KRLemmons African American History

April 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 5 *

1839 – Robert Smalls is born into slavery in Beaufort, South
Carolina. He will become a Civil War hero by sailing an
armed Confederate steamer out of Charleston Harbor and
presenting it to the Union Navy. He will later become a
three-term congressman from his state. He will join the
ancestors on February 23, 1915.

1856 – Booker Taliaferro Washington is born a slave near Hale’s
Ford, Virginia. He will become a world reknown educator,
founder of Tuskegee Institute. He will become one of the
most famous African American educators and leaders of the
19th century. His message of acquiring practical skills and
emphasizing self-help over political rights will be 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, will become a
best-seller and further enhances his public image as a
self-made man. As popular as he will be in some circles,
Washington will be aggressively opposed by critics such as
W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. He will join the
ancestors on November 14, 1915. He will become the first
African American to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp.

1879 – Charles W. Follis is born in Cloverdale, Virginia. He is the
first African American to play professional football. He
will play halfback for the Blues of Shelby, Ohio in 1904.
The Blues were part of the American Professional Football
League, a forerunner of the National Football League.

1915 – Jess Willard defeats Jack Johnson for the heavyweight boxing
crown in twenty three rounds.

1934 – Stanley Turrentine is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He
will become a jazz saxophonist and in 1953, will replace the
famed John Coltrane in the popular big band of Earl Bostic.
After a three-year army stint, which affords him his only
formal musical training, Turrentine comes to prominence on
the New York Jazz scene as a member of Max Roach’s group
in 1959. Over the years, Turrentine’s recordings will
combine musical energies with friends such as Ron Carter,
Roland Hanna, Ray Charles, Freddie Hubbard, Jon Hendricks,
George Benson, Cedar Walton, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Burrell,
Milt Jackson, Joe Sample, Shirley Scott, Jimmy Smith, Grady
Tate, and many others. He will be nominated for the Grammy
Award four times. He will join the ancestors on September 12,
2000.

1937 – Colin Powell is born in New York City. He will become a
highly decorated Army officer, receiving the Bronze Star and
Purple Heart during the Vietnam War, and will be later
promoted to four-star general in 1988. He will become the
first African American to serve as the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff for the U.S. Armed Forces.

1956 – Booker T. Washington becomes the only African American
honored twice on a U.S. postage stamp. To commemorate the
centennial of his birth, the U.S. Postal Service issues a
stamp depicting the cabin where he was born.

1967 – Philadelphia ’76er Wilt Chamberlain sets a NBA record of 41
rebounds in a single game.

1976 – FBI documents, released in response to a freedom of
information suit, reveal that the government mounted an
intensive campaign against civil rights organizations in the
sixties. In a letter dated August 25, 1967, the FBI said
the government operation, called COINTELPRO, was designed
“to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise
neutralize the activities of Black nationalists, hate-type
groups, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and
supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and
civil disorders.” A later telegram specifically named the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference as organizations having
“radical and violence prone leaders, members and followers.”

1977 – Gertrude Downing receives a patent for the corner cleaner
attachment.

1984 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time career
scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421).

1990 – Seven African American journalists are inducted into the
newly created Hall of Fame of the National Association of
Black Journalists in Washington, DC. Dubbed “pioneers of
mainstream journalism,” the inductees include Dorothy Butler
Gilliam of the Washington Post, Malvin R. Goode of ABC
News, Mal H. Johnson of Cox Broadcasting, Gordon Parks of
Life Magazine, Ted Poston of the New York Post, Norma
Quarles of Cable News Network, and Carl T. Rowan of King
Features Syndicate. Twelve Pulitzer Prize winners are also
honored at the awards ceremonies.

2000 – Ending a two-year investigation, an independent counsel clears
Labor Secretary Alexis Herman of allegations that she had
solicited $ 250,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 1 *

1739 – The British sign a peace treaty with the Black “Chimarrones”
in Jamaica.

1780 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.

1841 – Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African American to serve a
full term in the United States Senate, is born a slave in
Prince Edward County, Virginia. He will join the ancestors on
March 17, 1898.

1864 – Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to
receive an American medical degree, when she graduates from
the New England Female Medical College in Boston. She,
along with Rebecca Cole and Susan McKinney, is one of the
first African American female physicians.

1871 – James Milton Turner is named minister to Liberia and becomes
the first African American diplomat accredited to an African
country. James W. Mason was named minister in March, 1870,
but never took his post.

1875 – The (first) Civil Rights Bill is passed by Congress. The bill,
which gives African Americans equal rights in inns, theaters,
public transportation, and other public amusements, will be
overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.

1914 – Ralph Waldo Ellison is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He
will become a well known author, best known for his book
“Invisible Man,” for which he will win the 1953 National Book
Award. He will join the ancestors on April 16, 1994.

1927 – Harry Belafonte is born in New York City. He will become a
successful folk singer, actor, and winner of the first Emmy
awarded to an African American. His commitment to civil and
human rights will lead him to march with Martin Luther King,
Jr. in Montgomery, Selma, and Washington, DC. Among his
achievements will be Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.

1940 – Richard Wright’s “Native Son” is published by Harper and
Brothers.

1949 – Joe Louis retires as heavyweight boxing champion after holding
the title for a record eleven years and eight months.

1960 – Four national chain stores announce on October 17 that
food counters in about 150 stores in 112 cities in North
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee,
Missouri, Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma have been integrated.

1960 – The Alabama State Board of Education expels nine Alabama State
University students for participating in sit-in
demonstrations.

1960 – Montgomery, Alabama, police break up a protest demonstration
on the Alabama State University campus and arrest thirty-five
students, a teacher and her husband.

1960 – San Antonio, Texas, becomes the first major Southern city to
integrate lunch counters.

1960 – Pope John elevates Bishop Laurian Rugambwa of Tanganyika to
the College of Cardinals, the first cardinal of African
descent in the modern era.

1963 – Carl T. Rowan is named United States ambassador to Finland.

1967 – The House of Representatives votes to expel Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. from the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court will
rule in 1969 that Powell will have to be seated.)

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 21 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 21 *

1830 – The African American population in Portsmouth, Ohio is
forcibly deported by order of city officials.

1913 – Fanny M. Jackson Coppin joins the ancestors in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She was a pioneering educator and missionary
and the first African American woman to graduate from an
American college (Oberlin, 1865). Coppin State College (now
University) in Baltimore, Maryland will be named after her.

1938 – Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is founded in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, by Marion Turner Stubbs Thomas. Dedicated to
providing educational, cultural, civic, and social programs
for African American youth, Jack and Jill will grow to have
180 chapters nationwide.

1941 – Richard “Richie” Pierce Havens is born in Brooklyn, New York.
He will grow up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, the
eldest of nine children. He will become a folk singer,
influenced in his early days by Nina Simone. It will be as
a live performer, that he will first earn widespread notice.
Richie will play the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, the 1967
Monterey Jazz Festival, the January 1968 Woody Guthrie
Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hall, the December 1968 Miami
Pop Festival, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, and of course,
the 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York. He will
join the ancestors on April 22, 2013 after succumbing to a
heart attack.

1950 – Leslie Sebastien Charles in born in Fyzabad, Trinidad. He
will emigrate to England at the age of eight and will later
become a popular singer known as “Billy Ocean.” He will
release hits such as “Suddenly,” “Caribbean Queen,” “Get
Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” “When The Going Gets
Tough, The Tough Get Going” (which was featured in the
movie, “The Jewel Of The Nile”), and “To Make You Cry.”

1963 – Akeem Abdul Olajuwon is born in Lagos, Nigeria. He will
become one of five boys born to his parents with one sister.
He will come to the United States and play collegiate
basketball for the University of Houston. He will be
selected by the Houston Rockets in the first round (first
pick overall) of the 1984 NBA Draft. After twelve years of
play in the NBA, he will be selected in 1996 as one of the
50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Olajuwon will add a “H”
to his first name on 3/9/1991 and become an United States
citizen on 4/2/1993. The University of Houston will retire
his jersey, # 34, on 2/12/97.

1964 – Carl T. Rowan is named director of the U.S. Information
Agency, the highest position ever held by an African
American to date. By virtue of his position, he also becomes
the first African American to sit on the National Security
Council.

1971 – Twelve African American congressmen boycott Richard Nixon’s
State of the Union Address because of his “consistent
refusal” to respond to the petitions of African Americans.

1982 – Blues guitar singer B.B. King donates his entire record
collection to the University of Mississippi’s Center for
the Study of Southern Culture. The collection includes
about 7,000 rare blues records he played when he worked as
a disc jockey in Memphis. Born Riley B. King, he called
himself the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to
“B.B.” B.B. King is considered one of the most influential
blues musicians in history.

1990 – Quincy Jones is awarded the French Legion of Honor for his
contributions to music as a trumpeter, composer, arranger,
and record producer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 11 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 11 *

1831 – Nat Turner is executed for organizing and leading the
armed slave insurrection in Jerusalem, Southampton
County, Virginia. One of our greatest freedom fighters
joins the ancestors.

1890 – D. McCree is granted a patent for the portable fire
escape.

1895 – Bechuanaland becomes part of the Cape Colony in Africa.

1915 – Claude Clark, Sr. is born near Rockingham, Georgia. He
will study at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the
Barnes Foundation, and the University of California,
Berkeley, and become a renowned artist whose studies of
urban life and social realism will be exhibited widely,
including the New York World’s Fair of 1939, the
Sorbonne, the Oakland Museum, the Museum of African
American Art in Los Angeles and in the major group
exhibits Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art 1800-1950
and Two Centuries of Black American Art.

1918 – The Armistice is signed, ending World War I. Official
records listed 370,000 African American soldiers and
1400 African American commissioned officers. A little
more than half of of these soldiers served in the
European Theater. Three African American regiments —
the 369th, 371st, and 372nd — received the Croix de
Guerre for valor. The 369th was the first American
unit to reach the Rhine river (which separates France
from Germany). The first American soldiers to be
decorated for bravery in France were Henry Johnson and
Needham Roberts of the 369th Infantry Regiment.

1925 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to James Weldon
Johnson, former U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua
and NAACP executive secretary, for his work as an
author, diplomat and leader.

1928 – Ernestine Anderson is born in Houston, Texas. Her
introduction to jazz singing will begin at age 12 at
the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston. She will perform
with Russell Jaquet, Johnny Otis, and Lionel Hampton
and be known for her warm, blues-influenced vocals.

1929 – LaVern Baker is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
become a rhythm & blues vocalist. She will be known
for her recordings of “Tweedly Dee”, “I Cried a Tear”,
and “Jim Dandy.”

1946 – Corrine Brown is born in Jacksonville, Florida. She will
receive a bachelor’s degree in 1969 and a master’s
degree in 1971 from Florida A&M University. She will
also receive an education specialist degree from the
University of Florida in 1974 and an honorary doctorate
in law from Edward Waters College. She will be a
college professor, a guidance counselor, and owner of a
travel agency before entering politics. In 1982 she will
be elected to the Florida House of Representatives,
where she will serve for ten years. In 1992 she will be
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from
Florida’s Third Congressional District.

1950 – Otis Armstrong is born. He will become a NFL runningback
and the AFC’s leading rusher in 1974 with the Denver
Broncos.

1965 – Prime Minister Ian D. Smith of Rhodesia proclaims
independence from Great Britain.

1968 – Ronnie Devoe is born. He will become a singer with the
groups “New Edition” and “Bell, Biv, and Devoe.”

1972 – Carl T. Rowan, journalist, becomes the first African
American elected to the ‘Gridiron Club.’

1975 – Angola gains independence from Portugal after 500 years
of colonial rule. Angola, in southeastern Africa, had
been waging guerrilla warfare against Portuguese rule
since 1961. In 1974, back in Portugal, a group of young
military officers overthrew the government. The new
government quickly granted independence to Portugal’s
colonies. Thus, on November 11, 1975 Angola officially
became an independent republic.

1979 – The Bethune Museum and Archives is established in
Washington, DC. The goal of the museum, which is
housed in the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, is to
serve as a depository and center for African American
women’s history.

1984 – Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. dies of a heart attack
in Atlanta, Georgia. Better known as “Daddy King,” he
was the father of famed civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Jr. and was himself, an early civil rights
leader. The elder King was pastor of Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta, the center for much of his son’s
civil rights activity.

1985 – The city of Yonkers, New York is found guilty of
segregating in schools & housing.

1989 – The Civil Rights Memorial is dedicated in Montgomery,
Alabama.

1995 – The European Union’s 15 member states decide to pull
their envoys out of Lagos to show their anger at
Nigeria’s execution of human rights leaders.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 11 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 11 *

1841 – African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivers
his first public speech before the Massachusetts Anti-
Slavery Society in Nantucket. Having escaped from
slavery only three years earlier, Douglass is legally a
fugitive when he delivers his speech about his life as a
slave. The Massachusetts Society immediately hires
Douglass as a full-time lecturer.

1873 – John Rosamond Johnson is born in Jacksonville, Florida.
He will, with Bob Cole, be part of the famous vaudeville
team Cole & Johnson. He will best be remembered as a
composer who, with his brother James Weldon Johnson
providing the lyrics, will write “Lift Every Voice and
Sing.” He will join the ancestors on November 11, 1954.

1921 – Alexander Murray Palmer Haley is born in Ithaca, New York.
He will become an award-winning author, most notably for his
authorship with Malcolm X of the latter’s autobiography and
for “Roots”, which will win a special Pulitzer Prize.
“Roots” will be his most successful work, selling over 1
million copies and contributing to a new interest in
African American history. He will join the ancestors on
February 10, 1992 in Seattle, Washington.

1925 – Carl T. Rowan is born in Ravencroft, Tennessee. He will
become one of America’s most outspoken journalist with
NBC News and The Chicago Daily News. As an author, he
will write “Dream Makers, Dream Breakers:The World of
Justice Thurgood Marshall,” “Breaking Barriers,” “Wait
Till Next Year,” “Go South in Sorrow,” and “South of
Freedom.” He will be appointed to the positions of
Director: U.S. Information Agency and U.S. Ambassador to
Finland. He will join the ancestors on September 23, 2000.

1942 – Otis Taylor is born in Houston, Texas. He will become a
professional football player with the Kansas City Chiefs,
playing wide receiver. He will be the UPI AFC Player of
the Year in 1971, and will help lead his team to Super
Bowl I and a victory in Super Bowl IV.

1948 – Amanda Randolph appears on the television series “The
Laytons” on the Dumont Network. She and Bob Howard of
CBS’ “The Bob Howard Show”, which premiered earlier in
the summer, are the first African Americans to be
featured in a national network television series.

1949 – Peter Marshall Murray of New York is appointed to the
American Medical Association’s House of Delegates.

1960 – The African country of Chad declares independence from
France.

1962 – After integrated groups try to use the facilities, police
close the Municipal parks and library in Albany, Georgia.

1964 – A racially motivated disturbance occurs in Paterson, New
Jersey.

1965 – Racially motivated disturbances start in the Watts section
of Los Angeles, California. In six days, the death toll
will stand at 34, 1,032 persons will be injured, 3952 will
be arrested and $ 35 million in property will be lost.

1965 – The U.S. Senate confirms the nomination of Thurgood
Marshall as U.S. Solicitor General.

1980 – Reggie Jackson hits his 400th homer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 1 *

1739 – The British sign a peace treaty with the Black “Chimarrones”
in Jamaica.

1780 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.

1841 – Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African American to serve a
full term in the United States Senate, is born a slave in
Prince Edward County, Virginia. He will join the ancestors on
March 17, 1898.

1864 – Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to
receive an American medical degree, when she graduates from
the New England Female Medical College in Boston. She,
along with Rebecca Cole and Susan McKinney, is one of the
first African American female physicians.

1871 – James Milton Turner is named minister to Liberia and becomes
the first African American diplomat accredited to an African
country. James W. Mason was named minister in March, 1870,
but never took his post.

1875 – The (first) Civil Rights Bill is passed by Congress. The bill,
which gives African Americans equal rights in inns, theaters,
public transportation, and other public amusements, will be
overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.

1914 – Ralph Waldo Ellison is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He
will become a well known author, best known for his book
“Invisible Man,” for which he will win the 1953 National Book
Award. He will join the ancestors on April 16, 1994.

1927 – Harry Belafonte is born in New York City. He will become a
successful folk singer, actor, and winner of the first Emmy
awarded to an African American. His commitment to civil and
human rights will lead him to march with Martin Luther King,
Jr. in Montgomery, Selma, and Washington, DC. Among his
achievements will be Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.

1940 – Richard Wright’s “Native Son” is published by Harper and
Brothers.

1949 – Joe Louis retires as heavyweight boxing champion after holding
the title for a record eleven years and eight months.

1960 – Four national chain stores announce on October 17 that
food counters in about 150 stores in 112 cities in North
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee,
Missouri, Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma have been integrated.

1960 – The Alabama State Board of Education expels nine Alabama State
University students for participating in sit-in
demonstrations.

1960 – Montgomery, Alabama, police break up a protest demonstration
on the Alabama State University campus and arrest thirty-five
students, a teacher and her husband.

1960 – San Antonio, Texas, becomes the first major Southern city to
integrate lunch counters.

1960 – Pope John elevates Bishop Laurian Rugambwa of Tanganyika to
the College of Cardinals, the first cardinal of African
descent in the modern era.

1963 – Carl T. Rowan is named United States ambassador to Finland.

1967 – The House of Representatives votes to expel Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. from the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court will
rule in 1969 that Powell will have to be seated.)

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 21 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 21 *

1830 – The African American population in Portsmouth, Ohio is
forcibly deported by order of city officials.

1913 – Fanny M. Jackson Coppin joins the ancestors in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She was a pioneering educator and missionary
and the first African American woman to graduate from an
American college (Oberlin, 1865). Coppin State College (now
University) in Baltimore, Maryland will be named after her.

1938 – Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is founded in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, by Marion Turner Stubbs Thomas. Dedicated to
providing educational, cultural, civic, and social programs
for African American youth, Jack and Jill will grow to have
180 chapters nationwide.

1941 – Richard “Richie” P. Havens is born in Brooklyn, New York.
He will grow up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, the
eldest of nine children. He will become a folk singer,
influenced in his early days by Nina Simone. It will be as
a live performer, that he will first earn widespread notice.
Richie will play the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, the 1967
Monterey Jazz Festival, the January 1968 Woody Guthrie
Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hall, the December 1968 Miami
Pop Festival, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, and of course,
the 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York.

1950 – Leslie Sebastien Charles in born in Fyzabad, Trinidad. He
will emigrate to England at the age of eight and will later
become a popular singer known as “Billy Ocean.” He will
release hits such as “Suddenly,” “Caribbean Queen,” “Get
Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” “When The Going Gets
Tough, The Tough Get Going” (which was featured in the
movie, The Jewel Of The Nile), and “To Make You Cry.”

1963 – Akeem Abdul Olajuwon is born in Lagos, Nigeria. He will
become one of five boys born to his parents with one sister.
He will come to the United States and play collegiate
basketball for the University of Houston. He will be
selected by the Houston Rockets in the first round (first
pick overall) of the 1984 NBA Draft. After twelve years of
play in the NBA, he will be selected in 1996 as one of the
50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Olajuwon will add a “H”
to his first name on 3/9/1991 and become an United States
citizen on 4/2/1993. The University of Houston will retire
his jersey, # 34, on 2/12/97.

1964 – Carl T. Rowan is named director of the U.S. Information
Agency, the highest position ever held by an African
American. By virtue of his position, he also becomes the
first African American to sit on the National Security
Council.

1971 – Twelve African American congressmen boycott Richard Nixon’s
State of the Union Address because of his “consistent
refusal” to respond to the petitions of African Americans.

1982 – Blues guitar singer B.B. King donates his entire record
collection to the University of Mississippi’s Center for
the Study of Southern Culture. The collection includes
about 7,000 rare blues records he played when he worked as
a disc jockey in Memphis. Born Riley B. King, he called
himself the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to
“B.B.” B.B. King is considered one of the most influential
blues musicians in history.

1990 – Quincy Jones is awarded the French Legion of Honor for his
contributions to music as a trumpeter, composer, arranger,
and record producer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 11 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 11 *

1831 – Nat Turner is executed for organizing and leading the
armed slave insurrection in Jerusalem, Southampton
County, Virginia. One of our greatest freedom fighters
joins the ancestors.

1890 – D. McCree is granted a patent for the portable fire
escape.

1895 – Bechuanaland becomes part of the Cape Colony in Africa.

1915 – Claude Clark, Sr. is born near Rockingham, Georgia. He
will study at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the
Barnes Foundation, and the University of California,
Berkeley, and become a renowned artist whose studies of
urban life and social realism will be exhibited widely,
including the New York World’s Fair of 1939, the
Sorbonne, the Oakland Museum, the Museum of African
American Art in Los Angeles and in the major group
exhibits Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art 1800-1950
and Two Centuries of Black American Art.

1918 – The Armistice is signed, ending World War I. Official
records listed 370,000 African American soldiers and
1400 African American commissioned officers. A little
more than half of of these soldiers served in the
European Theater. Three African American regiments —
the 369th, 371st, and 372nd — received the Croix de
Guerre for valor. The 369th was the first American
unit to reach the Rhine river (which separates France
from Germany). The first American soldiers to be
decorated for bravery in France were Henry Johnson and
Needham Roberts of the 369th Infantry Regiment.

1925 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to James Weldon
Johnson, former U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua
and NAACP executive secretary, for his work as an
author, diplomat and leader.

1928 – Ernestine Anderson is born in Houston, Texas. Her
introduction to jazz singing will begin at age 12 at
the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston. She will perform
with Russell Jaquet, Johnny Otis, and Lionel Hampton
and be known for her warm, blues-influenced vocals.

1929 – LaVern Baker is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
become a rhythm & blues vocalist. She will be known
for her recordings of “Tweedly Dee”, “I Cried a Tear”,
and “Jim Dandy.”

1946 – Corrine Brown is born in Jacksonville, Florida. She will
receive a bachelor’s degree in 1969 and a master’s
degree in 1971 from Florida A&M University. She will
also receive an education specialist degree from the
University of Florida in 1974 and an honorary doctorate
in law from Edward Waters College. She will be a
college professor, a guidance counselor, and owner of a
travel agency before entering politics. In 1982 she will
be elected to the Florida House of Representatives,
where she will serve for ten years. In 1992 she will be
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from
Florida’s Third Congressional District.

1950 – Otis Armstrong is born. He will become a NFL runningback
and the AFC’s leading rusher in 1974 with the Denver
Broncos.

1965 – Prime Minister Ian D. Smith of Rhodesia proclaims
independence from Great Britain.

1968 – Ronnie Devoe is born. He will become a singer with the
groups “New Edition” and “Bell, Biv, and Devoe.”

1972 – Carl T. Rowan, journalist, becomes the first African
American elected to the ‘Gridiron Club.’

1975 – Angola gains independence from Portugal after 500 years
of colonial rule. Angola, in southeastern Africa, had
been waging guerrilla warfare against Portuguese rule
since 1961. In 1974, back in Portugal, a group of young
military officers overthrew the government. The new
government quickly granted independence to Portugal’s
colonies. Thus, on November 11, 1975 Angola officially
became an independent republic.

1979 – The Bethune Museum and Archives is established in
Washington, DC. The goal of the museum, which is
housed in the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, is to
serve as a depository and center for African American
women’s history.

1984 – Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. dies of a heart attack
in Atlanta, Georgia. Better known as “Daddy King,” he
was the father of famed civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Jr. and was himself, an early civil rights
leader. The elder King was pastor of Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta, the center for much of his son’s
civil rights activity.

1985 – The city of Yonkers, New York is found guilty of
segregating in schools & housing.

1989 – The Civil Rights Memorial is dedicated in Montgomery,
Alabama.

1995 – The European Union’s 15 member states decide to pull
their envoys out of Lagos to show their anger at
Nigeria’s execution of human rights leaders.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 11 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 11 *

1841 – African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivers
his first public speech before the Massachusetts Anti-
Slavery Society in Nantucket. Having escaped from
slavery only three years earlier, Douglass is legally a
fugitive when he delivers his speech about his life as a
slave. The Massachusetts Society immediately hires
Douglass as a full-time lecturer.

1873 – John Rosamond Johnson is born in Jacksonville, Florida.
He will, with Bob Cole, be part of the famous vaudeville
team Cole & Johnson. He will best be remembered as a
composer who, with his brother James Weldon Johnson
providing the lyrics, will write “Lift Every Voice and
Sing.” He will join the ancestors on November 11, 1954.

1921 – Alexander Murray Palmer Haley is born in Ithaca, New York.
He will become an award-winning author, most notably for his
authorship with Malcolm X of the latter’s autobiography and
for “Roots”, which will win a special Pulitzer Prize.
“Roots” will be his most successful work, selling over 1
million copies and contributing to a new interest in
African American history. He will join the ancestors on
February 10, 1992 in Seattle, Washington.

1925 – Carl T. Rowan is born in Ravencroft, Tennessee. He will
become one of America’s most outspoken journalist with
NBC News and The Chicago Daily News. As an author, he
will write “Dream Makers, Dream Breakers:The World of
Justice Thurgood Marshall,” “Breaking Barriers,” “Wait
Till Next Year,” “Go South in Sorrow,” and “South of
Freedom.” He will be appointed to the positions of
Director: U.S. Information Agency and U.S. Ambassador to
Finland. He will join the ancestors on September 23, 2000.

1942 – Otis Taylor is born in Houston, Texas. He will become a
professional football player with the Kansas City Chiefs,
playing wide receiver. He will be the UPI AFC Player of
the Year in 1971, and will help lead his team to Super
Bowl I and a victory in Super Bowl IV.

1948 – Amanda Randolph appears on the television series “The
Laytons” on the Dumont Network. She and Bob Howard of
CBS’ “The Bob Howard Show”, which premiered earlier in
the summer, are the first African Americans to be
featured in a national network television series.

1949 – Peter Murray Marshall of New York is appointed to the
American Medical Association’s House of Delegates.

1960 – The African country of Chad declares independence from
France.

1962 – After integrated groups try to use the facilities, police
close the Municipal parks and library in Albany, Georgia.

1964 – A racially motivated disturbance occurs in Paterson, New
Jersey.

1965 – Racially motivated disturbances start in the Watts section
of Los Angeles, California. In six days, the death toll
will stand at 34, 1,032 persons will be injured, 3952 will
be arrested and $ 35 million in property will be lost.

1965 – The U.S. Senate confirms the nomination of Thurgood
Marshall as U.S. Solicitor General.

1980 – Reggie Jackson hits his 400th homer.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 1 *

1739 – The British sign a peace treaty with the Black “Chimarrones”
in Jamaica.

1780 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.

1841 – Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African American to serve a
full term in the United States Senate, is born a slave in
Prince Edward County, Virginia. He will join the ancestors on
March 17, 1898.

1864 – Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to
receive an American medical degree, when she graduates from
the New England Female Medical College in Boston. She,
along with Rebecca Cole and Susan McKinney, is one of the
first African American female physicians.

1871 – James Milton Turner is named minister to Liberia and becomes
the first African American diplomat accredited to an African
country. James W. Mason was named minister in March, 1870,
but never took his post.

1875 – The (first) Civil Rights Bill is passed by Congress. The bill,
which gives African Americans equal rights in inns, theaters,
public transportation, and other public amusements, will be
overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.

1914 – Ralph Waldo Ellison is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He
will become a well known author, best known for his book
“Invisible Man,” for which he will win the 1953 National Book
Award. He will join the ancestors on April 16, 1994.

1927 – Harry Belafonte is born in New York City. He will become a
successful folk singer, actor, and winner of the first Emmy
awarded to an African American. His commitment to civil and
human rights will lead him to march with Martin Luther King,
Jr. in Montgomery, Selma, and Washington, DC. Among his
achievements will be Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.

1940 – Richard Wright’s “Native Son” is published by Harper and
Brothers.

1949 – Joe Louis retires as heavyweight boxing champion after holding
the title for a record eleven years and eight months.

1960 – Four national chain stores announce on October 17 that
food counters in about 150 stores in 112 cities in North
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee,
Missouri, Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma have been integrated.

1960 – The Alabama State Board of Education expels nine Alabama State
University students for participating in sit-in
demonstrations.

1960 – Montgomery, Alabama, police break up a protest demonstration
on the Alabama State University campus and arrest thirty-five
students, a teacher and her husband.

1960 – San Antonio, Texas, becomes the first major Southern city to
integrate lunch counters.

1960 – Pope John elevates Bishop Laurian Rugambwa of Tanganyika to
the College of Cardinals, the first cardinal of African
descent in the modern era.

1963 – Carl T. Rowan is named United States ambassador to Finland.

1967 – The House of Representatives votes to expel Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. from the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court will
rule in 1969 that Powell will have to be seated.)

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