November 13 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 13               *

1839 – The first anti-slavery political party (Liberty Party) is
organized and convenes in Warsaw, New York.  Samuel
Ringgold Ward and Henry Highland Garnet are two of the
earliest supporters of the new political party.

1910 – Painter and printmaker, Wilmer Angier Jennings, is born in
Atlanta, Georgia.  A graduate of Morehouse College and
student of Hale Woodruff, Jennings will be employed by the
Public Works for Art Project and Works Progress
Administration in the 1930’s, where he will paint murals
and landscape paintings, and produce prints.

1913 – Dr Daniel Hale Williams, the first physician to perform
open heart surgery, becomes a member of the American
College of Surgeons.

1940 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Hansberry vs. Lee
that whites cannot bar African Americans from white
neighborhoods. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case
brought by wealthy real-estate broker Carl Hansberry of
Chicago, allows the Hansberry family, including 10-year-
old daughter Lorraine, to move into a white neighborhood.

1949 – Caryn Johnson is born in New York City.  She will grow up
in the ghettos of New York, overcome drug addiction and
poverty, and become known as Whoopi Goldberg, multi-
talented comedian and actress and Academy Award winner
for her supporting role performance in “Ghost” in 1991.

1951 – Janet Collins, becomes the first African American ballerina
to appear with the Metropolitan Opera Company.

1956 – The Supreme Court upholds a lower court decision banning
segregation on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama.  The
Court establishes grounds for challenging bus segregation
in nine states that have violated the 15th Amendment.

1956 – Dancer Geoffrey Holder begins a contract with the
Metropolitan Opera.  Holder will dance in 26 performances,
including “Aida” and “La Perichole”, and his career will
include dance, acting, and art collecting.

1967 – Carl Stokes becomes the first African American mayor of a
major U.S. city when he is inaugurated mayor of Cleveland,
Ohio.

1973 – Reggie Jackson, of the Oakland Athletics, unanimously wins
the American League MVP award.

1985 – Dwight Gooden, the youngest 20 game winner in Major League
baseball history, wins the Cy Young award.

1992 – Riddick Bowe wins the undisputed heavyweight boxing title
in Las Vegas with a unanimous decision over Evander
Holyfield.

1996 – A grand jury in St. Petersburg, Florida, declines to indict
police officer Jim Knight, who had shot African American
motorist TyRon Lewis to death the previous month.  The
decision prompts angry mobs to return to the streets.

1996 – An all-white jury in Pittsburgh acquits a suburban police
officer, John Vojtas, in the death of African American
motorist Johnny Gammage in a verdict that angers African
American activists.

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

November 12 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 12          *

1775 – General George Washington issues an order forbiding
recruiting officers from enlisting African Americans.

1779 – Twenty slaves petition New Hampshire’s legislature to
abolish slavery. They argue that “the god of nature
gave them life and freedom upon the terms of most
perfect equality with other men; that freedom is an
inherent right of the human species, not to be
surrendered but by consent.”

1882 – Lane College is founded in Jackson, Tennessee.

1896 – 1st Sgt. Moses Williams (Ninth Calvary) is awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in the Battle
of Cuchillo Negro Mountains, in New Mexico, fought on
August 16, 1881.

1922 – Sigma Gamma Rho sorority is founded in Indianapolis,
Indiana, by seven school teachers: Mary Lou Allison
(Gardner Little), Bessie Mae Downey (Martin), Hattie
Mae Annette Dulin (Redford), Nannie Mae Gahn (Johnson),
Dorothy Hanley (Whiteside), Cubena McClure, and Vivian
White (Marbury).  Founder Vivian White Marbury was able
to witness the progress of the sisterhood she helped
create until she joins the ancestors on July 30, 2000.

1941 – Opera instructor Mary Cardwell Dawson and coloratura
Lillian Evanti establish the National Negro Opera
Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to provide more
opportunities for African Americans to sing and study
opera.  The company’s first opera, Verdi’s “Aida”, will
be staged the following August at the annual meeting of
the National Association of Negro Musicians. In its
21-year history, its performers will include Evanti,
Minto Cato, and Robert McFerrin.

1974 – South Africa is suspended from the U.N. General Assembly
over its racial policies.

1977 – Ernest N.  (Dutch) Morial is elected mayor of New Orleans,
Louisiana.  He is the first African American to hold
that post.

1977 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Alexander P.
Haley “for his unsurpassed effectiveness in portraying
the legendary story of an American of African descent.”

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

November 11 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 11           *

1831 – Nat Turner is executed for organizing and leading the
armed slave insurrection in Jerusalem, Southampton
County, Virginia. One of our greatest freedom fighters
joins the ancestors.

1890 – D. McCree is granted a patent for the portable fire
escape.

1895 – Bechuanaland becomes part of the Cape Colony in Africa.

1915 – Claude Clark, Sr. is born near Rockingham, Georgia.  He
will study at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the
Barnes Foundation, and the University of California,
Berkeley, and become a renowned artist whose studies of
urban life and social realism will be exhibited widely,
including the New York World’s Fair of 1939, the
Sorbonne, the Oakland Museum, the Museum of African
American Art in Los Angeles and in the major group
exhibits Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art 1800-1950
and Two Centuries of Black American Art.

1918 – The Armistice is signed, ending World War I.  Official
records listed 370,000 African American soldiers and
1400 African American commissioned officers.  A little
more than half of of these soldiers served in the
European Theater.  Three African American regiments —
the 369th, 371st, and 372nd — received the Croix de
Guerre for valor.  The 369th was the first American
unit to reach the Rhine river (which separates France
from Germany).  The first American soldiers to be
decorated for bravery in France were Henry Johnson and
Needham Roberts of the 369th Infantry Regiment.

1925 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to James Weldon
Johnson, former U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua
and NAACP executive secretary, for his work as an
author, diplomat and leader.

1928 – Ernestine Anderson is born in Houston, Texas.  Her
introduction to jazz singing will begin at age 12 at
the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston.  She will perform
with Russell Jaquet, Johnny Otis, and Lionel Hampton
and be known for her warm, blues-influenced vocals.

1929 – LaVern Baker is born in Chicago, Illinois.  She will
become a rhythm & blues vocalist.  She will be known
for her recordings of “Tweedly Dee”, “I Cried a Tear”,
and “Jim Dandy.”

1946 – Corrine Brown is born in Jacksonville, Florida. She will
receive a bachelor’s degree in 1969 and a master’s
degree in 1971 from Florida A&M University. She will
also receive an education specialist degree from the
University of Florida in 1974 and an honorary doctorate
in law from Edward Waters College. She will be a
college professor, a guidance counselor, and owner of a
travel agency before entering politics. In 1982 she will
be elected to the Florida House of Representatives,
where she will serve for ten years. In 1992 she will be
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from
Florida’s Third Congressional District.

1950 – Otis Armstrong is born.  He will become a NFL runningback
and the AFC’s leading rusher in 1974 with the Denver
Broncos.

1965 – Prime Minister Ian D. Smith of Rhodesia proclaims
independence from Great Britain.

1968 – Ronnie Devoe is born.  He will become a singer with the
groups “New Edition” and “Bell, Biv, and Devoe.”

1972 – Carl T. Rowan, journalist, becomes the first African
American elected to the ‘Gridiron Club.’

1975 – Angola gains independence from Portugal after 500 years
of colonial rule.  Angola, in southeastern Africa, had
been waging guerrilla warfare against Portuguese rule
since 1961. In 1974, back in Portugal, a group of young
military officers overthrew the government.  The new
government quickly granted independence to Portugal’s
colonies. Thus, on November 11, 1975 Angola officially
became an independent republic.

1979 – The Bethune Museum and Archives is established in
Washington, DC.  The goal of the museum, which is
housed in the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, is to
serve as a depository and center for African American
women’s history.

1984 – Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. dies of a heart attack
in Atlanta, Georgia.  Better known as “Daddy King,” he
was the father of famed civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Jr. and was himself, an early civil rights
leader.  The elder King was pastor of Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta, the center for much of his son’s
civil rights activity.

1985 – The city of Yonkers, New York is found guilty of
segregating in schools & housing.

1989 – The Civil Rights Memorial is dedicated in Montgomery,
Alabama.

1995 – The European Union’s 15 member states decide to pull
their envoys out of Lagos to show their anger at
Nigeria’s execution of human rights leaders.

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

November 10 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 10         *

1891 – Granville T. Woods obtains a patent for the electric
railway.

1898 – A race riot occurs in Wilmington, North Carolina
resulting in the death of eight African Americans.

1898 – The National Benefit Life Insurance Company is
organized in Washington, DC, by Samuel W. Rutherford.
National Benefit will be the largest African American
insurance company for several years.

1919 – Moise Tshombe is born.  He will lead a secessionist
movement in Katanga, the Congo’s (Zaire) richest
province in 1960, following independence from Belgium.
Tshombe will end his secession and accept a
UN-brokered National Conciliation Plan in January 1963.
Eighteen months of further negotiations will lead to
him being appointed Prime Minister, but he will go
into exile in 1965. He will join the ancestors in 1969.

1930 – Clarence Pendleton is born in Louisville, Kentucky.  He
will become the first African American chairman of the
United States Civil Rights Commission in 1981(through
1988), where he will oppose affirmative action and
busing to achieve school desegregation.

1951 – Hosea Richardson becomes the first African American
jockey to ride in Florida.

1956 – David Adkin is born in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  He will
become a comedian and actor, better known as “Sinbad.”
He will get his big break on television’s “Star Search”
in 1984.  He will appear in the television series
“Different World,” and become the emcee of “Showtime at
the Apollo.”  His movie credits will include “Necessary
Roughness,” “The Meteor Man,” “Coneheads,” “Sinbad-Afros
and Bellbottoms,” “The Frog Prince,” “The Cherokee Kid,”
“Jingle All The Way,” “First Kid,” ” and “Good Burger.”
He will also produce and emcee the successful “Soul
Music Festivals” held annually in Caribbean countries.

1957 – Charlie Sifford becomes the first African American to
win a major professional golf tournament, by winning the
Long Beach Open.

1960 – Andrew Hatcher is named associate press secretary to
President John F. Kennedy.  He is the highest-ranking
African American, appointed to date, in the executive
branch.

1968 – Ida Cox, blues singer of such songs as “Wild Women Don’t
Have the Blues,” joins the ancestors in Knoxville,
Tennessee.

1989 – The Rhythm and Blues Foundation presents its first
lifetime achievement awards in Washington DC.  Among the
honorees are bluesmen Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, Percy
Sledge (“When a Man Loves a Woman”), and Mary Wells (“My
Guy”).

2006 – Gerald Levert, the fiery singer of passionate Rhythm &
Blues love songs and the son of O’Jays singer Eddie
Levert, joins the ancestors at the age of 40, at his
home in Cleveland, Ohio.

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

November 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 9           *

1731 – Benjamin Banneker is born free in Ellicott Mills (now
Ellicott City), Maryland.  He will become the builder
of the first clock made in America.  He also will
become the key figure in the design of Washington, DC
after Pierre L’Enfant quit and took his plans for DC
with him.  Banneker was able to save the project by
reproducing the plans from memory, in two days, a
complete layout of the streets, parks, and major
buildings.  From 1792 to 1802, Banneker will publish
an annual Farmer’s Almanac, for which he did all the
calculations himself.  He will join the ancestors in
1806.

1868 – The Howard University Medical School opens with eight
students.

1868 – Arkansas Governor Powell Clayton, declares martial law
in ten counties and mobilizes the state militia in a
Ku Klux Klan crisis.

1923 – Dorothy Dandridge is born in Cleveland, Ohio.  She will
try vaudeville and a stint at the Cotton Club before
finding her most noteworthy success as an actress.
She will appear in such works as “Porgy and Bess” and
minor movie roles before her big break in a series of
low-budget movies including “Tarzan’s Perils”.  While
simultaneously maintaining a singing career, Dandridge
will have her greatest success in “Carmen Jones”
opposite Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Diahann
Carroll, and Brock Peters, which will earn her an
Academy Award nomination, a first for an African
American actress. She will join the ancestors on
September 8, 1965.

1925 – Oscar Micheaux’s movie “Body and Soul” is released. It
marks the film debut of Paul Robeson.

1931 – Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb is born.  He will become a
professional football star with the old Baltimore
Colts.  He will enter the NFL without ever playing
college football. He will be considered one of the
greatest defensive tackles in NFL history.  He will
join the ancestors in May, 1963.

1935 – Robert “Bob” Gibson is born in Omaha, Nebraska.  He will
become a professional baseball player and pitcher for
the St. Louis Cardinals.  He will be the National
League MVP in 1968.  During his career, he will amass
3,000 career strike-outs, win the Cy Young Award in
1968 and 1970, win the Baseball Writers Award in 1968,
pitch in the 1964, 1967, and 1968 World Series, and win
Nine Gold Glove Awards.  He will enter the National
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

1961 – The Professional Golfers Association eliminates their
Caucasians only rule.

1965 – Willie Mays is named the National League’s Most Valuable
Player.

1970 – William L. Dawson, Democratic congressman and party
leader, in Chicago, Illinois, joins the ancestors at
the age of 84.

1976 – The United Nations General Assembly endorses 10
resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa,
including one that says the white-only government is
“illegitimate.”

1982 – Sugar Ray Leonard retires from professional boxing for
the first time, because of a recurring eye problem
sustained in a welterweight title match.

1990 – Freedom Bank in New York City, one of the largest
African American-owned banks in the nation, is
declared insolvent.  Its losses in 1988-1989 totaled
$4.7 million, and it was expected to lose $2 million
in 1990.  A last-minute effort to revive the bank by
raising funds from the local Harlem community will
fail to meet the government-imposed deadline.

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

November 8 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 8             *

1878 – Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor is born in Indianapolis,
Indiana.  He will become the world’s fastest bicycle
racer for 12 years,

1920 – Esther Rolle is born in Pompano Beach, Florida.  She
will become an actress, primarily on television.  She
will win an Emmy Award for her role in “Summer of My
German Soldier”. She will be best-known, however, for
her role as Florida, in the television sit-com, “Good
Times.”  Even though Ms. Rolle will play characters who
worked as maids, off-stage, she will be a tireless
crusader against black stereotypes in Hollywood.  She
will join the ancestors in 1998 at the age of 78.  Note:
At the time of her death, her manager will give her date
of birth as November 8, 1920, though some references
list the year as 1922.

1932 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Robert R. Moton,
president of Tuskegee Institute, for his “thoughtful
leadership in conservative opinion and action.”

1938 – Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia, is elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  She is the first
African American woman elected to a state legislature.

1947 – Minnie Ripperton is born in Chicago, Illinois.  She will
study opera under Marion Jeffrey.  She will spend months
and months learning how to breathe and listening to and
holding vowels.  Eventually, she will begin singing
operas and operettas with a show tune every so often.
Despite her natural talent (a pure five to six octave
soprano) for opera, Minnie will be more attracted to
“Rock N Roll” and the promise of a touring career. She
will eventually discontinue her classical training to
follow her dream of becoming a famous songstress.  It
will, however, be her classical training which will
bring her recording success. She will be best known for
her recording of “Loving You.” She will join the
ancestors in July, 1979 at the age of 31 after
succumbing to breast cancer.

1953 – Alfre Woodard is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  She will
become an actress after her education at Boston
University, School of Fine Arts.  She will receive a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television
Miniseries/Movie, an Emmy Award for Best Actress, as
well as ACE and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best
Actress for her performance in the 1997 HBO original
movie, “Miss Evers’ Boys.”  Woodard’s many feature
film credits include “Star Trek: First Contact,”
“Heart and Souls,” “Primal Fear” opposite Richard Gere,
the ensemble film “How to Make An American Quilt,” Spike
Lee’s family drama, Crooklyn,” Dr. Maya Angelou’s “Down
in the Delta” starring Wesley Snipes, and “Passionfish,”
for which she will receive a 1998 Golden Globe
Nomination for Best Actress. In 1984, she will receive
an Academy Award nomination for her performance in
Martin Ritt’s “Cross Creek.”

1959 – Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scores 64 points
and sets a National Basketball Association scoring record.

1960 – Otis M. Smith is elected auditor general of Michigan and
becomes the first African American chosen in a statewide
election since Reconstruction.

1966 – Edward W. Brooke (Republican, Massachusetts), is elected
to the U.S. Senate and becomes the first African American
senator since Reconstruction and the first African
American senator elected by popular vote.

1966 – Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, the American
League’s batting and home-run champion, is named the
league’s Most Valuable Player.

1966 – John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines,
is awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal “for his productive
imagination…in the perilous field of publishing” and
“for his contributions to the enhancement of the Negro’s
self-image through his publications.”

1983 – W. Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harvey Gantt
of Charlotte, North Carolina, and James A. Sharp, Jr. of
Flint, Michigan, are the first African Americans elected
mayor of their respective cities.

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

November 7 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 7          *

1775 – Lord Dunmore, the British governor of the colony of
Virginia, issues a proclamation granting freedom to
any slave who is willing to join the British army in
its fight against the American revolutionaries. The
offer applies only to slaves owned by “rebels”.  About
800 slaves will eventually accept the offer.

1876 – Edward Bouchet, is the first African American to
receive a Ph.D. from a college in the United States
(Yale University).

1876 – Edward Bannister, the first African American artist to
win wide critical acclaim, is awarded a prize at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition for his work, “Under
the Oak”.

1915 – Meharry Medical College is incorporated as a separate
entity in Nashville, Tennessee.

1916 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to Col. Charles
Young, U.S. Army, for organizing the Liberian
constabulary and establishing order on the frontiers of
Liberia.

1934 – Arthur L. Mitchell, becomes the first African American
Democratic congressman (Illinois), after defeating
Republican Oscar Depriest in a Chicago election.

1938 – Delecta Clark is born in Blythesville, Arkansas.  He will
become a rhythm and blues singer better known as “Dee”
Clark.  He will move to Chicago as a child and be in the
Hambone Kids with Sammy McGrier and Ronny Strong. They
will recorded for Okeh Records in 1952 – the next year
Clark will sing with the Goldentones. This group will
later become the Kool Gents.  Clark will go solo in 1957
and in 1958 enjoyed his first smash with “Nobody for You,”
an Abner release that will reach number three Rhythm &
Blues and just miss the Top 20 on the pop charts. He will
continue a string of R&B winners with “Just Keep It Up,”
“Hey Little Girl,” and “How About That” for Abner in 1959
and 1960. Clark will team with guitarist Phil Upchurch to
write “Raindrops” in 1961, which will become his
signature song.  Raindrops will peak at number three
Rhythm & Blues and number two pop, and will be his last
major hit. He will join the ancestors in 1990.

1950 – Alexa Canady is born in Lansing, Michigan.  She will
become, at age 30, the first African American female
neurosurgeon in the United States.  She will be first in
her class at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
She will become one of the finest neurosurgeons in the
country, and be highly esteemed for her outstanding
ability as a pediatric surgeon and researcher.  Canady
will become the director of neurosurgery at Children’s
Hospital in Detroit and a clinical professor at Wayne
State University.

1955 – In reviewing a Baltimore, Maryland case, the U.S. Supreme
Court bans segregation in public recreational areas.

1963 – Elston Howard, of the New York Yankees, becomes the first
African American to win the American League MVP award.

1967 – Carl Stokes of Cleveland, Ohio, and Richard Hatcher of
Gary, Indiana, become the first African American mayors of
these major United States cities.

1967 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Edward W. Brooke
for his public service as the first African American U.S.
senator since Reconstruction.

1967 – A report of the Senate Permanent Investigating Committee
says there were seventy-five major riots in 1967, compared
with twenty-one major riots in 1966.  The committee
reports that eight-three persons were killed in 1967
riots, compared with eleven in 1966 and thirty-six in
1965.

1970 – A racially motivated civil disturbance occurs in Daytona
Beach, Florida.

1972 – Reverend Andrew Young of Atlanta, Georgia and Barbara
Jordan of Houston, Texas become the first southern
African Americans elected to Congress since Reconstruction.
Also elected for the first time was Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
(California). Republican Senator Edward W. Brooke of
Massachusetts was overwhelmingly endorsed for a second
term.

1978 – Five African Americans are elected to Congress: William Gray
III (Pennsylvania), Bennett Stewart (Illinois), Melvin
Evans (Virgin Islands), Julian Dixon (California) and
George “Mickey” Leland (Texas).

1989 – David Dinkins is the first African American elected mayor of
New York City.

1989 – L. Douglas Wilder is elected as the first African American
governor (D-Virginia) in the United States since
Reconstruction.

1990 – The National Football League withdraws its plans to hold the
1993 Super Bowl in Phoenix due to Arizona’s refusal to
honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

1991 – Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar Magic Johnson announces his
retirement from professional basketball after learning he
has tested positive for the AIDS virus.

1999 – Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in
1953, to win four straight tournaments.

1999 – Kenya’s Joseph Chebet wins the New York City Marathon.

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

November 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 6               *

1746 – Absalom Jones, a major leader of the African American Pioneer
period, is born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware.  Jones will
become a friend of Richard Allen and together they will found
the Free African Society, which would serve as a protective
society and social organization for free African Americans.
.
1844 – Spain grants the Dominican Republic its independence.

1868 – Jonathan Gibbs, minister and educator, is appointed Secretary
of State by the governor of Florida.

1884 – Author and abolitionist William Wells Brown joins the ancestors
in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  An escaped slave, Brown’s
autobiography sold 10,000 copies, a record in his day.  Brown
also wrote the first known travelogue by an African American
and authored the 1853 work “Clotel”; “Or The President’s
Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States”, the
first fictional work published by an African American.

1900 – James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson compose “Lift
Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”  It will become known as the “Negro
National Anthem.”

1920 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is awarded to W.E.B. Du Bois for
“the founding and calling of the Pan African Congress.”

1920 – James Weldon Johnson becomes the first African American
executive secretary of the NAACP.

1928 – Oscar DePriest is elected to the Seventy-First Congress from
Illinois’ First Congressional District (Chicago).  Before
becoming a U.S. Representative, DePriest was the first African
American to serve on the Chicago City Council, having been
elected alderman of the Second Ward in 1915.  He is the first
African American to win a seat in the United States House of
Representatives in the twentieth century.

1928 – The Atlanta “Daily World” is founded by W.A. Scott Jr.  The
newspaper will become a daily in 1933.

1928 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Charles W. Chestnutt,
the first African American to receive widespread critical
recognition as a novelist.  He was cited for his “pioneer work
as a literary artist depicting the life and struggle of
Americans of Negro descent.”

1937 – Eugene Pitt is born in Brooklyn, New York.  He will become a
rhythm and blues singer with The Genies – “Who’s that Knockin'”
and lead singer for The Jive Five – “Never Never,” “What Time is
It?,” “I’m a Happy Man” and “My True Story”.

1962 – Edward W. Brooke is elected Attorney General of Massachusetts,
Gerald Lamb is elected Treasurer of Connecticut, and 5 African
Americans are elected to the House of Representatives.  Augustus
“Gus” F. Hawkins, becomes the first African American congressman
from the West (Los Angeles, California).

1962 – The U.N. General Assembly adopts a resolution condemning South
Africa for its apartheid policies and recommends member states
apply economic sanctions.

1973 – Coleman Young is elected as the first African American mayor
of Detroit, Michigan.

1973 – The NAACP’s Spingarn Medal is presented to Wilson C. Riles,
the superintendent of public instruction in California, “in
recognition of the stature he has attained as a national leader
in the field of education.”

1973 – The Symbionese Liberation Army ambushes Marcus A. Foster,
superintendent of public schools in Oakland, California, after
a Board of Education meeting.  Two members of the group, were
convicted of the slaying, but one of the men has his conviction
overturned, based on a legal technicality.

1973 – Thomas Bradley is elected as the first African American mayor
of Los Angeles, California.  His political success was due to
his masterful use of multi-racial coalition.  African Americans
at this time were not a large segment of the Los Angeles
population.

1976 – FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks is elected NAACP executive
director by the organization’s board of directors, succeeding
Roy Wilkins.  He will serve the organization for 16 years,
retiring in 1992.  Of his tenure he says, “We have maintained
the integrity of this organization and kept our name out front
and on the minds of those who would turn back the clock.”

1983 – Sgt. Farley Simon, a native of Grenada, becomes the first Marine
to win the Marine Corps Marathon.

1990 – Harvey Gantt, former mayor of Charlotte, NC, loses his Senate
race to incumbent Jesse Helms and the opportunity to become the
first African American senator from the South since
Reconstruction.  Barbara-Rose Collins and Maxine Waters are
elected to Congress from their home districts in Michigan and
California, respectively, while Eleanor Holmes Norton is elected
as a non-voting delegate from the District of Columbia.

1990 – Arsenio Hall gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

1992 – Vernon Jordan, along with Warren Christopher, is asked to lead
the White House transition team, by President-elect William
Jefferson Clinton.

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

November 5 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 5            *

1828 – Theodore Sedgwick Wright becomes the first African
American person to get a Theology Degree in the United
States, when he graduates from Princeton Theological
Seminary.

1867 – First Reconstruction constitutional convention opens in
Montgomery, Alabama.  It has eighteen African Americans
and ninety whites in attendance.

1901 – Etta Moten (later Barnett) is born in San Antonio, Texas.
She will become an actress starring in “Porgy and Bess”
and have a successful career on Broadway.  She will
appear in the movie “Flying Down to Rio”(1933), singing
and dancing the Carioca, and as a singer in “The Gold
Diggers of 1933″(1933). In her later years, she will be
active as an Advisory Board Member of The Black Academy
of Arts and Letters.

1917 – The Supreme Court (Buchanan vs Warley) rules that a
Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance mandating blacks and
whites live in separate areas is unconstitutional.

1926 – Negro History Week is initiated by Carter G. Woodson.

1931 – Ike Wister Turner is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  He
will become a singer, songwriter/pianist, bandleader,
record producer and talent scout. In a career that will
last for more than a half century, his repertoire will
include blues, soul, rock, and funk. He will be most
popularly known for his 1960s work with his then wife,
Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner revue. Throughout his
career, he will win two Grammy Awards and be nominated for
three others. Alongside his former wife, Turner will be
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and
in 2001 be inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He
will join the ancestors on December 12, 2007.

1935 – The Maryland Court of Appeals orders the University of
Maryland to admit African American student, Donald
Murray.

1956 – Art Tatum, joins the ancestors at age 46 in Los Angeles,
California.  Despite impaired vision, he received formal
training in music and developed a unique improvisational
style. He was an accomplished jazz pianist who impressed
even classicist Vladimir Horowitz.  Perhaps the most
gifted technician of all jazzmen, Tatum had other assets
as well, among them an harmonic sense so acute as to make
him an almost infallible improviser. This aspect of his
style, as well as his great rhythmic freedom, influenced
the young players who became the founders of a new style
called bebop.

1956 – The Nat King Cole Show premiers. The 15-minute show
starring the popular singer will run until June 1957 and
reappear in July in a half-hour format. The first network
variety series hosted by an African American star, it was
cancelled due to lack of support by advertisers.

1968 – Eight African American males and the first African American
female, Shirley Chisholm, are elected to the U.S. Congress.
Including previously elected Massachusetts senator Edward
Brooke, it is the largest number of African American
representatives to serve in Congress since the 44th
Congress of 1875-1877.

1970 – The National Guard is mobilized in Henderson, North
Carolina, as a result of racially motivated civil
disturbances.

1974 – George Brown of Colorado and Mervyn Dymally of California
are the first African American lieutenant governors elected
in the 20th century, while Walter Washington becomes the
first African American to be elected mayor of the District
of Columbia, and Harold Ford is elected to Congress from
Tennessee, the first African American from the state.

1974 – The Spingarn Medal is awarded to Damon J. Keith “in tribute
to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles as
revealed in a series of memorable decisions he handed down
as a United States District Court judge.”

1989 – The first memorial to the civil rights movement in the
United States is dedicated at a ceremony in Montgomery,
Alabama.  The memorial was commissioned by the Southern
Poverty Law Center, a legal and educational organization
located in Montgomery.

1994 – George Foreman, 45, becomes boxing’s oldest heavyweight
champion by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round
of their WBA fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

November 4 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – November 4            *

1872 – Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback is elected as a U.S.
congressman from Louisiana.

1872 – Three African Americans are elected to major offices in
Louisiana elections: C.C Antoine, lieutenant governor;
P.G. Deslonde, secretary of state; W.B. Brown,
superintendent of public education.

1879 – T. Elkins receives a patent on the refrigeration
apparatus.

1953 – Hulan Jack becomes first African American Manhattan
Borough President in New York City.

1958 – World renowned opera singer, Shirley Verrett, makes her
debut in New York City.

1959 – Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs shortstop, wins the National
League MVP.

1969 – Howard N. Lee and Charles Evers are elected the first
African American mayors of Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
and Fayette, Mississippi respectively.

1971 – Elgin Baylor announces his retirement from the Los
Angeles Lakers.  After 14 years in the NBA, Baylor had
scored 23,149 points, the third highest in the league,
and was the fifth-highest career rebounder.

1978 – William Howard Jr. is elected president of the National
Council of Churches, at the age of 32.

1982 – Rayford Logan joins the ancestors in Washington, DC.  He
was an educator, historian, and author of numerous books
on African Americans, including the “Dictionary of
American Negro Biography.” Among his honors was a 1980
NAACP Spingarn Medal.

1988 – Bill and Camille Cosby make a $20 million gift to Spelman
College.  In his remarks to newly inaugurated President
Johnetta B. Cole, Cosby states, “I want Johnetta Cole to
understand the love that Camille and I have for this
college, the love we have for women who, in spite of odds
against them, come to this school to challenge themselves,
to challenge the school, then to challenge what we call
‘the outside world.'”

1988 – The Martin L. King, Jr. Federal Building is dedicated in
Atlanta, Georgia. It is the first federal building in the
nation to bear the name of the slain civil rights leader.

1999 – Daisy Bates, who is best known for counseling the “Little
Rock Nine,” joins the ancestors at the age of 84.  The
“Little Rock Nine” were the students who broke the color
barrier at all-white Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas in 1957,   Her leadership helped to inch America
toward desegregated schools. She had dedicated her entire
life to service in the civil rights struggle.

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