KRLemmons African American History

December 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 28 *

***********************************************************************
* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #3 – Ujima (oo-JEE-mah) Collective Work & Responsibility: To *
* build and maintain our community together and to make our Brother’s *
* and Sister’s problems, our problems and to solve them together. *
* http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/ *
***********************************************************************

1817 – The American Colonization Society, a private philanthropic
organization, is organized in Washington, DC in the hall of the
House of Representatives, for the purpose of relocating freeborn
and emancipated blacks to Africa. The Society’s supporters
espoused a wide range of viewpoints on slavery and the treatment
of blacks, ranging from advocacy of the abolition of slavery to
the removal of the Negro race from the United States. The
primary motivation for this group stemmed from the fact that
there were too many ‘free’ Blacks in the United States.

1829 – Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman joins the ancestors. Freeman, born
into slavery, ran away from her owners after she was mistreated
by her master’s wife. She petitioned successfully for her
freedom, citing her knowledge of the Bill of Rights and the new
constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in her
argument that all men were created equal, thereby justifying
her petition for freedom. Her victory effectively abolished
slavery in Massachusetts. Freeman was the great-grandmother of
W.E.B. Dubois, one of America’s most renowned scholars,
leaders, and fighters for civil rights.

1905 – Earl “Fatha” Hines is born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. He will
be considered the “Father of Modern Jazz Piano.”

1918 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to William Stanley
Braithwaite, poet, literary critic and editor, for
distinguished achievement in literature.

1918 – George H. White joins the ancestors at the age of 66 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the last of the post
Reconstruction congressmen.

1954 – Denzel Washington is born in Mount Vernon, New York. He will
become an actor, playing Dr. Phillip Chandler for six seasons
on television’s “St. Elsewhere” and have a successful movie
career that will include roles in “A Soldier’s Story” and an
Oscar-winning performance in “Glory.”

1959 – Everson Walls is born. He will become a NFL corner back with
the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants.

1977 – Karen Farmer becomes the first African American member of the
Daughters of the American Revolution, when she traces her
ancestry back to William Hood, a soldier in the Revolutionary
War.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 27 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 27 *

***********************************************************************
* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #2 – Kujichagulia (koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-ah) Self Determination: *
* To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak *
* for ourselves. http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/ *
***********************************************************************

1873 – William A. Harper is born in Cayuga, Canada. A student at the
Art Institute of Chicago, he will study with Henry O. Tanner
and be considered one of the most gifted African American
artists of the early 20th century.

1904 – Monroe Nathan Work marries Florence Evelyn Hendrickson of
Savannah, Georgia. Greatly assisted by his wife, Work will
publish “The Negro Year Book,” an annual encyclopedia of
African American achievement. He will later publish “A
Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America” (1928), with
over 17,000 entries. Reviewers will laud it as “absolutely
indispensable” and call it “a monument of which any race may
well be proud.” It will be reprinted in 1965.

1939 – John Amos is born in Newark, New Jersey. He will become an
actor and will be known for his roles in “Good Times,” “Coming
to America,” and “Roots.”

1941 – Pioneer of blood plasma research, Dr. Charles Richard Drew,
establishes the first blood bank in New York City.

1956 – After a boycott by African Americans that lasted more than six
months, segregation is outlawed on Tallahassee, Florida buses.

1956 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Jack Roosevelt
(“Jackie”) Robinson, the first African American in the major
leagues, for his conduct on and off the baseball field.

1980 – Calvin Murphy, of the Houston Rockets, begins the longest NBA
free throw streak of 78.

1998 – A week after she was born weighing just 10.3 ounces, the
smallest of the Houston octuplets, Odera Chukwu, joins the
ancestors, succumbing to heart and lung failure. In a statement
released through the hospital, her parents, Nkem Chukwu and Iyke
Louis Udobi, say: “We are very saddened by the passing of our
beloved baby Odera. She is now safe with God in heaven and we
remain most grateful to him for having blessed our lives with
her’s.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 26 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 26 *

***********************************************************************
* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #1 – Umoja (oo-MOE-jah) Unity: To strive for and maintain unity *
* in the family, community, nation and race. *
* http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/ *
* *
***********************************************************************

1848 – William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia. Mrs. Craft
impersonates a slave holder and her husband, William, assumes
the role of her servant, in one of the most dramatic of the
slave escapes.

1849 – David Ruggles joins the ancestors in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Often called the first African American bookseller (for his
bookstore established in 1834), Ruggles was an early
abolitionist, speaker, and writer as well as a “conductor” on
the Underground Railroad. He published the first African
American magazine, the “Mirror of Liberty in August of 1838. He
was a noted hydropathist, erecting the first building
constructed for hydropathic treatments in the United States and
was known as the “water cure doctor.”

1894 – Jean Toomer is born in Washington, DC. The grandson of P.B.S.
Pinchback, Toomer will become the author of the influential
“Cane.”

1908 – Jack Johnson wins the heavyweight title in Australia, defeating
Tommy Burns. After avoiding fighting Johnson for over a year,
Burns will say of his loss, “Race prejudice was rampant in my
mind. The idea of a black man challenging me was beyond
enduring. Hatred made me tense.”

1924 – DeFord Bailey, Sr., a harmonica player, becomes the first African
American to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville,
Tennessee.

1931 – Lonnie Elder is born in Americus, Georgia. He will be known as
an author, playwright (“Ceremonies in Dark Old Men”), and
screenwriter (“Sounder,” “A Woman Called Moses”). He will become
the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award
(Sounder – 1972). He will join the ancestors in 1996.

1937 – La Julia Rhea becomes the first African American to sing with the
Chicago Civic Opera Company during the regular season. She
opens in the title role of Verdi’s “Aida.”

1956 – African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama begin mass defiance of
Jim Crow bus laws.

1966 – Kwanzaa, originated by Dr. Maulana Karenga, is first celebrated
by a small number of African American families in Los Angeles,
California, to “restore and reaffirm our African heritage and
culture.” Kwanzaa, a Kiswahili word meaning first or first
fruit, will celebrate over the next seven days the Nguzo Saba,
or seven principles, of Umoja(Unity), Kujichagulia(self-
determination), Ujima(Collective Work and Responsibility),
Ujamaa(Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba
(Creativity), and Imani (Faith).

1999 – Prolific singer, songwriter & producer Curtis Mayfield joins
the ancestors at the age of 57 in North Fulton Regional Hospital
near Atlanta, Georgia. Mayfield introduced social
consciousness into African American music and continued to
record for a decade after an accident left him paralyzed. His
many hits included “People Get Ready,” “I’m So Proud,” and “Keep
On Pushing.” His soundtrack for the 1972 movie “Superfly” sold
over 4 million copies and produced two classic hit singles, the
title track and “Freddie’s Dead.” In addition to his wife, he
leaves behind his mother, 10 children, a brother, two sisters
and seven grandchildren to celebrate his life.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 25 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 25 *

***HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM BRO. MOSI HOJ AND THE MUNIRAH CHRONICLE***

1760 – Jupiter Hammon, a New York slave who was probably the
first African American poet, publishes “An Evening
Thought:Salvation by Christ”.

1776 – Oliver Cromwell and Prince Whipple are among soldiers who
cross the Delaware River with George Washington to
successfully attack the Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey,
during the Revolutionary War.

1807 – Charles B. Ray is born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He
will enter Wesleyan University in Connecticut and be
forced to withdraw due to objections from northerners
and southerners. He will later become a prominent
African American leader.

1835 – Benjamin Tucker Tanner is born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Father of famous painter Henry O. Tanner,
he will become an A.M.E. bishop and editor of the
“Christian Recorder” and founder in 1884 of the A.M.E.
Church Review,” a leading magazine of the day.

1837 – Cheyney University is established in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. It will be first known as the “Institute
for Colored Youth”. The school will be moved to George
Cheyney’s farm, 24 miles west of Philadelphia, in 1902.
It will be renamed in 1913 to “The Cheyney Training
School for Teachers.” Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
is the first historically Black institution of learning
in America. It is also the first college in the United
States to receive official state certification as an
institution of higher academic education for African
Americans.

1837 – Charles Lenox Remond begins his career as an antislavery
agent. Remond will be one of the first African Americans
employed as a lecturer by the antislavery movement. He
will work many years for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery
Society.

1865 – Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, Shaw University
in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Virginia Union University
in Richmond, Virginia are founded.

1875 – Charles Caldwell joins the ancestors after being
assassinated in Clinton, Mississippi. He was the first
African American in the state of Mississippi to be accused
of the murder of a white man and found “not guilty” by an
all-white jury. He was later elected to the state senate.

1907 – Cabell “Cab” Calloway III is born in Rochester, New York. A
versatile jazz bandleader and singer who will popularize
scat singing, his song “Minnie the Moocher” will be the
first million-selling jazz record. Calloway will also
appear in the movie “Porgy and Bess” as well as perform as
a singer in the touring companies of “Porgy” and “Hello
Dolly.” He will join the ancestors on November 18, 1994.

1951 – Harry T. Moore, a Florida NAACP official, joins the
ancestors after being killed by a bomb in his home in Mims,
Florida. Active in expanding the African American vote in
Florida and in desegregating the University of Florida,
Moore will be posthumously awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn
Medal in 1952.

1951 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Mabel K. Staupers
for her leadership in the field of nursing.

1956 – The home of Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a Birmingham,
Alabama protest leader, is destroyed by a dynamite bomb.

1958 – Rickey Henley Henderson is born in Chicago, Illinois. He
will grow up to become a baseball player with the Oakland
Athletics and New York Yankees and will become the stolen
base king. In 1982, Henderson will shatter Lou Brock’s
modern major league record by stealing 130 bases. He will
have 23 consecutive seasons in which he will steal more
than 20 bases. He will rank 4th all-time in games played
(3,081), 10th in at-bats (10,961), 20th in hits (3,055),
and first in runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406).

1959 – Michael P. Anderson is born in Plattsburgh, New York. He
will be raised in Spokane, Washington. He will graduate
from the University of Washington in 1981 and be
commissioned a second lieutenant in the USAF. He will
become Chief of Communication Maintenance for the 2015
Communication Squadron and later be Director of
Information System Maintenance for the 1920 Information
System Group. In 1986 he will be selected to attend
Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB, Oklahoma. He
will serve as an aircraft commander and instructor pilot
in the 920th Air Refueling Squadron, Wurtsmith AFB
Michigan. He will be selected as an astronaut by NASA in
December 1994, and will become qualified for flight crew
assignment as a mission specialist. He will be initially
assigned technical duties in the Flight Support Branch of
the Astronaut Office. He will fly on the crew of STS-89
(Shuttle Endeavour to Space Station Mir) and will log
over 211 hours in space in 1998. Lt. Colonel Anderson
will be assigned to the crew of STS-107 (Shuttle Columbia)
and will join the ancestors when Columbia explodes during
re-entry on February 1, 2003.

1965 – The Congress of Racial Equality announces that its national
director, Dr. James Farmer, would resign on March 1.

2006 – James Brown, the dynamic “Godfather of Soul,” whose
revolutionary rhythms, rough voice and flashing footwork
influenced generations of musicians from rock to rap,
joined the ancestors early Christmas morning at the age of
73. He had been hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory
Crawford Long Hospital on 12/24 and succumbed to heart
failure around 1:45 a.m. He was one of the major musical
influences of the past 50 years. From Mick Jagger to
Michael Jackson, David Bowie to Public Enemy, his rapid-
footed dancing, hard-charging beats and heartfelt yet
often unintelligible vocals changed the musical landscape.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 24 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 24 *

1832 – The first hospital for African Americans is founded by
whites and chartered in Savannah, Georgia.

1853 – Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert is born in Olgethorpe,
Georgia. Albert is best known for her book “House of
Bondage”, a collection of seven informal narratives of
slaves’ lives.

1881 – Tennessee starts the modern segregation movement with
Jim Crow railroad car laws and is followed by Florida
(1887), Mississippi (1888), Texas (1889), Louisiana
(1890), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia (1891),
South Carolina (1898), North Carolina (1899), Virginia
(1900), Maryland (1904), and Oklahoma (1907).

1881 – The United Order of True Reformer, an African American
fraternal order, is established.

1881 – The exodus of five thousand Blacks from Edgefield County,
South Carolina begins. They become migrants, protesting
exploitation and violence, finally settling in Arkansas.

1898 – Irvin C. Mollison is born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1945,
he will be appointed the first African American judge to
the U.S. Customs Court.

1924 – Irving Lee Dorsey is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He
will become a vocalist, best known for the recording of
“Working in the Coal Mines.” He will join the ancestors
on December 1, 1986 after succumbing to emphysema.

1936 – Count Basie makes his New York debut at the Roseland
Ballroom.

1954 – In a session with the Miles Davis All-Stars, Thelonius
Monk records “Bag’s Groove,” which many will regard as his
finest solo performance.

1992 – Alphonso Michael ‘Mike’ Espy becomes the first African
American to hold the position of Secretary of Agriculture.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 23 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 23 *

1815 – Henry Highland Garnet is born in New Market, Maryland.
He will become a noted clergyman and abolitionist. He
will also be the first African American to deliver a
sermon before the House of Representatives.

1863 – Robert Blake, powder boy aboard the USS Marblehead, is
the first African American to be awarded the Naval Medal
of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary
heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life.”
The heroic action occurred during a victorious battle
off the coast of South Carolina.

1867 – Sarah Breedlove is born in Delta, Louisiana. She will
be better known as Madame C.J. Walker, the first female
African American millionaire whose hair-care, toiletry,
and cosmetics products revolutionized the standard of
beauty for African American women. Her philanthropy and
generosity will make her a popular figure in the early
1900’s.

1919 – Alice H. Parker patents the gas heating furnace.

1935 – Esther Mae Jones is born in Galveston, Texas. She will
begin her career as a blues singer at 13 as “Little”
Esther Phillips, taking her name from a billboard for a
gasoline company. Problems with drugs and alcohol will
cause her to interrupt her career a number of times.
She will record several memorable songs including “And
I Love Him” and “Release Me.”

1946 – The University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne
University, because they may use an African American
player in their basketball game.

1990 – Wendell Scott joins the ancestors in Danville, Virginia.
He was a prominent African American in early stock car
racing, finishing among the top five drivers in 20 Grand
National events and winning 128 races in the sportsman
division. His story will be told in the movie “Greased
Lightning,” that starred Richard Pryor as Scott.

1999 – President Clinton pardons Freddie Meeks, an African
American sailor court-martialed for mutiny during World
War II when he and other sailors refused to load live
ammunition following a deadly explosion at the Port
Chicago Naval Magazine near San Francisco that had
claimed more than 300 lives.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 22 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 22 *

1873 – Abolitionist Charles Lenox Remond joins the ancestors.
He was the first African American lecturer employed by
the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

1883 – Arthur Wergs Mitchell is born near Lafayette, Alabama.
He will become the first African American Democrat
elected to Congress, representing Illinois for four
terms. In 1937, after being forced from first-class
train accommodations in Arkansas to ride in a shabby
Jim Crow car, Mitchell will sue the railroad and
eventually argue unsuccessfully before the Supreme Court
that interstate trains be exempt from Arkansas’
“separate but equal” laws. He will join the ancestors
on May 9, 1968.

1898 – Chancellor Williams is born in Bennettsville, South
Carolina. He will become a historian and author of
“Destruction of Black Civilization.” He will join the
ancestors on December 7, 1992.

1905 – James A. Porter is born in Baltimore, Maryland. An
artist, chairperson of the department of art at Howard
University and one of the earliest scholars of African
American art, Porter will exhibit his works widely in the
United States, Europe, and Africa. He will join the
ancestors on February 28, 1970.

1939 – Jerry Pinckney is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He
will become an award-winning illustrator of children’s
books and numerous U.S. postage stamps featuring notable
African Americans.

1943 – W.E.B. Du Bois is elected as the first African American
member of the National Institute of Arts & Letters.

1980 – Samuel R. Pierce, Jr., a New York City lawyer and former
judge, is named to President Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet as
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

1984 – Four African American youths on a New York City subway
train, are shot by Bernhard Goetz. The white man shoots
because he thought they were going to rob him. He claims
he was seconds from becoming a mugging victim when he
opened fire, and will be acquitted of attempted murder in
1987 but will serve 8 months on a weapons charge. In
1996, he will lose a civil case brought against him by
one of the youths that he shot and paralyzed. The civil
judgment brought against him will be $ 43 million.

1988 – South Africa signs an accord granting independence to South
-West Africa.

1989 – The art exhibit “Afro-American Artists in Paris: 1919-1939”
closes at the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery on the
Hunter College campus in New York City. The exhibit of
eight artists including William Harper, Lois Mailou Jones,
Archibald Motley, Jr., Henry O. Tanner, and Hale Woodruff,
among others, powerfully illustrates the results achieved
by African American artists when they were able to leave
the confines and restrictions imposed upon them by race in
the United States.

1996 – Kordell Stewart of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs 80 yards
for a touchdown in the first half of an 18-14 loss to the
Carolina Panthers, the longest scoring run by a quarterback
in NFL history.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 21 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 21 *

1872 – Robert Scott Duncanson joins the ancestors in Detroit,
Michigan. He suffers a severe mental breakdown and ends
his life in the Michigan State Retreat. Duncanson
avoided painting in an ethnic style, favoring still
lifes and landscapes including “Mount Healthy,” “Ohio,”
“Blue Hole,” “Little Miami River,” and “Falls of
Minnehaha. The Detroit Tribune, on December 26, 1872,
refers to Duncanson as “an artist of rare
accomplishments”.

1911 – Joshua “Josh” Gibson is born in Buena Vista, Georgia. He
will become a professional baseball player in the Negro
Leagues. Gibson will begin playing in the Negro leagues
in 1930, at age 18. A catcher, he will play mostly for
teams in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including
the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. He will
also play winter baseball in Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic. He will join the ancestors suddenly in early
1947, the year that Jackie Robinson will become the first
African American player in the major leagues. In
recognition of his accomplishments, Gibson will be
inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He will
be referred to as the “Negro Babe Ruth” hitting 800+ Home
Runs. Some say that Babe Ruth should have been referred
to as the “white Josh Gibson.”

1921 – P.B.S. Pinchback, a major Reconstruction politician, joins
at the ancestors at the age of 84.

1959 – Delorez Florence Griffith is born in Los Angeles,
California. As Florence Griffith Joyner, she will bring
glamour to women’s track and field. A world-classrunner,
“FloJo” will win three gold medals (in the 100-meter, 200-
meter and 400-meter races) at the 1988 Summer Olympic
Games in Seoul and a silver medal in the 1600-meter relay.
She will join the ancestors on September 21, 1998.

1959 – Citizens of Deerfield, Illinois block the building of
interracial housing.

1969 – Diana Ross makes her final television appearance as a
member of the Supremes on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

1976 – Patricia R. Harris is named Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development.

1986 – While seeking a tow for his disabled car in Howard Beach
(Queens), New York, Michael Griffith is struck by an
automobile and killed as he attempts to escape from a mob
of whites who were beating him. The incident will spark
a controversy that will further divide factions in New
York City, already troubled by racially motivated violence.

1988 – Jesse Jackson, in a speech in Chicago, urges the use of the
term “African American”: “Every ethnic group in this
country has reference to some land base, some historical
cultural base. African Americans have hit that level of
maturity.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 20 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 20 *

1854 – Walter F. Craig is born in Princeton, New Jersey. He
will become a violinist, organizer of Craig’s
Celebrated Orchestra, and, in 1886, the first African
American to be admitted to the Musician’s Protective
Union.

1870 – Robert H. Wood, Mississippi political leader, is elected
mayor of Natchez.

1870 – Allen University, Benedict College and LeMoyne-Owen
College are established.

1870 – Jefferson F. Long of Macon, Georgia, is elected to an
unexpired term in the Forty-first Congress. Georgia
Democrats carry the state election with a campaign of
violence and political intimidation.

1893 – Paul Lawrence Dunbar publishes “Oak and Ivy.” Unable to
afford the $125 publishing costs, he accepts a loan from
a white friend. The loan will be quickly repaid through
book sales, often to passengers in the elevator of the
Dayton, Ohio, building where he works.

1893 – The first state anti-lynching statute is approved in
Georgia.

1938 – Mattie Alou is born in Haina, Dominican Republic. He will
become a professional baseball player like his brother
Felipe. They both will play for the San Francisco Giants.

1942 – Robert “Bob” Hayes is born in Florida. He will become a
world class sprinter for the United States, winning the
Gold Medal in the 100 meter dash in the 1964 Olympic games.
He will later become a wide receiver in the National
Football League.

1956 – The African American community of Montgomery, Alabama votes
unanimously to end its 385 day bus-boycott. Montgomery,
Alabama, removes race-based seat assignments on its city’s
buses.

1981 – “Dreamgirls” opens on Broadway at the Imperial Theater.
The musical, which chronicles the rise of a black female
group in the 1960’s, star Jennifer Holliday, Ben Harney,
and Cleavant Derricks. Holliday, Derricks and
choreographer Michael Peters will earn Tony awards for
their work in the musical.

1988 – Max Robinson, the first African American network (ABC) TV
anchor, joins the ancestors from complications of AIDS at
the age of 49.

1998 – Nigerian American Nkem Chukwu gives birth in Houston, Texas
to five girls and two boys, 12 days after giving birth to
another child, a girl. The tiniest of the babies will
succumb a week later.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 19 *

1798 – Portrait painter Joshua Johnston places an ad in the
“Baltimore Intelligencer” describing himself as “a self-
taught genius.” Johnston, a freeman, will paint portraits
of some of the most successful merchant families in
Maryland and Virginia. Only three of his subjects will
be African American, among them “Portrait of an Unknown
Man” and “Reverend Daniel Coker.”

1875 – Carter G. Woodson is born in New Canton, Virginia. A
founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, of the “Journal of Negro History,” and Negro
History Week, Woodson will write many books on African
American history. The most popular of his books will be,
“The Negro in Our History,” which will be used extensively
in high schools throughout the United States. He will join
the ancestors on April 3, 1950.

1886 – Clementine Rubin (later Hunter) is born in Clourtierville,
Louisiana. Because there were no birth certificates
issued in rural Louisiana during this time, there is much
controversy about her exact date of birth. Sources mention
her birth in December 1886 and January 1887. The only
real documentation of her earliest existence is a
christening document dated March, 1887. She will become a
painter in the 1930’s after spending years working on the
Melrose Plantation, a haven for many rural Southern
artists. Her first artistic medium will be quilt making,
and her first piece will be in 1938 exhibiting the
hardships of plantation life. Her first painting will be
completed in 1939. In 1955, she will become the first
African American artist to have a one person show at the
Delgado Museum (now known as the New Orleans Museum of
Art). Her folk-art style will earn her the nickname “the
Black Grandma Moses.” By the time she joins the ancestors
on January 1, 1988, she will be considered one of the
twentieth century’s leading folk artists.

1891 – Charles Randolph Uncles becomes the first African American
Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He is
ordained in Baltimore, Maryland.

1910 – The first city ordinance requiring white and black
residential areas is passed by the Baltimore City Council.
Similar laws will be passed in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke,
Greensboro, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas and
Louisville.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper is founded.

1910 – North Carolina College is founded in Durham, North Carolina.

1910 – The Norfolk Journal and Guide is established under the
leadership of P. B. Young Sr.

1930 – James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of
NAACP citing health reasons.

1930 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Henry A. Hunt,
Principal, Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort
Valley, Georgia, for his pioneering work as an educator.

1930 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, founded at Howard University in
1913, is incorporated.

1933 – Cicely Tyson is born in the Village of Harlem in New York
City. She will pursue a modeling career, appearing on the
covers of both “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar at the age of
23. She will later pursue acting and win acclaim for her
roles on the stage and on television, as well as in the
movie, Sounder (for which she will be named best actress
by the National Society of Film Critics and receive an
Academy Award nomination) and “The Autobiography of Miss
Jane Pittman,” for which she will win two Emmys.

1941 – Maurice White is born. He will become a singer, musician
(drummer) and founder of Earth, Wind & Fire. Some of his
hits include “Shining Star,” “Sing a Song,” “Got to Get
You into My Life,” “After the Love Has Gone,” and “Best of
My Love”.

1944 – Timothy Reid is born in Norfolk, Virginia. He will become
a comedian and known for his role as “Venus Flytrap” on
“WKRP in Cincinnati, as well as “Frank’s Place.”

1961 – Reggie White is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He will
become an all-pro defensive lineman for the NFL
Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. He will play
with Green Bay as they win the 1997 Super Bowl. He will
hold the NFL record of 198 sacks until it is broken by
Bruce Smith of the Washington Redskins in 2003. He will
retire from football at the end of the 1998-1999 season.
He will join the ancestors on December 26, 2004, after
succumbing to a cardiac arrhythmia caused by cardiac and
pulmonary sarcoidosis.

1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia.

1977 – Jimmy Rogers, a bluesman who played guitar for the original
Muddy Waters band and who will be inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame in 1994, joins the ancestors in Chicago at the
age of 73. He succumbs to colon cancer. He recorded a
string of solo hits beginning in the 1950s, including
“Walking by Myself,” “Chicago Bound” and “Sloppy Drunk.”
He played with Water’s Band in Chicago clubs and in the
studio for about a decade. In 1996, he won the W.C. Handy
award for male traditional blues artist.

1989 – Police in Jacksonville, Florida, disarm a parcel bomb at the
local NAACP office, the fourth in a series of mail bombs to
turn up in the Deep South. One bomb kills a Savannah,
Georgia, alderman, and another a federal judge in Alabama.
Walter L. Moody Jr. will be convicted in both bombings.

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