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* Today in Black History – May 6 * 1787 – Prince Hall forms African Lodge 459, the first African 1794 – Haiti, under Toussaint L’Ouverture, revolts against France. 1812 – Martin R. Delany is born free in Charlestown, Virginia. He 1930 – Noted actor Charles Gilpin joins the ancestors. The founder 1931 – Willie Mays is born in Westfield, Alabama. He will become a 1960 – The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed by President 1967 – Four hundred students seize the administration building at Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry |
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.
November 3 African American Historical Events
* Today in Black History – November 3 *
1868 – John W. Menard, of Louisiana, is elected as the African
American representative to Congress. Menard defeats a
white candidate, 5,107 to 2,833, in an election in
Louisiana’s Second Congressional District to fill an
unexpired term in the Fortieth Congress.
1874 – James Theodore Holly, an African American who emigrated
to Haiti in 1861, is elected bishop of Haiti.
1883 – Race riots occur in Danville, Virginia, resulting in the
death of four African Americans.
1896 – South Carolina State College is established.
1905 – Artist Lois Mailou Jones is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
She will win her first award in 1926 and have major
exhibitions at the Harmon Foundation, the Salon des
Artistes Francais in Paris, the National Academy of
Design, and many others. Despite her long career, she
will not have a major retrospective of her work until
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston mounts a show in her
honor in 1973. She will join the ancestors on June 9,
1998.
1920 – “Emperor Jones” opens at the Provincetown Theater with
Charles Gilpin in the title role.
1933 – Louis Wade Sullivan is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will
become the founder and first dean of the Morehouse
School of Medicine and Secretary of Health and Human
Services, the highest-ranking African American in the
Bush Administration.
1942 – William L. Dawson is elected to Congress from Chicago.
1942 – Black and white advocates of direct, nonviolent action
organized the Congress of Racial Equality in Chicago.
Three CORE members stage a sit-in at Stoner’s Restaurant
in Chicago’s Loop.
1942 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to Asa Philip Randolph
“for organizing the Sleeping Car Porters under the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and securing
recognition for them; and because of his fearless,
determined mobilization of mass opinion that resulted
in… Executive Order No. 8802, which banned racial
discrimination in defense industries and government work.”
1945 – Irving C. Mollison, a Chicago Republican, is sworn in as
U.S. Customs Court judge in New York City.
1945 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Paul Robeson
“for his outstanding achievement in the theater, on the
concert stage, and in the general field of racial
welfare.”
1949 – Larry Holmes is born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He will
become a professional boxer and world heavyweight
champion from 1978 to 1985. During his reign, he will
defend his title more times than any other heavyweight
in history, with the exception of Joe Louis.
1953 – Jeffrey Banks is born in Washington, DC. He will become
an influential fashion designer and the youngest designer
to win the prestigious Coty Award, for his outstanding
fur designs.
1962 – Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA San Francisco Warriors, scores
72 points vs the Los Angeles Lakers.
1964 – John Conyers, Jr. is elected to the House of
Representatives from Detroit, Michigan.
1970 – Twelve African Americans are elected to the Ninety-second
Congress, including five new congressmen: Ralph H.
Metcalfe (Illinois), George Collins (Illinois), Charles
Rangel (New York), Ronald Dellums (California), and
Parren Mitchell (Maryland).
1970 – Wilson Riles is elected as the first African American
superintendent of Public Instruction in California.
1970 – Richard Austin is elected as the first African American
secretary of state in Michigan.
1974 – Harold G. Ford is elected U.S. Congressman from Tennessee.
1978 – Dominica is granted its independence by Great Britain.
1979 – Klansmen fire on an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North
Carolina, and kill five persons.
1981 – Coleman Young is re-elected mayor of Detroit. Thurman L.
Milner is elected mayor of Hartford, Connecticut. James
Chase is elected mayor of Spokane, Washington.
1983 – Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for
President of the United States. Although unsuccessful in
this and a later 1988 campaign, Jackson will win many
Democratic state primaries. His candidacy will win him
national attention and a platform for increased
representation by African Americans in the Democratic
Party.
1992 – Carol Moseley Braun is the first African American woman to
be elected to the U.S. Senate.
1992 – James Clyburn is the first African American to represent
South Carolina since Reconstruction. He had previously
served for 18 years as South Carolina’s Human Affairs
Commissioner.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
May 6 African American Historical Events
* Today in Black History – May 6 *
1787 – Prince Hall forms African Lodge 459, the first African
American Masonic Lodge in the United States.
1794 – Haiti, under Toussaint L’Ouverture, revolts against France.
1812 – Martin R. Delany is born free in Charlestown, Virginia. He
will become the first African American field officer to
serve in the Civil War. He will also be a noted physician,
author, explorer, and a newspaper editor.
1930 – Noted actor Charles Gilpin joins the ancestors. The founder
and manager of the Lafayette Theatre Company, one of the
earliest African American stock companies in New York,
Gilpin achieved fame for his performance as Brutus Jones
in Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Emperor Jones.” In 1921, he
won the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in recognition of his
theatrical career.
1931 – Willie Mays is born in Westfield, Alabama. He will become a
professional baseball player at the age of 16, for the
Birmingham Black Barons. After graduating from high school,
he will be signed by the New York Giants. His 7095 putouts
will be the all-time record for an outfielder. His career
batting average will be .302. For eight consecutive years,
he will drive in more than 100 runs a year, and his 660 home
runs will put him in third place for the all-time home run
record. He will win the Gold Glove Award 12 times. He will
be voted Most Valuable Player in the National League in
both 1954 and 1965. He will be inducted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1979.
1960 – The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed by President
Eisenhower. The act acknowledges the federal government’s
responsibility in matters involving civil rights and
reverses its customary “hands-off” policy.
1967 – Four hundred students seize the administration building at
Cheyney State College.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry
June 30 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – June 30 *
1881 – Henry Highland Garnet, former abolitionist leader and
Presbyterian minister, is named Minister to Liberia.
He will join the ancestors in Monrovia shortly after
his arrival.
1906 – John Hope becomes the first African American president
of Morehouse College.
1917 – Lena Horne is born in Brooklyn, New York. She will
begin her career at 16 as a chorus girl at the Cotton
Club in Harlem, appear in the movies “Cabin in the Sky”
and “Stormy Weather” and have a successful Broadway
career culminating in her one-woman show. Horne will
also be a strong civil rights advocate, refusing to
perform in clubs where African Americans are not
admitted and marching during the civil rights movement
in the 1960s. She will join the ancestors on May 9, 2010.
1921 – Charles S. Gilpin becomes the first actor to receive the
NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his portrayal of Emperor
Jones in the Eugene O’Neill play of the same name.
1940 – John T. Scott is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a professor of art and a sculptor whose works will
be exhibited widely in the U.S. and at the exhibit of
“Art of Black America in Japan, Afro-American Modernism:
1937-1987.”
1958 – Alabama courts fined the NAACP $ 100,000 for contempt, for
refusing to divulge membership. The U.S. Supreme Court
will reverse the decision.
1960 – Zaire proclaims its independence from Belgium.
1966 – Michael Gerard “Mike” Tyson, former heavyweight champion of
the world and youngest (at age 19) to win that title (WBC
in 1986), is born in Brooklyn, New York.
1967 – Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. becomes the first African
American astronaut. He will join the ancestors after
being killed during a training flight accident on December
8, 1967.
1969 – Jacob Lawrence receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “in
testimony to his eminence among American painters.”
1974 – Alberta King, mother of the late Martin Luther King Jr.,
joins the ancestors after being assassinated during a
church service in Atlanta, Georgia. The assailant, Marcus
Chennault of Dayton, Ohio, is later convicted and sentenced
to death.
1978 – Larry Doby becomes the manager of the Chicago White Sox
baseball team. He will have a win-loss record of 37-50 and
will be fired at the end of the season (October 19).
1980 – Coleman A. Young is awarded the Spingarn Medal for his
“singular accomplishment as Mayor of the City of Detroit,”a
position he had held since 1973.
2001 – Saxophonist Joe Henderson joins the ancestors in San
Francisco. His improvisational style and compositions have
influenced jazz musicians everywhere. He had been suffering
from emphysema, and became ill at his home in San Francisco,
but did not go to the hospital until the following day, where
he died of heart failure.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
May 6 African American Historical Events
Today in Black History – May 6 *
1787 – Prince Hall forms African Lodge 459, the first African
American Masonic Lodge in the United States.
1794 – Haiti, under Toussaint L’Ouverture, revolts against France.
1812 – Martin R. Delany is born free in Charlestown, Virginia. He
will become the first African American field officer to
serve in the Civil War. He will also be a noted physician,
author, explorer, and a newspaper editor.
1930 – Noted actor Charles Gilpin joins the ancestors. The founder
and manager of the Lafayette Theatre Company, one of the
earliest African American stock companies in New York,
Gilpin achieved fame for his performance as Brutus Jones
in Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Emperor Jones.” In 1921, he
won the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in recognition of his
theatrical career.
1931 – Willie Mays is born in Westfield, Alabama. He will become a
professional baseball player at the age of 16, for the
Birmingham Black Barons. After graduating from high school,
he will be signed by the New York Giants. His 7095 putouts
will be the all-time record for an outfielder. His career
batting average will be .302. For eight consecutive years,
he will drive in more than 100 runs a year, and his 660 home
runs will put him in third place for the all-time home run
record. He will win the Gold Glove Award 12 times. He will
be voted Most Valuable Player in the National League in
both 1954 and 1965. He will be inducted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1979.
1960 – The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed by President
Eisenhower. The act acknowledges the federal government’s
responsibility in matters involving civil rights and
reverses its customary “hands-off” policy.
1967 – Four hundred students seize the administration building at
Cheyney State College.
Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.
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