KRLemmons African American History

April 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 3 *

1865 – The Fifth Massachusetts Colored Cavalry and units of the
Twenty-fifth Corps are in the vanguard of Union troops
entering Richmond. The Second Division of the Twenty-Fifth
Corps help to chase Robert E. Lee’s army from Petersburg to
Appomattox Court House, April 3-10. The African American
division and white Union soldiers are advancing on General
Lee’s trapped army with fixed bayonets when the Confederate
troops surrender.

1889 – The Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers opens in
Richmond, Virginia.

1934 – Richard Mayhew is born in Amityville, New York. A student
at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum Art School, and
Columbia University, as well as the Academia in Florence,
Italy, Mayhew will be one of the most respected and
revolutionary landscape artists of the 20th century. He
will also form “Spiral,” a forum for artistic innovation
and exploration of African American artists’ relationships
to the civil rights movement, with fellow artists Romare
Bearden, Charles Alston, Hale Woodruff, and others.

1936 – James Harrell McGriff is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He will be surrounded by music as a child, with both parents
playing piano and cousins Benny Golson and Harold Melvin,
who were pursuing their own musical talents. He will be
influenced to play the organ by neighbor Richard “Groove”
Holmes, with whom he will study privately. He will also
study organ at Philadelphia’s Combe College of Music and at
Julliard. In addition, he will study with Milt Buckner and
with classical organist Sonny Gatewood. His first hit will
be with his arrangement of “I Got A Woman”, on the Sue
label, which made it to the top five on both Billboard’s
Rhythm and Blues and Pop charts. There will be close to 100
albums with Jimmy McGriff’s name at the top as leader. He
will record for Sue, Solid State, United Artists, Blue Note,
Groove Merchant, Milestone, Headfirst and Telarc. Over his
prolific career, he will record with George Benson, Kenny
Burrell, Frank Foster, J.J. Johnson and a two-organ jam
affair with the late “Groove” Holmes. He will join the
ancestors on May 24, 2008, succumbing to complications of
multiple sclerosis.

1944 – The U.S. Supreme Court (Smith v. Allwright) said that “white
primaries” that exclude African Americans are unconstitutional.

1950 – Carter G. Woodson, “the father of black history,” joins the
ancestors in Washington, DC at the age of 74.

1961 – Edward “Eddie” Regan Murphy is born in Brooklyn, New York. A
stand-up comedian and star of “Saturday Night Live” before
pursuing a movie career, Murphy will become one of the
largest African American box office draws. Among his most
successful movies will be “48 Hours,” “Trading Places,”
“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” and “Harlem
Nights.”

1963 – Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Birmingham anti-
segregation campaign begins. Before it is over, more than
2,000 demonstrators, including King, will be arrested. The
Birmingham Manifesto, issued by Fred Shuttlesworth of the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights the morning of
the campaign, summarizes the frustration and hopes of the
protesters: “The patience of an oppressed people cannot
endure forever…. This is Birmingham’s moment of truth in
which every citizen can play his part in her larger
destiny.”

1964 – Malcolm X speaks at a CORE-sponsored meeting on “The Negro
Revolt What Comes Next?” In his speech “The Ballot or
Bullet,” Malcolm warns of a growing black nationalism that
will no longer tolerate patronizing white political action.

1968 – Less than 24 hours before he is assassinated in Memphis,
Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
delivers his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of
striking sanitation workers.

1990 – Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan joins the ancestors in suburban
Los Angeles, California, at the age of 66.

1996 – Ron Brown will join the ancestors when an Air Force jetliner
carrying the Commerce Secretary and American business
executives crashes in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.

2007 – Eddie Robinson, the longtime Grambling University coach who
transformed a small, Black college into a football power
that sent hundreds of players to the NFL, joins the
ancestors at the age of 88. The soft-spoken coach spent 57
years at Grambling State University, where he set a
standard for victories with 408 and nearly every season
relished seeing his top players drafted by NFL teams.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 12 *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’Enfant are commissioned
to plan and develop Washington, DC.

1868 – Great Britain gives Basutoland, the status of protectorate at
the request of King Moshweshwe. The request of protection was
to prevent attacks by the Cape Colony.

1877 – The British annex Walvis Bay, an important deep water port in
South West Africa.

1888 – Hall Johnson is born in Athens, Georgia. As a boy, he will teach
himself to play the violin after hearing a violin recital given
by Joseph Henry Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass. He
will go on to play the violin and viola professionally,
including in the orchestra for the 1921 musical, “Shuffle Along.”
In 1925, he will organize and direct the Hall Johnson Choir as
well as have significant success as an arranger. One of his
early stage successes will be as choral director for the 1930
Broadway play “The Green Pastures” and the 1933 play, “Run
Little Chillun,” for which he will write the book and music. He
and his choir will move to Hollywood in 1936 to make the film
version of “The Green Pastures.” He will become fluent in both
German and French. Among the singers he coaches will be Marian
Anderson, Robert McFerrin and Shirley Verrett. His arrangements
of the spirituals have been recorded by some of the world’s
finest artists. He will join the ancestors after succumbing
during a fire at his New York apartment, on April 30, 1970. In
1975, he will be posthumously honored for his work in films by
being elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

1926 – The Savoy Ballroom, nicknamed the “Home of Happy Feet,” opens
in New York City.

1932 – Andrew Young is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will become
a minister, influential leader in the civil rights movement,
first African American ambassador to the United Nations, and
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

1934 – Virginia Hamilton is born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She will
become an award-winning author of juvenile fiction including
“House of Dies Drear” and “Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush.” She
will write 41 books, including “M. C. Higgins, the Great” (1974),
for which she will win the U.S. National Book Award in the
Children’s Books category and the Newbery Medal in 1975. For
lifetime achievement she will win the international Hans
Christian Andersen Award for writing children’s literature in
1992 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her contributions to
American children’s literature in 1995. She will join the
ancestors on February 19, 2002.

1940 – Alwyn Lopez “Al” Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He
will become a singer and will be known for his recording of
the theme for the television show, “Moonlighting”. Al Jarreau
will become the first vocalist in musical history to win
Grammy Awards in three different categories (Rhythm & Blues,
Jazz, and Pop).

1945 – New York becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination by
race and creed in employment.

1955 – Charlie Parker joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 34. He had been one of the founders of the modern jazz
movement.

1962 – Darryl Strawberry is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a professional baseball player and will play right field
for the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San
Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. He will set the
New York Mets all-time records for most runs (662), most RBIs
(733) and most home runs (252). He will be a member of the
winning World Series championship teams in 1986 and 1996.

1964 – Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam.

1982 – Charles Fuller wins the Pulitzer Prize for “A Soldier’s Play.”

2003 – Lynne Thigpen, actress, joins the ancestors at age 54 after
succumbing to complications from an enlarged heart. She played
“the chief” on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 31 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 31 *

***********************************************************************
* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #6 – Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity: To do always as much as *
* we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community *
* more beautiful than when we inherited it. *
***********************************************************************

1775 – Alarmed by the impact of the British Dunmore proclamation, that
would give freedom to slaves who would fight on their side,
Gen. George Washington reverses himself and authorizes the
enlistment of free Blacks.

1783 – The importation of African slaves is banned by all of the
northern states in the United States.

1862 – The Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church holds a Watch
Night service in Suburban Maryland. It begins a tradition when
African Americans pray and worship in anticipation of the next
day, New Year’s Day 1863, when President Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation is to take effect.

1871 – Annie Welthy Daughtry (later Holland) is born in Isle of Wight
County, Virginia. In 1921, she will be appointed North Carolina
Supervisor of Negro Elementary Education, a position she will
hold until she joins the ancestors. In 1927, she will found
North Carolina’s Colored Parent Teachers’ Association. She will
join the ancestors suddenly on January 6, 1934, while
addressing a county-wide meeting of Black teachers in
Louisburg, North Carolina.

1900 – Sculptor and educator Selma Burke is born in Mooresville, North
Carolina. She will be commissioned to create a profile of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt after a national competition
sponsored by the Fine Arts Commission in Washington, DC. The
completed project, a plaque, is unveiled and installed at the
Record of Deeds Building in Washington DC. She will join the
ancestors on August 29, 1995.

1930 – Odetta Felious Gordon Holmes is born in Birmingham, Alabama.
She will become a famous folksinger, known simply as “Odetta”,
who will sing all over the world and at major peace and civil
rights meetings, including the 1963 March on Washington. Among
the many musicians who cite Odetta as a major musical influence
have been Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. She will join
the ancestors on December 2, 2008.

1948 – LaDonna Adrian Gaines is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She will
be best known by her stage name, Donna Summer. She will become
a singer and songwriter, gaining prominence during the disco era
of the late 1970s. A five-time Grammy Award winner, she will be
the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach #1
on the United States Billboard album chart and chart four number
one singles in the United States within a 13-month period. She will
reportedly sell over 100 million records, making her one of the
world’s best-selling artists of all time. She will first become
involved with singing through church choir groups before joining a
number of bands influenced by the Motown Sound. Also influenced by
the counterculture of the 1960s, she will become the front singer
of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and move to New York City.
Joining a touring version of the musical “Hair,” she will leave New
York and spend several years living, acting, and singing in West
Germany, where she will meet music producer Giorgio Moroder. Also
while in Europe, she will marry Helmut Sommer. After their divorce,
she will keep his surname for her stage name; dropping the “o” and
replacing it with a “u” for “Summer”. After returning to the United
States, she will co-write the song “Love to Love You Baby” with Pete
Bellotte. The song will be released in 1975 to mass commercial
success. Over the following years She will follow this success with
a string of other hits, such as “I Feel Love”, “Last Dance”,
“MacArthur Park”, “Hot Stuff”, “Bad Girls”, “Dim All the Lights”,
“No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)”, and “On the Radio”. She will
become known as the “Queen of Disco” and regularly appear at the
Studio 54 nightclub in New York City, while her music gains a global
following. She will continue to perform until 2011. She will join
the ancestors on May 17,2912 in Naples, Florida, after succumbing to
lung cancer at the age of 63. On December 11, 2012, after four prior
nominations, she will be posthumously announced to be one of the 2013
inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,and will be inducted on
April 18, 2013, at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater.

1953 – Hulan Jack is inaugurated as Manhattan borough president, the
first African American to hold the post.

1953 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Paul R. Williams for
his achievements as an architect.

1962 – Katanga becomes part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1964 – In a speech before a group of young people, Malcolm X urges them
“to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for
yourself. This generation, especially of our people, have a
burden, more so than at any other time in history. The most
important thing we can learn to do today is think for
ourselves.”

1972 – Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate slugger, joins the ancestors
after a plane crash on his way to a humanitarian mission to
Nicaragua.

1976 – Roland Hayes joins the ancestors in Boston, Massachusetts at the
age of 89. He had been an acclaimed tenor whose pioneering
recitals of German lieder and other classical music opened the
concert stage for African American singers

1984 – The first nationally broadcast telethon for the United Negro
College Fund raises $14.1 million. The telethon will become an
annual fundraising drive that will support more than 40
historically African American institutions of higher learning
and draw widespread individual and corporate support.

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – June 28 *

1770 – Anthony Benezet and other Quakers open a non-segregated
school for African American and white children in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1839 – Cinque, originally Sengbe, the son of a Mende king,
along with several other Africans, is kidnapped and sold
into slavery in Cuba. Cinque and his companions will
later carry out the famous successful revolt upon the
slave ship Amistad. The rebels were captured off Long
Island on August 26.

1874 – The Freedmen’s Savings & Trust Company, because of
mismanagement, closes its doors causing over 60,000
African American depositors to lose their $ 3 million in
deposits.

1927 – Anthony Overton, president of Victory Life Insurance
Company, receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for “his
successful business career climaxed by admission of his
company as the first Negro organization permitted to do
business under the rigid requirements of the State of
New York.”

1935 – Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and president of Bethune-
Cookman College, receives the Spingarn Medal from the
NAACP. Bethune is honored for speaking out against
racism and injustice “in the South as well as in the
North, without compromise or fear.”

1936 – Major Owens, who will succeed Shirley Chisholm as
Congressional representative from New York, is born in
Memphis, Tennessee.

1946 – Thurgood Marshall receives the Spingarn Medal for his
“distinguished service as a lawyer before the Supreme
Court of the United States and inferior courts.”

1951 – The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show premieres on television. While
criticized for racial stereotyping, it is the first show
with an all African American cast to be successful on
the small screen.

1964 – Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity
in New York.

1978 – The Supreme Court hands down its “Bakke” decision, ruling
that the University of California at Davis Medical
College’s special admissions program for minority students
is illegal. As a result, Allan P. Bakke, a white student,
is ordered admitted to the college to prevent what the
Court considers reverse discrimination.

1990 – Jurors in the drug and perjury trial of Washington, DC,
Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. view a videotape showing Barry
smoking crack cocaine during an FBI hotel-room sting
operation. Barry will be later convicted of a single
count of misdemeanor drug possession.

1997 – Mike Tyson “sets a new standard for bizarre behavior” in
the heavyweight boxing championship bout with Evander
Holyfield at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada,
when he bites off a one-inch chunk of Holyfield’s ear in
the third round. Tyson is disqualified, and Holyfield is
spirited away to a local hospital, where the piece of his
ear is re-attached after being located on the canvas of
the ring.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 3 *

1865 – The Fifth Massachusetts Colored Cavalry and units of the
Twenty-fifth Corps are in the vanguard of Union troops
entering Richmond. The Second Division of the Twenty-Fifth
Corps help to chase Robert E. Lee’s army from Petersburg to
Appomattox Court House, April 3-10. The African American
division and white Union soldiers are advancing on General
Lee’s trapped army with fixed bayonets when the Confederate
troops surrender.

1889 – The Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers opens in
Richmond, Virginia.

1934 – Richard Mayhew is born in Amityville, New York. A student
at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum Art School, and
Columbia University, as well as the Academia in Florence,
Italy, Mayhew will be one of the most respected and
revolutionary landscape artists of the 20th century. He
will also form “Spiral,” a forum for artistic innovation
and exploration of African American artists’ relationships
to the civil rights movement, with fellow artists Romare
Bearden, Charles Alston, Hale Woodruff, and others.

1936 – James Harrell McGriff is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He will be surrounded by music as a child, with both parents
playing piano and cousins Benny Golson and Harold Melvin,
who were pursuing their own musical talents. He will be
influenced to play the organ by neighbor Richard “Groove”
Holmes, with whom he will study privately. He will also
study organ at Philadelphia’s Combe College of Music and at
Julliard. In addition, he will study with Milt Buckner and
with classical organist Sonny Gatewood. His first hit will
be with his arrangement of “I Got A Woman”, on the Sue
label, which made it to the top five on both Billboard’s
Rhythm and Blues and Pop charts. There will be close to 100
albums with Jimmy McGriff’s name at the top as leader. He
will record for Sue, Solid State, United Artists, Blue Note,
Groove Merchant, Milestone, Headfirst and Telarc. Over his
prolific career, he will record with George Benson, Kenny
Burrell, Frank Foster, J.J. Johnson and a two-organ jam
affair with the late “Groove” Holmes.

1944 – The U.S. Supreme Court (Smith v. Allwright) said that “white
primaries” that exclude African Americans are
unconstitutional.

1950 – Carter G. Woodson, “the father of black history,” joins the
ancestors in Washington, DC at the age of 74.

1961 – Edward “Eddie” Regan Murphy is born in Brooklyn, New York. A
stand-up comedian and star of “Saturday Night Live” before
pursuing a movie career, Murphy will become one of the
largest African American box office draws. Among his most
successful movies will be “48 Hours,” “Trading Places,”
“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” and “Harlem
Nights.”

1963 – Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Birmingham anti-
segregation campaign begins. Before it is over, more than
2,000 demonstrators, including King, will be arrested. The
Birmingham Manifesto, issued by Fred Shuttlesworth of the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights the morning of
the campaign, summarizes the frustration and hopes of the
protesters: “The patience of an oppressed people cannot
endure forever…. This is Birmingham’s moment of truth in
which every citizen can play his part in her larger
destiny.”

1964 – Malcolm X speaks at a CORE-sponsored meeting on “The Negro
Revolt What Comes Next?” In his speech “The Ballot or
Bullet,” Malcolm warns of a growing black nationalism that
will no longer tolerate patronizing white political action.

1968 – Less than 24 hours before he is assassinated in Memphis,
Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
delivers his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of
striking sanitation workers.

1990 – Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan joins the ancestors in suburban
Los Angeles, California, at the age of 66.

1996 – An Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown
and American business executives crashes in Croatia,
killing all 35 people aboard.

2007 – Eddie Robinson, the longtime Grambling University coach who
transformed a small, Black college into a football power
that sent hundreds of players to the NFL, joins the
ancestors at the age of 88. The soft-spoken coach spent 57
years at Grambling State University, where he set a
standard for victories with 408 and nearly every season
relished seeing his top players drafted by NFL teams.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 12 *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’Enfant are commissioned
to plan and develop Washington, DC.

1868 – Great Britain gives Basutoland, the status of protectorate at
the request of King Moshweshwe. The request of protection was
to prevent attacks by the Cape Colony.

1877 – The British annex Walvis Bay, an important deep water port in
South West Africa.

1888 – Hall Johnson is born in Athens, Georgia. In 1925, he will
organize and direct the Hall Johnson Choir as well as have
significant success as an arranger. One of his early stage
successes will be as choral director for the 1930 Broadway
play “The Green Pastures” and the 1933 play, “Run Little
Chillun,” for which he will write the book and music. Johnson
and his choir will move to Hollywood in 1936 to make the film
version of “The Green Pastures.”

1926 – The Savoy Ballroom, nicknamed the “Home of Happy Feet,” opens
in New York City.

1932 – Andrew Young is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will become
a minister, influential leader in the civil rights movement,
first African American ambassador to the United Nations, and
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

1936 – Virginia Hamilton is born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She will
become an award-winning author of juvenile fiction including
“House of Dies Drear,” “M.C. Higgins the Great,” and “Sweet
Whispers, Brother Rush.”

1940 – Alwyn Lopez “Al” Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He
will become a singer and will be known for his recording of
the theme for the television show, “Moonlighting”. Al Jarreau
will become the first vocalist in musical history to win
Grammy Awards in three different categories (Rhythm & Blues,
Jazz, and Pop).

1945 – New York becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination by
race and creed in employment.

1955 – Charlie Parker joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 34. He had been one of the founders of the modern jazz
movement.

1962 – Darryl Strawberry is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a professional baseball player and will play right field
for the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San
Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. He will set the
New York Mets all-time records for most runs (662), most RBIs
(733) and most home runs (252). He will be a member of the
winning World Series championship teams in 1986 and 1996.

1964 – Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam.

1982 – Charles Fuller wins the Pulitzer Prize for “A Soldier’s Play.”

2003 – Lynne Thigpen, actress, joins the ancestors at age 54 after
succumbing to complications from an enlarged heart. She played
“the chief” on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

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

KRLemmons African American History

June 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 28 *

1770 – Anthony Benezet and other Quakers open a non-segregated
school for African American and white children in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1839 – Cinque, originally Sengbe, the son of a Mende king,
along with several other Africans, is kidnapped and sold
into slavery in Cuba. Cinque and his companions will
later carry out the famous successful revolt upon the
slave ship Amistad. The rebels were captured off Long
Island on August 26.

1874 – The Freedmen’s Savings & Trust Company, because of
mismanagement, closes its doors causing over 60,000
African American depositors to lose their $ 3 million in
deposits.

1927 – Anthony Overton, president of Victory Life Insurance
Company, receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for “his
successful business career climaxed by admission of his
company as the first Negro organization permitted to do
business under the rigid requirements of the State of
New York.”

1935 – Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and president of Bethune-
Cookman College, receives the Spingarn Medal from the
NAACP. Bethune is honored for speaking out against
racism and injustice “in the South as well as in the
North, without compromise or fear.”

1936 – Major Owens, who will succeed Shirley Chisholm as
Congressional representative from New York, is born in
Memphis, Tennessee.

1946 – Thurgood Marshall receives the Spingarn Medal for his
“distinguished service as a lawyer before the Supreme
Court of the United States and inferior courts.”

1951 – The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show premieres on television. While
criticized for racial stereotyping, it is the first show
with an all African American cast to be successful on
the small screen.

1964 – Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity
in New York.

1978 – The Supreme Court hands down its “Bakke” decision, ruling
that the University of California at Davis Medical
College’s special admissions program for minority students
is illegal. As a result, Allan P. Bakke, a white student,
is ordered admitted to the college to prevent what the
Court considers reverse discrimination.

1990 – Jurors in the drug and perjury trial of Washington, DC,
Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. view a videotape showing Barry
smoking crack cocaine during an FBI hotel-room sting
operation. Barry will be later convicted of a single
count of misdemeanor drug possession.

1997 – Mike Tyson “sets a new standard for bizarre behavior” in
the heavyweight boxing championship bout with Evander
Holyfield at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada,
when he bites off a one-inch chunk of Holyfield’s ear in
the third round. Tyson is disqualified, and Holyfield is
spirited away to a local hospital, where the piece of his
ear is re-attached after being located on the canvas of
the ring.

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

KRLemmons African American History

April 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – April 3 *

1865 – The Fifth Massachusetts Colored Cavalry and units of the
Twenty-fifth Corps are in the vanguard of Union troops
entering Richmond. The Second Division of the Twenty-Fifth
Corps help to chase Robert E. Lee’s army from Petersburg to
Appomattox Court House, April 3-10. The African American
division and white Union soldiers are advancing on General
Lee’s trapped army with fixed bayonets when the Confederate
troops surrender.

1889 – The Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers opens in
Richmond, Virginia.

1934 – Richard Mayhew is born in Amityville, New York. A student
at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum Art School, and
Columbia University, as well as the Academia in Florence,
Italy, Mayhew will be one of the most respected and
revolutionary landscape artists of the 20th century. He
will also form “Spiral,” a forum for artistic innovation
and exploration of African American artists’ relationships
to the civil rights movement, with fellow artists Romare
Bearden, Charles Alston, Hale Woodruff, and others.

1936 – James Harrell McGriff is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He will be surrounded by music as a child, with both parents
playing piano and cousins Benny Golson and Harold Melvin,
who were pursuing their own musical talents. He will be
influenced to play the organ by neighbor Richard “Groove”
Holmes, with whom he will study privately. He will also
study organ at Philadelphia’s Combe College of Music and at
Julliard. In addition, he will study with Milt Buckner and
with classical organist Sonny Gatewood. His first hit will
be with his arrangement of “I Got A Woman”, on the Sue
label, which made it to the top five on both Billboard’s
Rhythm and Blues and Pop charts. There will be close to 100
albums with Jimmy McGriff’s name at the top as leader. He
will record for Sue, Solid State, United Artists, Blue Note,
Groove Merchant, Milestone, Headfirst and Telarc. Over his
prolific career, he will record with George Benson, Kenny
Burrell, Frank Foster, J.J. Johnson and a two-organ jam
affair with the late “Groove” Holmes.

1944 – The U.S. Supreme Court (Smith v. Allwright) said that “white
primaries” that exclude African Americans are
unconstitutional.

1950 – Carter G. Woodson, “the father of black history,” joins the
ancestors in Washington, DC at the age of 74.

1961 – Edward “Eddie” Regan Murphy is born in Brooklyn, New York. A
stand-up comedian and star of “Saturday Night Live” before
pursuing a movie career, Murphy will become one of the
largest African American box office draws. Among his most
successful movies will be “48 Hours,” “Trading Places,”
“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” and “Harlem
Nights.”

1963 – Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Birmingham anti-
segregation campaign begins. Before it is over, more than
2,000 demonstrators, including King, will be arrested. The
Birmingham Manifesto, issued by Fred Shuttlesworth of the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights the morning of
the campaign, summarizes the frustration and hopes of the
protesters: “The patience of an oppressed people cannot
endure forever…. This is Birmingham’s moment of truth in
which every citizen can play his part in her larger
destiny.”

1964 – Malcolm X speaks at a CORE-sponsored meeting on “The Negro
Revolt What Comes Next?” In his speech “The Ballot or
Bullet,” Malcolm warns of a growing black nationalism that
will no longer tolerate patronizing white political action.

1968 – Less than 24 hours before he is assassinated in Memphis,
Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
delivers his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of
striking sanitation workers.

1990 – Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan joins the ancestors in suburban
Los Angeles, California, at the age of 66.

1996 – An Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown
and American business executives crashes in Croatia,
killing all 35 people aboard.

2007 – Eddie Robinson, the longtime Grambling University coach who
transformed a small, Black college into a football power
that sent hundreds of players to the NFL, joins the
ancestors at the age of 88. The soft-spoken coach spent 57
years at Grambling State University, where he set a
standard for victories with 408 and nearly every season
relished seeing his top players drafted by NFL teams.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 12    *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’Enfant are commissioned
to plan and develop Washington, DC.

1868 – Great Britain gives Basutoland, the status of protectorate at
the request of King Moshweshwe.  The request of protection was
to prevent attacks by the Cape Colony.

1877 – The British annex Walvis Bay, an important deep water port in
South West Africa.

1888 – Hall Johnson is born in Athens, Georgia.  In 1925, he will
organize and direct the Hall Johnson Choir as well as have
significant success as an arranger.  One of his early stage
successes will be as choral director for the 1930 Broadway
play “The Green Pastures” and the 1933 play, “Run Little
Chillun,” for which he will write the book and music. Johnson
and his choir will move to Hollywood in 1936 to make the film
version of “The Green Pastures.”

1926 – The Savoy Ballroom, nicknamed the “Home of Happy Feet,” opens
in New York City.

1932 – Andrew Young is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He will become
a minister, influential leader in the civil rights movement,
first African American ambassador to the United Nations, and
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

1936 – Virginia Hamilton is born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She will
become an award-winning author of juvenile fiction including
“House of Dies Drear,” “M.C. Higgins the Great,” and “Sweet
Whispers, Brother Rush.”

1940 – Alwyn Lopez “Al” Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  He
will become a singer and will be known for his recording of
the theme for the television show, “Moonlighting”.  Al Jarreau
will become the first vocalist in musical history to win
Grammy Awards in three different categories (Rhythm & Blues,
Jazz, and Pop).

1945 – New York becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination by
race and creed in employment.

1955 – Charlie Parker joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 34. He had been one of the founders of the modern jazz
movement.

1962 – Darryl Strawberry is born in Los Angeles, California.  He will
become a professional baseball player and will play right field
for the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San
Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees.  He will set the
New York Mets all-time records for most runs (662), most RBIs
(733) and most home runs (252).  He will be a member of the
winning World Series championship teams in 1986 and 1996.

1964 – Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam.

1982 – Charles Fuller wins the Pulitzer Prize for “A Soldier’s Play.”

2003 – Lynne Thigpen, actress, joins the ancestors at age 54 after
succumbing to complications from an enlarged heart. She played
“the chief” on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 31 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – December 31 *

***********************************************************************
* The Nguzo Saba – The seven principles of Kwanzaa – Principle for *
* Day #6 – Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity: To do always as much as *
* we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community *
* more beautiful than when we inherited it. *
* http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/ *
***********************************************************************

1775 – Alarmed by the impact of the British Dunmore proclamation, that
would give freedom to slaves who would fight on their side,
Gen. George Washington reverses himself and authorizes the
enlistment of free Blacks.

1783 – The importation of African slaves is banned by all of the
northern states in the United States.

1862 – The Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church holds a Watch
Night service in Suburban Maryland. It begins a tradition when
African Americans pray and worship in anticipation of the next
day, New Year’s Day 1863, when President Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation is to take effect.

1871 – Annie Welthy Daughtry (later Holland) is born in Isle of Wight
County, Virginia. In 1921, she will be appointed North Carolina
Supervisor of Negro Elementary Education, a position she will
hold until she joins the ancestors. In 1927, she will found
North Carolina’s Colored Parent Teachers’ Association. She will
join the ancestors suddenly on January 6, 1934, while
addressing a county-wide meeting of Black teachers in
Louisburg, North Carolina.

1900 – Sculptor and educator Selma Burke is born in Mooresville, North
Carolina. She will be commissioned to create a profile of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt after a national competition
sponsored by the Fine Arts Commission in Washington, DC. The
completed project, a plaque, is unveiled and installed at the
Record of Deeds Building in Washington DC.

1930 – Odetta Felious Gordon Holmes is born in Birmingham, Alabama.
She will become a famous folksinger, known simply as “Odetta”,
who will sing all over the world and at major peace and civil
rights meetings, including the 1963 March on Washington. Among
the many musicians who cite Odetta as a major musical influence
have been Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

1948 – Donna Summer is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She will be the
reigning “Queen of Disco” music in the 1970’s, known for her
renditions of “Bad Girls” and “Last Dance.”

1953 – Hulan Jack is inaugurated as Manhattan borough president, the
first African American to hold the post.

1953 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Paul R. Williams for
his achievements as an architect.

1962 – Katanga becomes part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1964 – In a speech before a group of young people, Malcolm X urges them
“to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for
yourself. This generation, especially of our people, have a
burden, more so than at any other time in history. The most
important thing we can learn to do today is think for
ourselves.”

1972 – Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate slugger, joins the ancestors
after a plane crash on his way to a humanitarian mission to
Nicaragua.

1976 – Roland Hayes joins the ancestors in Boston, Massachusetts at the
age of 89. He had been an acclaimed tenor whose pioneering
recitals of German lieder and other classical music opened the
concert stage for African American singers

1984 – The first nationally broadcast telethon for the United Negro
College Fund raises $14.1 million. The telethon will become an
annual fundraising drive that will support more than 40
historically African American institutions of higher learning
and draw widespread individual and corporate support.

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