* Today in Black History - October 19 *
1859 - Byrd Prillerman is born a slave in Shady Grove,
Franklin County, Virginia. He will become an
educator, reformer, religious worker, political
figure, and lawyer. He will be best known as the co-
founder of the West Virginia Colored Institute in
1891. The school will be changed to the West
Virginia Collegiate Institute in 1915. The school,
under Prillerman's leadership, will become the first
state school for African Americans to reach the rank
of an accredited college whose work is accepted by
the universities of the North. The school will
eventually become West Virginia State College, then
West Virginia State University. He will join the
ancestors on April 25, 1929.
1870 - The first African Americans are elected to the House
of Representatives. African American Republicans
won three of the four congressional seats in South
Carolina: Joseph H. Rainey, Robert C. DeLarge and
Robert B. Elliott. Rainey was elected to an un-
expired term in the Forty-first Congress and was the
first African American seated in the House.
1920 - Alberta Peal is born in Cleveland, Ohio. She will
become a television and movie actress better known as
LaWanda Page and will star in "Mausoleum," "Women Tell
the Dirtiest Jokes," "Shakes the Clown," and "Don't Be
a Menace." She will be best known for her role as Aunt
Esther in the long-running television series, "Sanford
and Sons." She will join the ancestors on September 14,
2002.
1924 - "From Dixie to Broadway" premieres at the Broadhurst
Theatre in New York City. The music is written by
Will Vodery, an African American, who arranged music
for the Ziegfeld Follies for 23 years.
1936 - Johnnetta Betsch (later Cole) is born in Jacksonville,
Florida. She will have a distinguished career as an
educator and administrator and will become the first
African American woman to head Spelman College, serving
from 1987 to 1997. She will be president of Bennett
College from 2002 to 2007. She will become Director of the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art,
located in Washington, DC in 2009. In 2013, the Winston-
Salem Chronicle will described her as a distinguished
educator, cultural anthropologist, and humanitarian.
1944 - Winston Hubert McIntosh is born in Westmoreland, Jamaica.
He will become a founding father of reggae music and be
part of the song writing magic of the Wailers, Bob
Marley's group. He will be better known as Peter Tosh.
One of his famous quotes is "Don't care where you come
from, as long as you are a Black man you are an African."
He will join the ancestors on September 11, 1987 after
being shot during a robbery attempt.
1944 - The Navy announces that African American women would be
allowed to become WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency Service).
1946 - The first exhibition of the work of Josef Nassy, an
American citizen of Dutch-African descent, is held in
Brussels. The exhibit consists of 90 paintings and
drawings Nassy created while in a Nazi-controlled
internment camp during World War II.
1960 - Jennifer Yvette Holliday is born in Riverside, Texas.
She will become a singer and actress and will have her
first big break as a star in the Broadway production
of "Dream Girls" in 1981. She will later become a
successful recording artist. She will be best known for
her debut single, the Dreamgirls showstopper and Grammy
Award-winning Rhythm & Blues/Pop hit, "And I Am Telling
You I'm Not Going."
1960 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in an Atlanta,
Georgia sit-in demonstration.
1962 - Evander Holyfield is born in Atmore, Alabama. He will
become a professional boxer. He will hold the undisputed
world championship in both the cruiserweight and
heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real
Deal". He will be the only four-time world heavyweight
champion, winning the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in 1990, the
WBA and IBF titles in 1993, as well as the WBA title in
1996 and 2000. He will be forced to retire in 1994, only to
return a year later. On November 9, 1996, he will go on to
defeat Mike Tyson by eleventh-round technical knockout to
reclaim the WBA title, in what will be named "fight of the
year" and "upset of the year" for 1996 by 'The Ring.' He
will become the first heavyweight boxer since Muhammad Ali
to win the world title three times. Seven months later, He
will win the 1997 rematch against Tyson, when the latter is
disqualified in round three for biting off part of his ear.
During his reign as champion, he will also avenge his loss
to Michael Moorer, when he stops him in eight rounds to
reclaim the IBF title. In 1999, he will face Lennox Lewis in
a unification bout for the undisputed IBF, WBA and WBC
titles, which will end in a controversial split draw. He will
be defeated in a rematch eight months later. The following
year, he will win a unanimous decision over John Ruiz for the
vacant WBA title, becoming the first boxer in history to win
a version of the heavyweight title four times. He will lose a
a rematch against Ruiz seven months later and face him for the
third time in a draw. He will retire in 2014 with a professional
record of 44 wins, 10 losses, 1 draw and 1 no contest. He will
be ranked #77 on 'The Ring' magazine's list of 100 greatest
punchers of all time. 'BoxingScene' will also rank him the
greatest cruiserweight of all time.
1981 - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and Archives opens
in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded by Coretta Scott King,
the facility, is the largest repository in the world
of primary resource material on Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., nine major civil rights organizations, and
the American civil rights movement.
1983 - Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop joins the
ancestors after being assassinated for refusing to
share leadership of the New Jewel Movement with his
deputy, Bernard Coard. This event will indirectly
lead to the invasion of Grenada by the United States
and six Caribbean nations.
1983 - The U.S. Senate approves the establishment of the
Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday on the third
Monday in January.
1988 - South African anti-apartheid leader, Walter Sisulu wins
a $100,000 Human Rights prize.
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