KRLemmons African American History

May 22 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 22 *

1848 – Slavery is abolished on the French island of Martinique.
Abolition will create a shortage of labor in Martinique given
many former slaves preferred not to work in the sugar cane
plantations. To solve the problem, indentured servants will
be brought from China and India.

1863 – The War Department establishes the Bureau of Colored Troops and
launches an aggressive campaign for the recruitment of African
American soldiers.

1940 – Bernard Shaw is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become a
journalist and the principal Washington anchor for Cable News
Network, where he will be widely respected for his coverage of
world summit meetings, the historic student demonstrations in
Beijing, Presidential primaries and elections, and the Gulf
War.

1941 – Paul Winfield is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become an actor and will star in the movies “Tyson,” “Breathing
Lessons,” “Carbon Copy,” “Cliffhanger,” “Dennis the Menace,”
“Presumed Innocent,” “Sounder,” “The Terminator,” and “Star
Trek 2.” He will join the ancestors on March 7, 2004 after
succumbing to a heart attack.

1948 – Harlem Renaissance poet and author Claude McKay joins the
ancestors in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 58. His novel
“Home to Harlem” (1928) became the first best-seller written
by an American of African descent.

1959 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African American major
general in the U.S. Air Force. In doing so, he improves upon
the accomplishment of his father, Davis Sr., who was the first
African American general in the U.S. Army.

1961 – The Attorney General orders two hundred additional U.S. Marshals
to Montgomery, Alabama. This is in addition to the four
hundred U.S. marshals already dispatched to Montgomery to keep
order in the Freedom Rider controversy.

1961 – Ernie K-Doe, Ernest Kador Jr., joins the growing list of “One
Hit Wonders” — recording artists who had only one hit. The
song, “Mother-In-Law”, is Ernie’s one hit — and a number one
tune on the nation’s pop music charts.

1966 – Bill Cosby, star of “I Spy,” receives an Emmy for best actor in
a dramatic series, the first African American in the category.
He will earn more than four Emmys.

1967 – Langston Hughes, noted poet, joins the ancestors in New York
City. He was the author of the poetry collections “The Weary
Blues,” “Not Without Laughter,” “The Way of White Folks,” the
autobiographies “The Big Sea” and “I Wonder as I Wander, and
plays and newspaper series. Hughes’s ashes will be buried at
the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

1970 – Naomi Campbell is born in London, England. She will be
discovered in a shopping mall when she is 15 years old. She
will become a super model and will open a chain of “Fashion
Cafe'” establishments along with models Claudia Schiffer, Elle
MacPherson, and Christy Turlington.

1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti, led by the United
States, goes into effect to punish Haiti’s military rulers for
not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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

KRLemmons African American Biography, African American Poetry, Resources

April 7 Poet of the Day: Claude McKay

April 7 Poet of the Day is also a novelist, Claude McKay.  He was best known for his poem “If We Must Die.”  For more information about this poet, click here:

Additional resources on Claude McKay

Poets.Org: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/25

The Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/claude-mckay

History Matters, “If We Must Die”: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5130/

Teacher Resource from Shmoop: http://www.shmoop.com/if-we-must-die/ (may need to register to access entire resource)

Teacher Resource from Annenberg Learner: http://www.learner.org/amerpass/unit10/authors-5.html

The Black Past: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/mckay-claude-1889-1948

 

KRLemmons African American History

September 15 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 15 *

1830 – The first National Negro Convention begins in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.

1876 – White terrorists attack Republicans in Ellenton, South
Carolina. Two whites and thirty-nine African Americans are
killed.

1890 – Claude McKay is born in Sunnyville, Jamaica. Emigrating to
the United States in 1912, he will be come a poet and
winner of the 1928 Harmon Gold Medal Award for Literature.
Author of the influential poetry collection “Harlem
Shadows”, he will also be famous for the poems “The
Lynching,” “White Houses,” and “If We Must Die,” which
will be used by Winston Churchill as a rallying cry during
World War II. He will join the ancestors on May 22, 1948.

1898 – The National Afro-American Council is founded in Rochester,
New York. Bishop Alexander Walters of the AME Zion Church
is elected president. The organization proposes a program
of assertion and protest.

1915 – Julius “Nipsey” Russell is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He
will become a comedian and actor. He will star in “Car 54
Where Are You?” (the movie), “Barefoot in the Park,”
“Masquerade Party, and Varsity Blues.” He will also be a
panelist on “Match Game” and “Hollywood Squares.” He will
join the ancestors on October 2, 2005.

1923 – The governor of Oklahoma declares that Oklahoma is in a
“state of virtual rebellion and insurrection” because of
Ku Klux Klan activities. Martial law is declared.

1924 – Robert Waltrip “Bobby” Short is born in Danville, Illinois. He
will become a singer and pianist. In 1968, he will be offered
a two-week stint at the Café Carlyle in New York City, to
fill in for George Feyer. He (accompanied by Beverly Peer on
bass and Dick Sheridan on drums) will become an institution at
the Carlyle, as Feyer had been before him, and will remain
there as a featured performer for over 35 years. In 2000, The
Library of Congress will designate him a Living Legend, a
recognition established as part of its bicentennial
celebration. He will join the ancestors on March 21, 2005.

1928 – Julian Edwin Adderly is born in Tampa, Florida. He will be
best known as “Cannonball” Adderly, a jazz saxophonist who
will play with Miles Davis as well as lead his own band
with brother Nat Adderly and musicians such as Yusef
Lateef and George Duke. Songs made famous by him and his bands
include “This Here” (written by Bobby Timmons), “The Jive
Samba,” “Work Song” (written by Nat Adderley), “Mercy, Mercy,
Mercy” (written by Joe Zawinul) and “Walk Tall” (written by
Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). He will join the ancestors on August
8, 1975. Later that year, he will be inducted into the Down Beat
Jazz Hall of Fame.

1943 – Actor and activist Paul Robeson acts in the 296th
performance of “Othello” at the Shubert Theatre in New
York City.

1963 – Four African American schoolgirls – Addie Collins, Denise
McNair, Carol Robertson and Cynthia Wesley – join the ancestors
after being killed in a bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It is an act of violence that
will galvanize the civil rights movement.

1964 – Rev. K.L. Buford and Dr. Stanley Smith are elected to the
Tuskegee City Council and become the first African
American elected officials in Alabama in the twentieth
century.

1969 – Large-scale racially motivated disturbances are reported
in Hartford, Connecticut. Five hundred persons are
arrested and scores are injured.

1978 – Muhammad Ali wins the world heavyweight boxing championship
for a record third time by defeating Leon Spinks in New
Orleans, Louisiana.

1987 – Boxer, Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns, becomes the first African
American to win boxing titles in five different weight
classes.

1991 – San Diego State freshman, Marshall Faulk, sets the NCAA
single game rushing record of 386 yards.

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

KRLemmons African American History

May 22 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – May 22 *

1848 – Slavery is abolished on the French island of Martinique.
Abolition will create a shortage of labor in Martinique given
many former slaves preferred not to work in the sugar cane
plantations. To solve the problem, indentured servants will
be brought from China and India.

1863 – The War Department establishes the Bureau of Colored Troops and
launches an aggressive campaign for the recruitment of African
American soldiers.

1940 – Bernard Shaw is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become a
journalist and the principal Washington anchor for Cable News
Network, where he will be widely respected for his coverage of
world summit meetings, the historic student demonstrations in
Beijing, Presidential primaries and elections, and the Gulf
War.

1941 – Paul Winfield is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become an actor and will star in the movies “Tyson,” “Breathing
Lessons,” “Carbon Copy,” “Cliffhanger,” “Dennis the Menace,”
“Presumed Innocent,” “Sounder,” “The Terminator,” and “Star
Trek 2.” He will join the ancestors on March 7, 2004 after
succumbing to a heart attack.

1948 – Harlem Renaissance poet and author Claude McKay joins the
ancestors in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 58. His novel
“Home to Harlem” (1928) became the first best-seller written
by an American of African descent.

1959 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African American major
general in the U.S. Air Force. In doing so, he improves upon
the accomplishment of his father, Davis Sr., who was the first
African American general in the U.S. Army.

1961 – The Attorney General orders two hundred additional U.S. Marshals
to Montgomery, Alabama. This is in addition to the four
hundred U.S. marshals already dispatched to Montgomery to keep
order in the Freedom Rider controversy.

1961 – Ernie K-Doe, Ernest Kador Jr., joins the growing list of “One
Hit Wonders” — recording artists who had only one hit. The
song, “Mother-In-Law”, is Ernie’s one hit — and a number one
tune on the nation’s pop music charts.

1966 – Bill Cosby, star of “I Spy,” receives an Emmy for best actor in
a dramatic series, the first African American in the category.
He will earn more than four Emmys.

1967 – Langston Hughes, noted poet, joins the ancestors in New York
City. He was the author of the poetry collections “The Weary
Blues,” “Not Without Laughter,” “The Way of White Folks,” the
autobiographies “The Big Sea” and “I Wonder as I Wander, and
plays and newspaper series. Hughes’s ashes will be buried at
the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

1970 – Naomi Campbell is born in London, England. She will be
discovered in a shopping mall when she is 15 years old. She
will become a super model and will open a chain of “Fashion
Cafe'” establishments along with models Claudia Schiffer, Elle
MacPherson, and Christy Turlington.

1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti, led by the United
States, goes into effect to punish Haiti’s military rulers for
not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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