* Today in Black History - June 7 *
1863 - Three African American regiments and small detachment of white
troops repulse a division of Texans in a hand-to-hand battle
at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana.
1917 - Gwendolyn Brooks is born in Topeka, Kansas. She will become the
first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize (1950). She
will win this award for "Annie Allen," which is about the coming
of age of a young African American and her feelings of loneliness,
loss, death and poverty. In 1963-1969 she will teach poetry and
fiction workshops and also freshman English and 20th century
literature. In 1967, she will organize a poetry writing workshop
for a gang, and her home soon became a meeting place for young
people interested in arts and politics. In 1985, she will become
the first African American woman to take the position of Poetry
Consultant to the Library of Congress. Her job will be to give a
lecture in autumn and a poetry reading in the spring. She will
be the 29th and last Poetry Consultant. In 1988, she will become
the second Poet Laureate of Illinois. She also will be inducted
into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She will join the ancestors
on December 3, 2000.
1931 - David C. Driskell is born in Eatonton, Georgia. An artist and
professor of art at several universities, Driskell will be acclaimed
as one of the foremost art historians and curators of African
American art exhibits. He will hold a Master of Fine Arts degree from
Catholic University and nine Honorary Doctoral degrees. In 2000, he
will be honored by President Bill Clinton as one of 12 recipients of
the National Humanities Medal. A publication, "David C. Driskell:
Artist and Scholar" by Julie L. McGee, will detail Driskell's life
and work, wand will be published in 2006. He will be represented by
DC Moore Gallery. His first exhibition at the gallery will be held in
October 2006. He is a scholar in the field of African American art
and is an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, College
Park.
1941 - The War Department approves a contract that establishes a primary flying
school at Tuskegee Institute.
1943 - Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr. is born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
She will become a poet and author that will be known for her
books "Black Feeling", "Black Talk", and "Black Judgment," and the
name "Nikki." In 1973, she will establish NikTom, Ltd., a
communications company that will edit and publish "Night Comes Softly,"
an anthology of poetry by black women, "Re: Creation," "Poem of Angela
Yvonne Davis," and her other prominent works. In the mid 1980's, her
opposition to the boycott of South Africa will lead to her being
blacklisted by TransAfrica and subsequently to bomb and death threats.
She will receive at least six honorary doctorate degrees and a myriad
of literary awards.
1946 - U.S. Supreme Court bans discrimination in interstate travel.
1950 - U.S. Supreme Court avoids a general ruling on "separate but equal"
doctrine.
1956 - Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will become
a record executive, record producer, A&R representative, and panelist.
He will be founder and current co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He
will previously serve as the chairman and CEO of Epic Records and The
Island Def Jam Music Group and the president and CEO of Arista Records.
He will be the founder and CEO of Hitco Music Publishing and the co-
founder of LaFace Records with producing partner Kenneth "Babyface"
Edmonds. He will win three Grammy Awards, picking up awards as a
songwriter for songs such as Boyz II Men's "End Of The Road." Over the
course of his career, he will write and produce for many artists
including Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Outkast, Toni Braxton, TLC, Mariah
Carey, Avril Lavigne, Paula Abdul, Pink, Justin Bieber, Meghan Trainor,
Rihanna, Kanye West, Usher, Ne-Yo, 21 Savage, Young Jeezy, Ciara, Zara
Larsson, Jidenna, Jennifer Lopez, Future, Travis Scott, Fifth Harmony,
DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Delacey, and The Jacksons. He will appear as a
judge on the first two seasons of the U.S. version of the television
show The X Factor, but will leave the show in December, 2012 to focus
on his leadership at Epic Records. One of the major projects that he will
embark on following his stint on The X Factor, will be the remaking of
Michael Jackson songs after his death, with the May 13, 2014 release of
the album XScape. In 2016, he will publish the New York Times bestselling
memoir "Sing to Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and
Searching for Who's Next."
1958 - Prince Rogers Nelson is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He
will become a singer and prolific songwriter and producer
known to the public as "Prince." An incurable movie fan, he
will have a passion for drama (and comedy). His own films
will include "Purple Rain," "Under the Cherry Moon,"
and "Grafitti Bridge." "Purple Rain" (1984) will be hailed
by some critics as the best rock movie ever made and earn
Prince an Oscar for best original song score and soundtrack
album. Because of his desire to have complete artistic control
over his music, he will endure several years of a contract
dispute with his label, Warner Brothers, which results in him
appearing in public with the word SLAVE written on his face.
In 1993, he will change his name to "The Artist Formerly Known
As Prince" (TAFKAP or The Artist). He will come out of the
Warner Brothers conflict happily. He will establish a new
relationship with EMI Records that will allow him to record
and produce whatever he wants to release. He will join the
ancestors on April 21, 2016 after succumbing to a fentanyl
overdose at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in
Chanhassen, Minnesota.
1964 - John "Ecstasy" Fletcher is born in Brooklyn, New York. Ecstasy
will form the rap group Whodini with Jalil Hutchins in 1982.
Whodini's first LP, "Magic's Wand," will be a tribute to the New
York DJ who fosters the group's early career. The title track
will be one of the first rap singles to be accompanied by a video.
Whodini will also become one of the first rap acts to perform with
their own dancers. Succeeding hits will include "The Haunted House
of Rock," "Friends," "Freaks Come Out at Night" and "Be Yourself,"
featuring Millie Jackson. In 1986, the year DJ Grandmaster Dee
begins working with the group, Whodini will issue "Growing Up," an
anti-drug video financed by the New York State Division Of Substance
Abuse. After a quiet period in the late '80s, Whodini will issue
"Bag-A-Trix" in 1991. The following year, the group will contribute
"It All Comes Down to Money" to Terminator X's "The Godfathers of
Threat compilation," which will also feature Kool Herc and Cold Crush
Brothers.
1966 - The voter registration march from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson,
Mississippi is continued by Martin Luther King, Jr. and other
civil rights groups and will register almost 4,000 African
Americans. The march had been interrupted the previous day by
the shooting of James Meredith, by a white sniper.
1987 - Mae Jemison, becomes the first African American woman astronaut.
Jemison entered Stanford University as a 16-year-old National
Achievement Scholarship student. She will major in Chemical
Engineering and Afro-American Studies, graduating in 1977. She
will then go on to Cornell University to get a medical degree
in 1981. She will work as a medical intern in Los Angeles,
California in 1981. After her internship, she will join the
Peace Corps for two years in West Africa giving medical attention
to Peace Corps volunteers and State Department employees in
Sierra Leone and Liberia from 1983 to 1985. She will then work as
a general practitioner for CIGNA Health Plans of California in
Los Angeles from 1985 to 1987. She will the apply and get accepted
as an astronaut for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) in Houston, Texas in 1987.
1987 - Lloyd Richards wins a Tony as best director for the August
Wilson play "Fences". The play wins three other Tony awards,
for best play, best performance by an actor (James Earl Jones),
and best performance by a featured actress (Mary Alice).
1991 - Willie Maxwell II is born in Paterson, New Jersey. He will be known
professionally as Fetty Wap and will become a singer, rapper, and
songwriter. He will rise to prominence after his debut single "Trap
Queen" reaches number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in
May, 2015. This will help him secure a record deal with 300
Entertainment. He will subsequently release two Top 10 singles in
the U.S., "679" and "My Way". His eponymously titled debut album will
be released in September, 2015 and will reach number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200 chart. On February 5, 2016, he will release a new
single titled "Jimmy Choo". On April 26, 2016, it will be announced
that he would be getting his own mobile racing game available on
phone, tablet, and Apple TV starting on May 3. The game is offshoot
of mobile game Nitro Nation Stories. A street racing game, it will
have multi-player, car customization, and different storylines to
choose. It will partner with automotive brands like BMW, Nissan, and
Cadillac. The Fetty Wap version will include Fetty Wap and Monty into
the storyline. He will be featured on the Fifth Harmony 2016 single
"All in My Head (Flex)". He will release the single "Wake Up" in
April, 2016. The official music video for the song will be filmed at
his alma mater, Eastside High School. His single "Make You Feel Good"
will be released in August 2016. On November 21, 2016, he will release
a 19 track mixtape titled "Zoovier." His song "Like a Star" will
feature Nicki Minaj and be released in December, 2016. On January 4,
2017, he will release the song "Way You Are" featuring Monty, and the
song "Flip Phone" on February 10, 2017. He will release the single
"Aye" on May 12, 2017. He will released the mixtape Lucky No. 7 on
June 7, 2017. On August 18, 2017, the single "There She Go" featuring
Monty will be released.
1998 - In a crime that shocks the nation, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old
African American man, joins the ancestors after being chained to
a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. Three
men, white supremacists, are arrested in the case. The atrocity
will prompt President Clinton to issue a press release condemning
the act. Two of the killers will be sentenced to death for the
crime, a third to life in prison.
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