* Today in Black History - July 7 *
1781 - James Armistead, an American slave, infiltrates the headquarters
of General Cornwallis and becomes a servant hired to spy on the
Americans. In reality, Armistead is a cunning double agent
working for the French ally General Lafayette and reports on
the movements and troop strength of the British. His reports
are critical to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
1791 - The nondenominational African Church is founded by Richard Allen,
Absalom Jones, and Benjamin Rush.
1851 - Charles A. Tindley, African American Methodist preacher and
songwriter is born. His most enduring gospel hymns include
'Stand By Me,' 'Nothing Between,' 'Leave It There' and 'By and
By.'
1883 - Walter White, NAACP leader, is born. He will be the Executive
Director of the NAACP from 1931 until he joins the ancestors in
1955.
1906 - Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige, baseball pitcher, (Negro League and
American League) is born in Mobile, Alabama. (His birth year is
an estimate) In 1965, 59 years after Paige's supposed birthday,
he took the mound for the last time, throwing three shut-out
innings for the Kansas City Athletics. He will be inducted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1971.
1915 - Margaret Walker is born in Birmingham, Alabama. Encouraged by
Langston Hughes and others, Walker will become a writer best
known for her volume of poetry 'For My People,' her novel
'Jubilee,' and a biography of novelist Richard Wright.
1921 - Ezzard Charles is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will become a boxer
and will be undefeated as an amateur, winning the 1939 AAU
National middleweight title before turning professional in 1940.
After military service during World War II, he will defeat Hall-of-
Famer Archie Moore and avenge losses to Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy
Bivins to earn a No. 2 ranking at light heavyweight in 1946. He
will fight five light heavyweight champions, beating four of
them, but will never challenge for the light heavyweight crown.
He will finally win the vacant NBA heavyweight title by defeating
Jersey Joe Walcott in 1949. He will earn worldwide recognition as
heavyweight king the next year by decisioning an aged Joe Louis.
After three successful defenses of the undisputed crown, he will
lose the title in a third battle with Walcott. Charles will
announce his retirement from the ring on December 1, 1956. He
will join the ancestors in 1975 and will be enshrined in the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
1945 - Fern Logan is born in Jamaica (Queens), New York. A graduate of
Pratt Institute, she will study photography in the mid 1970's
with master photographer Paul Caponigro. Among her best-known
works will be the renowned "Artists Portrait Series" of African
American artists such as Romare Bearden, Roy deCarava, and Jacob
Lawrence as well as commanding landscapes and scenes of nature.
1948 - The Cleveland Indians sign Leroy "Satchel" Paige at the age of
42. He will be the American League 'Rookie of the Year'.
1948 - Edna Griffin, her infant daughter Phyllis, John Bibbs and Leonard
Hudson, will enter the Katz Drug Store in downtown Des Moines, Iowa,
sit at the lunch counter and order ice cream. They will be refused
service and Griffin will soon organize a protest against the
drugstore's policy of refusing service to blacks. Criminal
charges will be filed against Katz for violating Iowa's 1884 Civil
Rights Act. The law prohibits discrimination in public
accommodation. Katz will be found guilty and will appeal the
verdict to the Iowa Supreme Court, which affirms the decision a
year later. The case will be settled, Griffin got a $1 settlement
and the drugstore was forced to change its ways.
1960 - Ralph Sampson, NBA center (Golden State Warriors, Houston
Rockets) is born.
1975 - "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow
is Not Enuf," a play by 26-year-old Ntozake Shange, premieres
in New York City.
1994 - Panama withdraws its offer to the United States to accept thousands
of Haitian refugees.
1997 - Harvey Johnson is sworn in as the first African American mayor
in Jackson, Mississippi.
1998 - Imprisoned Nigerian opposition leader Moshood Abiola joins the
ancestors before he can be released from his political
imprisonment. The government indicates that he succumbed from
an apparent heart attack.
______________________________________________________________
Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj
"The TRUTH shall make you free"
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
Archives: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/Munirah.html>
_____________________________________________________________
To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>
In the E-mail body place: Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name
______________________________________________________________
Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 2003,
All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with
CODE One Communications.
|