* Today in Black History - July 12 *
1864 - George Washington Carver, African American botanist is born in Diamond
Grove, Missouri. He will receive a B.S. from the Iowa Agricultural
College in 1894 and a M.S. in 1896. He will become a member of the
faculty of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanics in charge
of the school's bacterial laboratory work in the Systematic Botany
department. His work with agricultural products develops industrial
applications from farm products, called chemurgy in technical
literature in the early 1900s. His research will develop 325 products
from peanuts, 108 applications for sweet potatoes, and 75 products
derived from pecans. He will move to Tuskegee, Alabama in 1896 to
accept a position as an instructor at the Tuskegee Institute of
Technology and remain on the faculty until his death in 1943. His
work in developing industrial applications from agricultural products
will derive 118 products, including a rubber substitute and over 500
dyes and pigments from 28 different plants. He will receive the
Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1923. He will be responsible for the
invention in 1927 of a process for producing paints and stains from
soybeans, for which three separate patents were issued. George
Washington Carver will be bestowed with an honorary doctorate from
Simpson College in 1928. He will be made a member of the Royal Society
of Arts in London, England. Dr. Carver will be honored by U.S. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt on July 14, 1943 when $30,000 is committed for
a national monument to be dedicated to his accomplishments. The area of
Carver's childhood near Diamond Grove, Missouri will be preserved as a
park, with a bust of the agricultural researcher, instructor, and
chemical investigator. This park will be the first national monument
dedicated to an African American in the United States.
1887 - Mound Bayou, an all African American town in Mississippi, is founded by
Isaiah Montgomery.
1936 - Actress Rose McClendon joins the ancestors after succumbing to pneumonia
in New York City. A student at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in
Carnegie Hall, McClendon won fame for her roles in the plays "Deep
River", "In Abraham's Bosom", and "Porgy." She also founded, with Dick
Campbell, the Negro People's Theater and with Campbell and Muriel Rahn,
the Rose McClendon Players.
1936 - Cornelius Johnson sets the world record in the high jump.
1937 - William Henry "Bill" Cosby is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will
become one of the most popular African American entertainers, first in
comedy, where his albums will earn him five Grammy awards, then in Las
Vegas and elsewhere. He will later star in the television series "I
Spy", which will be the first of several successful television series.
These series will include "The Bill Cosby Show," "The New Bill Cosby
Show," and "The Cosby Show." "The Cosby Show" will hold the number one
rating for three years. He will also author numerous books, including
"Fatherhood," and "Love and Marriage." His successes will reward him
with financial success and he will become a leading philanthropist.
1944 - Denise Nicholas is born. She will become an actress starring in "Room 222"
as Liz McIntyre, "In the Heat of the Night" as Harriet DeLong, "Baby, I'm
Back", and "Ghost Dad."
1949 - Frederick M. Jones patents an air conditioning unit.
1951 - Governor Adlai Stevenson, calls out the Illinois National Guard to stop
rioting in Cicero, Illinois. A mob of 3,500 racists try to keep an
African American family from moving into the all-white city.
1958 - "Yakety Yak", by The Coasters, becomes the number one song in the country,
according to "Billboard" magazine. It is the first stereo record to
reach the top of the chart.
1959 - Rolonda Watts, talk show hostess, is born.
1960 - Congo, Chad & The Central African Republic declare their independence.
1963 - Maryland National Guard troops impose limited martial law in Cambridge,
Maryland after open confrontations between civil rights demonstrators and
white segregationists.
1966 - A racially motivated disturbance begins in the city of Chicago, prompting
the governor to call in the Illinois National Guard.
1967 - Five days of racially motivated disturbances begin in Newark, New Jersey.
Over twenty three persons are killed. The racial uprising involves ten
of the city's twenty-three square miles. More than 1,500 persons are
injured and 1,300 are arrested. Police report 300 fires. The Newark
rebellion, the worst outbreak of racial violence since the Watts riots
(in Los Angeles), spread to other New Jersey communities, including New
Brunswick, Englewood, Paterson, Elizabeth, Palmyra, Passaic, and
Plainfield. The New Jersey National Guard is mobilized.
1979 - Minnie Ripperton, a singer best known for her recording of "Lovin' You,"
joins the ancestors after succumbing to cancer at the age of 32.
1980 - John W. Davis, civil rights activist and former president of West Virginia
State College, joins the ancestors in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of
92.
1991 - "Boyz in the Hood", a film written and directed by John Singleton, premieres.
A coming-of-age film set in gang-and-violence-ridden South Central Los
Angeles, its positive message will earn Singleton critical acclaim and two
Academy Award nominations.
1992 - In an emotional farewell speech, Benjamin Hooks, outgoing executive director
of the NAACP, urges the group's convention in Nashville, Tennessee, to show
the world that it remains vital.
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