KRLemmons African American History

March 31 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 31 *

1850 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court rejects the argument of
Charles Sumner in the Boston school integration suit and
established the “separate but equal” precedent.

1853 – At concert singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield’s New York
debut in Metropolitan Hall, African Americans are not
allowed to attend. Angered and embarrassed at the exclusion
of her race, Greenfield will perform in a separate concert
at the Broadway Tabernacle for five African American
congregations.

1871 – John Arthur “Jack” Johnson is born in Galveston, Texas. He
will become a professional boxer and will become the first
African American to be crowned world heavyweight boxing
champion. His championship reign will last from 1908 to 1915.
He will join the ancestors on June 10, 1946 after succumbing
to injuries from an automobile accident. He will be inducted
into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, and is on the roster of
both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World
Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2005, the United States National Film
Preservation Board deemed the film of the 1910 Johnson-
Jeffries fight “historically significant” and will place it
in the National Film Registry.

1930 – President Hoover nominates Judge John J. Parker of North
Carolina for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The NAACP
launches a national campaign against the appointment. Parker
is not confirmed by the Senate.

1948 – A. Phillip Randolph tells the Senate Armed Services Committee
that unless segregation and discrimination were banned in
draft programs he would urge African American youths to
resist induction by civil disobedience.

1949 – William Grant Still’s opera, “Troubled Island” receives its
world premiere at the New York City Opera. In addition to
marking Robert McFerrin’s debut as the first African American
male to sing with the company, the opera is the first ever
written by an African American to be produced by a major
opera company.

1967 – Jimi Hendrix begins the tradition of burning his guitar in
London, England.

1968 – The provisional government of the Republic of New Africa is
founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1973 – Ken Norton defeats Muhammad Ali in a 12 round split decision
in San Diego, California. Norton will break Ali’s jaw
during the bout.

1980 – Jesse Owens joins the ancestors in Tucson, Arizona at the age
of 66, and President Jimmy Carter adds his voice to the
tributes that pour in from around the world. Jesse won four
gold medals in track at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

1980 – Larry Holmes wins the vacant world heavyweight title by
knocking out Leroy Jones in the eighth round.

1988 – Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize for “Beloved,” a
powerful novel of a runaway slave who murders her daughter
rather than see her raised in slavery.

1995 – President Bill Clinton briefly visits Haiti, where he
declares the U.S. mission to restore democracy there a
“remarkable success.”

1999 – Four New York City police officers are charged with murder
for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in
a hail of bullets. They shot at him 41 times, hitting him
with 19 shots. The officers will later be acquitted of all
charges, even involuntary manslaughter.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 15 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 15 *

1809 – Joseph J. Roberts is born free in Norfolk, Virginia. He will
leave Virginia with his family for the West African coast in
1829, part of the colonization effort of the American
Colonization Society. He will become the first President of
Liberia in 1848. He will join the ancestors in 1876.

1842 – Robert C. DeLarge is born in Aiken, South Carolina. He will
defeat a white opponent by 986 votes out of 32,000 cast to
earn a seat as a South Carolina representative to the United
States Congress in 1870. He will serve in the House of
Representatives from March 4, 1871 until January 24, 1873
when the seat will be declared vacant as the result of an
election challenge initiated by Christopher C. Bowen. After
leaving Congress he will serve as a local magistrate until he
joins the ancestors in Charleston, South Carolina on February
14, 1874.

1897 – The Fifty-fifth Congress (1897-99) convenes. Only one African
American congressman is in attendance: George H. White, of
North Carolina.

1912 – Sam Hopkins is born in Centerville, Texas. He will become a
blues guitarist, better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, and be
considered one of the last blues singers in the grand
tradition of “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, with whom he played as
a child. He will join the ancestors on January 30, 1982 after
succumbing to cancer.

1933 – The NAACP begins a coordinated attack on segregation and
discrimination, filing a suit against the University of North
Carolina on behalf of Thomas Hocutt. The case is lost on a
technicality after the president of an African American
college refuses to certify the records of the plaintiff.

1933 – The Los Angeles Sentinel is founded by Leon H. Washington.

1933 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to YMCA secretary Max
Yergan for his achievements as a missionary in South Africa,
“representing the gift of cooperation…American Negroes may
send back to their Motherland.”

1933 – Cecil Percival Taylor is born in New York City. He will
become a international jazz pianist concert artist and
composer. He will also teach African American music and lead
the Black Music Ensemble at the University of Wisconsin,
Antioch College, and Glassboro State (in New Jersey). He is
considered to be one of the most controversial figures in
“jazz”. For many observers, his work ranks as some of the
most profound art ever produced.

1938 – Emilio Cruz is born in New York City. He will become a painter
who will study in his teens with the influential African
American artist Bob Thompson, study European masters in
Italy, Paris, London, and Amsterdam and become noted in the
United States for both his figurative and abstract paintings.
His work will be exhibited or collected by the Museum of
Modern Art, National Museum of American Art, the Studio
Museum of Harlem, and prestigious private galleries. He will
join the ancestors on December 10, 2004 in New York City
after succumbing to pancreatic cancer.

1944 – Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart is born in Dallas, Texas. He
will become a popular disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay
area. This popularity will fuel his career as a musician and
singer. He will achieve fame with his group: Sly & The
Family Stone and record the hits “Dance to the Music,”
“Everyday People,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You,”
and “Family Affair.”

1946 – Bobby Lee Bonds is born in Riverside, California. He will
become a major league baseball player and hit a grand slam in
his first Major League game on June 25,1968 against the Los
Angeles Dodgers. He will be a 3-time All-Star (1971 and 1973
in the National League and 1975 in the American League). He
will amass a total 332 home runs, 1,024 RBIs, 461 stolen
bases and a .268 batting average for 8 teams. He will hold
the Major League record for most HRs as a lead-off batter in
a game in a season with 11 in 1973. He will be named by The
Sporting News as the National League Player of the Year in
1973, hitting .283 with 39 homers, 96 RBI and 43 stolen
bases. He will join the ancestors on August 23, 2003 after
succumbing to complications of lung cancer and a brain tumor.

1946 – Howard E. Scott is born in San Pedro, California. He will
become a Rhythm and Blues singer, guitarist, and be best
known for his performances as part of the Rhythm & Blues
group “War.” Scott will contribute lyrics, music, and
co-produced some of War’s greatest hits, such as ‘Cisco Kid,’
‘Slipping into Darkness’ and ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?.’ He
will also be the frontman and leader of the group.

1958 – Cincinnati Royals basketball star Maurice Stokes collapses
during a playoff game suffering with encephalitis. It will
be determined that this was the result of an earlier injury,
when his head hit the floor, knocking him unconscious, in the
last game of the regular season. He will go into a coma and
become permanently disabled.

1959 – Saxophonist and major influence on the “Cool School” of jazz,
Lester “Prez” Young joins the ancestors at the age of 49 in
New York City.

1962 – Terence Trent D’Arby is born in New York City. He will become
a popular Rhythm and Blues singer, music producer, songwriter,
and composer. He will be best known for his recording
“Wishing Well.”

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first and only player in NBA
history to score more than 4,000 points in a season (4,029).
He will average 50.4 points per game.

1968 – “LIFE” magazine calls Jimi Hendrix “the most spectacular
guitarist in the world.”

1968 – Bob Beamon sets an indoor long jump record as he leaps 27
feet, 2-3/4 inches.

1969 – St. Clair Drake is named director of the African and Afro
American Studies program at Stanford University. Drake’s
accomplishments in the position will form a model for such
programs across the country.

1970 – The musical, “Purlie” opens a run of 680 continuous
performances on Broadway in New York City.

1980 – Scores of people are injured in Klan-related incidents in
Georgia, Tennessee, California, Indiana and North Carolina.

1985 – Larry Holmes beats David Bey in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was
probably good for Bey, since no one had ever heard of him
before the fight. Holmes defends his International Boxing
Federation heavyweight boxing title with the win.

1991 – Four Los Angeles police officers-Sergeant Stacey Koon and
Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno-
are charged with felony assault and related charges arising
from the Rodney King beating.

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

KRLemmons African American History

November 3 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 3             *

1868 – John W. Menard, of Louisiana, is elected as the African
American representative to Congress.  Menard defeats a
white candidate, 5,107 to 2,833, in an election in
Louisiana’s Second Congressional District to fill an
unexpired term in the Fortieth Congress.

1874 – James Theodore Holly, an African American who emigrated
to Haiti in 1861, is elected bishop of Haiti.

1883 – Race riots occur in Danville, Virginia, resulting in the
death of four African Americans.

1896 – South Carolina State College is established.

1905 – Artist Lois Mailou Jones is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
She will win her first award in 1926 and have major
exhibitions at the Harmon Foundation, the Salon des
Artistes Francais in Paris, the National Academy of
Design, and many others.  Despite her long career, she
will not have a major retrospective of her work until
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston mounts a show in her
honor in 1973. She will join the ancestors on June 9,
1998.

1920 – “Emperor Jones” opens at the Provincetown Theater with
Charles Gilpin in the title role.

1933 – Louis Wade Sullivan is born in Atlanta, Georgia.  He will
become the founder and first dean of the Morehouse
School of Medicine and Secretary of Health and Human
Services, the highest-ranking African American in the
Bush Administration.

1942 – William L. Dawson is elected to Congress from Chicago.

1942 – Black and white advocates of direct, nonviolent action
organized the Congress of Racial Equality in Chicago.
Three CORE members stage a sit-in at Stoner’s Restaurant
in Chicago’s Loop.

1942 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to Asa Philip Randolph
“for organizing the Sleeping Car Porters under the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and securing
recognition for them; and because of his fearless,
determined mobilization of mass opinion that resulted
in… Executive Order No. 8802, which banned racial
discrimination in defense industries and government work.”

1945 – Irving C. Mollison, a Chicago Republican, is sworn in as
U.S. Customs Court judge in New York City.

1945 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Paul Robeson
“for his outstanding achievement in the theater, on the
concert stage, and in the general field of racial
welfare.”

1949 – Larry Holmes is born in Easton, Pennsylvania.  He will
become a professional boxer and world heavyweight
champion from 1978 to 1985.  During his reign, he will
defend his title more times than any other heavyweight
in history, with the exception of Joe Louis.

1953 – Jeffrey Banks is born in Washington, DC.  He will become
an influential fashion designer and the youngest designer
to win the prestigious Coty Award, for his outstanding
fur designs.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA San Francisco Warriors, scores
72 points vs the Los Angeles Lakers.

1964 – John Conyers, Jr. is elected to the House of
Representatives from Detroit, Michigan.

1970 – Twelve African Americans are elected to the Ninety-second
Congress, including five new congressmen: Ralph H.
Metcalfe (Illinois), George Collins (Illinois), Charles
Rangel (New York), Ronald Dellums (California), and
Parren Mitchell (Maryland).

1970 – Wilson Riles is elected as the first African American
superintendent of Public Instruction in California.

1970 – Richard Austin is elected as the first African American
secretary of state in Michigan.

1974 – Harold G. Ford is elected U.S. Congressman from Tennessee.

1978 – Dominica is granted its independence by Great Britain.

1979 – Klansmen fire on an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North
Carolina, and kill five persons.

1981 – Coleman Young is re-elected mayor of Detroit. Thurman L.
Milner is elected mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.  James
Chase is elected mayor of Spokane, Washington.

1983 – Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for
President of the United States.  Although unsuccessful in
this and a later 1988 campaign, Jackson will win many
Democratic state primaries. His candidacy will win him
national attention and a platform for increased
representation by African Americans in the Democratic
Party.

1992 – Carol Moseley Braun is the first African American woman to
be elected to the U.S. Senate.

1992 – James Clyburn is the first African American to represent
South Carolina since Reconstruction.  He had previously
served for 18 years as South Carolina’s Human Affairs
Commissioner.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 2           *

1800 – Nat Turner is born in Southampton, Virginia. Believing
himself called by God to free his fellow bondsmen,
Turner will become a freedom fighter leader of one of
the most famous slave revolts, resulting in the death
of scores of whites and involving 60 to 80 slaves. He
will join the ancestors on November 11, 1831 after being
executed for his part in the rebellion.

1833 – The New York Anti-Slavery Society is organized.

1898 – Otis J. Rene’ is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. With
his younger brother Leon, he will move to Los Angeles,
California, and establish Exclusive and Excelsior
Records in the 1930’s. By the mid-1940’s, the brothers
will be leading independent record producers whose
artists will include Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries, and
Johnny Otis. He will join the ancestors on April 5, 1970.

1929 – Moses Gunn is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become
an Obie Award-winning stage player, and co-found the Negro
Ensemble Company in the 1960s. His 1962 Broadway debut was
in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.” He will be nominated for a
1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for “The Poison Tree”
and will play Othello on Broadway in 1970. He will also
appear in “Amityville II,” “Shaft,” and “Good Times.” He
will join the ancestors on December 17, 1993 after
succumbing to complications from asthma,

1932 – Maurice Morning ‘Maury’ Wills is born is Washington, DC.
He will become a professional baseball player and
shortstop for the Dodger organization.  He will become
the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962.

1936 – Johnnie Cochran is born in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He
will become a criminal defense attorney and will be
best known for his defense of Black Panther Party
member Geronimo Pratt and ex-NFL superstar O.J.
Simpson. He will join the ancestors on March 29, 2005.

1958 – The Republic of Guinea gains independence under the
leadership of Sekou Toure.

1965 – Bishop Harold Robert Perry of Lake Charles, Louisiana,
is named auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Paul
IV.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American
member of the United States Supreme Court when he is
sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. As chief
counsel for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1940s
and ’50s, Marshall was the architect and executor of
the legal strategy that ended the era of official
racial segregation. The great-grandson of a slave,
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908.
After being rejected from the University of Maryland
Law School on account of his race, he was accepted at
all-black Howard University in Washington, DC. At
Howard, he studied under the tutelage of civil
liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston and in 1933
graduated first in his class. In 1936, he joined the
legal division of the NAACP, of which Houston was
director, and two years later succeeded his mentor
in the organization’s top legal post.

1967 – Robert H. Lawrence, who was named the first African
American astronaut, joins the ancestors after being
killed in a plane crash before his first mission.

1968 – Bob Gibson, of the St. Louis Cardinals, sets a world
series record of 17 strikeouts.

1980 – Larry Holmes retains the WBC heavyweight boxing title
defeating Muhammad Ali.

1981 – Hazel Scott, renown jazz singer and pianist, joins
the ancestors at the age of 61 (succumbed to pancreatic
cancer).

1986 – The United States Senate overrides President Ronald
Reagan’s veto of legislation imposing economic
sanctions against South Africa. The override is seen
as the culmination of efforts by Trans-Africa’s
Randall Robinson, Rep. Mickey Leland, and others
begun almost two years earlier with Robinson’s
arrest before the South African Embassy in
Washington, DC.

1989 – “Jump Start” premiers in 40 newspapers in the United
States. The comic strip is the creation of 26-year-
old Robb Armstrong, the youngest African American to
have a syndicated comic strip. He follows in the
footsteps of Morrie Turner, the creator of “Wee Pals,”
the first African American syndicated comic strip.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 28             *

1829 – “Walker’s Appeal (To the Coloured Citizens of the World),”
a racial antislavery pamphlet, is published in Boston,
Massachusetts, by David Walker.

1833 – Lemuel Haynes, Revolutionary War veteran and first African
American to be ordained by the Congregational Church,
joins the ancestors at the age of 80.

1912 – W.C. Handy’s ground-breaking “Memphis Blues” is published
in Memphis, Tennessee. The composition was originally
entitled “Mr. Crump” and was written for the 1909
political campaign of Edward H. “Boss” Crump.

1938 – Benjamin Earl “Ben E.” King is born in Henderson, North
Carolina.  He will become a rhythm and blues singer and
will be best known for his song, “Stand By Me.”

1941 – Charles Robert “Charley” Taylor is born in Grand Prairie,
Texas.  He will become a NFL wide receiver/running back with
the Washington Redskins. He will be inducted into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

1945 – Todd Duncan debuts with the New York City Opera as Tonio
in Il Pagliacci.  He is the first African American to
sing a leading role with a major American company, almost
ten years before Marian Anderson sings with the
Metropolitan Opera.

1961 – Ossie Davis’s “Purlie Victorious” opens on Broadway.  The
play stars Davis, Ruby Dee, Godfrey Cambridge, Alan Alda,
and Beah Richards.

1961 – Atlanta’s segregated restaurants and other public
facilities are peacefully integrated, part of a plan
adopted by city officials earlier in the year.

1967 – Walter Washington takes office as the first mayor of the
District of Columbia.

1972 – The Secretary of the Army repeals the dishonorable
discharges of 167 soldiers involved in the Brownsville
(Texas) Raid. The soldiers, members of the 25th Infantry
who were involved in a riot with the city’s police and
merchants, were dishonorably discharged by President
Theodore Roosevelt without a trial.

1976 – Muhammad Ali retains the heavyweight boxing championship
in a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at Yankee
Stadium.

1979 – Larry Holmes retains the heavyweight boxing championship
by knocking out Ernie Shavers in 11 rounds.

1981 – Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, is sentenced to life
in prison for killing 2 African American joggers in Salt
Lake City, Utah.

1987 – The National Museum of African Art, now a part of the
Smithsonian Institution, opens on the National Mall in
Washington, DC. Founded by Warren M. Robbins in 1964 as
a private educational institution, it is the only museum
in the United States devoted exclusively to the
collection, study, and exhibition of the art of sub-
Saharan Africa.

1990 – Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

1991 – Miles Davis, jazz musician, joins the ancestors at the age
of 65 from pneumonia.

2003 – Althea Gibson, pioneering tennis player, joins the
ancestors at the age of 76 after succumbing to
respiratory failure. She was the first African American
woman to win the Wimbledon championship and was also a
professional golfer.

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