* Today in Black History - March 4 *
1837 - The second major African American newspaper, the "Weekly Advocate"
changes its name to the "Colored American."
1869 - The forty-second Congress convenes (1871-73) with five African
American congressmen: Joseph H. Rainey, Robert Carlos Delarge,
and Robert Brown Elliott from South Carolina; Benjamin S. Turner,
of Alabama; Josiah T. Walls of Florida. Walls is elected in an
at-large election and is the first African American congressman
to represent an entire state.
1889 - The fifty-first Congress convenes. Three Black congressmen:
Henry P. Cheatham of North Carolina; Thomas E. Miller of South
Carolina; and John Mercer Langston of Virginia.
1897 - Willie Covan is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will become one of
the earliest successful tap dancers, appearing in the original
production of "Shuffle Along" as well as with the Four Covans.
1901 - The congressional term of George H. White, last of the post
Reconstruction congressmen, ends.
1922 - Theater legend Bert Williams joins the ancestors at the age of 46
in New York City. He was considered the foremost African-American
vaudeville performer, teaming first with George Walker in 1895,
most notably in "In Dahomey," and later as a soloist with the
Ziegfeld Follies.
1932 - Miriam Zenzi Makeba, "Empress of African Song," is born in Prospect
Township, South Africa. Although exiled from her homeland, Makeba
will become an internationally known singer and critic of apartheid.
Throughout her life and singing career, She will use her voice to
to draw the attention of the world to the music of South Africa and
to its oppressive system of racial separation. After appearing in
the semi-documentary antiapartheid film, "Come Back, Africa," she
will attract international attention. This will include meeting
Harry Belafonte, who will become her sponsor and promoter in the
United States. Because her music always contained a political
component - the denunciation of apartheid, her South African
passport will be revoked in 1960. Her career in the United States
will be crippled by her marriage to Stokely Carmichael (later
Kwame Ture'), who was active in the Black Panther Party. Her
career will continue to flourish in Europe. She will later become
a United Nations delegate from Guinea and will continue to record
and perform. She will return to her homeland, South Africa, in
1990 and in 1991, will make her first performance there in over
thirty years.
1934 - Barbara McNair is born in Racine, Wisconsin. She will become a
singer and actress, and will host her own television program (The
Barbara McNair Show). The glamorous actress will moonlight as a
pop singer between TV and film roles during the 1960s. She will be
a classy addition to Berry Gordy's talent roster when his firm
attempts to diversify its appeal. She will cut a pair of albums
for Motown in 1966 and 1969.
1944 - Bobby Womack is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He will become a Rhythm
and Blues performer and guitarist.
1954 - The first African American sub-cabinet member is appointed. President
Eisenhower names J. Earnest Wilkins of Chicago as the U.S. Assistant
Secretary of Labor.
1968 - Joe Frazier defeats Buster Mathis for the world heavyweight boxing
championship by knockout in the eleventh round.
1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr. announces plans for the Poor People's
Campaign in Washington, DC. He says that he will lead a massive
civil disobedience campaign in the capital to pressure the
government
to provide jobs and income for all Americans. He tells a press
conference that an army of poor white, poor African Americans
and Hispanics will converge on Washington on April 20 and will
demonstrate until their demands were met.
1981 - A jury in Salt Lake City convicts Joseph Paul Franklin, an avowed
racist, of violating the civil rights of two black men who were shot
to death.
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