KRLemmons African American History

January 22 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 22 *

1801 – Haitian liberator, Toussaint L’Ouverture, enters Santiago to
battle the French Armed Forces.

1891 – The “Lodge Bill,” which called for federal supervision of U.S.
elections, is abandoned in the Senate after a Southern
filibuster.

1906 – Twenty-eight-year-old Meta Vaux Warrick’s sculpture “Portraits
from Mirrors” is exhibited at the 101st Annual Exhibition of
the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Although it is one of the first major showings
of her work, the young Warrick (later Fuller) has already
studied sculpture with the legendary Auguste Rodin and had
her work exhibited in Paris at S. Bing’s Gallery Nouveau.

1920 – William Caesar Warfield is born in West Helena, Arkansas, the
eldest of five sons. He will become a singer and have his
recital debut in New York’s famous Town Hall on March 19,
1950, putting him into the front ranks of concert artists
overnight. His career will span almost fifty years and among
his frequent appearances in foreign countries, this artist
has made six separate tours for the U.S. Department of State,
more than any other American solo artist. He will receive
a Grammy in the “Spoken Word” category (1984) for his
outstanding narration of Aaron Copeland’s “A Lincoln Portrait”
accompanied by the Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra. He is
best known for his role in “Showboat.” He will join the
ancestors on August 26, 2002.

1924 – James Louis (J.J.) Johnson is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He will become one of the greatest trombonists and composers
in jazz. He will be originally influenced by Fred Beckett of
Harlan Leonard’s band. Soon thereafter, he will join Benny
Carter. He will play with Count Basie (1945-1946) and record
his first solo improvisation. During the 1954-1956 period,
J.J. Johnson will take a brief break from bands and team up
with Kai Winding for a commercially successful trombone duo.
He will prefer the use of pure tones when playing the trombone,
focusing on line, interval and accent. His solos will show
virtuosity because of their remarkable mobility, which many
artists find difficult to duplicate or imitate. These
endeavors will be fruitless in the early 1950s and for a
couple of years he will work as a blueprint inspector. In the
1970s, Johnson will move from New Jersey to California,
concentrating exclusively on film and television scoring. In
1984, Johnson will reenter the jazz scene with a tour of the
“European Festival Circuit.” He will be voted into the Down
Beat Hall of Fame in 1995. He will join the ancestors on
February 4, 2001, after committing suicide by shooting himself.

1931 – Samuel “Sam” Cooke is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will
grow up in Chicago, Illinois, after moving there with his
family in 1933. He will become a singer and be best known for
his recordings “You Send Me” and “Twisting the Night Away.”
Cooke will be one of the most popular singers of the 1960’s.
He will join the ancestors on December 11, 1964. He will be
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23,
1986.

1960 – Sugar Ray Robinson loses the Middleweight Boxing Championship
to Paul Pender in a 15-round decision.

1961 – Wilma Rudolph, the 1960 Olympic gold medalist and track star,
sets a world indoor mark in the women’s 60-yard dash, with a
speedy 6.9 seconds in a meet held in Los Angeles, California.

1962 – Baseball Writers elect Jackie Robinson into the Baseball Hall
of Fame.

1973 – George Foreman takes the heavyweight boxing title away from
‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in the second round.
Foreman will knock ‘Smokin’ Joe down six times on his way to
victory.

1981 – Samuel Pierce is named Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). One of the few African Americans in the
Reagan administration, there will be high expectations for
his potential to effect change, but Pierce’s leadership will
be severely questioned as scandal rocks his department in
1989. An estimated $ 2 billion will be lost due to fraud and
mismanagement during Pierce’s tenure.

1988 – Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson knocks out former
champion Larry Holmes in 4 rounds.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 15 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 15 *

1865 – An African American division, under the command of Major
General Charles Paine, participates in the Fort Fisher,
North Carolina expedition, which will close the Confederacy’s
last major seaport.

1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is founded at Howard University in
Washington, DC. The culmination of efforts by Ethel Hedgeman
(Lyle) and eight other undergraduates, it is the first Greek-
letter organization for African American women.

1929 – Michael Luther King is born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father
will have both of their names changed to Martin Luther King,
Sr. and Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will become a Baptist
minister, world-renowned civil rights leader, and an advocate
of non-violence. His efforts, beginning with the Montgomery
bus boycott in 1955 and continuing for the next 13 years,
will fundamentally change civil rights for African Americans
and earn him a number of honors and awards, including the
Nobel Peace Prize (1964), Medal of Freedom, and the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal (1957). He will join the ancestors on April 4,
1968 after being assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee.

1941 – Yancey Williams, a Howard University student, asked a federal
court to order the Secretary of War and other government
officials to consider his application for enlistment in the
Army Air Corps as a flying cadet.

1950 – More than 4,000 delegates from one hundred national
organizations attend the National Emergency Civil Rights
Conference in Washington, DC.

1968 – Reporting the results of a “Jet” magazine poll, “The New York
Times” article “Negro History Week Stirs Up Semantic Debate”
indicates that 59% of those polled prefer the term Afro-
American or Black to Negro.

1970 – Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the nearby crypt containing
the remains of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his boyhood home
are dedicated as part of a memorial to be known as the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change.

1970 – Biafra officially surrenders to the Nigerian government and is
reintegrated into Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu had declared the
independence of the eastern province of Biafra in 1967 to
guarantee the survival of Igbos, Biafra’s ethnic majority
group. During the war with Nigeria, as many as 400,000
Biafrans died of starvation.

1990 – George Foreman knocks out Gerry Cooney in 2 rounds, at the age
of forty two.

1998 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) National
President Joseph E. Lowery, steps down from his post and
Martin Luther King, III is named the new president, the actual
birthday of SCLC Founding President, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 10 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 10 *

1768 – James Varick is born in Orange County, New York. Racism in
New York City will lead Varick, a licensed clergyman, and
30 other African Americans to leave the famous and
predominantly white John Street Methodist Episcopal Church
and establish the first African American church in New York
City. He will later become the founder and first bishop of
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He will join
the ancestors on July 22, 1827. His remains now rest in the
crypt of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
in the village of Harlem in New York City.

1811 – African Americans in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hold meetings
at Bethel Church to protest The American Colonization
Society’s campaign “to exile us from the land of our
nativity.”

1811 – Slaves in Louisiana rebel in two parishes about thirty-five
miles from New Orleans. The revolt is suppressed by U.S.
troops.

1870 – The legislature in the state of Georgia reconvenes and admits
African American representatives and senators.

1889 – The Ivory Coast is declared a protectorate of France.

1925 – Drummer Maxwell Lemuel “Max” Roach is born in Newland, North
Carolina. He will become an influential figure in the development
of modern jazz, playing with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Clifford Brown before forming his own groups in the
1950’s. He will achieve wide acclaim for his superb musical
innovation. He also will be an educator, teaching at the
Lenox, Massachusetts School of Jazz, Yale University, and
Professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts
(Amherst). He will join the ancestors on August 16, 2007.

1938 – Willie McCovey is born in Mobile, Alabama. He will become a
professional baseball player in 1959 for the Giants organization.
After more than two decades, he will end his career, and garner
an impressive array of baseball’s most coveted awards: Rookie
of the Year in 1959; MVP in 1969; six times an All-Star and
once the All-Star Game MVP; Comeback Player of the Year in
1977 and the National League’s all-time left-handed home run
hitter. He will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1986. It will be his first year of eligibility and he will appear
on 346 of 425 ballots cast (81.4 percent). In 1999, he will rank
56th on The Sporting News’ list of the “100 Greatest Baseball
Players,” and be nominated as a finalist for the Major League
Baseball All-Century Team. Since 1980, the Giants have awarded
the Willie Mac Award to honor his spirit and leadership. The
inlet of San Francisco Bay beyond the right field fence of AT&T
Park, historically known as China Basin, has been re-dubbed
McCovey Cove in his honor. Across McCovey Cove from the park a
statue of him will be erected and the land on which it stands
named McCovey Point. The Giants will retire his uniform number 44
on September 21, 1980, which he wore in honor of Hank Aaron, a
fellow Mobile, Alabama native. He will be inducted to the Afro
Sports Hall of Fame on February 7, 2009 in Oakland, California.

1949 – George Foreman is born in Marshall, Texas. He will become a
professional boxer and win the world heavyweight
championship in 1973. He will retire from boxing in 1977
after a defeat by Jimmy Young. He will enter the ministry
and stay away from boxing for ten years. He will return to
boxing in 1987 at the age of 37 and become the oldest
heavyweight champion at age 45 on November 5, 1994.

1966 – The Georgia House of Representatives refuses to seat African
American legislator Julian Bond, SNCC communications
director, because of his opposition to U.S. involvement in
the Vietnam War. He will be seated almost one year later,
after a legal battle that will eventually be resolved by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

1967 – Edward Brooke, takes his seat as the first popularly elected
African American United States Senator.

1976 – Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as “Howlin’ Wolf,” joins
the ancestors in Hines, Illinois. He was a blues legend that
helped to bring the Delta Blues music from Mississippi to
Chicago during the 1950’s. This music was the basis for the
Chicago blues sound.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 5 *

1828 – Theodore Sedgwick Wright becomes the first African 
American person to get a Theology Degree in the United 
States, when he graduates from Princeton Theological 
Seminary.

1867 – First Reconstruction constitutional convention opens in
Montgomery, Alabama. It has eighteen African Americans 
and ninety whites in attendance.

1901 – Etta Moten (later Barnett) is born in San Antonio, Texas. 
She will become an actress starring in “Porgy and Bess” 
and have a successful career on Broadway. She will 
appear in the movie “Flying Down to Rio”(1933), singing 
and dancing the Carioca, and as a singer in “The Gold 
Diggers of 1933″(1933). In her later years, she will be 
active as an Advisory Board Member of The Black Academy 
of Arts and Letters. 

1917 – The Supreme Court (Buchanan vs Warley) rules that a 
Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance mandating blacks and 
whites live in separate areas is unconstitutional.

1926 – Negro History Week is initiated by Carter G. Woodson. 

1931 – Ike Turner is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will 
become a singer, songwriter/pianist and will join forces
in 1960 with his wife, Tina Turner.

1935 – The Maryland Court of Appeals orders the University of 
Maryland to admit African American student, Donald 
Murray.

1956 – Art Tatum, joins the ancestors at age 46 in Los Angeles, 
California. Despite impaired vision, he received formal 
training in music and developed a unique improvisational 
style. He was an accomplished jazz pianist who impressed 
even classicist Vladimir Horowitz. Perhaps the most 
gifted technician of all jazzmen, Tatum had other assets 
as well, among them an harmonic sense so acute as to make 
him an almost infallible improviser. This aspect of his 
style, as well as his great rhythmic freedom, influenced 
the young players who became the founders of a new style 
called bebop.

1956 – The Nat King Cole Show premiers. The 15-minute show 
starring the popular singer will run until June 1957 and 
reappear in July in a half-hour format. The first network 
variety series hosted by an African American star, it was
canceled due to lack of support by advertisers. 

1968 – Eight African American males and the first African American 
female, Shirley Chisholm, are elected to the U.S. Congress. 
Including previously elected Massachusetts senator Edward 
Brooke, it is the largest number of African American 
representatives to serve in Congress since the 44th 
Congress of 1875-1877. 

1970 – The National Guard is mobilized in Henderson, North 
Carolina, as a result of racially motivated civil 
disturbances.

1974 – George Brown of Colorado and Mervyn Dymally of California 
are the first African American lieutenant governors elected
in the 20th century, while Walter Washington becomes the 
first African American to be elected mayor of the District 
of Columbia, and Harold Ford is elected to Congress from 
Tennessee, the first African American from the state. 

1974 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Damon J. Keith “in tribute 
to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles as 
revealed in a series of memorable decisions he handed down 
as a United States District Court judge.”

1989 – The first memorial to the civil rights movement in the 
United States is dedicated at a ceremony in Montgomery, 
Alabama. The memorial was commissioned by the Southern 
Poverty Law Center, a legal and educational organization 
located in Montgomery.

1994 – George Foreman, 45, becomes boxing’s oldest heavyweight 
champion by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round 
of their WBA fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 29 *

1902 – The Dinwiddle Quartet from Virginia is the first
African American singing group on record when they
record six single sided discs, including “Down at the
Old Camp Ground,” on the Victory Talking Machine
Company’s Monarch label.

1923 – Runnin’ Wild opens at the Colonial Theater, Broadway.
Miller and Lyles Productions introduced the Charleston
to New York and the world.

1924 – Dixie to Broadway, “the first real revue by Negroes,”
opens at the Broadhurst Theater, New York City, with
Florence Mills in the starring role.

1929 – The collapse of the stock market and the beginning of
the Great Depression. By 1937, 26 per cent of African
American males will be unemployed.

1945 – Beatrice Moore is born in New York, New York. She will
become an actress and singer better known as Melba
Moore. Her big break will come when she joins the cast
of the Broadway musical “Hair.” She will eventually win
the lead role. It will be the first time that an African
American actress replaces a white actress (Diane Keaton)
for a lead role on Broadway. That engagement will be
followed with another Broadway hit, “Purlie,” which
earns her a Tony Award and rave reviews. This success
will be followed by appearances in film and television.
In addition to her success in acting, she will have a
fruitful recording career.

1947 – The President’s Committee on Civil Rights condemns racial
injustices in America in a formal report, “To Secure
These Rights.”

1947 – Texas Southern University is established.

1947 – The NAACP Spingarn Medal is awarded to Dr. Percy L. Julian
for his achievements as a scientist.

1949 – Alonzo G. Moron, from the Virgin Islands, becomes the
first person of African descent to become president of
Hampton Institute (now University) in Hampton, Virginia.

1960 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) boxes in his first professional
fight, beating Tunney Hunsaker in 6 rounds.

1961 – Randy Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. He will become a
member of the famed family group, “The Jackson Five.”

1969 – Johnson Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, the largest
African American hair-care products manufacturer, is
incorporated. Founded by George Johnson in 1954, in 1971,
it will become the first African American owned company
listed on the American Stock Exchange.

1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court states that school systems must end
segregation “at once” and “operate now and hereafter only
unitary schools.” In the Mississippi case, Alexander v.
Holmes, the Court abandons the principle of “all
deliberate speed.”

1974 – Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in Zaire to regain his
heavyweight crown in a fight billed as “The Rumble in the
Jungle.” In addition to the fight being the first
heavyweight title fight held in Africa, it is the 14th
Anniversary of Ali’s professional boxing debut.

1981 – William Otis Walker, publisher of the “Cleveland Call &
Post,” joins the ancestors at the age of 85. He was the
first African American to hold a post in the Ohio Cabinet
in 1963, and was national chairman for “Black Republicans
for Reagan and Bush” in 1980.

1987 – Thomas Hearns wins an unprecedented 4th boxing title in
different weight classes.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 1 *

1867 – Robert T. Freeman becomes the first African American
to graduate from Harvard Dental School.

1875 – White Democrats attacked Republicans at Yazoo City,
Mississippi. One white and three African-Americans were
killed.

1912 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English-born composer of Hiawatha’s
Wedding Feast and professor of music at Trinity College of
Music in London, joins the ancestors in Croyden, England.
Coleridge-Taylor was the most important Black composer of
his day and toured the United States three times, where he
played with Will Marion Cook, Clarence Cameron White, and
collaborated with Paul Laurence Dunbar in setting several
of his poems to music.

1925 – Rosa Cuthbert (later Guy) is born in Trinidad. She will leave
Trinidad with her parents for America in 1932. During World
War II she will join the American Negro Theatre. She will
study theatre and writing at the University of New York. Most
of her books are about the dependability of family members
that care and love each other. She will be one of the founders
of The Harlem Writers guild (1950). Her works will include: “Bird
at My Window” (1966), “Children of Longing” (1971), “The Friends”
(1973), “Ruby” (1976), “Edith Jackson” (1978), “The Disappearance”
(1979), “Mirror of Her Own” (1981), “A Measure of Time (1983),
and New Guys Around the Block (1983), Paris, Pee Wee and Big Dog (1984), My Love, My Love, or the Peasant Girl (1985), And I Heard a Bird Sing (1987). She will become the author of
“The Friends,” “Ruby,” and “Edith Jackson.”

1937 – Ron O’Neal is born in Utica, New York. He will become an
actor and will star in movies during the 1970’s and be
best known for his role in “Superfly.”

1948 – William T. Coleman is appointed by Justice Frankfurter as a
clerk to the U.S. Supreme Court, the first African
American to hold the position. A Harvard Law School
graduate and Army Air Corps veteran, Coleman will again
enter public service, first as president of the NAACP
Legal Defense and Education Fund and, in 1975, as
Secretary of Transportation under President Gerald Ford.

1970 – Dr. Hugh S. Scott of Washington, DC, becomes the first
African American superintendent of schools in a major US.
city.

1971 – The Pittsburgh Pirates field an all African American team
in a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

1973 – George Foreman knocks out Jose Roman in the first round to
retain his heavyweight title.

1975 – General Daniel (“Chappie”) James Jr. is promoted to the
rank of four-star general and named commander-in-chief of
the North American Air Defense Command. He is the first
African American to achieve this rank.

1977 – Ethel Waters, singer and actress, joins the ancestors in
Chatsworth, California at the age of 80. She was the
first African American entertainer to move from vaudeville
to ‘white’ entertainment. She starred in many movies such
as “Something Special” (1971), “Carib Gold” (1955), “The
Member of the Wedding” (1952), “Pinky” (1949), “Cabin in
the Sky” (1943), “Cairo” (1942), “Tales of Manhattan”
(1942), “Black Musical Featurettes, V. 1″ (1929), Short
Subjects V. 1” (1929), and “On With the Show” (1929).
She also was in the first network show to feature an
African American actress as the star (The Beulah Show-
1950).

1979 – Hazel W. Johnson becomes the first African American woman
to attain general officer rank in American military
history. Under her tenure as Chief, the Army Nurse Corps
continued to improve standards of education and training.
The Army Nurse Corps Standards of Nursing Practice were
published as an official Department of the Army Pamphlet
(DA PAM 40-5). She received the Distinguished Service
Medal, Legion Of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, and
the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster among
her awards and honors.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 22 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 22 *

1801 – Haitian liberator, Toussaint L’Ouverture, enters Santiago to
battle the French Armed Forces.

1891 – The “Lodge Bill,” which called for federal supervision of U.S.
elections, is abandoned in the Senate after a Southern
filibuster.

1906 – Twenty-eight-year-old Meta Vaux Warrick’s sculpture “Portraits
from Mirrors” is exhibited at the 101st Annual Exhibition of
the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Although it is one of the first major showings
of her work, the young Warrick (later Fuller) has already
studied sculpture with the legendary Auguste Rodin and had
her work exhibited in Paris at S. Bing’s Gallery Nouveau.

1920 – William Caesar Warfield is born in West Helena, Arkansas, the
eldest of five sons. He will become a singer and have his
recital debut in New York’s famous Town Hall on March 19,
1950, putting him into the front ranks of concert artists
overnight. His career will span almost fifty years and among
his frequent appearances in foreign countries, this artist
has made six separate tours for the U.S. Department of State,
more than any other American solo artist. He will receive
a Grammy in the “Spoken Word” category (1984) for his
outstanding narration of Aaron Copeland’s “A Lincoln Portrait”
accompanied by the Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra. He is
best known for his role in “Showboat.” He will join the
ancestors on August 26, 2002.

1924 – James Louis (J.J.) Johnson is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He will become one of the greatest trombonists and composers
in jazz. He will be originally influenced by Fred Beckett of
Harlan Leonard’s band. Soon thereafter, he will join Benny
Carter. He will play with Count Basie (1945-1946) and record
his first solo improvisation. During the 1954-1956 period,
J.J. Johnson will take a brief break from bands and team up
with Kai Winding for a commercially successful trombone duo.
He will prefer the use of pure tones when playing the trombone,
focusing on line, interval and accent. His solos will show
virtuosity because of their remarkable mobility, which many
artists find difficult to duplicate or imitate. These
endeavors will be fruitless in the early 1950s and for a
couple of years he will work as a blueprint inspector. In the
1970s, Johnson will move from New Jersey to California,
concentrating exclusively on film and television scoring. In
1984, Johnson will reenter the jazz scene with a tour of the
“European Festival Circuit.” He will be voted into the Down
Beat Hall of Fame in 1995. He will join the ancestors on
February 4, 2001, after committing suicide by shooting himself.

1931 – Samuel “Sam” Cooke is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will
grow up in Chicago, Illinois, after moving there with his
family in 1933. He will become a singer and be best known for
his recordings “You Send Me” and “Twisting the Night Away.”
Cooke will be one of the most popular singers of the 1960’s.
He will join the ancestors on December 11, 1964. He will be
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23,
1986.

1960 – Sugar Ray Robinson loses the Middleweight Boxing Championship
to Paul Pender in a 15-round decision.

1961 – Wilma Rudolph, the 1960 Olympic gold medalist and track star,
sets a world indoor mark in the women’s 60-yard dash, with a
speedy 6.9 seconds in a meet held in Los Angeles, California.

1962 – Baseball Writers elect Jackie Robinson into the Baseball Hall
of Fame.

1973 – George Foreman takes the heavyweight boxing title away from
‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica in the second round.
Foreman will knock ‘Smokin’ Joe down six times on his way to
victory.

1981 – Samuel Pierce is named Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). One of the few African Americans in the
Reagan administration, there will be high expectations for
his potential to effect change, but Pierce’s leadership will
be severely questioned as scandal rocks his department in
1989. An estimated $ 2 billion will be lost due to fraud and
mismanagement during Pierce’s tenure.

1988 – Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson knocks out former
champion Larry Holmes in 4 rounds.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 15 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 15 *

1865 – An African American division, under the command of Major
General Charles Paine, participates in the Fort Fisher,
North Carolina expedition, which will close the Confederacy’s
last major seaport.

1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is founded at Howard University in
Washington, DC. The culmination of efforts by Ethel Hedgeman
(Lyle) and eight other undergraduates, it is the first Greek-
letter organization for African American women.

1929 – Michael Luther King is born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father
will have both of their names changed to Martin Luther King,
Sr. and Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will become a Baptist
minister, world-renowned civil rights leader, and an advocate
of non-violence. His efforts, beginning with the Montgomery
bus boycott in 1955 and continuing for the next 13 years,
will fundamentally change civil rights for African Americans
and earn him a number of honors and awards, including the
Nobel Peace Prize (1964), Medal of Freedom, and the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal (1957). He will join the ancestors on April 4,
1968 after being assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee.

1941 – Yancey Williams, a Howard University student, asked a federal
court to order the Secretary of War and other government
officials to consider his application for enlistment in the
Army Air Corps as a flying cadet.

1950 – More than 4,000 delegates from one hundred national
organizations attend the National Emergency Civil Rights
Conference in Washington, DC.

1968 – Reporting the results of a “Jet” magazine poll, “The New York
Times” article “Negro History Week Stirs Up Semantic Debate”
indicates that 59% of those polled prefer the term Afro-
American or Black to Negro.

1970 – Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the nearby crypt containing
the remains of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his boyhood home
are dedicated as part of a memorial to be known as the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change.

1970 – Biafra officially surrenders to the Nigerian government and is
reintegrated into Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu had declared the
independence of the eastern province of Biafra in 1967 to
guarantee the survival of Igbos, Biafra’s ethnic majority
group. During the war with Nigeria, as many as 400,000
Biafrans died of starvation.

1990 – George Foreman knocks out Gerry Cooney in 2 rounds, at the age
of forty two.

1998 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) National
President Joseph E. Lowery, steps down from his post and
Martin Luther King, III is named the new president, the actual
birthday of SCLC Founding President, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 10 African American Historical Events

 Today in Black History – January 10                *

1768 – James Varick is born in Orange County, New York.  Racism in
New York City will lead Varick, a licensed clergyman, and 
30 other African Americans to leave the famous and
predominantly white John Street Methodist Episcopal Church
and establish the first African American church in New York
City.  He will later become the founder and first bishop of
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He will join
the ancestors on July 22, 1827. His remains now rest in the
crypt of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
in the village of Harlem in New York City.

1811 – African Americans in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hold meetings
at Bethel Church to protest The American Colonization
Society’s campaign “to exile us from the land of our
nativity.”

1811 – Slaves in Louisiana rebel in two parishes about thirty-five
miles from New Orleans.  The revolt is suppressed by U.S.
troops.

1870 – The legislature in the state of Georgia reconvenes and admits
African American representatives and senators.

1889 – The Ivory Coast is declared a protectorate of France.

1925 – Drummer Maxwell Lemuel “Max” Roach is born in Newland, North
Carolina. He will become an influential figure in the development
of modern jazz, playing with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Clifford Brown before forming his own groups in the
1950’s.  He will achieve wide acclaim for his superb musical
innovation.  He also will be an educator, teaching at
Lennox, Massachusetts School of Jazz, Yale University, and
Professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts
(Amherst). He will join the ancestors on August 16, 2007.

1938 – Willie McCovey is born in Mobile, Alabama.  He will become a
professional baseball player in 1959.  In more than two
decades later, Willie will end his career, and garner an
impressive array of baseball’s most coveted awards: Rookie
of the Year in 1959; MVP in 1969; six times an All-Star and
once the All-Star Game MVP; Comeback Player of the Year in
1977 and the National League’s all-time left-handed home run
hitter.

1949 – George Foreman is born in Marshall, Texas.  He will become a
professional boxer and win the world heavyweight
championship in 1973.  He will retire from boxing in 1977
after a defeat by Jimmy Young. He will enter the ministry
and stay away from boxing for ten years.  He will return to
boxing in 1987 at the age of 37 and become the oldest
heavyweight champion at age 45 on November 5, 1994.

1966 – The Georgia House of Representatives refuses to seat African
American legislator Julian Bond, SNCC communications
director, because of his opposition to U.S. involvement in
the Vietnam War.  He will be seated almost one year later,
after a legal battle that will eventually be resolved by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

1967 – Edward Brooke, takes his seat as the first popularly elected
African American United States Senator.

1976 – Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as “Howlin’ Wolf,” joins
the ancestors in Hines, Illinois. He was a blues legend that
helped to bring the Delta Blues music from Mississippi to
Chicago during the 1950’s. This music was the basis for the
Chicago blues sound.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 5 *

1828 – Theodore Sedgwick Wright becomes the first African
American person to get a Theology Degree in the United
States, when he graduates from Princeton Theological
Seminary.

1867 – First Reconstruction constitutional convention opens in
Montgomery, Alabama. It has eighteen African Americans
and ninety whites in attendance.

1901 – Etta Moten (later Barnett) is born in San Antonio, Texas.
She will become an actress starring in “Porgy and Bess”
and have a successful career on Broadway. She will
appear in the movie “Flying Down to Rio”(1933), singing
and dancing the Carioca, and as a singer in “The Gold
Diggers of 1933″(1933). In her later years, she will be
active as an Advisory Board Member of The Black Academy
of Arts and Letters.

1917 – The Supreme Court (Buchanan vs Warley) rules that a
Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance mandating blacks and
whites live in separate areas is unconstitutional.

1926 – Negro History Week is initiated by Carter G. Woodson.

1931 – Ike Turner is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will
become a singer, songwriter/pianist and will join forces
in 1960 with his wife, Tina Turner.

1935 – The Maryland Court of Appeals orders the University of
Maryland to admit African American student, Donald
Murray.

1956 – Art Tatum, joins the ancestors at age 46 in Los Angeles,
California. Despite impaired vision, he received formal
training in music and developed a unique improvisational
style. He was an accomplished jazz pianist who impressed
even classicist Vladimir Horowitz. Perhaps the most
gifted technician of all jazzmen, Tatum had other assets
as well, among them an harmonic sense so acute as to make
him an almost infallible improviser. This aspect of his
style, as well as his great rhythmic freedom, influenced
the young players who became the founders of a new style
called bebop.

1956 – The Nat King Cole Show premiers. The 15-minute show
starring the popular singer will run until June 1957 and
reappear in July in a half-hour format. The first network
variety series hosted by an African American star, it was
canceled due to lack of support by advertisers.

1968 – Eight African American males and the first African American
female, Shirley Chisholm, are elected to the U.S. Congress.
Including previously elected Massachusetts senator Edward
Brooke, it is the largest number of African American
representatives to serve in Congress since the 44th
Congress of 1875-1877.

1970 – The National Guard is mobilized in Henderson, North
Carolina, as a result of racially motivated civil
disturbances.

1974 – George Brown of Colorado and Mervyn Dymally of California
are the first African American lieutenant governors elected
in the 20th century, while Walter Washington becomes the
first African American to be elected mayor of the District
of Columbia, and Harold Ford is elected to Congress from
Tennessee, the first African American from the state.

1974 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Damon J. Keith “in tribute
to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles as
revealed in a series of memorable decisions he handed down
as a United States District Court judge.”

1989 – The first memorial to the civil rights movement in the
United States is dedicated at a ceremony in Montgomery,
Alabama. The memorial was commissioned by the Southern
Poverty Law Center, a legal and educational organization
located in Montgomery.

1994 – George Foreman, 45, becomes boxing’s oldest heavyweight
champion by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round
of their WBA fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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