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.

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 Uncategorized

September 18 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 18 *

1850 – Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, a part of the
Compromise of 1850, which allows slave owners to reclaim
slaves who had escaped to other states. The act also
offers federal officers a fee for captured slaves.

1895 – Booker T. Washington makes a speech at the Cotton States
and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. Known
as the “Atlanta Compromise” speech, Washington advocates
acceptance of a subordinate role for African Americans,
espouses peaceful coexistence with white Southerners,
and calls agitation over the question of social equality
“the extremist folly.” The speech, which reportedly
leaves some African American listeners in tears and will
incur the wrath of W.E.B. Du Bois and others, secures
Washington’s reputation among whites as a successor to
Frederick Douglass.

1905 – Eddie Anderson is born in Oakland, California. He will
become an actor and will be best known for his role on
of ‘Rochester’ on “The Jack Benny Show.”

1945 – 1000 white students walk out of three Gary, Indiana
schools to protest integration. There were similar
disturbances in Chicago, Illinois and other Northern and
Western metropolitan areas.

1948 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche is confirmed by the United Nations
Security Council as acting United Nations’ mediator in
Palestine.

1951 – Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr., neurosurgeon, is born
in Detroit, Michigan. He will graduate from the
University of Michigan Medical School in 1977 and will
become the first African American neurosurgery resident
at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
He will receive the American Black Achievement Award
from Ebony and the Paul Harris Fellow Award from Rotary
International. He will become best known for his
separation of Siamese twins in 1989.

1962 – Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica & Trinidad-Tobago are admitted
(105th-108th countries) to the United Nations.

1964 – Holly Robinson (Peete) , actress (“21 Jump Street”,
“Hanging with Mr. Cooper”), is born.

1967 – Ricky Bell, rhythm-and-blues singer, (Bell Biv Devoe and
New Edition), is born.

1970 – Rock guitarist Jimi (James Marshall) Hendrix joins the
ancestors at age 27 after aspirating on his own vomit
in London. Contrary to many news accounts, he did not
succumb to a drug overdose. No trace of drugs was found
in his body. A self-taught musician who blended rock,
jazz, and blues with British avant-garde rock, Hendrix
redefined the use of the electric guitar. His musical
career deeply influenced modern musicians. His songs,
“Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady” will become anthems for a
generation at war in Vietnam.

1972 – Art Williams becomes the first African American National
League umpire (Los Angeles vs. San Diego).

1980 – Cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez, a Cuban, becomes the
first person of African descent sent on a mission in
space (Soyuz 38).

1990 – Atlanta, Georgia is selected as the site of the XXV
Olympiad Summer Games. Mayor Maynard H. Jackson says
the 1996 Summer Games will be the “single biggest
continuous infusion of economic development to Atlanta
in the history of the city under any circumstances.”
It is the second time the city to host the games, is
led by an African American mayor.

1999 – Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs becomes the first player
in major league baseball history to reach 60 homers in
a season twice.

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

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.