KRLemmons African American History

August 18 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 18 *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker publishes his first Almanac.

1909 – Howard Swanson is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will become
a classical composer who will study in the United States
and Paris, France, and will write music for orchestra,
solo voice, piano, and chamber ensembles. His initial
training will be at the Cleveland Institute of Music. After
studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, France (1938), He
will spend two intensive periods studying and traveling in
New York. He will finally settle in New York City in 1966.
Thanks to Marian Anderson’s 1949 performance of his song
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” his music will begin to gain
national attention. He will win several awards, including
the Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Academy of Arts
and Letters grant. His neo-classical compositional method
will be appealing to a wide range of listeners, with
graceful melodies and a touch of jazz and idioms of black
American folk music. He will join the ancestors on November
12, 1978.

1934 – Roberto Clemente is born in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He will
win the Gold Glove award TWELVE consecutive years and play
in twelve All-Star games. He will be the National League’s
Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the MVP in the 1971
World Series, win four separate National League batting
titles, post a .317 career batting average, and play
eighteen seasons, amassing 3,000 hits and hammering 240
home runs. He will join the ancestors at the age of 38, on
a mercy mission to deliver relief supplies to the victims
of a Nicaraguan earthquake. Tragically, his plane,
carrying food, clothing and medical supplies, will crash
moments after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico on
December 31, 1972.

1935 – Rafer Lewis Johnson is born in Hillsboro, Texas. He will
become a decathlete, winning gold in the 1955 Pan-American
Games, a silver medal in the 1956 Olympics and a gold medal
in the in the 1960 Summer Games in Rome. He will light the
torch in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

1941 – Matt Snell is born in Garfield, Georgia. He will become a
professional football player (running back for the New York
Jets). He will be one of the key players in the Jets
victory in Super Bowl III over the Baltimore Colts.

1954 – James E. Wilkins becomes the first African American to
attend a U.S. presidential cabinet meeting. He is
Assistant Secretary of Labor and attends because the
Secretary and Under-Secretary are away.

1963 – James Meredith becomes the first African American to
graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games because of
its apartheid policies.

1970 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner is born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
He will become an child actor and will star on the “The
Cosby Show” as Theodore “Theo” Huxtable. He will also star
as “Here and Now’s” Alexander James and “Malcolm and
Eddie’s” Malcolm.

1976 – Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr. assumes command of the
U.S. Third Fleet.

1977 – Stephen Biko, one of the most influential Black student
leaders in South Africa, is arrested in Port Elizabeth
on charges of fomenting unrest among blacks in the city
through his writings. Biko will join the ancestors in
police detention less than a month later, as a result of
a beating by the police.

1981 – Football running back, Herschel Walker, of the University
of Georgia, takes out an insurance policy with Lloyd’s of
London. The All-American is insured for one million
dollars.

1986 – Earl Campbell, the ‘Tyler Rose’, announces his retirement
from professional football. Campbell, the 1977 Heisman
Trophy winner, played eight seasons in the National
Football League — and was a star for the Houston Oilers.
He will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on
July 27, 1991.

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Munirah Chronicle is edited by Rene’ A. Perry

KRLemmons African American History

January 31 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 31 *

1863 – The first African American Civil War regiment, the South
Carolina Volunteers, are mustered into the United States
Army.

1865 – Congress abolishes slavery with the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution. The vote in the House is 121 to 24.

1914 – Arnold Raymond Cream is born in Merchantville, New Jersey.
He will become “Jersey Joe Walcott” and World Heavyweight
Champion at the age of 37. After retiring from boxing, he
will stay active in boxing as a referee and later will
become chairman of the New Jersey Athletic Commission. He
will be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
in 1990. He will join the ancestors on February 25, 1994.

1919 – Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson, the first African American
to break racial barriers in modern major league baseball,
is born in Cairo, Georgia. He will start playing baseball
in the Negro Leagues in preparation for a career as a
physical education coach. His major league baseball career
with the Brooklyn Dodgers will begin in 1947 and he will
play for nine years before leaving baseball to become a bank
official, land developer, and director of programs to
fight drug addiction. Among his honors will be the NAACP’s
Spingarn Medal in 1956. He will join the ancestors
on October 24, 1972 in Stamford, Connecticut after succumbing
to complications of diabetes.

1920 – Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity is incorporated at Howard
University.

1925 – Benjamin Hooks is born in Memphis, Tennessee. He will
become a public defender and minister after graduating
from DePaul University Law School. Through this work, he
will become a prominent leader in the civil rights
movement. In 1965, he will become the first African
American criminal court judge in Tennessee. He will also
become the first African American to become a commissioner
on the Federal Communications Commission. In 1977, he will
become the executive director of the NAACP. He will join the
ancestors on April 15, 2010.

1928 – Harold “Chuck” Willis is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will
become a rhythm and blues singer and be best known for his
recording of “C.C. Rider” in 1957. He will join the
ancestors in 1958 after succumbing to peritonitis.

1931 – Ernest “Ernie” Banks is born in Dallas, Texas. He will
become the first African American baseball player to wear
a Chicago Cubs uniform (September 17, 1953). Banks will
also be quick to say “Let’s play two!” Banks will be the
Cubs’ outstanding shortstop from 1954 to 1960. In 1961 he
will be moved to left field, then to first base, where he
will spend the rest of his career. In 1969, Ernie Banks
will be voted the Cub’s best player ever by Chicago fans.
‘Mr. Cub’ will retire in 1971. He will be elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.

1934 – Etta Moten sings for President and Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt at a White House dinner for family and friends.
Moten, a stage and screen star, sings songs from her role
in the movie “Golddiggers of 1933 and “Swing Low Sweet
Chariot.” It is the first time an African American
actress performs at the White House.

1962 – Lt. Commander Samuel L. Gravely assumes command of the
destroyer escort, USS Falgout. The Navy reports that he
is the first African American to command a U.S. warship.

1963 – James Baldwin’s influential collection of essays “The Fire
Next Time” is published.

1972 – Aretha Franklin sings “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” at
Mahalia Jackson’s funeral. Over 40,000 mourners view the
coffin.

1988 – Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams is named Most
Valuable Player for leading his team to a 42-10 win over
the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. He is the first
African American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl game.

2006 – Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
joins the ancestors after succumbing to complications of a
stroke and heart attack at the age of seventy eight.

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