* Today in Black History - July 3 *
1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now the U.S.
Virgin Islands).
1869 - Joseph Henry Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass, is
born in Washington, DC. A student of the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, Douglass will become a
noted violinist. He will receive his first big break as a
concert violinist at the age of 22 when he performs
at the World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the
Chicago World's Fair. On August 25, 1893 performers will
join together to celebrate Colored American Day (which
Frederick Douglass helped plan). Included in the
celebrations will be readings of Paul Lawrence Dunbar's
poetry and performances by Sidney Woodward and Deseria
Plato. He will also perform at Colored American Day,
garnering him a large audience for his talents. He will
join the ancestors on December 7, 1935.
1915 - U.S. military forces occupy Haiti, and remain until 1934.
1917 - Three days of racial riots end in East St. Louis, Illinois.
At least 40 and as many as 200 African Americans are
killed and hundreds more are wounded.
1928 - Charles Waddell Chestnutt, author of "The Conjure Woman"
and other works, is awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal
for his "work as a literary artist depicting the life and
struggle of Americans of Negro descent."
1940 - Fontella Bass is born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother is
Martha Bass (of the Clara Ward Singers) who exposed her to
music at an early age. She was singing in her church's
choir at six years old, but as a teenager, she will be
attracted by more secular music. Throughout high school she
will be singing R&B songs at local contests and fairs. She
will eventually move to Chicago and sign with Chess Records.
She will record the song, "Rescue Me," which will shoot up
the charts in the fall and winter of 1965. After a month at
the top of the Rhythm & Blues charts, the song will reach
#4 at the pop charts. Her only album with Chess Records,
"The New Look," will sell reasonably well, but she will
decide to leave the label after only two years, in 1967. In
1970 she will record two albums with the Art Ensemble of
Chicago, "The Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass"
and "Les Stances A Sophie." The latter is the soundtrack
from the French movie of the same title. Her vocals, backed
by the powerful, pulsating push of the band has allowed the
"Theme De YoYo" to remain an underground cult classic ever
since. The next few years will find her at a number of
different labels, but with no notable successes. After her
second album, "Free," flopped in 1972, she will retire from
music. She will return occasionally, being featured as a
background vocalist on several recordings, including those
of her husband, Lester Bowie, a jazz trumpeter and member
of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In the 1990s she will host
a short-lived Chicago radio talk show, and will release
several gospel records on independent labels. She will be
inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in the Loop in
May 2000. She will join the ancestors on December 26, 2012.
1947 - The Cleveland Indians purchase the contract of Larry Doby,
the first African American to play in the American League.
1956 - Montel Brian Anthony Williams is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
He will become a television personality, radio talk show host,
and actor. He will be best known as host of the long-running
daytime talk show "The Montel Williams Show," which will run
in syndication from 1991 to 2008. He will become active with
the nonprofit MS Foundation, which he founds after being
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. Additionally, he
will be noted for his service in both the U.S. Marine Corps
and the U.S. Navy, from which he was honorably discharged
after 15 years of service. On April 6, 2009, he will begin
hosting a daily radio show, "Montel Across America," on Air
America Media. On January 21, 2010, Air America will cease
broadcasting, leaving him without a radio outlet. As of May
2009, he will start hosting an infomercial for the Living Well
Healthmaster, a blender product. It will be presented under
the title Living Well with Montel; the infomercial is
structured similarly to his old talk show, featuring guests
talking about their health problems, with the Healthmaster
mixer being the solution. Later episodes of Living Well with
Montel will advertise a home pressure cooker and an identity
theft protection service. In June 2010, he will begin doing
infomercials for LifeLock, a security fraud company. On
October 1, 2014, he will speak in front of a Congressional
committee in support of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who
was arrested in Tijuana, Baja California, for carrying guns
across the U.S.-Mexican border. He will be once a Republican,
leaving the political party in 1993. He will be a supporter of
LGBT rights. He will leave the Republican Party and will be
registered as an Independent. He will endorse Hillary Clinton
for president as the superior choice, writing that Donald Trump
poses a "clear and present danger" to the nation.
1962 - Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in professional
baseball, is the first African American inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, in Cooperstown,
New York.
1966 - NAACP officially disassociates itself from the "Black Power"
doctrine.
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