* Today in Black History - August 20 *
1565 - Artisans and farmers of African descent aid explorer Menendez
in the building of St. Augustine, Florida.
1619 - The first group of 20 Africans is brought by the Dutch to the
colony at Jamestown, Virginia. The early African arrivals
will be considered indentured servants, and indeed records
in the Chesapeake area will show many freed people of
African descent. In 1650, the laws will be changed to make
servitude permanent for Africans and their offspring.
1856 - Wilberforce University is established in Wilberforce, Ohio. It
will become the nation's oldest, private African American
university.
1931 - Donald "Don" King is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He will become
a boxing promoter who will control the heavyweight title
from 1978-1990 while Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson are
champions. He will gain fame in 1974 by sponsoring the
boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in
Zaire, popularly known as "The Rumble in the Jungle." He will
solidify his position as an influential promoter the next
year by sponsoring a third match for Ali against Joe Frazier
in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, which King named
the "Thrilla In Manila." He will also promote one of the
final fights of Ali's career against Larry Holmes. He will be
known for his flamboyant manner and outrageous hair styled to
stand straight up. He will promote the fights of such
fighters as Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Roberto Durán,
Julio César Chávez, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Felix
Trinidad. His financial success will continue into the 1980s
and '90s. In 1983, he will promote 12 world championship bouts.
In 1994, he will promote 47 such bouts. He will be heavily
criticized, however, for a business strategy that results in
his control over many of the top boxers, especially in the
lucrative heavyweight division. He will use a contractual
clause that requires a boxer who wished to challenge a fighter
belonging to King to agree to be promoted by King in the
future should he win. Thus, no matter which boxer won, he
represented the winner. Those who were unwilling to sign
contracts with this obligatory clause found it very difficult
to obtain fights, especially title fights, with boxers who
were promoted by him. He will be the focus of a myriad of
criminal investigations and will be indicted numerous times.
In 1999, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation seized
thousands of records from his offices that concerned alleged
payoffs by him to the president of the International Boxing
Federation for the purpose of procuring more favorable
rankings for his boxers. He will be a mixed blessing to the
sport. On one hand, he will organize some of the largest
purses in the history of the sport and creatively promote
boxing and his bouts. On the other hand, his legal problems
and controversial tactics will reinforce the public
perception of boxing as a corrupt sport.
1942 - Isaac Lee Hayes is born in Covington, Tennessee. He will begin
his recording career in 1962, soon playing saxophone for The
Mar-Keys. After writing a string of hit songs at Stax Records
with songwriting partner David Porter, including "Soul Man"
and "Hold On I'm Comin" for Sam and Dave, he will release his
debut album "Presenting Isaac Hayes." A moderate success, the
album will be recorded immediately following a wild party.
The top-selling "Hot Buttered Soul" (1969) will be a
breakthrough album, and establish his image (gold jewelry,
sunglasses, etc) which eventually will become a template for
much of the fashion of gangsta rap and similar trends in the
1980s and 90s. His biggest hit will be 1971's soundtrack to
the movie "Shaft." The title song will win an Oscar (the
first for a Black composer), and will clearly presaged disco.
"Black Moses" (1971) will become almost as successful. By 1975,
he will leave Stax Records and form his own label called Hot
Buttered Soul Records. A series of unsuccessful albums will
lead to bankruptcy in 1976. The late 1970s will see a major
comeback for him, following the release of "A Man and a Woman"
(1977, with Dionne Warwick). In spite of moderate success as a
singer, his records will not sell very well. He will also forge
a career as an actor in TV shows and feature films. He will be
inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. On June 9,
2005, he will be inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
He will also voice the character "Chef", a singing ladies' man
and elementary school cook, on the popular animated sitcom
"South Park" from 1997 until 2006.
1954 - Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, co-anchor of the "Today" show, is
born in Queens, New York. He will attend the State University
of New York at Oswego, where he will double major in graphic
design and broadcasting/journalism. He will work in television
around the Cleveland and New York areas before becoming a
weatherman for WNBC in New York. He will get more exposure,
especially when David Letterman asks him to do an elevator
race with him in one episode of his talk show, "Late Night with
David Letterman." That will lead to him getting a job as the
weekend weatherman for "Weekend Today," where he will do the
weather for nine years. He will also substitute on the weekday
edition of "Today" when Willard Scott is ill or away. In 1996,
Scott will announce his semi-retirement from the show, and Al
will receive the weekday weatherman position on "Today." He
will become popular for doing his forecasts outside of the
studio, interviewing audience members and giving some of them
camera time. One of his best known lines from the show will be
"...and here's what's happening in your neck of the woods."
1964 - The Economic Opportunity Act is signed by President Lyndon B.
Johnson. The act initiates what will popularly be called the
"War on Poverty."
1989 - The first National Black Theater Festival closes in Winston-
Salem, North Carolina. Organized by Larry Leon Hamlin, the
festival will draw over 20,000 people to performances of
African American classical and contemporary plays by groups
such as the Crossroads Theater from New Brunswick, New Jersey
and the Inner City Cultural Center of Los Angeles.
1993 - Dr. David Satcher is named director of the Centers for Disease
Control.
1994 - Benjamin Chavis, Jr. is terminated as head of the NAACP after a
turbulent 16-month tenure.
2000 - Eldrick "Tiger" Woods beats Bob May in a three-hole playoff to
win the P.G.A. Championship. Woods is the first golfer since
Ben Hogan in 1953, to win three major championships in a year.
He also becomes the first repeat winner of the championship
since 1936.
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