*                Today in Black History - December 26                 *

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* The Nguzo Saba - The seven principles of Kwanzaa - Principle for    *
* Day #1 - Umoja (oo-MOE-jah) Unity: To strive for and maintain unity * 
* in the family, community, nation and race.                          *
* http://www.endarkenment.com/kwanzaa/                                *   
*                                                                     *
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1848 - William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia.  Mrs. Craft
	impersonates a slave holder and her husband, William, assumes 
	the role of her servant, in one of the most dramatic of the 
	slave escapes.

1849 - David Ruggles joins the ancestors in Northampton, Massachusetts.  
	Often called the first African American bookseller (for his 
	bookstore established in 1834), Ruggles was an early 
	abolitionist, speaker, and writer as well as a "conductor" on 
	the Underground Railroad. He published the first African 
	American magazine, the "Mirror of Liberty in August of 1838.  He
	was a noted hydropathist, erecting the first building 
	constructed for hydropathic treatments in the United States and
	was known as the "water cure doctor."

1894 - Jean Toomer is born in Washington, DC.  The grandson of P.B.S.
	Pinchback, Toomer will become the author of the influential
	"Cane."

1908 - Jack Johnson wins the heavyweight title in Australia, defeating
	Tommy Burns.  After avoiding fighting Johnson for over a year,
	Burns will say of his loss, "Race prejudice was rampant in my
	mind.  The idea of a black man challenging me was beyond 
	enduring. Hatred made me tense."

1924 - DeFord Bailey, Sr., a harmonica player, becomes the first African 
	American to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, 
	Tennessee.

1931 - Lonnie Elder is born in Americus, Georgia.  He will be known as
	an author, playwright ("Ceremonies in Dark Old Men"), and
	screenwriter ("Sounder," "A Woman Called Moses"). He will become
	the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award
	(Sounder - 1972). He will join the ancestors in 1996.

1937 - La Julia Rhea becomes the first African American to sing with the
	Chicago Civic Opera Company during the regular season.  She 
	opens in the title role of Verdi's "Aida."

1956 - African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama begin mass defiance of 
	Jim Crow bus laws.

1966 - Kwanzaa, originated by Dr. Maulana Karenga, is first celebrated
	by a small number of African American families in Los Angeles,
	California, to "restore and reaffirm our African heritage and 
	culture."  Kwanzaa, a Kiswahili word meaning first or first
	fruit, will celebrate over the next seven days the Nguzo Saba,
	or seven principles, of Umoja(Unity), Kujichagulia(self-
	determination), Ujima(Collective Work and Responsibility),
	Ujamaa(Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba
	(Creativity), and Imani (Faith).

1999 - Prolific singer, songwriter & producer Curtis Mayfield joins
	the ancestors at the age of 57 in North Fulton Regional Hospital 
	near Atlanta, Georgia.  Mayfield introduced social 
	consciousness into African American music and continued to 
	record for a decade after an accident left him paralyzed.  His 
	many hits included "People Get Ready," "I’m So Proud," and "Keep
	On Pushing." His soundtrack for the 1972 movie "Superfly" sold 
	over 4 million copies and produced two classic hit singles, the 
	title track and "Freddie's Dead." In addition to his wife, he 
	leaves behind his mother, 10 children, a brother, two sisters 
	and seven grandchildren to celebrate his life.

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