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1877 – Federal troops are withdrawn from public buildings in New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

January 27 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 27 *

1869 – William Mercer Cook (later Will Marion Cook), who will become
a noted composer and conductor, is born in Washington, DC.
Beginning study of the violin at age 13, at 15 he will win a
scholarship to study at the Oberlin Conservatory. Among other
accomplishments, he will introduce syncopated ragtime to New
York City theatergoers in his operetta “Clorinda.” In 1890,
he will become director of a chamber orchestra touring the East
Coast. He will prepare Scenes from the Opera of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin for performance. The performance, which is to take place
at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, is cancelled. “Clorindy; or,
The Origin of the Cakewalk” — a musical sketch comedy in
collaboration with Paul Laurence Dunbar — is the next piece he
will compose, in 1898. It will be the first all-Black show to
play in a prestigious Broadway house, Casino Theatre’s Roof
Garden. After this period, he will be composer-in-chief and
musical director for the George Walker-Bert Williams Company. As
he continues to write, he will produce many successful musicals.
Best known for his songs, he will use folk elements in an
original and distinct manner. Many of these songs will first
appear in his musicals. The songs will be written for choral
groups or for solo singers. Some are published in “A Collection
of Negro Songs” (1912). Later in his career, he will be an
active choral and orchestral conductor. He will produce several
concerts and organize many choral societies in both New York and
in Washington, D.C. The New York Syncopated Orchestra, that he
creates, will tour the United States in 1918 and then go to
England in 1919 for a command performance for King George V.
Among his company will be assistant director Will Tyers, jazz
clarinetist Sidney Bechet, and Cook’s wife, Abbie Mitchell. One
of his last shows will be “Swing Along” (1929), written with Will
Vodery. He will join the ancestors on July 19, 1944.

1894 – Frederick Douglass ‘Fritz’ Pollard is born in Chicago,
Illinois. He will become a football star at Brown
University in 1915 and lead them to the first Rose Bowl
game, played on January 1, 1916. This will make him the
first African American to play in the Rose Bowl. He will
also become the first African American named an All-American.
After leaving Brown University, he will become one of the
first African Americans to play professional football and
will become the first African American quarterback and the
first African American head coach, both with the NFL Akron
Indians. When the NFL bans African American players from
its ranks in 1933, Pollard will organize the first African
American professional football team, the Brown Bombers of
Harlem. After fifteen years in professional football,
Pollard will establish the first all African American
investment company in the country, and run New York City’s
first African American tabloid newspaper. He will also be
involved in the production of some of America’s first
all-African American movies. He will join the ancestors on
May 11, 1986.

1915 – The United States Marines occupy Haiti. This occupation
will continue until 1934. Americans will serve as officials
of the Haitian government and control its finances, police
force, and public works.

1930 – Robert Calvin Brooks (Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland) is born in Rosemark,
Tennessee. He will become a singer and start his career as
a member of The Beale Streeters with Johnny Ace. He will
become a solo artist with the Malaco label and record “That’s
the Way Love Is,” “Call on Me,” “Turn on Your Love Light,”
and “Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do.” Along with such artists as
Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, he will develope
a sound that mixes gospel with the Blues and Rhythm & Blues.
He will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and receive the Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. He will join the
ancestors on June 23,2013.

1952 – Ralph Ellison’s powerful novel “Invisible Man” wins the
National Book Award.

1961 – Leontyne Price makes her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York City. She sings in the role of Leonora
in “Il Trovatore”. Price is the seventh African American
singer to make a debut at the Met. Marian Anderson will be
the first in 1955.

1972 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, joins the ancestors in
Evergreen Park, Illinois at the age of 60. Born in New
Orleans, Louisiana, she began her singing career with the
Salem Baptist Choir in Chicago, Illinois. She achieved
national fame with her recording of “Move on Up A Little
Higher,” which sold over a million copies. Many considered
her rich contralto voice the best in gospel music.

1972 – In Columbia, South Carolina, the white and African American
United Methodist conferences of South Carolina — separated
since the Civil War — vote in their respective meetings to
adopt a plan of union.

1984 – Carl Lewis betters his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4
inches when he sets a new, world, indoor-record with a long
jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches in New York City.

1984 – Singer Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire during the
filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles at the Shrine
Auditorium. Pyrotechnics did not operate on cue, injuring
the singer. Jackson is hospitalized for a few days and fans
from around the world send messages of concern.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 3 *

1621 – William Tucker is born in Jamestown, Virginia. He is the first
African American child, on record, born in the American
colonies.

1945 – The Albany Institute of History and Art in New York State opens
its exhibit “The Negro Artist Comes of Age: A National Survey of
Contemporary American Artists.” The show includes works by
Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Palmer Hayden, Eldzier
Cortor, Lois Mailou Jones, and others and will run for five weeks.

1947 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s
annual report calls 1946 “one of the grimmest years in the
history of the NAACP.” The report details violence and
atrocities heaped on “Negro veterans freshly returned from a
war to end torture and racial extermination,” and said “Negroes
in America have been disillusioned over the wave of lynchings,
brutality and official recession from all of the flamboyant
promises of post war democracy and decency.”

1947 – William Dawson becomes the first African American to head a
congressional committee; Congressional proceedings are televised
for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and
New York got to see some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th
Congress.

1956 – The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1870,
officially changes its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church. The denomination is headquartered today in Memphis,
Tennessee, and comprises a membership of nearly 500,000.

1961 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is elected Chairman of The House
Education and Labor Committee.

1966 – Floyd B. McKissick, a North Carolina attorney, is named national
director of The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

1969 – Louis Stokes is sworn in as the first African American
congressman from the state of Ohio. He will serve more that ten
terms in Congress and be distinguished by his leadership of the
1977 Select Committee on Assassinations and chairmanship of the
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics
Committee).

1969 – Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is seated by Congress
after being expelled by Congress in 1967, and re-elected by the
voters in his Harlem district.

1983 – Tony Dorsett sets an NFL record with a 99-yd rush, in a game
between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings.

1984 – Syria frees captured U.S. pilot Robert Goodman, shot down over
Damascus, after a personal appeal from Rev. Jesse Jackson.

1985 – Soprano, Leontyne Price bids adieu to the Metropolitan Opera in
New York. She sings the title role of “Aida”. Price had been
part of the Metropolitan Opera since 1961.

1985 – The Israeli government confirms the resettlement of 10,000
Ethiopian Jews.

1987 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first female artist –
“Lady Soul,” Aretha Franklin.

1989 – “The Arsenio Hall Show” premieres. It is the first regularly
scheduled nightly talk show to star an African American.

1997 – Bryant Gumbel co-hosts his final “Today” show on NBC.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 14 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 14 *

1874 – White Democrats seize the statehouse in a Louisiana coup
d’etat. President Grant orders the revolutionaries to
disperse, and the rebellion collapses. Twenty-seven
persons (sixteen whites and eleven Blacks) are killed in
battles between the Democrats and Republicans.

1891 – John Adams Hyman joins the ancestors in Washington, DC.
He was the first African American congressman from the
state of North Carolina.

1921 – Constance Baker Motley is born in New Haven, Connecticut.
She will achieve many distinctions in her career,
including being the first African American woman elected
to the New York Senate in 1964, the first woman Manhattan
borough president, and the first African American woman to be
named as a federal court judge in 1966. She will later
serve as chief judge of the Southern District of New
York until she joins the ancestors on September 28, 2005.

1940 – African Americans are allowed to enter all branches of
the United States Military Service, when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service Act.

1964 – Leontyne Price and A. Philip Randolph are among the
recipients of the Medal of Freedom awarded by President
Lyndon B. Johnson.

1970 – One African American is killed and two whites are injured
in shoot-out between activists and police officers in a
New Orleans housing project.

2003 – Yetunde Price, the oldest sister of tennis stars Venus
and Serena Williams, joins the ancestors at the age of
31 after being killed in a shooting at her place of
business.

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

January 27 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 27 *

1869 – William Mercer Cook (later Will Marion Cook), who will become
a noted composer and conductor, is born in Washington, DC.
Beginning study of the violin at age 13, at 15 he will win a
scholarship to study at the Oberlin Conservatory. Among other
accomplishments, he will introduce syncopated ragtime to New
York City theatergoers in his operetta “Clorinda.” In 1890,
he will become director of a chamber orchestra touring the East
Coast. He will prepare Scenes from the Opera of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin for performance. The performance, which is to take place
at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, is cancelled. “Clorindy; or,
The Origin of the Cakewalk” — a musical sketch comedy in
collaboration with Paul Laurence Dunbar — is the next piece he
will compose, in 1898. It will be the first all-Black show to
play in a prestigious Broadway house, Casino Theatre’s Roof
Garden. After this period, he will be composer-in-chief and
musical director for the George Walker-Bert Williams Company. As
he continues to write, he will produce many successful musicals.
Best known for his songs, he will use folk elements in an
original and distinct manner. Many of these songs will first
appear in his musicals. The songs will be written for choral
groups or for solo singers. Some are published in “A Collection
of Negro Songs” (1912). Later in his career, he will be an
active choral and orchestral conductor. He will produce several
concerts and organize many choral societies in both New York and
in Washington, D.C. The New York Syncopated Orchestra, that he
creates, will tour the United States in 1918 and then go to
England in 1919 for a command performance for King George V.
Among his company will be assistant director Will Tyers, jazz
clarinetist Sidney Bechet, and Cook’s wife, Abbie Mitchell. One
of his last shows will be “Swing Along” (1929), written with Will
Vodery. He will join the ancestors on July 19, 1944.

1894 – Frederick Douglass ‘Fritz’ Pollard is born in Chicago,
Illinois. He will become a football star at Brown
University in 1915 and lead them to the first Rose Bowl
game, played on January 1, 1916. This will make him the
first African American to play in the Rose Bowl. He will
also become the first African American named an All-American.
After leaving Brown University, he will become one of the
first African Americans to play professional football and
will become the first African American quarterback and the
first African American head coach, both with the NFL Akron
Indians. When the NFL bans African American players from
its ranks in 1933, Pollard will organize the first African
American professional football team, the Brown Bombers of
Harlem. After fifteen years in professional football,
Pollard will establish the first all African American
investment company in the country, and run New York City’s
first African American tabloid newspaper. He will also be
involved in the production of some of America’s first
all-African American movies. He will join the ancestors on
May 11, 1986.

1915 – The United States Marines occupy Haiti. This occupation
will continue until 1934. Americans will serve as officials
of the Haitian government and control its finances, police
force, and public works.

1930 – Robert Calvin (Bobby ‘Blue’) Bland is born in Rosemark,
Tennessee. He will become a singer and start his career as
a member of The Beale Streeters with Johnny Ace. He will
become a solo artist with the Malaco label and record “That’s
the Way Love Is,” “Call on Me,” “Turn on Your Love Light,”
and “Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do.” Along with such artists as
Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, he will develope
a sound that mixes gospel with the Blues and Rhythm & Blues.
He will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and receive the Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

1952 – Ralph Ellison’s powerful novel “Invisible Man” wins the
National Book Award.

1961 – Leontyne Price makes her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York City. She sings in the role of Leonora
in “Il Trovatore”. Price is the seventh African American
singer to make a debut at the Met. Marian Anderson will be
the first in 1955.

1972 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, joins the ancestors in
Evergreen Park, Illinois at the age of 60. Born in New
Orleans, Louisiana, she began her singing career with the
Salem Baptist Choir in Chicago, Illinois. She achieved
national fame with her recording of “Move on Up A Little
Higher,” which sold over a million copies. Many considered
her rich contralto voice the best in gospel music.

1972 – In Columbia, South Carolina, the white and African American
United Methodist conferences of South Carolina — separated
since the Civil War — vote in their respective meetings to
adopt a plan of union.

1984 – Carl Lewis betters his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4
inches when he sets a new, world, indoor-record with a long
jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches in New York City.

1984 – Singer Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire during the
filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles at the Shrine
Auditorium. Pyrotechnics did not operate on cue, injuring
the singer. Jackson is hospitalized for a few days and fans
from around the world send messages of concern.

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

KRLemmons African American History

January 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 3 *

1621 – William Tucker is born in Jamestown, Virginia. He is the first
African American child, on record, born in the American
colonies.

1945 – The Albany Institute of History and Art in New York State opens
its exhibit “The Negro Artist Comes of Age: A National Survey of
Contemporary American Artists.” The show includes works by
Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Palmer Hayden, Eldzier
Cortor, Lois Mailou Jones, and others and will run for five weeks.

1947 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s
annual report calls 1946 “one of the grimmest years in the
history of the NAACP.” The report details violence and
atrocities heaped on “Negro veterans freshly returned from a
war to end torture and racial extermination,” and said “Negroes
in America have been disillusioned over the wave of lynchings,
brutality and official recession from all of the flamboyant
promises of post war democracy and decency.”

1947 – William Dawson becomes the first African American to head a
congressional committee; Congressional proceedings are televised
for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and
New York got to see some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th
Congress.

1956 – The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1870,
officially changes its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church. The denomination is headquartered today in Memphis,
Tennessee, and comprises a membership of nearly 500,000.

1961 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is elected Chairman of The House
Education and Labor Committee.

1966 – Floyd B. McKissick, a North Carolina attorney, is named national
director of The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

1969 – Louis Stokes is sworn in as the first African American
congressman from the state of Ohio. He will serve more that ten
terms in Congress and be distinguished by his leadership of the
1977 Select Committee on Assassinations and chairmanship of the
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics
Committee).

1969 – Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. is seated by Congress
after being expelled by Congress in 1967, and re-elected by the
voters in his Harlem district.

1983 – Tony Dorsett sets an NFL record with a 99-yd rush, in a game
between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings.

1984 – Syria frees captured U.S. pilot Robert Goodman, shot down over
Damascus, after a personal appeal from Rev. Jesse Jackson.

1985 – Soprano, Leontyne Price bids adieu to the Metropolitan Opera in
New York. She sings the title role of “Aida”. Price had been
part of the Metropolitan Opera since 1961.

1985 – The Israeli government confirms the resettlement of 10,000
Ethiopian Jews.

1987 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first female artist –
“Lady Soul,” Aretha Franklin.

1989 – “The Arsenio Hall Show” premieres. It is the first regularly
scheduled nightly talk show to star an African American.

1997 – Bryant Gumbel co-hosts his final “Today” show on NBC.

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

KRLemmons African American History

September 14 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – September 14 *

1874 – White Democrats seize the statehouse in a Louisiana coup
d’etat. President Grant orders the revolutionaries to
disperse, and the rebellion collapses. Twenty-seven
persons (sixteen whites and eleven Blacks) are killed in
battles between the Democrats and Republicans.

1891 – John Adams Hyman joins the ancestors in Washington, DC.
He was the first African American congressman from the
state of North Carolina.

1921 – Constance Baker Motley is born in New Haven, Connecticut.
She will achieve many distinctions in her career,
including being the first African American woman elected
to the New York Senate in 1964, the first woman Manhattan
borough president, and the first African American woman to be
named as a federal court judge in 1966. She will later
serve as chief judge of the Southern District of New
York until she joins the ancestors on September 28, 2005.

1940 – African Americans are allowed to enter all branches of
the United States Military Service, when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service Act.

1964 – Leontyne Price and A. Philip Randolph are among the
recipients of the Medal of Freedom awarded by President
Lyndon B. Johnson.

1970 – One African American is killed and two whites are injured
in shoot-out between activists and police officers in a
New Orleans housing project.

2003 – Yetunde Price, the oldest sister of tennis stars Venus
and Serena Williams, joins the ancestors at the age of
31 after being killed in a shooting at her place of
business.

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.

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

January 27 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 27 *

1869 – William Mercer Cook (later Will Marion Cook), who will become
a noted composer and conductor, is born in Washington, DC.
Beginning study of the violin at age 13, at 15 he will win a
scholarship to study at the Oberlin Conservatory. Among other
accomplishments, he will introduce syncopated ragtime to New
York City theatergoers in his operetta “Clorinda.” In 1890,
he will become director of a chamber orchestra touring the East
Coast. He will prepare Scenes from the Opera of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin for performance. The performance, which is to take place
at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, is cancelled. “Clorindy; or,
The Origin of the Cakewalk” — a musical sketch comedy in
collaboration with Paul Laurence Dunbar — is the next piece he
will compose, in 1898. It will be the first all-Black show to
play in a prestigious Broadway house, Casino Theatre’s Roof
Garden. After this period, he will be composer-in-chief and
musical director for the George Walker-Bert Williams Company. As
he continues to write, he will produce many successful musicals.
Best known for his songs, he will use folk elements in an
original and distinct manner. Many of these songs will first
appear in his musicals. The songs will be written for choral
groups or for solo singers. Some are published in “A Collection
of Negro Songs” (1912). Later in his career, he will be an
active choral and orchestral conductor. He will produce several
concerts and organize many choral societies in both New York and
in Washington, D.C. The New York Syncopated Orchestra, that he
creates, will tour the United States in 1918 and then go to
England in 1919 for a command performance for King George V.
Among his company will be assistant director Will Tyers, jazz
clarinetist Sidney Bechet, and Cook’s wife, Abbie Mitchell. One
of his last shows will be “Swing Along” (1929), written with Will
Vodery. He will join the ancestors on July 19, 1944.

1894 – Frederick Douglass ‘Fritz’ Pollard is born in Chicago,
Illinois. He will become a football star at Brown
University in 1915 and lead them to the first Rose Bowl
game, played on January 1, 1916. This will make him the
first African American to play in the Rose Bowl. He will
also become the first African American named an All-American.
After leaving Brown University, he will become one of the
first African Americans to play professional football and
will become the first African American quarterback and the
first African American head coach, both with the NFL Akron
Indians. When the NFL bans African American players from
its ranks in 1933, Pollard will organize the first African
American professional football team, the Brown Bombers of
Harlem. After fifteen years in professional football,
Pollard will establish the first all African American
investment company in the country, and run New York City’s
first African American tabloid newspaper. He will also be
involved in the production of some of America’s first
all-African American movies. He will join the ancestors on
May 11, 1986.

1915 – The United States Marines occupy Haiti. This occupation
will continue until 1934. Americans will serve as officials
of the Haitian government and control its finances, police
force, and public works.

1930 – Robert Calvin (Bobby ‘Blue’) Bland is born in Rosemark,
Tennessee. He will become a singer and start his career as
a member of The Beale Streeters with Johnny Ace. He will
become a solo artist with the Malaco label and record “That’s
the Way Love Is,” “Call on Me,” “Turn on Your Love Light,”
and “Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do.” Along with such artists as
Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, he will develope
a sound that mixes gospel with the Blues and Rhythm & Blues.
He will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and receive the Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

1952 – Ralph Ellison’s powerful novel “Invisible Man” wins the
National Book Award.

1961 – Leontyne Price makes her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York City. She sings in the role of Leonora
in “Il Trovatore”. Price is the seventh African American
singer to make a debut at the Met. Marian Anderson will be
the first in 1955.

1972 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, joins the ancestors in
Evergreen Park, Illinois at the age of 60. Born in New
Orleans, Louisiana, she began her singing career with the
Salem Baptist Choir in Chicago, Illinois. She achieved
national fame with her recording of “Move on Up A Little
Higher,” which sold over a million copies. Many considered
her rich contralto voice the best in gospel music.

1972 – In Columbia, South Carolina, the white and African American
United Methodist conferences of South Carolina — separated
since the Civil War — vote in their respective meetings to
adopt a plan of union.

1984 – Carl Lewis betters his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4
inches when he sets a new, world, indoor-record with a long
jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches in New York City.

1984 – Singer Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire during the
filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles at the Shrine
Auditorium. Pyrotechnics did not operate on cue, injuring
the singer. Jackson is hospitalized for a few days and fans
from around the world send messages of concern.

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