KRLemmons African American History

October 5 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 5 *

1867 – Monroe Baker, a well-to-do African American businessman,
is named mayor of St. Martin, Louisiana. He is probably
the first African American to serve as mayor of a town.

1872 – Booker T. Washington leaves Malden, West Virginia to enter
Hampton Institute.

1878 – George B. Vashion joins the ancestors after succumbing to
yellow fever in Rodney, Mississippi. He was the first
African American lawyer in the state of New York and an
educator and poet whose most famous work was “Victor Oge”
(1854), the first narrative, nonlyrical poem by an
African American writer.

1929 – Autherine Lucy (later Foster) is born in Shiloh, Alabama.
She will be the first African American student to enroll
at the University of Alabama (1956).

1932 – Perle Yvonne Watson is born in Los Angeles, California. As
Yvonne Braithwaite, she will serve as staff attorney on
the McCone Commission investigating the causes of the
Watts riots and will become the first African American
woman elected to the California state assembly, as well
as the first African American woman elected to the House
of Representatives. She also will be the first woman to
sit on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as a
result of an appointment by Governor Brown. Some years
later, she will become the first woman elected to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

1985 – Grambling’s coach Eddie Robinson wins his record 324th
college football game.

1992 – Eddie Kendrick, one of the original members of the Motown
group, The Temptations, joins the ancestors after
succumbing to lung cancer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 18 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 18 *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 23 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 23 *

1826 – Edward A. Jones receives his B.A. degree from Amherst
College. John Brown Russwurm is considered to be the
first African American in America to graduate from
college. Two years after entering Bowdoin College, he
receives his baccalaureate degree on September 6, 1826.
Edward A. Jones, the lesser known of the two, graduates
just two weeks prior on this date in 1826 from Amherst
College. Both men will receive their Masters Degrees,
John in 1829 and Edward in 1830.

1833 – Great Britain frees 700,000 slaves in its colonies.

1892 – O.E. Brown, inventor, receives a patent for a horseshoe.

1900 – The National Negro Business League is formed in Boston,
Massachusetts. Sponsored by Booker T. Washington, the
organization is established to stimulate the development
of African American businesses.

1908 – Fifty-two nurses, led by Martha M. Franklin, form the
National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

1917 – A riot occurs in Houston, Texas, when the 24th Infantry
seeks revenge on the city’s white police after the brutal
beating of two of the regiment’s soldiers. After two
hours of violence, 15 whites, including four policemen,
will be killed and 12 more are injured. Four soldiers
will die as a result of the violence. One hundred and
eighteen soldiers will be charged in connection with the
riots and 19 executed, most in almost total secrecy, in
one of the most infamous court-martials ever involving
African Americans.

1989 – An African American teenager named Yusef Hawkins is chased
and beaten to death by a mob of 30 white youths from the
neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, New York. The
only provocation is that he is African American in an
all-white neighborhood.

2003 – Bobby Bonds joins the ancestors at the age of 57 after
succumbing to lung cancer. He was a former San Francisco
Giant player.

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 24 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 24 *

1844 – Boston African Americans hold the first of a series
of meetings protesting Jim Crow schools.

1884 – John Lynch is the first African American to preside
over a major political party convention when he is
elected temporary Chairman of the Republican National
Convention.

1885 – Samuel David Ferguson is consecrated bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church and named bishop of
Liberia. He is the first African American with full
membership in the House of Bishops.

1896 – Booker T. Washington is the first African American to
receive an honorary Master of Arts degree from
Harvard University.

1898 – United States troops, including the African American
Tenth Cavalry, drive Spanish forces from their
entrenched positions at La Guasimas, Cuba.

1933 – Dramatic soprano Matilda Sissieretta Jones joins the
ancestors after succumbing to cancer in Providence,
Rhode Island. Called the “the first Negro prima
donna,” Jones toured with the Tennessee Jubilee
Singers and performed at Carnegie Hall, Madison
Square Garden and at the White House in 1892. She
will be dubbed “Black Patti,” a name she reportedly
disliked for its allusion to white contemporary,
Adelina Patti.

1933 – Samuel ‘Sam’ Jones II is born in Laurinburg, North
Carolina. He will become a professional basketball
player with the Boston Celtics after graduating from
North Carolina Central College. He will be a five time
NBA All Star, and will be enshrined into the Basketball
Hall of fame in 1984. He will be named as one of the 50
greatest players in NBA history in 1996.

1936 – Mary McLeod Bethune, founder-president of Bethune-
Cookman College in Daytona, Beach, Florida, is named
director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth
Administration. She is the first African American
woman to receive a major appointment from the federal
government. The educator will hold the post until
January 1, 1944.

1943 – Georg Stanford Brown is born in Havana, Cuba. He will
become an actor and director. He will star in the TV
series, “The Rookies,” and the mini-series “Roots.”
He will direct “The Jesse Owens Story,” “In Defense of
Kids,” “Ava’s Magical Adventure” and many others.

1949 – “Billboard Magazine” replaces the term ‘Race Record’ on
its record charts with ‘Rhythm & Blues’.

1968 – Joe Frazier TKOs Manda Ramos for the world heavyweight
boxing title.

1968 – Resurrection City is Washington, DC is closed. More than
one hundred residents are arrested when they refuse to
leave the site. Other residents, including Ralph
Abernathy, were arrested during demonstration at the
U.S. Capitol. National Guard troops were mobilized later
in the day to stop the disturbances.

1972 – The rules committee of the Democratic National Convention
approves the nomination of Yvonne Brathwaite Burke as
co-chairperson of the convention. She becomes the first
African American woman to serve in that position in any
major political party in the United States.

1974 – Boston’s National Center for Afro-American Artists becomes
the first African American cultural center to be awarded
a Ford Foundation grant.

1996 – A jury orders the city of Philadelphia to pay $1.5 million
in damages for the bombing of MOVE headquarters in 1985
that killed 11 people.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 14 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 14           *

1900 – In Washington, DC, a small group meets to form the
Washington Society of Colored Dentists. It is the
first society of African American dentists in the
United States.

1915 – Booker T. Washington, educator, orator, and founder of
Tuskegee Institute, joins the ancestors on the
college’s campus at the age of 59.  He was one the
most famous African American educators and leaders of
the 19th century, whose message of acquiring practical
skills and emphasizing self-help over political rights
was popular among whites and segments of the African
American community.  His 1901 autobiography, “Up From
Slavery”, which details his rise to success despite
numerous obstacles, became a best-seller and further
enhanced his public image as a self-made man.  As
popular as he was in some quarters, Washington was
aggressively opposed by critics such as W.E.B. Du Bois
and William Monroe Trotter.

1920 – The New York Times and Tribune call Charles Gilpin’s
portrayal of Brutus Jones in “The Emperor Jones”, a
performance of heroic stature.  Gilpin had premiered in
the play earlier in the month with the New York-based
Provincetown Players, which will influence his being
named one of the ten most important contributors to the
American theater of 1920 and the 1921 recipient of the
NAACP’s Spingarn Medal.

1934 – Ellis Marsalis is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  After
high school, Marsalis will enroll at Dillard University
(New Orleans) and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in music education. Marsalis will eventually
become New Orleans’ leading Jazz educator. He will
become a lecturer at Xavier University and an adjunct
teacher at Loyola University. Marsalis will enroll in
the graduate program at Loyola University and will
graduate with a Masters of Music Education.  Marsalis’
teaching career will flower at the New Orleans Center
for Creative Arts (NOCCA). Many of his former students
will be professional musicians locally as well as
internationally. Three of his six sons, Branford,
Wynton  and Delfeayo as well as trumpeter Terence
Blanchard, saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist
Harry Connick, Jr. will attain worldwide acclaim with
recording contracts on major labels.

1934 – William Levi Dawson’s Symphony No. 1, Negro Folk
Symphony, is the first symphony on black folk themes by
an African American composer to be performed by a major
orchestra.

1960 – Four African American girls are escorted by U.S. Marshals
and parents to two New Orleans schools being
desegregated.

1966 – Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) defeats Cleveland
Williams by TKO in the third round in front of Boxing’s
largest indoor crowd, assembled in the Houston Astrodome.
He retains his world heavyweight title.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 31 African American Historical Events

*               Today in Black History – October 31            *

1893 – Football player, William Henry Lewis, is named as an All-
American, playing for Harvard College. This is the second
year in a row he is named to the All American Team. He is
the first African American athlete to be named All
American.

1900 – Ethel Waters is born in Chester, Pennsylvania.  She will
become a famous blues singer, the first woman to perform
W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues,” and an actress known for
her roles in the movie “Cabin in the Sky” and such
stageplays as “Member of the Wedding”, for which she
will be nominated for a New York Drama Critics Award.
She will join the ancestors on September 1, 1977.

1935 – John Henry Lewis wins the world light heavyweight crown
in St. Louis, Missouri by defeating Bob Olin.  He will
become the first American-born light heavyweight champion
to retire undefeated.

1945 – Educator, Booker T. Washington, is inducted into the Hall
of Fame for Great Americans.

1950 – Earl Lloyd becomes the first African American to play in
an NBA game when he takes the floor for the Washington
Capitols in Rochester, New York. Lloyd is actually one
of three African Americans to become NBA players in the
1950 season. The other two are Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton
and Chuck Cooper. Lloyd will play 9 solid NBA seasons
from 1950 to 1960.

1953 – John Harding Lucas II is born in Durham, North Carolina.
He will become a professional basketball player and play
guard for the Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks.  He
will become a NBA coach after retiring as a player. He
will coach the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers and
Cleveland Cavaliers, each for less than two seasons,
compiling a 174 – 258 overall record. Prior to accepting
the head coaching position for the Cavaliers, he will be
an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets for three
seasons.

1969 – A racially motivated civil disturbance occurs in
Jacksonville, Florida.  The disturbance is caused by
tensions between whites and Blacks during civil rights
demonstrations.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 16 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 16           *

1849 – George Washington Williams is born in Bedford Springs,
Pennsylvania. He will become the first major African
American historian and founder of two African American
newspapers, “The Commoner” in Washington, DC, and
Cincinnati’s “The Southern Review.”

1849 – Charles L. Reason is named professor of belles-lettres
and French at Central College in McGrawville, New York.
William G. Allen and George B. Vashon also will teach
at the predominantly white college.

1855 – More than one hundred delegates from six states hold a
Black convention in Philadelphia.

1855 – John Mercer Langston, one of the first African Americans
to win public office, is elected clerk of Brownhelm
Township, Lorain County, Ohio.

1859 – Osborne Perry Anderson, a free man, is one of five
African Americans in John Brown’s raid on the United
States Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

1872 – South Carolina Republicans carry the election with a
ticket of four whites and four Blacks: Richard H.
Gleaves, lieutenant governor; Henry E. Hayne, secretary
of state; Francis L. Cardozo, treasurer; and Henry W.
Purvis, adjutant general. African Americans win 97 of
the 158 seats in the General Assembly and four of the
five congressional districts.

1876 – A race riot occurs in Cainhoy, South Carolina.  Five
whites and one African American are killed.

1895 – The National Medical Association is founded in Atlanta,
Georgia.

1901 – Booker T. Washington dines at the White House with
President Theodore Roosevelt and is criticized in the
South.

1932 – Chi Eta Phi sorority is founded in Washington, DC.
Aliene Carrington Ewell and 11 other women establish
the nursing society, which will grow to 72 chapters in
22 states, the District of Columbia, and Liberia and
will eventually admit both men and women.

1968 – Tommie Smith and John Carlos hold up their fists in a
Black Power salute during the 1968 Summer Games in
Mexico City, Mexico. Their actions will come to
symbolize the Black Power movement in sports and will
result in their suspension from the games two days
later.

1973 – Maynard Jackson becomes the first African American mayor
of a major southern city when he was elected mayor of
Atlanta, Georgia.  Jackson, at the age of 35, becomes
one of the youngest mayors of a major city to ever be
elected.

1984 – Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as a unifying figure
in the campaign to resolve the problems of apartheid in
South Africa.

1990 – Art Blakey, jazz drummer (Jazz Messengers), joins the
ancestors, after a bout with cancer, at the age of 71.

1995 – Minister Louis Farrakhan of The Nation of Islam speaks at
The Million Man March in Washington, D.C., which he
called for, and organized.  It is known as the “Day of
Atonement.”

2000 – The Million Family March, called for by Minister Louis
Farrakhan, is held in Washington, DC.

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