* Today in Black History - January 12 *
1879 - British troops invade Zululand from Natal, confident that they
could crush the Zulu forces armed with spears and shields.
However, the well-trained Zulu army repulses the initial attack,
killing over 1300 British troops in the Battle of Isandlwana.
But that success will exhaust the Zulu army, and before
Cetshwayo could mount a counteroffensive into Natal, British
troops from around the Empire will be rushed to southern Africa,
where their advanced weaponry will bring them ultimate victory
in the six-month Anglo-Zulu war. The British will conclude their
aggressive venture by dividing up Zululand among thirteen pro-
British chiefs, effectively destroying the Zulu kingdom.
1890 - Mordecai Wyatt Johnson is born in Paris, Tennessee. He will become
the first African American president of Howard University in
1926, a position he will hold for 34 years. He will also be a
recipient of the NAACP's Spingarn Medal in 1929. He will retire
in 1960, and will join the ancestors on September 11, 1976 in
Washington, DC.
1920 - James Farmer is born in Marshall, Texas. He will become an
African American civil rights leader and activist. He will
found the Committee on Racial Equality in 1942 and later change
the name of the organization to the Congress of Racial Equality.
Farmer and CORE will be the architects of the "Freedom Rides"
that will lead to the desegregation of over 100 bus terminals in
the South. He will become a major player during the Civil Rights
movement. He will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom
in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. He will join the ancestors
on July 9, 1999 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at the age of 79.
1944 - Joseph William "Joe" Frazier is born in Beaufort, South Carolina.
He will become a boxer and will win the Olympic Gold Medal in
1964 in Tokyo, Japan. He will go on to win the heavyweight
title on February 16, 1970, after knocking out Jimmy Ellis in
five rounds. He will remain champion until January 22, 1973,
when he is knocked out in the second round by George Foreman.
He will be inducted into the Ring's Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980
and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
1946 - George Duke is born in San Rafael, California, and will be reared
in Marin City, a working class section of Marin County. He will
become a major recording artist, heavily influenced by Miles
Davis and the soul-jazz sound of Les McCann and Cal Tjader. He
and a young singer named Al Jarreau will form a group becoming
the house band at San Francisco's Half Note Club. Over the years,
George will work with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Frank Zappa,
Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, and Dizzy
Gillespie. He will be a prolific songwriter and producer.
1948 - The United States Supreme Court decision (Sipuel v. Oklahoma
State Board of Regents) said a state must afford African
Americans "an opportunity to commence the study of law at a
state institution at the same time as [other] citizens."
1951 - Ezzard Charles knocks out Lee Oma to retain the heavyweight
boxing crown.
1952 - The University of Tennessee admits its first African American
student.
1959 - Berry Gordy borrows $800 from a family loan fund to form Motown
Records. The record company's first releases will appear on the
Tamla label.
1960 - Dominique Wilkins is born. He will become a NBA forward and
play for the Atlanta Hawks.
1964 - Leftist rebels in Zanzibar begin their successful revolt against
the government.
1965 - Noted playwright Lorraine Hansberry joins the ancestors, after
succumbing to cancer in New York City at the age of 34, while
her second play, "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," is
playing on Broadway. Her first and most famous work, "A
Raisin in the Sun," brought her wide acclaim on Broadway,
earned her the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best
play, and became a motion picture starring Sidney Poitier,
Ruby Dee, and Claudia McNeil.
1971 - The Congressional Black Caucus is organized.
1982 - A commemorative stamp of Ralph Bunche is issued by the U.S.
Postal Service as part of its Great Americans series.
1988 - Willie Stargell, formally of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is elected
to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1990 - Civil Rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is stabbed in Brooklyn,
New York, in Bensonhurst.
1995 - In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, an American soldier is killed and
another wounded during a shootout with a former Haitian army
officer who also was killed.
1995 - Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, is arrested in
Minneapolis, Minnesota on charges that she had tried to hire
a hit man to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The
charges will later be dropped.
2002 - Jerry Rice, playing for the Oakland Raiders, becomes the oldest
player in the NFL to date, to score in a playoff game.
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