KRLemmons African American History

September 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – September 6 *

1826 – John Brown Russwurm graduates from Bowdoin College. While
many sources consider him to be the first African American
in America to graduate from college, he was preceded by
Edward Jones (B.A. Amherst College – August 23, 1826) and
Alexander Lucius Twilight (B.A. Middlebury College –
1823).

1848 – National Black Convention meets in Cleveland, Ohio with
some seventy delegates. Frederick Douglass is elected
president of the convention.

1865 – Thaddeus Stevens, powerful U.S. congressman, urges
confiscation of estates of Confederate leaders and the
distribution of land to adult freedmen in forty-acre
lots.

1866 – Frederick Douglass becomes the first African American
delegate to a national political convention.

1876 – A race riot occurs in Charleston, South Carolina.

1892 – George “Little Chocolate” Dixon beats Jack Skelly in New
Orleans to win the world featherweight title. While some
African American citizens celebrate for two days, the New
Orleans Times-Democrat says, “It was a mistake to match a
Negro and a white man, to bring the races together on any
terms of equality even in the prize ring.”

1905 – The Atlanta Life Insurance Company is established by A.F.
Herndon.

1930 – Leander Jay Shaw, Jr. is born in Salem, Virginia. He will
become a justice of the Florida State Supreme Court in
1983 and, in 1990, the chief justice, a first in Florida
and the second African American chief justice in any
state supreme court.

1966 – A racially motivated civil disturbance occurs in Atlanta,
Georgia.

1967 – President Lyndon B. Johnson names Walter E. Washington,
commissioner and “unofficial” mayor of Washington, DC.

1968 – The Kingdom of Swaziland achieves full independence from
Great Britain as a constitutional monarchy.

1982 – Willie Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, sees his
uniform, number 8, retired by the Bucs. It is the fourth
Pirate player’s uniform to be so honored. The other
three belonged to Roberto Clemente (#21), Honus Wagner
(#33) and Pie Traynor (#20).

1988 – Lee Roy Young becomes the first African American Texas
Ranger in the police force’s 165-year history. Young is
a 14-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public
Safety.

1989 – The International Amateur Athletic Federation bans Ben
Johnson of Canada from competition, after he tests
positive for steroids. He is also stripped of all of his
track records.

1989 – The National Party, the governing party of South Africa,
loses nearly a quarter of its parliamentary seats to
far-right and anti-apartheid rivals, its worst setback
in four decades.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 19 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 19 *

1867 – Congressman Thaddeus Stevens calls up resolution providing
for the enforcement of the Second Confiscation Act of July,
1862. The measure, which provides for the distribution of
public and confiscated land to the freedmen, is defeated.

1870 – “O Guarani,” the most celebrated opera by Afro-Brazilian
composer Antonio Carlos Gomes, premiers at the Scala Theater
in Milan, Italy. His enormous musical talent opened the
doors of the Milan Conservatory where he studied under the
guidance of the greatest opera directors of the time. Among
other operas, Gomes produces “Fosca,” “Condor,” and
“O Escravo” (The Slave).

1872 – T.J. Boyd, inventor, awarded patent for apparatus for
detaching horses from carriages.

1937 – The Count Basie Orchestra, with vocalists Billie Holiday and
Jimmy Rushing, opens at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

1939 – The New Negro Theater is founded in Los Angeles, California,
by Langston Hughes. The company stages as its first
performance Hughes’s play, “Don’t You Want to be Free?”

1952 – Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton is posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery during the Korean
War. He joins the ancestors after being killed in action on
June 2, 1951.

1967 – French Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association
with France.

1968 – Students take over the Administration Building at Howard
University demanding resignation of university officials
and a stronger orientation to Black culture in the
curriculum. It is the first of many college protests over
Black Studies programs on African American and white college
campuses across the nation.

1995 – Twenty one months after retiring from basketball, Michael
Jordan returns to professional basketball with his former
team, the Chicago Bulls.

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

KRLemmons African American History

March 19 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – March 19 *

1867 – Congressman Thaddeus Stevens calls up resolution providing
for the enforcement of the Second Confiscation Act of July,
1862. The measure, which provides for the distribution of
public and confiscated land to the freedmen, is defeated.

1870 – “O Guarani,” the most celebrated opera by Afro-Brazilian
composer Antonio Carlos Gomes, premiers at the Scala Theater
in Milan, Italy. His enormous musical talent opened the
doors of the Milan Conservatory where he studied under the
guidance of the greatest opera directors of the time. Among
other operas, Gomes produces “Fosca,” “Condor,” and
“O Escravo” (The Slave).

1872 – T.J. Boyd, inventor, awarded patent for apparatus for
detaching horses from carriages.

1937 – The Count Basie Orchestra, with vocalists Billie Holiday and
Jimmy Rushing, opens at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

1939 – The New Negro Theater is founded in Los Angeles, California,
by Langston Hughes. The company stages as its first
performance Hughes’s play, “Don’t You Want to be Free?”

1952 – Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton is posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery during the Korean
War. He joins the ancestors after being killed in action on
June 2, 1951.

1967 – French Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association
with France.

1968 – Students take over the Administration Building at Howard
University demanding resignation of university officials
and a stronger orientation to Black culture in the
curriculum. It is the first of many college protests over
Black Studies programs on African American and white college
campuses across the nation.

1995 – Twenty one months after retiring from basketball, Michael
Jordan returns to professional basketball with his former
team, the Chicago Bulls.

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