*               Today in Black History - March 11               *

1861 - The Confederate Congress, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama,
        adopts a constitution which declares that the passage of any
        "law denying or impairing the right of property in Negro
        slaves is prohibited."

1870 - Moshweshwe, King of Basutoland (Lesotho) dies.  Moshweshwe was
        the founder Lesotho in the 1820's.  Lesotho was landlocked by
        the Cape Colony (now South Africa).  He was able to develop a
        strong tribal organization from his mix of peoples.  He
        appeased the Zulu and Ndebele, led cattle raids on surrounding
        people, defeated the British in 1852 and conducted frequent
        wars with the Orange Free State.  Upon his death, the country
        was annexed to Cape Colony, but was returned to the status of
        a British protectorate in 1884.  When the Union of South Africa
        was formed in 1910, the British honored the desire of Lesotho
        ("Basutoland") to remain independent.  A protectorate continued
        until 1968, protecting Lesotho from incursions from South Africa.

1874 - Frederick Douglass is named president of the failing Freedmen's
        Bank.

        Charles Sumner, a militant white advocate of equal rights,
        dies at the age of 63.


1884 - William Edward Scott is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He will
        study with Henry O. Tanner at the Art Institute of Chicago
        and become best known for his portrait studies of Haitians,
        rural life, and landscapes.

1919 - Mercer Ellington is born in Washington, DC, the only child of
        Edward "Duke" Ellington and his wife, Edna.  He will become
        "the keeper of the flame," the charge his father will give him
        and one he will readily accept.  In doing so, he will lead the
        Duke Ellington Orchestra for over twenty years after replacing
        his father.

1926 - Ralph David Abernathy is born in Linden, Alabama.  He will
        become a famed minister, civil rights advocate, and confidant
        of Martin L. King, Jr.  After King's assassination, he will
        become the president of the Southern Christian Leadership
        Conference and write an autobiography that will attract
        widespread criticism for his comments on King's alleged
        womanizing.

1935 - "The Conjure Man Dies," a play by Rudolph Fisher, premieres on
        Broadway at the Lafayette Theatre.  Fisher, who had died over
        a year before the play's premiere, had adapted the play from
        his 1932 short story "The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of
        Dark Harlem," considered the first detective fiction by an
        African American.

1948 - Reginald Weir becomes the first African American to play in the
        U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association Championship.  He will win
        his first match, but will be eliminated on March 13.

1950 - Bobby McFerrin is born in New York City.  He will be known for
        his versatile and innovative a cappella jazz vocals and for
        his hit song "Don't Worry Be Happy," which will sell over ten
        million copies and earn him three Grammy awards in 1989 in
        addition to a Grammy for best jazz vocalist.

1956 - A manifesto denouncing the Supreme Court ruling on segregation
        in public schools, is issued by one hundred southern senators
        and representatives.

1959 - "A Raisin in the Sun" becomes the first play written by an
        African American woman, Lorraine Hansberry, to open on
        Broadway.  The play will run for 19 months at the Barrymore
        Theatre, and be named "Best Play" by the New York Drama
        Critics Circle, and bring Lloyd Richards to Broadway as the
        first African American director in modern times.

1968 - Otis Redding posthumously receives a gold record for the single
        "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay."

        ********************************************************
        The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
        "InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American
        Book of Days," and independent research by the
        Information Man.
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