KRLemmons African American History

August 28 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 28 *

1818 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, trader and founder of
Chicago, joins the ancestors.

1921 – Second Pan-African Congress meets in London, Brussels and
Paris, from August 28 to September 6. Of the 113
delegates, 39 are from Africa and 36 were from the United
States.

1949 – Paul Robeson’s scheduled singing appearance at the
Lakeland picnic grounds near Peekskill in Westchester
County, New York, is disrupted by a riot instigated and
provoked by whites angry at Robeson’s political stands.

1945 – Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner Branch Rickey and future baseball
great Jackie Robinson meet. They will discuss the
difficulties Robinson, an African American athlete, would
face in major-league baseball. Robinson will receive
$600 a month and a $3,500 signing bonus to play for
Montreal of the International League. He would quickly
move up and enjoy a brilliant career with the Brooklyn
Dodgers.

1955 – Fourteen-year-old Chicago youngster Emmett Till is
kidnapped in Money, Mississippi. Four days later he is
found brutally mutilated and murdered, allegedly for
whistling at a white woman. Two whites will be acquitted
of the crime by an all-white jury. The incident will
receive national publicity and highlight racism and
brutality toward African Americans. This incident is
chronicled on tape # 1 in the “Eyes on the Prize” series.

1962 – Seventy-five ministers and laymen–African American and
whites–primarily from the North, are arrested after
prayer demonstration in downtown Albany, Georgia.

1963 – Over 250,000 African-Americans and whites converge on the
Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, the
largest single protest demonstration in United States
history. The march, organized to support sweeping civil
rights measures, will also be the occasion of Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s most famous speech, “I have a Dream.”

1964 – A racially motivated civil disobedience riot occurs in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1966 – The National Guard is mobilized to protect Milwaukee,
Wisconsin marchers protesting a judge’s membership in
lily-white club.

1968 – Rev. Channing E. Philips of Washington, DC, becomes the
first African American to have his/her name placed in
nomination for president by a major national party.
Philips’ name is placed in nomination as the favorite
son candidate by the District of Columbia delegation at
the Democratic convention in Chicago and will receive 67
1/2 votes.

1984 – The Jacksons’ Victory Tour broke the record for concert
ticket sales. The group surpasses the 1.1 million mark
in only two months.

1988 – Beah Richards wins an Emmy for outstanding guest
performance in the comedy series “Frank’s Place.” It is
one of the many acting distinctions for the Vicksburg,
Mississippi native, including her Academy Award
nomination for best supporting actress in “Guess Who’s
Coming to Dinner.”

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 9 *

1867 – The Georgia constitutional convention, consisting of 33
African American and 137 whites, opens in Atlanta,
Georgia.

1872 – P. B. S. Pinchback is sworn in as governor of Louisiana
after H.C. Warmoth is impeached “for high crimes and
misdemeanors.” He becomes the first African American
governor of a state.

1919 – Roy deCarava is born in New York City. He will become a
leading photographer of the African American experience.
The first African American photographer to be awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship, his first book, “The Sweet
Flypaper of Life,” will be a collaboration with poet
Langston Hughes. He will also found and direct Kamoinge
Workshop for African American photographers in 1963.

1922 – John Elroy (Redd Foxx) Sanford, is born in St. Louis,
Missouri. His off-color records and concerts will
catapult him to fame and his own television show,
“Sanford and Son,” and a later series, “The Royal
Family,” his last before he suddenly joins the ancestors
on October 11, 1991.

1938 – The first public service programming aired when Jack L.
Cooper launches the “Search for Missing Persons” show.
In 1929, he debuted “The All-Negro Hour on WSBC in Chicago.
He is considered to be the first African American disc
jockey and radio announcer.

1953 – Lloyd B. Free is born in Brooklyn, New York. He will
become a professional basketball player and will later
change his name to World B. Free. He will be a NBA
guard with the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers,
Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the
Houston Rockets. He will leave the NBA in 1988 with
17,955 career points and a career scoring average of
20.3 points per game.

1961 – Tanganyika gains independence from Great Britain and
takes the name Tanzania.

1961 – Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores
67 points vs. the New York Knicks.

1962 – Tanzania becomes a republic within the British
Commonwealth.

1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from Great Britain.

1971 – Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize winner and
Undersecretary of the United Nations from 1955 to his
retirement in October, 1971, joins the ancestors in New
York City at the age of 67.

1971 – Bill Pickett becomes the first African American elected
to the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. He is the
cowboy that invented the bulldogging event famous in
today’s rodeos.

1976 – Tony Dorsett is awarded the Heisman Trophy. Dorsett, a
running back for the University of Pittsburgh, amasses
a total of 6,082 total yards and will go on to play
with the Dallas Cowboys and help lead them to the Super
Bowl.

1984 – The Jackson’s Victory Tour comes to a close at Dodger
Stadium in Los Angeles, after 55 performances in 19
cities. The production is reported to be the world’s
greatest rock extravaganza and one of the most
problematic. The Jackson brothers receive about $50
million during the five-month tour of the United States
– before some 2.5 million fans.

1984 – Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears records another first
as he runs six plays, as quarterback. He is intercepted
twice, but runs the ball himself on four carries. The
Green Bay Packers still win 20-14. Payton says after
the game, “It was OK, but I wouldn’t want to do it for a
living.”

1984 – Eric Dickerson, of the Los Angeles Rams, becomes only the
second pro football player to run for more than 2,000
yards (2,105) in a season. He passes O.J. Simpson’s
record of 2,003 as the Rams beat the Houston Oilers
27-16.

1989 – Craig Washington wins a special congressional election in
Texas’ 18th District to fill the seat vacated by the
death of George “Mickey” Leland.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 28 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 28 *

1818 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, trader and founder of
Chicago, joins the ancestors.

1921 – Second Pan-African Congress meets in London, Brussels and
Paris, from August 28 to September 6. Of the 113
delegates, 39 are from Africa and 36 were from the United
States.

1949 – Paul Robeson’s scheduled singing appearance at the
Lakeland picnic grounds near Peekskill in Westchester
County, New York, is disrupted by a riot instigated and
provoked by whites angry at Robeson’s political stands.

1945 – Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner Branch Rickey and future baseball
great Jackie Robinson meet. They will discuss the
difficulties Robinson, an African American athlete, would
face in major-league baseball. Robinson will receive
$600 a month and a $3,500 signing bonus to play for
Montreal of the International League. He would quickly
move up and enjoy a brilliant career with the Brooklyn
Dodgers.

1955 – Fourteen-year-old Chicago youngster Emmett Till is
kidnapped in Money, Mississippi. Four days later he is
found brutally mutilated and murdered, allegedly for
whistling at a white woman. Two whites will be acquitted
of the crime by an all-white jury. The incident will
receive national publicity and highlight racism and
brutality toward African Americans. This incident is
chronicled on tape # 1 in the “Eyes on the Prize” series.

1962 – Seventy-five ministers and laymen–African American and
whites–primarily from the North, are arrested after
prayer demonstration in downtown Albany, Georgia.

1963 – Over 250,000 African-Americans and whites converge on the
Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, the
largest single protest demonstration in United States
history. The march, organized to support sweeping civil
rights measures, will also be the occasion of Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s most famous speech, “I have a Dream.”

1964 – A racially motivated civil disobedience riot occurs in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1966 – The National Guard is mobilized to protect Milwaukee,
Wisconsin marchers protesting a judge’s membership in
lily-white club.

1968 – Rev. Channing E. Philips of Washington, DC, becomes the
first African American to have his/her name placed in
nomination for president by a major national party.
Philips’ name is placed in nomination as the favorite
son candidate by the District of Columbia delegation at
the Democratic convention in Chicago and will receive 67
1/2 votes.

1984 – The Jacksons’ Victory Tour broke the record for concert
ticket sales. The group surpasses the 1.1 million mark
in only two months.

1988 – Beah Richards wins an Emmy for outstanding guest
performance in the comedy series “Frank’s Place.” It is
one of the many acting distinctions for the Vicksburg,
Mississippi native, including her Academy Award
nomination for best supporting actress in “Guess Who’s
Coming to Dinner.”

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