*               Today in Black History - March 31               *

1850 - The Massachusetts Supreme Court rejects the argument of Charles
        Sumner in the Boston school integration suit and established the
        "separate but equal" precedent.

1853 - At concert singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield's New York debut in
        Metropolitan Hall, African Americans are not allowed to attend.
        Angered and embarrassed at the exclusion of her race, Greenfield
        will perform in a separate concert at the Broadway Tabernacle
        for five African American congregations.

1871 - Jack Johnson, the first African American to be crowned world
        heavyweight boxing champion, is born in Galveston, Texas.  His
        reign lasted from 1908 to 1915.

1930 - President Hoover nominates Judge John J. Parker of North Carolina
        for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.  The NAACP launches a
        national campaign against the appointment. Parker is not
        confirmed by the Senate.

1948 - A. Phillip Randolph tells the Senate Armed Services Committee
        that unless segregation and discrimination were banned in draft
        programs he would urge African American youths to resist
        induction by civil disobedience.

1949 - William Grant Still's opera, "Troubled Island" receives its world
        premiere at the New York City Opera.  In addition to marking
        Robert McFerrin's debut as the first African American male to
        sing with the company, the opera is the first ever written by an
        African American to be produced by a major opera company.

1967 - Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar in
        London, England.

1968 - The provisional government of the Republic of New Africa founded
        in Detroit, Michigan.

1973 - Ken Norton defeats Muhammad Ali in a 12 round split decision in
        San Diego, California.  Norton will break Ali's jaw during the
        bout.

1980 - Jesse Owens dies in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 66, and
        President Carter adds his voice to the tributes that pour in
        from around the world.  Jesse won four gold medals in Track at
        the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

        Larry Holmes wins the vacant world heavyweight title by knocking
        out Leroy Jones in the eighth round.

1988 - Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved," a powerful
        novel of a runaway slave who murders her daughter rather than
        see her raised in slavery.

        ********************************************************
        The source for these facts are "Encyclopedia Britannica,
        "InfoBeat," "I, Too, Sing America - The African American
        Book of Days," and independent research by the
        Information Man.
        ********************************************************

   ______________________________________________________________
           Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj
   	          "The TRUTH shall make you free"

   E-mail:   <[log in to unmask]>
   Archives: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/Munirah.html>
   ______________________________________________________________
   To SUBSCRIBE send E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]>
   In the E-mail body place:  Subscribe Munirah Your FULL Name
   ______________________________________________________________
   Munirah(TM) is a trademark of Information Man. Copyright 1998,
   All Rights Reserved by the Information Man in association with
   CODE One Communications.