* Today in Black History - May 10 *
1652 - John Johnson, a free African American, is granted 550 acres in
Northampton County, Virginia, for importing eleven persons to work
as indentured servants.
1775 - Lemuel Haynes, Epheram Blackman, and Primas Black, in the first
aggressive action of American forces against the British, help
capture Fort Ticonderoga as members of Ethan Allen's Green
Mountain Boys.
1815 - Henry Walton Bibb is born a slave in Shelby County, Kentucky. He
will escape to Canada, return to get his first wife, be recaptured
in Cincinnati, escape again, be recaptured again and sold into
slavery in New Orleans. He will be removed to Arkansas, where he
will escape yet again, this time for good in 1842. He will make
his way to Detroit, Michigan and will become an active abolitionist.
He will publish his autobiography, "Narrative of The Life and
Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave" in 1849. This
narrative of his life will be so suspenseful that an investigation
is conducted that will substantiate Bibb's account. In 1850, the
U.S. Congress will pass the Fugitive Slave Act which will force his
immigration to Canada with his second wife. In 1851, he will found
the "Voice of the Fugitive", the first Black newspaper in Canada.
He will join the ancestors in 1854 at the age of 39.
1837 - Pinckney Benton Steward (P.B.S.) Pinchback is born near Macon,
Georgia. During the Civil War, he will recruit and command a
company of the "Corps d'Afrique," a calvary unit from Louisiana. He
will resign his commission in 1863 after unsuccessful demands that
African American officers and enlisted men be treated the same as
white military personnel. In 1868, he will be elected to the
Louisiana legislature as a Senator. In 1871, he will be elected
President Pro Temp of the Louisiana Senate, and will become
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in 1872 after the death of Oscar
Dunn. He will serve briefly (two months) as the appointed
Governor. He will be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1873, but never
be seated by that body, due to supposed election irregularities.
After the end of Reconstruction and his political career, Pinchback
will use his resources to work as an advocate for African Americans
as Southern Democrats endeavor to take away the civil rights gained
by Blacks after the Civil War. He will publish the newspaper "The
Louisianan," using it as a venue to help influence public opinion.
He will also become the leader of the precursor to the Associated
Negro Press, the Convention of Colored Newspaper Men. At the age of
sixty, he will relocate to Washington, DC where he will live until
he joins the ancestors in 1921.
1876 - The American Centennial Exposition opens in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Included are works by four African American artists,
among them Edmonia Lewis' "The Dying Cleopatra" and Edward
Bannister's "Under the Oaks." Bannister's painting will win the
bronze medal, a distinct and controversial achievement for the
renowned painter.
1919 - A race riot occurs in Charleston, South Carolina. Two African
Americans are killed.
1935 - Larry Williams is born. He will become a rhythm and blues singer and
will be known for his record hits "Short Fat Fannie," "Bony
Maronie," and "Dizzy Miss Lizzie."
1936 - Jayne Cortez is born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. She will grow up in
the Watts section of Los Angeles, California and will marry jazz
saxophonist Ornette Coleman in 1954. After divorcing him in 1960,
she will study drama and poetry. She will become active in the
civil rights movement, registering African Americans to vote in
Mississippi as a worker for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee. She will then become a poet and performance artist that
will integrate the rhythms and foundations of jazz into her written
works. She will found the Watts Repertory Theater and be its
artistic director from 1964 through 1970. She will establish Bola
Press in New York City in 1972 and will be a writer-in-residence at
Rutgers University from 1977 to 1983. She will be known for her
collections of poetry "Pisstained Stairs and Monkey Man's Wares,"
"Festivals and Funerals," "Coagulations: New and Selected Poems,"
and "Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere." She will also be known for
her poetry reading recordings with jazz musicians "There It
Is," "Maintain Control," and "Taking the Blues Back Home: Poetry
and Music."
1944 - Judith Jamison is born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. She will begin
her dancing career at the age of six. She will complete her dance
training at the Philadelphia Dance Company (later the University of
Arts). She will make her debut with the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theatre in Chicago, dancing in Talley Beaty's Congo Tango Palace.
She will become the troupe's premier dancer in 1967 and will tour
the world exhibiting her signature dance "Cry." She will win a
Dance Magazine award for her performances in 1972. She will leave
the Ailey troupe in 1980 to perform on Broadway and will
choreograph many of her own works such as "Divining," Ancestral
Rites" and "Hymn." She will form the twelve member group, The
Jamison Project, in 1987. After Alvin Ailey's health declines in
1988, she will rejoin the Ailey troupe as artistic associate and
will become artistic director upon his death in 1989. She will
continue the company's tradition of performing early works
choreographed by African Americans for many years.
1950 - Jackie Robinson appears on the cover of Life magazine. It is the
first time an African American has been featured on the magazine's
cover in its 13-year history.
1951 - Z. Alexander Looby is the first African American elected to the
Nashville City Council.
1952 - Canada Lee joins the ancestors in England at the age of 45. He had
become an actor in 1933 after a professional boxing match left him
blind in one eye. He was able to be cast in non-traditional roles
for African Americans at a time when most were cast in
stereotypical parts. He was best known for his portrayal of
"Bigger Thomas" in the play "Native Son" in 1940 and 1941. He was
blacklisted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and
the FBI for his outspoken views on the stereotyping of African
Americans in Hollywood and Broadway.
1962 - Southern School News reports that 246,988 or 7.6 per cent of the
African American pupils in public schools in seventeen Southern
and Border States and the District of Columbia attended integrated
classes in 1962.
1963 - Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth announces agreement on a limited
integration plan which will end the Birmingham demonstrations.
1974 - "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" earns a gold record for the group,
The Main Ingredient. The trio began as the Poets in 1964. Cuba
Gooding is the lead singer. (Gooding's son, Cuba Jr., will star
in the 1991 film "Boyz N The Hood" and will win an Academy award
for his role in the movie "Jerry Maguire in 1997.) The Main
Ingredient's biggest hit, "Everybody Plays The Fool," will make
it to number three on the pop charts in 1972.
1986 - Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran becomes the first African American
pilot to fly with the celebrated Blue Angels precision aerial
demonstration team.
1994 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as president of South Africa. In an
historic exchange of power, former political prisoner Nelson
Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa. In his
acceptance speech, he says, "We enter into a covenant that we shall
build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white,
will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts--a
rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world."
1998 - Jose' Francisco Pena Gomez joins the ancestors at the age of 61 in
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after succumbing to pancreatic
cancer. He had led a successful civil-military revolt in 1965 which
was curtailed by the interference of United States Marines sent to
the Dominican Republic to put down the rebellion. He was later
forced into exile. He later returned to the Dominican Republic and
be heavily involved in politics as leader of the Partido
Revolucionario Dominicano. He ran for president unsuccessfully
three times.
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