*		    Today in Black History - July 2          *

1777 - Vermont, not one of the original 13 states, becomes the
	first U.S. territory to abolish slavery.

1822 - Denmark Vesey, slave freedom fighter, and 5 aides are 
	hanged in Blake's Landing, Charleston, South Carolina.

1908 - Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He 
	will have the most distinguished legal career of any 
	African American as the NAACP's national counsel, 
	director-counsel of the organization's Legal Defense 
	and Educational Fund, and leader of some of the most
	important legal challenges for African Americans' 
	constitutional rights, including "Brown v. Board of 
	Education" in 1954. In addition to sitting as a circuit
	judge for the Second Circuit, Marshall will be named 
	U.S. Solicitor General in 1965 and associate justice of
	the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, where he will serve for
	24 years. He will join the ancestors on January 24, 1993.

1925 - Patrice Lumumba is born in Onalua in the Katakokombe region 
	of the Kasai province of the Belgian Congo. He is a member 
	of the Tetela ethnic group and is born with the name Élias 
	Okit'Asombo. His original surname means "heir of the cursed" 
	and is derived from the Tetela words okitá/okitɔ́ ('heir, 
	successor') and asombó ('cursed or bewitched people who will 
	die quickly'. He will help found the Mouvement National 
	Congolais (MNC) party on 5 October 1958, and will quickly 
	become the organization's leader. The MNC, unlike other 
	Congolese parties, did not draw on a particular ethnic base. 
	It will promote a platform that includes independence, 
	gradual Africanization of the government, state-led economic 
	development, and neutrality in foreign affairs. Lumumba 
	himself will have a large popular following, due to his 
	personal charisma, excellent oratorical skills, and 
	ideological sophistication. This will allow him more political 
	autonomy than his Belgian-dependent contemporaries. Lumumba 
	will be one of the delegates that represents the MNC at the 
	All-African Peoples' Conference in Accra, Ghana, in December, 
	1958. At this international conference, hosted by Ghanaian 
	President Kwame Nkrumah, Lumumba will further solidify his 
	Pan-Africanist beliefs. Nkrumah will be personally impressed 
	by Lumumba's intelligence and ability. In late October 1959, 
	Lumumba, as leader of the organization, will be arrested for 
	inciting an anti-colonial riot in Stanleyville; 30 people will
	be killed. He will be sentenced to 69 months in prison. The 
	trial's start date of 18 January 1960 will be the first day of 
	the Congolese Round Table Conference in Brussels to finalize 
	the future of the Congo. Despite Lumumba's imprisonment at the 
	time, the MNC will win a convincing majority in the December 
	local elections in the Congo. As a result of strong pressure 
	from delegates upset with Lumumba's trial, he will be released 
	and allowed to attend the Brussels conference. The conference will
	culminate on 27 January with a declaration of Congolese 
	independence, and set 30 June 1960 as the independence date with 
	national elections to be held from 11–25 May 1960. Lumumba and 
	the MNC will win this election and form a government, to be 
	announced on 23 June 1960, with the 34-year-old Lumumba as prime 
	minister and Joseph Kasa-Vubu as president. In accordance with 
	the constitution, on 24 June the new government, a unitary system, 
	will secure a vote of confidence from the Congolese Chamber and 
	Senate. Shortly after Congolese independence in 1960, a mutiny will
	break out in the army, marking the beginning of the Congo Crisis. 
	Lumumba will appeal to the United States and the United Nations for 
	help to suppress the Belgian-supported Katangan secessionists. Both 
	refused, so Lumumba will turn to the Soviet Union for support. This 
	will lead to growing differences with President Joseph Kasa-Vubu 
	and chief-of-staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, as well as with the United 
	States and Belgium. Lumumba will be subsequently imprisoned by state 
	authorities under Mobutu and executed by a firing squad under the 
	command of Katangan authorities. Following him joining the ancestors
	on 17 January 1961, he will be widely seen as a martyr for the wider 
	Pan-African movement.

1927 - George Fisher is born in New York City of African and West
	Indian parentage. He will become an actor and will be 
	known as Brock Peters. He will set his sights on a show 
	business career as early as age ten. A product of New 
	York City's famed Music and Arts High School, he 
	initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs as he 
	worked his way up from Harlem poverty. Landing a stage 
	role in Porgy and Bess in 1949, he will quit physical 
	education studies at City College of New York and go on 
	tour with the acclaimed musical. His film debut will come 
	in "Carmen Jones" in 1954, but he really began to make a 
	name for himself in such films as "To Kill a Mockingbird" 
	and "The L-Shaped Room." He will receive a Tony nomination 
	for his starring stint in Broadway's "Lost in the Stars." 
	He will work with Charlton Heston on several theater 
	productions in the 1940s and 1950s. The two will befriend 
	each other and subsequently work together on several 
	films, including "Major Dundee," "Soylent Green," and "Two 
	Minute Warning." He will join the ancestors on August 23, 
	2005, after succumbing to pancreatic cancer at the age of 
	78.

1930 - Frederick Russell Jones is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
	A child prodigy who will begin to play the piano at the age
	of 3, he will begin formal studies at age 7. While in high
	school, he will complete the equivalent of college master 
	classes under the noted African American concert singer and
	teacher Mary Caldwell Dawson and pianist James Miller. He 
	will join the musicians union at the age of 14, and begin 
	touring upon graduation from Westinghouse High School at 
	the age of 17, drawing critical acclaim for his solos. In 
	1950, he will form his first trio, The Three Strings. 
	Performing at New York's The Embers club, Record Producer 
	John Hammond "discovers" The Three Strings and signed them 
	to Okeh Records (a division of Columbia, now Sony, Records). 
	He will change his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1952 when he 
	converts to Islam. He will be one of Miles Davis's favorite 
	pianists and a key influence on the trumpeter's 1st classic 
	quintet (featuring John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red 
	Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe 
	Jones on drums). Davis had long admired his use of space 
	and dynamics. He will score a major popular "hit" in his 
	version of Poinciana, recorded while live on tour from 
	The Pershing nightclub in Chicago. His style will change 
	steadily over time - from the lighter, breezy style heard 
	on his 50s sides to the funk + Caribbean stylings of the 
	70s and onto the large open voicings and bravura-laden 
	playing of the nineties. He will always be distinctive 
	however for his use of space, his dramatic crescendos, and 
	for a very staccato orientation with chords. In addition 
	to being an excellent pianist, he is also very adept 
	with both the Rhodes electric piano and the Wurlitzer 200 
	electric piano. 

1932 - Samuel Black is born in Paterson, New Jersey. He will become
	a singer known as Sammy Turner. He will briefly achieve 
	fame in the late 50s as a rock 'n' roll balladeer, whose 
	specialty was recycled pop songs of the past, particularly 
	those by Guy Lombardo. His most notable record was a remake
	of a Sammy Kaye hit from 1949, "Lavender Blue" (number 14 
	R&B/number 3 pop), in 1959. Three follow-ups were similarly 
	remakes of old pop hits: "Always" (number 2 R&B/number 20 
	pop), a frequently recorded pop song; "Symphony" (number 82
	pop) and "Paradise" (number 13 R&B/number 46 pop). Turner's 
	only success in the United Kingdom was with "Always", which 
	went to number 26. Although essentially a pop performer, 
	because of his African American heritage he will also 
	garner considerable success on the R&B charts. However, he 
	will be unable to make the transition into the soul era, 
	and will rapidly fade as a recording artist after 1960.

1943 - Lt. Charles B. Hall of Indiana, flies the first combat 
	mission	of the 99th Fighter Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) 
	which was attached to the 33rd Fighter Group flying out of 
	Fardjouna (Cap Bon, Tunisia). He is flying as wingman on 
	this first mission to Pantelleria. 

1946 - Anthony Overton, lawyer, judge, publisher, cosmetics 
	manufacturer and banker, joins the ancestors in Chicago, 
	Illinois at the age of 81.

1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Bill, 
	which includes public accommodation and fair employment 
	sections. The Civil Rights Act prohibits segregation in 
	employment, education, and public accommodation on the 
	basis of race, sex, age, national origin or religion.
            
1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in two 
	rulings. 

1990 - "Devil in a Blue Dress", a mystery novel by Walter Moseley 
	set in South-Central Los Angeles, is published. Its 
	realism and strong African American characters will earn 
	its author enthusiastic praise and a nomination for best 
	novel by the Mystery Writers of America.

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