Evander Holyfield – The CamaraIfe Maktaba

March 14, 2015 KRLemmons African American History

March 13 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 13 *

1779 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, an explorer of African descent,
from Santo Domingo (Haiti), builds the first permanent
settlement at the mouth of the river, just east of the present
Michigan Avenue Bridge on the north bank, of what is now the
city of Chicago, Illinois.

1861 – Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing the use of slaves as
soldiers in the Confederate army.

1862 – Congress forbids Union officers and soldiers from aiding in the
capture and return of fugitive slaves, ending what one
historian called the “military slave hunt.”

1869 – Arkansas legislature passes anti-Ku Klux Klan legislation.

1914 – James Reese Europe explains the significance of his Clef Club
Symphony Orchestra, consisting of the best African American
musicians in New York City: “… we colored people have our
own music that is a part of us. It’s the product of our
souls; it’s been created by the sufferings and miseries of our
race.”

1918 – John Rhoden is born in Birmingham, Alabama. An art student who
will study with Richmond Barthe’ and at Talledega College,
Rhoden’s sculptures will have strong romantic and classical
elements. He will receive commissions for Harlem Hospital and
Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, exhibit his work at
the Atlanta University annuals, the Art Institute of Chicago,
and the Whitney Museum and be represented in museums in the
United States and Europe. Among his major works will be
“Safari,” “Eve,” and “Quarter Horse.” He will join the ancestors
on January 4, 2001.

1930 – Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell is born in Miami, Florida. The
trumpeter will make his name as a member of Horace Silver’s
Quintet. From 1974, he will play as a soloist or as an
accompanist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. He will join the
ancestors on May 21, 1979 succumbing to cancer.

1932 – The “Atlanta World” becomes the first African American daily
newspaper in modern times, when it begins daily publication.
It was founded on August 3, 1928, by William A. Scott, III
and became a bi-weekly in 1930.

1943 – Frank Dixon becomes the first great African American miler in
track as he wins the Columbian Mile in New York City. Dixon
runs the mile in the record time of 4 minutes, 9.6 seconds.

1946 – Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African
American to command an United States Air Force base, when he
assumes command of Lockbourne Air Force Base in Ohio.

1961 – Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johannson to retain the
heavyweight boxing championship.

1984 – James L. Usry is elected the first African American mayor of
Atlantic City, New Jersey. He will serve as mayor until 1990.
A former member of the Harlem Globetrotters, he became an
educator before entering politics.

1999 – Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis,
the WBC champion, keep their respective titles after fighting
to a controversial draw in New York.

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

October 27, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

October 25 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 25 *

1806 – Benjamin Banneker joins the ancestors at the age of 74
in Ellicott Mills, Maryland. Banneker was a self-
taught mathematician and builder (at age 21) of the
first striking clock built in the United States. An
amateur astronomer, Banneker’s calculations for solar
and lunar eclipses appeared in 29 editions of his
almanacs, published from 1792 to 1797.

1915 – Attorney James L. Curtis is named minister to Liberia.

1926 – Crisis magazine, led by editor W.E.B. DuBois, awards its
first prizes in literature and art. Among the winners
will be Arna Bontemps’ poem “Nocturne at Bethesda,”
Countee Cullen’s poem “Thoughts in a Zoo,” Aaron
Douglas’ painting “African Chief” and a portrait by
Hale Woodruff.

1940 – The Committee on the Participation of Negroes in the
National Defense Program met with President Roosevelt.

1940 – The National Newspaper Publishers Association is
founded.

1940 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to Dr. Louis T. Wright
for his civil rights leadership and his contributions
as a surgeon.

1940 – Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr. is promoted to Brigadier
General, the first African American to attain that rank
in the United States Army or any other branch of the
Armed Forces.

1958 – Ten thousand students, led by Jackie Robinson, Harry
Belfonte and A. Phillip Randolph, participate in the
Youth March for integrated schools in Washington, DC.

1958 – Daisy Bates, head of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP,
and the nine students who integrated Little Rocks’s
Central High School are awarded the Spingarn Medal for
their courage and leadership in the civil rights
struggle.

1962 – Uganda is admitted as the 110th member of the United
Nations.

1968 – The city of Chicago officially recognizes Jean Baptiste
Pointe du Sable as its first settler.

1973 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian marathoner who won the Olympic
Gold Medal in 1960 and 1964, joins the ancestors at
the age of 46.

1976 – Clarence “Willie” Norris, the last surviving member of
the nine Scottsboro Boys, who were convicted in 1931
of the alleged rape of two white women on a freight
train, is pardoned by Governor George Wallace. Norris
had spent 15 years in prison and had been a fugitive
fleeing parole in Alabama in 1946.

1983 – Mary Francis Berry, professor of history and law at
Howard University, and two other members of the Civil
Rights Commission are fired by President Ronald Reagan.
Considered a champion of minority concerns on the
Commission, Berry will charge the administration with
attempting to “shut up” criticism. She will later sue
and be reinstated.

1983 – The United States and six other Caribbean nations
invade the island nation of Grenada.

1988 – Two units of the Ku Klux Klan and eleven individuals
are ordered to pay $1 million to African Americans who
were attacked during a brotherhood rally in
predominately white Forsythe County, Georgia.

1990 – Evander Holyfield knocks out James “Buster” Douglas in
the third round of their twelve-round fight to become
the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Holyfield’s record stood at 25-0, with 21 knockouts.

1997 – The Million Woman March, organized by grass root sisters,
led by Sister Phile Chionesu and Sister Asia Coney,
takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event
is attended by 1.3 million attendees (300,000 to 1
million according to Philadelphia officials). The MWM
had been promoted by word of mouth and avoided
traditional media and mainstream groups, such as
sororities and many civil rights groups. Sis. Chionesu
calls the march “a declaration of independence from
ignorance, poverty, enslavement, and all the things
that have happened to us that has helped to bring about
the confusion and disharmony that we experience with
one another.”

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

October 26, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

October 19 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 19 *

1859 – Byrd Prillerman is born a slave in Shady Grove,
Franklin County, Virginia. He will become an
educator, reformer, religious worker, political
figure, and lawyer. He will be best known as the co-
founder of the West Virginia Colored Institute in
1891. The school will be changed to the West
Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1915. The school,
under Prillerman’s leadership, will become the first
state school for African Americans to reach the rank
of an accredited college whose work is accepted by
the universities of the North. The school will
eventually become West Virginia State College, then
West Virginia State University. He will join the
ancestors on April 25, 1929.

1870 – The first African Americans are elected to the House
of Representatives. African American Republicans
won three of the four congressional seats in South
Carolina: Joseph H. Rainey, Robert C. DeLarge and
Robert B. Elliott. Rainey was elected to an un-
expired term in the Forty-first Congress and was the
first African American seated in the House.

1920 – Alberta Peal is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She will
become a television and movie actress better known as
LaWanda Page and will star in “Mausoleum,” “Women Tell
the Dirtiest Jokes,” “Shakes the Clown,” and “Don’t Be
a Menace.” She will be best known for her role as Aunt
Esther in the long-running television series, “Sanford
and Sons.” She will join the ancestors on September 14,
2002.

1924 – “From Dixie to Broadway” premieres at the Broadhurst
Theatre in New York City. The music is written by
Will Vodery, an African American, who arranged music
for the Ziegfeld Follies for 23 years.

1936 – Johnnetta Betsch (later Cole) is born in Jacksonville,
Florida. She will have a distinguished career as an
educator and administrator and will become the first
African American woman to head Spelman College.

1944 – Winston Hubert McIntosh is born in Westmoreland, Jamaica.
He will become a founding father of reggae music and be
part of the song writing magic of the Wailers, Bob
Marley’s group. He will be better known as Peter Tosh.
He will join the ancestors in September 11, 1987 after
being shot during a robbery attempt.

1944 – The Navy announces that African American women would be
allowed to become WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency Service).

1946 – The first exhibition of the work of Josef Nassy, an
American citizen of Dutch-African descent, is held in
Brussels. The exhibit consists of 90 paintings and
drawings Nassy created while in a Nazi-controlled
internment camp during World War II.

1960 – Jennifer-Yvette Holiday is born in Riverside, Texas.
She will become a singer and actress and will have her
first big break as a star in the Broadway production
of “Dream Girls” in 1981. She will later become a
successful recording artist. She will be best known for
her debut single, the Dreamgirls showstopper and Grammy
Award-winning Rhythm & Blues/Pop hit, “And I Am Telling
You I’m Not Going.”

1960 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in an Atlanta,
Georgia sit-in demonstration.

1962 – Evander Holyfield is born in Atmore, Alabama. He will
become a professional boxer. Over the course of his
career, he will become IBF Heavyweight Champion, WBA
Heavyweight Champion, three time World Champion, and
Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion.

1981 – The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and Archives opens
in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded by Coretta Scott King,
the facility, is the largest repository in the world
of primary resource material on Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., nine major civil rights organizations, and
the American civil rights movement.

1983 – Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop joins the
ancestors after being assassinated after refusing to
share leadership of the New Jewel Movement with his
deputy, Bernard Coard. This event will indirectly
lead to the invasion of Grenada by the United States
and six Caribbean nations.

1983 – The U.S. Senate approves the establishment of the
Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday on the third
Monday in January.

1988 – South African anti-apartheid leader, Walter Sisulu wins
a $100,000 Human Rights prize.

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

March 15, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

March 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 13 *