* Today in Black History - May 30 *
1822 - Denmark Vesey's conspiracy to free the slaves of Charleston, South
Carolina, and surrounding areas is thwarted when a house slave
betrays the plot to whites. Vesey's bold plan had attracted over
9,000 slaves and freemen of the area including Peter Poyas, a
ship's carpenter, Gullah Jack, Blind Phillip, Ned Bennett and Mingo
Harth. Later it will be considered one of the most complex and
elaborate slave liberation plans ever undertaken.
1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise and opens
the Northern territory to slavery.
1902 - Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry is born in Key West, Florida.
He will become the first real African American film star known as
"Stepin Fetchit." Many sources will cite 1892, 1896, or 1898 as
his birth date, but he will maintain his birth date as 1902. He
will star in many films, among which are "Amazing Grace," "The Sun
Shines Bright," "Miracle in Harlem," and "Judge Priest." His
humbling, ingratiating style of acting will appeal to the movie-
going public of his day, but unfortunately becomes a stereotype for
African American actors in the early years of cinema.
1903 - Countee Cullen is born in Louisville, Kentucky. Many sources will
state that his birthplace is New York City, but Cullen will be
reared in New York City by his paternal grandmother until 1918, when
he is adopted by the Reverend Frederick Asbury Cullen, minister of
Salem M.E. Church, one of the largest congregations in Harlem. This
will be a turning point in his life, for he will be introduced into
the very center of black activism and achievement. He will win a
citywide poetry contest as a schoolboy and see his winning stanzas
widely reprinted. He will attend New York University (B.A., 1925),
win the Witter Bynner Poetry Prize, and be elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Major American literary magazines will accept his poems regularly,
and his first collection of poems, "Color" (1925), will be published
to critical acclaim before he finishes college. His several volumes
of poetry will include "Copper Sun" (1927); "The Black Christ" (1929);
and "On These I Stand" (published posthumously, 1947), his selection
of poems by which he wished to be remembered. Cullen will also write
a novel dealing with life in Harlem, "One Way to Heaven" (1931), and a
children's book, "The Lost Zoo" (1940).
1943 - Gale Sayers is born in Wichita, Kansas. He will become an outstanding
running back and a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 1965.
He will set the individual game record for touchdowns scored (six).
He will be elected to the Football Hall of Fame in 1977, the youngest
player ever to receive the honor.
1949 - Lydell Mitchell is born. He will become a football player and All-
American running back at Pennsylvania State University in 1971. He
will also win the Heisman Trophy in 1971. He will go on to play for
the Baltimore Colts from 1972 to 1977. While at Baltimore, he will set
the Colts' record for rushing attempts (1391) and rushing yards (5487).
1956 - African Americans begin a bus boycott in Tallahassee, Florida with the
goal of desegregating bus seating.
1965 - Vivian Malone becomes the first African American to graduate from the
University of Alabama, a college that had been one of the last bastions
of racial segregation in the South.
1971 - Willie Mays scores his 1,950th run.
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