*                   Today in Black History - May 18                     *

1652 - Rhode Island enacts the first colonial law limiting slavery.  This law,
        passed by the General Court of Election, regulates Black servitude and
        places Blacks on the same level as white bondservants.  This means they
        were free after completing their term of service of ten years.

1848 - William Leidesdorff dies in San Francisco, California.  The first man
        to open a commercial steamship service on San Francisco Bay, Leidesdorff
        developed a successful business empire, including a hotel, warehouse,
        and other real-estate developments.  Active politically, he served on San
        Francisco's first town council and became city treasurer.  A street
        in the city will be named in his honor.  He was born in the Danish
        West Indies to a Danish father and a Black native mother.

1880 - George Lewis wins the sixth running of the Kentucky Derby astride
        Fonso.  He is one of ten African Americans to win the Kentucky Derby in
        the years between 1877 and 1902.

1896 - In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's
        "separate but equal" segregation laws.  The ruling is a major setback
        for integration and marks the beginning of Jim Crow laws, changing a
        largely "de facto" system of segregation into a legally defined system in
        the South.  It will be overturned 58 years later in the case of "Brown v.
        Board of Education."

1911 - "Big" Joe Turner is born in Kansas City, Missouri.  He will become one
        of the best blues shouters and a critical link between Rhythm and
        Blues and Rock & Roll.  In 1951 Turner will sign a recording contract
        with Atlantic Records and cut a string of Rhythm & Blues classics
        that will lead the way straight into Rock & Roll.  His most famous
        hit, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" will be released in 1954, and make it
        to number 1 and will be covered shortly thereafter by Bill Haley and
        the Comets.  But before "Shake" , will come the million-selling "Chains
        of Love," which will reach number 2 on the Rhythm & Blues charts and
        number 30 on the pop side, plus "Chill Is On," "Sweet Sixteen,"
        "Don't You Cry," "TV Mama," and the number 1 smash, "Honey Hush."
        Turner's chart success will continue after "Shake" with "Well All
        Right," "Flip Flop and Fly," "Hide and Seek," "The Chicken and the
        Hawk," "Morning, Noon, and Night," "Corrina Corrina," and "Lipstick
        Powder and Paint."   Turner will nearly dominate the Rhythm & Blues
        charts from 1951 to 1956.

1946 - Reginald Martinez Jackson is born in Wyncote, Pennsylvania.  He will
        be better known as Reggie Jackson, star baseball player for the
        Oakland A's and the New York Yankees.  He will set or tie seven World
        Series records and will be known as "Mr. October."

1955 - Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and founder of the National Council of
        Negro Women and Bethune-Cookman College, dies in Daytona Beach, Florida
        at the age of 79.

1960 - Yannick Noah is born in Sedan, France.  He will become a professional
        tennis player.  Arthur Ashe will spot his talents while on a three-
        week, goodwill tour of Africa in 1971, and arrange for Noah to be
        sent back to France to further develop his game.  Noah will go on to
        win the French Open in 1983, a Grand Slam event.  During his career,
        he will win 23 singles titles and be runner up at 13 others.

1971 - President Nixon rejects the sixty demands of the Congressional Black
        Caucus, saying his administration would continue to support "jobs,
        income and tangible benefits, the pledges that this society has made
        to the disadvantaged in the past decade." The caucus expressed deep
        disappointment with the reply and said the Nixon administration
        "lacked a sense of understanding, urgency and commitment in dealing
        with the critical problems facing Black Americans."

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