Leroy “Satchel” Paige – The CamaraIfe Maktaba

February 15, 2015 KRLemmons African American History

February 9 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – February 9 *

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1906 – Never fully recovering from a bout of pneumonia in 1899, poet
and author Paul Laurence Dunbar joins the ancestors in Dayton,
Ohio, at the age of 33. He nonetheless produced three novels
(including “The Sport of the Gods”), three books of verse,
three collections of short stories, two unpublished plays,
and lyric pieces set to music by Will Marion Cook.

1944 – Alice Walker is born In Eatonton, Georgia. Best known for “The
Color Purple,” which will win the American Book Award and the
Pulitzer Prize, she will also write a variety of other
critically praised and award-winning works including poetry
and children’s books and edit a book on Zora Neale Hurston,
whom she will credit as her role model.

1944 – John Rozelle is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He will become an
artist and professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. His
work reflects his self identification as an “African American
sentinel,” or visual historian, guide, and advocate of
contemporary African American culture.

1951 – Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas is born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He will
become a rhythm and blues musician with the group, ‘Kool & the
Gang.’

1953 – Gary Franks is born in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1990, he
will be elected to Congress from Connecticut’s 5th District
and become the first African American Republican congressman
since Oscar De Priest left office in 1934.

1962 – Jamaica signs an agreement with Great Britain to become
independent.

1964 – Arthur Ashe, Jr. becomes the first African American on a United
States Davis Cup Team.

1964 – A speech by U.S. Representative Martha Griffiths in Congress,
on sex discrimination, results in civil rights protection for
women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first African American elected to
professional baseball’s Hall of Fame for his career in the
Negro Leagues.

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

February 4, 2015 KRLemmons African American History

January 30 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – January 30 *

1797 – Boston Masons, led by Prince Hall, establish the first
African American interstate organization, creating lodges
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island.

1797 – Isabella Baumfree is born a slave in Swartekill, Ulster County,
New York. This is an approximation, since historians cannot
agree on the actual date of her birth. She will escape from
slavery with her infant daughter in 1826. After going to court
to gain custody of her son, she will become the first Black
woman to win such a case against a white man. She will become
an African American abolitionist and women’s rights activist,
naming herself ‘Sojourner Truth’ on June 1, 1843. Her best-known
extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?,”
will be delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention
in Akron, Ohio. During the Civil War, she will help recruit
Black troops for the Union Army. After the war, she will try
unsuccessfully, to secure land grants from the federal government
for former slaves. She will speak about abolition, women’s rights,
prison reform, and will preach to the Michigan Legislature against
capital punishment. Not everyone welcomed her preaching and
lectures, but she will have many friends and staunch support among
many influential people at the time, including Amy Post, Parker
Pillsbury, Frances Gage, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison,
Laura Smith Haviland, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony.”
During her last days on earth, a reporter will come from the Grand
Rapids Eagle to interview her. “Her face was drawn and emaciated
and she was apparently suffering great pain. Her eyes were very
bright and mind alert although it was difficult for her to talk.”
She will join the ancestors on November 26, 1883, at her home in
Battle Creek, Michigan,

1797 – Congress refuses to accept the first recorded petitions from
African Americans.

1844 – Richard Theodore Greener becomes the first African American
to graduate from Harvard University.

1858 – William Wells Brown publishes the first drama by an African
American, “Leap to Freedom,” Brown is an escaped slave who
will also become noted as an abolitionist and author of
several early historical publications.

1927 – The Harlem Globetrotters, considered by many the most popular
basketball team in the world, is formed by Abe Saperstein.
Originally called the Savoy Five after their home court, the
Savoy Ballroom, in Chicago, Illinois, the team’s name will
be changed to the Harlem Globetrotters.

1928 – Ruth Brown is born in Portsmouth, Virginia. She will become a
Rhythm & Blues and jazz singer, recording “So Long,”
“Teardrops from My Eyes,” “Hours,” “Mambo Baby,” “Lucky
Lips,” and “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin’.” She will be a
Tony Award winner and a Rhythm & Blues revolutionary–a
woman whose early successes earned her instant worldwide
fame and launched a career that has influenced such
legendary performers as Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington,
Little Richard and Stevie Wonder. She will be inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. She will join the
ancestors on November 16, 2006. A memorial concert for her
will be held on January 22, 2007 at the Abyssinian Baptist
Church in the village of Harlem in New York City.

1944 – Sharon Pratt is born in Washington, DC. In 1990, as Sharon
Pratt Dixon, she will be elected the first woman mayor of
Washington, DC. Her defeat of incumbent Marion Barry coupled
with her years of community involvement and activism will
raise the beleaguered city’s hopes for positive change.
R1945 – Floyd Flake is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a congressman from New York’s 6th District.

1956 – The home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery bus
boycott leader, is bombed.

1962 – The United Nations General Assembly censures Portugal for its
widespread violations of human rights in Angola.

1965 – Leroy “Satchel” Paige, major league baseball player, is named
all-time outstanding player by the National Baseball
Congress.

1979 – Franklin A. Thomas becomes the first African American to head
a major U.S. charitable foundation when he is named
president of the Ford Foundation.

2009 – Michael Steele, the first African American lieutenant governor
of Maryland, is elected after six rounds of voting as the
chairperson of the Republican National Committee. He is the
first African American to hold that office.

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

August 18, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

August 13 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 13 *

1881 – The first African American nursing school opens at Spelman
College in Atlanta, Georgia.

1892 – The first issue of the Baltimore Afro-American is
published.

1906 – African American soldiers raid Brownsville, Texas in
retaliation for racial insults. One white man is killed,
two are wounded.

1911 – James B. Parsons is born in Kansas City, Missouri. After
an early career in music, he will become an attorney,
superior court judge in Cook County, Illinois, and
assistant U.S. Attorney, and in 1961, the first African
American appointed to a lifetime federal judgeship in the
continental United States. He will join the ancestors on
June 19, 1993.

1917 – Claudia McNeil is born in Baltimore, Maryland. She will
start her career as a singer and tour with Katherine
Dunham before finding fame as an actress. Among her most
notable roles will be as Lena Younger in both the play
and movie versions of “A Raisin in the Sun.” She will join
the ancestors on November 25, 1993.

1948 – Kathleen Battle is born in Portsmouth, Ohio. She will
become an operatic soprano, winner of Grammy awards in
1987 and 1988, and will be considered by many to be one
of the finest modern opera singers.

1948 – Cleveland Indians rookie pitcher, Satchel Paige, throws
his first complete game in the major leagues at the age
of 42. He allows the Chicago White Sox only five hits in
the 5-0 shutout.

1953 – President Eisenhower establishes the Government Contract
Compliance Committee to supervise anti-discrimination
regulations in government contracts.

1963 – Noted civil rights and labor leader, A. Philip Randolph
strongly protests the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s failure
to endorse the August 28 March on Washington.

1979 – Lou Brock, of the St. Louis Cardinals, gets his 3,000th
career hit while leading the Cardinals past the Chicago
Cubs, 3-2.

1983 – Daley Thompson of Britain wins the decathlon championship
at the World Track and Field Championship in Helsinki,
Finland.

1989 – Searchers in Ethiopia find the wreckage of a plane which
had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying
Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 15 other people.
There are no survivors.

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

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

August 9 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 9 *

1848 – The Free Soil party is organized at a Buffalo, New York
convention attended by African American abolitionists.

1898 – Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr. is born in Orangeburg,
South Carolina. An 11-term congressman, he will be the
first African American congressional representative
from Pennsylvania, when he is elected in 1958. He will
join only three other African Americans in Congress,
William Dawson of Illinois, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
of New York and Charles Diggs, Jr. of Michigan. He will
join the ancestors on June 22, 1987.

1909 – George William Crockett, Jr., is born in Jacksonville,
Florida. He will become the first African American lawyer
with the U.S. Department of Labor. Crockett will begin
his judicial career in Michigan in 1966, when he is
elected to the Recorder’s Court, a post he will hold until
1978. He will also serve as a visiting judge in the
Michigan Court of Appeals and acting corporation counsel
for the city of Detroit. He will become a congressman in
1980 at the age of 71 and will be re-elected to serve each
succeeding term until his retirement in 1991. He will join
the ancestors on September 7, 1997.

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the 1936 Berlin
Olympic Games in the 4×100-meter relay. His relay team set
a new world record of 39.8 seconds, which held for 20 years.
In their strong showing in track-and-field events at the
XIth Olympiad, Jesse Owens and other African American
athletes struck a propaganda blow against Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler, who planned to use the Berlin Games as a showcase
of supposed Aryan superiority.

1943 – Kenneth Howard Norton is born in Jacksonville, Illinois. He
will become a professional boxer. In 1973, he will fight
Muhammad Ali. He will break Ali’s jaw and go on to win by
a split decision. His victory over Ali will make him the
NABF Heavyweight Champion and it will be the second defeat
for “The Greatest” in his career. He will also win the WBC
heavyweight championship in 1978.

1955 – Douglas Lee Williams is born in Zachary, Louisiana. He will
become a NFL Quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Washington Redskins. While playing for the Redskins, he
will lead the team to a victory in Superbowl XXII and will
be named Most Valuable Player.

1960 – A racially motivated disturbance breaks out in Jacksonville,
Florida after ten days of sit-in demonstrations, resulting
in fifty persons injured.

1961 – James B. Parsons becomes the first African American
appointed to the U.S. District Court.

1963 – Whitney Elizabeth Houston is born in Newark, New Jersey. She
will achieve fame as a single artist with her 1985 debut
album, which will sell over nine million copies, have three
number-one singles and earn a Grammy for the song “Saving All
My Love For You.” In 2009, the Guinness World Records will
cite her as the most awarded female act of all time. She will
become one of the world’s best-selling music artists, selling
over 200 million records worldwide. She will release six
studio albums, one holiday album and three movie soundtrack
albums, all of which will achieve iamond, multi-platinum,
platinum or gold certification. Her crossover appeal on the
popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV,
starting with her video for “How Will I Know”, will influence
several African American female artists to follow in her
footsteps. She will be the only artist to chart seven
consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She will be the
second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to
have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the
Billboard magazine year-end charts. Her 1985 debut album
“Whitney Houston” will become the best-selling debut album by
a female act at the time of its release. The album will be
named Rolling Stone’s best album of 1986, and be ranked at
number 254 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums
of All Time. Her second studio album “Whitney” (1987) will
become the first album by a female artist to debut at number
one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Her first acting role
will be as the star of the feature film “The Bodyguard” (1992).
The film’s original soundtrack will win the 1994 Grammy Award
for Album of the Year. Its lead single “I Will Always Love
You”, will become the best-selling single by a female artist
in music history. With that album, she will become the first
act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million
copies of an album within a single week period under the
Nielsen SoundScan system. The album will make her the top
female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling albums of all
time, at number four. She will continue to star in movies and
contribute to their soundtracks, including the films “Waiting
to Exhale” (1995) and “The Preacher’s Wife” (1996). “The
Preacher’s Wife” soundtrack will become the best-selling gospel
album in history. In September 2011, The Hollywood Reporter
will announce that she will produce and star alongside Jordin
Sparks and Mike Epps in the remake of the 1976 film “Sparkle.”
In the film, she will portray Sparks’ “not-so encouraging
mother.” She will also be credited as an executive producer of
the film. On February 11, 2012, she will join the ancestors
after being found transitioned in her guest room at The Beverly
Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California. The official coroner’s
report will show that she had accidentally drowned in the
bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as
contributing factors. News of her transition will coincide with
the 2012 Grammy Awards and feature prominently in American and
international media. The movie “Sparkle,” will be released on
August 17, 2012 in the United States.

1967 – Deion Luwynn Sanders is born in Fort Myers, Florida. He will
attend Florida State University, where he will excel at both
football and baseball. After college, he will become a
National Football League cornerback and Major League baseball
outfielder. He will become a NFL All-Pro, and as a major
league center fielder, will lead both leagues in triples in
1992. He will be considered one of the most versatile
athletes in sporting history because he will play two sports
at multiple positions. In the NFL, he will play primarily at
cornerback, but also occasionally as a wide receiver, kick
returner, and punt returner. He will play for the Atlanta
Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the
Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the
Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys. In baseball,
he will play for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the
Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants. After his
playing days were over, he will become a NFL network analyst.
He will be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton,
Ohio on August 6, 2011.

1971 – Leroy (Satchel) Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame.

1984 – British decathlete Daley Thompson becomes the second man in
history to win the decathlon back-to-back in the Olympic
Games, while setting the record of 8,847 points.

1987 – Beatrice Foods, International is sold to TLC Group, a New York
investment firm led by Reginald Lewis, an African American
businessman and entrepreneur. It is the largest business
acquisition ever by an African American.

1987 – “Mean” Joe Greene and Gene Upshaw are inducted into the
Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

2003 – Gregory Hines, tap dancing virtuoso, joins the ancestors at
the age of 57 after succumbing to liver cancer. He
appeared on television, Broadway and in films.

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

July 8, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

July 7 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – July 7 *

1781 – James Armistead, an American slave, infiltrates the
headquarters of General Cornwallis and becomes a servant
hired to spy on the Americans. In reality, Armistead is
a cunning double agent working for the French ally
General Lafayette and reports on the movements and troop
strength of the British. His reports are critical to the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

1791 – The nondenominational African Church is founded by Richard
Allen, Absalom Jones, and Benjamin Rush.

1851 – Charles Albert Tindley, African American Methodist preacher
and songwriter is born in Berlin, Maryland. He will be
is known as one of the “founding fathers of American
Gospel music.” The son of slaves, he will teach himself to
read and write at the age of 17. He will be a driven young
man, working as a janitor while attending night school,
and earning his divinity degree through a correspondence
course. In 1902, he will become pastor of the Calvary
Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
the church where he had earlier been the janitor.
Tindley’s “I’ll Overcome Some Day” was the basis for the
American civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,”
popularized in the 1960’s. His most enduring gospel hymns
include ‘Stand By Me,’ ‘Nothing Between,’ ‘Leave It There’
and ‘By and By.’ He will compose over 47 gospel standards.
At the time he joins the ancestors in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania on July 26, 1933, his church will have 12,500
members. The Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in
Philadelphia will be named after him.

1906 – Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige, baseball pitcher, (Negro
League and American League) is born in Mobile, Alabama.
(His birth year is an estimate) In 1965, 59 years after
Paige’s supposed birthday, he took the mound for the last
time, throwing three shut-out innings for the Kansas City
Athletics. He will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1971. He will join the
ancestors on June 8, 1982.

1915 – Margaret Abigail Walker (later Alexander) is born in
Birmingham, Alabama. In 1935, She will receive her
Bachelors of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and
in 1936 she will begin work with the Federal Writers’
Project under the Works Progress Administration. In 1942,
she will receive her master’s degree in creative writing
from the University of Iowa. Encouraged by Langston Hughes
and others, Walker will become a writer best known for her
volume of poetry ‘For My People,’ her novel ‘Jubilee,’ and
a biography of novelist Richard Wright. In 1965, she will
return to the University of Iowa to earn her Ph.D. She will
serve for a time as a professor at Jackson State College
(now University). She will join the ancestors on November
30, 1998 after succumbing to breast cancer.

1921 – Ezzard Mack Charles is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will
become a boxer and will be undefeated as an amateur,
winning the 1939 AAU National middleweight title before
turning professional in 1940. After military service during
World War II, he will defeat Hall-of-Famer Archie Moore and
avenge losses to Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy Bivins to earn a
No. 2 ranking at light heavyweight in 1946. He will fight
five light heavyweight champions, beating four of them, but
will never challenge for the light heavyweight crown. He
will finally win the vacant NBA heavyweight title by
defeating Jersey Joe Walcott in 1949. He will earn worldwide
recognition as heavyweight king the next year by decisioning
an aged Joe Louis. After three successful defenses of the
undisputed crown, he will lose the title in a third battle
with Walcott. Charles will announce his retirement from the
ring on December 1, 1956. He will join the ancestors on May
28, 1975 after succumbing to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He will be
enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

1941 – Vernard R. Gray is born in Washington, DC. He will become a
pioneer in the Black Arts Movement. He will begin in the
1960’s as a photographer/videographer documenting African
American culture in the Washington, DC metropolitan area
and around the world. He will found the Miya Gallery in
downtown DC in 1976, introducing the community to various
manifestations of African culture over twenty-five years
and from 1996 will serve as an Internet developer for many
artists, small businesses and non-profit organizations at
Vernard Gray Technology Services at :
http://www.connectdc.com.

1945 – Fern Logan is born in Jamaica (Queens), New York. A graduate
of Pratt Institute, she will study photography in the mid
1970’s with master photographer Paul Caponigro. She will
also receive a Bachelor’s Degree fro State University of
New York and a Masters in Fine Arts Degree from the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago. Among her best-known works
will be the renowned “Artists Portrait Series” of African
American artists such as Romare Bearden, Roy deCarava, and
Jacob Lawrence as well as commanding landscapes and scenes
of nature. She is currently retired (Emerita) from
Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois and
resides in the Greater St. Louis, MO area.

1948 – The Cleveland Indians sign Leroy “Satchel” Paige at the age
of 42. He will be the American League ‘Rookie of the Year’.

1948 – Edna Griffin, her infant daughter Phyllis, John Bibbs and
Leonard Hudson, will enter the Katz Drug Store in downtown
Des Moines, Iowa, sit at the lunch counter and order ice
cream. They will be refused service and Griffin will soon
organize a protest against the drugstore’s policy of
refusing service to blacks. Criminal charges will be filed
against Katz for violating Iowa’s 1884 Civil Rights Act.
The law prohibits discrimination in public accommodation.
Katz will be found guilty and will appeal the verdict to
the Iowa Supreme Court, which affirms the decision a year
later. The case will be settled with Griffin receiving a
one dollar settlement and the drugstore forced to change
its ways.

1960 – Ralph Lee Sampson is born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He
will become arguably the most heavily recruited (for both
college and the NBA) basketball prospect of his generation.
Playing for the University of Virginia, he will become one
of only two male players in the history of college
basketball to receive the Naismith Award as the National
Player of the Year three times. He will be the only player
to win the Wooden award twice. He will become a
professional basketball player with the Houston Rockets. In
the 1985-86 NBA season, Sampson will (in his third season
with the Rockets) lift the Rockets from 14-68 in the
1982-83 season before his arrival to one of the best in the
NBA. In Game 5 of the 1986 NBA Western Conference Finals,
his last second tip-in at the buzzer will beat the Los
Angeles Lakers and send the Rockets to only their 2nd NBA
Finals appearance in franchise history. His NBA career will
quickly deteriorate as he becomes burdened with numerous
knee injuries. In 1988, by the time he is traded to the
Golden State Warriors, the rest of his career will become
very limited. In 1989, he will be traded to the Sacramento
Kings where he will basically be a third-string player. He
will average 4.2 points per game and 3.0 points per game
for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons respectively. He will
play one final season with the Washington Bullets in
1991-92 where he averages two points per game. He will
win numerous individual awards in the short period of time
he was healthy, but will never win a national or NBA
championship.

1975 – “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the
Rainbow is Not Enuf,” a play by 26-year-old Ntozake Shange,
premieres in New York City.

1994 – Panama withdraws its offer to the United States to accept
thousands of Haitian refugees.

1997 – Harvey Johnson is sworn in as the first African American
mayor in Jackson, Mississippi.

1998 – Imprisoned Nigerian opposition leader Moshood Abiola joins
the ancestors before he can be released from his political
imprisonment. The government indicates that he succumbed
from an apparent heart attack.

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

June 8, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

June 8 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 8 *

1886 – The first Civil Rights Act is passed.

1892 – Homer Adolph Plessy, an African American shoemaker from New
Orleans, Louisiana, is arrested for sitting in a “whites
only” railroad car. Judge John Ferguson will find him
guilty of the crime of refusing to leave the white railroad
car. Plessy will appeal to the Supreme Courts of both
Louisiana and the United States, and both will uphold
Ferguson’s decision and the “separate but equal” doctrine
(Plessy vs. Ferguson).

1924 – George Kirby is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become a
comedian and, impressionist and delight audiences for more
than 40 years. Kirby will begin his career in Chicago and
will go to Las Vegas in 1952 as part of the Count Basie
show, one of the first African American acts to play Vegas.
He will be best known for impressions of stars such as Jerry
Lewis, John Wayne and Walter Brennan, and for his dead-on
takes of women, notably Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald and
Sarah Vaughan. He will join the ancestors on September 20,
1995.

1928 – Edward Joseph Perkins is born in Sterlington, Louisiana. He
will become the first African American ambassador to South
Africa (1986-1989). A veteran foreign service professional,
he will serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia
(1985 – 1986), Director of the Office of West African
Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S.
Department of State (1983 – 1985), Deputy Chief of Mission
at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia (1981-1983),
Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in
Accra, Ghana (1978 – 1981), and ambassador to the United
Nations.

1939 – Bernie Casey is born in Wyco, West Virginia. He will be the
first-round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers and play
wide receiver. Before retiring from the NFL, he will also
play for the Los Angeles Rams and be named an NFL All-Pro
wide receiver. After the NFL, he will have his acting debut
in “Guns of the Magnificent Seven,” and have more than 40
roles to his credit, including Mr. Walter in “Once Upon A
Time…When We Were Colored,” Commander Hudson in the TV
series “Star Trek,” “Deep Space Nine” and Commander Harris
in “Under Siege.” He will have his directorial debut with
the film, “The Dinner (1997). He also will become an
accomplished artist with paintings part of permanent
collections at the California Museum of African American
Art and the Ankrum Gallery in Los Angeles. His works will
also appear in The Hirshorn Museum in Washington, DC, the
Lowe Gallery in Atlanta and the John Bolles Gallery in San
Francisco. He will earn a doctoral degree in humanities
from the Savannah College of Art and Design and serve as
chairman of its board of trustees.

1943 – Willie Davenport is born in Troy, Alabama. He will become a
star in track and field events, whose career will span five
Olympic Games from 1964 to 1980, during which he won a gold
and bronze medal. He will be one of only eight U.S. Olympic
athletes to have competed in both the summer and winter
games. Davenport will win the gold medal in the 110-meter
hurdles in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and the bronze in
the same event in Montreal, Quebec in 1976. After four
Olympic appearances in the hurdles, Davenport will compete
as the first African American member of the U.S. four-man
bobsled team in 1980. Davenport will coach the 1993 and
1994 U.S. Army Track Team to victory in the Armed Forces
Track & Field Championships. He will be the head coach of
the United States Army Track & Field Team for the 1996
Olympics. He will join the ancestors on June 17, 2002.

1953 – The Supreme Court rules that District of Columbia restaurants
cannot refuse to serve African Africans.

1958 – Keenen Ivory Wayans is born in New York City. He will become
a comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer. He will
become best known for his television show, “In Living
Color.”

1963 – Three bullets are fired into the Clarksdale, Mississippi home
of Dr. Aaron Henry, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
candidate for governor.

1968 – James Earl Ray, the alleged assassin of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., is captured at London’s Heathrow airport.

1969 – Bill Cosby wins an Emmy for a variety special. It is his
fourth Emmy award.

1978 – Through the voice of its president, Spencer W. Kimball, the
Mormon Church reverses a 148-year-long policy of spiritual
discrimination against African American leadership within
the denomination (Official Declaration # 2).

1982 – Leroy “Satchel” Paige, a pitcher in the Negro Leagues and
the first African American pitcher in the American League,
joins the ancestors in Kansas City, Missouri at the age of
75. Paige is heralded as one of the greatest early African
American baseball players in a career that spanned more than
40 years and was enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame in
1971.

1998 – Military dictator of Nigeria, Sani Abacha joins the ancestors
at the age of 54.

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

February 2, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

January 30 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 30 *

1797 – Boston Masons, led by Prince Hall, establish the first
African American interstate organization, creating lodges
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island.

1797 – Congress refuses to accept the first recorded petitions from
African Americans.

1844 – Richard Theodore Greener becomes the first African American
to graduate from Harvard University.

1945 – Floyd Flake is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a congressman from New York’s 6th District.

1956 – The home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery bus
boycott leader, is bombed.

1962 – The United Nations General Assembly censures Portugal for its
widespread violations of human rights in Angola.

1965 – Leroy “Satchel” Paige, major league baseball player, is named
all-time outstanding player by the National Baseball
Congress.

1979 – Franklin A. Thomas becomes the first African American to head
a major U.S. charitable foundation when he is named
president of the Ford Foundation.

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

August 18, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

August 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 13 *