* 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 breast 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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