John H. Johnson – The CamaraIfe Maktaba

May 17, 2015 KRLemmons African American History

May 10 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 10 *

1652 – John Johnson, a free African American, is granted 550 acres
in Northampton County, Virginia, for importing eleven
persons to work as indentured servants.

1775 – Lemuel Haynes, Epheram Blackman, and Primas Black, in the
first aggressive action of American forces against the
British, help capture Fort Ticonderoga as members of
Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys.

1815 – Henry Walton Bibb is born a slave in Shelby County,
Kentucky. He will escape to Canada, return to get his
first wife, be recaptured in Cincinnati, escape again, be
recaptured again and sold into slavery in New Orleans. He
will be removed to Arkansas, where he will escape yet
again, this time for good in 1842. He will make his way
to Detroit, Michigan and will become an active
abolitionist. He will publish his autobiography, “Narrative
of The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American
Slave” in 1849. This narrative of his life will be so
suspenseful that an investigation is conducted that will
substantiate Bibb’s account. In 1850, the U.S. Congress
will pass the Fugitive Slave Act which will force his
immigration to Canada with his second wife. In 1851, he
will found the “Voice of the Fugitive”, the first Black
newspaper in Canada. He will join the ancestors in 1854 at
the age of 39.

1837 – Pinckney Benton Steward (P.B.S.) Pinchback is born near
Macon, Georgia. During the Civil War, he will recruit and
command a company of the “Corps d’Afrique,” a calvary unit
from Louisiana. He will resign his commission in 1863 after
unsuccessful demands that African American officers and
enlisted men be treated the same as white military
personnel. In 1868, he will be elected to the Louisiana
legislature as a Senator. In 1871, he will be elected
President Pro Temp of the Louisiana Senate, and will become
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in 1872 after the death of
Oscar Dunn. He will serve briefly (two months) as the
appointed Governor. He will be elected to the U.S. Senate
in 1873, but never be seated by that body, due to supposed
election irregularities. After the end of Reconstruction
and his political career, Pinchback will use his resources
to work as an advocate for African Americans as Southern
Democrats endeavor to take away the civil rights gained by
Blacks after the Civil War. He will publish the newspaper
“The Louisianan,” using it as a venue to help influence
public opinion. He will also become the leader of the
precursor to the Associated Negro Press, the Convention of
Colored Newspaper Men. At the age of sixty, he will
relocate to Washington, DC where he will live until he
joins the ancestors on December 21, 1921.

1876 – The American Centennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Included are works by four African American
artists, among them Edmonia Lewis’ “The Dying Cleopatra”
and Edward Bannister’s “Under the Oaks.” Bannister’s
painting will win the bronze medal, a distinct and
controversial achievement for the renowned painter.

1919 – A race riot occurs in Charleston, South Carolina. Two
African Americans are killed.

1934 – Sallie Jayne Richardson is born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
She will be better known as Jayne Cortez and will be a poet,
activist, small press publisher and spoken-word performance
artist whose voice will be celebrated for its political,
surrealistic and dynamic innovations in lyricism and visceral
sound. Her writing will be part of the canon of the Black
Arts Movement. She will marry jazz saxophonist Ornette
Coleman in 1954. After divorcing him in 1960, she will study
drama and poetry. She will become active in the civil rights
movement, registering African Americans to vote in Mississippi
as a worker for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
She will marry sculptor Melvin Edwards in 1975. She will be
the author of 12 books of poems and will perform her poetry
with music on nine recordings. She will present her work and
ideas at universities, museums, and festivals in Africa, Asia,
Europe, South America, the Caribbean and the United States.
Her poems will be translated into 28 languages and widely
published in anthologies, journals and magazines, including
“Postmodern American Poetry,” “Daughters of Africa,” “Poems
for the Millennium,” “Mother Jones,” and “The Jazz Poetry
Anthology.” In 1991, along with Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo,
she will found the Organization of Women Writers of Africa
(OWWA), of which she will be president. She will be the
organizer of “Slave Routes: The Long Memory” (2000) and “Yari
Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writers Dissecting Globalization”
(2004), both international conferences held at New York
University. She will appear on screen in the films “Women in
Jazz” and “Poetry in Motion.” She will also direct Yari Yari:
Black Women Writers and the Future (1999), which will document
panels, readings and performances held during the first major
international literary conference on women of African descent.
She will join the ancestors on December 28, 2012.

1935 – Larry Williams is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will
become a rhythm and blues singer and will be known for
his record hits “Short Fat Fannie,” “Bony Maronie,” and
“Dizzy Miss Lizzie.” He will join the ancestors on
January 7, 1980 after succumbing to a gunshot to the head.

1944 – Judith Jamison is born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. She
will begin her dancing career at the age of six. She
will complete her dance training at the Philadelphia
Dance Company (later the University of Arts). She will
make her debut with the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theatre in Chicago, dancing in Talley Beaty’s Congo
Tango Palace. She will become the troupe’s premier dancer
in 1967 and will tour the world exhibiting her signature
dance “Cry.” She will win a Dance Magazine award for her
performances in 1972. She will leave the Ailey
troupe in 1980 to perform on Broadway and will choreograph
many of her own works such as “Divining,” Ancestral Rites”
and “Hymn.” She will form the twelve member group, The
Jamison Project, in 1987. After Alvin Ailey’s health
declines in 1988, she will rejoin the Ailey troupe as
artistic associate and will become artistic director upon
his death in 1989. She will continue the company’s
tradition of performing early works choreographed by
African Americans for many years.

1950 – Jackie Robinson appears on the cover of Life magazine. It
is the first time an African American has been featured on
the magazine’s cover in its 13-year history.

1951 – Z. Alexander Looby is the first African American elected to
the Nashville City Council.

1952 – Canada Lee joins the ancestors in England at the age of 45.
He had become an actor in 1933 after a professional boxing
match left him blind in one eye. He was able to be cast in
non-traditional roles for African Americans at a time when
most were cast in stereotypical parts. He was best known
for his portrayal of “Bigger Thomas” in the play “Native
Son” in 1940 and 1941. He was blacklisted by the House
Committee on Un-American Activities and the FBI for his
outspoken views on the stereotyping of African Americans
in Hollywood and Broadway.

1962 – Southern School News reports that 246,988 or 7.6 per cent of
the African American pupils in public schools in seventeen
Southern and Border States and the District of Columbia
attended integrated classes in 1962.

1963 – Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth announces agreement on a limited
integration plan which will end the Birmingham
demonstrations.

1974 – “Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” earns a gold record for the
group, The Main Ingredient. The trio began as the Poets
in 1964. Cuba Gooding is the lead singer. (Gooding’s
son, Cuba Jr., will star in the 1991 film “Boyz N The Hood”
and will win an Academy award for his role in the movie
“Jerry Maguire in 1997.) The Main Ingredient’s biggest
hit, “Everybody Plays The Fool,” will make it to number
three on the pop charts in 1972.

1986 – Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran becomes the first African
American pilot to fly with the celebrated Blue Angels
precision aerial demonstration team.

1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as president of South Africa.
In an historic exchange of power, former political
prisoner Nelson Mandela becomes the first Black president
of South Africa. In his acceptance speech, he says, “We
enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in
which all South Africans, both black and white, will be
able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts–a
rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”

1998 – Jose’ Francisco Pena Gomez joins the ancestors at the age
of 61 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after succumbing
to pancreatic cancer. He had risen from a childhood of
extreme poverty to become one of the most prominent black
political figures in Latin America. He had led a successful
civil-military revolt in 1965 which was curtailed by the
interference of United States Marines sent to the Dominican
Republic to put down the rebellion. He was later forced
into exile. He later returned to the Dominican Republic and
became heavily involved in politics as leader of the Partido
Revolucionario Dominicano. He ran for president
unsuccessfully three times.

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

November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

November 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 8 *

1920 – Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Florida. She
will become an actress, primarily on television. She
will win an Emmy Award for her role in “Summer of My
German Soldier”. She will be best-known, however, for
her role as Florida, in the television sit-com, “Good
Times.” Even though Ms. Rolle will play characters who
worked as maids, off-stage, she will be a tireless
crusader against black stereotypes in Hollywood. She
will join the ancestors in 1998 at the age of 78. Note:
At the time of her death, her manager will give her date
of birth as November 8, 1920, though some references
list the year as 1922.

1932 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Robert R. Moton,
president of Tuskegee Institute, for his “thoughtful
leadership in conservative opinion and action.”

1938 – Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, is elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is the first
African American woman elected to a state legislature.

1947 – Minnie Ripperton is born in Chicago, Illinois. She will
study opera under Marion Jeffrey. She will spend months
and months learning how to breathe and listening to and
holding vowels. Eventually, she will begin singing
operas and operettas with a show tune every so often.
Despite her natural talent (a pure five to six octave
soprano) for opera, Minnie will be more attracted to
“Rock N Roll” and the promise of a touring career. She
will eventually discontinue her classical training to
follow her dream of becoming a famous songstress. It
will, however, be her classical training which will
bring her recording success. She will be best known for
her recording of “Loving You.” She will join the
ancestors in July, 1979 at the age of 31 after
succumbing to breast cancer.

1953 – Alfre Woodard is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She will
become an actress after her education at Boston
University, School of Fine Arts. She will receive a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television
Miniseries/Movie, an Emmy Award for Best Actress, as
well as ACE and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best
Actress for her performance in the 1997 HBO original
movie, “Miss Evers’ Boys.” Woodard’s many feature
film credits include “Star Trek: First Contact,”
“Heart and Souls,” “Primal Fear” opposite Richard Gere,
the ensemble film “How to Make An American Quilt,” Spike
Lee’s family drama, Crooklyn,” Dr. Maya Angelou’s “Down
in the Delta” starring Wesley Snipes, and “Passionfish,”
for which she will receive a 1998 Golden Globe
Nomination for Best Actress. In 1984, she will receive
an Academy Award nomination for her performance in
Martin Ritt’s “Cross Creek.”

1959 – Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scores 64 points
and sets a National Basketball Association scoring record.

1960 – Otis M. Smith is elected auditor general of Michigan and
becomes the first African American chosen in a statewide
election since Reconstruction.

1966 – Edward W. Brooke (Republican, Massachusetts), is elected
to the U.S. Senate and becomes the first African American
senator since Reconstruction and the first African
American senator elected by popular vote.

1966 – Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, the American
League’s batting and home-run champion, is named the
league’s Most Valuable Player.

1966 – John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines,
is awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “for his productive
imagination…in the perilous field of publishing” and
“for his contributions to the enhancement of the Negro’s
self-image through his publications.”

1983 – W. Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harvey Gantt
of Charlotte, North Carolina, and James A. Sharp, Jr. of
Flint, Michigan, are the first African Americans elected
mayor of their respective cities.

2011 – Dwight Arrington Myers, better known as rapper “Heavy D”,
joins the ancestors at the age of 44. He was rushed to a
Los Angeles hospital after collapsing at his Beverly Hills
home.

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

November 2, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

November 1 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – November 1 *

1787 – The first free school for African Americans, the African
Free School opens in New York City.

1866 – The first Civil Rights Act is passed over the veto of
President Andrew Johnson.

1901 – Grambling State University is founded in Grambling,
Louisiana as the “Colored Industrial and Agricultural
School” under the leadership of Charles P. Adams.

1910 – The first edition of Crisis magazine is published by the
NAACP with W.E.B. Du Bois as its editor.

1927 – Florence Mills joins the ancestors in New York City after
being hospitalized for an appendectomy at the age of 32.
She was one of the most popular entertainers of her day,
appearing in “Shuffle Along” and “From Broadway to Dixie”
as well as having successful tours in the United States
and Europe.

1940 – In the foreword to his book, “The Negro in Art”, Howard
University professor Alain Locke introduces the most
extensive retrospective of African American art published
to date. The selections appearing in the book span almost
300 years and include the work of 100 black artists from
Europe and the United States including Joshua Johnston,
Edward Bannister, Henry O. Tanner, Romare Bearden, Hale
Woodruff, Palmer Hayden, Allan Crite, James A. Porter,
and James Lesesne Wells, among others.

1942 – John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of Negro Digest.

1945 – The first issue of Ebony magazine is published in Chicago,
Illinois. The second publication of John H. Johnson’s
fledgling company, Ebony will be the catalyst for a
communications empire that will eventually include
magazines, book publishing, and radio.

1946 – Dr. Charles S. Johnson becomes the first African American
president of Fisk University.

1951 – Jet magazine is founded by John H. Johnson, publisher of
Ebony magazine.

1981 – Antigua & Barbuda gain independence from Great Britain.

1998 – John Kagwe of Kenya wins the New York City Marathon for
the second consecutive year.

1999 – Former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, the NFL’s
all-time leading rusher, joins the ancestors after
succumbing to bile duct cancer at the age of 45.

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

August 8, 2014August 8, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

August 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 8 *

1796 – Boston African Society is established with 44 charter
members.

1805 – The First African Baptist Church is organized in Boston,
Massachusetts, under the leadership of Thomas Paul. It
will be the first congregation to worship at the
African Meeting House, which will be established on
December 6, 1806 (It is the oldest church building in
the United States built for and by African Americans).

1843 – Natal (in South Africa) is made a British colony.

1866 – Matthew Alexander Henson is born in Nanjemoy, Maryland. He
will become an explorer and associate of Robert Peary
during various expeditions. The most famous will be the
1909 expedition on which he will become the first person
to reach the Geographic North Pole. In 1912, he will write
the book, “A Negro Explorer at the North Pole”, about his
arctic exploration. He will be largely ignored afterward
and will spend most of the next thirty years working as a
clerk in a federal customs house in New York. In 1944,
Congress will award him a duplicate of the silver medal
given to Admiral Peary in 1911. In 1947 he will collaborate
with Bradley Robinson on his biography, “Dark Companion.”
Presidents Harry S Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, will
both honor him prior to his death. He will join the
ancestors in the Bronx, New York, on March 9, 1955, at the
age of 88. He will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery. In 1961,
a plaque will be installed to mark his Maryland birthplace.
In 1988, he and his wife’s remains will be exhumed and
reburied at Arlington National Cemetery, near the grave of
Admiral Peary and his wife.

1907 – Saxophonist Bennett Lester “Benny” Carter is born in New
York City. He will play initially at age 23 and form his
own big band in 1940. Carter will either play with,
conduct or write arrangements for Dizzy Gillespie, Duke
Ellington, Quincy Jones, and many others. He will be a
major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and
recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him
King. In 1958, he will perform with Billie Holiday at the
legendary Monterey Jazz Festival. The National Endowment
for the Arts willhonor him with its highest honor in jazz,
the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 1986. He will be awarded
the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, win the
Grammy Award in 1994 for his solo “Prelude to a Kiss”,
and also the same year, receive a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame. In 2000 he will receive the National
Endowment for the Arts’, “National Medal of Arts,”
presented by President Bill Clinton. He will join the
ancestors on July 12, 2003.

1921 – James John “Jimmy” Witherspoon is born in Gurdon, Arkansas.
He will become a blues singer and will be featured on over
200 albums and be best known for songs such as “Ain’t
Nobody’s Business If I Do,” “Some Of My Best Friends Are
the Blues” and “Blue Spoon.” He will join the ancestors on
September 18, 1997 after succumbing to throat cancer..

1933 – Joseph “Joe Tex” Arrington, Jr. is born in Baytown, Texas.
He will become a singer/songwriter. He will be known for
his recordings of “I Gotcha”, “Hold What You’ve Got”,
“Skinny Legs and All”, and “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More”(With
No Big Fat Woman.” After converting to the Muslim faith in
1966 and changing his name to Yusuf Hazziez, he will tour
as a spiritual lecturer. He will join the ancestors (at
home in Navasota, Texas) on August 13, 1982, succumbing to
a heart attack.

1934 – Julian Carey Dixon is born in Washington, D.C. He will be
elected to the California State Assembly as a Democrat in
1972, and serve in that body for three terms. He will be
elected to the House of Representatives, representing
California’s 28th District, in 1978. He will chair the
rules committee at the 1984 Democratic National Convention
and the ethics probe into House Speaker Jim Wright. Dixon
will win re-election to the 107th United States Congress,
will join the ancestors, after succumbing to a heart attack,
on Decmber 8, 2000.

1960 – Ivory Coast declares independence from France.

1968 – A racially motivated disturbance breaks out in Miami,
Florida.

1974 – Roberta Flack receives a gold record for the single, “Feel
Like Makin’ Love”. Flack, born in Asheville, North
Carolina and raised in Arlington, Virginia, had been
awarded a music scholarship to Howard University in
Washington, D.C., at the age of 15. One of her
classmates, Donny Hathaway, became a singing partner on
several hit songs. He joined her on “You’ve Got a Friend”,
“Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You”. She will
have 10 hits on the pop charts in the 1970s and ’80s.

1975 – Julian “Cannonball” Adderley joins the ancestors at the age
of 47 in Gary, Indiana.

1984 – Carl Lewis wins the 3rd (200 meter sprint) of 4 gold medals
at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

2005 – Publisher John H. Johnson, whose Ebony and Jet magazines
countered stereotypical coverage of African Americans
after World War II and turned him into one of the most
influential African American leaders in America, joins the
ancestors at the age of 87.

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

July 8, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

July 8 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – July 8 *

1753 – Lemuel Haynes is born in West Hartford, Connecticut. He is
born to a African American father he never knew and a
white mother who refused to acknowledge him. As a child,
he will be made an indentured servant to a white family in
Granville, Massachusetts, who will treat him as one of
their children. His indenture will end in 1774, when he
will become a Minuteman in the Continental Army. During
the Revolutionary War, he will fight at the siege of Boston
and Fort Ticonderoga. After the war, he will study Latin and
Greek with local ministers and be ordained by the
Congregationalists, becoming the first African American
ordained by a mainstream white denomination. Throughout the
next five decades he ministered to white congregations in
New England and New York. Haynes also received considerable
attention for a sermon he preached rebutting Hosea Ballou’s
theory of universal salvation from a Calvinist perspective.
Haynes’s book “Universal Salvation, A Very Ancient Doctrine”,
ran some 70 editions. In 1804, Middlebury College awarded
Haynes an honorary master’s degree becoming the first
African American to receive that honor from any institution.
He will join the ancestors on September 28, 1833.

1876 – White terrorists attack African American Republicans in
Hamburg, South Carolina, killing five.

1910 – Govan Archibald Munyelwa Mbeki is born in Nqamakwe, Transkei,
South Africa. He will become a political activist, leading
member of the African National Congress (ANC) and a member
of the South African Communist Party (SACP). After attending
a mission school, he will attend the University of Fort Hare,
in Alice, and will obtain his bachelor of arts degree in
1937. He will join the ANC while a student in 1935. While
teaching at Adams College, he will be dismissed for political
activity. He will then manage a cooperative store and edit
the Territorial Magazine from 1938 to 1944. In 1943 he will
be elected to the United Transkeian General Council, or
Bunga. In the same year, Mbeki will assist the ANC prepare a
document called African Claims, which will be a response to
the Atlantic Charter, the declaration of human rights issued
during World War II (1939-1945) by the United States and
Great Britain. African Claims became the basis for the ANC
Freedom Charter of 1955. After returning to teaching, Mbeki
will be dismissed again for political activity, and will
become the Port Elizabeth editor of New Age, a left-wing
paper, in 1955 and will make no secret of his left-wing
sympathies. Mbeki will become deeply involved in ANC politics
and stand trial with Nelson Mandela and others for treason,
charged with conspiring to overthrow the government. In 1964,
he will be sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island.
The same year, his book “The Peasants’ Revolt” is published
in Great Britain and banned in South Africa. In 1977, while
on Robben Island, Mbeki will have an honorary doctorate of
social sciences conferred on him by the University of
Amsterdam for the publication. After being released on
November 5, 1987 by the South African government, he will
continue to be a member of both the ANC and the SACP. He will
resume his place on the executive committee of the ANC in
1990. In May, 1994, Mbeki will be elected deputy president of
the Senate. His son Thabo Mbeki, the future president of
South Africa, will be elected deputy president of South
Africa. He will join the ancestors on August 30, 2001.

1914 – William Clarence (“Billy”) Eckstine is born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. He will become famous in the 1950s as the
smooth-voiced baritone singer of such hits as “Fools Rush In”
and “Skylark,” but music critics and serious jazz fans know
him as the man whose big-band launched such renowned
performers as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker,
Dexter Gordon, and Sarah Vaughan. He will begin his musical
career on a piano his father had bought for his two sisters.
After attending Howard University, he will begin singing with
various groups, touring in the Midwest before settling in
Chicago in 1939, where he will join the band led by Earl
“Fatha” Hines. It was with Hines that he will have his first
hit, the blues song “Jelly Jelly,” which he will write and
sing. In 1944, he will form his own big-band. The band,
always a favorite with other musicians, will help to pioneer
the then-new bebop sound. Its avant-garde musicianship often
overshadowed his more traditional vocals, and the band
suffered from being badly recorded. His solo career will take
off after the band dissolves in 1947. With his deep, romantic
voice, elegant presence, and matinee-idol good looks, he
becomes a popular performer. Often referred to as “Mr. B,” he
will also garner several film roles in the following decades,
and many will refer to him as the first Black sex symbol. He
will join the ancestors on March 8, 1993.

1938 – Julia Mae Porter (later Carson) is born in Louisville,
Kentucky. She will be raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1965,
while working as a secretary for the United Auto Workers union,
she will be hired by Indiana congressman Andrew Jacobs Jr. She
will work on his staff for eight years. In 1972, she will be
elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, and in 1976,
she will be elected to the Indiana Senate, where she will serve
on the Finance Committee and the Health Committee. In 1990, she
will be elected trustee of Center Township and direct an agency
that provides assistance to the needy. After congressman Jacobs
retires in 1996, Carson will run successfully for his position.
She will win 52 percent of the vote and become the first African
American to represent Indianapolis. She will represent Indiana’s
Tenth Congressional District. It is located in the city of
Indianapolis and includes a mixture of African American and
white neighborhoods. In 1997, Carson will be assigned seats on
the Banking and Financial Services Committee and the Veterans’
Affairs Committee. She will also be a member of the
Congressional Black Caucus. She will be a member of the United
States House of Representatives for Indiana’s 7th congressional
district from 1997 until she joins the ancestors on December 15,
2007.

1943 – Alyce Faye Wattleton is born in St. Louis, Missouri. She will
become the president of Planned Parent Federation of America
in 1978 and be known for almost 14 years as an outspoken
champion of women’s reproductive rights. She will use her
position in Planned Parenthood to advocate reproductive rights.
Along with other abortion-rights groups, she will fight to
secure federal funding for birth control and prenatal programs;
to forbid states from restricting abortions; and to legalize
the sale in the United States of RU-486, the French-made pill
that induces abortions. Her efforts and the efforts of others
encounter a number of setbacks, including the Supreme Court’s
1989 decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services to
allow states to restrict abortions. She will use such defeats
to further mobilize activists and donors. She will leave
Planned Parenthood in 1992 to develop her own talk show, in
Chicago, Illinois, devoted to discussions of women’s issues.
She will be a 1993 inductee into the National Women’s Hall of
Fame. In 1996, she will publish her autobiography, Life on the
Line. She will later serve as the President of the Center for
the Advancement of Women. At this time, she is the managing
director at an international consulting firm.

1943 – Nebraska’s first African American newspaper, “The Omaha Star”,
is founded by Mildred Brown.

1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son
Prince Charles Ndizi.

1966 – John H. Johnson wins the Spingarn Medal for his “contributions
to the enhancement of the Negro’s self-image” through his
publications including “Negro Digest”, “Ebony”, and “Jet”
magazines, and books such as “Before the Mayflower”, written
by historian Lerone Bennett, Jr.

1982 – Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized.

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

November 11, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

November 8 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 8 *

1878 – Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor is born in Indianapolis,
Indiana. He will become the world’s fastest bicycle
racer for 12 years,

1932 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Robert R. Moton,
president of Tuskegee Institute, for his “thoughtful
leadership in conservative opinion and action.”

1938 – Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, is elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is the first
African American woman elected to a state legislature.

1959 – Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scores 64 points
and sets a National Basketball Association scoring record.

1960 – Otis M. Smith is elected auditor general of Michigan and
becomes the first African American chosen in a statewide
election since Reconstruction.

1966 – Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, the American
League’s batting and home-run champion, is named the
league’s Most Valuable Player.

2011 – Dwight Arrington Myers, better known as rapper “Heavy D”,
joins the ancestors at the age of 44. He was rushed to a
Los Angeles hospital after collapsing at his Beverly Hills
home.

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

November 2, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

November 1 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 1 *