KRLemmons African American History

February 19 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 19 *

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1919 – The first Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Dubois,
opens in Paris, France. Fifty-seven delegates from 16
countries and colonies will meet for three days and declare
“The natives of Africa must be allowed to participate in the
government as fast as their development permits.” Blaise
Diagne of Senegal is elected president and Dubois is named
secretary. The Pan-African movement is started by these
African American, African and Caribbean intellectuals,
stressing the unity of Black people, whether living in Africa
or in the various parts of the world to which Africans had
been brought as slaves. African independence and nationalism
were its goals. These representatives from the Americas,
Europe, and Africa gather to discuss the situation of
Africans living under colonialism. Also taking place in Paris
at that time are the negotiations for the post-WWI Treaty of
Versailles. Since the fate of the European powers’ African
colonies is being discussed in these negotiations, Du Bois
hopes to influence the decisions that will come out of the
peace conference.

1940 – William “Smokey” Robinson is born in Detroit, Michigan. As
part of the Motown group “The Miracles” and in his solo
career, Robinson will be an enduring Rhythm and Blues and
pop performer. He will also become a Vice-President of Motown
Records.

1959 – Gabon adopts its constitution.

1987 – A racially motivated civil disturbance erupts in Tampa,
Florida, after a young African American man dies from
injuries resulting from a police chokehold.

1992 – John Singleton is nominated for two Academy Awards for best
director and best screenplay for his first film, “Boyz N the
Hood.” Singleton is the first African-American director ever
to be nominated for the Academy Award.

1995 – A day after being named the new chairwoman of the NAACP,
Myrlie Evers-Williams outlines her plans for revitalizing the
civil rights organization, saying she intended to take the
group back to its roots.

1999 – President Bill Clinton posthumously pardons Henry O. Flipper.
Flipper was the first African American to graduate from the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Flipper was acquitted
on charges of embezzlement of commissary funds, but was
found guilty of “conduct unbecoming an officer” for lying to
investigators. He received a dishonorable discharge in 1882.
He had been a victim of racism from the time he went to West
Point to the time he was railroaded out of the military. Mr.
Flipper joined the ancestors in 1940 at the age of 84.

2002 – Vonetta Flowers becomes the first Black athlete from any
country to win a gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games. She
and her partner win the women’s two-person bobsled event at
the Salt Lake City games. They finished their two runs in 1
minute 37.76 seconds.

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

KRLemmons Uncategorized

Libros Latin@s: The Sofia Martinez series by Jacqueline Jules

Unknown's avatarLatinxs in Kid Lit

By Ashley Hope Pérez

This review is based on an advance reader’s copy of My Family Adventure, which is a multi-story volume with “Picture Perfect,” “Abuela’s Birthday,” and “The Missing Mouse.” These texts are also sold as separate early chapter books.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION: Growing up in a big family, 7-year-old Sofia Martinez is used to fighting for attention. Her outgoing personality mixed with her confidence and fiery passion for everything she does gets her that attention — even if it’s sometimes mixed with trouble. Sofia is a little stubborn and a lot mischievous, so you can imagine the fun she creates in this early chapter book series. A few Spanish words and phrases are intermixed throughout the story, bringing the importance of Sofia’s culture to life. Discussion questions, writing prompts, and a glossary complete each book.

MY TWO CENTS: The Sofia Martinez series is a lovely addition to the world of early…

View original post 934 more words

KRLemmons African American Authors

February 18 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 18 *

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1688 – The first formal protest against slavery by an organized white
body in the English American colonies is made by Germantown,
Pennsylvania Quakers and Mennonites at a monthly meeting. When
some members of the Quaker community began to buy slaves,
Francis Daniel Pastorius, the founder of Germantown, was
outraged. On this day, Pastorius will meet with three other
Germantown Quaker men to draft a denunciation of slavery.
Known as “The Germantown Protest,” it is regarded as the first
protest against slavery by whites in the American colonies.
The reasoning of the denunciation was based on the Golden
Rule: since white people did not want to be slaves themselves,
they had no right to enslave black African men and women.
Despite the Germantown Protest, some Quaker families continued
to keep slaves. Nonetheless, by the 19th century Quakers were
prominent in the movement to abolish slavery in the United
States.

1865 – Confederate Troops abandon Charleston, South Carolina. The
first Union troops to enter the city include the Twenty-first
U.S. Colored Troops, followed by two companies of the Fifty-
fourth Massachusetts Volunteers.

1867 – The Augusta Institute is founded in Georgia. It is established
as an institution of higher learning for African American
students, and moves to Atlanta in 1879. In 1913, the name is
changed to Morehouse College.

1894 – Paul Revere Williams is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a certified architect in 1921, and the first certified
African American architect west of the Mississippi. He will
also become the first African American member of the American
Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1923. In 1939, he will win the
AIA Award of Merit for his design of the MCA Building in Los
Angeles. He will become one of the most famous African American
architects, designer of private residences in Los Angeles, the
Hollywood YMCA, the Beverly-Wiltshire Hotel, UCLA’s Botany
Building and many others. Among his many awards will be the
NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in 1953. He will join the ancestors on
January 23, 1980.

1931 – Toni Morrison is born in Lorain, Ohio. She will become one of
the most celebrated modern novelists of the 20th century,
winning the National Book Critics Award in 1978 for “Song of
Solomon” and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 for
“Beloved.” In 1993, she will become the first African
American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1965 – The Gambia gains its independence from Great Britain.

1973 – Palmer Hayden joins the ancestors in New York City. One of the
principal artists of the Harlem Renaissance who, like Henry 0.
Tanner and others, studied in Paris, his most enduring work
often depicted everyday scenes of African American life.

1979 – The miniseries “Roots: The Next Generations” premiers on ABC
TV.

1995 – The NAACP replaces veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie
Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar
Evers, after the rank-and-file declared no confidence in
Gibson’s leadership.

2006 – Shani Davis, from Chicago’s South Side, becomes the first Black
athlete to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic
history, winning the 1,000-meter speedskating race in 1 min.,
8.89 seconds.

2013 – Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group The Temptations,
joins the ancestors at the age of 62 after succumbing to prostate
cancer. Harris joined the Temptations at age 20 in 1971 and
replaced Eddie Kendricks, one of the group’s original lead
singers. He was with the group until 1975, and was best known for
singing tenor on the band’s hit, “Papa was a Rolling Stone.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 17 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 17 *

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1870 – Congress passes a resolution readmitting Mississippi to the
Union on the condition that it will never change its
constitution to disenfranchise African Americans.

1918 – Charles Hayes is born in Cairo, Illinois. He will be elected
to the House of Representatives succeeding Harold Washington
in 1983. He will join the ancestors on April 8, 1997.

1933 – Bobby Lewis is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He will become a
Rhythm and Blues singer, who will be at his peak in the 1960’s,
and will be best-known for his recordings of “Tossin’ & Turnin’,”
and “One Track Mind.”

1936 – James Nathaniel (Jim) Brown is born in Saint Simons, Georgia. He
will become a professional football player and actor. He is best
known for his exceptional and record-setting nine year career as
a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football
League (NFL) from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he will be named by
Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.
He is widely considered to be one of the greatest professional
athletes in the history of the United States. He will be selected
in the first round of the 1957 draft by the Cleveland Browns. He
will depart as the NFL record holder for both single-season (1,863
in 1963) and career rushing (12,312 yards), as well as the all-time
leader in rushing touchdowns (106), total touchdowns (126), and
all-purpose yards (15,549). He will be the first player ever to
reach the 100-rushing-touchdowns milestone, and only a few others
will do so to date, despite the league’s expansion to a 16-game
season in 1978. Note: His first four seasons were only 12 games,
and his last five were 14 games. His record of scoring 100
touchdowns in only 93 games will stand until LaDainian Tomlinson
did it in 89 games during the 2006 season. He will hold the record
for total seasons leading the NFL in all-purpose yards (five:
1958–1961, 1964), and will be the only rusher in NFL history to
average over 100 yards per game for a career. In addition to his
rushing, He will be a superb receiver out of the backfield, catching
262 passes for 2,499 yards and 20 touchdowns, while also adding
another 628 yards returning kickoffs. Every season he played, he
will be voted into the Pro Bowl, and he will leave the league in
style, by scoring three touchdowns in his final Pro Bowl game.
Perhaps the most amazing feat, is that he will accomplish these
records despite never playing past 29 years of age. His six games
with at least 4 touchdowns will remain an NFL record, to date.
LaDainian Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk will both have five games
with 4 touchdowns. He will lead the league in rushing a record eight
times. He will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
The Sporting News will select him as the greatest football player of
all time. His football accomplishments at Syracuse will garner him a
berth in the College Football Hall of Fame. He will also earn a spot
in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, giving him a rare triple crown of sorts,
as well as being one of the few athletes to become a Hall of Fame
member in more than one sport. After his football career, he will
become a movie star and will establish the Negro Industrial and
Economic Union, and work with African American youth with the
Amer-I-Can program, which he will establish.

1938 – Mary Frances Berry is born in Nashville, Tennessee. She will
be an influential force in education and civil rights, become
the first woman of any race to serve as chancellor of a major
research university (University of Colorado in 1976), and a
member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

1941 – Joe Louis retains his world heavyweight boxing crown by
knocking out Gus Dorazio.

1942 – Huey Percy Newton is born in Monroe, Louisiana. He will become a
political and urban activist who, along with Bobby Seale, will co-
found the Black Panther Party in 1966. He will be the party’s Minister
of Defense. He will have a long series of confrontations with law
enforcement, including several convictions, while participating in
political activism. He will continue to pursue an education, eventually
earning a Ph.D. in Social Science from the University of California
Santas Cruz in 1980. He will spend time in prison for manslaughter, due
to his alleged involvement in a shooting that killed a police officer,
but was later acquitted. On August 22, 1989, he will join the ancestors.
after being shot and killed in Oakland, California, by Tyrone “Double R”
Robinson, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain, of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors, scores 67
points against St. Louis.

1963 – Michael Jeffrey Jordan, who will be a star basketball player
for the University of North Carolina, the 1984 Olympic gold
medal team and the Chicago Bulls, is born in Brooklyn, New
York. Jordan’s phenomenal style and scoring ability will earn
him universal acclaim and selection on more than eight all-
star NBA teams and NBA Most Valuable Player more than four
times.

1982 – Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist and composer, joins the ancestors
at the age of 64.

1989 – The African countries of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
& Libya form an economic common market.

1997 – The Virginia House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the
state song, “Carry me back to Old Virginny,” a tune which
glorifies the institution of slavery.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 16 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 16 *

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* Black Facts every day of the year.
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1801 – The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church officially
separates from its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Zion church will be incorporated as the African Episcopal
Church of the City of New York. James Varick will be its first
pastor and will later become the first black African Methodist
Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) bishop. It will hold its first national
conference in 1821. The name Zion will not be added to the
church’s name until 1848.

1874 – Frederick Douglass is elected President of Freedman’s Bank and
Trust Company.

1923 – Bessie Smith makes her first recording for Columbia Records.
The record, “Down Hearted Blues,” written by Alberta Hunter
and Lovie Austin, will sell an incredible 800,000 copies and
be Columbia’s first popular hit.

1944 – The U.S. Navy starts its first officer training class of
African Americans at Camp Robert Smalls, Great Lakes, Illinois.
In March, 1944,

1951 – James Ingram is born in Akron, Ohio. He will be raised there
on Kelly Avenue. He will later become a rhythm and blues
singer and will earn at least three Grammy Awards and
seventeen Grammy nominations.

1951 – The New York City Council passes a bill prohibiting racial
discrimination in city-assisted housing developments.

1957 – LeVar Burton is born in Landstuhl, Germany. He will become an
actor, winning a landmark role in the award-winning mini-
series, “Roots,” as the enslaved African youth Kunta Kinte,
while attending USC. He will go on to become a producer,
director and writer for numerous television series and films.

1970 – Joe Frazier knocks outs Jimmy Ellis in the second round to
become the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion.

1972 – Wilt Chamberlain scores his 30,000th point in his 940th game,
a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the
Phoenix Suns. He is the first player in the NBA to score
30,000 points.

1992 – The Los Angeles Lakers retire Magic Johnson’s uniform, # 32.

1999 – Mary Elizabeth Roche, best known as Betty Roche, joins the
ancestors at the age of 81 in Pleasantville, New Jersey. She
was a singer who performed with Duke Ellington in the 1940s
and 1950s. She sang with the Savoy Sultans from 1941 to
1943, when she joined Ellington’s group. She scored high
marks from critics for the suite “Black, Brown and Beige,” at
Ellington’s first Carnegie Hall concert. She also performed
Ellington’s signature song “Take the A Train” in the 1943
film. “Reveille With Beverly.”

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