KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2 *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization. He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

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

August 14 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 14 *

1862 – President Lincoln receives the first group of African
Americans to confer with a U.S. president on a matter of
public policy. He urges African Americans to emigrate to
Africa or Central America and is bitterly criticized by
northern African Americans.

1876 – Prairie View State University is founded.

1883 – Ernest Everett Just is born in Charleston, South Carolina.
After graduating magna cum laude from Dartmouth College
in 1907, he will become a teacher at Howard University.
He will spend summers working as a research assistant at
the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole,
Massachusetts. He will receive his Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago in 1916. He will become a noted
marine biologist and the head of the physiology
department at Howard. He will be awarded the NAACP’s
first Spingarn Medal (1915) for his research in biology.
In his early days at Howard University, he will be one
of the founders of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and faculty
advisor. He will join the ancestors in October, 1941.

1908 – A race riot occurs in Springfield Illinois and will last
for five days. Army troops are called out. This riot
will stir the conscience of American civil rights leaders
and will lead to the founding of the NAACP.

1929 – Richard “Dick Tiger” Ihetu is born in Nkwerre Orlu, Imo
State, Nigeria. He will become a professional boxer and a
world champion middleweight from 1962-63 and 1964. He
will be the world lightweight champion from 1965 to 1968.
He will join the ancestors on December 14, 1971 after
succumbing to liver cancer. He will be inducted into to
the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

1938 – Niara Sudarkasa is born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She
will be an anthropologist and groundbreaking educator,
becoming the first African American professor to receive
tenure at the University of Michigan, and the first woman
president of Lincoln University, a traditionally male
African American college.

1946 – Larry Graham is born. He will become a musician (bassist)
and singer. He will perform with Sly and the Family
Stone and Graham Central Station. He will leave Graham
Central Station, start a solo career, and will be known
for his songs, “One in a Million” and “I Never Forgot
Your Eyes.”

1946 – Antonio Juan Fargas is born in the Bronx in New York City.
He will become an actor and will be best known for his role
as “Huggy Bear” in the TV series, “Starsky & Hutch.”

1956 – Jackee Harry is born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
She will become an actress and will star as “Sandra” in
the television series “227” and the adoptive mother of
one of a pair of twins in the television series “Sister,
Sister.”

1959 – Earvin Johnson is born in Lansing, Michigan. Better known
as “Magic,” he will lead Michigan State University to the
NCAA championship in 1979. After two years of college, he
will enter the NBA and be picked first in the draft by the
Los Angeles Lakers. He will become one of the best point
guards in NBA history. After retiring from basketball, he
will concentrate on his business ventures and will have
success developing stadium-style movie theaters in inner
city underserved areas.

1968 – Halle Maria Berry is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She will
become Miss World USA in 1986 and will have a successful
acting career, starring in the mini-series “Queen” and the
movie “Boomerang.” In 2002, she will win the Best Actress
Oscar for her role in “Monster’s Ball.”

1970 – City University of New York (CUNY) inaugurates its open
admissions policy designed to increase the number of poor
and minority students.

1971 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, pitches a no-hitter
against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is the first no-hitter
against the Pirates since 1955.

1992 – The White House announces that the Pentagon will begin
emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass
deaths by starvation.

2010 – Abbey Lincoln (born Anna Marie Wooldridge), renown jazz
vocalist, songwriter and actress, joins the ancestors i
Manhattan, New York. She had been suffering deteriorating
health for years following open heart surgery in 2007.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2 *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization. He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

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

August 14 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 14 *

1862 – President Lincoln receives the first group of African
Americans to confer with a U.S. president on a matter of
public policy. He urges African Americans to emigrate to
Africa or Central America and is bitterly criticized by
northern African Americans.

1876 – Prairie View State University is founded.

1883 – Ernest Everett Just is born in Charleston, South Carolina.
After graduating magna cum laude from Dartmouth College
in 1907, he will become a teacher at Howard University.
He will spend summers working as a research assistant at
the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole,
Massachusetts. He will receive his Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago in 1916. He will become a noted
marine biologist and the head of the physiology
department at Howard. He will be awarded the NAACP’s
first Spingarn Medal (1915) for his research in biology.
In his early days at Howard University, he will be one
of the founders of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and faculty
advisor. He will join the ancestors in October, 1941.

1908 – A race riot occurs in Springfield Illinois and will last
for five days. Army troops are called out. This riot
will stir the conscience of American civil rights leaders
and will lead to the founding of the NAACP.

1929 – Richard “Dick Tiger” Ihetu is born in Nkwerre Orlu, Imo
State, Nigeria. He will become a professional boxer and a
world champion middleweight from 1962-63 and 1964. He
will be the world lightweight champion from 1965 to 1968.
He will join the ancestors on December 14, 1971 after
succumbing to liver cancer. He will be inducted into to
the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

1938 – Niara Sudarkasa is born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She
will be an anthropologist and groundbreaking educator,
becoming the first African American professor to receive
tenure at the University of Michigan, and the first woman
president of Lincoln University, a traditionally male
African American college.

1946 – Larry Graham is born. He will become a musician (bassist)
and singer. He will perform with Sly and the Family
Stone and Graham Central Station. He will leave Graham
Central Station, start a solo career, and will be known
for his songs, “One in a Million” and “I Never Forgot
Your Eyes.”

1946 – Antonio Juan Fargas is born in the Bronx in New York City.
He will become an actor and will be best known for his role
as “Huggy Bear” in the TV series, “Starsky & Hutch.”

1956 – Jackee Harry is born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
She will become an actress and will star as “Sandra” in
the television series “227” and the adoptive mother of
one of a pair of twins in the television series “Sister,
Sister.”

1959 – Earvin Johnson is born in Lansing, Michigan. Better known
as “Magic,” he will lead Michigan State University to the
NCAA championship in 1979. After two years of college, he
will enter the NBA and be picked first in the draft by the
Los Angeles Lakers. He will become one of the best point
guards in NBA history. After retiring from basketball, he
will concentrate on his business ventures and will have
success developing stadium-style movie theaters in inner
city underserved areas.

1968 – Halle Maria Berry is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She will
become Miss World USA in 1986 and will have a successful
acting career, starring in the mini-series “Queen” and the
movie “Boomerang.” In 2002, she will win the Best Actress
Oscar for her role in “Monster’s Ball.”

1970 – City University of New York (CUNY) inaugurates its open
admissions policy designed to increase the number of poor
and minority students.

1971 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, pitches a no-hitter
against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is the first no-hitter
against the Pirates since 1955.

1992 – The White House announces that the Pentagon will begin
emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass
deaths by starvation.

2010 – Abbey Lincoln (born Anna Marie Wooldridge), renown jazz
vocalist, songwriter and actress, joins the ancestors i
Manhattan, New York. She had been suffering deteriorating
health for years following open heart surgery in 2007.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2           *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization.  He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

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.