KRLemmons African American History

April 20 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 20 *

1853 – Harriet Tubman starts as a conductor on the Underground
Railroad.

1871 – Third Enforcement Act defines Klan conspiracy as a rebellion
against the United States and empowers the president to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus and declare martial law
in rebellious areas.

1877 – Federal troops are withdrawn from public buildings in New
Orleans, Louisiana. Democrats then take over the state
government.

1908 – Lionel Hampton is born in Louisville, Kentucky. He will
become trained as a drummer and starts his musical career
on this instrument. In 1930, while in a recording session
with Louis Armstrong, He will become fall in love with the
sound of a vibraphone that was used only to play the famous
NBC bing-bang-bong station identification. This will lead
to Armstrong asking Hampton to add the instrument to the
score they were about to record. “Memories of You”, the
song premiering Hampton on the vibraphone, will become a
classic. He will go on to become the best-known jazz master
of the vibraphone. He will join the ancestors on August 31,
2002.

1920 – Mary J. Reynolds invents a hoisting/loading mechanism.

1926 – Harriet Elizabeth Byrd is born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She
will become a teacher and in 1981, the first African
American legislator in Wyoming’s state history. She will
serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1981 to
1988, and in the Wyoming Senate from 1988 to 1992, becoming
the first African American to serve in both houses. During
her career in the state legislature, she will sponsor
legislation establishing a state holiday in honor of Martin
Luther King Jr., achieving a partial victory in 1991 through
the establishment of the Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming
Equality Day which is popularly recognized as King Day in
the state. Other legislation she will sponsor includes
requiring the use of child safety restraints, expansion of
available handicapped parking, and the establishment of
social services programs for adults. She will join the
ancestors on January 27, 2015.

1951 – Luther Vandross is born in New York City. An early backup
singer and commercial jingle writer, his big break as a
solo artist will come in 1981 when his album “Never Too
Much” will reveal his talents to both Rhythm & Blues and
pop audiences. He will make a string of hit albums,
earning seven consecutive platinum and double-platinum
albums and achieve his greatest crossover success with the
albums “The Best of Luther Vandross” and “Power of Love,”
which will earn him three Grammy awards. He will join the
ancestors from complications of diabetes and a stroke on
July 1, 2005.

1964 – Cleveland school officials report that 86 per cent of the
African American students in the school system participated
in one-day boycott.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson awards the Medal of Freedom to
Leontyne Price, for “Her singing has brought light to her
land.”

1969 – James Earl Jones wins a Tony for his portrayal of
controversial heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in “The
Great White Hope.”

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing is a
constitutionally acceptable method of integrating public
schools.

2010 – Dorothy Height, the leading female voice of the 1960s civil
rights movement and a participant in historic marches with
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, joins the ancestors
at the age of 98. Dr. Height, whose activism on behalf of
women and minorities dates to the New Deal, led the National
Council of Negro Women for 40 years. She continued actively
speaking out into her 90s, often getting rousing ovations at
events around Washington, where she was immediately recognized
by the bright, colorful hats she almost always wore. In a
statement, President Barack Obama calls her “the godmother of
the civil rights movement” and a hero to Americans. “Dr. Height
devoted her life to those struggling for equality … and
served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil
Rights Movement _ witnessing every march and milestone along
the way,” Obama said.

2011 – Gerard Smith joins the ancestors at the age of 36, succumbing to
lung cancer. He was an American visual artist, musician, and
member of the celebrated Brooklyn-based band “TV on the Radio.”
He recorded an album of original music as “A Rose Parade” with
Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum and also produced music with
Midnight Masses.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 10 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 10 *

1850 – Hallie Quinn Brown is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She
will become a Black educator and elocutionist who will
pioneer the movement for Black women’s clubs in the United
States. The daughter of former slaves, she will receive a
B.S. from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1873. She will
then teach on plantations and in the public schools of
Mississippi and South Carolina. After graduating from the
Chautauqua Lecture School, and teaching in Dayton, Ohio,
and in Alabama, she will return to Wilberforce to teach
elocution. At that time she will begin her extensive travels
as an elocutionist and lecturer, speaking in Europe as well
as the United States on topics of the life of Blacks in
America. She will assist in founding the earliest women’s
clubs for Blacks and, from 1905 to 1912, will serve as
president of the Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s
Clubs. She will also help to found the Colored Women’s
League of Washington, D.C., a predecessor of
the National Association of Colored Women. She will also
author “Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction,”
a 1926 collection of biographical sketches of notable
African American women. She will join the ancestors on
September 16, 1949, in Wilberforce, Ohio.

1863 – Two U.S. African American infantry regiments, the First and
Second South Carolina Volunteers, capture and occupy
Jacksonville, Florida, causing panic along the Southern
seaboard. These regiments are not to be confused with the
confederate army First South Carolina Volunteers Infantry
Regiment.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier begins publishing. It will become one
of the most influential African American newspapers in the
country. In 1966, it will change its name to the “New
Pittsburgh Courier,” and continue to operate as a semi-weekly
publication. In 1987, the Courier will be the winner of the
John B. Russwurm award for excellence in responsible
journalism given by the National Newspaper Publishers
Association to the top African American Newspapers in America.

1913 – Harriet Tubman joins the ancestors in Auburn, New York. An
escaped slave, Tubman was known to the Underground Railroad as
“Black Moses” for her heroic trips south to free hundreds of
slaves. During the Civil War, she served as a scout, spy,
cook, and nurse.

1963 – Jasmine Guy is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She will become
an actress on television and will be best known for her role
as “Whitley” in the series “A Different World.”

1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty in the first degree to the murder
of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and will be sentenced to 99 years
in prison. The House Select Committee on Assassinations will
later state that although it believes Ray shot King, Ray was
part of a larger conspiracy. Ray will later repudiate that
plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.

1972 – Three thousand delegates and five thousand observers attend
the first African American political convention in Gary,
Indiana. The NAACP and other groups withdraw from the
convention after the adoption of resolutions that are critical
of busing and the state of Israel.

1990 – Haitian ruler Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril resigns during a popular
uprising against his military regime.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 6 *

1806 – The African Meeting House is established in Boston,
Massachusetts and will become the oldest African
American house of worship still standing in the United
States. This house of worship will be constructed
almost entirely by African American laborers and
craftsmen, but funds will be contributed by the white
community. Because of the leadership role its
congregation takes in the early struggle for civil
rights, the African Meeting House will become known as
the Abolition Church and Black Faneuil Hall. Frederick
Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison will be speakers
there.

1849 – Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland. She
will return to the South nineteen times and bring out
more than three hundred slaves.

1865 – Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, abolishing slavery is completed. The
proclamation of its acceptance will take place on
December 18, 1865.

1869 – The National Black labor convention meets in Washington,
DC.

1870 – Joseph H Rainey becomes the first African American in
the House of Representatives, from the state of South
Carolina.

1871 – P.B.S. Pinchback is elected president pro tem of the
Louisiana Senate and acting lieutenant governor. He is
the first African American to serve in these positions
in state government.

1875 – The Forty-Fourth Congress of 1875-1877 convenes with a
high of eight African Americans taking office. They are
Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi and congressmen
Jeremiah Haralson of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida,
John Roy Lynch of Mississippi, John A. Hyman of North
Carolina, Charles E. Nash of Louisiana,; and Joseph H.
Rainey and Robert Smalls of South Carolina.

1892 – Theodore K. Lawless is born in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. He
will receive his medical degree from Northwestern
University, hold a fellowship at Massachusetts General
Hospital and receive further training at the University
of Paris’s premier Dermatology program. He will become a
dermatologist, medical researcher, and philanthropist.
He will known for his work related to leprosy and
syphilis. He will also be involved in various charitable
causes including Jewish causes. He will create the
Lawless Department of Dermatology in Beilison Hospital,
Tel-Aviv, Israel, the T. K. Lawless Student Summer
Program at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot,
Israel; the Lawless Clinical and Research Laboratory in
Dermatology of the Hebrew Medical School, Jerusalem;
Roosevelt University’s Chemical Laboratory and Lecture
Auditorium, Chicago; and Lawless Memorial Chapel,
Dillard University, New Orleans. His philantrophy in
Israel was ingratitude for the support received from
Jewish doctors in obtaining his appointment to his
position at the University of Paris. A shrewd investor
and businessman, he will have a remarkable business
career. He will be director of both the Supreme Life
Insurance Company and Marina City Bank. He will also be
a charter member, associate founder, and president of
Service Federal Savings and Loan in Chicago. He will
become a self-made millionaire. He will join the
ancestors in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 1971.

1949 – Blues legend Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter joins the
ancestors in New York City.

1956 – Nelson Mandela and 156 others are jailed for political
activities in South Africa.

1960 – 500 store owners sign pledges of nondiscrimination in
Tucson, Arizona.

1961 – Dr. Frantz O. Fanon, noted author of “Black Skins, White
Masks” and “Wretched of the Earth”, joins the ancestors
in Washington, DC. He succumbs to leukemia at the
National Institutes of Health.

1977 – South Africa grants Bophuthatswana its independence.
The constitution, in effect after South Africa’s first
all-race elections in April 1994, will abolish this
black homeland, which will be reabsorbed into South
Africa.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 5 *

1763 – William Richmond is born in Cuckold’s Town, near,
Richmond, Virginia. He will relocate to Staten Island,
New York, where will he will become a freedman and the
first black professional boxer from America. He will
work as a shipyard laborer and be noticed by a British
commander named Hugh Percy on the docks having a fight
with a dock sailor. Percy convinced Richmond’s parents
to let him travel to England where he could establish a
better life. He will become a cabinetmaker, and learned
boxing for self-defense. Known as “Black Terror,” he will
knock out his first Englishman in just 25 seconds. By
1800, he will become a recognized semi-professional
boxer. After enough wins, he will be booked to fight the
English champion Tom Cribb. The Richmond/Cribb fight will
bring in thousands of English fans, including dukes and
nobles. The hype of the fight on October 8, 1805 will be
immediately publicized as Cribb and Richmond (The Black).
He will be 41 at the time, lose his fight to Cribb, and
“the crowd was pleased that a Black man had been put in
his place.” One of the first African Americans to attempt
winning a title in any sport, he will continue boxing
until he was 52. He will join the ancestors on Dec. 28,
1829.

1864 – John Lawson, an African American gunner on the flagship of
Admiral David Farragut, exhibits marked courage in the
Battle of Mobile Bay and wins the Congressional Medal of
Honor.

1865 – President Andrew Johnson moves to reverse the policy of
distributing abandoned land to freedmen.

1892 – Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her
work as a nurse, spy, and scout during the Civil War.
She, along with Sojourner Truth, Susie King and almost
200 other African American women, served as nurses during
the war at 11 hospitals in three states.

1900 – James Augustine Healy, the first African American Roman
Catholic bishop, joins the ancestors in Portland, Maine.
He is the brother of Patrick Francis Healy, the first
African American to receive a Ph.D. and first African
American president of a predominantly white university
(Georgetown University).

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his third gold medal by running a 200-
meter race in 20.7 seconds at the Olympic Games held in
Berlin, Germany.

1938 – James Hal Cone is born in Fordyce, Arkansas. He will
become a theologian, best known for his advocacy of Black
liberation theology. His 1969 book “Black Theology and
Black Power” provides a new way to articulate the
distinctiveness of theology in the black Church. His work
will become influential from the time of the book’s
publication and remain influential today. His work has
been both utilized and critiqued inside and outside of the
African American theological community. He will become the
Charles Augustus Briggs “Distinguished Professor of
Systematic Theology” at Union Theological Seminary in the
City of New York and is currently in that position, at this
time.

1945 – Jeannette (Ja’net) DuBois born in Brooklyn, New York. She
will become an actress and singer. In the late 1960’s, she
will perform in the original Broadway production of “Golden
Boy” with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lou Gossett. This will be
her introduction to live theatre. She will go on to appear
in some of the biggest shows on Broadway, including “A
Raisin in the Sun” and “Nobody Loves An Albatross.” A role
on the soap opera, “Love of Life”, will give her
recognition as the first black female to regularly appear
on a serial. A pivotal point in her career will occur when
she relocates to the West Coast. During a performance of
“Hot L. Baltimore” in Los Angeles, she will capture the
attention of Norman Lear, creator of “Good Times.” She and
Lear will develop the vivacious and independent “Willona,”
for the popular sitcom, which will air on CBS from 1971 to
1979. She will usually find herself playing roles which
make her seem much older than she her actual age. For
example, when “Good Times” premiered in 1974, she was a
few years older than Jimmie Walker, while the show made
her out to be much closer in age to Esther Rolle, who was
53 at the time. In 1970, she will play the part of a
quarrelsome laundress alongside Carrie Snodgrass in the
cult classic, “Diary of a Mad Housewife”. She will co-star
in the movie “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” and the sitcoms
“Moesha” and “The Steve Harvey Show.” She will play the
grandmother on the hit show, “The Wayans Bros.”. She will
appear in the 2003 movie “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.”
Among her other credits, she will appear in the 1969 made-
for-TV holiday film “J.T.”. She will also appear in former
“Good Times” co-star Janet Jackson’s “Control” music video
as her mother. She will also appear in “Love of Life”
between 1970-1972 as Loretta Allen, years prior to
starring in “Good Times.” She will win an CableACE Award
for her work on the TV movie “Other Women’s Children”,
based on the novel by Perri Klass, and she will also win
two Emmy Awards for her voiceover work on the animated
program “The PJs.”

1962 – Nelson Mandela is charged with incitement and illegally
leaving South Africa.

1962 – Patrick Aloysius Ewing is born in Kingston, Jamaica. He
will star in cricket and soccer. He will be 13 years old
when he arrives in the United States with his family,
settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he will learn
to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, a public
high school. He will attend Georgetown University in
Washington, DC. In the 1984 season, he and Georgetown will
win the NCAA title with an 84-75 win over the University of
Houston. He will be one of the best college basketball
players of his era, as Georgetown will reach the
championship game of the NCAA tournament three out of four
years. He will be a first team All-American in 1983, 1984,
and 1985. Although injuries will mar his first year in the
NBA, he will be named NBA Rookie of the Year, averaging 20
points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Soon after he
will be considered one of the premier centers in the
league. He will enjoy a successful career, eleven times
named a NBA All-Star, an All-NBA First Team selection once,
a member of the All-NBA Second Team six times and the NBA
All-Defensive Second Team three times. He will be a member
of the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympic Games,
winning a second gold medal. In 1996, he will also be given
the honor of being named one of the 50 greatest players in
NBA history. While he will enjoy a stellar career in the
NBA, he will never win a title as a professional.

1966 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is stoned by hecklers during a
Chicago, Illinois civil rights march.

1968 – Senator Edward Brooke is named the temporary chairman of
the Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida.

1984 – Track and field stars Evelyn Ashford and Edwin Moses win
Gold medals in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles,
California.

1992 – Federal civil rights charges are filed against four Los
Angeles police officers acquitted of state charges in the
videotaped beating of Rodney King. Two of the officers
will be convicted later of federal charges of violating
King’s civil rights.

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 2 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – June 2 *

1863 – Harriet Tubman leads a group of Union troops into
Confederate territory.

1875 – James A. Healy is consecrated in a cathedral in Portland,
Maine, becoming the first African American Roman Catholic
bishop (Diocese of Maine).

1899 – African Americans observe a day of fasting called by the
National Afro-American Council to protest lynchings and
racial massacres.

1907 – Dorothy West is born in Boston, Massachusettts. She will
become a writer at age of seven when the Boston Globe
publishes her short story, “Promise and Fulfillment.” She
will become a leading writer during the Harlem Renaissance
and will also become a performer, working as a cast member
of the play, “Porgy.” She will found two literary journals,
“Challenge,” and “New Challenge.” She will move to Martha’s
Vineyard in 1945 and will live there for the remainder of
her life, while producing the works “Living Is Easy,” “The
Wedding,” and more than sixty short stories. She will join
the ancestors in Boston, Massachusetts on August 16, 1998.

1911 – Claudio Brindis de Salas joins the ancestors in Buenos
Aires, Argentina at the age of 58. He was an Afro-Cuban
violinist and composer renown worldwide as a virtuoso. He
had been referred to as “The Black Paganini” and “The King
of the the Octaves.”

1943 – The 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen), the first
African American Army Air Corps unit, flies its first
combat mission in the Mediterranean, strafing enemy
positions on the Italian island of Pantelleria.

1951 – Kenneth I. Chenault is born in Mineola (Long Island), New
York. He will become an attorney and join American Express
in 1981, where he will become president of the company’s
Consumer Card and Financial Services Group in 1989 and one
of the highest-ranking African Americans in corporate
America.

1951 – Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton, a member of Company C, 24th
Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, is mortally
wounded during the Korean War while his platoon was
attacking heavily defended hostile positions on commanding
ground. After his platoon leader was wounded and evacuated,
Sgt. Charlton assumed command, rallied the men, and
spearheaded the assault against the hill. Personally
eliminating 2 hostile positions and killing 6 of the enemy
with his rifle fire and grenades, he continued up the slope
until the unit suffered heavy casualties and became pinned
down. Regrouping the men he led them forward only to be
again hurled back by a shower of grenades. Despite a severe
chest wound, Sgt. Charlton refused medical attention and
led a third daring charge which carried to the crest of the
ridge. Observing that the remaining emplacement which had
retarded the advance was situated on the reverse slope, he
charged it alone, was again hit by a grenade but raked the
position with a devastating fire which eliminated it and
routed the defenders. He will be posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery on March 19, 1952.

1953 – Cornel West is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He will grow up in
Sacramento, California and be influenced by the Black
Panther Party and the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Malcolm X. He will graduate from Harvard University
magna cum laude in 1973, and will receive his M.A. and
Ph.D. from Princeton University. After teaching at Yale
Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary and Princeton,
he will join the faculty of Harvard University in 1994.
Considered a leading African American intellectual, he will
be the author of thirteen books, including the two-volume
“Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism” (Common Courage
Press, 1993), “Breaking Bread” (South End Press, 1991),
“Race Matters” (Beacon Press, 1993), “Keeping Faith”
(Routledge, 1993), “Jews and Blacks Let the Healing Begin”
(Putnam Books, 1995), co-authored with Michael Lerner, and
“Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black
America” (Beacon Press, October 1997). Besides his numerous
publications, he will be a well-respected and highly
popular lecturer. His speaking style, formed by his roots
in the Baptist Church, will provide a blend of drama,
knowledge, and inspiration.

1967 – The first of three days of race riots occurs in the Roxbury
section of Boston, Massachusetts. Dozens are injured and
more are arrested after welfare mothers barricade themselves
in protest against welfare policies.

1985 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes the all-time leading point scorer
in the National Basketball Association playoffs. He rings
up a total of 4,458 points, smashing the previous record
held by Jerry West, also of the Los Angeles Lakers.

1993 – South Africa’s Supreme Court upholds Winnie Mandela’s
conviction for kidnapping four young blacks, but said she
would not have to serve her five-year prison term.

1999 – South Africans go to the polls in their second post-apartheid
election, giving the African National Congress a decisive
victory. Retiring President Nelson Mandela is succeeded by
Thabo Mbeki.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 20 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 20 *

1853 – Harriet Tubman starts as a conductor on the Underground
Railroad.

1871 – Third Enforcement Act defines Klan conspiracy as a rebellion
against the United States and empowers the president to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus and declare martial law
in rebellious areas.

1877 – Federal troops are withdrawn from public buildings in New
Orleans, Louisiana. Democrats then take over the state
government.

1908 – Lionel Hampton is born in Louisville, Kentucky. He will
become trained as a drummer and starts his musical career
on this instrument. In 1930, while in a recording session
with Louis Armstrong, He will become fall in love with the
sound of a vibraphone that was used only to play the famous
NBC bing-bang-bong station identification. This will lead
to Armstrong asking Hampton to add the instrument to the
score they were about to record. “Memories of You”, the
song premiering Hampton on the vibraphone, will become a
classic. He will go on to become the best-known jazz master
of the vibraphone. He will join the ancestors on August 31,
2002.

1920 – Mary J. Reynolds invents a hoisting/loading mechanism.

1926 – Harriet Elizabeth Byrd is born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She
will become a teacher and in 1981, the first African
American legislator in Wyoming’s state history. She will
serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1981 to
1988, and in the Wyoming Senate from 1988 to 1992, becoming
the first African American to serve in both houses. During
her career in the state legislature, she will sponsor
legislation establishing a state holiday in honor of Martin
Luther King Jr., achieving a partial victory in 1991 through
the establishment of the Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming
Equality Day which is popularly recognized as King Day in
the state. Other legislation she will sponsor includes
requiring the use of child safety restraints, expansion of
available handicapped parking, and the establishment of
social services programs for adults.

1951 – Luther Vandross is born in New York City. An early backup
singer and commercial jingle writer, his big break as a
solo artist will come in 1981 when his album “Never Too
Much” will reveal his talents to both Rhythm & Blues and
pop audiences. He will make a string of hit albums,
earning seven consecutive platinum and double-platinum
albums and achieve his greatest crossover success with the
albums “The Best of Luther Vandross” and “Power of Love,”
which will earn him three Grammy awards. He will join the
ancestors from complications of diabetes and a stroke on
July 1, 2005.

1964 – Cleveland school officials report that 86 per cent of the
African American students in the school system participated
in one-day boycott.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson awards the Medal of Freedom to
Leontyne Price, for “Her singing has brought light to her
land.”

1969 – James Earl Jones wins a Tony for his portrayal of
controversial heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in “The
Great White Hope.”

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing is a
constitutionally acceptable method of integrating public
schools.

2010 – Dorothy Height, the leading female voice of the 1960s civil
rights movement and a participant in historic marches with
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, joins the ancestors
at the age of 98. Dr. Height, whose activism on behalf of
women and minorities dates to the New Deal, led the National
Council of Negro Women for 40 years. She continued actively
speaking out into her 90s, often getting rousing ovations at
events around Washington, where she was immediately recognized
by the bright, colorful hats she almost always wore. In a
statement, President Barack Obama calls her “the godmother of
the civil rights movement” and a hero to Americans. “Dr. Height
devoted her life to those struggling for equality … and
served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil
Rights Movement _ witnessing every march and milestone along
the way,” Obama said.

2011 – Gerard Smith joins the ancestors at the age of 36, succumbing to
lung cancer. He was an American visual artist, musician, and
member of the celebrated Brooklyn-based band “TV on the Radio.”
He recorded an album of original music as “A Rose Parade” with
Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum and also produced music with
Midnight Masses.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 10 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 10 *

1850 – Hallie Quinn Brown is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She
will become a Black educator and elocutionist who will
pioneer the movement for Black women’s clubs in the United
States. The daughter of former slaves, she will receive a
B.S. from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1873. She will
then teach on plantations and in the public schools of
Mississippi and South Carolina. After graduating from the
Chautauqua Lecture School, and teaching in Dayton, Ohio,
and in Alabama, she will return to Wilberforce to teach
elocution. At that time she will begin her extensive travels
as an elocutionist and lecturer, speaking in Europe as well
as the United States on topics of the life of Blacks in
America. She will assist in founding the earliest women’s
clubs for Blacks and, from 1905 to 1912, will serve as
president of the Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s
Clubs. She will also help to found the Colored Women’s
League of Washington, D.C., a predecessor of
the National Association of Colored Women. She will also
author “Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction,”
a 1926 collection of biographical sketches of notable
African American women. She will join the ancestors on
September 16, 1949, in Wilberforce, Ohio.

1863 – Two U.S. African American infantry regiments, the First and
Second South Carolina Volunteers, capture and occupy
Jacksonville, Florida, causing panic along the Southern
seaboard. These regiments are not to be confused with the
confederate army First South Carolina Volunteers Infantry
Regiment.

1910 – The Pittsburgh Courier begins publishing. It will become one
of the most influential African American newspapers in the
country. In 1966, it will change its name to the “New
Pittsburgh Courier,” and continue to operate as a semi-weekly
publication. In 1987, the Courier will be the winner of the
John B. Russwurm award for excellence in responsible
journalism given by the National Newspaper Publishers
Association to the top African American Newspapers in America.

1913 – Harriet Tubman joins the ancestors in Auburn, New York. An
escaped slave, Tubman was known to the Underground Railroad as
“Black Moses” for her heroic trips south to free hundreds of
slaves. During the Civil War, she served as a scout, spy,
cook, and nurse.

1963 – Jasmine Guy is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She will become
an actress on television and will be best known for her role
as “Whitley” in the series “A Different World.”

1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty in the first degree to the murder
of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and will be sentenced to 99 years
in prison. The House Select Committee on Assassinations will
later state that although it believes Ray shot King, Ray was
part of a larger conspiracy. Ray will later repudiate that
plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.

1972 – Three thousand delegates and five thousand observers attend
the first African American political convention in Gary,
Indiana. The NAACP and other groups withdraw from the
convention after the adoption of resolutions that are critical
of busing and the state of Israel.

1990 – Haitian ruler Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril resigns during a popular
uprising against his military regime.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – February 1*

1810 – Charles Lenox Remond is born in Salem, Massachusetts to free
parents. He will become one of the most prominent of the
African American abolitionist crusaders. Charles Remond will
begin his activism in opposition to slavery while in his
twenties as an orator speaking at public gatherings and
conferences in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New York
and Pennsylvania. In 1838 the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery
Society, will choose him as one of its agents. As a delegate
from the American Anti-Slavery Society, he will go with William
Lloyd Garrison to the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London
in 1840. He will have a reputation as an eloquent lecturer and
reported to be the first Black public speaker on abolition.
He will recruit Black soldiers in Massachusetts for the Union
Army during the Civil War, particularly for the famed 54th and
55th Massachusetts Infantry. He will also be active in recruiting
for the U.S. Colored Troops. After the Civil War ends, he will
work as a clerk in the Boston Customs House, and as a street lamp
inspector. He will later purchase a farm in South Reading (now
Wakefield), Massachusetts. He will join the ancestors on December
22, 1873.

1810 – The first insurance company managed by African Americans, the
American Insurance Company of Philadelphia, is established.

1833 – Henry McNeal Turner is born in Newberry Courthouse, South Carolina.
He will become one of the first Bishops in the African American
Episcopal Church. He will also be an army chaplain, political
organizer, magazine editor, and college chancellor. He will be
inspired by a Methodist revival and swear to become a pastor. In
1858, he will transfer his membership to the African Methodist
Church and study the classics, Hebrew and divinity at Trinity
College. In 1880, he will become a bishop in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church. During the American Civil War, he will be
appointed a Chaplain to one of the first Federal regiments of Black
troops (Company B of the First United States Colored Troops). He
will be the first of only 14 Black Chaplains to be appointed during
the Civil War. This appointment will come directly from President
Abraham Lincoln in 1863. He will also be appointed by President
Andrew Johnson to work with the Freedman’s Bureau in Georgia during
Reconstruction. Following the Civil War, he will become steadily
more disenchanted with the lack of progress in the status of the
country’s African Americans. During this time, he will move to the
state of Georgia. It is here that he will become involved in Radical
Republican politics. He will help found the Republican Party of
Georgia. After attempts to overcome certain Supreme Court decisions,
he will become disgusted and end his attempts to bring equality to
the United States. Instead, he will become a proponent of the “back
to Africa” and “African American colonization” movements. He will
travel to Africa and be impressed by the differences in the attitude
of Africans who have never known the degradation of slavery. He will
organize four annual conferences in Africa. He will write extensively
about the Civil war and about the condition of his parishioners. He
will join the ancestors while visiting Windsor, Ontario on May 15, 1915.
He will be highly regarded in the Afro-American and the Afro-Canadian
community and a large number of churches will be named in his honor.

1865 – John S. Rock becomes the first African American attorney
allowed to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
Due to his poor health, he never actually argued a case
before the court, succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of
41.

1870 – Jonathan Jasper Wright is elected to the South Carolina
Supreme Court. He is the first African American to hold a
major judicial position.

1871 – Jefferson Franklin Long, Republican congressman from Georgia,
makes the first speech by an African American on the floor
of Congress. His text is to oppose leniency to former
Confederates.

1902 – Langston Hughes is born in Joplin, Missouri. He will be
known as one of the most prolific American poets of the
20th century and a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance.
In addition to his poetry, Hughes will achieve success as
an anthologist and juvenile author, write plays and
librettos, found theater groups, and be a widely read
columnist and humorist. Among his honors will be the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal in 1960. He will join the ancestors on May 22, 1967.

1938 – Sherman Hemsley is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He
will become an actor and will known for his roles in the TV
shows “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Amen.”

1948 – James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. is born in Buffalo, New York. He
will become a singer, songwriter, producer, and musician
working under the name “Rick James.” He will be best known
for his recording of “Super Freak” and produce Teena Marie,
the gold-certified Mary Jane Girls, Eddie Murphy, and others.
He will join the ancestors on August 6, 2004.

1957 – P.H. Young becomes the first African American pilot, flying on
an United States scheduled passenger airline.

1960 – Four African American college students from North Carolina A&T
College in Greensboro, North Carolina sit at a “whites-only”
Woolworth’s lunch counter and refuse to leave when denied
service, beginning a sit-in protest.

1963 – Nyasaland (now Malawi) becomes a self-governing nation.

1965 – More than seven hundred demonstrators, including Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., are arrested in Selma, Alabama.

1965 – Ruby Dee becomes the first African American thespian to play a
major role at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford,
Connecticut.

1978 – The first stamp of the United States Postal Service’s Black
Heritage USA series honors Harriet Tubman, famed abolitionist
and “conductor” on the Underground Railroad.

1982 – The nations of Senegal & Gambia form a loose confederation
named Senegambia.

1991 – President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, states that he will
repeal all apartheid laws.

1992 – Barry Bonds signs baseball’s highest single year contract to
date ($4.7 million).

1997 – BET Holdings and Encore Media Corp. launch BET Movie/Starz,
the first 24 hour African American movie channel.

2003 – Lt. Colonel Michael P. Anderson, NASA astronaut, joins the
ancestors at the age of 43, when the Space Shuttle Columbia
explodes during re-entry.

2003 – Ramon “Mongo” Santamaria, joins the ancestors in Miami,
Florida from stroke complications at the age of 85. He had
been considered one of the most influential percussionists of
his generation.

2012 – Don Cornelius, the founder of the “Soul Train” television show,
joins the ancestors, succumbing to an apparent self-inflicted
gunshot wound to his head, at the age of 75.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 6 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – December 6 *

1806 – The African Meeting House is established in Boston,
Massachusetts and will become the oldest African
American house of worship still standing in the United
States. This house of worship will be constructed
almost entirely by African American laborers and
craftsmen, but funds will be contributed by the white
community. Because of the leadership role its
congregation takes in the early struggle for civil
rights, the African Meeting House will become known as
the Abolition Church and Black Faneuil Hall. Frederick
Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison will be speakers
there.

1849 – Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland. She
will return to the South nineteen times and bring out
more than three hundred slaves.

1865 – Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, abolishing slavery is completed. The
proclamation of its acceptance will take place on
December 18, 1865.

1869 – The National Black labor convention meets in Washington,
DC.

1870 – Joseph H Rainey becomes the first African American in
the House of Representatives, from the state of South
Carolina.

1871 – P.B.S. Pinchback is elected president pro tem of the
Louisiana Senate and acting lieutenant governor. He is
the first African American to serve in these positions
in state government.

1875 – The Forty-Fourth Congress of 1875-1877 convenes with a
high of eight African Americans taking office. They are
Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi and congressmen
Jeremiah Haralson of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida,
John Roy Lynch of Mississippi, John A. Hyman of North
Carolina, Charles E. Nash of Louisiana,; and Joseph H.
Rainey and Robert Smalls of South Carolina.

1892 – Theodore K. Lawless is born in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. He
will receive his medical degree from Northwestern
University, hold a fellowship at Massachusetts General
Hospital and receive further training at the University
of Paris’s premier Dermatology program. He will become a
dermatologist, medical researcher, and philanthropist.
He will known for his work related to leprosy and
syphilis. He will also be involved in various charitable
causes including Jewish causes. He will create the
Lawless Department of Dermatology in Beilison Hospital,
Tel-Aviv, Israel, the T. K. Lawless Student Summer
Program at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot,
Israel; the Lawless Clinical and Research Laboratory in
Dermatology of the Hebrew Medical School, Jerusalem;
Roosevelt University’s Chemical Laboratory and Lecture
Auditorium, Chicago; and Lawless Memorial Chapel,
Dillard University, New Orleans. His philantrophy in
Israel was ingratitude for the support received from
Jewish doctors in obtaining his appointment to his
position at the University of Paris. A shrewd investor
and businessman, he will have a remarkable business
career. He will be director of both the Supreme Life
Insurance Company and Marina City Bank. He will also be
a charter member, associate founder, and president of
Service Federal Savings and Loan in Chicago. He will
become a self-made millionaire. He will join the
ancestors in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 1971.

1949 – Blues legend Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter joins the
ancestors in New York City.

1956 – Nelson Mandela and 156 others are jailed for political
activities in South Africa.

1960 – 500 store owners sign pledges of nondiscrimination in
Tucson, Arizona.

1961 – Dr. Frantz O. Fanon, noted author of “Black Skins, White
Masks” and “Wretched of the Earth”, joins the ancestors
in Washington, DC. He succumbs to leukemia at the
National Institutes of Health.

1977 – South Africa grants Bophuthatswana its independence.
The constitution, in effect after South Africa’s first
all-race elections in April 1994, will abolish this
black homeland, which will be reabsorbed into South
Africa.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 5 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 5 *

1763 – William Richmond is born in Cuckold’s Town, near,
Richmond, Virginia. He will relocate to Staten Island,
New York, where will he will become a freedman and the
first black professional boxer from America. He will
work as a shipyard laborer and be noticed by a British
commander named Hugh Percy on the docks having a fight
with a dock sailor. Percy convinced Richmond’s parents
to let him travel to England where he could establish a
better life. He will become a cabinetmaker, and learned
boxing for self-defense. Known as “Black Terror,” he will
knock out his first Englishman in just 25 seconds. By
1800, he will become a recognized semi-professional
boxer. After enough wins, he will be booked to fight the
English champion Tom Cribb. The Richmond/Cribb fight will
bring in thousands of English fans, including dukes and
nobles. The hype of the fight on October 8, 1805 will be
immediately publicized as Cribb and Richmond (The Black).
He will be 41 at the time, lose his fight to Cribb, and
“the crowd was pleased that a Black man had been put in
his place.” One of the first African Americans to attempt
winning a title in any sport, he will continue boxing
until he was 52. He will join the ancestors on Dec. 28,
1829.

1864 – John Lawson, an African American gunner on the flagship of
Admiral David Farragut, exhibits marked courage in the
Battle of Mobile Bay and wins the Congressional Medal of
Honor.

1865 – President Andrew Johnson moves to reverse the policy of
distributing abandoned land to freedmen.

1892 – Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her
work as a nurse, spy, and scout during the Civil War.
She, along with Sojourner Truth, Susie King and almost
200 other African American women, served as nurses during
the war at 11 hospitals in three states.

1900 – James Augustine Healy, the first African American Roman
Catholic bishop, joins the ancestors in Portland, Maine.
He is the brother of Patrick Francis Healy, the first
African American to receive a Ph.D. and first African
American president of a predominantly white university
(Georgetown University).

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his third gold medal by running a 200-
meter race in 20.7 seconds at the Olympic Games held in
Berlin, Germany.

1938 – James Hal Cone is born in Fordyce, Arkansas. He will
become a theologian, best known for his advocacy of Black
liberation theology. His 1969 book “Black Theology and
Black Power” provides a new way to articulate the
distinctiveness of theology in the black Church. His work
will become influential from the time of the book’s
publication and remain influential today. His work has
been both utilized and critiqued inside and outside of the
African American theological community. He will become the
Charles Augustus Briggs “Distinguished Professor of
Systematic Theology” at Union Theological Seminary in the
City of New York and is currently in that position, at this
time.

1945 – Jeannette (Ja’net) DuBois born in Brooklyn, New York. She
will become an actress and singer. In the late 1960’s, she
will perform in the original Broadway production of “Golden
Boy” with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lou Gossett. This will be
her introduction to live theatre. She will go on to appear
in some of the biggest shows on Broadway, including “A
Raisin in the Sun” and “Nobody Loves An Albatross.” A role
on the soap opera, “Love of Life”, will give her
recognition as the first black female to regularly appear
on a serial. A pivotal point in her career will occur when
she relocates to the West Coast. During a performance of
“Hot L. Baltimore” in Los Angeles, she will capture the
attention of Norman Lear, creator of “Good Times.” She and
Lear will develop the vivacious and independent “Willona,”
for the popular sitcom, which will air on CBS from 1971 to
1979. She will usually find herself playing roles which
make her seem much older than she her actual age. For
example, when “Good Times” premiered in 1974, she was a
few years older than Jimmie Walker, while the show made
her out to be much closer in age to Esther Rolle, who was
53 at the time. In 1970, she will play the part of a
quarrelsome laundress alongside Carrie Snodgrass in the
cult classic, “Diary of a Mad Housewife”. She will co-star
in the movie “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” and the sitcoms
“Moesha” and “The Steve Harvey Show.” She will play the
grandmother on the hit show, “The Wayans Bros.”. She will
appear in the 2003 movie “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.”
Among her other credits, she will appear in the 1969 made-
for-TV holiday film “J.T.”. She will also appear in former
“Good Times” co-star Janet Jackson’s “Control” music video
as her mother. She will also appear in “Love of Life”
between 1970-1972 as Loretta Allen, years prior to
starring in “Good Times.” She will win an CableACE Award
for her work on the TV movie “Other Women’s Children”,
based on the novel by Perri Klass, and she will also win
two Emmy Awards for her voiceover work on the animated
program “The PJs.”

1962 – Nelson Mandela is charged with incitement and illegally
leaving South Africa.

1962 – Patrick Aloysius Ewing is born in Kingston, Jamaica. He
will star in cricket and soccer. He will be 13 years old
when he arrives in the United States with his family,
settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he will learn
to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, a public
high school. He will attend Georgetown University in
Washington, DC. In the 1984 season, he and Georgetown will
win the NCAA title with an 84-75 win over the University of
Houston. He will be one of the best college basketball
players of his era, as Georgetown will reach the
championship game of the NCAA tournament three out of four
years. He will be a first team All-American in 1983, 1984,
and 1985. Although injuries will mar his first year in the
NBA, he will be named NBA Rookie of the Year, averaging 20
points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Soon after he
will be considered one of the premier centers in the
league. He will enjoy a successful career, eleven times
named a NBA All-Star, an All-NBA First Team selection once,
a member of the All-NBA Second Team six times and the NBA
All-Defensive Second Team three times. He will be a member
of the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympic Games,
winning a second gold medal. In 1996, he will also be given
the honor of being named one of the 50 greatest players in
NBA history. While he will enjoy a stellar career in the
NBA, he will never win a title as a professional.

1966 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is stoned by hecklers during a
Chicago, Illinois civil rights march.

1968 – Senator Edward Brooke is named the temporary chairman of
the Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida.

1984 – Track and field stars Evelyn Ashford and Edwin Moses win
Gold medals in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles,
California.

1992 – Federal civil rights charges are filed against four Los
Angeles police officers acquitted of state charges in the
videotaped beating of Rodney King. Two of the officers
will be convicted later of federal charges of violating
King’s civil rights.

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