KRLemmons African American History

January 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – January 2 *

1800 – Members of the Free Black Commission of Philadelphia petitions
Congress to abolish slavery.

1831 – The “Liberator” is published for the first time. An abolitionist
newspaper, it is started by William Lloyd Garrison.

1837 – The first National Negro Congress is held in Washington, DC.

1872 – The Mississippi legislature meets and elects John R. Lynch as the
Speaker of the House, at the age of twenty-four.

1898 – Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander is born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She will become the first African American to
earn a Ph.D. in economics. She will join the ancestors on
November 1, 1989.

1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt shuts down the U.S. Post Office in
Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to accept its appointed
postmistress because she is an African American.

1915 – John Hope Franklin is born in Rentlesville, Oklahoma. He will
become a scholar and historian most famous for his book “From
Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans,” which will
sell over two million copies. He will join the ancestors on
March 25, 2009.

1947 – Calvin Hill is born in the Turner Station neighborhood in
Dundalk, Maryland. He will be a running back with a 12 year
National Football League career from 1969 to 1981. He played for
the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns.
He will be named to the Pro Bowl team 4 times (1969, 1972, 1973
and 1974). He will be the father of NBA star Grant Hill.

1957 – Sugar Ray Robinson is defeated by Gene Fullmer for the world
middleweight boxing title.

1963 – Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “That’s The Way Love Is” is released by
Duke Records.

1965 – The Selma, Alabama voter registration drive begins, led by the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a major effort to get
African American voters registered to vote in Alabama.

1970 – Clifton Reginald Wharton, Jr. becomes the first African American
president of Michigan State University and the first African
American president of a major American university in the
twentieth century.

1970 – Dr. Benjamin E. Mays is named the first African American
president of the Atlanta, Georgia Board of Education.

1977 – Erroll Garner, pianist and composer, joins the ancestors in Los
Angeles, California. He was considered the best-selling jazz
pianist in the world, most famous for the jazz standard “Misty.”

1977 – Ellis Wilson joins the ancestors. An artist known for his
striking paintings of African Americans, his work had been
exhibited at the New York World’s Fair of 1939, the Harmon
Foundation, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Among his
best-known works are “Funeral Procession,” “Field Workers,” and
“To Market.”

1980 – Larry Williams, rhythm and blues singer best known for “Bony
Maronie”), joins the ancestors. He is found dead with a
gunshot wound to the head at the age of 45.

1981 – David Lynch, singer with The Platters, joins the ancestors at the
age of 76.

1984 – W. Wilson Goode, the son of a sharecropper, is sworn in as the
first African American mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC,
becoming the first African American woman to head a city of
Washington’s size and prominence.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 10 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 10 *

1810 – Tom Cribb of Great Britain defeats beats African
American Tom Molineaux in the first interracial boxing
championship. The fight lasted 40 rounds at Copthall
Common in England.

1846 – Norbert Rillieux invents the evaporating pan, which
revolutionizes the sugar industry.

1854 – Edwin C. Berry is born in Oberlin, Ohio. He will become
a hotel entrepreneur and erects a 22-room hotel, Hotel
Berry, in Athens, Ohio. He will be known, at the time
of his retirement in 1921, as the most successful
African American small-city hotel operator in the
United States. He will join the ancestors in 1931.

1864 – A mixed cavalry force, including Fifth and Sixth Colored
Cavalry regiments, invades southwest Virginia and
destroys salt mines at Saltville. The Sixth Cavalry
was especially brilliant in an engagement near Marion,
Virginia.

1910 – Smarting from the humiliation of seeing the Ty Cobb-led
Detroit Tigers tie the Negro Havana Stars in a six game
series 3-3, the “Indianapolis Freeman” states: “The
American scribes refused to write on the matter, it cut
so deep and was kept quiet.” Not quiet enough, however,
to prevent a ban on Negro teams, even the Cuban-named
clubs, from playing whites.

1943 – Theodore Wilson is born in New York City. He will become
an actor and will star on television in “That’s My Mama”
(Earl the Postman), and “Sanford Arms”.

1950 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche is the first African American to be
presented the Nobel Prize. He is awarded the Peace Prize
for his efforts as under-secretary of the United Nations,
working for peace in the middle east.

1963 – Zanzibar becomes independent within the British
Commonwealth.

1964 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
In his acceptance speech, he dramatically rejects racism
and war and reaffirms his commitment to “unarmed truth
and unconditional love.” He is the youngest person to
earn the award.

1965 – Sugar Ray Robinson permanently retires from boxing with
six victories in title bouts to his credit.

1967 – Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays (Otis’
backup group) join the ancestors after being killed in
the crash of a private plane near Madison, Wisconsin.
Redding is 26 years old. His signature song, “(Sittin’
On) The Dock of the Bay” was recorded just three days
before his death. It will be #1 for four weeks beginning
February 10, 1968.

1982 – Pamela McAllister Johnson becomes the first African
American woman publisher of a mainstream newspaper, the
“Ithaca Journal.”

1984 – South African Anglican Bishop, Desmond Tutu receives the
Nobel Peace Prize.

1999 – Actress Shirley Hemphill joins the ancestors in West
Covina, California at the age of 52. She was best known
for her role as the “waitress with an attitude” on the
television series, “What’s Happening!”

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