* Today in Black History - May 24 *
1854 - Anthony Burns, celebrated fugitive slave, is arrested by United States
Deputy Marshals in Boston, Massachusetts.
1861 - Major General Benjamin F. Butler declare slaves "contraband of war."
1864 - Two regiments, the First and Tenth U.S. Colored Troops, repulse an
attack by rebel General Fitzhugh Lee. Also participating in battle
at Wilson's Wharf Landing, on the bank of the James River, were a
small detachment of white Union troops and a battery of light
artillery.
1881 - Paul Quinn College is chartered in the State of Texas. The college,
founded in 1872, had moved from its original site in Austin to Waco in
1877.
1918 - Coleman Alexander Young is born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He will fight
as a bombardier-navigator with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II
and will settle in Detroit and work as an auto worker after the war.
In 1948, he will become the first African American elected to the
Wayne County Council of the AFL-CIO. He will found the National Negro
Labor Council in 1951. Walter Reuther and other white leaders of the
labor movement will refer to the NNLC as a tool of the Soviet Union
and cause Young to be called to testify before the House Committee on
Un-American Activities in 1952. He will reach the pinnacle of his
political career when, as a state senator, he is elected the first
African American mayor of the city of Detroit, Michigan in 1973. He
will revitalize Detroit, integrate the police and fire departments,
and will significantly increase the number of city contracts with
minority businesses. He will be elected mayor for an unprecedented
five terms. He will step down as mayor in 1993 at the age of 75. He
will join the ancestors on November 29, 1997, succumbing to
respiratory failure.
1937 - Archie Shepp is born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He will become a
renowned avant-garde jazz saxophonist and play with a variety of jazz
greats including John Coltrane, Bobby Hutcherson, and Donald Cherry.
He also will be a composer of jazz instrumental compositions and the
play "Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy." He will use free jazz as a vehicle
for political expression and will be an important factor in the growing
acceptance of African American identity. He will become an Associate
Professor at the University of Massachusetts but will continue his
concert career at the same time, working mostly in Europe. He will be a
seminal figure in the development of the New Music and influence many
saxophonists of the avant-garde.
1944 - Patricia Louise Holt is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She will
become a singer best known as Patti Labelle. As a teenager, she and
Cindy Birdsong (later a member of the Supremes) will sing with the
Ordettes. When two girls leave the group, Nona Hendrix and Sarah Dash
will sign on and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells will be born in 1961.
By the next year, they will have their first multimillion seller, "I
Sold My Heart to the Junkman." With other hits, including "All Or
Nothing" and "You'll Never Walk Alone," the group will develop a
strong following worldwide. After years of success and being "Rocked
and Rolled out," as Patti describes it, the group will disband on good
terms in 1977. She will continue to perform as a solo artist and will
release top-selling albums. She will receive numerous awards including
Philadelphia's Key to the City, a medal from the Congressional Black
Caucus, a citation from Congress on her 20th anniversary in the music
business, another citation from President Reagan, a cable ACE, the
B'nai B'rith Creative Achievement Award, two NAACP Entertainer of the
Year Awards, the NAACP Image Award for three consecutive years, the
Ebony Achievement Award, the Martin Luther King Lifetime Achievement
Award, three Emmy nominations, eight Grammy nominations and a 1992
Grammy Award for Best R&B Female Vocal performance for her album
"Burnin."
1951 - Racial segregation in Washington, DC restaurants is ruled illegal by
the Municipal Court of Appeals.
1954 - Peter Marshall Murray is installed as president of the New York County
Medical Society. He is the first African American physician to head an
AMA affiliate.
1961 - Twenty-seven Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
1963 - The Organization of African Unity is founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
1974 - Edward "Duke" Ellington joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 75. For nearly half a century, Duke Ellington led the premier American
big-band, and is considered by many sources to be the greatest composer
in the history of jazz.
1983 - Jesse L. Jackson becomes the first African American to address a joint
session of a state legislature in the 20th century, when he talks to the
Alabama legislature.
1984 - Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets becomes the first unanimous choice
for NBA Rookie of the Year since Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabar) of
the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970.
1991 - Hal McRae is named manager of the Kansas City Royals. He will become one
of two African American managers serving in major league baseball.
1993 - The African nation of Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.
2000 - Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo are elected to be enshrined in the 2000 class
of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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