*                    Today in Black History - June 19                  *

1809 - The first African Baptist Church in the U.S. became an organized
        body in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1862 - Slavery is abolished in U.S. territories by Congress.

1864 - In a famous duel between the USS Kearsage and the CSS Alabama off
        Cherbourg, France, a brave African American sailor, Joachim Pease,
        displays "marked coolness" and will win a Congressional Medal of
        Honor.  The CSS Alabama will be sunk.

1865 - Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, slavery
        will continue in Texas, until General Gordon Granger arrives in
        Galveston with Union forces, announcing that all slaves in Texas
        are free.  One third of the people in Texas are slaves. Juneteenth
        will be celebrated annually with picnics and barbecues at public
        emancipation grounds, some of which will be used past year 2000.
        Juneteenth will become a legal Texas state holiday in 1980.
        "JUNETEENTH" celebrations will come to commemorate the emancipation
        of African Americans everywhere.

1867 - P.B.S. Pinchback urges African Americans to use their franchise
        privileges.  "The Congress of the United States has conferred upon
        our People the Elective Franchise and it is our important duty to
        see that we use it well...."

1868 - Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby removes the mayor and aldermen of Columbia,
        South Carolina, and makes new appointments, including three African
        Americans: C.M. Wilder, Joseph Taylor and William Simonds.

1914 - Ernest Crichlow is born in Brooklyn, New York.  Studying at the Art
        Students League, Crichlow will be associated with the Harlem Art
        Center during the 1930's as a noted painter and illustrator whose
        objectives will be to advocate social commentary and communication
        through art.

1926 - DeFord Bailey becomes the first African American musician to perform
        on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry show.

1936 - Joe Louis is knocked out by Max Schmeling in the 12th round of their
        heavyweight boxing match. The German boxer earns his victory at
        Yankee Stadium in New York.

1946 - Joe Louis fights Billy Conn, in New York City, in the first
        championship prize fight to be televised.

1948 - Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad, actress (best known for playing the
        part of Clair opposite Bill Cosby on the long-running "Cosby Show")
        is born in Houston, Texas.

1953 - Albert W. Dent, president of Dillard University, is elected
        president of the National Health Council.

1953 - A bus boycott begins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1959 - Mark DeBarge, recording artist (of the group DeBarge)  is born.

1962 - Paula Julie Abdul, singer/choreographer, is born in Van Nuys,
        California.

1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day
        Senate filibuster.

1965 - "I Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops tops the pop and Rhythm &
        Blues charts. The Motown group will get their second and only
        other number one hit with "Reach Out I'll Be There" in 1966.
        Their other hits include: "It's the Same Old Song", "Standing in
        the Shadows of Love", "Bernadette" and "Ain't No Woman (Like the
        One I've Got)" (their only million seller). The group calls Motown,
        Detroit, Michigan home and got their start in 1953 as the Four
        Aims.  Levi Stubbs, Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Lawrence Payton and
        Abdul 'Duke' Fakir will place 24 hits on the charts from 1964
        to 1988. They first recorded as The Four Tops for Leonard Chess
        and Chess Records in 1956; then went to Red Top and Columbia before
        signing with Berry Gordy's Motown label in 1963. The Tops, who will
        have no personnel changes in their more than 35 years together will
        be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

1968 - Fifty thousand demonstrators participate in Solidarity Day March of
        the Poor People's Campaign.  Marchers walk from the Washington
        Monument to the Lincoln Monument, where they are addressed by Vice
        President Hubert Humphrey, presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy,
        Coretta Scott King and Ralph Abernathy.

1969 - Illinois State troopers are ordered to Cairo, by the governor, to
        quell racially motivated disturbances.

1971 - The mayor of Columbus, Georgia declares a state of emergency due to
        racial disturbances.

1986 - Len Bias, a senior at the University of Maryland and the 1st-round
        pick of the Boston Celtics, joins the ancestors after suffering a
        fatal cocaine-induced seizure.

1990 - Opening statements are presented in the drug and perjury trial of
        Washington D.C., Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr.  Barry is later
        convicted of a single count of misdemeanor drug possession, and
        sentenced to six months in prison. He will resume a career in
        politics after prison, when he is elected to the DC City Council
        representing Ward 8.

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