*                       Today in Black History - October 19       *

 

1859 -  Byrd Prillerman is born a slave in Shady Grove, 

            Franklin County, Virginia. He will become an 

            educator, reformer, religious worker, political 

            figure, and lawyer. He will be best known as the co-

            founder of the West Virginia Colored Institute in 

            1891.  The school will be changed to the West 

            Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1915. The school, 

            under Prillerman's leadership, will become the first 

            state school for African Americans to reach the rank 

            of an accredited college whose work is accepted by 

            the universities of the North.  The school will 

            eventually become West Virginia State College, then 

            West Virginia State University.

 

1870 - The first African Americans are elected to the House 

            of Representatives.  African American Republicans 

            won three of the four congressional seats in South 

            Carolina: Joseph H. Rainey, Robert C. DeLarge and 

            Robert B. Elliott.  Rainey was elected to an un-

            expired term in the Forty-first Congress and was the

            first African American seated in the House.

 

1920 - LaWanda Page is born in Cleveland, Ohio.  She will 

            become a television and movie actress and will star 

            in "Mausoleum," "Women Tell the Dirtiest Jokes," 

            "Shakes the Clown," and "Don't Be a Menace." She 

            will be best known for her role as Aunt Esther in 

            the long-running television series, "Sanford and 

            Sons." 

 

1924 - "From Dixie to Broadway" premieres at the Broadhurst 

            Theatre in New York City. The music is written by 

            Will Vodery, an African American, who arranged music 

            for the Ziegfeld Follies for 23 years. 

 

1936 - Johnnetta Betsch (later Cole) is born in Jacksonville, 

            Florida. She will have a distinguished career as an 

            educator and administrator and will become the first 

            African American woman to head Spelman College. 

 

1944 - Peter Tosh is born in Westmoreland, Jamaica.  He will 

            become a founding father of reggae music and be part 

            of the song writing magic of the Wailers, Bob Marley's 

            group. He will join the ancestors in 1987.

 

1944 - The Navy announces that African American women would be

            allowed to become WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer 

            Emergency Service).

 

1946 - The first exhibition of the work of Josef Nassy, an 

            American citizen of Dutch-African descent, is held in 

            Brussels.  The exhibit consists of 90 paintings and 

            drawings Nassy created while in a Nazi-controlled 

            internment camp during World War II.  

 

1960 - Jennifer Holiday is born.  She will become a singer 

            and actress and will have her first big break as a 

            star in the Broadway production of "Dream Girls" in 

            1981.

 

1960 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in an Atlanta, 

            Georgia sit-in demonstration. 

 

1962 - Evander Holyfield is born in Atmore, Alabama.  He will 

            become a professional boxer.  Over the course of his 

            career, he will become IBF Heavyweight Champion, WBA 

            Heavyweight Champion, three time World Champion, and 

            Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion.

 

1981 - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and Archives opens 

            in Atlanta, Georgia.  Founded by Coretta Scott King, 

            the facility, is the largest repository in the world 

            of primary resource material on Dr. Martin Luther

            King, Jr., nine major civil rights organizations, and

            the American civil rights movement. 

 

1983 - Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop joins the 

            ancestors after being assassinated after refusing to 

            share leadership of the New Jewel Movement with his 

            deputy, Bernard Coard.  This event will indirectly 

            lead to the invasion of Grenada by the United States 

            and six Caribbean nations. 

 

1983 - The U.S. Senate approves the establishment of the 

            Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday on the third 

            Monday in January.

 

1988 - South African anti-apartheid leader, Walter Sisulu wins

            a $100,000 Human Rights prize.


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