*                   Today in Black History - July 11                   *

1905 - Niagara Movement meetings begin in Buffalo, New York.  Started by
        29 intellectuals including W.E.B. Du Bois, the Niagara Movement will
        renounce Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies set forth in
        his famed "Atlanta Compromise" speech ten years earlier.  The Niagara
        Movement's manifesto is, in the words of Du Bois, "We want full
        manhood suffrage and we want it now....We are men!  We want to be
        treated as men. And we shall win."  The movement will be a forerunner
        of the NAACP.

1915 - Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, a multitalented lawyer, politician, and
        entrepreneur, joins the ancestors in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Active in
        the Underground Railroad, he worked with Frederick Douglass and after
        success as a clothing retailer, became the publisher and editor of
        "Mirror of the Times," the first African American newspaper in
        California.  The first African American elected a municipal judge,
        Gibbs was also active in Republican politics, serving as a delegate
        to national conventions and as U.S. consul to Madagascar.

1925 - Mattiwilda Dobbs is born in Atlanta, Georgia.  She will become a
        coloratura (a soprano specializing in florid ornamental trills & runs)
        in the 1950's, making her operatic debut at La Scala in Milan in 1953
        and her U.S. debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1955. She will
        become the first African American to sing at La Scala and the second
        African American woman to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in
        New York.

1931 - Thurston Theodore Harris is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He will
        become a rhythm and blues vocalist.  He will be best known for his
        recordings of "Little Bitty Pretty One," and "Over and Over." He will
        join the ancestors in Pomona, California after succumbing to a heart
        attack on April 14, 1990.

1948 - Ernie Holmes is born.  He will become a professional football player and
        will be a defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was part of
        the "Steel Curtain" front four and helped Pittsburgh in winning Super
        Bowls IX and X.

1951 - Bonnie Pointer is born in Oakland, California.  She will become a singer
        and member of the vocal group, The Pointer Sisters.  The four sisters
        will begin their career singing gospel music and will eventually debut
        in 1973 as a secular group recording for ABC/Blue Thumb Records. In
        1974, the Pointer Sisters will perform at the Grand Ole Opry, becoming
        the first African American female group to do so. They also will become
        the first African American female group to be number one on Billboard's
        country and western chart. They will change to a trio in 1977 when
        sister Bonnie signs as a solo act with Motown Records. The group will
        be best known for their hits "Slow Hand" (1981), "What a Surprise"
        (1981), "Excited" (1982), "I Need You" (1983), and the Grammy Award-
        winning "Jump" (1983) and "Automatic" (1984).

1953 - Leon Spinks is born in St. Louis, Missouri.  He will win the Olympic
        Light Heavyweight Gold Medal in 1976 and go on to become a professional
        boxer. He will win his first nine professional bouts, becoming the World
        Heavyweight Champion, defeating Muhammad Ali.  After losing to Ali in
        rematch, his career will decline and he will not be able to duplicate
        his earlier successes.

1954 - The first White Citizens Council organizes in Indianola, Mississippi.
        Reminiscent of the end of Reconstruction, the Klan, the White Citizens'
        Council, and other White supremacist groups will try to prevent any
        further progress in the civil rights movement.

1958 - Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine, African-American youths who
        desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, receive the
        Spingarn Medal for their "heroism and pioneering roles in upholding the
        basic ideals of American democracy in the face of continuing
        harassment and constant threats of bodily injury."

1960 - Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta & Niger declare independence from
        their European colonial rulers.

1977 - The Medal of Freedom is awarded posthumously to Rev. Martin Luther King,
        Jr. in a White House ceremony.

1987 - Bo Jackson signs a $7.4 million contract to play football for the Los
        Angeles Raiders for five years.  Jackson becomes a two-sport player as
        he continues to play baseball with the Kansas City Royals.

1992 - Undeclared presidential hopeful Ross Perot, addressing the NAACP
        convention in Nashville, Tennessee, startled and offended his listeners
        by referring to the predominantly African American audience as "you
        people."

______________________________________________________________
           Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj
              "The TRUTH shall make you free"

   E-mail:   <[log in to unmask]>
   Archives: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/Munirah.html>
   ______________________________________________________________
   To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>
   In the E-mail body place:  Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name
   ______________________________________________________________
   Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 2000,
   All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with
   CODE One Communications.