*                    Today in Black History - May 27                  *

1863 - Captain Andre' Callioux and his Native Guard Regiment, which had once
        fought for the Confederacy, charge Port Hudson, Louisiana. The Union

        Army Guard, intent on disproving white contentions that "Negroes" 
        lacked the intelligence for combat, will make six different assaults

        on the stronghold.

1917 - One African American is killed and hundreds are left homeless in race

        riots in East St. Louis, Illinois.  	

1935 - Ramsey Lewis is born in Chicago, Illinois.  While attending Chicago 
        Musical College, he will form the Gentlemen of Swing (later called 
        The Ramsey Lewis Trio) with The Cleff's old rhythm section, Eldee 
        Young (bass) and Redd Holt (drums). Their weekend gig will catch the

        attention of an influential deejay (Daddio-O-Dayle), who convinces 
        blues record company owner Phil Chess to expand into jazz and sign 
        the trio.  From the start (1958) their records were popular,
although 
        in the early days they had a strong jazz content.  In 1958 Lewis
will 
        also record with Max Roach and Lem Winchester.  On the 1965 albums 
        "The In Crowd" and "Hang On Sloopy," Ramsey will make the piano into

        a major attraction and from that point on, his records will become 
        much more predictable and pop-oriented.  In 1966, his trio's
personnel 
        will change with bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Maurice White 
        (later the founder of Earth, Wind and Fire) joining Lewis.  In the 
        1970s Lewis will often play electric piano, although by later in the

        decade, he was sticking to acoustic and hiring an additional 
        keyboardist.  He plays melodic jazz when he wants to, but will stick

        to easy-listening pop music during the his career.  
	
1936 - Louis Gossett, Jr. is born in Brooklyn, New York.  He will make his 
        acting debut at 17 in "Take a Giant Step" and act in numerous stage,

        film and television roles including Fiddler in "Roots," for which he

        will win an Emmy.  His portrayal of the tough drill instructor in
"An 
        Officer and a Gentleman" will win him an Academy Award as best 
        supporting actor in 1982, the third African-American to win an Oscar

        for acting.

1941 - A race riot begins in East St. Louis, Illinois. After four days of 
        rioting, one African American will be killed.

1942 - Dorie Miller, a messman from Waco, Texas, is awarded the Navy cross 
        for his heroic deeds at Pearl Harbor.  The Cross is pinned on his 
        chest by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

1958 - Ernest Green graduates from Little Rock's Central High School with 
        six hundred white classmates, becoming the first of the "little Rock

        Nine"   to graduate from high school.

1961 - Ralph Boston of the United States, sets the long jump record.

1963 - Jomo Kenyatta is elected first prime minister of self-governing 
        Kenya. In the early 1950s, Kenyatta was sentenced to seven years of 
        hard labor for alleged links to the Mau Mau, a clandestine anti-
        British organization.  In 1964, Kenyatta will become the first 
        president of Kenya, remaining in that position until 1978. 

1965 - Todd Bridges is born in San Francisco, California.  He will become a
        child actor and is best known for his roles in the TV series 
        "Diff'rent Strokes," and "Fish."

1968 - The Supreme Court orders schools to present a realistic desegregation

        plan immediately.  The ruling comes almost 13 years to the day after

        the Court's "all deliberate speed" desegregation order in 1955.

1975 - Ezzard Charles, former heavyweight boxing champion, joins the 
        ancestors in Chicago at the age of 53.

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