Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington – The CamaraIfe Maktaba

May 3, 2015 KRLemmons African American History

April 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 29 *

1854 – Ashmun Institute, later Lincoln University, is founded in
Oxford, Pennsylvania. It will be “the first institution
founded anywhere in the world to provide a higher
education in the arts and sciences for youth of African
descent.” (This applies to the modern era).

1899 – Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington is born in Washington, DC.
He will form his first band in 1919, and move to New York
City in 1922. His five-year tenure at the famed Cotton
Club will garner him wide acclaim. Scoring both his first
musical and making his recording debut in 1924, Ellington
will be known as the first conventional jazz composer,
although he will also become renowned for his Sacred
Concerts in the mid-1960’s. His most notable works
include “Take the A Train,” “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated
Ladies,” and “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.” He will
join the ancestors on May 24, 1974.

1915 – Donald Mills is born in Piqua, Ohio. With his brothers,
Herbert, Harry and John, the Mills Brothers will begin
performing in 1922 in their hometown and over time will
sell an estimated 50 million records. The group will break
racial barriers in the era of Jim Crow and sing before
royalty in London. From the early 1930s onward, the Mills
Brothers will be a nationwide hit on radio and in record
sales. In 1931, the song “Tiger Rag” will sell 1 million
copies. Some of their other hit songs will include “You
Always Hurt the One You Love,” “Glow Worm,” “Yellow Bird,”
and “Paper Doll.” The brothers will also appear in several
movies, including “The Big Broadcast” in 1932, and “Twenty
Million Sweethearts” in 1934. Donald will be the last
surviving member of the group and will tour in his later
years with his youngest son, John, after his brothers
retire in 1982. He will accept a Grammy Award for Life
Achievement for the Mills Brothers in 1998. With 2,246
recordings made by 1981, their last year performing
together, the Mills Brothers may have recorded more songs
than anyone else. They will be awarded 36 gold records. He
will join the ancestors on November 13, 1999.

1922 – Parren James Mitchell is born in Baltimore, Maryland. In
1971, he will become the first African American elected to
Congress from the State of Maryland. He will represent the
7th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1971
to January 3, 1987. During his 16 year career, he will fight
for affirmative action legislation. As Chairman of the Small
Business Committee, he will attach an amendment to a $4
billion public works bill that compels state and local
governments, seeking federal grants, to set aside 10% of the
funds to retain minority firms as contractors and
subcontractors. He will also mentor several dozen young up
and coming leaders. Maryland House of Delegates majority
whip Talmadge Branch will be an early aide, Delegate
Nathaniel Oaks will volunteer in Mitchell’s early campaigns,
as will Delegates Sandy Rosenberg and Curt Anderson. He will
initiate a congressional investigation into Wedtech where
bribes were alleged to have been offered in return for no
bid military contracts. In 1986, he will retire from
Congress, but will run unsuccessfully for Lieutenant
Governor of Maryland as the running mate of Attorney General
Stephen H. Sachs. He will join the ancestors on May 28,2007.

1928 – Carl Edward Gardner is born in Tyler, Texas. He will become
a singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of
The Coasters. The Coasters will go on to produce several
enduring classics of 1950s rock and roll music including
“Yakety Yak”, “Charlie Brown”, and “Poison Ivy”. Together
with the other members of the Coasters – Cornell Gunter,
Billy Guy and Will “Dub” Jones, he will be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He will join the
ancestors on June 12, 2011.

1934 – Otis Rush is born in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He will move
to Chicago, Illinois in 1948 and become a blues musician,
singer and guitarist who will help to shape Chicago’s West
Side blues sound. His distinctive guitar style will feature
a slow burning sound and long bent notes. With similar
qualities to Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound will become
known as West Side Chicago blues and be an influence on many
musicians including Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton. He
is left-handed and, unlike many other left-handed guitarists,
will play a left-handed instrument strung upside-down with
the low E string at the bottom. He will play often with the
little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for
positioning. It is widely believed that this contributes to
his distinctive sound. He will also be known for his wide-
ranging, powerful tenor voice.

1967 – Mrs. Robert W. Clayton is elected president of the YWCA, the
first African American president of the organization.

1983 – Harold Washington is sworn in as the first African American
mayor of Chicago.

1992 – Rioting erupts in Los Angeles after a jury acquits four
white policemen of charges related to the videotaped
beating of African American motorist Rodney King. The
National Guard and federal troops are mobilized to deal
with the civil disturbance, which will last several days
and cost the lives of 58 persons. There are demonstrations
and riots in other American cities.

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

May 24, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

May 24 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 24 *

1854 – Anthony Burns, celebrated fugitive slave, is arrested by United States
Deputy Marshals in Boston, Massachusetts.

1861 – Major General Benjamin F. Butler declare slaves “contraband of war.”

1864 – Two regiments, the First and Tenth U.S. Colored Troops, repulse an
attack by rebel General Fitzhugh Lee. Also participating in battle
at Wilson’s Wharf Landing, on the bank of the James River, were a
small detachment of white Union troops and a battery of light
artillery.

1881 – Paul Quinn College is chartered in the State of Texas. The college,
founded in 1872, had moved from its original site in Austin to Waco in
1877.

1918 – Coleman Alexander Young is born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He will fight
as a bombardier-navigator with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II
and will settle in Detroit and work as an auto worker after the war.
In 1948, he will become the first African American elected to the
Wayne County Council of the AFL-CIO. He will found the National Negro
Labor Council in 1951. Walter Reuther and other white leaders of the
labor movement will refer to the NNLC as a tool of the Soviet Union
and cause Young to be called to testify before the House Committee on
Un-American Activities in 1952. He will reach the pinnacle of his
political career when, as a state senator, he is elected the first
African American mayor of the city of Detroit, Michigan in 1973. He
will revitalize Detroit, integrate the police and fire departments,
and will significantly increase the number of city contracts with
minority businesses. He will be elected mayor for an unprecedented
five terms. He will step down as mayor in 1993 at the age of 75. He
will join the ancestors on November 29, 1997, succumbing to
respiratory failure.

1937 – Archie Shepp is born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He will become a
renowned avant-garde jazz saxophonist and play with a variety of jazz
greats including John Coltrane, Bobby Hutcherson, and Donald Cherry.
He also will be a composer of jazz instrumental compositions and the
play “Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy.” He will use free jazz as a vehicle
for political expression and will be an important factor in the growing
acceptance of African American identity. He will become an Associate
Professor at the University of Massachusetts but will continue his
concert career at the same time, working mostly in Europe. He will be a
seminal figure in the development of the New Music and influence many
saxophonists of the avant-garde.

1944 – Patricia Louise Holt is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She will be
better known as Patti LaBelle, organizer and lead singer of Patti LaBelle
and the Bluebells in 1960. In the 1970’s, she will reconfigure the group
and later reteam with Nona Hendryx and Sara Dash as LaBelle. In 1976,
LaBelle will pursue a solo career, gain even more critical and popular
acclaim, and win a 1992 Grammy.

1951 – Racial segregation in Washington, DC, restaurants is ruled illegal by the
Municipal Court of Appeals.

1954 – Peter Marshall Murray is installed as president of the New York County
Medical Society. He is the first African American physician to head an
AMA affiliate.

1961 – Twenty-seven Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.

1963 – The Organization of African Unity is founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1974 – Edward “Duke” Ellington joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 75. For nearly half a century, Duke Ellington led the premier American
big-band, and is considered by many sources to be the greatest composer
in the history of jazz.

1983 – Jesse L. Jackson becomes the first African American to address a joint
session of a state legislature in the 20th century, when he talks to the
Alabama legislature.

1984 – Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets becomes the first unanimous choice
for NBA Rookie of the Year since Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabar) of
the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970.

1991 – Hal McRae is named manager of the Kansas City Royals. He will become one
of two African American managers serving in major league baseball.

1993 – The African nation of Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.

2000 – Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo are elected to be enshrined in the 2000 class
of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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

April 29, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

April 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 29 *

1854 – Ashmun lnstitute, later Lincoln University, is founded in
Oxford, Pennsylvania. It will be “the first institution
founded anywhere in the world to provide a higher
education in the arts and sciences for youth of African
descent.” (This applies to the modern era).

1934 – Otis Rush is born in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He will move
to Chicago, Illinois in 1948 and become a blues musician,
singer and guitarist who will help to shape Chicago’s West
Side blues sound. His distinctive guitar style will feature
a slow burning sound and long bent notes. With similar
qualities to Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound will become
known as West Side Chicago blues and be an influence on many
musicians including Michael Bloomfield and Eric Clapton. He
is left-handed and, unlike many other left-handed guitarists,
will play a left-handed instrument strung upside-down with
the low E string at the bottom. He will play often with the
little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for
positioning. It is widely believed that this contributes to
his distinctive sound. He is alos known for his wide-ranging,
powerful tenor voice.

1967 – Mrs. Robert W. Clayton is elected president of the YWCA, the
first African American president of the organization.

1983 – Harold Washington is sworn in as the first African American
mayor of Chicago.

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

June 2, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

May 24 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – May 24 *