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
1987. He will become a defensive line coach with
Pittsburgh after his retirement as an active player.

1953 – “Take a Giant Step”, a drama by playwright Louis Peterson,
opens on Broadway.

1954 – Patrick Kelly is born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A
fashion design student, Kelly will move to Paris, where
his innovative and outrageous women’s fashion designs,
featuring multiple buttons, bows and African American
baby dolls, will win him wide acclaim and make him the
first and only American designer admitted to an
exclusive organization of French fashion designers.

1957 – President Eisenhower makes an address on nationwide TV and
radio to explain why troops are being sent to Little Rock,
Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, earlier in the
day sends 1,000 U.S. government paratroopers to Little
Rock to aid in the desegregation of the public schools.
The troops will escort nine school children to Central
High School in the first federally supported effort to
integrate the nation’s public schools. The nine Black
students who had entered Little Rock Central High School
in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white
mob outside.

1962 – United States Circuit Court of Appeals orders the
Mississippi Board of Higher Education to admit James
Meredith to the University of Mississippi or be held in
contempt of court.

1973 – Leaders of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea
and Cape Verde (PAIGC) declare the independence of
Guinea-Bissau from Portugal. Portugal will recognize this
independence the following year. The PAIGC was formed by
Amilcar Cabral and Raphael Barbosa in 1956. Luis Cabral,
Amilcar’s half-brother, will become Guinea-Bissau’s first
president.

1977 – Rev. John T. Walker is installed as the sixth — and first
African American bishop of the Episcopal Church when he
is installed in the diocese of Washington, DC.

1988 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the United States sets the
heptathlon woman’s record (7,291).

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 23 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 23 *

1667 – In Williamsburg, Virginia, a law was passed, barring
slaves from obtaining their freedom by converting to
Christianity.

1862 – A draft of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is
published in Northern Newspapers.

1863 – Mary Church (later Terrell) is born in Memphis,
Tennessee. She will become an educator, civil and
woman’s rights advocate, and U.S. delegate to the
International Peace Conference. She will also be the
first African American to serve on the school board in
the District of Columbia. She will join the ancestors
on July 24, 1954.

1926 – John Coltrane, brilliant jazz saxophonist and composer who
will be considered the father of avant-garde jazz, is
born in Hamlet, North Carolina. He will join the ancestors
on July 17, 1967.

1930 – Ray Charles (Robinson) is born in Albany, Georgia. Blind
by the age of six, he will study music and form his own
band at the age of 24. A recorded performance at the
Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 will establish his career
as one of the premier soul singers in the United States.
Among Charles’s achievements will be three Grammys and
Kennedy Center honors in 1986. He will join the ancestors
on June 10, 2004 after succumbing to liver disease.

1952 – Jersey Joe Walcott, loses his heavyweight title in the
13th round, to Rocky Marciano, in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania. Pay Television for sporting events begins
with the Marciano-Walcott fight, coast to coast, in 49
theatres in 31 cities.

1954 – Playwright George Costello Wolfe is born in Frankfort,
Kentucky. He will become critically acclaimed for the
controversial plays, “The Colored Museum”, “Jelly’s Last
Jam”, and “Spunk”.

1957 – Nine African American students, who had entered Little
Rock Central High School in Arkansas, are forced to leave
because of a white mob outside.

1961 – President Kennedy names Thurgood Marshall to the United
States Circuit Court of Appeals.

1962 – Los Angeles Dodger, Maury Wills, steals record setting
base #97 on his way to 104.

1979 – Lou Brock steals record 935th base and becomes the all-
time major league record holder.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 22 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 22 *

1853 – George Washington Murray is born a slave near Rembert,
South Carolina. A two-term congressman from his home
state, Murray will also be an inventor and holder of
eight patents for agricultural tools. He will join the
ancestors on April 21, 1926.

1862 – Five days after Union forces won the Battle of Antietam,
President Lincoln issues a preliminary emancipation
proclamation. It states that if the rebelling states
did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he
would declare their slaves to be “forever free.”

1906 – Race riots occur in Atlanta, Georgia, killing 21 people.

1915 – Xavier University of Louisiana opens in New Orleans, the
first Catholic college for African Americans in the
United States.

1941 – Chester Lovelle Talton is born in Eldorado, Arkansas. At
49, he will become the first African American
Episcopalian bishop to be ordained in the western
United States. As suffragan bishop of the diocese of Los
Angeles, he becomes the religious leader of
Episcopalians in the fourth-largest diocese in the
United States.

1949 – Lee Harold Carmichael is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He
will become an American football wide receiver in the NFL.
He will play 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles from
1971 to 1983, and one season for the Dallas Cowboys in
1984. He will play his college football at Southern
University. He will be selected to four Pro Bowls in his
NFL career, and will lead the league in receptions during
the 1973 season. He will also be the Eagles’ top receiver
of Super Bowl XV, with 6 catches for 91 yards. He will
end his career with 590 receptions for 8,985 yards with
79 career touchdown catches, along with 64 rushing yards
on 9 carries. He will rank 18th all-time in career
touchdown receptions. He will be selected to the NFL
1970s All-Decade Team by voters of the Pro Football Hall
of Fame. He will become Director of Player Programs for
the Philadelphia Eagles in 2006.

1950 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, director of the UN Trusteeship
division and former professor of political science at
Howard University, is awarded the Nobel Peace prize for
successful mediation of the Palestinian peace accord.

1954 – Shari Belafonte (Harper, now Behrens) is born in New York
City, New York. She will become is an American actress,
model, writer and singer. The daughter of singer Harry
Belafonte, she will be best known for her role as Julie
Gilette on the 1980s television series “Hotel” and as a
spokesperson for the diet supplement “Slim-Fast” during
the 1990s.

1960 – The Republic of Mali proclaims its independence.

1961 – The Interstate Commerce Commission issues regulation
prohibiting segregation on interstate buses and in
terminal facilities.

1969 – San Francisco Giant, Willie Mays, becomes the first player
since Babe Ruth to hit 600 home runs.

1985 – Robert Guillaume wins an Emmy for best leading actor in a
comedy for Benson while The Cosby Show wins for best
comedy series.

1989 – Edward Perkins, the first African American ambassador to
the Republic of South Africa, becomes director-general of
the United States Foreign Service. The first African
American named to the post, Perkins will be credited with
bringing more minorities into the foreign service.

1990 – Andre’ Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other
than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 21 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 21 *

1814 – African American troops are cited for bravery in the
Battle of New Orleans.

1872 – John Henry Conyers of South Carolina becomes first
African American student at U.S. Naval Academy
(Annapolis). He will later resign.

1905 – The Atlanta Life Insurance Company is founded by Alonzo
F. Herndon.

1909 – Kwame Nkrumah is born in Nkroful, Ghana. A leader in
African colonial liberation, Nkrumah will be the first
prime minister of Ghana (1958-1966), but will be forced
into exile following a coup.

1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, playwright and director(Watermelon
Man), is born.

1948 – Artis Gilmore, who will become a professional basketball
all-star, is born.

1967 – Walter Washington is nominated by President Lyndon B.
Johnson as the first mayor of the newly reorganized
municipal government of Washington, DC. In 1974, he
will be elected to the post, another first for an
African American.

1970 – The Oakland Athletics’s Vida Blue pitches a no-hitter
against the Minneapolis Twins, 6-0.

1971 – Alfonso Ribeiro, actor/pianist (Alfonso-“Silver Spoons”,
“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”), is born.

1981 – Belize gains independence from Great Britain.

1985 – Michael Spinks becomes the first light heavyweight to
defeat the reigning heavyweight champion when he defeats
Larry Holmes.

1989 – Army General Colin Powell receives Senate confirmation as
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest
military position in the United States, thereby becoming
the military’s highest-ranking African American.

1990 – Pittsburgh Pirate Barry Bonds is the second person to hit
30 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.

2009 – The Rev. John “Bootsie” Wilson, a former lead singer and
last surviving member of the soul group The Silhouettes,
joins the ancestors.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 20 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 20 *

1664 – Maryland enacts the first anti-amalgamation law to prevent
widespread intermarriage of English women and African
American men. Other colonies passed similar laws:
Virginia, 1691; Massachusetts 1705; North Carolina, 1715;
South Carolina, 1717; Delaware, 1721; Pennsylvania, 1725.

1830 – The National Negro Convention, a group of 38 free African
Americans from eight states, meets in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, at the Bethel A.M.E. Church, with the
express purpose of abolishing slavery and improving the
social status of African Americans. They will elect
Richard Allen president and agree to boycott slave-
produced goods.

1847 – William A. Leidesdorff is elected to San Francisco town
council receiving the third highest vote. Leidesdorff,
who was one of the first African American elected
officials, becomes the town treasurer in 1848.

1850 – Slave trade is abolished in Washington, DC, but slavery
will be allowed to continue until 1862.

1890 – Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe (“Jelly Roll” Morton) is born
in Gulfport (New Orleans), Louisiana. He will become a
renown jazz pianist and composer. Morton, whose fabulous
series of 1938 recordings for the Library of Congress are
a gold mine of information about early jazz, was a
complex man. Vain, ambitious, and given to exaggeration,
he was a pool shark, hustler and gambler, as well as a
brilliant pianist and composer. His greatest talent,
perhaps was for organizing and arranging. The series of
records he made with his “Red Hot Peppers” between 1926
and 1928 stands, alongside King Oliver’s as the crowning
glory of the New Orleans tradition and one of the great
achievements in Jazz. He will join the ancestors on
July 10, 1941

1915 – Hughie Lee-Smith is born in Eustis, Florida. He will
become a painter known for such surrealistic landscapes
as “Man with Balloons”, “Man Standing on His Head” and
“Big Brother”. He will join the ancestors on February 23,
1999.

1943 – Sani Abacha is born in Kano, Nigeria. After being educated
in his home state, will become a soldier and go to England
for advanced military education. He will achieve many
promotions as a soldier and by the mid-1980s, will enter
Nigeria’s military elite. In 1983 he will be among those
who will overthrow Shehu Shagari, leader of the Second
Republic, in a coup which led to the military rule of
Muhammadu Buhari. In 1985, Abacha will participate in a
second coup, which will replace Buhari with General
Ibrahim Babangida. As head of state, Babangida will
announce that free elections will be held in the early
1990s. In 1993, however, after Babangida nullifies the
results of these belated free elections, Abacha will
stage a third coup and oust his former ally. His regime
will be characterized by a concern with security that
verges on paranoia. Abacha will schedule elections for
August, 1998, but months beforehand, all five legal
parties nominate him as their “consensus candidate.” On
June 8, 1998, he will join the ancestors when he succumbs
unexpectedly to a heart attack.

1958 – Martin Luther King Jr. is stabbed in the chest by a
deranged African American woman while he is autographing
books in a Harlem department store. The woman is placed
under mental observation.

1962 – Mississippi’s governor, Ross Barnett, personally refuses
to admit James Meredith to University of Mississippi as
its first African American student. (Meredith is later
admitted.)

1962 – The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) is banned in an
order issued by Sir Edgar Whitehead, the prime minister of
Southern Rhodesia.

1973 – Willie Mays announces his retirement from major league
baseball at the end of the 1973 baseball season.

1979 – A bloodless coup overthrows Jean-Bedel Bokassa, self-styled
head of the Central African Empire, in a French-supported
coup while he is visiting Libya.

1984 – NBC-TV debuts “The Cosby Show”. Bill Cosby plays Dr.
Heathcliff (Cliff) Huxtable. His lovely wife, Clair, is
played by Phylicia Rashad. The Huxtable kids were Sondra,
age 20 (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise, age 16 (Lisa Bonet),
Theodore, age 14 (Malcom-Jamal Warner), Vanessa, age 8
(Tempestt Bledsoe) and Rudy, age 5 (Keshia Knight Pulliam).
The premiere is the most watched show of the week and the
show goes on to become an Emmy Award-winner and one of the
most popular on television for eight years. The series,
which had been rejected by other network television
executives, will become one of the most popular in
television history.

1987 – Alfre Woodard wins an Emmy for outstanding guest performance
in the dramatic series “L.A. Law”. It is her second Emmy
award, her first having been for a supporting role in “Hill
Street Blues” in 1984.

1987 – Walter Payton scores the NFL record 107th rushing touchdown.

1999 – Lawrence Russell Brewer becomes the second white supremacist
to be convicted in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in
Jasper, Texas. He will be later sentenced to death.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 19 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 19 *

1865 – Atlanta University is founded.

1868 – White Democrats attack demonstrators, who are marching
from Albany to Camilla, Georgia, and kill nine African
Americans. Several whites are wounded.

1931 – Benjamin Franklin Peay is born in Camden, South Carolina.
He will become a rhythm and blues singer better known as
Brook Benton. He will amass 16 gold records and be best
known for the songs “A Rainy Night in Georgia” and “It’s
Just a Matter of Time.” He will join the ancestors on
April 9, 1988.

1945 – Freda Charcelia Payne is born in Detroit, Michigan. She
will become a singer whose hits will include “Band of
Gold” in 1970.

1947 – Lawrence “Larry” Brown is born in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
He will become a Washington Redskins’ running back and
the third NFL player to rush over 4,000 yards in his
first four professional seasons.

1956 – The first international conference of Black Writers &
Artists meets at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France.

1965 – Debbye Turner is born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She will become
Miss America in 1990, becoming the third African American
woman to wear the crown.

1981 – More than 300,000 demonstrators from labor and civil
rights organizations protest the social policies of the
Reagan administration in a Solidarity Day March in
Washington, DC.

1989 – Gordon Parks’s film “The Learning Tree” is selected among
the first films to be registered by the National Film
Registry of the Library of Congress. The National Film
Registry was formed by an act of Congress the previous
year to recognize films that are “culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant.” Parks’s
1969 movie joins other classic films such as
“Casablanca,” “Gone With the Wind,” and “The Wizard of
Oz.”

1989 – The first issue of Emerge magazine goes on sale. Emerge,
founded by Wilmer C. Ames, Jr., covers domestic and
international news and issues from an African American
perspective.

1994 – U.S. troops peacefully enter Haiti to enforce the return
of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 17 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 17 *

1787 – The U.S. Constitution is approved at the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with three
clauses protecting slavery.

1861 – The first day-school for ex-slaves is opened in Fortress
Monroe, Virginia under the tutelage of an African
American schoolteacher, Mary S. Peake. The school will
later become Hampton Institute (now University) in 1868.

1879 – Andrew “Rube” Foster is born in Calvert, Texas. He will
become an American baseball player, manager, and
executive in the Negro Leagues. He will be considered by
historians to have been perhaps the best African American
pitcher of the 1900s. He will also found and manage the
Chicago American Giants, one of the most successful Black
baseball teams of the pre-integration era. Most notably,
he will organize the Negro National League, the first
lasting professional league for African American ball
players, which will operate from 1920 to 1931. He will
adopted his longtime nickname “Rube” as his official
middle name later in life. He will join the ancestors on
December 9, 1930 and will be posthumously elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

1953 – Ernie Banks becomes the first African American baseball
player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. Banks is also
quick to say “Let’s play two!” Banks will be the Cubs’
outstanding shortstop from 1954 to 1960. In 1961 he will
be moved to left field, then to first base, where he will
spend the rest of his career. In 1969, Ernie Banks will
be voted the Cub’s best player ever by Chicago fans. ‘Mr.
Cub’ will retire in 1971. He will elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1977, the first year of his eligibility.

1956 – African American students are admitted to a Clay, Kentucky
elementary school under National Guard protection. They
had previously been barred by local authorities on
September 12.

1962 – The Justice Department files the first suit to end racial
segregation in public schools. The fourth African American
church is burned near Dawson, Georgia. Three white men
later admitted burning the church. They were sentenced to
seven year prison terms.

1967 – Abdul-Malik Kashie Yoba is born in the Bronx, New York. He
will become an actor best known for his role as the star
of the popular Fox Television police drama “New York
Undercover” from 1994 to 1998. He will also appear in
films such as “Cool Runnings” and “Criminal.” He will
make appearances on the Fox television series “Arrested
Development” as Ice, a bounty hunter and party planner.
He will also be a recurring character, Brock Harris, on
the UPN sitcom “Girlfriends.” He will also appear in the
FX Networks crime drama “Thief.” In 2007, he will appear
in NBC’s crime drama “Raines” alongside Jeff Goldblum.

1968 – “Julia” premieres on NBC with Diahann Carroll in the title
role. It is the first television show to star an African
American woman since “Beulah” in the 1950’s.

1970 – “The Flip Wilson Show” premieres on NBC. Starring the New
Jersey comedian born as Clerow Wilson, it is the first
prime-time variety show starring an African American male
since “The Nat King Cole Show”.

1973 – Illinois becomes the first state to honor Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.’s birthday as a holiday.

1983 – Vanessa Williams, Miss New York State, is named Miss
America in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first African
American winner in the history of the pageant. Williams
will relinquish her crown after a 1984 scandal and later
stage a remarkable comeback through a stellar recording
career, which will include her multimillion-selling album,
“The Right Stuff”.

1984 – New York Met’s, Dwight Goodin, becomes the 2nd person to
strike out 32 batters over 2 consecutive games.

1990 – “The Content of Our Character” is published by San Jose
State University professor Shelby Steele. The book will
attract controversy because of its provocative positions
on affirmative action and race relations and win a 1992
National Book Award.

1991 – Ground is broken for the Harold Washington wing of the
DuSable Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by artist
and poet Margaret T. Burroughs in 1961, the DuSable is
one of the oldest African American museums in the United
States.

1994 – As some 20 warships sit off the coast of Haiti, former
President Jimmy Carter, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and
retired Gen. Colin Powell arrive in the Caribbean nation
in an 11th-hour bid to avert a U.S.-led invasion.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 16 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 16 *

1795 – The British capture Capetown in South Africa.

1848 – France abolishes slavery in all of its colonies and
territories.

1859 – Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi’s boundary with Tanzania
and Mozambique, is first seen by a european, British
explorer David Livingstone.

1889 – Claude A. Barnett is born in Sanford, Florida. In 1919,
he will found the Associated Negro Press (ANP). By 1935,
the ANP will serve over 200 subscribers across the
country and after WW II its membership will grow to
include more than 100 African American newspapers. During
World War II, he and other Black journalists will pressure
the U. S. government to accredit Black journalists as war
correspondents. In his travels, he will write many
accounts on the adverse effects of segregation in the
armed forces. He will also focus on the terrible living
conditions of Black tenant farmers. From 1942 to 1953, he
will serve as a consultant to the Secretary of Agriculture
in an effort to improve their conditions. He will be a
member of the Tuskegee board of directors until 1965. He
will hold a similar post with the American Red Cross,
Chicago’s Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, and will
be president of the board of directors of Provident
Hospital. The ANP will cease operating after he joins the
ancestors, succumbing to a cerebral hemorrhage on August 2,
1967.

1893 – The last Oklahoma land rush, targeted in the territory’s
Cherokee strip (outlet) begins. More than 100,000
homesteaders rush to claim a share of the 6 million acres
in this strip of land between Oklahoma and Kansas, opened
up by the U.S. government. Among the participants is E.P.
McCabe, who will establish the all African American town of
Liberty a few days later. McCabe will also be involved in
the earlier establishment of the African American town of
Langston, Oklahoma, named for John Mercer Langston,
Virginia’s first African American congressman. The
Oklahoma land rushes started in 1889, but African Americans
were excluded from the first one.

1915 – The United States takes control of customs & finances in
Haiti for the next 10 years.

1921 – Jon Carl Hendricks is born in Newark, Ohio. He will become
an influential singer in the jazz group, Lambert, Hendricks
and Ross. Pursuing a solo career, he will move his young
family to London, England, in 1968, partly so that his five
children could receive a better education. While based in
London he will tour Europe and Africa, performing frequently
on British television and appear in the British film “Jazz
Is Our Religion” as well as the French film “Hommage a Cole
Porter.” His sold-out club dates will draw fans such as the
Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Five years later the Hendricks
family will settle in Mill Valley, California where He will
work as the jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and
teach classes at California State University at Sonoma and the
University of California at Berkeley. A piece he will write
for the stage about the history of jazz, “Evolution of the
Blues,” will run for five years at the Off-Broadway Theatre in
San Francisco and another year in Los Angeles. His television
documentary, “Somewhere to Lay My Weary Head,” will receive
Emmy, Iris and Peabody awards. He will record several
critically acclaimed albums on his own, some with his wife
Judith and daughters Michele and Aria contributing. He will
collaborate with old friends, The Manhattan Transfer, for their
seminal 1985 album, “Vocalese,” which will win seven Grammy
Awards. He will serve on the Kennedy Center Honors committee
under Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. In 2000, He will
return to his hometown to teach at the University of Toledo,
where he will be appointed Distinguished Professor of Jazz
Studies and receive an honorary Doctorate of the Performing
Arts. He will teach Brandon Wilkins and Paul Okafor. He will
be selected to be the first American jazz artist to lecture at
the Sorbonne in Paris. His 15-voice group, the Jon Hendricks
Vocalstra at the University of Toledo, will perform at the
Sorbonne in 2002. He will also write lyrics to some classical
pieces including “On the Trail” from Ferde Grofe’s Grand Canyon
Suite. The Vocalstra premiered a vocalese version of Rimsky-
Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” with the Toledo Symphony. In the
summer of 2003, He will go on tour with the “Four Brothers”, a
quartet consisting of Hendricks, Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and
Kevin Mahogany. He will work on setting words to, and arranging
Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto as well as on two books,
teaching and touring with his Vocalstra. He will also appear in
a film with Al Pacino, “People I Know” as well as “White Men
Can’t Jump.”

1925 – Riley B. King is born in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He will
become a blues great, known as B(lues) B(oy) King. Playing
his guitar, nicknamed ‘Lucille,’ In the 1950s, he will become
one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an
impressive list of hits including “3 O’Clock Blues”, “You Know
I Love You,” “Woke Up This Morning,” “Please Love Me,” “When My
Heart Beats like a Hammer,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “You Upset Me
Baby,” “Every Day I Have the Blues”, “Sneakin’ Around,” “Ten
Long Years,” “Bad Luck,” “Sweet Little Angel”, “On My Word of
Honor,” and “Please Accept My Love.” In 1962, he will sign with
ABC-Paramount Records, which will later be absorbed into MCA
Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November,
1964, he will record the “Live at the Regal” album at the Regal
Theater in Chicago, Illinois. He will win a Grammy Award for a
tune called “The Thrill Is Gone”. His version will become a hit
on both the pop and R&B charts, which is rare during that time
for an R&B artist. It will also gain the number 183 spot in
Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” He will
gain further visibility among rock audiences, as an opening act on
The Rolling Stones’ 1969 American Tour. His mainstream success
will continue throughout the 1970s with songs like “To Know You is
to Love You” and “I Like to Live the Love”. He will be inducted
into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 2004, he will be awarded
the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists “in
recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and
advancement of music.” He will have over 50 hit blues albums and
win a 1970 Grammy for “The Thrill Is Gone”. To date, in over 62
years, he will play in excess of 15,000 performances.[

1933 – Emperor Jones, starring Paul Robeson as Brutus Jones, is
released by United Artists. It is Robeson’s first starring
movie role and the first major Hollywood production
starring an African American with whites in supporting
roles.

1934 – Elgin Baylor is born in Washington, DC. He will become a
NBA star beginning as the 1958-59 Rookie of the Year with
the Los Angeles Lakers. The No. 1 draft pick in 1958, NBA Rookie
of the Year in 1959, and an 11-time NBA All-Star, he will be
regarded as one of the game’s all-time greatest players. In 1977,
he will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of
Fame. He will set the NBA Playoff Record for points scored in a
game (61), and for points scored in a playoff series (284) [both
in 1962]. After retiring as a player, he will spend twenty-two
years as the General Manager of the Los Angeles Clippers, being
named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2006. He will be relieved
of his duties slightly before the 2008-09 season begins.

1937 – Orlando Manuel Cepeda Penne is born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
He will be become a professional baseball player. In his
first season in 1958, he will bat .312 with 25 home runs
and 96 runs RBI, lead the National League in doubles (38),
and will be named Rookie of the Year. In 1967, he will be
named the National League MVP by hitting .325 and having
a league-leading 111 RBIs. He will be the second NL player
(joining fellow Giant Carl Hubbell in 1936) to win the MVP
unanimously (receiving all first-place votes). He will be
a seven-time All-Star (1959–64, 1967). He will retire in
1975 with a career .297 BA with 379 homers and 1365 RBI in
17 seasons. He will be the first designated hitter for the
Boston Red Sox, and the second DH in all of MLB. He will
be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999, joining
Roberto Clemente as the only other Puerto Rican in the
Hall.

1953 – Earl Klugh, Jazz pianist/guitarist, is born in Detroit,
Michigan. He will become an American smooth jazz/jazz
fusion guitarist and composer. He normally finger picks a
nylon string classical guitar. At the age of 13, he will
be captivated by the guitar playing of Chet Atkins when he
makes an appearance on the Perry Como Show. He will since
be a guest on several Atkins albums. Atkins, reciprocating
as well, joins Earl on his “Magic In Your Eyes” album. He
will also be influenced by Bob James, Ray Parker Jr, Wes
Montgomery and Laurindo Almeida. His sound will be a blend
of these jazz, pop and rhythm and blues influences,
forming a potpourri of sweet contemporary music original
to only him. He will become a guitar instructor at the
young age of 15, and will eventually be discovered by
Yuseff Lateef. His career will rapidly progress to working
with the likes of George Benson, George Shearing, Chick
Corea, and many others. Like several other Detroit-bred
entertainers, He attended Mumford High School in Detroit.
For their album “One on One,” He and Bob James will
receive a Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental
Performance of 1981. He will receive at least 13 Grammy
nods and millions of record and CD sales,

1965 – San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral becomes the site of the
first concert of sacred music presented by Duke Ellington.

1971 – Six Klansmen are arrested in connection with the bombing of
10 school buses in Pontiac, Michigan.

1981 – Boxer ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, at age 25, knocks out Thomas ‘The
Hit Man’ Hearns. Leonard wins the welterweight boxing
championship — and the richest payday in boxing history to
date.

1989 – Debbye Turner, a senior at the University of Missouri
Veterinary School, is crowned Miss America. She is the
third African American to win the crown since the pageant
began in 1921.

1990 – Keenen Ivory Wayans’ “In Living Color” wins an Emmy for
Outstanding Comedy Series.

1993 – Minnesota Twins’ slugger Dave Winfield becomes the 19th
player to get 3,000 career hits.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 15 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 15 *

1830 – The first National Negro Convention begins in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.

1876 – White terrorists attack Republicans in Ellenton, South
Carolina. Two whites and thirty-nine African Americans are
killed.

1890 – Claude McKay is born in Sunnyville, Jamaica. Emigrating to
the United States in 1912, he will be come a poet and
winner of the 1928 Harmon Gold Medal Award for Literature.
Author of the influential poetry collection “Harlem
Shadows”, he will also be famous for the poems “The
Lynching,” “White Houses,” and “If We Must Die,” which
will be used by Winston Churchill as a rallying cry during
World War II. He will join the ancestors on May 22, 1948.

1898 – The National Afro-American Council is founded in Rochester,
New York. Bishop Alexander Walters of the AME Zion Church
is elected president. The organization proposes a program
of assertion and protest.

1915 – Julius “Nipsey” Russell is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He
will become a comedian and actor. He will star in “Car 54
Where Are You?” (the movie), “Barefoot in the Park,”
“Masquerade Party, and Varsity Blues.” He will also be a
panelist on “Match Game” and “Hollywood Squares.” He will
join the ancestors on October 2, 2005.

1923 – The governor of Oklahoma declares that Oklahoma is in a
“state of virtual rebellion and insurrection” because of
Ku Klux Klan activities. Martial law is declared.

1924 – Robert Waltrip “Bobby” Short is born in Danville, Illinois. He
will become a singer and pianist. In 1968, he will be offered
a two-week stint at the Café Carlyle in New York City, to
fill in for George Feyer. He (accompanied by Beverly Peer on
bass and Dick Sheridan on drums) will become an institution at
the Carlyle, as Feyer had been before him, and will remain
there as a featured performer for over 35 years. In 2000, The
Library of Congress will designate him a Living Legend, a
recognition established as part of its bicentennial
celebration. He will join the ancestors on March 21, 2005.

1928 – Julian Edwin Adderly is born in Tampa, Florida. He will be
best known as “Cannonball” Adderly, a jazz saxophonist who
will play with Miles Davis as well as lead his own band
with brother Nat Adderly and musicians such as Yusef
Lateef and George Duke. Songs made famous by him and his bands
include “This Here” (written by Bobby Timmons), “The Jive
Samba,” “Work Song” (written by Nat Adderley), “Mercy, Mercy,
Mercy” (written by Joe Zawinul) and “Walk Tall” (written by
Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). He will join the ancestors on August
8, 1975. Later that year, he will be inducted into the Down Beat
Jazz Hall of Fame.

1943 – Actor and activist Paul Robeson acts in the 296th
performance of “Othello” at the Shubert Theatre in New
York City.

1963 – Four African American schoolgirls – Addie Collins, Denise
McNair, Carol Robertson and Cynthia Wesley – join the ancestors
after being killed in a bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It is an act of violence that
will galvanize the civil rights movement.

1964 – Rev. K.L. Buford and Dr. Stanley Smith are elected to the
Tuskegee City Council and become the first African
American elected officials in Alabama in the twentieth
century.

1969 – Large-scale racially motivated disturbances are reported
in Hartford, Connecticut. Five hundred persons are
arrested and scores are injured.

1978 – Muhammad Ali wins the world heavyweight boxing championship
for a record third time by defeating Leon Spinks in New
Orleans, Louisiana.

1987 – Boxer, Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns, becomes the first African
American to win boxing titles in five different weight
classes.

1991 – San Diego State freshman, Marshall Faulk, sets the NCAA
single game rushing record of 386 yards.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 14 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 14 *

1874 – White Democrats seize the statehouse in a Louisiana coup
d’etat. President Grant orders the revolutionaries to
disperse, and the rebellion collapses. Twenty-seven
persons (sixteen whites and eleven Blacks) are killed in
battles between the Democrats and Republicans.

1891 – John Adams Hyman joins the ancestors in Washington, DC.
He was the first African American congressman from the
state of North Carolina.

1921 – Constance Baker Motley is born in New Haven, Connecticut.
She will achieve many distinctions in her career,
including being the first African American woman elected
to the New York Senate in 1964, the first woman Manhattan
borough president, and the first African American woman to be
named as a federal court judge in 1966. She will later
serve as chief judge of the Southern District of New
York until she joins the ancestors on September 28, 2005.

1940 – African Americans are allowed to enter all branches of
the United States Military Service, when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service Act.

1964 – Leontyne Price and A. Philip Randolph are among the
recipients of the Medal of Freedom awarded by President
Lyndon B. Johnson.

1970 – One African American is killed and two whites are injured
in shoot-out between activists and police officers in a
New Orleans housing project.

2003 – Yetunde Price, the oldest sister of tennis stars Venus
and Serena Williams, joins the ancestors at the age of
31 after being killed in a shooting at her place of
business.

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