KRLemmons African American History

December 3 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 3 *

1841 – Abolitionist Charles Lenox Remond returns to the United
States after a year and a half in Great Britain. He
had been serving as a delegate to the world Anti-
Slavery Convention in London. He brings with him an
“Address from the People of Ireland” including 60,000
signatures urging Irish-Americans to “oppose slavery by
peaceful means and to insist upon liberty for all
regardless of color, creed, or country.”

1843 – The Society of Colored People in Baltimore, is the first
African American Catholic association whose
documentation has been preserved. Their notebook will
begin today and continue until September 7, 1845.

1847 – Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney begin the
publication of “The North Star” newspaper, one of the
leading abolitionist newspapers of its day.

1864 – The Twenty-Fifth Corps, the largest all African American
unit in the history of the U.S. Army, is established by
General Order # 297 of the War Department, Adjutant
General’s Office. The Colored Troops of the Department
of Virginia and North Carolina were organized into the
Twenty-Fifth Corps under the command of Major General G.
Weitzel.

1866 – John Swett Rock, a Massachusetts lawyer and dentist joins
the ancestors. He had become the first African American
certified to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase appointed Dr. Rock to
present cases before the Supreme Court on December 31,
1865.

1868 – The trial of ex-Confederacy president, Jefferson Davis
starts, marking the first United States trial with
African Americans included in the jury.

1883 – The Forty-Eighth Congress (1883-85) convenes. Only Two
African Americans are included as representatives. They
are James E. O’Hara of North Carolina and Robert Smalls
of South Carolina.

1883 – George L. Ruffin is appointed a city judge in Boston,
Massachusetts.

1922 – Ralph Alexander Gardner-Chavis is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
He will become a pioneer chemist whose research into
plastics leads to the development of so-called “hard
plastics.” His innovations in the manipulation of
catalytic chemicals will lead to the products for the
petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as
plastics.

1951 – President Truman names a committee to monitor compliance
with anti-discrimination provisions in U.S. government
contracts and sub-contracts.

1956 – Wilt Chamberlain plays in his first collegiate basketball
game and scores 52 points.

1962 – Edith Spurlock Sampson is sworn in as the first African
American woman judge.

1964 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to NAACP executive
secretary Roy Wilkins for his contribution to “the
advancement of the American people and the national
purpose.”

1964 – The Independence Bank of Chicago is organized.

1964 – J. Raymond Jones is elected leader of the New York
Democratic organization (Tammany Hall).

1970 – Jennifer Josephine Hosten become the first African
American Miss World.

1979 – An University of Southern California running back,
Charles White, is named the Heisman Trophy winner for
1979. White, who gained a career regular season total
of 5,598 yards, will play professionally for the Los
Angeles Rams.

1982 – Thomas Hearns unifies the world boxing titles in the
junior middleweight division by capturing the WBC title
over Wilfredo Benitez.

1988 – Barry Sanders wins the Heisman Trophy.

1988 – In South Africa, 11 black funeral mourners are slain in
Natal Province in an attack blamed on security forces.

1990 – “Black Art – Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in
African American Art” opens at the Dallas Museum of Art.
United States and Caribbean artists represented among
the more than 150 works include Richmond Barthe’, John
Biggers, Aaron Douglas, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent
Johnson, and Houston Conwill.

1997 – President Clinton hosts his first town hall meeting on
America’s race relations in Akron, Ohio.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 29 *

1902 – The Dinwiddle Quartet from Virginia is the first
African American singing group on record when they
record six single sided discs, including “Down at the
Old Camp Ground,” on the Victory Talking Machine
Company’s Monarch label.

1923 – Runnin’ Wild opens at the Colonial Theater, Broadway.
Miller and Lyles Productions introduced the Charleston
to New York and the world.

1924 – Dixie to Broadway, “the first real revue by Negroes,”
opens at the Broadhurst Theater, New York City, with
Florence Mills in the starring role.

1929 – The collapse of the stock market and the beginning of
the Great Depression. By 1937, 26 per cent of African
American males will be unemployed.

1945 – Beatrice Moore is born in New York, New York. She will
become an actress and singer better known as Melba
Moore. Her big break will come when she joins the cast
of the Broadway musical “Hair.” She will eventually win
the lead role. It will be the first time that an African
American actress replaces a white actress (Diane Keaton)
for a lead role on Broadway. That engagement will be
followed with another Broadway hit, “Purlie,” which
earns her a Tony Award and rave reviews. This success
will be followed by appearances in film and television.
In addition to her success in acting, she will have a
fruitful recording career.

1947 – The President’s Committee on Civil Rights condemns racial
injustices in America in a formal report, “To Secure
These Rights.”

1947 – Texas Southern University is established.

1947 – The NAACP Spingarn Medal is awarded to Dr. Percy L. Julian
for his achievements as a scientist.

1949 – Alonzo G. Moron, from the Virgin Islands, becomes the
first person of African descent to become president of
Hampton Institute (now University) in Hampton, Virginia.

1960 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) boxes in his first professional
fight, beating Tunney Hunsaker in 6 rounds.

1961 – Randy Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. He will become a
member of the famed family group, “The Jackson Five.”

1969 – Johnson Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, the largest
African American hair-care products manufacturer, is
incorporated. Founded by George Johnson in 1954, in 1971,
it will become the first African American owned company
listed on the American Stock Exchange.

1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court states that school systems must end
segregation “at once” and “operate now and hereafter only
unitary schools.” In the Mississippi case, Alexander v.
Holmes, the Court abandons the principle of “all
deliberate speed.”

1974 – Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in Zaire to regain his
heavyweight crown in a fight billed as “The Rumble in the
Jungle.” In addition to the fight being the first
heavyweight title fight held in Africa, it is the 14th
Anniversary of Ali’s professional boxing debut.

1981 – William Otis Walker, publisher of the “Cleveland Call &
Post,” joins the ancestors at the age of 85. He was the
first African American to hold a post in the Ohio Cabinet
in 1963, and was national chairman for “Black Republicans
for Reagan and Bush” in 1980.

1987 – Thomas Hearns wins an unprecedented 4th boxing title in
different weight classes.

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 3 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – December 3 *

1841 – Abolitionist Charles Lenox Remond returns to the United
States after a year and a half in Great Britain. He
had been serving as a delegate to the world Anti-
Slavery Convention in London. He brings with him an
“Address from the People of Ireland” including 60,000
signatures urging Irish-Americans to “oppose slavery by
peaceful means and to insist upon liberty for all
regardless of color, creed, or country.”

1843 – The Society of Colored People in Baltimore, is the first
African American Catholic association whose
documentation has been preserved. Their notebook will
begin today and continue until September 7, 1845.

1847 – Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney begin the
publication of “The North Star” newspaper, one of the
leading abolitionist newspapers of its day.

1864 – The Twenty-Fifth Corps, the largest all African American
unit in the history of the U.S. Army, is established by
General Order # 297 of the War Department, Adjutant
General’s Office. The Colored Troops of the Department
of Virginia and North Carolina were organized into the
Twenty-Fifth Corps under the command of Major General G.
Weitzel.

1866 – John Swett Rock, a Massachusetts lawyer and dentist joins
the ancestors. He had become the first African American
certified to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase appointed Dr. Rock to
present cases before the Supreme Court on December 31,
1865.

1868 – The trial of ex-Confederacy president, Jefferson Davis
starts, marking the first United States trial with
African Americans included in the jury.

1883 – The Forty-Eighth Congress (1883-85) convenes. Only Two
African Americans are included as representatives. They
are James E. O’Hara of North Carolina and Robert Smalls
of South Carolina.

1883 – George L. Ruffin is appointed a city judge in Boston,
Massachusetts.

1922 – Ralph Alexander Gardner-Chavis is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
He will become a pioneer chemist whose research into
plastics leads to the development of so-called “hard
plastics.” His innovations in the manipulation of
catalytic chemicals will lead to the products for the
petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as
plastics.

1951 – President Truman names a committee to monitor compliance
with anti-discrimination provisions in U.S. government
contracts and sub-contracts.

1956 – Wilt Chamberlain plays in his first collegiate basketball
game and scores 52 points.

1962 – Edith Spurlock Sampson is sworn in as the first African
American woman judge.

1964 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to NAACP executive
secretary Roy Wilkins for his contribution to “the
advancement of the American people and the national
purpose.”

1964 – The Independence Bank of Chicago is organized.

1964 – J. Raymond Jones is elected leader of the New York
Democratic organization (Tammany Hall).

1970 – Jennifer Josephine Hosten become the first African
American Miss World.

1979 – An University of Southern California running back,
Charles White, is named the Heisman Trophy winner for
1979. White, who gained a career regular season total
of 5,598 yards, will play professionally for the Los
Angeles Rams.

1982 – Thomas Hearns unifies the world boxing titles in the
junior middleweight division by capturing the WBC title
over Wilfredo Benitez.

1988 – Barry Sanders wins the Heisman Trophy.

1988 – In South Africa, 11 black funeral mourners are slain in
Natal Province in an attack blamed on security forces.

1990 – “Black Art – Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in
African American Art” opens at the Dallas Museum of Art.
United States and Caribbean artists represented among
the more than 150 works include Richmond Barthe’, John
Biggers, Aaron Douglas, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent
Johnson, and Houston Conwill.

1997 – President Clinton hosts his first town hall meeting on
America’s race relations in Akron, Ohio.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 29 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – October 29 *

1902 – The Dinwiddle Quartet from Virginia is the first
African American singing group on record when they
record six single sided discs, including “Down at the
Old Camp Ground,” on the Victory Talking Machine
Company’s Monarch label.

1923 – Runnin’ Wild opens at the Colonial Theater, Broadway.
Miller and Lyles Productions introduced the Charleston
to New York and the world.

1924 – Dixie to Broadway, “the first real revue by Negroes,”
opens at the Broadhurst Theater, New York City, with
Florence Mills in the starring role.

1929 – The collapse of the stock market and the beginning of
the Great Depression. By 1937, 26 per cent of African
American males will be unemployed.

1945 – Beatrice Moore is born in New York, New York. She will
become an actress and singer better known as Melba
Moore. Her big break will come when she joins the cast
of the Broadway musical “Hair.” She will eventually win
the lead role. It will be the first time that an African
American actress replaces a white actress (Diane Keaton)
for a lead role on Broadway. That engagement will be
followed with another Broadway hit, “Purlie,” which
earns her a Tony Award and rave reviews. This success
will be followed by appearances in film and television.
In addition to her success in acting, she will have a
fruitful recording career.

1947 – The President’s Committee on Civil Rights condemns racial
injustices in America in a formal report, “To Secure
These Rights.”

1947 – Texas Southern University is established.

1947 – The NAACP Spingarn Medal is awarded to Dr. Percy L. Julian
for his achievements as a scientist.

1949 – Alonzo G. Moron, from the Virgin Islands, becomes the
first person of African descent to become president of
Hampton Institute (now University) in Hampton, Virginia.

1960 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) boxes in his first professional
fight, beating Tunney Hunsaker in 6 rounds.

1961 – Randy Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. He will become a
member of the famed family group, “The Jackson Five.”

1969 – Johnson Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, the largest
African American hair-care products manufacturer, is
incorporated. Founded by George Johnson in 1954, in 1971,
it will become the first African American owned company
listed on the American Stock Exchange.

1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court states that school systems must end
segregation “at once” and “operate now and hereafter only
unitary schools.” In the Mississippi case, Alexander v.
Holmes, the Court abandons the principle of “all
deliberate speed.”

1974 – Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in Zaire to regain his
heavyweight crown in a fight billed as “The Rumble in the
Jungle.” In addition to the fight being the first
heavyweight title fight held in Africa, it is the 14th
Anniversary of Ali’s professional boxing debut.

1981 – William Otis Walker, publisher of the “Cleveland Call &
Post,” joins the ancestors at the age of 85. He was the
first African American to hold a post in the Ohio Cabinet
in 1963, and was national chairman for “Black Republicans
for Reagan and Bush” in 1980.

1987 – Thomas Hearns wins an unprecedented 4th boxing title in
different weight classes.

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

KRLemmons African American History

August 2 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 2 *

1847 – William A. Leidesdorff, born in the Danish West Indies to
a Danish father and a Black native mother, opens the first
commercial steamship service on San Francisco Bay.

1920 – Marcus Garvey presents his “Back To Africa” program in New
York City.

1924 – James Arthur Baldwin is born in New York City. He will
become one of the most prolific and influential African
American authors of fiction. His essays, such as
the collection “Notes of a Native Son” (1955), explore
palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and
class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in
mid-20th-century America, and their inevitable if unnamable
tensions with personal identity, assumptions, uncertainties,
yearning, and questing. Some of his essays are book-length,
for instance “The Fire Next Time” (1963), “No Name in the
Street” (1972), and “The Devil Finds Work” (1976). His
novels and plays fictionalize fundamental personal questions
and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures
thwarting the equitable integration of not only blacks, but
also gay men — depicting as well some internalized
impediments to such individuals’ quest for acceptance —
namely in his second novel, “Giovanni’s Room” (1956),
written well before gay equality was widely espoused in
America. His best-known novel is his first, “Go Tell It on
the Mountain” (1953). In 1948, disillusioned by American
prejudice against blacks and gays, He will leave the United
States and depart for Paris, France. He will live as an
expatriate in France for most of his later life. He will
also spend some time in Switzerland and Turkey. He will
join the ancestors on December 1, 1987.

1945 – Jewell Jackson (later McCabe) is born in Washington, DC.
She will become president of the Coalition of 100 Black
Women, whose mission is to develop a forum for African
American women leaders.

1951 – While manning his machine gun during a surprise attack on
his platoon, private first class William Henry Thompson of
Company M, Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment, becomes the
first African American to earn the Congressional Medal of
Honor in the Korean conflict.

1964 – A racially motivated disturbance begins in Jersey City, New
Jersey.

1966 – The Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, later
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, is
chartered in Los Angeles, California. It is the only
African American-focused medical school west of the
Mississippi.

1967 – “In the Heat of the Night”, starring Sidney Portier and Rod
Steiger, premieres.

1967 – Claude A. Barnett, who founded the Associated Negro Press,
joins the ancestors at the age of 78.

1980 – Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns wins the WBA Welterweight title.
This is one of five weight classes in which he wins a
boxing title, making him the first African American to win
boxing titles in five different weight classes.

1982 – Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the
color barrier in major league baseball, is honored by a
commemorative stamp issued by the Postal Service, the
fifth in its Black Heritage USA series.

1986 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States) sets record for the
heptathlon (7161 pts).

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

KRLemmons African American History

December 3 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – December 3 *

1841 – Abolitionist Charles Lenox Remond returns to the United
States after a year and a half in Great Britain. He
had been serving as a delegate to the world Anti-
Slavery Convention in London. He brings with him an
“Address from the People of Ireland” including 60,000
signatures urging Irish-Americans to “oppose slavery by
peaceful means and to insist upon liberty for all
regardless of color, creed, or country.”

1843 – The Society of Colored People in Baltimore, is the first
African American Catholic association whose
documentation has been preserved. Their notebook will
begin today and continue until September 7, 1845.

1847 – Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney begin the
publication of “The North Star” newspaper, one of the
leading abolitionist newspapers of its day.

1864 – The Twenty-Fifth Corps, the largest all African American
unit in the history of the U.S. Army, is established by
General Order # 297 of the War Department, Adjutant
General’s Office. The Colored Troops of the Department
of Virginia and North Carolina were organized into the
Twenty-Fifth Corps under the command of Major General G.
Weitzel.

1866 – John Swett Rock, a Massachusetts lawyer and dentist joins
the ancestors. He had become the first African American
certified to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase appointed Dr. Rock to
present cases before the Supreme Court on December 31,
1865.

1868 – The trial of ex-Confederacy president, Jefferson Davis
starts, marking the first United States trial with
African Americans included in the jury.

1883 – The Forty-Eighth Congress (1883-85) convenes. Only Two
African Americans are included as representatives. They
are James E. O’Hara of North Carolina and Robert Smalls
of South Carolina.

1883 – George L. Ruffin is appointed a city judge in Boston,
Massachusetts.

1922 – Ralph Alexander Gardner-Chavis is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
He will become a pioneer chemist whose research into
plastics leads to the development of so-called “hard
plastics.” His innovations in the manipulation of
catalytic chemicals will lead to the products for the
petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as
plastics.

1951 – President Truman names a committee to monitor compliance
with anti-discrimination provisions in U.S. government
contracts and sub-contracts.

1956 – Wilt Chamberlain plays in his first collegiate basketball
game and scores 52 points.

1962 – Edith Spurlock Sampson is sworn in as the first African
American woman judge.

1964 – The Spingarn Medal is presented to NAACP executive
secretary Roy Wilkins for his contribution to “the
advancement of the American people and the national
purpose.”

1964 – The Independence Bank of Chicago is organized.

1964 – J. Raymond Jones is elected leader of the New York
Democratic organization (Tammany Hall).

1970 – Jennifer Josephine Hosten become the first African
American Miss World.

1979 – An University of Southern California running back,
Charles White, is named the Heisman Trophy winner for
1979. White, who gained a career regular season total
of 5,598 yards, will play professionally for the Los
Angeles Rams.

1982 – Thomas Hearns unifies the world boxing titles in the
junior middleweight division by capturing the WBC title
over Wilfredo Benitez.

1988 – Barry Sanders wins the Heisman Trophy.

1988 – In South Africa, 11 black funeral mourners are slain in
Natal Province in an attack blamed on security forces.

1990 – “Black Art – Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in
African American Art” opens at the Dallas Museum of Art.
United States and Caribbean artists represented among
the more than 150 works include Richmond Barthe’, John
Biggers, Aaron Douglas, Malvin Gray Johnson, Sargent
Johnson, and Houston Conwill.

1997 – President Clinton hosts his first town hall meeting on
America’s race relations in Akron, Ohio.

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

KRLemmons African American History

October 29 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – October 29           *

1902 – The Dinwiddle Quartet from Virginia is the first
African American singing group on record when they
record six single sided discs, including “Down at the
Old Camp Ground,” on the Victory Talking Machine
Company’s Monarch label.

1923 – Runnin’ Wild opens at the Colonial Theater, Broadway.
Miller and Lyles Productions introduced the Charleston
to New York and the world.

1924 – Dixie to Broadway, “the first real revue by Negroes,”
opens at the Broadhurst Theater, New York City, with
Florence Mills in the starring role.

1929 – The collapse of the stock market and the beginning of
the Great Depression.  By 1937, 26 per cent of African
American males will be unemployed.

1945 – Beatrice Moore is born in New York, New York.  She will
become an actress and singer better known as Melba
Moore. Her big break will come when she joins the cast
of the Broadway musical “Hair.” She will eventually win
the lead role. It will be the first time that an African
American actress replaces a white actress (Diane Keaton)
for a lead role on Broadway. That engagement will be
followed with another Broadway hit, “Purlie,” which
earns her a Tony Award and rave reviews.  This success
will be followed by appearances in film and television.
In addition to her success in acting, she will have a
fruitful recording career.

1947 – The President’s Committee on Civil Rights condemns racial
injustices in America in a formal report, “To Secure
These Rights.”

1947 – Texas Southern University is established.

1947 – The NAACP Spingarn Medal is awarded to Dr. Percy L. Julian
for his achievements as a scientist.

1949 – Alonzo G. Moron, from the Virgin Islands, becomes the
first person of African descent to become president of
Hampton Institute (now University) in Hampton, Virginia.

1960 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) boxes in his first professional
fight, beating Tunney Hunsaker in 6 rounds.

1961 – Randy Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. He will become a
member of the famed family group, “The Jackson Five.”

1969 – Johnson Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, the largest
African American hair-care products manufacturer, is
incorporated.  Founded by George Johnson in 1954, in 1971,
it will become the first African American owned company
listed on the American Stock Exchange.

1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court states that school systems must end
segregation “at once” and “operate now and hereafter only
unitary schools.” In the Mississippi case, Alexander v.
Holmes, the Court abandons the principle of “all
deliberate speed.”

1974 – Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in Zaire to regain his
heavyweight crown in a fight billed as “The Rumble in the
Jungle.”  In addition to the fight being the first
heavyweight title fight held in Africa, it is the 14th
Anniversary of Ali’s professional boxing debut.

1981 – William Otis Walker, publisher of the “Cleveland Call &
Post,” joins the ancestors at the age of 85.  He was the
first African American to hold a post in the Ohio Cabinet
in 1963, and was national chairman for “Black Republicans
for Reagan and Bush” in 1980.

1987 – Thomas Hearns wins an unprecedented 4th boxing title in
different weight classes.

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