KRLemmons African American History

February 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – February 13 *

***********************************************************************
* Subscribe to the Munirah Chronicle and receive *
* Black Facts every day of the year. *
* To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]> *
* In the E-mail body place: Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name *
***********************************************************************

1818 – The first African American Episcopal priest ordained in the
United States, Absalom Jones, joins the ancestors in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an instrumental force in
the development of the early African American church and
benevolent society movements.

1882 – Henry Highland Garnet, abolitionist, preacher, diplomat and
protest leader, joins the ancestors in Monrovia, Liberia at
the age of 66.

1892 – The first African American performers, the World’s Fair
Colored Opera Company, appear at New York City’s Carnegie
Hall less than one year after the hall’s opening. In the
company is concert singer Matilda Sissieretta Jones, who will
have her solo debut at Carnegie Hall two years later.

1907 – Wendell P. Dabney establishes “The Union.” The Cincinnati,
Ohio paper’s motto is “For no people can become great without
being united, for in union, there is strength.”

1919 – Eddie Robinson is born in Jackson, Louisiana. He will accept
the head coaching position in 1941, at the Louisiana Negro
Normal and Industrial Institute in Grambling, Louisiana
(later named Grambling State University. Over the next 54
years, he will become the winningest college football coach.
On October 7, 1995, he will win his 400th game, establishing
a record and securing his status as a legend. Sports
Illustrated will place Robinson on the cover of its October
14, 1995 issue, making him the first and only coach of an
historically Black university to appear on the cover of any
major sports publication in the United States. To his credit,
he will produce 113 NFL players, including four Pro Football
Hall of Famers. He will join the ancestors on April 3, 2007.

1920 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs is
founded by Andrew “Rube” Foster. They will be called the
Negro National League. It will become the first successful
African American professional baseball league. Two other
leagues had previously been started, but failed to last more
than one season.

1923 – The first African American professional basketball team “The
Renaissance” is organized by Robert J. Douglas. It is named
after its home court, the Renaissance Casino. They will
play from 1923 to 1939 and have a record of 1,588 wins
against 239 losses. They will become the first African
American team in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

1957 – The Southern Leadership Conference is founded at a meeting of
ministers in New Orleans, Louisiana. Martin Luther King, Jr.
is elected its first president. Later in the year its name
will be changed to the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.

1976 – General Murtala Mohammed, head of Nigeria, who came to power
in 1975 after General Gowon is ousted, joins the ancestors
after being killed in an unsuccessful counter-coup. His
chief of staff, General Olusegun Obasanjo, will assume
Mohammed’s post and his promise to hand over political power
to civilian rule.

1996 – Minister Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, visits Iran
to celebrate its 1979 revolution ousting the Shah.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 12 *

***********************************************************
“Once a year we go through the charade of February being ‘Black
Subscribe to the Munirah Chronicle and receive
Black Facts every day of the year.
To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>
In the E-mail body place: Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name
***********************************************************

1793 – Congress makes it a crime to hide or protect a runaway slave
by passing the first fugitive slave law.

1865 – Henry Highland Garnet, preacher and abolitionist, becomes the
first African American to preach in the rotunda of the
Capitol to the House of Representatives. It is on the
occasion of a Lincoln birthday memorial.

1896 – Isaac Burns Murphy, considered the greatest American jockey
of all time, joins the ancestors. He was the first jockey
to win the Kentucky Derby two years in a row and became the
first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times. In
1955, Isaac Murphy was the first jockey voted into the
Jockey Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing, in
Saratoga Springs, New York.

1900 – For a Lincoln birthday celebration, James Weldon Johnson
writes the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” With
music by his brother, J. Rosamond, the song is first sung
by 500 children in Jacksonville, Florida. It will become
known as the “Negro National Anthem.”

1909 – When six African Americans were killed and 200 others driven
out of town in race riots in Springfield, Illinois in the
summer of 1908, many Americans were shocked, because they
associated such violence only with racism in the south.
Springfield was not only a northern city, but the home of
Abraham Lincoln. Three people, Mary Ovington, William E.
Walling, and Dr. Henry Moskowitz, alarmed at the
deterioration of race relations, decided to open a campaign
to oppose the pervasive discrimination against racial
minorities. They issue a call for a national conference
on “the Negro question”, and for its symbolic value, they
will choose the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln,
February 12, 1909, as the date for the conference. Held in
New York City, it will draw an interracial group of 60
distinguished citizens, who will formulate plans for a
permanent organization devoted to fighting all forms of
racial discrimination. That organization will be the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP will be the oldest and largest civil rights
organization in the U.S. With more than 2,200 branches
across the country, it will be in the forefront of the
struggle for voting rights, and an end to discrimination in
housing, employment, and education.

1934 – William Felton “Bill” Russell is born in Monroe, Louisiana.
He will become a star basketball player and high jumper at
the University of San Francisco. After college, he will
win a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics, as a member of the
United States basketball team. He will then play
professional basketball for the Boston Celtics for thirteen
seasons, winning eight straight NBA titles and eleven
championships. At the end of the 1965-66 season, he will
become the coach of the Boston Celtics.

1983 – Eubie Blake joins the ancestors at the age of 100 in Brooklyn,
New York. Blake was one of the last ragtime pianists and
composers whose most famous songs included “I’m Just Wild
About Harry.” With Noble Sissle, Blake was the composer of
the first all-African American Broadway musical, “Shuffle
Along,” which opened on Broadway in 1921.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 23 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – December 23 *

1815 – Henry Highland Garnet is born in New Market, Maryland.
He will become a noted clergyman and abolitionist. He
will also be the first African American to deliver a
sermon before the House of Representatives.

1863 – Robert Blake, powder boy aboard the USS Marblehead, is
the first African American to be awarded the Naval Medal
of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary
heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life.”
The heroic action occurred during a victorious battle
off the coast of South Carolina.

1867 – Sarah Breedlove is born in Delta, Louisiana. She will
be better known as Madame C.J. Walker, the first female
African American millionaire whose hair-care, toiletry,
and cosmetics products revolutionized the standard of
beauty for African American women. Her philanthropy and
generosity will make her a popular figure in the early
1900’s.

1919 – Alice H. Parker patents the gas heating furnace.

1935 – Esther Mae Jones is born in Galveston, Texas. She will
begin her career as a blues singer at 13 as “Little”
Esther Phillips, taking her name from a billboard for a
gasoline company. Problems with drugs and alcohol will
cause her to interrupt her career a number of times.
She will record several memorable songs including “And
I Love Him” and “Release Me.”

1946 – The University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne
University, because they may use an African American
player in their basketball game.

1990 – Wendell Scott joins the ancestors in Danville, Virginia.
He was a prominent African American in early stock car
racing, finishing among the top five drivers in 20 Grand
National events and winning 128 races in the sportsman
division. His story will be told in the movie “Greased
Lightning,” that starred Richard Pryor as Scott.

1999 – President Clinton pardons Freddie Meeks, an African
American sailor court-martialed for mutiny during World
War II when he and other sailors refused to load live
ammunition following a deadly explosion at the Port
Chicago Naval Magazine near San Francisco that had
claimed more than 300 lives.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 22 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 22 *

1788 – The British settlement in Sierra Leone is founded to
provide a home in Africa for freed slaves and homeless
Africans from England.

1791 – The Haitian Revolution begins with revolt of slaves in the
northern province.

1791 – Mathematician Benjamin Banneker serves on commission which
will survey the District of Columbia.

1843 – Henry Highland Garnet issues a call for slave revolt in “An
Address to Slaves of the United States” before a national
convention of African Americans in Buffalo, New York.

1867 – Fisk University is established in Nashville, Tennessee.

1880 – George Herriman is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. A
perfectly ordinary-looking guy from beginning to end,
albeit with a few small quirks (such as never allowing a
picture to be taken of him without a hat). But behind that
relatively normal exterior lurked the unique genius who
created the cartoon Krazy Kat. His family moved to Los
Angeles, CA, when he was six years old, although from
various accounts, he seems to have kept his New Orleans
accent (very different from standard Southern) well into
adult life. He called Los Angeles his home town because it
was there that his family shed the labels that accrued to
them as a result of their partially African ancestry. He
will join the ancestors on April 25, 1944.

1917 – John Lee Hooker, who will become a renowned blues singer
and guitarist, is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

1950 – Althea Gibson becomes the first African American competitor
in national tennis competition.

1951 – The Harlem Globetrotters play in Olympic Stadium, Berlin,
Germany before 75,052 non-paying spectators. This is the
largest crowd to witness a basketball game (up to that
time).

1978 – Jomo Kenyatta (original name KAMAU NGENGI), president of
Kenya, joins the ancestors after succumbing to heart
failure in his sleep while vacationing in Mobasa, Kenya at
the age of 83. He was the leading force in Kenya’s
independence struggles.

1979 – 200 African American leaders meet in New York City in
support of Andrew Young (after he had resigned as U.N.
ambassador under pressure for “unauthorized” meeting with
the PLO) and demand that African Americans be given a voice
in shaping American foreign policy.

1984 – Evelyn Ashford of the United States ties the world women’s
mark for the 100 meters (10.76 seconds).

1984 – New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden becomes the 11th rookie
to strikeout 200 batters.

1989 – Huey Percy Newton joins the ancestors in Oakland,
California. The founder of the Black Panther Party is
shot to death outside a crack cocaine house, allegedly by
a drug dealer whom Newton had robbed (Gunman Tyrone
Robinson will sentenced later to 32 years to life in
prison).

2011 – Nickolas Ashford joins the ancestors at the age of 70, after
succumbing to complications of throat cancer. With Valerie
Simpson, his songwriting partner and later his wife, he wrote
some of Motown’s biggest hits, like “Ain’t No Mountain High
Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” before they
remade their careers as a recording and touring duo.

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – June 30 *

1881 – Henry Highland Garnet, former abolitionist leader and
Presbyterian minister, is named Minister to Liberia.
He will join the ancestors in Monrovia shortly after
his arrival.

1906 – John Hope becomes the first African American president
of Morehouse College.

1917 – Lena Horne is born in Brooklyn, New York. She will
begin her career at 16 as a chorus girl at the Cotton
Club in Harlem, appear in the movies “Cabin in the Sky”
and “Stormy Weather” and have a successful Broadway
career culminating in her one-woman show. Horne will
also be a strong civil rights advocate, refusing to
perform in clubs where African Americans are not
admitted and marching during the civil rights movement
in the 1960s. She will join the ancestors on May 9, 2010.

1921 – Charles S. Gilpin becomes the first actor to receive the
NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his portrayal of Emperor
Jones in the Eugene O’Neill play of the same name.

1940 – John T. Scott is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a professor of art and a sculptor whose works will
be exhibited widely in the U.S. and at the exhibit of
“Art of Black America in Japan, Afro-American Modernism:
1937-1987.”

1958 – Alabama courts fined the NAACP $ 100,000 for contempt, for
refusing to divulge membership. The U.S. Supreme Court
will reverse the decision.

1960 – Zaire proclaims its independence from Belgium.

1966 – Michael Gerard “Mike” Tyson, former heavyweight champion of
the world and youngest (at age 19) to win that title (WBC
in 1986), is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1967 – Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. becomes the first African
American astronaut. He will join the ancestors after
being killed during a training flight accident on December
8, 1967.

1969 – Jacob Lawrence receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “in
testimony to his eminence among American painters.”

1974 – Alberta King, mother of the late Martin Luther King Jr.,
joins the ancestors after being assassinated during a
church service in Atlanta, Georgia. The assailant, Marcus
Chennault of Dayton, Ohio, is later convicted and sentenced
to death.

1978 – Larry Doby becomes the manager of the Chicago White Sox
baseball team. He will have a win-loss record of 37-50 and
will be fired at the end of the season (October 19).

1980 – Coleman A. Young is awarded the Spingarn Medal for his
“singular accomplishment as Mayor of the City of Detroit,”a
position he had held since 1973.

2001 – Saxophonist Joe Henderson joins the ancestors in San
Francisco. His improvisational style and compositions have
influenced jazz musicians everywhere. He had been suffering
from emphysema, and became ill at his home in San Francisco,
but did not go to the hospital until the following day, where
he died of heart failure.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – February 13 *

1818 – The first African American Episcopal priest ordained in the
United States, Absalom Jones, joins the ancestors in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an instrumental force in
the development of the early African American church and
benevolent society movements.

1882 – Henry Highland Garnet, abolitionist, preacher, diplomat and
protest leader, joins the ancestors in Monrovia, Liberia at
the age of 66.

1892 – The first African American performers, the World’s Fair
Colored Opera Company, appear at New York City’s Carnegie
Hall less than one year after the hall’s opening. In the
company is concert singer Matilda Sissieretta Jones, who will
have her solo debut at Carnegie Hall two years later.

1907 – Wendell P. Dabney establishes “The Union.” The Cincinnati,
Ohio paper’s motto is “For no people can become great without
being united, for in union, there is strength.”

1919 – Eddie Robinson is born in Jackson, Louisiana. He will accept
the head coaching position in 1941, at the Louisiana Negro
Normal and Industrial Institute in Grambling, Louisiana
(later named Grambling State University. Over the next 54
years, he will become the winningest college football coach.
On October 7, 1995, he will win his 400th game, establishing
a record and securing his status as a legend. Sports
Illustrated will place Robinson on the cover of its October
14, 1995 issue, making him the first and only coach of an
historically Black university to appear on the cover of any
major sports publication in the United States. To his credit,
he will produce 113 NFL players, including four Pro Football
Hall of Famers. He will join the ancestors on April 3, 2007.

1920 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs is
founded by Andrew “Rube” Foster. They will be called the
Negro National League. It will become the first successful
African American professional baseball league. Two other
leagues had previously been started, but failed to last more
than one season.

1923 – The first African American professional basketball team “The
Renaissance” is organized by Robert J. Douglas. It is named
after its home court, the Renaissance Casino. They will
play from 1923 to 1939 and have a record of 1,588 wins
against 239 losses. They will become the first African
American team in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

1957 – The Southern Leadership Conference is founded at a meeting of
ministers in New Orleans, Louisiana. Martin Luther King, Jr.
is elected its first president. Later in the year its name
will be changed to the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.

1976 – General Murtala Mohammed, head of Nigeria, who came to power
in 1975 after General Gowon is ousted, joins the ancestors
after being killed in an unsuccessful counter-coup. His
chief of staff, General Olusegun Obasanjo, will assume
Mohammed’s post and his promise to hand over political power
to civilian rule.

1996 – Minister Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, visits Iran
to celebrate its 1979 revolution ousting the Shah.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – February 12 *

1793 – Congress makes it a crime to hide or protect a runaway slave
by passing the first fugitive slave law.

1865 – Henry Highland Garnet, preacher and abolitionist, becomes the
first African American to preach in the rotunda of the
Capitol to the House of Representatives. It is on the
occasion of a Lincoln birthday memorial.

1896 – Isaac Burns Murphy, considered the greatest American jockey
of all time, joins the ancestors. He was the first jockey
to win the Kentucky Derby two years in a row and became the
first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times. In
1955, Isaac Murphy was the first jockey voted into the
Jockey Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing, in
Saratoga Springs, New York.

1900 – For a Lincoln birthday celebration, James Weldon Johnson
writes the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” With
music by his brother, J. Rosamond, the song is first sung
by 500 children in Jacksonville, Florida. It will become
known as the “Negro National Anthem.”

1909 – When six African Americans were killed and 200 others driven
out of town in race riots in Springfield, Illinois in the
summer of 1908, many Americans were shocked, because they
associated such violence only with racism in the south.
Springfield was not only a northern city, but the home of
Abraham Lincoln. Three people, Mary Ovington, William E.
Walling, and Dr. Henry Moskowitz, alarmed at the
deterioration of race relations, decided to open a campaign
to oppose the pervasive discrimination against racial
minorities. They issue a call for a national conference
on “the Negro question”, and for its symbolic value, they
will choose the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln,
February 12, 1909, as the date for the conference. Held in
New York City, it will draw an interracial group of 60
distinguished citizens, who will formulate plans for a
permanent organization devoted to fighting all forms of
racial discrimination. That organization will be the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP will be the oldest and largest civil rights
organization in the U.S. With more than 2,200 branches
across the country, it will be in the forefront of the
struggle for voting rights, and an end to discrimination in
housing, employment, and education.

1934 – William Felton “Bill” Russell is born in Monroe, Louisiana.
He will become a star basketball player and high jumper at
the University of San Francisco. After college, he will
win a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics, as a member of the
United States basketball team. He will then play
professional basketball for the Boston Celtics for thirteen
seasons, winning eight straight NBA titles and eleven
championships. At the end of the 1965-66 season, he will
become the coach of the Boston Celtics.

1983 – Eubie Blake joins the ancestors at the age of 100 in Brooklyn,
New York. Blake was one of the last ragtime pianists and
composers whose most famous songs included “I’m Just Wild
About Harry.” With Noble Sissle, Blake was the composer of
the first all-African American Broadway musical, “Shuffle
Along,” which opened on Broadway in 1921.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 23 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 23 *

1815 – Henry Highland Garnet is born in New Market, Maryland.
He will become a noted clergyman and abolitionist. He
will also be the first African American to deliver a
sermon before the House of Representatives.

1863 – Robert Blake, powder boy aboard the USS Marblehead, is
the first African American to be awarded the Naval Medal
of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary
heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life.”
The heroic action occurred during a victorious battle
off the coast of South Carolina.

1867 – Sarah Breedlove is born in Delta, Louisiana. She will
be better known as Madame C.J. Walker, the first female
African American millionaire whose hair-care, toiletry,
and cosmetics products revolutionized the standard of
beauty for African American women. Her philanthropy and
generosity will make her a popular figure in the early
1900’s.

1919 – Alice H. Parker patents the gas heating furnace.

1935 – Esther Mae Jones is born in Galveston, Texas. She will
begin her career as a blues singer at 13 as “Little”
Esther Phillips, taking her name from a billboard for a
gasoline company. Problems with drugs and alcohol will
cause her to interrupt her career a number of times.
She will record several memorable songs including “And
I Love Him” and “Release Me.”

1946 – The University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne
University, because they may use an African American
player in their basketball game.

1990 – Wendell Scott joins the ancestors in Danville, Virginia.
He was a prominent African American in early stock car
racing, finishing among the top five drivers in 20 Grand
National events and winning 128 races in the sportsman
division. His story will be told in the movie “Greased
Lightning,” that starred Richard Pryor as Scott.

1999 – President Clinton pardons Freddie Meeks, an African
American sailor court-martialed for mutiny during World
War II when he and other sailors refused to load live
ammunition following a deadly explosion at the Port
Chicago Naval Magazine near San Francisco that had
claimed more than 300 lives.

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 30 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 30 *

1881 – Henry Highland Garnet, former abolitionist leader and
Presbyterian minister, is named Minister to Liberia.
He will join the ancestors in Monrovia shortly after
his arrival.

1906 – John Hope becomes the first African American president
of Morehouse College.

1917 – Lena Horne is born in Brooklyn, New York. She will
begin her career at 16 as a chorus girl at the Cotton
Club in Harlem, appear in the movies “Cabin in the Sky”
and “Stormy Weather” and have a successful Broadway
career culminating in her one-woman show. Horne will
also be a strong civil rights advocate, refusing to
perform in clubs where African Americans are not
admitted and marching during the civil rights movement
in the 1960s. She will join the ancestors on May 9, 2010.

1921 – Charles S. Gilpin becomes the first actor to receive the
NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his portrayal of Emperor
Jones in the Eugene O’Neill play of the same name.

1940 – John T. Scott is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a professor of art and a sculptor whose works will
be exhibited widely in the U.S. and at the exhibit of
“Art of Black America in Japan, Afro-American Modernism:
1937-1987.”

1958 – Alabama courts fined the NAACP $ 100,000 for contempt, for
refusing to divulge membership. The U.S. Supreme Court
will reverse the decision.

1960 – Zaire proclaims its independence from Belgium.

1966 – Michael Gerard “Mike” Tyson, former heavyweight champion of
the world and youngest (at age 19) to win that title (WBC
in 1986), is born in Brooklyn, New York.

1967 – Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. becomes the first African
American astronaut. He will join the ancestors after
being killed during a training flight accident on December
8, 1967.

1969 – Jacob Lawrence receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “in
testimony to his eminence among American painters.”

1974 – Alberta King, mother of the late Martin Luther King Jr.,
joins the ancestors after being assassinated during a
church service in Atlanta, Georgia. The assailant, Marcus
Chennault of Dayton, Ohio, is later convicted and sentenced
to death.

1978 – Larry Doby becomes the manager of the Chicago White Sox
baseball team. He will have a win-loss record of 37-50 and
will be fired at the end of the season (October 19).

1980 – Coleman A. Young is awarded the Spingarn Medal for his
“singular accomplishment as Mayor of the City of Detroit,”a
position he had held since 1973.

2001 – Saxophonist Joe Henderson joins the ancestors in San
Francisco. His improvisational style and compositions have
influenced jazz musicians everywhere. He had been suffering
from emphysema, and became ill at his home in San Francisco,
but did not go to the hospital until the following day, where
he died of heart failure.

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

KRLemmons African American History

February 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – February 13 *

***********************************************************************
* “Once a year we go through the charade of February being ‘Black     *
* History Month.’ Black History Month needs to be a 12-MONTH THING.   *
* When we all learn about our history, about how much we’ve           *
* accomplished while being handicapped with RACISM, it can only       *
* inspire us to greater heights, knowing we’re on the giant shoulders *
* of our ANCESTORS.” Subscribe to the Munirah Chronicle and receive   *
* Black Facts every day of the year.                                  *
*  To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>         *
*  In the E-mail body place:  Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name        *
***********************************************************************

1818 – The first African American Episcopal priest ordained in the United States, Absalom Jones, joins the ancestors in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He was an instrumental force in
the development of the early African American church and
benevolent society movements.
        
1882 – Henry Highland Garnet, abolitionist, preacher, diplomat and protest leader, joins the ancestors in Monrovia, Liberia at
the age of 66.

1892 – The first African American performers, the  World’s Fair
Colored Opera Company, appear at New  York City’s Carnegie
Hall less than one year after the hall’s opening.   In the
company is concert singer Matilda Sissieretta Jones, who will
have her solo debut at Carnegie Hall two years later.

1907 – Wendell P. Dabney establishes “The Union.”  The Cincinnati, Ohio paper’s motto is “For no people can become great without being united, for in union, there is strength.”

1919 – Eddie Robinson is born in Jackson, Louisiana. He will accept the head coaching position in 1941, at the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute in Grambling, Louisiana
(later named Grambling State University.   Over the next 54
years, he will become the winningest college football coach. 
On October 7, 1995, he will win his 400th game, establishing
a record and securing his status as a legend.  Sports
Illustrated will place Robinson on the cover of its October
14, 1995 issue, making him the first and only coach of an
historically Black university to appear on the cover of any
major sports publication in the United States. To his credit,
he will produce 113 NFL players, including four Pro Football
Hall of Famers. He will join the ancestors on April 3, 2007.

1920 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs is
founded by Andrew “Rube” Foster.  They will be called the
Negro National League.  It will become the first successful
African American professional baseball league.  Two other
leagues had previously been started, but failed to last more
than one season.

1923 – The first African American professional basketball team “The  Renaissance” is organized by Robert J. Douglas.  It is named
after its home court, the Renaissance Casino.  They will
play from 1923 to 1939 and have a record of 1,588 wins
against 239 losses.  They will become the first African
American team in the Basketball Hall of Fame.   

1957 – The Southern Leadership Conference is founded at a meeting ofministers in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Martin Luther King, Jr. is elected its first president.  Later in the year its name
will be changed to the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.

1976 – General Murtala Mohammed, head of Nigeria, who came to power in 1975 after General Gowon is ousted, joins the ancestors after being killed in an unsuccessful counter-coup.  His
chief of staff, General Olusegun Obasanjo, will assume
Mohammed’s post and his promise to hand over political power
to civilian rule.

1996 – Minister Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, visits Iran  to celebrate its 1979 revolution ousting the Shah.

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