KRLemmons African American History

June 18 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 18 *

1889 – William H. Richardson receives a patent for a baby
carriage whose body can be raised from its frame.

1939 – Louis Clark “Lou” Brock is born in El Dorado, Arkansas.
He will become a professional baseball player with the
Chicago Cubs in 1961. Three years later, in 1964, he
will be traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock will
have an immediate impact with the Cardinals entering the
starting lineup. He will record 12 homeruns, 44 RBI, an
amazing .348 batting average, and blister the baselines
stealing 44 bases in his first season with St. Louis.
During his 19-year career, the outfielder will steal an
unprecedented 938 bases and break several World Series
records, including hitting .391 in over 20 World Series
games. Exemplifying the spirit of baseball on and off
the field, Brock will earn the Roberto Clemente and the
Jackie Robinson Awards, among many others. A Cardinal
for the remainder of his career, Lou Brock will enter the
Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1985.

1941 – President Roosevelt confers with A. Philip Randolph and
other leaders of a “March on Washington” movement and
urges them to call off a scheduled demonstration. Randolph
refuses.

1942 – Bernard W. Robinson, of Harvard Medical School, becomes a
Naval Reserve ensign. He is the first African American to
earn a U.S. Navy commission.

1953 – Egypt becomes a republic after the forced abdication of
King Farouk I. General Neguib becomes president.

1963 – Bruce Bernard Smith is born in Norfolk, Virginia. He will
become a defensive end for the NFL Buffalo Bills. He will
spend his last few years with the Washington Redskins where
he will break Reggie White’s record for sacks. The holder
of the NFL career record for quarterback sacks, he will be
enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, his
first year of eligibility

1963 – 3,000 African Americans boycott Boston public schools as
a protest against defacto segregation.

1968 – The U.S. Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in the
sale and rental of housing.

1966 – Samuel Nabrit becomes the first African American scientist
to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission.

1982 – The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is extended for an additional
twenty-five years by Senate vote of 85-8. The Voting Rights
Act protects citizens’ ability to vote, not the right to
vote. All U.S. citizens have the right to vote, but state
and local jurisdictions are prevented from interfering with
the voters’ ability to vote. It outlaws such practices as
poll taxes, reciting the preamble to the U.S. Constitution,
etc. as a condition to vote.

1985 – Patrick Ewing becomes one of 11 basketball centers to be
chosen in the first round of the National Basketball
Association draft of college players. Ewing is picked by
— and will become a major star for — the New York Knicks.

1991 – City Auditor, Wellington Webb is elected mayor of Denver,
Colorado. He becomes the first African American to hold the
post.

2003 – Larry Doby joins the ancestors at age 79 after a long
illness. He was a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Cleveland
Indians and Chicago White Sox and second African American
player in the modern major leagues. Jackie Robinson was the
first.

2011 – Clarence Clemons joins the ancestors at the age of 69. Also
known as “the Big Man,” he was the saxophonist in the “E
Street Band,” Bruce Springsteen’s back up band. He succumbed
to complications from a stroke. Bruce Springsteen’s statement:
“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love
of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and
extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and
gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His
loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have
known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for
nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and
with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a
story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His
life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and
in our band.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 3 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 3 *

1820 – In an attempt to resolve the conflict between pro and
antislavery forces, the Missouri Compromise becomes law. In
the final law, Missouri joins the Union as a slave state
while Maine joins as a free one. The measure prohibits
slavery to the north of the southern boundary of Missouri.

1821 – Thomas L. Jennings receives a patent for an invention to “dry
scour” (dry clean) clothes. It is the earliest known patent
granted to an African American.

1865 – Congress establishes the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedman’s Bureau, to
provide health and education to newly freed slaves displaced
by the Civil War.

1865 – Congress charters Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Bank with
business confined to African Americans.

1869 – The University of South Carolina is opened to all races. Two
African Americans, B.A. Boseman and Francis L. Cardozo were
elected to a seven-man board of trustees.

1896 – The South Carolina legislature passes a measure creating the
Colored Normal Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical
College (later South Carolina State) in Orangeburg.

1931 – Cab Calloway records the classic “Minnie The Moocher,” a song
that would be forever linked to him. The song combined
scat-singing with nonsense syllables and lyrics of drug use,
recounting how Minnie and her cocaine-using lover, Smokey
Joe, went to Chinatown, where “he showed her how to kick the
gong around” – slang for opium smoking.

1962 – Jacqueline Joyner (later Kersee) is born in East Saint Louis,
Illinois. She will become an Olympic champion, winning two
medals (silver in 1984 and gold in 1988) in the heptathlon
and another gold medal in the long jump at the 1988 Games in
Seoul, South Korea.

1967 – Grenada gains partial independence from Great Britain.

1988 – Juanita Kidd Stout becomes the first African American woman to
serve on a state supreme court when she is sworn in as an
associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

1991 – Motorist Rodney King is severely beaten by four Los Angeles
police officers after a high-speed chase in a scene captured
on home video by George Holliday.

1998 – Larry Doby, the second African American to play major league
baseball and the first African American to play in the
American League (Cleveland Indians), is selected for
induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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