September 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 12 *

1913 – James Cleveland Owens is born in Oakville, Alabama. He
will be better known as Jesse Owens, one of the greatest
track and field stars in history. Owens will achieve
fame at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, where
he will win four gold medals, dispelling Hitler’s notion
of the superior Aryan race and the inferiority of Black
athletes. Among his honors will be the Medal of Freedom,
presented to him by President Gerald Ford in 1976. He will
join the ancestors on March 31, 1980.

1935 – Richard Hunt is born in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of
the Art Institute of Chicago, he will later study in
Europe and be considered one of the leading sculptors in
the United States. His work will be shown extensively
in the United States and abroad and his sculptures will
be collected by the National Museum of American Art, the
Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, and the Museum of the Twentieth Century in
Vienna. On April 29, 2009, he will be awarded the Lifetime
Achievement Award by the International Sculpture Center.
His web site is http://www.RichardHunt.us.

1944 – Barry White is born in Galveston, Texas. He will become a
singer and songwriter. Some of his hits will be “I’m
Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby”, “Can’t Get
Enough Of Your Love Babe”, and “Love’s Theme [with Love
Unlimited Orchestra]. He will join the ancestors on July
4, 2003 from complications of high blood pressure and
kidney disease.

1947 – The first African American baseball player in the major
leagues, Jackie Robinson, is named National League Rookie
of the Year.

1956 – African American students are barred from entering a Clay,
Kentucky elementary school. They will enter the school
under National Guard protection on September 17.

1958 – The United States Supreme Court orders a Little Rock,
Arkansas high school to admit African American students.

1964 – Ralph Boston of the United States, sets the long jump
record at 27′ 4”.

1974 – The beginning of court-ordered busing to achieve racial
integration in Boston’s public schools is marred by
violence in South Boston.

1974 – Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, is consecrated as the first
African American Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in the
United States. He assumes his duties as auxiliary bishop
of Washington, DC.

1974 – Haile Selassie is deposed by military leaders after fifty-
eight years as the ruling monarch of Ethiopia.

1977 – Black South African student and civil rights leader Steven
Biko joins the ancestors after succumbing to severe
physical abuse while in police detention, triggering an
international outcry.

1980 – Lillian Randolph joins the ancestors at the age of 65. She
had been a film actress and had starred on television on
the “Amos ‘n’ Andy Show” and in the mini-series “Roots”.

1984 – Michael Jordan signs a seven-year contract to play
basketball with the Chicago Bulls. ‘Air’ Jordan will
become an NBA star for the Bulls and help make the team a
dominant force in the NBA.

1984 – Dwight Gooden, of the New York Mets, sets a rookie
strikeout record by striking out his 251st batter of the
season. He also leads the Mets to a 2-0 shutout over the
Pittsburgh Pirates.

1986 – The National Council of Negro Women sponsors its first
Black Family Reunion at the National Mall in Washington,
DC. The reunion, which will grow to encompass dozens of
cities and attract over one million people annually, is
held to celebrate and applaud the traditional values,
history, and culture of the African American family.

1989 – David Dinkins, Manhattan borough president, wins the New
York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, defeating
incumbent Mayor Ed Koch and two other candidates on his
way to becoming the city’s first African American mayor.

1992 – Mae C. Jemison becomes the first woman of color to go into
space when she travels on the space shuttle Endeavour.

1998 – Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs becomes the fourth major
league baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a single
season.

1999 – Serena and Venus Williams (sisters) take home the U.S.
Open Women’s Doubles Championship trophy. After losing
the first set, they bounce back to win the remaining two
sets against Chandra Rubin of the U.S. and Sandrine
Testud of France. The Williams sisters are the first
African Americans to win a U.S. Open Doubles
Championship.

2000 – James Perkins becomes the first African American mayor of
Selma, Alabama, defeating long-time mayor Joe Smitherman
with 60% of the vote. Smitherman had been mayor for
thirty six years. He was the mayor of Selma in 1965 when
sheriff’s deputies and state troopers attacked hundreds
of voting rights marchers on Selma’s Edmund Pettus
Bridge in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

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

July 4 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – July 4 *

1776 – The Declaration of Independence is adopted. A section
written by Thomas Jefferson denouncing slavery is deleted.

1779 – Colonel Arent Schuyler De Puyster notes the presence of
“Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a handsome Negro, well-
educated and settled at Eschikagou.” It is the first
recorded mention of “DuSable, who settled the area that
will become known as Chicago.

1827 – New York State abolishes slavery.

1845 – Edmonia “Wildfire” Lewis is born in Greenwich, New York. After
living with Chippewa relatives, she will enroll in Oberlin
College’s preparatory and college program. Changing her
name to Mary Edmonia Lewis, she will travel to Boston and
abroad where she will become one of the most outstanding
sculptors of her day. Among her most famous works will be
“Forever Free,” “Hagar in Her Despair in the Wilderness”
and “Death of Cleopatra.” She will join the ancestors on
September 17, 1907 in London, England.

1875 – White Democrats kill several African Americans in terrorist
attacks in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1881 – Tuskegee Institute opens in Tuskegee, Alabama, with Booker
T. Washington as its first president.

1892 – Arthur George Gaston is born in a log cabin, built by his
grandparents, former slaves, in Marengo County, Alabama,
near Demopolis. He will drop out of school after the
tenth grade and will become one of the most successful
proponents of Booker T. Washington’s brand of capitalism.
A Washington disciple as a child, Gaston became a self-made
millionaire and one of the richest African American men in
America in the 1950s. His many businesses thrived on the
social separateness legislated by the Jim Crow laws in
segregated Alabama. Gaston will make it his personal
mission to urge African Americans to seek “green power,” a
term he remembered Washington using. His quiet role in the
civil right movement was also noted, saying once that
African Americans needed a Martin Luther King, Jr. of
economics to fire them up the way King had about
integration. Gaston made the following statement that
summed up his position on economic empowerment for people
of color — “It doesn’t do any good to arrive at first-
class citizenship, if you arrive broke.” He will live to
the age of 103, when he joins the ancestors on January 19,
1996.

1910 – Jack Johnson KOs James Jeffries in 15 rounds, ending
Jeffries’ come-back try.

1938 – William Harrison “Bill” Withers, Jr. is born the youngest
of nine children in the coal mining town of in Slab Fork,
West Virginia. He will become a Rhythm and Blues singer
and songwriter who will perform and record from the late
1960s until the mid 1980s. Some of his best-known songs
will include “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Use Me,” “Lean on Me”,
“Grandma’s Hands”, and “Just the Two of Us”.

1959 – The Cayman Islands, separated from Jamaica, are made a
British Crown Colony.

1963 – Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche receive the first Medals
of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy, the creator of
the award.

1970 – 100 persons are injured in racially motivated disturbances
in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

1990 – “2 Live Crew” release “Banned in the USA”; the lyrics quote
“The Star Spangled Banner” & “The Gettysburg Address.”

1991 – The National Civil Rights Museum officially opens at the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the
assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Jr.

1994 – Rwandan Tutsi rebels seize control of most of their
country’s capital, Kigali, and continue advancing on areas
held by the Hutu-led government.

2003 – Barry White, Rhythm & Blues balladeer, joins the ancestors
at the age of 58 after succumbing to complications of high
blood pressure, kidney disease and a mild stroke. His
hits included “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love,” “Babe” and
“I’ve Got So Much to Give.”

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

June 6 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – June 6 *

1716 – The first slaves arrive in Louisiana.

1779 – Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste-Pointe Du Sable founds the
first permanent settlement at the mouth of a river on the
north bank, that will become Chicago, Illinois.

1831 – The second national Black convention meets in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. There are fifteen delegates from five
states.

1869 – Dillard University is chartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1934 – Roy Innis is born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and will be
raised in New York City. He will become a civil rights
activist and will join the Harlem chapter of CORE
(Congress of Racial Equality) in 1963. He will work with
the organization over the next 35 years in many capacities
including chairman.

1935 – Jesse Owens is elected Captain of the 1936 track team at
Ohio State University. He is the first African American to
hold such position on any Ohio State Team.

1935 – Robert Cornelius “Bobby” Mitchell is born in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. He will become a professional football player
starting as an eighth round draft selection by the
Cleveland Browns in 1958. He will play in four Pro Bowls
(one with Cleveland and three with Washington) over his
11-year playing career and is considered one of the NFL’s
all-time great multi-purpose players. When he is traded to
the Washington franchise in 1962, he becomes the first
African American to play for the team. He will become an
inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He will
be a prominent part of the Washington Redskins
organization for over 41 years until he retires after the
2002-2003 season.

1936 – Levi Stubbless is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will become
a rhythm and blues singer better known as Levi Stubbs. He
will be a member of the group, “The Aims.” The group
will start as a backup group for Levi’s cousin, Jackie
Wilson. The group will change their name to “The Four
Tops” in 1956, to avoid confusion with a band. Berry Gordy
will sign the group in 1963 and launch their first hit,
“Baby, I Need Your Loving.” The group will stay together
over forty years, longer than any other popular group,
with the original personnel intact. He will join the
ancestors on October 17, 2008.

1939 – Marion Wright (later Edelman) is born in Bennettsville,
South Carolina. In addition to becoming the first African
American woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi, she
will direct the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
in New York and Mississippi and will found the Children’s
Defense Fund in 1973.

1939 – Gary Levone Anderson is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He
will be raised in Norfolk, Virginia where he will become
a singer as a teenager, with a group called The Turks. He
will solo as Gary “U.S.” Bonds in 1960 recording the hit
“New Orleans.” His name will be inspired by a poster in a
Norfolk shop urging Americans to “Carry U. S. Bonds.” In
1961 when Bonds records his version of a local group’s
song, “A Night with Daddy G.,” it will be re-titled
“Quarter to Three” and will be a huge hit. He will record
three additional hits in the next year. After a twenty
year decline in his career, he will make a comeback after
his fan, Bruce Springsteen, begins to use “Quarter to
Three” as his encore.

1944 – The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion
assists in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France.

1944 – Tommie Smith is born in Clarksville, Texas. He will become
a track star (sprinter), and Olympic athlete/runner. He
will win the Olympic Gold medal in the 200 meters in the
1968 Olympics. It will be, on the winners platform, that he
and John Carlos will raise clinched fists as the national
anthem is played. He will be inducted into the National
Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978.

1947 – Harrison Branch is born in New York City. A student at the
San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University School of
Art, he will become a professor of art and photographer
whose works will be exhibited and collected in the U.S.
and in Europe and will appear in the landmark photography
book, “An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black
Photographers,” 1940-1988, edited by Deborah Wills Ryan.

1966 – James Meredith is wounded by a white sniper, as he walked
along U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, on the
second day of the Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson,
Mississippi, voter registration march. Meanwhile,
Stokely Carmichael, using his newly adopted name of Kwame’
Toure, launches the Black Power movement. Toure will say
that the use of the term is not anti-white, but a phrase
to denote a political strategy.

1973 – Barry White is awarded a gold record for “I’m Gonna Love
You Just a Little More Baby”. It is his first hit and his
first of five, number one, million sellers. White will
begin recording in 1960. He will form the group, Love
Unlimited, in 1969 and marry one of the group’s singers,
Glodean James. He will also form the 40-piece Love
Unlimited Orchestra which will have the number one hit,
“Love’s Theme.” He will join the ancestors on July 4,
2003 from complications of high blood pressure and kidney
disease.

1977 – Joseph Lawson Howze is installed as bishop of the Roman
Catholic diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi. He becomes the
first African American to head a U.S. diocese in the
Catholic Church in the twentieth century.

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

September 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 12 *

1913 – James Cleveland Owens is born in Oakville, Alabama. He
will be better known as Jesse Owens, one of the greatest
track and field stars in history. Owens will achieve
fame at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, where
he will win four gold medals, dispelling Hitler’s notion
of the superior Aryan race and the inferiority of Black
athletes. Among his honors will be the Medal of Freedom,
presented to him by President Gerald Ford in 1976. He will
join the ancestors on March 31, 1980.

1935 – Richard Hunt is born in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of
the Art Institute of Chicago, he will later study in
Europe and be considered one of the leading sculptors in
the United States. His work will be shown extensively
in the United States and abroad and his sculptures will
be collected by the National Museum of American Art, the
Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, and the Museum of the Twentieth Century in
Vienna. On April 29, 2009, he will be awarded the Lifetime
Achievement Award by the International Sculpture Center.
His web site is http://www.RichardHunt.us.

1944 – Barry White is born in Galveston, Texas. He will become a
singer and songwriter. Some of his hits will be “I’m
Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby”, “Can’t Get
Enough Of Your Love Babe”, and “Love’s Theme [with Love
Unlimited Orchestra]. He will join the ancestors on July
4, 2003 from complications of high blood pressure and
kidney disease.

1947 – The first African American baseball player in the major
leagues, Jackie Robinson, is named National League Rookie
of the Year.

1956 – African American students are barred from entering a Clay,
Kentucky elementary school. They will enter the school
under National Guard protection on September 17.

1958 – The United States Supreme Court orders a Little Rock,
Arkansas high school to admit African American students.

1964 – Ralph Boston of the United States, sets the long jump
record at 27′ 4”.

1974 – The beginning of court-ordered busing to achieve racial
integration in Boston’s public schools is marred by
violence in South Boston.

1974 – Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, is consecrated as the first
African American Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in the
United States. He assumes his duties as auxiliary bishop
of Washington, DC.

1974 – Haile Selassie is deposed by military leaders after fifty-
eight years as the ruling monarch of Ethiopia.

1977 – Black South African student and civil rights leader Steven
Biko joins the ancestors after succumbing to severe
physical abuse while in police detention, triggering an
international outcry.

1980 – Lillian Randolph joins the ancestors at the age of 65. She
had been a film actress and had starred on television on
the “Amos ‘n’ Andy Show” and in the mini-series “Roots”.

1984 – Michael Jordan signs a seven-year contract to play
basketball with the Chicago Bulls. ‘Air’ Jordan will
become an NBA star for the Bulls and help make the team a
dominant force in the NBA.

1984 – Dwight Gooden, of the New York Mets, sets a rookie
strikeout record by striking out his 251st batter of the
season. He also leads the Mets to a 2-0 shutout over the
Pittsburgh Pirates.

1986 – The National Council of Negro Women sponsors its first
Black Family Reunion at the National Mall in Washington,
DC. The reunion, which will grow to encompass dozens of
cities and attract over one million people annually, is
held to celebrate and applaud the traditional values,
history, and culture of the African American family.

1989 – David Dinkins, Manhattan borough president, wins the New
York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, defeating
incumbent Mayor Ed Koch and two other candidates on his
way to becoming the city’s first African American mayor.

1992 – Mae C. Jemison becomes the first woman of color to go into
space when she travels on the space shuttle Endeavour.

1998 – Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs becomes the fourth major
league baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a single
season.

1999 – Serena and Venus Williams (sisters) take home the U.S.
Open Women’s Doubles Championship trophy. After losing
the first set, they bounce back to win the remaining two
sets against Chandra Rubin of the U.S. and Sandrine
Testud of France. The Williams sisters are the first
African Americans to win a U.S. Open Doubles
Championship.

2000 – James Perkins becomes the first African American mayor of
Selma, Alabama, defeating long-time mayor Joe Smitherman
with 60% of the vote. Smitherman had been mayor for
thirty six years. He was the mayor of Selma in 1965 when
sheriff’s deputies and state troopers attacked hundreds
of voting rights marchers on Selma’s Edmund Pettus
Bridge in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

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

July 4 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – July 4 *

1776 – The Declaration of Independence is adopted. A section
written by Thomas Jefferson denouncing slavery is deleted.

1779 – Colonel Arent Schuyler De Puyster notes the presence of
“Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a handsome Negro, well-
educated and settled at Eschikagou.” It is the first
recorded mention of “DuSable, who settled the area that
will become known as Chicago.

1827 – New York State abolishes slavery.

1845 – Wildfire Lewis is born in Greenwich, New York. After
living with Chippewa relatives, she will enroll in Oberlin
College’s preparatory and college program. Changing her
name to Mary Edmonia Lewis, she will travel to Boston and
abroad where she will become one of the most outstanding
sculptors of her day. Among her most famous works will be
“Forever Free,” “Hagar in Her Despair in the Wilderness”
and “Death of Cleopatra.” She will join the ancestors in
1911.

1875 – White Democrats kill several African Americans in terrorist
attacks in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1881 – Tuskegee Institute opens in Tuskegee, Alabama, with Booker
T. Washington as its first president.

1892 – Arthur George Gaston is born in a log cabin, built by his
grandparents, former slaves, in Marengo County, Alabama,
near Demopolis. He will drop out of school after the
tenth grade and will become one of the most successful
proponents of Booker T. Washington’s brand of capitalism.
A Washington disciple as a child, Gaston became a self-made
millionaire and one of the richest African American men in
America in the 1950s. His many businesses thrived on the
social separateness legislated by the Jim Crow laws in
segregated Alabama. Gaston will make it his personal
mission to urge African Americans to seek “green power,” a
term he remembered Washington using. His quiet role in the
civil right movement was also noted, saying once that
African Americans needed a Martin Luther King, Jr. of
economics to fire them up the way King had about
integration. Gaston made the following statement that
summed up his position on economic empowerment for people
of color — “It doesn’t do any good to arrive at first-
class citizenship, if you arrive broke.” He will live to
the age of 103, when he joins the ancestors on January 19,
1996.

1910 – Jack Johnson KOs James Jeffries in 15 rounds, ending
Jeffries’ come-back try.

1938 – Bill Withers is born the youngest of nine children in the
coal mining town of in Slab Fork, West Virginia. He will
become a Rhythm and Blues singer and songwriter who will
perform and record from the late 1960s until the mid
1980s. Some of his best-known songs will include “Ain’t No
Sunshine,” “Use Me,” “Lean on Me”, “Grandma’s Hands”, and
“Just the Two of Us”.

1959 – The Cayman Islands, separated from Jamaica, are made a
British Crown Colony.

1963 – Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche receive the first Medals
of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy, the creator of
the award.

1970 – 100 persons are injured in racially motivated disturbances
in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

1990 – “2 Live Crew” release “Banned in the USA”; the lyrics quote
“The Star Spangled Banner” & “The Gettysburg Address.”

1991 – The National Civil Rights Museum officially opens at the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the
assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Jr.

1994 – Rwandan Tutsi rebels seize control of most of their
country’s capital, Kigali, and continue advancing on areas
held by the Hutu-led government.

2003 – Barry White, Rhythm & Blues balladeer, joins the ancestors
at the age of 58 after succumbing to complications of high
blood pressure, kidney disease and a mild stroke. His
hits included “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love,” “Babe” and
“I’ve Got So Much to Give.”

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

June 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 6 *

1716 – The first slaves arrive in Louisiana.

1779 – Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste-Pointe Du Sable founds the
first permanent settlement at the mouth of a river on the
north bank, that will become Chicago, Illinois.

1831 – The second national Black convention meets in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. There are fifteen delegates from five
states.

1869 – Dillard University is chartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1934 – Roy Innis is born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and will be
raised in New York City. He will become a civil rights
activist and will join the Harlem chapter of CORE
(Congress of Racial Equality) in 1963. He will work with
the organization over the next 35 years in many capacities
including chairman.

1935 – Jesse Owens is elected Captain of the 1936 track team at
Ohio State University. He is the first African American to
hold such position on any Ohio State Team.

1935 – Robert Cornelius “Bobby” Mitchell is born in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. He will become a professional football player
starting as an eighth round draft selection by the
Cleveland Browns in 1958. He will play in four Pro Bowls
(one with Cleveland and three with Washington) over his
11-year playing career and is considered one of the NFL’s
all-time great multi-purpose players. When he is traded to
the Washington franchise in 1962, he becomes the first
African American to play for the team. He will become an
inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He will
be a prominent part of the Washington Redskins
organization for over 41 years until he retires after the
2002-2003 season.

1936 – Levi Stubbless is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will become
a rhythm and blues singer better known as Levi Stubbs. He
will be a member of the group, “The Aims.” The group
will start as a backup group for Levi’s cousin, Jackie
Wilson. The group will change their name to “The Four
Tops” in 1956, to avoid confusion with a band. Berry Gordy
will sign the group in 1963 and launch their first hit,
“Baby, I Need Your Loving.” The group will stay together
over forty years, longer than any other popular group,
with the original personnel intact. He will join the
ancestors on October 17, 2008.

1939 – Marion Wright (later Edelman) is born in Bennettsville,
South Carolina. In addition to becoming the first African
American woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi, she
will direct the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
in New York and Mississippi and will found the Children’s
Defense Fund in 1973.

1939 – Gary Levone Anderson is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He
will be raised in Norfolk, Virginia where he will become
a singer as a teenager, with a group called The Turks. He
will solo as Gary “U.S.” Bonds in 1960 recording the hit
“New Orleans.” His name will be inspired by a poster in a
Norfolk shop urging Americans to “Carry U. S. Bonds.” In
1961 when Bonds records his version of a local group’s
song, “A Night with Daddy G.,” it will be re-titled
“Quarter to Three” and will be a huge hit. He will record
three additional hits in the next year. After a twenty
year decline in his career, he will make a comeback after
his fan, Bruce Springsteen, begins to use “Quarter to
Three” as his encore.

1944 – The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion
assists in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France.

1944 – Tommie Smith is born in Clarksville, Texas. He will become
a track star (sprinter), and Olympic athlete/runner. He
will win the Olympic Gold medal in the 200 meters in the
1968 Olympics. It will be, on the winners platform, that he
and John Carlos will raise clinched fists as the national
anthem is played. He will be inducted into the National
Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978.

1947 – Harrison Branch is born in New York City. A student at the
San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University School of
Art, he will become a professor of art and photographer
whose works will be exhibited and collected in the U.S.
and in Europe and will appear in the landmark photography
book, “An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black
Photographers,” 1940-1988, edited by Deborah Wills Ryan.

1966 – James Meredith is wounded by a white sniper, as he walked
along U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, on the
second day of the Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson,
Mississippi, voter registration march. Meanwhile,
Stokely Carmichael, using his newly adopted name of Kwame’
Toure, launches the Black Power movement. Toure will say
that the use of the term is not anti-white, but a phrase
to denote a political strategy.

1973 – Barry White is awarded a gold record for “I’m Gonna Love
You Just a Little More Baby”. It is his first hit and his
first of five, number one, million sellers. White will
begin recording in 1960. He will form the group, Love
Unlimited, in 1969 and marry one of the group’s singers,
Glodean James. He will also form the 40-piece Love
Unlimited Orchestra which will have the number one hit,
“Love’s Theme.” He will join the ancestors on July 4,
2003 from complications of high blood pressure and kidney
disease.

1977 – Joseph Lawson Howze is installed as bishop of the Roman
Catholic diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi. He becomes the
first African American to head a U.S. diocese in the
Catholic Church in the twentieth century.

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