KRLemmons African American History

December 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 19 *

1798 – Portrait painter Joshua Johnston places an ad in the
“Baltimore Intelligencer” describing himself as “a self-
taught genius.” Johnston, a freeman, will paint portraits
of some of the most successful merchant families in
Maryland and Virginia. Only three of his subjects will
be African American, among them “Portrait of an Unknown
Man” and “Reverend Daniel Coker.”

1875 – Carter G. Woodson is born in New Canton, Virginia. A
founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, of the “Journal of Negro History,” and Negro
History Week, Woodson will write many books on African
American history. The most popular of his books will be,
“The Negro in Our History,” which will be used extensively
in high schools throughout the United States. He will join
the ancestors on April 3, 1950.

1886 – Clementine Rubin (later Hunter) is born in Clourtierville,
Louisiana. Because there were no birth certificates
issued in rural Louisiana during this time, there is much
controversy about her exact date of birth. Sources mention
her birth in December 1886 and January 1887. The only
real documentation of her earliest existence is a
christening document dated March, 1887. She will become a
painter in the 1930’s after spending years working on the
Melrose Plantation, a haven for many rural Southern
artists. Her first artistic medium will be quilt making,
and her first piece will be in 1938 exhibiting the
hardships of plantation life. Her first painting will be
completed in 1939. In 1955, she will become the first
African American artist to have a one person show at the
Delgado Museum (now known as the New Orleans Museum of
Art). Her folk-art style will earn her the nickname “the
Black Grandma Moses.” By the time she joins the ancestors
on January 1, 1988, she will be considered one of the
twentieth century’s leading folk artists.

1891 – Charles Randolph Uncles becomes the first African American
Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He is
ordained in Baltimore, Maryland.

1910 – The first city ordinance requiring white and black
residential areas is passed by the Baltimore City Council.
Similar laws will be passed in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke,
Greensboro, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas and
Louisville.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper is founded.

1910 – North Carolina College is founded in Durham, North Carolina.

1910 – The Norfolk Journal and Guide is established under the
leadership of P. B. Young Sr.

1930 – James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of
NAACP citing health reasons.

1930 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Henry A. Hunt,
Principal, Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort
Valley, Georgia, for his pioneering work as an educator.

1930 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, founded at Howard University in
1913, is incorporated.

1933 – Cicely Tyson is born in the Village of Harlem in New York
City. She will pursue a modeling career, appearing on the
covers of both “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar at the age of
23. She will later pursue acting and win acclaim for her
roles on the stage and on television, as well as in the
movie, Sounder (for which she will be named best actress
by the National Society of Film Critics and receive an
Academy Award nomination) and “The Autobiography of Miss
Jane Pittman,” for which she will win two Emmys.

1941 – Maurice White is born. He will become a singer, musician
(drummer) and founder of Earth, Wind & Fire. Some of his
hits include “Shining Star,” “Sing a Song,” “Got to Get
You into My Life,” “After the Love Has Gone,” and “Best of
My Love”.

1944 – Timothy Reid is born in Norfolk, Virginia. He will become
a comedian and known for his role as “Venus Flytrap” on
“WKRP in Cincinnati, as well as “Frank’s Place.”

1961 – Reggie White is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He will
become an all-pro defensive lineman for the NFL
Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. He will play
with Green Bay as they win the 1997 Super Bowl. He will
hold the NFL record of 198 sacks until it is broken by
Bruce Smith of the Washington Redskins in 2003. He will
retire from football at the end of the 1998-1999 season.
He will join the ancestors on December 26, 2004, after
succumbing to a cardiac arrhythmia caused by cardiac and
pulmonary sarcoidosis.

1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia.

1977 – Jimmy Rogers, a bluesman who played guitar for the original
Muddy Waters band and who will be inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame in 1994, joins the ancestors in Chicago at the
age of 73. He succumbs to colon cancer. He recorded a
string of solo hits beginning in the 1950s, including
“Walking by Myself,” “Chicago Bound” and “Sloppy Drunk.”
He played with Water’s Band in Chicago clubs and in the
studio for about a decade. In 1996, he won the W.C. Handy
award for male traditional blues artist.

1989 – Police in Jacksonville, Florida, disarm a parcel bomb at the
local NAACP office, the fourth in a series of mail bombs to
turn up in the Deep South. One bomb kills a Savannah,
Georgia, alderman, and another a federal judge in Alabama.
Walter L. Moody Jr. will be convicted in both bombings.

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

KRLemmons African American History

May 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 28 *

1863 – The first African American regiment from the North leaves Boston
to fight in the Civil War.

1910 – Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker is born in Linden, Texas. He will
become a creator of the modern blues and a pioneer in the
development of the electric guitar sound that will shape
virtually all of popular music in the post-World War II period.
Equally important, Walker will be the quintessential blues
guitarist. He will influence virtually every major post-World
War II guitarist, including B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie
King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Eric Clapton, and Stevie
Ray Vaughan. He will join the ancestors on March 16, 1975.

1936 – Betty Sanders is born in Detroit, Michigan. She will become the
wife of El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X), Hajja Betty Bahiyah
Shabazz. After the assassination of Malcolm, she will show
herself to be a very strong individual in her own right. She will
face the difficulty of raising six children after witnessing
Malcom’s tragic death. In order to support herself and her
children, she will go back to school, earning three degrees
including a doctorate in education from the University of
Massachusetts. She will teach others and become an international
figure of dignity and discipline. She will work on Jesse Jackson’s
campaigns for the presidency, and will work in the African
liberation struggle to free Angola, Namibia and South Africa, and
to bring democracy to Haiti. She will join the ancestors on June
23, 1997 after succumbing to injuries received in a fire at her
New York home. At the time she will be the director of
Institutional Advancement and Public Relations at Medgar Evers
College in Brooklyn, New York.

1944 – Gladys Knight is born in Atlanta, Georgia. Making her first
public appearance at age four, she will win first place on Ted
Mack’s Original Amateur Hour at seven. A member of the “Gladys
Knight and the Pips” since the early 1950’s, Knight will remain
with the popular group for over 30 years before pursuing a
successful solo career.

1951 – Willie Mays gets his first major league hit, a home run.

1962 – A suit alleging de facto school segregation is filed in Rochester,
New York, by the NAACP.

1966 – Percy Sledge hits number one with his first — and what turned out
to be his biggest — hit. “When a Man Loves a Woman” would stay
at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It will be the
singer’s only hit to make the top ten and a million seller.

1974 – Cicely Tyson wins two Emmy awards for best actress in a special
and best actress in a drama for her portrayal of a strong
Southern matriarch in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

1974 – Richard Pryor wins an Emmy for his writing contributions on the
Lily Tomlin special “Lily.”

1981 – Mary Lou Williams joins the ancestors in Durham, North Carolina at
the age of 71. A jazz pianist who played with Louis Armstrong,
Tommy Dorsey, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and Benny Goodman, she formed
her own band in 1943. Williams was known for her jazz masses
including one “Mary Lou’s Mass” that was choreographed by the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1971.

1991 – Journalist Ethel L. Payne joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at
the age of 79.

2003 – Janet Collins, ballerina, joins the ancestors at age 86. She was
the first African American artist to perform at the Metropolitan
Opera House.

2014 – Legendary author and poetress, Maya Angelou joins the ancestors at
her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She leaves behind a
body of important artistic work that influenced several
generations. She will be praised by those who knew her as a good
person, a woman who pushed for justice and education and equality.
She will write staggeringly beautiful poetry. She will also write
a cookbook and be nominated for a Tony. She will deliver a poem at
a presidential inauguration. In 2010, President Barack Obama names
her a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s
highest civilian honor. She will be friends with Malcolm X and the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and inspire young adults and world
celebrities. She will be best known for her book “I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings,” which will bear witness to the brutality of a
Jim Crow South.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 19 *

1798 – Portrait painter Joshua Johnston places an ad in the
“Baltimore Intelligencer” describing himself as “a self-
taught genius.” Johnston, a freeman, will paint portraits
of some of the most successful merchant families in
Maryland and Virginia. Only three of his subjects will
be African American, among them “Portrait of an Unknown
Man” and “Reverend Daniel Coker.”

1875 – Carter G. Woodson is born in New Canton, Virginia. A
founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, of the “Journal of Negro History,” and Negro
History Week, Woodson will write many books on African
American history. The most popular of his books will be,
“The Negro in Our History,” which will be used extensively
in high schools throughout the United States. He will join
the ancestors on April 3, 1950.

1886 – Clementine Rubin (later Hunter) is born in Clourtierville,
Louisiana. Because there were no birth certificates
issued in rural Louisiana during this time, there is much
controversy about her exact date of birth. Sources mention
her birth in December 1886 and January 1887. The only
real documentation of her earliest existence is a
christening document dated March, 1887. She will become a
painter in the 1930’s after spending years working on the
Melrose Plantation, a haven for many rural Southern
artists. Her first artistic medium will be quilt making,
and her first piece will be in 1938 exhibiting the
hardships of plantation life. Her first painting will be
completed in 1939. In 1955, she will become the first
African American artist to have a one person show at the
Delgado Museum (now known as the New Orleans Museum of
Art). Her folk-art style will earn her the nickname “the
Black Grandma Moses.” By the time she joins the ancestors
on January 1, 1988, she will be considered one of the
twentieth century’s leading folk artists.

1891 – Charles Randolph Uncles becomes the first African American
Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He is
ordained in Baltimore, Maryland.

1910 – The first city ordinance requiring white and black
residential areas is passed by the Baltimore City Council.
Similar laws will be passed in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke,
Greensboro, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas and
Louisville.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper is founded.

1910 – North Carolina College is founded in Durham, North Carolina.

1910 – The Norfolk Journal and Guide is established under the
leadership of P. B. Young Sr.

1930 – James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of
NAACP citing health reasons.

1930 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Henry A. Hunt,
Principal, Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort
Valley, Georgia, for his pioneering work as an educator.

1930 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, founded at Howard University in
1913, is incorporated.

1933 – Cicely Tyson is born in the Village of Harlem in New York
City. She will pursue a modeling career, appearing on the
covers of both “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar at the age of
23. She will later pursue acting and win acclaim for her
roles on the stage and on television, as well as in the
movie, Sounder (for which she will be named best actress
by the National Society of Film Critics and receive an
Academy Award nomination) and “The Autobiography of Miss
Jane Pittman,” for which she will win two Emmys.

1941 – Maurice White is born. He will become a singer, musician
(drummer) and founder of Earth, Wind & Fire. Some of his
hits include “Shining Star,” “Sing a Song,” “Got to Get
You into My Life,” “After the Love Has Gone,” and “Best of
My Love”.

1944 – Timothy Reid is born in Norfolk, Virginia. He will become
a comedian and known for his role as “Venus Flytrap” on
“WKRP in Cincinnati, as well as “Frank’s Place.”

1961 – Reggie White is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He will
become an all-pro defensive lineman for the NFL
Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. He will play
with Green Bay as they win the 1997 Super Bowl. He will
hold the NFL record of 198 sacks until it is broken by
Bruce Smith of the Washington Redskins in 2003. He will
retire from football at the end of the 1998-1999 season.
He will join the ancestors on December 26, 2004, after
succumbing to a cardiac arrhythmia caused by cardiac and
pulmonary sarcoidosis.

1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia.

1977 – Jimmy Rogers, a bluesman who played guitar for the original
Muddy Waters band and who will be inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame in 1994, joins the ancestors in Chicago at the
age of 73. He succumbs to colon cancer. He recorded a
string of solo hits beginning in the 1950s, including
“Walking by Myself,” “Chicago Bound” and “Sloppy Drunk.”
He played with Water’s Band in Chicago clubs and in the
studio for about a decade. In 1996, he won the W.C. Handy
award for male traditional blues artist.

1989 – Police in Jacksonville, Florida, disarm a parcel bomb at the
local NAACP office, the fourth in a series of mail bombs to
turn up in the Deep South. One bomb kills a Savannah,
Georgia, alderman, and another a federal judge in Alabama.
Walter L. Moody Jr. will be convicted in both bombings.

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

KRLemmons African American History

May 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – May 28 *

1863 – The first African American regiment from the North leaves Boston
to fight in the Civil War.

1910 – Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker is born in Linden, Texas. He will
become a creator of the modern blues and a pioneer in the
development of the electric guitar sound that will shape
virtually all of popular music in the post-World War II period.
Equally important, Walker will be the quintessential blues
guitarist. He will influence virtually every major post-World
War II guitarist, including B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie
King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Eric Clapton, and Stevie
Ray Vaughan. He will join the ancestors on March 16, 1975.

1936 – Betty Sanders is born in Detroit, Michigan. She will become the
wife of El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X), Hajja Betty Bahiyah
Shabazz. After the assassination of Malcolm, she will show
herself to be a very strong individual in her own right. She will
face the difficulty of raising six children after witnessing
Malcom’s tragic death. In order to support herself and her
children, she will go back to school, earning three degrees
including a doctorate in education from the University of
Massachusetts. She will teach others and become an international
figure of dignity and discipline. She will work on Jesse Jackson’s
campaigns for the presidency, and will work in the African
liberation struggle to free Angola, Namibia and South Africa, and
to bring democracy to Haiti. She will join the ancestors on June
23, 1997 after succumbing to injuries received in a fire at her
New York home. At the time she will be the director of
Institutional Advancement and Public Relations at Medgar Evers
College in Brooklyn, New York.

1944 – Gladys Knight is born in Atlanta, Georgia. Making her first
public appearance at age four, she will win first place on Ted
Mack’s Original Amateur Hour at seven. A member of the “Gladys
Knight and the Pips” since the early 1950’s, Knight will remain
with the popular group for over 30 years before pursuing a
successful solo career.

1951 – Willie Mays gets his first major league hit, a home run.

1962 – A suit alleging de facto school segregation is filed in Rochester,
New York, by the NAACP.

1966 – Percy Sledge hits number one with his first — and what turned out
to be his biggest — hit. “When a Man Loves a Woman” would stay
at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It will be the
singer’s only hit to make the top ten and a million seller.

1974 – Cicely Tyson wins two Emmy awards for best actress in a special
and best actress in a drama for her portrayal of a strong
Southern matriarch in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

1974 – Richard Pryor wins an Emmy for his writing contributions on the
Lily Tomlin special “Lily.”

1981 – Mary Lou Williams joins the ancestors in Durham, North Carolina at
the age of 71. A jazz pianist who played with Louis Armstrong,
Tommy Dorsey, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and Benny Goodman, she formed
her own band in 1943. Williams was known for her jazz masses
including one “Mary Lou’s Mass” that was choreographed by the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1971.

1991 – Journalist Ethel L. Payne joins the ancestors in Washington, DC at
the age of 79.

2003 – Janet Collins, ballerina, joins the ancestors at age 86. She was
the first African American artist to perform at the Metropolitan
Opera House.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 19             *

1798 – Portrait painter Joshua Johnston places an ad in the
“Baltimore Intelligencer” describing himself as “a self-
taught genius.” Johnston, a freeman, will paint portraits
of some of the most successful merchant families in
Maryland and Virginia.  Only three of his subjects will
be African American, among them “Portrait of an Unknown
Man” and “Reverend Daniel Coker.”

1875 – Carter G. Woodson is born in New Canton, Virginia.  A
founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, of the “Journal of Negro History,” and Negro
History Week, Woodson will write many books on African
American history.  The most popular of his books will be,
“The Negro in Our History,” which will be used extensively
in high schools throughout the United States. He will join
the ancestors on April 3, 1950.

1886 – Clementine Rubin (later Hunter) is born in Clourtierville,
Louisiana.  Because there were no birth certificates
issued in rural Louisiana during this time, there is much
controversy about her exact date of birth. Sources mention
her birth in December 1886 and January 1887.  The only
real documentation of her earliest existence is a
christening document dated March, 1887. She will become a
painter in the 1930’s after spending years working on the
Melrose Plantation, a haven for many rural Southern 
artists.  Her first artistic medium will be quilt making,
and her first piece will be in 1938 exhibiting the
hardships of plantation life.  Her first painting will be
completed in 1939.  In 1955, she will become the first
African American artist to have a one person show at the
Delgado Museum (now known as the New Orleans Museum of
Art).  Her folk-art style will earn her the nickname “the
Black Grandma Moses.” By the time she joins the ancestors
on January 1, 1988, she will be considered one of the
twentieth century’s leading folk artists.

1891 – Charles Randolph Uncles becomes the first African American
Catholic priest ordained in the United States.  He is
ordained in Baltimore, Maryland.

1910 – The first city ordinance requiring white and black
residential areas is passed by the Baltimore City Council.
Similar laws will be passed in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke,
Greensboro, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas and
Louisville.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper is founded.

1910 – North Carolina College is founded in Durham, North Carolina.

1910 – The Norfolk Journal and Guide is established under the
leadership of P. B. Young Sr.

1930 – James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of
NAACP citing health reasons.

1930 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Henry A. Hunt,
Principal, Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort
Valley, Georgia, for his pioneering work as an educator.

1930 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, founded at Howard University in
1913, is incorporated.

1933 – Cicely Tyson is born in the Village of Harlem in New York
City.  She will pursue a modeling career, appearing on the
covers of both “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar at the age of
23.  She will later pursue acting and win acclaim for her
roles on the stage and on television, as well as in the
movie, Sounder (for which she will be named best actress
by the National Society of Film Critics and receive an
Academy Award nomination) and “The Autobiography of Miss
Jane Pittman,” for which she will win two Emmys.

1941 – Maurice White is born.  He will become a singer, musician
(drummer) and founder of Earth, Wind & Fire.  Some of his
hits include “Shining Star,” “Sing a Song,”  “Got to Get
You into My Life,” “After the Love Has Gone,” and “Best of
My Love”.

1944 – Timothy Reid is born in Norfolk, Virginia.  He will become
a comedian and known for his role as “Venus Flytrap” on
“WKRP in Cincinnati, as well as “Frank’s Place.”

1961 – Reggie White is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He will
become an all-pro defensive lineman for the NFL
Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers.  He will play
with Green Bay as they win the 1997 Super Bowl. He will
hold the NFL record of 198 sacks until it is broken by
Bruce Smith of the Washington Redskins in 2003. He will
retire from football at the end of the 1998-1999 season.
He will join the ancestors on December 26, 2004, after
succumbing to a cardiac arrhythmia caused by cardiac and
pulmonary sarcoidosis. 

1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia.

1977 – Jimmy Rogers, a bluesman who played guitar for the original
Muddy Waters band and who will be inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame in 1994, joins the ancestors in Chicago at the
age of 73. He succumbs to colon cancer.  He recorded a
string of solo hits beginning in the 1950s, including
“Walking by Myself,” “Chicago Bound” and “Sloppy Drunk.” 
He played with Water’s Band in Chicago clubs and in the
studio for about a decade.  In 1996, he won the W.C. Handy
award for male traditional blues artist.

1989 – Police in Jacksonville, Florida, disarm a parcel bomb at the
local NAACP office, the fourth in a series of mail bombs to
turn up in the Deep South. One bomb kills a Savannah,
Georgia, alderman, and another a federal judge in Alabama.
Walter L. Moody Jr. will be convicted in both bombings. 

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