*                  Today in Black History - March 6                  *

1479 - The Treaty of Alcacovas is signed.  This will establish the
        territorial domains of Portugal and Castile (Spain) along a
        longitudinal line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

1775 - Prince Hall and fourteen other African Americans are initiated
        into British Military Lodge No. 441 of the Masons at Fort
        Independence, Massachusetts.  Hall is a leather-dresser and
        caterer.  On July 3, 1775, African Lodge No. 1 was organized
        in Boston by a group of Black Masons.

1857 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules against citizenship for African
        Americans in the Dred Scott decision. The Court rules that Dred
        Scott, a slave, cannot sue for his freedom in a free state
        because he is property and, as such, "has no rights a white man
        has to respect."  This ruling also opens up the northern territory
        to slavery.

1862 - President Lincoln sends message to Congress recommending gradual
        and compensated emancipation of the slaves.

1901 - Virginia State University in Ettrick, Virginia (Outside of Petersburg),
        is founded.

1909 - Obafemi Awolowo is born in Ikenne, Nigeria.  He will become the first
        Premier of Western Nigeria.  He was also a strong antagonist of the north's
        feudal system and its spread to other parts of Nigeria; an advocate of the
        creation of more states in Nigeria.  Chief Awolowo and 28 other members of
        his party would be later put on trial for treasonable felony.  He was
        sentenced to ten years imprisonment, and, on appeal to the Federal Court
        the sentence was upheld.  After spending just over three years in Calabar
        prison, he was released with a state pardon. Nine days later, amid jubilation
        he was unanimously elected leader of the then 10,500,000 Yorubas and leader
        of the Western delegation to the All Nigerian Conference on the future
        association of Nigeria.  Chief Awolowo was an author whose publications
        included "Path to Nigerian Freedom, Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution".

1923 - Charles Ethan Porter dies in Rockville, Connecticut. A student of the
        National Academy of Design in New York City, the first African
        American artist in the United States to graduate from a four-year
        school of art, and member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts,
        Porter did not receive the recognition that contemporaries Edward
        Bannister and Henry Ossawa Tanner won. He will be best known for the
        paintings "Still Life (Crock With Onions)," "Strawberries," and
        "Daisies," but there will not be a major retrospective of his work
        until 1987.

1941 - Wilver Dornel "Willie" Stargell is born in Earlsboro, Oklahoma.
        He will become an all-star baseball player for the Pittsburgh
        Pirates.   He will hit 475 career home runs - twice leading the
        National League with 48 in 1971 and with 44 in 1973.  He will drive
        in 1540 runs, score 1195 and have 2232 hits with a lifetime batting
        average of .282.  He will be inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame
        in 1988.

1944 - Mary Wilson is born.  In 1959, she will begin singing with a group
        called the "Primettes", a sister group to a male group, The Primes."
        The Primes will become "The Temptations" and the Primettes will
        become "The Supremes."  The Supremes will become the only American
        act to have five consecutive number one hits!  From their beginning
        to the end of the group, the Supremes will have 33 songs reach the
        top 40.   After the group disbands in 1977, Mary Wilson will become
        a successful businesswoman, author, lecturer, actress, and singer of
        not just pop music, but Jazz, Rock, R&B, and Dance.   She will author
        the best-seller "Dreamgirl-My Life as a Supreme."  In 1988, Mary
        Wilson will become the first female rock star to accept her lifetime
        achievement award from the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame.

1957 - Ghana becomes the first African nation to achieve freedom from
        colonial rule when the Ashanti, Northern Protectorates, the
        Gold Coast and British Togoland declare their independence.
        The celebration ceremonies are attended by a number of American
        dignitaries, including African American leaders Ralph Bunche,
        A. Philip Randolph, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Martin Luther
        King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King.

1981 - Dr. Bernard Harleston, former dean of arts and sciences at Tufts
        University, is appointed president of New York's City College.

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