*                   Today in Black History - August 24                *

1854 - John VanSurley deGrasse, M.D., who received his medical degree
        from Bowdoin College in 1849, becomes a member of the
        Massachusetts Medical Society, a first for an African American.

1854 - National Emigration Convention meets in Cleveland with one
        hundred delegates.  William C. Munroe of Michigan is elected
        president.

1937 - Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola is born in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
        He will a member of a very poor household of Yoruba-speaking
        Muslims. He will attend the Islamic Nawar Ud-Deen School and
        the Christian-run African Central School.  After graduating
        from the Baptist Boys' High School, he will work as a bank
        clerk and a civil servant. He will go on to win a scholarship
        to Glasgow University to study accounting. He will graduate
        with several awards in 1965. He will return to Nigeria and
        will work for major firms before launching his own company,
        Radio Communications of Nigeria, in 1974. He will accumulate
        great wealth in a short period of time. His business interests
        will span 60 countries and include firms engaged in banking,
        shipping, oil prospecting, agriculture, publishing, air
        transportation, and entertainment. His Nigerian companies
        alone will employ close to 20,000 workers.  He will oppose
        the Nigerian military dictatorship and on June 12, 1993, will
        be elected president in a long awaited presidential election,
        only to have the election results nullified by the country's
        military leader.  When Abiola announces a year later that he
        is the country's legitimate leader, he will be imprisoned by
        the current dictator, General Sani Abacha.  After Abacha joins
        the ancestors suddenly in 1998, attempts were made to free
        Abiola, but he will also join the ancestors on July 7, 1998,
        before his freedom becomes a reality. His death will cause
        violence to occur and spur anti-government anger throughout
        the country.

1965 - Reggie Miller is born.  He will become a professional basketball
        player and guard for the Indiana Pacers.  He will play on the
        'Dream Team' in the 1996 Olympics.

1967 - Amanda Randolph joins the ancestors at the age of 65.  She had
        been an actress and was best known for her roles on the Danny
        Thomas Show and television's Amos 'n' Andy (Mama).

1987 - Bayard Rustin, longtime civil rights activist, early Freedom
        Rider, and a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, joins
        the ancestors in New York City.  A Quaker, Rustin was best known
        as a civil rights advocate, first as one of the founders of the
        Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), then as a key advisor to a
        young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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